Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Angel of Death” - Charles Cullen

Episode Date: October 2, 2017

Nurses are trained to save lives. But this nurse killed. Charles Cullen overdosed his elderly patients on digoxin and insulin, passing off over 40 deaths as natural before authorities finally got involved. Greg and Vanessa examine how Cullen’s depression, feelings of victimhood and drug abuse led him to abuse drugs on others.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. Blood Trails is a true crime podcast born in the outdoors, where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried under brush and silence. I've seen something in the road. I instantly thought it was a sleeping bed, and there was a full of blood. Somebody somewhere knows something. I'm Jordan Sillers. Season two is out now, with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson, and this is serial killers. Today we're going to take a deep dive into the life of nurse Charles Edmund Cullen, also known as the Angel of Death.

I'm here with my co-host Vanessa Richardson. Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she's done a lot of research for this show. Hi, everyone. We'd like to ask a quick favor. Would you leave a five-star review of serial killers on your favorite podcast directory? It seems so simple, but it really helps us out. And don't forget to subscribe while you're there, because a new episode comes out every Monday. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and on Twitter at Parcast Network. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes dramatizations and discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13.

A quick note. In this week's episode, all quotes from Charles Cullen will be performed by an actor. However, these lines are quoted from primary research sources and pretext. presented exactly as Cullen stated them. Premum non-no-caree. Do no harm. As a physician, your ambition is the betterment of the ill, the injured, the infirmed. You should neither leave your patient worse off than they were, nor actively cause injury. This is your Hippocratic oath. As a patient, you pray for the best possible care, that all your needs are taken care of by competent, capable doctors and nurses.

Never should you feel your life is in jeopardy under their nose. knife. At least that's how it's supposed to be. But Charles Edmund Cullen, a caregiver and nurse, followed a different kind of doctrine. One spurred on by a dark, cruel loathing for himself and his patients. The victim's relatives got their say in court. Charles Cullen, you are a coward. That's Mubo's whose brother was among 22 people killed by Charles Cullen while he was working as a nurse in New Jersey. The only question I have of you, Cullen, is who gave you the right to play God? Barbara Mowry's friend's mother was killed. Prosecutors didn't seek the death penalty because they wanted Cullen's cooperation in solving other killings.

The defendant is sentenced consecutively on each count to life in New Jersey State Prison. The judge gave Cullen 11 consecutive life terms, Cullen await sentencing in Pennsylvania for seven murders. I'm Steve Knight. From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, the care wards of New Jersey and Pennsylvania were his domain. Those patients that depended on him were defenseless as Cullen became the man. master of deciding who lived and who died. Charles Cullen is a fascinating and terrifying case study, not for the death and despair he induced, but for his ability to carry out his cruelty with near impunity and invisibility.

Cullen was quiet and precise. He preyed upon patients in their hospital beds. His weapon of choice were a hypodermic needle, the victim's IV bag, and potent drug cocktails of his own design. With these tools, he passed from victim to victim practically unnoticed. He would induce overdoses, and by the time anyone realized something was wrong, it was too late. By the end of his shift of terror in 2004, Cullen had admitting to killing over 40 people. Yet that number may just be a fraction of the total number of victims, as Cullen was in operation for over 16 years at seven different hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

What's even more frightening is most hospitals, caught on to his illicit activities, yet made little to no attempt to dig deeper into what was really going on. It's astonishing. Why do you think Colin did what he did? Or rather, what drove him to commit such heinous acts? There are no easy answers, Greg. But like most serial killers, Colin displayed classic sociopathic tendencies and antisocial behavior. My whole life I felt like I was going through a fog. That fog only intensified once I decided to take someone life. It would always be spur of the moment, almost like I was in a trance. After that, I'd slowly block out the victim and move on. Here we can see an eerie similarity between Cullen and other serial killers, describing himself going through life in a fog, a sort of void or emptiness, showing pure

indifference to his victims. Pure indifference. So how did he get this way? For that, you'd have to investigate much of his early life, most of which can be described. as a patchwork of tragedy and depression. But let's start with that commonality among most serial killers, a tragic childhood. The story of Charles Cullen begins in a small, two-story house in blue-collar, West Orange, New Jersey, near the famous Tory Corner. It was here that Edmund and Florence Cullen settled down to start a family. Edmund had met Florence, an English woman, during his time of service in World War II,

while stationed in Europe. By the war's end, Edmund brought the love of his life home to New Jersey where they married. Edmund became a bus driver, while Florence remained home to raise their growing number of children. Together, the happy couple had seven healthy children, two boys and five girls. Then on February 22nd, 1960, their eighth and final child was born. Charles Edmund Cullen. A complete surprise. And according to Cullen, a complete mistake.

