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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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-["You Are My Sunshine" playing]
-[birds twittering]
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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[tape recorder clicks]
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[man] You know, in my life,
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I've gotten a lot of happiness
out of helping people.
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So I thought
it would be a good thing for me
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to become a nurse.
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["You Are My Sunshine" continues playing]
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[ominous music playing]
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I started off working at night.
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I would find myself…
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feeling overwhelmed.
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Feeling like
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I couldn't watch people hurt.
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[ominous music intensifies]
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At times, the only thing I could do…
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was to try and end their suffering.
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I couldn't stop.
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[mournful music playing]
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[minor key] ♪ You are my sunshine ♪
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♪ My only sunshine… ♪
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[reporter 1] Breaking news now
from New Jersey.
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[reporter 2] The whole town is reeling
from the revelations.
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♪ When skies are gray… ♪
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[reporter 3] A nurse has been
murdering patients in a hospital
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in Somerset County.
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[reporter 4] The nurse may be
the most prolific serial killer
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in American history.
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♪ Please don't take my sunshine away ♪
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[ethereal music playing]
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I was a single mom,
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and I started working at Somerset
as a critical care nurse.
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My two daughters, I would drop them off
at school and drive to New Jersey.
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[woman] Oh, it was a great,
great little town.
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The hospital was the heart
of the community.
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I was young. I was energetic.
I was a little on the hyper side.
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I know one of the senior nurses
had banned me from drinking coffee.
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[laughs]
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Amy was really special.
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You know, it was always nice when we were
working on the same side together.
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I loved being an ICU nurse.
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Those patients, I loved feeling
like I was their protector.
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[monitor beeping]
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And I was going to do everything
that I could to make sure they were okay.
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[rapid beeping]
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We deal with death.
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We literally step
in front of the face of danger.
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It's a very precarious place to be.
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So we had to rely on each other.
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And Charlie was the best teammate.
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I loved working with him.
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He was an excellent nurse,
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and he always had a way of saying
something that would make me laugh.
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The three of us worked together
most of the time.
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Get another IV.
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We were named The Three Musketeers.
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[Donna laughs]
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We worked together really well.
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[chuckles softly]
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[whispers] Charlie.
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[Amy chuckles]
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After that came out,
I called him the Somerset spokesmodel,
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which he was.
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And everyone saw that flyer.
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Everyone associated Somerset
Medical Center with Charles Cullen.
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He has his quintessential smirk,
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and you can even tell
from that particular photo
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he's very proud
that someone wants to take his picture
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and someone's asking his opinion.
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You know, I always felt
that he was the boy that was bullied.
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That was the air that I got from him.
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And I always wanted to protect him.
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[pensive music playing]
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[woman] My brother, Florian,
always wanted to be a priest.
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I think people might have said
that, you know, he was shy,
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but when it came to things
that he felt strongly about,
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he was very passionate.
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He was not only a brother, but a friend.
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One day, he called me
about two o'clock in the morning.
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He said, "I'm having
some trouble breathing."
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So I said,
"Fine, I'll meet you at the hospital."
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He was going to Somerset.
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The doctor in the ER saw him.
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But he was getting
very, very short of breath.
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They came and said
that they had to intubate him.
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I remember Reverend Gall
because he was there for quite some time.
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[steady beeping]
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And his sister
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was always at the bedside.
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[ventilator hisses]
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The doctor said,
"He made it through the night."
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"Let's give it time, you know.
We're being cautiously optimistic."
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"He seems to be better."
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"He's stable."
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I remember being there and saying,
"Well, Florian, I'm gonna go."
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And I could see he, like, perked up.
Like, you know, he heard me.
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[monitor beeping]
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[ventilator whirring]
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[Amy] Reverend Gall was getting better.
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He had actually been moved
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from one area of the ICU over to the CCU.
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[ventilator whirring]
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[ominous music playing]
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[music intensifies]
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[rapid beeping]
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[rapid beeping fades]
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I was shocked when I heard
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he'd coded and died,
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because he was doing better.
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[phone call ringing]
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[woman] Thank you for calling
the New Jersey Poison Control Center.
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Please stay on the line. A poison
specialist will be with you shortly.
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[man] Poison Control Center,
can I help you?
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[nurse] Hi, I'm calling
from Somerset Medical Center.
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We're trying to investigate
a toxicity that occurred in a patient.
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We had gotten a call at the poison center
from a nurse who was asking about Digoxin.
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Digoxin is normally used
to treat heart failure.
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It would strengthen your contraction.
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It would make it stronger.
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But as that level gets higher and higher,
your heart rate starts to slow down.
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And you die.
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She tells me that she has a patient
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who hadn't gotten their dose of Digoxin
in about two days,
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but the level is continuing to climb.
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And I said, "That makes no sense."
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[nurse] That was on the 16th.
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On the 28th, in the same unit,
we had another Dig-toxicity.
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-[Bruce] Same unit?
-[nurse] Yeah.
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[Bruce] First thing I think of
is lab error.
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[nurse] He-- He died.
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I said, "Anything else strange going on?"
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"Any patients with low blood sugars?"
What we call hypoglycemia.
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[nurse] Off the record, there were
two people in the hospital before this
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that went hypoglycemic really strangely.
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-[Bruce] Uh-huh.
-[nurse] And we were starting to panic.
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[Bruce] I'm gonna put it
right in your hands.
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You now have a police matter.
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[tense music playing]
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[phone call rings]
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[woman] At Somerset Medical Center,
patient safety comes first.
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[Bruce] Hi, I'm looking for Nancy.
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I'm just trying to follow up the outcome.
What did you decide to do?
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[hospital worker] Actually, administration
has kind of taken over the investigation.
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They've called in our attorneys.
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And they've asked me really not to talk
to any outside agencies at this point.
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[Bruce] So you don't know
if they've gone to the authorities yet?
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[hospital worker] I don't know that, no.
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[sighs]
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And I've probably shared
more than I should have right now.
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[call clicks]
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And then there was dead silence.
We heard nothing.
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On Friday, October 3rd,
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I received a call
from the Somerset County prosecutor
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about a death
that occurred at Somerset Medical Center.
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My on-call detective at the time
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happened to be Danny Baldwin.
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Danny was new into the office
and new into our unit.
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I felt a bit of pressure,
being the new guy.
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I wanted to do a good job
and show that I deserved to be there.
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[Tim] We weren't exactly invited
into a meeting.
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We were ordered into a meeting.
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[Danny] I felt tension in the air.
I realized I was sitting
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in the presence of high-ranking members
of the Somerset Medical Center.
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The administrators,
along with their legal team,
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had been looking into the deaths
of several patients.
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Mary Lund, a risk manager,
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turned out to be our point of contact
with the hospital
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with regards to this case.
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[Danny] Somerset Medical Center
had conducted an internal investigation
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surrounding incidents
where patients at that facility
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experienced abnormal laboratory findings.
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The first two incidents
were low glucose levels.
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The following two
were elevated Digoxin levels.
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So we requested also the internal
investigation that they conducted.
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The following day, after receiving
the internal investigation from Mary Lund,
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I was expecting to receive
a binder of information.
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[Tim] It was a document
written by an attorney.
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And it was very sparse.
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They did not uncover
any suspicious activity.
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They did mention a professional
registered nurse, Charles Cullen.
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but did not identify acts of foul play
or anything of that nature.
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But we did conduct
a routine background check.
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It came up with two arrests.
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Drunken driving in the 1980s,
and criminal trespass.
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[phone rings]
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I reached out to Palmer Police
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to try to get
some additional background information.
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As I was on the phone,
I can hear the clerk in the background
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rummaging through
what sounded like filing cabinets.
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And apparently, attached to the report,
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there was a stick 'em note.
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And that little stick 'em note
indicated that, a few months earlier,
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Pennsylvania State Police had requested
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basically the same information
I was seeking about Cullen.
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There was a Pennsylvania State Police
detective's name and phone number.
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I contacted the Pennsylvania State Police
and spoke with Trooper Egan,
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and he informed me that he was conducting
an investigation on Charles Cullen
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with regards to stockpiling medications
up at St. Luke's Hospital.
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[Tim] In our line of work,
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you come to learn
that things happen for a reason.
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Had that not been attached to the file…
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this case would not have exploded
the way it did.
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If, in fact, Cullen was involved…
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he still had access to the patients.
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We were up against the clock.
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[siren wailing]
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[tense music playing]
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[Tim] As Cullen became
a focal point of our case…
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Danny and I approached
individuals close to him.
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We started interviewing family members.
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We learned that Charles Cullen
was a very smart individual.
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A loving father, cared about his kids.
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[Tim] While they did not know
the scope of our investigation,
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they did not appear surprised that we were
knocking on their door, talking about him.
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[thunder rumbling]
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[uneasy music playing]
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[Cullen] I never really liked
being who I was.
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After my mother's death,
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I didn't cope with it very well.
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[thunder rumbles]
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[dog barks]
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Mother was the only person at that time
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that sort of kept a cushion
between what was happening in the house…
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[raised voices arguing]
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…and me.
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With her gone…
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[sniffles]
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I…
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I just felt very…
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unprotected.
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June of '87,
I graduated my nursing school.
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It was the only thing
I thought I could do.
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And I felt like I was helping people.
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[distant chatter]
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[phone rings]
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[Amy] I remember I was
at the nurse's station,
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and I checked my pulse,
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and I'm like, "Fuck!"
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About 180.
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And Charlie saw me.
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And he said, "Are you all right?"
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And I started to go down.
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He got me into a room,
sat me in one of the chairs,
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and he said, "What is going on?"
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So I explained to him
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what was really going on with me.
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[pulse whooshing]
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I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy
while I was working at Somerset.
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It would literally feel like my heart
was going to jump out of my chest.
251
00:18:43,831 --> 00:18:46,750
[rapid heartbeat]
252
00:18:46,834 --> 00:18:48,627
The medications weren't helping,
253
00:18:49,711 --> 00:18:52,089
and that disease can be fatal.
254
00:18:55,509 --> 00:18:58,929
My prognosis wasn't good.
255
00:18:59,012 --> 00:19:03,809
I didn't know really how much time
I was going to have with my daughters.
256
00:19:05,894 --> 00:19:09,273
But I didn't want anyone to know
that I was that sick.
