WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:15.720 Tonight, you're going to come face to face with a 2 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:19.239 serial killer, one of the most prolific serial killers. 3 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:19.920 In US history. 4 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.239 They don't usually talk to reporters, and in the forty 5 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:27.120 five years of sixty minutes, we've never interviewed one until now. 6 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.160 Charles Cullen was a critical care nurse who admits to 7 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:32.640 killing up to forty people. 8 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:34.640 Some suspect it was a lot more. 9 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.479 The murders took place over sixteen years in seven different hospitals. 10 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:42.520 There were suspicions at nearly all of them that culin 11 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.759 was harming patients, yet none of them passed that information 12 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:50.799 on to subsequent employers. Newspaper headlines called him the Angel 13 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.679 of Death. But as you will see, Charles Cullen was 14 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:57.039 no mercy killer. Until we interviewed him a few weeks ago. 15 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.799 He'd never spoken publicly about his crimes, never tried to 16 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:04.560 explain why he did it, or even express remorse to 17 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:07.480 the families and victims when he finally faced them in court. 18 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:12.560 This monster didn't even know us or our son, but 19 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:14.560 had the audacity to end his life. 20 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:16.120 I like to tell you a little bit about my 21 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:20.719 mother that you murdered. You don't even have the guts 22 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:22.840 to look this way, do you, Charles? Why don't you 23 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:23.519 look up that up? 24 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:26.200 I like to show you what you did to our children. 25 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:28.079 This is their dad and is coughing. 26 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:29.359 How do you like that? 27 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:33.719 This was the scene seven years ago with the Somerset 28 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:37.359 County Courthouse in New Jersey, as Charles Cullen sat through 29 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:41.400 his sentencing hearing, refusing to speak or even acknowledge the 30 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:45.040 family members of people he had murdered. Even the judge 31 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:46.040 was exasperated. 32 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:49.519 Cullen, I asked you a question, why is it that 33 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:51.439 you have chosen not to address the court? 34 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:53.319 Can you hear me? 35 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:53.920 Mister Cullen? 36 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.280 He's kept that silence behind the walls of the New 37 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:01.920 Jersey State Prison in Trenton, where he is in protective custody, 38 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:05.799 to keep him safe from other inmates. Protecting himself from 39 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:09.680 his own demons has been more difficult. We found out 40 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:12.000 when we sat down across from him in a cramped 41 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.680 cubicle separated by a thick layer of glass, to talk 42 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:17.680 about the people he's killed. 43 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:19.719 Forty an arbitrary number. 44 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:24.439 Forty is an estimate. I gave a number between thirty 45 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:30.479 and forty. I think I have identified you know, most 46 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:30.960 of them. 47 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:36.840 Look, you pled guilty to murder. You don't use that word. 48 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:39.800 I think that I had a lot of trouble accepting 49 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:43.879 that word for a long time. I accept that that's 50 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:44.479 what it is. 51 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:46.759 Do you consider yourself a serial killer? 52 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:55.000 I mean, I guess it depends upon a person's definition. 53 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:58.439 If it's more than one in it, it's a pattern, 54 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:00.199 I guess then yes. 55 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:03.680 In Cullen's case, all of his victims were patients assigned 56 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.800 to hospital units where he worked as a nurse. They 57 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:10.240 ranged an age from twenty one to ninety one. Some 58 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:13.879 were critically ill, others were ready to be discharged when 59 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.400 Cullen injected them with drugs that would kill them. It 60 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.360 was a pattern that began twenty six years ago. It's 61 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:24.439 a Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, Colin's very 62 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:25.479 first nursing job. 63 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.319 I worked on the burn unit, So I mean there 64 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:32.080 was a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, and 65 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:35.439 I didn't cope with that as well as I thought 66 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:35.840 I would. 67 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.639 And that was the first place that she gave so 68 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:43.159 in medication and caused them to die. The patient was 69 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:46.120 John Yengo, a judge from New Jersey who was suffering 70 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.599 from a severe case of sunburn until Cullen injected him 71 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:51.800 with a fatal overdose of lightocane. 