I don't think I should have been born. My childhood was completely miserable. Miserable may not be an exaggeration. Seven months after Charles was born, his father died at age 56. This left Florence and her children on welfare. Though she tried dating several times over the years, Florence didn't remarry. To make matters worse, Colin's sisters and brothers were significantly older than him. My sisters were in and out of the house in various stages of pregnancy with strange boys.

Some were nice, some weren't. Then there were my brothers. They were struggling with their own demons. The demons Colin is referring to were his brother's drug addictions. In fact, in 1987, his brother James would die from a drug overdose. Ironic, considering Cullen would eventually use pharmaceutical drugs to kill his patients. Well, school life couldn't prove much better either. Due to Cullen's feeble nature and skinny physique,

He was often bullied relentlessly. This drove him to further and further isolate himself from his peers. Here we can start to see social isolation beginning. It's tragic to see a young man bullied. But I have a feeling this was but fuel for later down the road. What's strange is that he chose isolation as a child. Hearing more of his past, what else can you tell us so far of Charles' psyche? Well, as you stated, he was more than likely trying to rationalize his place in the pecking order,

and with no real strong father figure to act as some kind of positive male role model, he must have struggled. Plus, the added torment by his peers and his older sister's sexual partners didn't help in developing his already troubled psyche. Everything around him seemed dark. So why not adopt that darkness? More than anything, however, the fact that he saw himself as a mistake was a clear sign of depression and lack of self-worth. That, coupled with him actively isolating. himself from other kids can cause a radically adverse psyche to develop, one that could prove dangerous.

Charles' depression only seemed to intensify the older he grew. By age nine, Charles made his first attempt at taking his own life. It was an old home chemistry set. Nothing fancy. But I was lost, and I saw no real reason to go on. No point to life. Charles mixed a concoction from his set and drank it. He hoped it would end his miserable existence. Instead, it merely made him very ill. He recovered shortly after, much to his chagrin. Again, another clear sign of depression?

Suicidal tendencies. Perhaps if Charles' family had paid more attention and Charles reached out, all this could have been avoided. But instead, Charles decided to follow a much darker road. Tell me, how did Charles cope after his first suicide attempt? Well, after his first suicide attempt, he began exploring the darker aspects of himself through writing. In 1971, Charles wrote a book entitled,

Infinity Years Will Never Know. The book described growing up in a world where life had no meaning. Thus, the point of life was paradoxical. Cullen said it was just for fun. He was only 11 years old when he wrote it. Yes. And later, Charles became fascinated by the works of Theodore Dostoevsky during his high school years.

Dostoevsky was a famous Russian novel. who tended to focus on strong social commentary. Collins' favorite novel was Crime and Punishment. In the book, an impoverished student seeks to justify his reasoning for murdering a corrupt female pawnbroker. Hmm. A very insightful choice into the mind of a deranged nurse.

How so? Here might be the beginning of Charles twisting his victimhood into power. Like Charles, the protagonist of the book, Rodion Roskalnikov, sought justification for his act. actions, mostly in that it was for the greater good. Ruskolnikov believed murdering the pawnbroker was acceptable because he rid the world of a

terrible human being and actually had the right to take the broker's life. Of course, his crime comes back to haunt Ruskolnikov, but that probably wasn't the part Charles fixated on. So you think this may have spurred some dark inspiration for Colin later on in life? I have no doubt it had a profound effect on him, yes. This was probably how Colin first dreamed up the idea of his murders, saving people. Hmm, why do you think he needed a reason to justify his killings?