257
00:19:09,356 --> 00:19:13,402
I was worried
about not being able to pay my bills,
258
00:19:13,485 --> 00:19:16,905
not being able to have insurance.
259
00:19:18,198 --> 00:19:20,367
And the only way
260
00:19:20,450 --> 00:19:25,330
that we were able to have insurance
was through our jobs.
261
00:19:27,166 --> 00:19:29,585
I trusted Charlie with that secret,
262
00:19:30,335 --> 00:19:33,547
even though if it got out,
it could cost me everything.
263
00:19:35,966 --> 00:19:39,887
He said, "We need to get you into the ER,"
and I'm like, "I can't."
264
00:19:40,679 --> 00:19:44,308
"I have three patients tonight.
I absolutely cannot."
265
00:19:44,391 --> 00:19:47,144
So he said, "Stay here."
266
00:19:47,227 --> 00:19:49,980
And when he came back…
267
00:19:52,024 --> 00:19:55,777
he opened his hand, and it was Cardizem.
268
00:19:58,906 --> 00:20:00,949
And I took it.
269
00:20:03,118 --> 00:20:06,538
I never really thought
about where he got the medication.
270
00:20:09,750 --> 00:20:13,629
That night, he not only
took care of my patients,
271
00:20:13,712 --> 00:20:16,298
he also documented for me.
272
00:20:19,134 --> 00:20:20,385
He never told anyone.
273
00:20:21,094 --> 00:20:24,932
And that was not the only time
that he took care of me.
274
00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:36,735
After talking to Trooper Egan,
275
00:20:36,818 --> 00:20:39,613
it was learned Cullen had worked
at several other hospitals,
276
00:20:39,696 --> 00:20:44,243
so Tim and I began putting together
a timeline of Charles Cullen's career.
277
00:20:46,370 --> 00:20:48,413
I was able to get Charles Cullen's resume
278
00:20:48,497 --> 00:20:52,334
to backtrack every facility
that he had worked at.
279
00:20:52,918 --> 00:20:55,712
[Tim] Nine hospitals and one nursing home.
280
00:20:57,631 --> 00:21:01,093
We interviewed people
associated with Charles Cullen.
281
00:21:01,718 --> 00:21:06,890
We found out he had been known
to abuse his family pets, his dogs,
282
00:21:06,974 --> 00:21:10,644
and actually, in one case,
he may have poisoned one animal
283
00:21:11,645 --> 00:21:12,980
that was a family pet.
284
00:21:16,316 --> 00:21:20,070
They also referred to an incident
at Warren Hospital.
285
00:21:26,034 --> 00:21:28,745
While the details were minimal,
286
00:21:30,706 --> 00:21:32,124
it was through that tip
287
00:21:32,916 --> 00:21:36,878
that we went
to the Warren County Prosecutor's Office
288
00:21:36,962 --> 00:21:38,672
and learned about their case.
289
00:22:03,113 --> 00:22:05,073
My name is Sharon Jones,
290
00:22:05,157 --> 00:22:10,620
and I'm the niece of Helen Dean
and the cousin of Larry Dean.
291
00:22:12,205 --> 00:22:14,708
She was like a mother to me.
292
00:22:16,376 --> 00:22:19,421
And Larry and I
were like brother and sister.
293
00:22:21,173 --> 00:22:24,676
This is Larry's library, this room.
294
00:22:25,302 --> 00:22:28,555
It has his books, his pipes.
295
00:22:32,017 --> 00:22:36,605
Larry was very close with his mother.
Extremely close. Larry never married.
296
00:22:37,522 --> 00:22:40,525
His mother was everything.
His mother was his world.
297
00:22:43,945 --> 00:22:47,699
Helen went to Warren Hospital
for a procedure,
298
00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:52,162
and prior to being discharged,
299
00:22:52,746 --> 00:22:53,914
she was doing fine.
300
00:22:54,581 --> 00:22:59,419
They were going to send her
to the Coventry Center for rehabilitation
301
00:22:59,503 --> 00:23:01,046
so that she could go home.
302
00:23:01,129 --> 00:23:05,258
[slow, tense music playing]
303
00:23:05,342 --> 00:23:07,969
[Sharon] Larry was there,
visiting his mother,
304
00:23:09,513 --> 00:23:13,141
and this fellow came in, a male nurse,
305
00:23:14,351 --> 00:23:16,269
and asked him to leave the room.
306
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,733
The male nurse
pulled the curtain around her.
307
00:23:25,987 --> 00:23:30,700
[tense music playing]
308
00:23:34,413 --> 00:23:39,709
And Larry's out at the nurse's station
and he heard her holler, "Ouch!"
309
00:23:41,336 --> 00:23:43,630
He went into the room,
310
00:23:44,506 --> 00:23:46,550
the male nurse came running out,
311
00:23:47,050 --> 00:23:50,470
and he said to his mother,
"What happened?"
312
00:23:50,554 --> 00:23:52,597
She said, "He stuck me with a needle."
313
00:23:56,435 --> 00:23:59,771
Larry always carried a Swiss army knife,
314
00:23:59,855 --> 00:24:03,525
and he pulled out the knife
with the magnifying glass and looked,
315
00:24:03,608 --> 00:24:08,405
and sure enough, there was a prick mark
on her anterior right thigh.
316
00:24:12,742 --> 00:24:17,914
Later in the afternoon, they took her
by ambulance, did the transport,
317
00:24:18,748 --> 00:24:24,546
and Larry stopped at home on the way
to pick up her slippers,
318
00:24:24,629 --> 00:24:28,467
and he no sooner got in the door
and the phone rang.
319
00:24:29,718 --> 00:24:31,511
And it was the Coventry Center
320
00:24:32,471 --> 00:24:34,848
telling him that his mother had died,
321
00:24:36,516 --> 00:24:40,145
within, like, five minutes upon arrival.
322
00:24:44,691 --> 00:24:49,488
My cousin that night
went to the prosecutor's office
323
00:24:49,571 --> 00:24:52,824
to report that his mother was murdered.
324
00:24:54,034 --> 00:24:56,411
And Larry knew in his heart and his soul
325
00:24:57,204 --> 00:25:00,499
that this man who was in her room,
326
00:25:00,582 --> 00:25:04,628
who she identified before she died
327
00:25:05,504 --> 00:25:09,216
as the man giving her a lethal injection…
328
00:25:12,385 --> 00:25:15,931
So they did toxicology testing.
329
00:25:16,473 --> 00:25:22,437
They tested for every single drug
you could imagine, except one.
330
00:25:22,521 --> 00:25:23,522
Digoxin.
331
00:25:32,948 --> 00:25:35,617
The Warren investigation was closed.
332
00:25:36,284 --> 00:25:37,869
They did have suspicion,
333
00:25:37,953 --> 00:25:41,122
but they did not have the evidence
to prove a criminal case.
334
00:25:42,082 --> 00:25:43,875
Cullen was allowed to move on.
335
00:25:45,252 --> 00:25:50,423
We found that
following the investigation at Warren,
336
00:25:50,966 --> 00:25:54,511
Cullen admitted himself
to a psychiatric facility.
337
00:25:58,014 --> 00:26:00,058
[rapid heartbeat]
338
00:26:00,141 --> 00:26:02,394
-[steady beeping]
-[ventilator hisses]
339
00:26:03,770 --> 00:26:05,564
[tape recorder clicks]
340
00:26:07,190 --> 00:26:10,860
[Cullen] I wanted very much to
341
00:26:12,237 --> 00:26:14,406
quit being a nurse
342
00:26:16,324 --> 00:26:18,243
after Warren Hospital.
343
00:26:20,870 --> 00:26:26,209
But they were telling me
that I was a deadbeat dad.
344
00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:34,926
That I had to continue
to support the children.
345
00:26:39,806 --> 00:26:46,104
I knew that if I was placed
in these situations,
346
00:26:46,187 --> 00:26:51,151
that I would feel the need to…
347
00:26:52,319 --> 00:26:53,653
to end suffering.
348
00:26:56,698 --> 00:26:58,617
I didn't know
349
00:27:00,243 --> 00:27:01,411
how to say it.
350
00:27:01,494 --> 00:27:02,412
[sniffles]
351
00:27:04,581 --> 00:27:08,001
What was happening,
what I was feeling, what I was doing.
352
00:27:08,835 --> 00:27:09,961
[tape recorder clicks]
353
00:27:27,729 --> 00:27:30,106
Most of us start our lives in hospitals,
354
00:27:30,190 --> 00:27:34,027
most of us will end our lives in hospitals
and we'll visit them throughout.
355
00:27:34,569 --> 00:27:35,654
They're universal.
356
00:27:36,613 --> 00:27:39,783
But those who staff the hospitals
for the most part,
357
00:27:39,866 --> 00:27:41,201
especially the nurses,
358
00:27:42,661 --> 00:27:46,331
they really are treated
as interchangeable parts.
359
00:27:48,583 --> 00:27:52,003
Staffing agencies often are filling slots.
360
00:27:52,879 --> 00:27:54,798
People are filling in all the time.
361
00:27:54,881 --> 00:27:59,969
People come and go,
and being transient is somewhat expected.
362
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:06,309
The institution of private, for-profit
healthcare, the business of healthcare,
363
00:28:07,686 --> 00:28:10,772
is one that Charlie Cullen
was perfectly suited for.
364
00:28:12,649 --> 00:28:13,900
You become invisible,
365
00:28:14,734 --> 00:28:18,071
and he was, to many, a man without a face.
366
00:28:27,622 --> 00:28:30,625
[Tim] The idea that a nurse might be
harming or killing patients
367
00:28:30,709 --> 00:28:32,252
was very disturbing,
368
00:28:33,962 --> 00:28:37,674
but even though Cullen's background
was painting a dark picture,
369
00:28:38,758 --> 00:28:41,511
we knew our prosecutor
would not sign an arrest warrant
370
00:28:41,594 --> 00:28:43,388
based on hearsay and rumors.
371
00:28:46,850 --> 00:28:48,935
[Danny] He was a public safety risk
at this point.
372
00:28:49,728 --> 00:28:53,815
It was very concerning for us that he was
still working at Somerset Medical Center
373
00:28:53,898 --> 00:28:57,402
while we were continuing to gather
enough information to make an arrest.