72 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:53.719 Do you remember the person? 73 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:58.199 I mean, I remember one, and that's the only person 74 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:00.360 I've been able to identify, But. 75 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.360 There could have been more. Saint Barnabas didn't know about 76 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.439 the patient Culin murdered, but it did suspect him of 77 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:09.599 trying to kill or harm half a dozen other patients 78 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:13.919 by randomly and repeatedly poisoning bags of sailine solutions. 79 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:17.199 Someone was spiking ivy bags with insulin in the storeroom. 80 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.079 Charles Graber a New York writer as well as a 81 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:24.360 former medical student and researcher. He spent seven years investigating 82 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:27.240 Cullin's murders for a new book called The Good Nurse. 83 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:30.800 Graber says a number of patients at Saint Barnabas went 84 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:32.959 into insulin shock and nearly died. 85 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:37.199 He was the main suspect for poisoning random bags of saline. 86 00:04:38.439 --> 00:04:41.759 He if you talk to the investigators there, they'll tell 87 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.000 you Colin was our man. We knew he was dirty. 88 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.000 They couldn't prove anything. It's all circumstantial. 89 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:48.160 They fire him. 90 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:49.160 He moved on. 91 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:53.959 When Cullin left the hospital. The insulin overdoses stocked at St. 92 00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:58.360 Barnabas. They could have had my license investigative and probably 93 00:04:58.480 --> 00:04:59.959 revoked at that point in time. 94 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:01.920 Should they have? Should they add? 95 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:02.160 Yes? 96 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.920 But instead of ending Charles Cullen's nursing career, Saint Barnabas 97 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:11.079 marked the beginning of a sixteen year killing spree. Cullin 98 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:14.480 would work at eight other hospitals and be suspected of 99 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:18.560 harming patients at six of them, but those suspicions never 100 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:22.959 reached subsequent employers, and Cullen continued to murder patients with 101 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:28.639 virtually impunity. In nineteen ninety three, prosecutors investigated Cullin for 102 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:33.040 murdering ninety one year old Helen Dean. An autopsy tested 103 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:36.560 for nearly one hundred medications, but not the one Cullen 104 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:39.800 used to kill her. A powerful drug called the jockst 105 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:44.120 or Ditch for short. It was Cullin's first weapon of choice. 106 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:47.600 Why did you like ditch ditch? You know? 107 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:50.879 Was it a very powerful cardiac medication? 108 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:53.240 What does it do to someone? 109 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:59.360 In small amounts, it slows the heartbreat down. In larger amounts, 110 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:03.360 it can call what's called complete heart block and then 111 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:09.199 the heart is very irregular, and you know it can 112 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.079 cause death. It does cause death in large amounts. 113 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:16.079 It was also readily available in critical care units, and 114 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:19.920 Cullen figured out ways to conceal his digoxin withdrawals from 115 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:24.800 an automatic drug dispensary system called Pixies, which required nurses 116 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:26.800 to type in the name of the patient and the 117 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:28.160 drug to be administered. 118 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:31.160 I wouldn't go in under ditch. I would go under 119 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:35.279 tile and all for another medication that would be in 120 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:39.360 the same drawer. So you know, there was no record 121 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:42.000 of me going in for ditch other than the fact 122 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:43.839 that you know it was in the same drawer. 123 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.959 How did you choose who you were going to give 124 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:48.920 this medication to. 125 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:52.560 It's difficult for me to go back in time and 126 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:55.639 think about what things were running through my mind at 127 00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:56.000 the time. 128 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:56.959 Was it personal? 129 00:06:57.319 --> 00:06:57.800 No? No. 130 00:06:58.120 --> 00:07:00.920 Did you get pleasure out of it? Satisfaction? 131 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:01.680 No? 132 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:08.560 I mean I thought that that people weren't suffering anymore, so, 133 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:11.079 in a sense, I thought I was. 134 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:13.319 Helping. 135 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.920 Culin suggested several times that his actions were merciful, but 136 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:21.879 the evidence doesn't support it. Sixty year old Eleanor Stecker 137 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.519 an asthma patient was recovering and in no pain when 138 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:30.680 Culin administered a fatal de Jockson overdose. College student Michael Straenko, 139 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.639 who suffered from an autoimmune disease, was recovering from what 140 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:38.160 his parents called routine surgery to remove his spleen. 