Self-confidence, perhaps. Again, we can look at that character who intrigued Cullen, Raskolnikov. Whenever Raskolnikov killed, he told himself he was doing it for the greater good, essentially creating a moral high ground that wouldn't place him into the same category as bad people. Cullen, too, wanted to elevate himself,

to make himself not only feel in the right to take lives, but derive a confidence boost from it. Like a twisted sense of murderous self-righteousness. Right, with deranged minds such as these, few things are off limits. As the high school years went on, so did the bullying. Then one night in 1977, Cullen was invited to a party. No doubt to be the butt of many jokes. Cullen, however, had a different plan in mind.

Sneaking in rat poison, he spiked the drinks of several partygoers. Thankfully, no one was killed, though a few suffered mild stomach and intestinal problems. No one seemed the wiser that they had been poisoned either. Cullen was never caught. So now we see that self-righteousness in action. He's trying to rid the world of the children who tormented him. This was his first step, crossing over into that dark void he would never return from.

Before Charles could get another chance to explore his newfound dark drive, tragedy struck the young man. His mother was killed in a car accident on December 12, 1977. Cullen was devastated. He became directionless, and in April of 1978, he dropped out of high school. He was 18 years old, officially an adult. Now the question became, where would he go? We'll return to our story in just a moment. You tell yourself, no one wants your college-era band teas,

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did. Yet Cullen's journey into darkness was far from over. With his mother dead, the safety net of his home life was gone. He had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. He got what he always strived for. Isolation. Yet with this isolation came other problems. Cullen had no source of income. So he dropped out of high school to find work. But with no GED, he had little to no options for employment. Luckily, the U.S. military had a plan for him. In April of 19th, In 1978, that same month he dropped out of school, Cullen joined the Navy. He was trained as a ballistics technician from 1978 to 1979. His job was to monitor the missiles and torpedoes stored on ships and submarines.

Quite the frightening prospect in hindsight. Absolutely. How do you think he was able to secure such a position, given his mental instability? Well, first, he proved quite capable as a naval officer. Not only did he follow orders, but executed them with efficiency and efficiency. dedication. This earned him the rank of petty officer third class. Second, he had no outstanding warning signs either on paper or in person. No one had reported his attempted suicide at age nine, nor had he been caught trying to poison his classmates. Plus, the psychological evaluation process

at the time was much laxer than today, so while officers may have noticed peculiarities in Cullen, they could have just as easily written them off as characteristics of a troubled boy who had just lost his mother. This tendency to slip through the cracks would not only become a trend for Cullen, but also his most powerful tool later on, as he would continue to go under the radar even after several kills. Whatever the case may be, Cullen did well at his job and was stationed down the USS Woodrow Wilson in July of 1979. The Wilson was a nuclear submarine. Life aboard a submarine is cramped and claustrophobic. With little to occupy their time, sailors often found to entertain themselves, one being to haze the new guys.

Usually the hazing stops after the fresh fish proves his merit. But for Cullen, that wasn't the case. It was his meek demeanor and proclivity to isolation that made him easy pickings for the men on board. Cullen did little to fight back, which only encouraged his tormentors. They nicknamed me fish belly due to my pale complexion. To cope with the cruelty and quite possibly to pass the time, Cullen began to drink. heavily. This was the beginning of his alcoholism. It's no surprise that Colin was susceptible to addiction.

His family, specifically his brothers, already had a history of drug abuse. The drinking, however, seemed to get him into more trouble. Whenever he was caught passed out on duty because of drinking, he'd be punished severely. Sometimes the punishments would be on record and sometimes they'd be off. They'd burn me with cigarettes. It was cruelty, plain and simple. Cullen's depression and social isolation only intensified with the added downer of alcohol. And yet, it also made Cullen bolder and more open in his morbid eccentricities, discussing death, making weird faces at people, staying up on hours. Then in 1980, things took a more serious turn.