374
00:28:59,904 --> 00:29:01,448
[Amy] Donna and I were noticing
375
00:29:01,531 --> 00:29:05,869
that our lab results
were completely skewed.
376
00:29:10,415 --> 00:29:15,044
And I could hear other nurses also calling
377
00:29:15,128 --> 00:29:19,674
and saying, "Yep,
my blood sugar's 22 again this morning."
378
00:29:23,470 --> 00:29:26,181
We thought there was
something wrong with the lab.
379
00:29:27,515 --> 00:29:32,103
And if we weren't sure about something,
380
00:29:33,313 --> 00:29:35,899
we would go straight to Charlie
and ask him.
381
00:29:37,358 --> 00:29:42,697
He knew medications
like I have never seen.
382
00:29:45,366 --> 00:29:50,288
I think he had a passion for understanding
the way that medications worked.
383
00:29:52,999 --> 00:29:58,171
[tense music playing]
384
00:30:02,175 --> 00:30:05,428
[Cullen] I used Digoxin because…
385
00:30:09,057 --> 00:30:11,935
it would work…
386
00:30:15,146 --> 00:30:17,357
over a period of a couple hours.
387
00:30:20,985 --> 00:30:22,779
The nurses I was working with…
388
00:30:25,156 --> 00:30:27,242
they didn't know what was going on.
389
00:30:29,452 --> 00:30:30,453
I wish
390
00:30:32,205 --> 00:30:35,500
I was stopped years ago.
391
00:30:38,002 --> 00:30:39,587
I thought I would be.
392
00:30:44,717 --> 00:30:47,846
We needed to build a case.
393
00:30:50,348 --> 00:30:53,601
Medical homicides are a bitch to work.
394
00:30:54,769 --> 00:30:56,563
They're tough cases to prove.
395
00:30:57,897 --> 00:31:00,900
[Danny] There's no eyewitnesses,
there were no cameras,
396
00:31:01,526 --> 00:31:04,279
and we did not have any crime scenes
that were preserved.
397
00:31:07,073 --> 00:31:10,660
I visited Mary Lund, the risk manager
at Somerset Medical Center.
398
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,956
I asked her whether or not
there were any more documents.
399
00:31:17,292 --> 00:31:20,086
She told me she had given us
everything she had.
400
00:31:27,093 --> 00:31:31,264
[Tim] When we went back to Warren Hospital
to see if there were records available
401
00:31:31,890 --> 00:31:35,935
that we could delve deeper into,
the documents had been destroyed.
402
00:31:37,061 --> 00:31:38,229
It was a dead end.
403
00:31:45,403 --> 00:31:47,989
We were kind of like fish floundering.
404
00:31:52,660 --> 00:31:56,664
My stress level
was noticeable to my loved ones
405
00:31:56,748 --> 00:31:59,792
and, you know, people around me.
406
00:32:03,463 --> 00:32:06,299
We were desperate
for a breakthrough in the case.
407
00:32:10,803 --> 00:32:11,721
We needed help.
408
00:32:12,722 --> 00:32:14,515
We needed outside help.
409
00:32:16,309 --> 00:32:22,023
[phone call ringing]
410
00:32:23,983 --> 00:32:27,111
[woman] Thank you for calling
New Jersey Poison Control Center.
411
00:32:27,195 --> 00:32:30,865
Please stay on the line and a poison
specialist will be with you shortly.
412
00:32:30,949 --> 00:32:33,493
[Bruce] New Jersey Poison Control Center,
can I help you?
413
00:32:34,953 --> 00:32:40,166
Got the call, and it was a detective from
the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office,
414
00:32:41,042 --> 00:32:43,378
who basically was asking about Digoxin.
415
00:32:45,463 --> 00:32:48,716
I said, "Are you calling
about Somerset Medical Center?"
416
00:32:49,467 --> 00:32:52,845
Absolute dead silence on the phone,
417
00:32:53,554 --> 00:32:57,767
and he said, the detective said,
"What are you talking about?"
418
00:32:58,267 --> 00:33:02,313
I said, "We've been telling them they have
a murderer on their hands for a while."
419
00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:06,943
And he said, "I'm gonna be
down in your office in about 15 minutes."
420
00:33:15,994 --> 00:33:17,954
Bruce said, "Damn tootin'
we know about it."
421
00:33:18,037 --> 00:33:20,623
"We've been trying
to get somebody to be involved."
422
00:33:20,707 --> 00:33:22,959
They said, "Are you willing
to talk to us?"
423
00:33:23,042 --> 00:33:26,504
That's when Bruce got hold of me and said,
"Are you willing to talk to them?"
424
00:33:26,587 --> 00:33:28,339
I said, "Damn straight."
425
00:33:31,467 --> 00:33:35,138
[Tim] We got to Dr. Marcus's office,
426
00:33:35,221 --> 00:33:39,267
and as soon as he greeted us,
he said words to the effect,
427
00:33:39,350 --> 00:33:42,729
"Where have you been?
You should've been here months ago."
428
00:33:43,479 --> 00:33:44,605
[tape recorder clicks]
429
00:33:45,314 --> 00:33:46,691
[phone call ringing]
430
00:33:46,774 --> 00:33:49,986
[Tim] He had a recording
of phone calls he had with the hospital.
431
00:33:52,697 --> 00:33:54,032
[woman] Who's speaking?
432
00:33:54,115 --> 00:33:56,325
-[Bruce] Good morning.
[Mary] Hi, is this Bruce?
433
00:33:56,409 --> 00:33:58,870
-[Bruce] Yes, how are you?
-Hi, Bruce. This is Mary Lund.
434
00:33:58,953 --> 00:34:01,497
[Bruce] Hi. Dr. Marcus will be here
in one second.
435
00:34:01,581 --> 00:34:04,834
As Tim and I listened to the recordings,
it became apparent to us
436
00:34:04,917 --> 00:34:08,296
that the hospital wasn't telling us
everything that was going on.
437
00:34:08,379 --> 00:34:09,505
[Bruce] Here he is.
438
00:34:09,589 --> 00:34:13,009
[Mary] Dr. Marcus,
could you kind of summarize
439
00:34:13,092 --> 00:34:15,303
what you've already spoken to Nancy about?
440
00:34:16,345 --> 00:34:20,391
Dr. Marcus had been in touch
with the hospital months earlier.
441
00:34:21,184 --> 00:34:25,313
[Dr. Marcus] If there is somebody
out there that is purposely doing this,
442
00:34:25,855 --> 00:34:30,777
if you don't report it to the police
and somebody else dies…
443
00:34:31,527 --> 00:34:33,321
I would not waste time.
444
00:34:35,364 --> 00:34:36,783
-[man] Okay.
-[Mary] All right.
445
00:34:36,866 --> 00:34:38,659
[man] Well, we appreciate your input.
446
00:34:40,703 --> 00:34:45,792
It took three more months before
the hospital made any notification to us.
447
00:34:46,626 --> 00:34:48,211
And even at that,
448
00:34:48,294 --> 00:34:53,049
the information they provided us
at the start of the investigation
449
00:34:53,132 --> 00:34:54,175
was minimal.
450
00:34:56,552 --> 00:34:59,305
I said it then, I'll say it now.
451
00:34:59,388 --> 00:35:01,724
The hospital was covering up.
452
00:35:05,103 --> 00:35:07,105
[Bruce] They were afraid of being sued.
453
00:35:07,188 --> 00:35:10,316
If the word is, "Don't go there,
you have a high risk of death,"
454
00:35:10,399 --> 00:35:11,484
people aren't gonna go.
455
00:35:11,567 --> 00:35:13,945
Doctors don't want
to bring their patients there.
456
00:35:14,612 --> 00:35:16,823
Doctors don't want
to bring their patients there,
457
00:35:17,323 --> 00:35:19,200
community doesn't want to go there,
458
00:35:19,700 --> 00:35:21,661
the hospital's gonna lose a lot of money.
459
00:35:21,744 --> 00:35:22,870
[siren wailing]
460
00:35:22,954 --> 00:35:26,499
The hospital loses money,
and the board starts firing people.
461
00:35:27,917 --> 00:35:32,797
And they figured, "You know what?
Let's just sweep it under the rug."
462
00:35:38,928 --> 00:35:40,221
[Tim] Danny and I wondered,
463
00:35:40,304 --> 00:35:44,725
how many other hospitals where Cullen
had worked had been doing the same thing?
464
00:35:45,309 --> 00:35:47,353
Covering up and not reporting.
465
00:35:55,236 --> 00:35:57,947
We needed to know
what had happened at the other hospitals
466
00:35:58,030 --> 00:35:59,240
as soon as possible.
467
00:36:03,661 --> 00:36:06,873
So Danny went out
to meet the Pennsylvania State Police
468
00:36:07,373 --> 00:36:10,459
to glean deeper information
into their investigation.
469
00:36:11,836 --> 00:36:14,172
It went from that little stick 'em note
470
00:36:14,755 --> 00:36:18,593
with the Pennsylvania State Police
detective's name and number.
471
00:36:25,683 --> 00:36:28,060
[Danny] During my initial phone call
with Trooper Egan,
472
00:36:28,144 --> 00:36:31,856
he informed me that he believed
that medications were being stolen
473
00:36:31,939 --> 00:36:32,982
by Charles Cullen.
474
00:36:34,358 --> 00:36:36,360
But he didn't go into details
over the phone.
475
00:36:36,444 --> 00:36:37,737
It wasn't until after we met
476
00:36:38,613 --> 00:36:42,074
he began to tell us
everything that had transpired.
477
00:36:45,953 --> 00:36:49,290
[tense music playing]
478
00:36:49,373 --> 00:36:54,086
Trooper Egan, he was looking into
the mortality rate at St. Luke's Hospital.
479
00:36:56,631 --> 00:36:59,091
He showed me some of his reports.
480
00:37:01,177 --> 00:37:03,387
Then he informed me
that a nurse had advised him
481
00:37:03,471 --> 00:37:05,890
that Charles Cullen was killing patients,
482
00:37:06,432 --> 00:37:09,685
and that she had the courage
to tell what was going on.
483
00:37:17,652 --> 00:37:20,446
[woman] So this all started in 2002.