141 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:42.839 My heart, it aches for my son, It bleeds. 142 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:43.560 For my son. 143 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:48.720 We vividly remember Charles Cullen walking into the waiting room. 144 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:52.079 He looked us right in the eye and stated how 145 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:55.759 Michael was gravely ill and people don't make it. And 146 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:58.720 my wife's told Culin, that's enough. You could leave. 147 00:07:58.800 --> 00:07:59.000 Now. 148 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:02.879 We're haunted by the memory of Charles Collin coming to 149 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:04.480 the waiting groom to get our reaction. 150 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:08.360 There were people that you caused to die who were 151 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:11.360 not near death and not suffering that much. 152 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:17.879 You know. 153 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:26.720 Again, you know, I mean, Michael here isn't to justify 154 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:29.120 you know, what I did to There is no justification. 155 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:37.559 I just think that the only thing I can say 156 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:40.360 is that I felt overwhelmed at the time. 157 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:44.480 Can you give us anything, Can you give the families anything, 158 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:51.559 any explanation for how this happened and why this happened? 159 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:57.200 Like I said, I can't. I just can't say that 160 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:01.600 it was more or less, you know, felt like I 161 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:09.240 needed to do something and I did, And that's not 162 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.559 an answer to anything. 163 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:16.200 Charles Cullen was the youngest of eight children and grew 164 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:19.120 up poor on this street in West Orange, New Jersey. 165 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:23.240 Protected by his mother. Cullin was seventeen when she died. 166 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.840 He tried to kill himself. He spent six years in 167 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.639 the Navy, most of them as a missile technician on 168 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:33.960 a nuclear submarine. He was miserable, felt bullied, tried to 169 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:38.919 kill himself again. After receiving a general discharge, he decided 170 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:42.360 to take up nursing. He got married and started a family, 171 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:47.879 but it all went sour. A messy divorce, custody battles, bankruptcy, 172 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:52.360 heavy drinking, more half hearted suicide attempts, and trips to 173 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:56.519 the psychiatric ward. That was Charles Cullen's state of mind 174 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:58.879 when he was killing people. And on the night he 175 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.279 finally confessed to the murders. 176 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:09.720 I tried to kill myself throughout my life because I 177 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:16.519 never really liked who I was, said I was worthy 178 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:17.519 of anything. 179 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:23.000 It was never about anyone but Charlie Collin. He did 180 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.919 what he did because of his own needs, his own compulsions. 181 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:30.759 Author Charles Graeber interviewed Colin more than a dozen times 182 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:34.279 for his book, and he remembers seeing words like paranoid, 183 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:40.080 major depression, hostile, passive, aggressive, and anti social on psychiatric reports. 184 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:44.360 He sees himself as a victim, and as a victim, 185 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:47.960 he's entitled to lash out in any way. He wants 186 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:53.600 to make things right. If that means killing patients, it 187 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:57.600 just anything justifies his Victimodey. 188 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.000 You said at one point that you thought it was 189 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:02.360 about power and control. 190 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:04.559 What do you mean If the rest of his life 191 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.399 was spinning out of control, if he was losing custody, 192 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:12.120 if he was feeling depressed, if his love life was 193 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:16.919 in the toilet, he could poison patience, He could save patients, 194 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:19.720 He could make decisions. He had an arena in which 195 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:25.360 he mattered and where his actions had definite consequence. 196 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:29.320 Here you have a person who tried to kill himself 197 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:32.879 at least twenty times, who was in and out of 198 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:37.559 psych wards, and on some occasions walked right out of 199 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.679 the psych ward and write into a job as a 200 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:40.879 critical care nurse. 201 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:44.000 Right He actually took a call asking him back on 202 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:45.600 shift from a psych ward. 203 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.120 Why wouldn't the hospitals do some background. 