In the wee hours of the night, petty officer first class Michael J. Linen was making the rounds when he noticed something peculiar. Someone or something was at the missile. control console of the submarine. As he slowly approached, he saw that this man was dressed in medical scrubs, a surgical mask, and gloves. He was creepily swaying. Petty Officer Linen demanded to know who it was. The figure spun around and put his hands up. It was Petty Officer Third Class Charles Edmund Cullen. How creepy. Linen interrogated Cullen, asking why he was dressed that way. But Cullen gave no straight answers. Charles was

severely reprimanded by Linen and written up. He was forced to change and return to duty. Tell me, Vanessa, why dress up as a surgeon? I mean, what was going on in Cullen's mind? It sounds like he was fantasizing. This can go back to his idea of power. Surgeons, to an extent, can have control over life and death when working on a patient. This idea of controlling death and choosing when it happens might be linked to why he chose to be a nurse later on. Again, it's always a twisted sense of power. And there he was at the control panel for some of the deadliest weapons known to man, dressed like a medical professional, like some macabre mortician deciding the fate of the world.

The incident spelled out the end of Colin's naval days. He was transferred to the USS Canopus on October 30, 1981. Unlike the nuclear sub of the Wilson, the canopus was a supply ship. Rumors quickly sprang up about why Colin was transferred. This drove crew. to either avoid him or bully him. With more trouble with the crew springing up, Cullen was pushed to the edge. He attempted suicide multiple times from 1981 to 1984.

Cullen was sent to see the military psychologists. He insisted he was doing fine. Finally, in 1984, Cullen was discharged from the Navy after six years of service. Cullen was 24 years old. It was never stated if the reason was medical or psychological. Again, though, Charles needed a path. After a few months, he found it at the Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing in Montclair, New Jersey. In March 1984, Cullen began nursing school, where he acquired the skills to take the lives of some 40 or more patients the next 16 years. Cullen was the only male in the school, yet he didn't let that hinder him.

He made plenty of friends and even became class president when the former president stepped down. Cullen seemed to be doing well for himself. Paying for nursing school was no easy task, however. His mother left him little, and his military pension only took him so far. So Cullen took on multiple jobs, mostly at local eateries and diners. Though his favorite place to work was Roy Rogers Bar and Grill. Roy Rogers was more an atmospheric place than anything else, but for Cullen, there was magic in the air. Though a busboy, Charles had his eyes set on store manager Adrian Tos.

Halb. Adrian had just graduated business school and like Charles was paying off student loans. The two became friends, but Adrian was dating someone at the time of their meeting. She left for a month, only to return single in January of 1987. Without a moment to spare, Charles began pursuing her. He asked her out the same month, and she agreed. Surprisingly, Cullen was a whole new person, not the meek, troubled boy of his youth, but a confident man who made wise cracks about his problems in past. and doted on his lady.

Adrienne was swooning. She never thought she could be so lucky. Such a personality reversal. I mean, how can Colin go from being such an awkward and isolated person to a confident and charming man? One concept of sociopathy is learning to mimic emotions when you cannot properly display your own. Sociopaths can not only learn to copy facial expressions,

but when and where to use them. This helps them blend into crowds as well as, become master manipulators. Cullen's time at the nursing school taught him how to feign compassion and understanding, a skill he'd need to be that confident, reassuring nurse that people trusted. More than likely, he applied the same skill

outside of school to avoid detection or conflict. It must have worked. After dating six months, Cullen and Adrian were engaged. Their plan was to be married right after Cullen graduated in May of 1987. Sure enough, he did, and the two were married. They spent their honeymoon at Niagara Falls, June 1987. Cullen was 27. But the honeymoon was cut short when Cullen was offered a position at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, New Jersey.

Adrian saw no problem ending the honeymoon a day early to get a head start on the new life. Starting mid-June, Charles Cullen got his first job working at St. Barnabas Hospital as a critical care nurse in the burn unit. He and his wife, Adrian, moved into a small house in October of 1987. Adrian began working as a programmer for a local tech company. She'd work all day while Colin worked all night. Despite working opposite schedules, the couple seemed happy. Cullen was especially proud of his job. He took on many night and graveyard shifts, not minding the strange hours.

He felt valued for his work and even received high marks. While time at the hospital seemed to be going well, life went in a different direction. Colin and Adrian's first year of marriage was a whirlwind, marked by a drastic change in how Charles treated her. The more he got into his work at St. Barnabas, his home life seemed to slowly collapse. He began treating Adrian not as a wife, but as a cohabitant, cool and distant.