484
00:37:22,990 --> 00:37:25,493
I worked with Charles Cullen
485
00:37:25,576 --> 00:37:29,997
in a small ICU at St. Luke's Hospital
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
486
00:37:30,831 --> 00:37:35,419
We had a really nice, tight group
of people that worked well together.
487
00:37:37,922 --> 00:37:39,048
He was quirky.
488
00:37:40,466 --> 00:37:42,009
Had his oddities.
489
00:37:45,554 --> 00:37:49,141
But, you know,
ICU nurses are kind of weird.
490
00:37:51,978 --> 00:37:54,605
I was there the night
that he was taken out
491
00:37:54,689 --> 00:37:58,359
and was allowed to resign,
two or three o'clock in the morning,
492
00:37:58,985 --> 00:38:01,988
and everything was very hush-hush.
493
00:38:05,491 --> 00:38:06,784
A day or so later,
494
00:38:06,867 --> 00:38:08,703
I was calling one of my coworkers,
495
00:38:08,786 --> 00:38:11,706
saying, "Do you have any idea
what is going on here?"
496
00:38:12,373 --> 00:38:15,918
They told me that there were
more than 50 vials of medications
497
00:38:16,002 --> 00:38:18,296
that were found
discarded in the needle box.
498
00:38:18,379 --> 00:38:21,632
Many of them were unused,
but some were used.
499
00:38:23,342 --> 00:38:27,972
So I began to think about the whole thing.
500
00:38:32,268 --> 00:38:34,186
Prior to him being led out of there,
501
00:38:34,270 --> 00:38:39,066
there was a time, twice within a week,
almost exactly a week,
502
00:38:39,650 --> 00:38:43,612
I had had patients who were very stable
and they coded.
503
00:38:43,696 --> 00:38:47,325
[long, continuous beep]
504
00:38:47,408 --> 00:38:48,868
It didn't make any sense to me.
505
00:38:50,828 --> 00:38:54,790
So I compiled a list of all the people
who had expired during that time,
506
00:38:55,374 --> 00:38:59,295
and then I went back to gather the dates,
507
00:39:00,046 --> 00:39:02,048
the times, the names and so forth,
508
00:39:02,923 --> 00:39:04,175
put all that together.
509
00:39:07,762 --> 00:39:09,347
There were 67 deaths.
510
00:39:10,514 --> 00:39:12,808
I thought it was statistically reasonable
511
00:39:12,892 --> 00:39:16,020
for Charlie to have been on duty
for a quarter of them,
512
00:39:16,103 --> 00:39:17,855
so it came out to around 17.
513
00:39:18,939 --> 00:39:20,316
I saw 40.
514
00:39:23,569 --> 00:39:27,990
More than twice the number
that would even statistically make sense.
515
00:39:29,283 --> 00:39:34,330
[gentle instrumental music playing]
516
00:39:34,413 --> 00:39:36,374
[ventilator hisses]
517
00:39:36,457 --> 00:39:40,753
I believe that there were two people
in particular of mine that he targeted.
518
00:39:41,253 --> 00:39:43,506
People that I had a real fondness for.
519
00:39:45,716 --> 00:39:47,343
One of them's name was Sam.
520
00:39:49,678 --> 00:39:51,806
And Sam was a huge man.
521
00:39:51,889 --> 00:39:55,434
His hands were like baseball mitts.
He was enormous.
522
00:39:56,769 --> 00:39:59,563
And when he came to our unit,
he was completely locked in.
523
00:39:59,647 --> 00:40:03,859
He didn't open his eyes, he didn't talk,
he didn't respond in any way.
524
00:40:05,027 --> 00:40:10,741
And days into taking care of Sam,
all of a sudden, we heard this…
525
00:40:10,825 --> 00:40:12,076
[groans]
526
00:40:12,159 --> 00:40:14,161
I thought, "What in the world?"
527
00:40:14,870 --> 00:40:18,416
And it took us a little while
to realize that he was talking.
528
00:40:19,959 --> 00:40:23,921
It was this low, rumbling voice,
and this big, big man,
529
00:40:24,505 --> 00:40:26,340
and it took us hours to realize
530
00:40:26,424 --> 00:40:32,221
that he was very slowly saying,
"Oh, I love you."
531
00:40:33,764 --> 00:40:36,517
And he was responding,
whenever I was on duty, that way.
532
00:40:40,980 --> 00:40:43,315
And in a matter of days after that,
533
00:40:43,399 --> 00:40:46,986
he started singing "You Are My Sunshine"
when I'd be in the room.
534
00:40:47,069 --> 00:40:48,863
[woman humming "You Are My Sunshine"]
535
00:40:48,946 --> 00:40:51,949
[voice cracks] So a dear, sweet man.
And, um…
536
00:40:54,034 --> 00:40:55,619
he coded when Charlie was on.
537
00:40:55,703 --> 00:41:00,374
["You Are My Sunshine" playing]
538
00:41:00,458 --> 00:41:03,878
I reached out to my manager,
to my director,
539
00:41:03,961 --> 00:41:07,214
and said, "I am now sure
that he was killing people."
540
00:41:09,592 --> 00:41:10,968
And they all said, "Nope."
541
00:41:11,886 --> 00:41:13,387
"We are sure he wasn't."
542
00:41:13,471 --> 00:41:16,974
[ominous music playing]
543
00:41:17,057 --> 00:41:21,437
And said, "We've already investigated that
and we've ruled it out."
544
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:24,190
[mournful piano music]
545
00:41:24,273 --> 00:41:28,486
[minor key]♪ You are my sunshine ♪
546
00:41:28,569 --> 00:41:32,531
♪ My only sunshine ♪
547
00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:36,869
♪ You make me happy ♪
548
00:41:37,661 --> 00:41:39,705
♪ When skies are gray… ♪
549
00:41:39,788 --> 00:41:41,957
I drove home crying that morning.
550
00:41:42,041 --> 00:41:43,876
♪ You'll never know… ♪
551
00:41:43,959 --> 00:41:46,670
And I called a dear friend,
who was a police captain.
552
00:41:46,754 --> 00:41:49,507
♪ How much I love you… ♪
553
00:41:49,590 --> 00:41:51,509
I called him on the way home and I said,
554
00:41:51,592 --> 00:41:55,262
"John, I don't even know what
to do with this. I don't know what to do."
555
00:41:59,725 --> 00:42:04,104
"Nobody will listen.
Nobody's taking any action to stop him."
556
00:42:06,649 --> 00:42:10,027
But I am now absolutely certain
that he's killing patients,
557
00:42:10,110 --> 00:42:12,947
and not just one or two,
he's killing a lot of patients,
558
00:42:13,447 --> 00:42:15,449
and I can't get anybody to listen.
559
00:42:20,538 --> 00:42:24,416
And after multiple days
of trying to get the hospital to listen…
560
00:42:28,128 --> 00:42:30,381
we turned it over to the state police.
561
00:42:32,258 --> 00:42:34,093
But the investigation was very slow.
562
00:42:35,344 --> 00:42:39,431
And then I was on duty one evening,
563
00:42:39,515 --> 00:42:44,103
and the CEO of St. Luke's Hospital
called all the nurses into our lounge
564
00:42:45,396 --> 00:42:50,568
and announced
that the investigation was closed,
565
00:42:50,651 --> 00:42:56,407
and that the state police had found
that Charlie had not done anything wrong.
566
00:42:57,700 --> 00:43:01,745
After that, I started hearing
a lot of rumors amongst my coworkers.
567
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:06,959
Things like, "Whoever the nurse is
who reported this
568
00:43:08,502 --> 00:43:10,129
created a lot of havoc
569
00:43:10,212 --> 00:43:15,175
and nearly cost St. Luke's
the construction of their new site."
570
00:43:16,677 --> 00:43:20,681
To borrow money to do the construction,
571
00:43:20,764 --> 00:43:25,269
they had to report any potential lawsuits,
and that was their focus.
572
00:43:25,352 --> 00:43:30,357
They didn't want to be penalized.
They didn't want to lose money.
573
00:43:32,735 --> 00:43:37,031
It was easier to give Charlie
a nice reference and let him go on,
574
00:43:37,114 --> 00:43:40,367
rather than deal with the repercussions
of this whole thing.
575
00:43:43,329 --> 00:43:47,625
St. Luke's is a US top 100 rated hospital,
576
00:43:47,708 --> 00:43:51,920
an enormous ecosystem of healthcare,
and it was still expanding.
577
00:43:52,004 --> 00:43:56,425
They had a bond rating out
for a whole new campus at the time.
578
00:43:56,508 --> 00:43:59,136
They just wanted him out of there
as quietly as possible,
579
00:43:59,219 --> 00:44:00,804
whether, again, by…
580
00:44:01,597 --> 00:44:04,475
[hesitates] …by intention or coincidence,
581
00:44:04,558 --> 00:44:10,773
in a manner that was the most likely
to minimize danger of lawsuit.
582
00:44:10,856 --> 00:44:14,401
One that protected the institution
at the cost of protecting the patients.
583
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:19,114
Gall.
584
00:44:21,700 --> 00:44:26,664
The pattern we were seeing
with the cases involving Cullen,
585
00:44:28,582 --> 00:44:30,042
the one in Pennsylvania,
586
00:44:30,918 --> 00:44:34,546
the one in Warren,
with the Helen Dean incident,
587
00:44:36,507 --> 00:44:40,094
the investigations stopped
due to lack of evidence.
588
00:44:43,972 --> 00:44:48,602
The hospital administrators themselves
suspected that Cullen was up to no good.
589
00:44:48,686 --> 00:44:49,645
[Danny] Strickland.
590
00:44:50,604 --> 00:44:51,522
Hardgrove.
591
00:44:52,731 --> 00:44:53,649
Shanagher.
592
00:44:56,777 --> 00:44:59,029
[Tim] These types of incidents
followed Cullen
593
00:45:00,531 --> 00:45:02,449
in almost every place he worked,
594
00:45:03,242 --> 00:45:07,371
and we did not want our case
595
00:45:07,454 --> 00:45:10,499
to fall the way the other cases did.
596
00:45:14,545 --> 00:45:17,965
One of the things that I really wanted
to focus in on and look at
597
00:45:18,048 --> 00:45:19,591
was the Pyxis transactions.
598
00:45:19,675 --> 00:45:20,968
[mysterious music playing]
599
00:45:21,051 --> 00:45:26,306
The Pyxis machine is really a computerized
medication dispensing machine.