204 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:52.200 Checks well, partially because they weren't required to, and partially 205 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:56.000 because there was a nursing shortage on Charlie Collen looked 206 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:57.600 good by the end of his career. He was a 207 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:02.240 sixteen year veteran. He had recommendations, and for a hospital 208 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:06.240 to ask too much or say too much became a liability. 209 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:10.480 You can't penalize a nurse for seeking counseling, for seeking treatment, 210 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:16.240 for going to a rehab center successfully, and so because 211 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:17.679 of that, Charlie hid in those shadows. 212 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:22.840 When Colin was hired at Saint Luke's University Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 213 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:27.200 he'd been fired or forced to resign from five other hospitals, 214 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:29.639 yet none of this was in his file with the 215 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:33.879 state Nursing Board. By his own count, Colin had already 216 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.519 murdered eleven people and he would kill at least five more. 217 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:41.840 At Saint Luke's, nurses were suspicious, there were rumors about 218 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:46.200 his past, and Culin was caught red handed stealing lethal drugs, 219 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.679 but instead of calling the police, Saint Luke's brought in 220 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:51.279 a lawyer to confront Colin. 221 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.320 Do you think that they knew what you were doing 222 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:54.519 at Saint Luke's. 223 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:56.480 I think that they had a strong suspicion. 224 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:58.240 Did you expect to get caught? 225 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:04.159 Well, I think you can say I was caught at 226 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:07.960 Saint Parnabus and I was caught at Saint Luke's. There's 227 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:10.000 no reason that I should have been in practicing nurse. 228 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:12.159 After that, they offered you some kind of a deal. 229 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:17.440 They said, if you resign, we'll give you neutral references, 230 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:20.039 and I decided to go with that. 231 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:25.840 What is it about this system and about hospitals that 232 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:29.279 no one went to the police. No one really wanted 233 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:31.679 to find out what was going on. 234 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:34.039 They gave you an opportunity to leave. 235 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:39.080 I think because it's a matter of worrying about lawsuits. 236 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:42.200 If they pointed out that there was a problem, We're 237 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:45.080 going to be found liable for millions of dollars. So 238 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.000 they guess they just saw it was a lot easier 239 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:51.600 to not put themselves in a position of getting sued. 240 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:56.000 After Charles Cullen was escorted out the door of Saint 241 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:59.600 Luke's Hospital with no consequences, one of the nurses called 242 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:03.159 a friend that the Pennsylvania State Police with her suspicions. 243 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.519 And an investigation was begun. 244 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:08.039 By then, Cullen had already found another job at the 245 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:11.360 Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey. He would murder another 246 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.279 thirteen people there, but it would be his final stop. 247 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:16.559 That story when we come back. 248 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:27.240 In September two thousand and two, when Charles Cullen was 249 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.279 hired as a critical care nurse at New Jersey's Somerset 250 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:33.679 Medical Center. The hospital knew nothing about his dark past, 251 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:36.360 and didn't know that he'd been fired or forced to 252 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:39.120 resign at a half a dozen hospitals, or that he'd 253 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.679 been investigated by authorities for harming patients. And there was 254 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:46.120 no reason to suspect that Culin had murdered five patients 255 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:47.000 at his last job. 256 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:48.799 He was able to move from. 257 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.759 Hospital to hospital without so much as a bad reference. 258 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:56.440 Colin would kill another thirteen people at Somerset in thirteen months, 259 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:00.159 and try and kill three more before two detectives, eight 260 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:04.000 bureaucrat and a female nurse finally connected the dots. 261 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:07.320 You're under suspicion at Saint Luke's. 262 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:13.240 Yeah, you went off to Somerset and kept doing exactly 263 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:18.519 the same things, And it looks like to me that 264 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:19.600 you wanted to get caught. 265 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.440 I don't know. You don't know. 266 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:28.720 Because you know you're right. I mean, I continued, but 267 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:33.080 I was also I was also careful. I was also 268 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.440 deny any time anybody would have asked me. 269 00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:40.360 It was the suspicious death of a Roman Catholic priest 270 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:43.480 named Florian Gaull that set in motion the events that 271 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:48.440 would eventually expose Charles Cullen. Reverend gall had died unexpectedly 272 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:52.440 overnight while recovering from pneumonia, and the hospital discovered high 273 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:55.159 levels of the heart drug to Jockson in his blood. 