Adrian first wrote it off as Colin being haunted by some of the injuries he faced daily. Whenever she tried to confront him, however, she was met with the same old response. I'm fine. Cullen would isolate himself in the basement for hours, drinking booze he had hidden in his old Navy footlocker he kept from his time of service. What seemed like casual jokes about his past no longer seemed funny to Adrian.

Things got brighter, though, in the spring of 1988, with the birth of Cullen's first child, Shauna. Affection returned to the man, but only toward his child. Adrian became a far distant second, but even love for his child soon faded. One day, Adrian returned home to find the front door open and the baby unattended. She cried out for her husband only to see him walk in minutes later. She demanded to know what happened. Why was the door open?

Cullen's remorseless solitary response was... I went for a walk. Cullen would then return to his private spot in the basement. Tell me, Vanessa, does all this fit into your thesis of sociopathy? Absolutely. We see here his boredom with a normal life. give way to his inability to socialize. He again retreats into himself and from others.

Other things to note are his disinterest in his loved ones, as if they don't serve a purpose or if he can no longer get anything of value from them. In dangerous forms of sociopathy, we also often see a lack of concern for safety, i.e. of leaving your child unattended. As time went on, things only seem to get worse. Pretty soon Cullen turned his attention

to the family's two Yorkers. terriers. At first it was little things, leaving them outside for too long, forgetting to feed them, letting them wander around freely. Then Cullen got more creative. He started stuffing the dogs in trash bins and even tossing them in garbage bags. It got so intense that Pita came and took away one of the dogs for animal cruelty. Adrian had to beg to get the dog back. She warned Cullen to leave the dogs alone or else. He backed off but turned his attention to to the neighbor's beagle. For the beagle, he tried something new. Adrian found the beagle dead in an alley. She took the poor dog back to her owners. The family was devastated. When Adrian

asked how the dog had died, it was revealed to have been poisoned. Though Adrian couldn't prove it, she had a likely suspect in mind. It looks like he's escalating the violence, testing to see what he can and can't get away with, reawakening his malevolent tendencies from his high school days. he must have perfected those tendencies, because one year later, he took his first life. In June of 1988, Judge John Yengo was brought to St. Barnabas with a severe sunburn. He was placed in the burn unit and left alone. On June 11, 1988, Charles walked into Yango's room carrying a syringe filled with lydocaine. Lidocaine is a powerful drug that is used as either a numbing agent or can even be used to help treat heart arrhythmia.

In high doses, however, it can increase blood toxicity and even kill. Cullen jammed the tainted needle into the sleeping judge's IV bag and let the poison flow. Charles left quietly and no one knew what he had done. Hours later, Yengo died. Cullen claimed it was out of mercy, as he would with all of his victims to follow. But there was no escaping it. Cullen was now a murderer. Our story will continue in a moment after the break.

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Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak, and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. Now back to our story. Charles Edmund Cullen has taken his first life at St. Barnabas Hospital through lethal injection. We've gone through his past leading up to this moment. Now, why do you think he decided now to take someone's life? Well, I believe, like many serial killers, it was about power.

His whole life he had viewed himself as a victim, a mistake. Death had taken those he loved away from him, namely his mother, yet it wouldn't grant him sweet release from his terrible existence. But now, as a nurse, he could control death. He could attain suicide by proxy, killing those at a whim on a false creed of mercy when in fact it was about affirming his own hellish life. Well, whatever it was that drove Cullen, he followed it.

Cullen would kill 11 more patients at St. Barnabas. His victims were all elderly, usually over age 60. Unlike John Yango, Cullen used insulin to lower patients' blood sugar to dangerously low levels. His victims ranged in gender, injuries, and even state of health. He killed regardless, whether or not they were on the verge of death or healing toward wellness. Cullen just kept killing. Why do you think there wasn't a clear pattern, Vanessa? Well, his motives seem random, erratic even, but if we go back earlier,