600
00:45:26,390 --> 00:45:27,641
[rapid beeping]
601
00:45:27,725 --> 00:45:31,687
I wanted to see what type of medications
Charles Cullen was withdrawing.
602
00:45:34,314 --> 00:45:38,444
During my first meeting with Mary Lund
back in early October,
603
00:45:38,527 --> 00:45:42,781
she informed me that the Pyxis
only held information up to 30 days.
604
00:45:44,241 --> 00:45:48,203
That seemed very odd to us.
605
00:45:51,373 --> 00:45:55,169
I actually contacted
the manufacturer in California.
606
00:45:56,336 --> 00:45:58,213
The representative was shocked.
607
00:45:59,089 --> 00:46:03,093
They said all data needed
was retrievable from the unit.
608
00:46:04,553 --> 00:46:07,389
We were being played
by the hospital administrators.
609
00:46:07,973 --> 00:46:10,517
It was flatly criminal,
what they were doing.
610
00:46:17,399 --> 00:46:19,943
[Danny] I immediately went over
to Mary Lund's office.
611
00:46:23,197 --> 00:46:26,575
And explained to Ms. Lund that
if she did not give us this information,
612
00:46:26,658 --> 00:46:29,953
that we were going to confiscate
the Pyxis machines
613
00:46:30,037 --> 00:46:32,915
and have the FBI forensic team
do a forensic analysis.
614
00:46:37,377 --> 00:46:39,004
Immediately after our conversation,
615
00:46:39,087 --> 00:46:41,507
she picked up the phone,
started making calls…
616
00:46:43,842 --> 00:46:46,094
and, uh, surprisingly… [chuckles]
617
00:46:46,178 --> 00:46:49,014
…she was able to retrieve
the information for me.
618
00:46:54,144 --> 00:46:56,271
[Tim] It was a crucial piece of evidence.
619
00:46:56,814 --> 00:47:03,612
We were able to put certain medications
in the possession of Charles Cullen
620
00:47:04,446 --> 00:47:09,326
at the time that particular incidents were
occurring with the patients on the unit.
621
00:47:10,327 --> 00:47:15,707
But we were a ways away
from actually charging Cullen,
622
00:47:15,791 --> 00:47:20,003
so we needed
to get him away from patients.
623
00:47:22,005 --> 00:47:26,301
With the information
we had gathered in his background,
624
00:47:26,885 --> 00:47:32,474
we came up with a discrepancy
in one of his job applications.
625
00:47:33,475 --> 00:47:37,688
We used that as the guise
for Somerset Medical Center
626
00:47:37,771 --> 00:47:39,481
to basically fire him.
627
00:47:45,112 --> 00:47:48,991
[Amy] He was led
out of the building by security.
628
00:47:54,621 --> 00:47:58,792
I was absolutely floored. Shocked.
629
00:48:01,295 --> 00:48:02,546
[Donna] "Why would you…"
630
00:48:02,629 --> 00:48:04,423
"Why would you get rid of him?"
631
00:48:07,009 --> 00:48:09,261
"Why would they fire such a good nurse?"
632
00:48:11,555 --> 00:48:14,683
And I went into protection mode.
633
00:48:16,602 --> 00:48:17,561
[short beep]
634
00:48:17,644 --> 00:48:21,565
[female voice] Saved message.
Monday, 6:57 p.m.
635
00:48:22,107 --> 00:48:25,235
Hey, Amy. This is Charlie.
Just returning your call.
636
00:48:25,319 --> 00:48:27,070
Um… Ugh, I--
637
00:48:27,154 --> 00:48:28,739
There's a big story to tell.
638
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:33,660
There was a big, big commotion.
Give me a call back, all right?
639
00:48:35,287 --> 00:48:41,001
When I called, I was like,
"Honey, what happened?"
640
00:48:43,086 --> 00:48:44,338
I was so upset,
641
00:48:45,088 --> 00:48:50,344
and he said that they fired him
642
00:48:50,886 --> 00:48:56,808
because he had not been
completely honest on his application.
643
00:49:00,771 --> 00:49:04,107
We talked for quite some time.
I was very concerned about him.
644
00:49:04,191 --> 00:49:06,193
He seemed depressed.
645
00:49:06,735 --> 00:49:09,738
I told him
that I would give him a reference,
646
00:49:11,156 --> 00:49:13,283
and that we would be okay.
647
00:49:13,992 --> 00:49:16,370
-[receiver clicks]
-[dial tone sounds]
648
00:49:21,166 --> 00:49:23,335
[Danny] Now Cullen was removed
from the hospital,
649
00:49:23,418 --> 00:49:27,631
it was time to speak with his co-workers
to see if anybody may have witnessed him
650
00:49:27,714 --> 00:49:28,966
doing something strange.
651
00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:34,137
[Amy] There were detectives at work,
652
00:49:34,221 --> 00:49:39,559
and they were asking
a whole bunch of questions.
653
00:49:41,269 --> 00:49:45,524
We start running things in our own minds.
All of us.
654
00:49:46,775 --> 00:49:49,069
If Charlie could get fired,
655
00:49:49,569 --> 00:49:52,114
then any of us could get fired.
656
00:49:54,950 --> 00:49:57,536
We wanted to move the process along
as fast as we could,
657
00:49:58,620 --> 00:50:03,166
but there was a request from the hospital
658
00:50:03,250 --> 00:50:06,378
that went through
my upper chain of command
659
00:50:06,461 --> 00:50:11,091
that a hospital administrative
representative would be present.
660
00:50:12,551 --> 00:50:17,931
As it turned out, Mary Lund
was the representative who sat in,
661
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:21,309
and the nurses feared
662
00:50:21,852 --> 00:50:25,981
truthfully cooperating
in front of their boss.
663
00:50:27,691 --> 00:50:28,859
We're getting nowhere.
664
00:50:29,860 --> 00:50:33,030
We had gone through
pretty much the entire staff
665
00:50:33,113 --> 00:50:36,908
and the one name that kept popping up
was Amy Loughren,
666
00:50:37,826 --> 00:50:39,453
the last to be interviewed.
667
00:50:40,203 --> 00:50:43,957
And I made the decision that I wanted
to be the one to interview Amy.
668
00:50:46,835 --> 00:50:49,629
[Amy] When I went in
to the little back room,
669
00:50:49,713 --> 00:50:53,383
Mary Lund, who was the risk manager,
670
00:50:54,342 --> 00:50:55,594
went in with me.
671
00:50:56,261 --> 00:51:01,099
She had coached me and said,
"Everything's gonna be fine."
672
00:51:02,309 --> 00:51:07,064
I just told him right out
that absolutely this is all just bullshit.
673
00:51:07,147 --> 00:51:09,191
I think I said "bullshit" a lot.
674
00:51:12,152 --> 00:51:14,029
And then, for some reason,
675
00:51:15,697 --> 00:51:17,199
Mary Lund had to leave.
676
00:51:20,619 --> 00:51:22,370
I was getting good vibes from Amy.
677
00:51:22,454 --> 00:51:24,664
I liked that she was defending her friend.
678
00:51:24,748 --> 00:51:28,418
So I felt that she would be
worth the risk of me showing her
679
00:51:28,502 --> 00:51:31,296
and revealing to her
some of the information that I had.
680
00:51:35,383 --> 00:51:39,387
He pushed a piece of paper
across the desk.
681
00:51:40,931 --> 00:51:42,891
It was Charlie's Pyxis printouts.
682
00:51:45,268 --> 00:51:47,979
She shook her head.
It was like a totally different person.
683
00:51:48,063 --> 00:51:51,066
It was like she let her guard down.
And she said, "Wow."
684
00:51:51,149 --> 00:51:53,485
Like she started thinking in her head,
685
00:51:53,568 --> 00:51:55,946
what I'm telling her
could possibly be truthful.
686
00:51:58,573 --> 00:52:01,993
[Amy] It was so obvious
687
00:52:02,577 --> 00:52:06,456
that there was something sinister
in that paperwork.
688
00:52:09,334 --> 00:52:10,460
I just blanked out.
689
00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:18,135
And my vision came in.
690
00:52:21,513 --> 00:52:24,307
I remember being at the nurse's station.
691
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:29,604
I saw a patient go into V-tach.
692
00:52:29,688 --> 00:52:32,107
[continuous beeping]
693
00:52:32,190 --> 00:52:33,900
I yelled out, "Code blue."
694
00:52:35,527 --> 00:52:36,653
I got to the room,
695
00:52:37,946 --> 00:52:40,824
and Charlie was already with this patient.
696
00:52:40,907 --> 00:52:43,702
[rapid beeping]
697
00:52:49,166 --> 00:52:53,170
And Charlie was injecting the patient.
698
00:52:57,716 --> 00:53:01,428
I asked Charlie,
"What medication are you giving?"
699
00:53:02,554 --> 00:53:04,055
And he said, "Lidocaine."
700
00:53:05,390 --> 00:53:07,392
And I thought that was odd.
701
00:53:08,685 --> 00:53:12,606
It was a moment, a brief moment,
702
00:53:12,689 --> 00:53:15,984
where I thought,
"Why is he giving lidocaine?"
703
00:53:17,277 --> 00:53:22,991
As we're in the middle of the code,
doing CPR, continuing with lidocaine,
704
00:53:23,491 --> 00:53:24,951
the resident arrives.
705
00:53:27,037 --> 00:53:29,789
I give him, as the code leader,
706
00:53:30,582 --> 00:53:33,668
"This is the progress of our code blue."
707
00:53:34,961 --> 00:53:39,466
And he said,
"Who gave this patient lidocaine?"
708
00:53:42,427 --> 00:53:46,056
I said, "I did. I gave lidocaine."
709
00:53:46,139 --> 00:53:49,226
"I'm the code leader.
I ordered lidocaine."
710
00:53:51,019 --> 00:53:56,274
He said, "She's allergic to lidocaine."
711
00:53:57,275 --> 00:54:02,405
[long, continuous beep]
712
00:54:13,208 --> 00:54:17,837
[sniffs] So I walked in on him
murdering someone, and I didn't…
713
00:54:18,630 --> 00:54:19,589
I didn't see it.
714
00:54:20,131 --> 00:54:22,175
[sniffs] And I didn't think about it.