274 00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:58.840 It was the second unexplained overdose in two weeks. 275 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:04.639 The bloodline were astronomical. They're way higher than you would 276 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:08.200 ever shoot for by using the drug therapeutically. 277 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:12.039 Doctor Stephen Marcus is the director of New Jersey's Poison 278 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:15.600 Control Center. He heard about the de Jockson overdoses when 279 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:19.320 a pharmacist at Somerset called his office asking for help 280 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:24.120 with some dosage calculations. The pharmacist also confided that two 281 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.799 more patients in the same unit had turned up with 282 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:28.840 abnormally high levels of insulin. 283 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:30.240 What's going through your mind? 284 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.279 My number one, two and three thought was that there 285 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:35.639 was something malicious going on in the institution. 286 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.120 In July of two thousand and three, Marcus set up 287 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:42.799 an urgent conference call with the hospital's medical director, doctor 288 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:46.399 William Cores, and taped the conversation, in which he told 289 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:50.519 the hospital to notify the authorities, the police matter. 290 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:54.000 What we're wrestling with is, you know, throwing the whole 291 00:16:54.039 --> 00:17:00.399 institution and the chaos versus responsibility to wintact pace from 292 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:05.759 further harm. And we have been trying to investigate this 293 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:08.759 to get the more information before we made any kind 294 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:10.799 of brush to you know, judgment. 295 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:15.119 If there is somebody out there that is purposely doing 296 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:15.599 this to. 297 00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:19.839 Individuals at your hospital, we have a legal obligation to 298 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:20.519 report this. 299 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:22.279 Okay. 300 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:26.920 Somerset Medical Center would eventually notify authorities, but it would 301 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.119 take the three long months. Do you know how many 302 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.480 patients died between those. 303 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.480 No, I don't know the number, but I do know 304 00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:37.799 that there were some patients that died in between them. 305 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:44.279 Five that we know of those, But those five deaths 306 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:47.960 will I'll remember them of the rest of my life. 307 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:52.640 Sorry, they didn't have to happen. 308 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:56.039 They should have been preventable. 309 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:00.880 Yes, it was October before Somerset County Detectives Tim Braun 310 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:04.759 and Daniel Baldwin finally met with hospital officials. They were 311 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:07.480 told about a half a dozen incidents in the critical 312 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:10.200 care unit. No one used the word homicide. 313 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:13.839 They had dropped a couple names on us with regards 314 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:16.680 to their own internal investigation that they claimed to have 315 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:21.440 conducted for several months, and they did provide us two 316 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:26.440 names in particular, but did not identify them as any 317 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.400 type of suspect or anything like that. 318 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:30.880 One of them was Charles Colin. 319 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:36.440 Yes, the detectives ran a routine background check on Charles 320 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:39.720 Colin and discovered that he'd been arrested for stalking a 321 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:43.720 female nurse and breaking into her apartment in eastern Pennsylvania. 322 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:48.000 The file there also contained a posted note saying that 323 00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:51.319 the Pennsylvania State Police had called just a few weeks 324 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:56.119 earlier asking similar questions. Detective Baldwin called the trooper who 325 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:58.359 made the inquiry and hit Petert. 326 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:01.640 After learn speaking with the trooper, he informed me that 327 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:05.559 his agency had conducted an investigation armister Colin with a 328 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:10.599 suspicion that he was murdering patients in Pennsylvania as well, 329 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:13.519 that he was using the joction to murder. 330 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:17.240 Patients, and you found this out with making two phone calls. Yes, 331 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:20.720 that was it. Do you think you had your man, yes. 332 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.599 Yes, But the detectives knew that proving it would be difficult. 333 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.200 A number of law enforcement agencies had tried and failed. 334 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.519 How helpful was the hospital in this investigation? 