we know Cullen said he killed almost spur of the moment. It could be that Cullen would have these emotional and psychological fits and chose to take them out on whatever patients were nearby. Think of it like an emotional catharsis triggered at various times. This in a way makes him even more dangerous, as you'd never know when he'd strike. But with 11 people dead and all by insulin overdoses, people began to get suspicious. In 1991, the Assistant Director of Security at St. Barnabas, Thomas Arnold, and head of security Joe Barry

became incredibly concerned over the spike in insulin overdoses. Both had prior sentences police officers before joining Barnabas, and together they smelled murder. They launched an immediate investigation. Along with other nursing staff members, Arnold and Barry discovered unnecessary dosages

of insulin being administered. Further investigation found tampered saline bags. It was clear foul play was involved, but nothing that pointed directly toward Cullen. nevertheless, the staff suspected Colin, who frequented patients' rooms at odd times, some of whom he wasn't even caring for. Cullen would have also had access to medications used to poison the victims. The pieces fit, but the puzzle was far from complete. Arnold and Barry went to the local police in hopes of spurring a more serious investigation. Their hopes would be dashed surprisingly,

as the police didn't want anything to do with it. The question was, why? Turns out that hospitals were a major benefactor in the town of infrastructure and economy. Without, quote, real evidence, the police didn't want to raise alarms about health care facilities being unsafe. So while the police wouldn't launch an official investigation, Arnold and Barry could continue theirs. The investigation wouldn't last long, though, as by January 1992, Colin was caught tampering with IV bags of patients. This could have been the moment that brought Colin's activities to the forefront. Instead, Cullen was simply fired, and its tampering never brought up to the police. Cullen simply moved on.

What do you think was going on in Cullen's mind at this point? And why didn't hospitals go to the police about the IV bag tampering? Yeah, well, slight fear at first, but more than likely, invincibility. Not only had he been caught at what he was doing, he was let off easy. This must have been a surreal confidence booster for Charles, a justification for him to continue his dark, stealthy rampage. as he moved on to the next hospital. As for the hospital not going to police,

I imagine it was a problem of liability. If it was proven that a nurse was actively poisoning patients, it would end in a huge scandal for the hospital. Millions of dollars would have been lost. To make a long story short, money. What his wife questioned why he was fired, Colin made up a very convincing excuse. It was an internal matter.

Most of the nurses were talking about going on strike. The hospital was scrambling, and when a patient died of an overdose, I became a scapegoat. Adrian was skeptical of his response, but at the same time, she was slightly relieved. Much of the old Charles Cullen had returned. He was perkier, excited, and anxious to be around everyone again. Perhaps it was just the job, she thought. Maybe the next one would be better.

A month later, Cullen was interviewed for a job as a coronary nurse at Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. When he asked why he left St. Barnabas, Cullen cited the same internal dispute and added, I wasn't a fan of the commute. Cullen was hired in February 1992. He even used the previous hospital of St. Barnabas as a reference in order to get hired. Yet no one took the time to investigate Colin's background. In the summer of 1992, Cullen's second daughter, Saskia, was born.

Like his previous daughter, he doted on her for a time, then retreated back into himself. His drinking continued as well. Cullen also began taking a dangerous interest in the family dogs. Now Cullen would take the dogs into the basement away from the prying eyes of his wife, and he continued to drink, then torture the dogs either through beatings or stuffing them into strange places. By January of 1993, Adrian had had enough. She filed a domestic violence complaint on January 11th. The police arrived and found that no real harm had been done.

It was more a cry for help. She revealed what had been happening to the dogs along with other disturbing news. Cullen had ceased taking medication for his depression and was drinking constantly now. He'd also begun cutting faces out of pictures, prank-calling funeral homes and refusing to turn the heater on in the long winter months. The police took a statement, but the complaint was dropped due to no immediate harm having taken place. The report, however, served as evidence when Adrian filed for divorce four days later on January 15. Lucky for Adrian, the documents went through, and on January 23rd, Colin received the divorce papers. Glad Adrian was able to get away. Who knows what else Colin might have done to those dogs, or even Adrian and the kids?