715
00:54:25,971 --> 00:54:29,557
After I had that revelation,
716
00:54:30,475 --> 00:54:35,272
I watched Danny,
and I watched for his response.
717
00:54:36,940 --> 00:54:38,275
And Danny
718
00:54:40,235 --> 00:54:43,238
mouthed the words, "Will you help me?"
719
00:54:51,955 --> 00:54:54,207
I don't remember driving home that day.
720
00:54:54,291 --> 00:54:55,667
I just remember,
721
00:54:56,418 --> 00:54:58,586
when I got home, I called Donna.
722
00:55:01,631 --> 00:55:02,549
[tuts]
723
00:55:03,341 --> 00:55:04,759
[exhales deeply]
724
00:55:07,887 --> 00:55:11,683
It felt like a tidal wave, you know?
It felt like…
725
00:55:14,144 --> 00:55:15,103
[sighs]
726
00:55:17,188 --> 00:55:19,065
For the patients, the families…
727
00:55:22,485 --> 00:55:24,779
The fact that I trusted him.
728
00:55:26,406 --> 00:55:27,866
I really trusted him.
729
00:55:36,708 --> 00:55:41,212
[Tim] A day or so after the interview
with Amy Loughren,
730
00:55:41,755 --> 00:55:43,590
we decided to travel to her home.
731
00:55:45,050 --> 00:55:49,471
If we could convince Amy to work with us,
we'd have someone on the inside.
732
00:55:52,682 --> 00:55:54,517
[Amy] When they arrived at my house,
733
00:55:55,602 --> 00:56:01,274
Tim and Danny were looking
at all of this paperwork that they had
734
00:56:01,775 --> 00:56:03,568
as a completely different language.
735
00:56:03,651 --> 00:56:05,403
They didn't speak the language.
736
00:56:05,904 --> 00:56:09,949
And so they asked me
what I saw on the Pyxis printouts.
737
00:56:12,160 --> 00:56:14,454
And I saw
738
00:56:15,622 --> 00:56:17,749
multiple cancellations.
739
00:56:19,376 --> 00:56:23,963
Those cancellations
included deadly medications.
740
00:56:25,590 --> 00:56:28,009
So he would go in under a patient's name…
741
00:56:29,386 --> 00:56:31,304
he would push "Digoxin,"
742
00:56:32,138 --> 00:56:34,516
the drawer would pop open,
743
00:56:35,308 --> 00:56:39,312
and he would take some medicine.
744
00:56:44,275 --> 00:56:48,405
Then he would cancel
that particular interaction.
745
00:56:56,287 --> 00:57:00,208
As we are getting
into all of those conversations…
746
00:57:00,291 --> 00:57:01,334
[phone rings]
747
00:57:01,418 --> 00:57:02,627
…my phone rings.
748
00:57:05,588 --> 00:57:09,467
And it's the risk manager, Mary Lund.
749
00:57:12,595 --> 00:57:17,725
I was shocked, and a little suspicious.
Why is she calling me at home?
750
00:57:19,018 --> 00:57:23,356
And then she really started
questioning me about,
751
00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:27,277
had I spoken to the detectives
after our meeting?
752
00:57:28,319 --> 00:57:34,242
She then also advised me that it would be
a good idea to not talk to them
753
00:57:34,325 --> 00:57:38,496
unless there was a representative
from the hospital with me.
754
00:57:39,789 --> 00:57:43,460
Trying to scare me
away from talking to the detectives.
755
00:57:46,588 --> 00:57:48,840
While I'm talking to her on the phone,
756
00:57:48,923 --> 00:57:52,719
Danny and Tim are trying
to listen in on this conversation.
757
00:57:56,764 --> 00:57:58,266
I had a lot to lose.
758
00:58:00,351 --> 00:58:02,645
A career, a family.
759
00:58:04,189 --> 00:58:05,940
I had cardiomyopathy.
760
00:58:06,524 --> 00:58:10,195
I was worried about being disabled,
761
00:58:10,278 --> 00:58:14,115
about not being able to have insurance.
762
00:58:17,869 --> 00:58:21,789
I needed to talk to my daughter.
It had to be a family decision.
763
00:58:23,041 --> 00:58:27,045
So, when she came home from school,
we sat down,
764
00:58:28,296 --> 00:58:33,134
and I told her
that Mommy was working with someone
765
00:58:33,218 --> 00:58:37,138
that very possibly
could be hurting people,
766
00:58:37,931 --> 00:58:39,599
possibly killing people,
767
00:58:41,559 --> 00:58:44,604
and that I have an opportunity
768
00:58:44,687 --> 00:58:49,192
to perhaps prevent him
from hurting anyone else.
769
00:58:50,151 --> 00:58:55,823
She said, "If we have the opportunity
to maybe stop a killer,
770
00:58:56,533 --> 00:59:00,078
of course we have to stop him.
Of course we have to do this."
771
00:59:01,871 --> 00:59:07,168
An 11-year-old had more moral aptitude
772
00:59:07,252 --> 00:59:11,256
than someone who is responsible
for risk management.
773
00:59:21,349 --> 00:59:25,228
[Danny] Amy agreed to allow us to record
her conversations with Charles Cullen.
774
00:59:26,145 --> 00:59:31,734
[Amy] One of the essential roles for me
in the investigation
775
00:59:31,818 --> 00:59:35,863
was to keep
that relationship with Charlie.
776
00:59:37,532 --> 00:59:39,784
[Tim] We had a mass murderer on the loose
777
00:59:40,451 --> 00:59:41,953
and we had to make sure,
778
00:59:42,036 --> 00:59:44,581
one, he wasn't gonna take off
779
00:59:44,664 --> 00:59:47,792
and go somewhere
where we couldn't track him,
780
00:59:48,376 --> 00:59:52,088
or, two, find another position as a nurse
in another facility
781
00:59:52,714 --> 00:59:55,341
where he would go back to his old tricks.
782
00:59:57,969 --> 01:00:00,680
[Amy] We knew that he was
looking for a job.
783
01:00:01,347 --> 01:00:06,019
We knew that, emotionally,
he was becoming more depressed.
784
01:00:13,026 --> 01:00:15,153
It was hard, when I would hear his voice.
785
01:00:15,236 --> 01:00:16,279
I would feel like
786
01:00:17,071 --> 01:00:20,408
I was betraying him.
787
01:00:21,951 --> 01:00:24,078
But I just knew it in my bones,
788
01:00:24,829 --> 01:00:29,834
he was going to continue to kill,
and he would just get better at it.
789
01:00:42,513 --> 01:00:43,973
[Cullen] My mind raced.
790
01:00:45,767 --> 01:00:48,394
There was fear…
791
01:00:50,772 --> 01:00:52,148
of being caught.
792
01:00:56,069 --> 01:00:57,028
I couldn't stop.
793
01:01:00,573 --> 01:01:01,824
I had applied…
794
01:01:04,452 --> 01:01:06,245
for a full-time position
795
01:01:07,872 --> 01:01:09,415
at a different facility.
796
01:01:11,876 --> 01:01:15,380
And I knew that it would happen again.
797
01:01:28,267 --> 01:01:29,560
[Danny] Amy came to our office
798
01:01:29,644 --> 01:01:32,522
and gave us advice on patterns
we should be looking for.
799
01:01:35,316 --> 01:01:38,403
As I kept going there,
I really felt like I was part of the team.
800
01:01:40,154 --> 01:01:44,200
And I realized, maybe I was a small voice,
801
01:01:45,076 --> 01:01:49,330
but what I had was a language
none of them could speak.
802
01:01:52,458 --> 01:01:53,668
I also asked them,
803
01:01:54,252 --> 01:01:57,296
"Where's the charts from Cerner?"
804
01:01:57,380 --> 01:02:01,259
And Danny and I
kind of looked at each other
805
01:02:01,342 --> 01:02:03,803
and basically said, "Who is Cerner?"
806
01:02:03,886 --> 01:02:06,389
She said, "It's not, 'Who's Cerner?
What's Cerner?'"
807
01:02:08,057 --> 01:02:13,604
I said, "That's all of the records
of the patients."
808
01:02:16,274 --> 01:02:18,359
Without the Cerner printouts,
809
01:02:18,443 --> 01:02:24,115
it was going to be so hard
to put that syringe in his hand.
810
01:02:30,413 --> 01:02:32,123
When I went back to work,
811
01:02:32,206 --> 01:02:38,212
I started printing out the patient records
so that I could look at them.
812
01:02:40,006 --> 01:02:43,259
Apparently, when nobody was watching her,
813
01:02:43,760 --> 01:02:49,307
she would go to the computer and print out
reams of information about patients,
814
01:02:49,974 --> 01:02:54,020
knowing that she could have been
charged by the institution.
815
01:02:54,520 --> 01:02:57,023
That took a tremendous
amount of fortitude.
816
01:03:01,778 --> 01:03:04,655
[Amy] Putting myself under
that kind of stress,
817
01:03:05,364 --> 01:03:07,742
I was already concerned about my health.
818
01:03:11,954 --> 01:03:14,874
And yet I knew that,
819
01:03:15,750 --> 01:03:18,377
even if I was risking my life…
820
01:03:21,714 --> 01:03:23,257
I knew I had to help them.
821
01:03:26,385 --> 01:03:31,182
We used all of these
different pieces of information
822
01:03:31,265 --> 01:03:33,059
to cross-reference each other.
823
01:03:35,061 --> 01:03:38,564
It was a paper trail going back to Cullen.
824
01:03:40,399 --> 01:03:42,819
[Amy] If we could prove one death…
825
01:03:46,072 --> 01:03:47,031
we got him.
826
01:03:49,075 --> 01:03:50,326
[Danny] We needed a body.
827
01:03:50,993 --> 01:03:53,412
We needed to obtain Digoxin
from the tissue.
828
01:03:53,996 --> 01:03:56,666
We felt that Reverend Gall
was probably our strongest case,
829
01:03:57,166 --> 01:03:59,961
in spite of the fact
that he'd died several months prior.
830
01:04:01,546 --> 01:04:03,548
[pensive music playing]
831
01:04:14,350 --> 01:04:16,227
Never in a million years
832
01:04:16,310 --> 01:04:18,521
would I have thought
he would walk in my door
833
01:04:18,604 --> 01:04:21,107
and basically say,
"Your brother was killed."