335 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:37.359 How helpful was the hospital? They were very helpful by 336 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:41.680 answering court issued subpoenas, and that was the extent of 337 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:42.799 their cooperation. 338 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.880 When the detectives asked to see computerized records from the 339 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:50.759 automated drug dispensary and the critical care unit, they say 340 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:53.519 the hospital told them that it was impossible because the 341 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:58.119 drug dispensing machine only stored records for thirty days. They 342 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:00.799 learned otherwise from the machines manufacture. 343 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:04.960 They lied to you, Yes they did. 344 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:07.880 They didn't want to give you records that turned out 345 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:09.319 to be crucial to your investigation. 346 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:12.440 Yes, that's correct. 347 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:14.559 Do you think they tried to obstruct your investigation? 348 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:17.920 They didn't try to help it, that's for sure. 349 00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:22.480 When the detectives informed Somerset that Charles Cullen was the 350 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:26.160 target of their investigation, the hospital fired him, not for 351 00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:30.240 harming patients, for lying on his job application. Did you 352 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:33.599 get the sense at Somerset, for example, that any of 353 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:36.039 your colleagues, any of the nurses, any of the doctors, 354 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:37.519 knew what was going on. 355 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:44.400 No, I mean, until you know I was fired, I mean, 356 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:50.759 nobody gave me any indication that anybody was suspicious. I mean, 357 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.480 the weird thing about Somerset Hospital was is that they 358 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:56.599 were planning on firing me the night before, so they 359 00:20:56.680 --> 00:20:58.680 let me work one more shift knowing that they were 360 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:00.880 going to fire me the next day. So they let 361 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:04.319 me work an additional shift with the suspicion that I 362 00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:08.279 had harmed patients, which is kind of bizarre thing to do. 363 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:10.480 Did you harm anybody that night? 364 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:10.799 No. 365 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:15.960 With Colin gone and the medical center uncooperative, detectives Brawn 366 00:21:16.039 --> 00:21:19.640 and Baldwin decided they needed an ally inside the hospital 367 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:22.880 to help them gather evidence to make their case. They 368 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.640 decided to approach Amy Ridgeway, a critical care nurse who 369 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:29.079 worked with Culin on the night shift and was his 370 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:30.640 best friend at the hospital. 371 00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:35.319 He was always early, always on time, crisp and sat 372 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:38.319 down and was very serious about getting to work. 373 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:40.440 Did you consider him to be a good nurse? 374 00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:41.640 I did. 375 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:46.119 When the detectives first interviewed Ridgeway, she was hostile and 376 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.640 upset that Culin had been fired, so they decided to 377 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:52.759 show her the evidence that they had gathered, the Pixis 378 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.759 record showing Cullen's drug withdrawals from the dispensary and his 379 00:21:56.920 --> 00:21:58.160 real employment history. 380 00:21:58.519 --> 00:22:00.240 Would you tell her? Do you remember? 381 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.240 I just told her that he was released from several facilities. 382 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:06.640 There were allegations about him at other facilities for doing 383 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:09.480 similar things that were going on at Somerset Medical Center. 384 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.640 Because at that point she realized this couldn't be a coincidence, 385 00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:14.039 and she offered to help. 386 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:19.920 Yes, Danny pushed this piece of paper across the table 387 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:28.200 to me, and it was the Pixis print outs. And 388 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:34.559 I was devastated. I knew, I knew he was murdering people. 389 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:39.039 How did you know that there were so. 390 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:47.079 Many withdrawals of lethal medications. There's no reason, no reason 391 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:49.000 except if you want to kill someone. 392 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:50.519 Were you angry? 393 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:55.759 I was sad for my patients. I was so many 394 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:59.640 things were going through my mind. I was sad I 395 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:03.799 didn't see it. I felt betrayed by my own intuition. 396 00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:08.240 Amy Ridgway, who later persuaded Colin to do the interview 397 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:12.240 with us, spent days analyzing medical records for the detectives 398 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:16.079 and schooled them on a computerized record system that would 399 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:21.240 help reconstruct Colin's activities on specific days. She recorded phone 400 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:24.559 conversations with Colin and wore a wire at a meeting 401 00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:28.119