Indeed. What do you think Colin was going through at this time? Well, shock, I'd imagine. I don't believe he could understand why she was leaving him, or at least that's what he told himself. But there he was on the cusp of having a quiet, balanced life. Now, once again, he was alone. Are you sure? Perhaps he wanted to be alone. Perhaps, yet down the road you'll see him desperately trying to find affection in extreme ways. Cullen moved out of his house and took up residence in a basement apartment in central Phillipsburg. There, Cullen made another attempt to take his life on January 31, 1993. He swallowed a handful of pills, downing them with a cheap cabernet wine.

Cullen survived, however, and was sent to the Behavioral Health Unit at Mullenburg Regional Medical Center in Bethlehem. Pennsylvania. He would be released a week later on February 5, 1993. After his release, he went back to work at Warren Hospital. The hospital took little note of him being sent to a psychiatric facility. Cullen resumed his work as if nothing had happened. Yet his demeanor had changed. He was more distant from his coworkers. Eccentric was a term they used. But they didn't really think much of it, other than he was just a man who was going through a messy divorce. Despite eccentricities, Cullen tried to date again. He became infatuated with fellow nurse Michelle Tomlson. The two went on a date, and Michelle didn't see any reason to continue seeing him. Cullen, however, had found the new object

of his desire. Soon he began buying Michelle food and expensive gifts. Michelle told Cullen to stop, yet Cullen persisted. He even tried to propose to her. Meanwhile, on March 3, 1993, Cullen resumed his killing spree, taking the life of Lucy Muggeverro. Lucy was 90 years old. Unlike his past victims, Cullen used a drug called dejoxin. Dejoxin is a powerful cardiac medication that's hard to trace without specifically testing for it. It increases heart activity and can induce heart failure in strong doses. Cullen got away with Lucy's death, but was later caught up in a different sort of crime. On September 1st, 1993, Cullen was arrested for breaking into his crush Michelle's house in the dead of night.

She and her infant son were asleep when they heard glass break. Michelle immediately dialed 911 and went to investigate. To her shock, Cullen was waiting for her in the kitchen. She talked with him until the police arrived. Cullen was taken to jail and soon released with a court date set for August 10, 1993. He pleaded guilty and paid a hefty fine along with me. being served a restraining order. Charles attempted suicide the very next day on August 11th. Again, what do you think is going through his mind?

Well, powerlessness. Cullen was on top of the world, and now it was all crashing down. His depression was quite severe at this time, along with his idea of victimhood. It probably wasn't long before he would try to take back that power through murder. On September 1, 1993, Cullen killed Mary Natoli. with a dejoxin overdose. She was 85 years old. Again, he slipped into her room unnoticed, tampered with the IV bag, and moved on, like a ghoul in the night. He wouldn't try to kill again until October. A woman by the name of Helen Dean had been brought in for breast cancer surgery and was recovering nicely. Her son, Larry, was there when Colin entered the room. It was strange,

as Colin wasn't her nurse, and Helen had been cleared to leave for later in the day. Cullen asked Larry to leave while he took care of her. Larry was confused but obliged. Later that day, Helen was released and returned home. Sadly, Helen went into cardiac arrest and died at her house. Larry was furious. Larry complained to the hospital and brought in a county prosecutor to investigate Cullen. Cullen was subjected to two lie detector tests and passed both.

To further add insult to injury, Helen's body was exhumed, and she was cleared of signs of poison. The hitch was the coroner didn't test for DeJoxson. Had he done that, Cullen might have been stopped. Despite being investigated for murder and having been arrested for a stalking of fellow nurse, Cullen was never fired from Warren. In fact, he quit on December 1, 1993. He didn't feel comfortable working there anymore.

What are your thoughts on that, Vanessa? Well, he knew he couldn't continue to operate there. Too much attention was on him, so it was best to pack up and move on. Following his departure from Warren, Colin's divorce was finalized on December 7, 1993. Adrian had full custody of the children, but Charles was allowed unsupervised visits.