834
01:04:23,568 --> 01:04:25,152
That moment, I was angry.
835
01:04:25,236 --> 01:04:27,363
Because I… [hesitates, scoffs]
836
01:04:27,446 --> 01:04:30,449
This is impossible.
This can't, you know… This can't happen.
837
01:04:33,619 --> 01:04:37,790
He said that they would
probably want to exhume the body.
838
01:04:37,874 --> 01:04:39,584
Would I give my consent?
839
01:04:42,295 --> 01:04:46,132
That's a lot
for any family to have to deal with.
840
01:04:47,133 --> 01:04:51,429
You know, and go through
a whole reburial again at the cemetery.
841
01:04:51,971 --> 01:04:53,764
You almost want to say,
842
01:04:53,848 --> 01:04:56,058
"Let him rest in peace."
843
01:05:01,022 --> 01:05:05,234
But I said, "It's not a problem.
I will give you my consent."
844
01:05:09,655 --> 01:05:13,826
I remember her telling me that her brother
spent his whole life helping people,
845
01:05:13,910 --> 01:05:18,873
and now, even in death, he has
the opportunity to help people as well.
846
01:05:22,960 --> 01:05:25,630
After the exhumation,
Reverend Gall's remains
847
01:05:25,713 --> 01:05:29,592
were transported to the state
regional medical examiner's office
848
01:05:29,675 --> 01:05:32,470
in anticipation of a, uh, autopsy.
849
01:05:35,097 --> 01:05:41,062
[Tim] Because of the amount of Digoxin
that was found in Reverend Gall's body,
850
01:05:42,396 --> 01:05:47,234
that gave us enough
to change the cause and manner of death
851
01:05:48,277 --> 01:05:54,033
from a natural death,
that the hospital reported, to homicide.
852
01:05:56,410 --> 01:06:02,500
But we were lacking a couple pieces
that a jury sometimes would like to see.
853
01:06:05,628 --> 01:06:06,796
Something physical.
854
01:06:07,588 --> 01:06:11,634
That syringe, or that IV bag
that was contaminated.
855
01:06:13,552 --> 01:06:15,221
It's not always that easy.
856
01:06:20,518 --> 01:06:21,978
[phone call ringing]
857
01:06:23,354 --> 01:06:25,856
[Amy] Charlie called me
858
01:06:25,940 --> 01:06:31,112
to tell me he was so excited
that he had gotten a job.
859
01:06:32,446 --> 01:06:36,075
So I called Tim to let him know.
860
01:06:38,077 --> 01:06:39,328
[Tim] If he took a job,
861
01:06:39,412 --> 01:06:43,374
the likelihood of Cullen
killing more people was very, very strong.
862
01:06:44,208 --> 01:06:45,543
We were out of time.
863
01:06:48,212 --> 01:06:51,799
[Amy] Without a confession,
he was going to continue to murder.
864
01:06:51,882 --> 01:06:53,759
He was going to continue to kill.
865
01:06:54,343 --> 01:06:58,180
So they asked me if I would meet with him
866
01:06:58,931 --> 01:07:00,391
and wear a wire.
867
01:07:03,769 --> 01:07:05,855
-[short beep]
[female voice] Saved message.
868
01:07:06,397 --> 01:07:09,066
Hey, Amy. This is Charlie.
Just returning your call.
869
01:07:09,150 --> 01:07:12,820
Friday's possible. I don't know
what time you were thinking of.
870
01:07:13,320 --> 01:07:15,740
But sure, yeah, I'd like to get together.
871
01:07:16,198 --> 01:07:17,033
[short beep]
872
01:07:17,116 --> 01:07:22,621
[slow, tense music playing]
873
01:07:22,705 --> 01:07:28,627
[Tim] We had Amy wired up,
and we were positioned in the parking lot.
874
01:07:31,714 --> 01:07:36,218
I was terrified.
875
01:07:38,679 --> 01:07:41,015
When I walked into the restaurant,
876
01:07:42,099 --> 01:07:44,852
Charlie hugged me for the very first time,
877
01:07:45,811 --> 01:07:48,355
and I was so afraid
878
01:07:48,439 --> 01:07:52,276
that he would feel that black box
879
01:07:52,359 --> 01:07:55,821
that was taped to the small of my back.
880
01:07:58,616 --> 01:07:59,950
-[Amy] How are you?
-[Cullen] Okay.
881
01:08:00,034 --> 01:08:01,077
-[Amy] Yeah?
-[Cullen] Yeah.
882
01:08:03,204 --> 01:08:07,124
There was a lot of background noise
in the restaurant, a lot of loud music.
883
01:08:07,625 --> 01:08:10,461
It was almost like a happy hour.
884
01:08:11,170 --> 01:08:14,632
[static hisses]
885
01:08:14,715 --> 01:08:17,301
[background chatter]
886
01:08:17,384 --> 01:08:19,845
[Cullen] I had a problem
when I first started out.
887
01:08:21,430 --> 01:08:23,390
An incident with low blood sugar.
888
01:08:25,184 --> 01:08:29,688
And at Warren Hospital, a patient had died
24 hours after I'd been her nurse.
889
01:08:32,566 --> 01:08:35,486
Someone said, the son had said,
that I injected her.
890
01:08:39,532 --> 01:08:41,367
[Amy] And what about Father Gall?
891
01:08:42,535 --> 01:08:45,246
What happened? Charlie, what happened?
892
01:08:48,332 --> 01:08:49,208
[Cullen] I can't…
893
01:08:51,544 --> 01:08:52,628
[Amy] I know you can.
894
01:08:54,088 --> 01:08:56,632
I see you, and I'm not stupid.
895
01:08:59,844 --> 01:09:00,719
So why?
896
01:09:02,138 --> 01:09:03,139
You're so good.
897
01:09:04,306 --> 01:09:05,141
Why?
898
01:09:07,101 --> 01:09:08,102
Let me help you.
899
01:09:08,185 --> 01:09:11,230
[ominous music playing]
900
01:09:12,022 --> 01:09:15,109
And then the wire itself went dead on us.
901
01:09:15,192 --> 01:09:16,986
[static crackles]
902
01:09:17,069 --> 01:09:19,780
-[static stops]
-[background chatter]
903
01:09:22,491 --> 01:09:24,201
[Amy] I said, "I know you did this."
904
01:09:24,285 --> 01:09:30,916
"I know you did this and everything's
gonna be okay. I still love you."
905
01:09:32,877 --> 01:09:34,670
But for the first time,
906
01:09:36,046 --> 01:09:38,090
it wasn't Charlie.
907
01:09:39,842 --> 01:09:41,302
He became very pale.
908
01:09:42,678 --> 01:09:43,971
He stiffened…
909
01:09:47,016 --> 01:09:47,975
turned his head.
910
01:09:52,021 --> 01:09:53,397
His voice changed.
911
01:09:57,526 --> 01:10:01,989
I was not with my friend Charlie.
912
01:10:02,489 --> 01:10:03,324
I was not.
913
01:10:04,450 --> 01:10:06,660
It was emptiness.
914
01:10:06,744 --> 01:10:08,162
It wasn't darkness,
915
01:10:08,245 --> 01:10:09,705
it wasn't a monster.
916
01:10:09,788 --> 01:10:12,082
It was just nothingness.
917
01:10:16,670 --> 01:10:19,882
He didn't care about me.
He didn't care about anything.
918
01:10:20,549 --> 01:10:24,303
He just said,
"I want to go down fighting."
919
01:10:25,095 --> 01:10:28,974
[ominous music playing]
920
01:10:33,896 --> 01:10:36,523
[Tim] If Cullen went free,
he'd be killing more people.
921
01:10:37,983 --> 01:10:39,944
You can't take chances with that.
922
01:10:41,862 --> 01:10:43,656
So Danny and I confronted him
923
01:10:45,199 --> 01:10:49,578
and asked him if he'd, uh,
take a ride with us.
924
01:10:49,662 --> 01:10:54,792
[sirens wailing]
925
01:10:54,875 --> 01:10:58,212
[Danny] And we advised him
that he was being placed under arrest
926
01:10:58,295 --> 01:11:00,089
for the murder of Reverend Gall.
927
01:11:06,804 --> 01:11:09,223
[Tim] Once Cullen was
brought into our office,
928
01:11:09,306 --> 01:11:11,392
we proceeded with the interview.
929
01:11:13,727 --> 01:11:17,898
[Danny] When Tim and I was talking to him,
it wasn't anything confrontational.
930
01:11:17,982 --> 01:11:20,609
It wasn't that we were yelling at him,
screaming at him.
931
01:11:21,110 --> 01:11:23,487
We were talking to him
like I'm talking to you now,
932
01:11:23,570 --> 01:11:26,282
and he just said, "I just can't."
933
01:11:26,365 --> 01:11:31,245
[Tim] He wrapped himself, pulled his knees
to his chest as if in a fetal position
934
01:11:32,162 --> 01:11:34,331
while he's answering us.
935
01:11:35,165 --> 01:11:39,712
And you can see him
literally holding in what's inside him.
936
01:11:40,796 --> 01:11:44,300
It was just there,
but just not coming out.
937
01:11:46,135 --> 01:11:49,596
We were still willing to give it more gas,
938
01:11:49,680 --> 01:11:53,767
but, you know, those observing us…
939
01:11:55,769 --> 01:11:58,897
uh, you know, said enough was enough.
940
01:11:59,481 --> 01:12:03,944
I felt our chance
with a confession was gone.
941
01:12:09,616 --> 01:12:10,993
I get a call from Tim,
942
01:12:12,244 --> 01:12:15,998
and they had devised a plan
943
01:12:16,081 --> 01:12:19,710
for me to talk to Charlie.
944
01:12:25,382 --> 01:12:28,677
And Charlie came in, shackled…
945
01:12:31,096 --> 01:12:32,389
in scrubs
946
01:12:33,557 --> 01:12:39,563
and his little laceless sneakers,
947
01:12:40,564 --> 01:12:41,440
and…
948
01:12:44,276 --> 01:12:45,277
I just
949
01:12:46,570 --> 01:12:47,571
lost it.
950
01:12:49,073 --> 01:12:51,283
Just seeing him that way.
951
01:12:53,035 --> 01:12:55,829
It was like seeing a child.