Four months later, Charles was accepted at Hunterden Medical Center in New Jersey in April of 1994. He became part of the intensive care unit. Shortly after that, he got his Pennsylvania nursing license in June. He worked hard at Hunterden. keeping a low profile. His work even earned him a nursing award for diligence in October of 1994. For two years, Cullen remained quiet at Hunterdon. He even started an affair with a married nurse, but things changed yet again in 1996. From January of 1996 to July of that same year,

Cullen killed five patients at Huntington Medical. Most of his victims were again elderly, aside from Catherine Dext who was 49. Still, all of them had been killed with that same signature drug, DeJoxin, and all at random times. He quit Hunterton, however, not because he was under investigation, but because his girlfriend dumped him. He left in October 1996. He immediately went to work for Morrison Memorial Hospital in November, but was fired in August 1997 for poor performance. Two months later, Colin attempted suicide. He'd fail once again and be taken to war in hospital ironically.

When doctors tried to do blood work, Cullen lashed out. Sounds like he was worried they'd poison him, like he had done to his victims. Well, that's an interesting point, considering Cullen would file a complaint later about being abused while having blood work done. He was later admitted to Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, only to once again be released a few days later. After his release, Cullen started work at Liberty Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Again, he worked as a care nurse starting in February of 1998. It wouldn't take long, however, before he tried to gain another victim. Francis J. Henry was the senior brought into liberty for rehabilitation following a car crash. His nurse, Kimberly Pepe, saw to it that Francis

was well attended to. Francis shared the room with another patient, whose nurse was Cullen. Kimberly paid little mind to Cullen, but started to notice Cullen was looking at Francis's chart more often than not. Then on May 8, 1998, Francis was taken to Warren Hospital for an insulin overdose. He died 11 days later due to complications brought on from that overdose. Liberty immediately set out to question Nurse Pepe. Pepe denied giving Francis any form of insulin the night before, but she noted Colin had been in and out of the room constantly. She knew Colin was already under investigation for stealing medication and pointed the finger at him. The hospital refused to hear her claims, however, and fired her in May of 1998. Pepe couldn't believe it. There was no evidence

to incriminate her and plenty of suspicion on Cullen, yet they chose to use her as the scapecoat. So how is it Cullen was able to get away Scott Free again? Well, at the time, there was a serious nursing shortage in America. Hospitals took what they could get, and background checks were not required as they are today. Cullen was even hired out of psychiatric ward to be on call. As to why, the hospital didn't want to actively accuse Cullen, but that might be a trickier thing. Hospitals at this time had to be extra careful with what they said about their nurses and their activities. They had to be absolutely sure of any claims made against one of their staff. Otherwise, such claims could be taken as defamation of character or even slander. Both could put

the hospital in liability. So while they couldn't prove Cullen was guilty, they didn't have to keep him on staff, thus it was better to fire him, give neutral references, and move on. Either way, it always comes back to the money. So, Cullen was operating at a time where he basically had impunity, no matter his actions. That sounds pretty crazy. Tragically, yes, he found a way to slip through the cracks and continue his vile pension for death. Meanwhile, Charles would work for an additional five months before being fired in October of 1998. He was charged with violating medication protocols after he broke a patient's arm.

Charles had walked into the room with syringes, yet walked out carrying nothing. Nurses investigated and found the injured elderly patient with no injections and a broken arm. He was reported to the State Health Department, yet nothing further was done. Cullen had gotten away again. At this point, Charles had killed over 20 patients

and had been kicked out of five hospitals, but his reign of terror was far from over. Grusome stuff. And so terrifying, considering we all have at one point or another been in a hospital or needed the help of a nurse. Yes, to think someone you would go to for help to be healed could secretly be plotting your death. I don't even want to think about it. Next week, we'll continue to look into Cullen's hospital hopping. The methods he used to cover his tracks and his ever-growing list of victims.

We'll also see how the law finally caught up with Cullen, which led to an historic court case. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. If you want to listen to any previous episodes of serial killers, you can find them on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Spotify, or on our website, parcast.com, spelled p-arc-c-st-t.com. If you like what you hear, please leave a five-star review or tell us what you think on social media. We're on Facebook and Instagram as at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network.

It seems simple, but it really helps our show. next Monday as we continue delving into the twisted psyche of Charles Cullen. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler and developed by Ron Cutler. It is a production of Cutler media and is part of the Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Ron Shapiro, with production assistance by Joel Stein, Carly Madden, and Maggie Admeyer. Serial Killers is written by Michael Pendis and stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Richardson.

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A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.