952
01:12:55,913 --> 01:12:59,625
I didn't feel anger toward him.
953
01:12:59,708 --> 01:13:01,919
I didn't feel
954
01:13:03,379 --> 01:13:04,922
like there was a monster.
955
01:13:05,547 --> 01:13:08,550
I felt like, once again,
956
01:13:09,301 --> 01:13:14,640
that wave of guilt, of betraying a friend.
957
01:13:16,892 --> 01:13:18,519
They took off his shackles,
958
01:13:19,561 --> 01:13:21,980
and Charlie and I just started talking
959
01:13:23,482 --> 01:13:24,358
like normal.
960
01:13:24,858 --> 01:13:31,323
Like it was perfectly normal for us
to just be sitting there on a couch,
961
01:13:32,783 --> 01:13:34,034
him in scrubs.
962
01:13:35,494 --> 01:13:38,914
It was just bizarre how ordinary it felt.
963
01:13:41,667 --> 01:13:44,128
But then, I thought about
964
01:13:45,963 --> 01:13:48,715
who I was really
supposed to be protecting.
965
01:13:50,801 --> 01:13:55,180
He had murdered
some of the most vulnerable people.
966
01:13:57,850 --> 01:13:59,226
They were tied down,
967
01:14:00,519 --> 01:14:01,645
medicated,
968
01:14:02,729 --> 01:14:04,606
unable to protect themselves.
969
01:14:04,690 --> 01:14:08,068
[steady beeping]
970
01:14:08,152 --> 01:14:11,905
It was my job to defend them,
and I hadn't.
971
01:14:22,416 --> 01:14:26,211
I knew I would do anything
972
01:14:27,880 --> 01:14:29,715
to get a confession out of him.
973
01:14:33,719 --> 01:14:35,095
And then I said to him…
974
01:14:37,347 --> 01:14:38,307
"My life
975
01:14:39,933 --> 01:14:42,186
as I know it is about to end,
976
01:14:42,269 --> 01:14:44,771
because I'm being implicated."
977
01:14:46,231 --> 01:14:49,193
"You get to be my hero today."
978
01:14:49,276 --> 01:14:51,778
"You get to do that. You do."
979
01:14:57,743 --> 01:15:00,829
"And I'm gonna ask you one question."
980
01:15:06,126 --> 01:15:06,960
"How…
981
01:15:09,379 --> 01:15:10,923
did you kill Father Gall?"
982
01:15:19,264 --> 01:15:23,268
And he said he injected him with Digoxin.
983
01:15:31,944 --> 01:15:33,779
[Tim] With that, we had enough.
984
01:15:34,571 --> 01:15:38,825
So we pulled her out,
and we brought him in to another room,
985
01:15:38,909 --> 01:15:40,160
our interview room,
986
01:15:41,078 --> 01:15:45,791
and basically told him,
"Now you can talk."
987
01:15:46,583 --> 01:15:49,294
My name is Detective Sergeant Tim Braun.
988
01:15:50,170 --> 01:15:52,506
With me is Detective Dan Baldwin.
989
01:15:52,589 --> 01:15:57,678
Today is Sunday, December 14th, 2003.
990
01:15:57,761 --> 01:16:00,681
The time is approximately 6:14 p.m.
991
01:16:01,306 --> 01:16:02,683
Did you have an opportunity
992
01:16:02,766 --> 01:16:05,185
to talk to a friend of yours
prior to going on tape?
993
01:16:05,269 --> 01:16:06,103
Yes, I did.
994
01:16:06,853 --> 01:16:10,315
Was it after that conversation
you had with your friend,
995
01:16:10,399 --> 01:16:14,820
you decided to talk to us
about particular incidents?
996
01:16:14,903 --> 01:16:16,071
Yes, it was.
997
01:16:16,154 --> 01:16:19,575
Let's talk about the matter
pertaining to Florian Gall.
998
01:16:20,117 --> 01:16:21,118
Uh…
999
01:16:22,244 --> 01:16:24,246
Are you responsible for his death?
1000
01:16:24,329 --> 01:16:25,247
Yes, I am.
1001
01:16:25,872 --> 01:16:28,041
And why is that, Charlie?
1002
01:16:28,709 --> 01:16:33,005
Um, because I injected him
with a medication called Digoxin.
1003
01:16:34,089 --> 01:16:35,716
How did that make you feel?
1004
01:16:37,384 --> 01:16:38,427
I…
1005
01:16:40,470 --> 01:16:43,015
I was relieved that he wasn't…
1006
01:16:45,100 --> 01:16:47,185
attached to all those machines anymore.
1007
01:16:49,354 --> 01:16:52,149
[Tim] We were hoping for
one confession at best.
1008
01:16:52,232 --> 01:16:55,902
We were not totally prepared
1009
01:16:57,821 --> 01:16:59,823
for the journey he took us on.
1010
01:17:00,574 --> 01:17:02,284
I felt very compelled,
1011
01:17:03,869 --> 01:17:08,123
very driven to end suffering as I saw it.
1012
01:17:09,124 --> 01:17:12,586
I would go long periods of time
with nothing, but then,
1013
01:17:13,337 --> 01:17:16,131
I would find myself getting back,
1014
01:17:17,341 --> 01:17:18,675
feeling overwhelmed,
1015
01:17:19,718 --> 01:17:26,308
feeling like I couldn't watch people hurt,
1016
01:17:26,892 --> 01:17:31,313
die, be treated like nonhumans.
1017
01:17:33,649 --> 01:17:36,151
I… have…
1018
01:17:36,568 --> 01:17:37,402
[sniffs]
1019
01:17:37,486 --> 01:17:42,199
…destroyed not only those people's…
1020
01:17:45,410 --> 01:17:47,788
God… destiny,
1021
01:17:48,955 --> 01:17:49,790
and…
1022
01:17:51,416 --> 01:17:55,170
caused probably a lot of suffering
of those families,
1023
01:17:55,253 --> 01:17:59,508
but I have also hurt people that I love
1024
01:18:00,717 --> 01:18:01,593
very much.
1025
01:18:02,427 --> 01:18:04,429
[cries]
1026
01:18:04,513 --> 01:18:07,307
And didn't, for the world,
want to do that.
1027
01:18:10,227 --> 01:18:11,061
I love…
1028
01:18:13,271 --> 01:18:14,856
my children very much,
1029
01:18:15,857 --> 01:18:21,405
and very much wanted to be
a part of their lives.
1030
01:18:23,490 --> 01:18:24,324
But I
1031
01:18:25,701 --> 01:18:27,744
just couldn't stop myself.
1032
01:18:29,496 --> 01:18:33,875
I did not want the people
to see me as this… what I am.
1033
01:18:35,419 --> 01:18:36,837
[Tim] What are you, Charles?
1034
01:18:38,338 --> 01:18:41,216
A person who was trusted,
1035
01:18:42,217 --> 01:18:45,804
and have been responsible
for a lot of people dying.
1036
01:18:53,729 --> 01:18:57,816
I contaminated IV infusion bags
with insulin.
1037
01:19:00,569 --> 01:19:04,072
I don't remember
the specific patients or whatever.
1038
01:19:06,950 --> 01:19:10,912
[Danny] Is there any particular reason
why you might do that? Just pot luck?
1039
01:19:14,374 --> 01:19:18,879
[Cullen] I guess the majority of patients
were very critical.
1040
01:19:20,881 --> 01:19:22,632
[Amy] I was waiting in a room
1041
01:19:22,716 --> 01:19:27,304
with the perfect view
on one of the monitors
1042
01:19:27,387 --> 01:19:32,184
when I heard he was using the bags.
1043
01:19:35,896 --> 01:19:39,733
I go back to those moments
1044
01:19:40,609 --> 01:19:43,195
where I picked up those bags.
1045
01:19:45,071 --> 01:19:49,201
I was the one
delivering those deadly medications.
1046
01:19:55,332 --> 01:19:57,834
All of the nurses,
all of the team members,
1047
01:19:57,918 --> 01:20:00,796
we prepared his victims for him.
1048
01:20:02,214 --> 01:20:05,967
And then we delivered his poison for him.
1049
01:20:08,720 --> 01:20:10,931
I wanted him to be a mercy killer.
1050
01:20:12,140 --> 01:20:14,267
I wanted to believe
1051
01:20:16,144 --> 01:20:18,647
he was putting people out of their misery,
1052
01:20:18,730 --> 01:20:20,065
but he was not.
1053
01:20:25,487 --> 01:20:28,532
[Tim] Many of the patients that he killed
1054
01:20:29,616 --> 01:20:31,409
were on the road to recovery.
1055
01:20:31,493 --> 01:20:32,744
In some cases,
1056
01:20:32,828 --> 01:20:38,375
patients were being prepared for discharge
because their condition had improved.
1057
01:20:43,213 --> 01:20:46,591
[Pat] This isn't anything
you can understand.
1058
01:20:47,634 --> 01:20:49,803
It isn't something you can reason.
1059
01:20:53,807 --> 01:20:57,644
One of the medications
that Charlie used was Vecuronium.
1060
01:20:59,271 --> 01:21:01,731
Vecuronium is a paralytic.
1061
01:21:03,608 --> 01:21:06,653
A person would be
completely alert and awake,
1062
01:21:07,153 --> 01:21:08,738
aware of what's going on,
1063
01:21:09,489 --> 01:21:13,535
but unable to speak, blink, breathe,
or anything else.
1064
01:21:14,244 --> 01:21:18,373
So they literally would be paralyzed
in their awake body,
1065
01:21:18,957 --> 01:21:21,585
unable to breathe
as they proceeded to death.
1066
01:21:23,545 --> 01:21:24,921
Just horrific.
1067
01:21:26,131 --> 01:21:31,553
[Tim] Can you tell us, in total,
throughout your entire 15, 16 years,
1068
01:21:31,636 --> 01:21:35,640
how many patients
have you helped to their death?
1069
01:21:36,725 --> 01:21:40,353
Um, possibly 30 to 40 patients.
1070
01:21:40,437 --> 01:21:42,772
[Tim] Okay, 30 to 40 patients in total?
1071
01:21:43,273 --> 01:21:44,107
Yes.
1072
01:21:46,526 --> 01:21:49,195
Good evening, everyone. I'm Jackie Hyland.
1073
01:21:49,279 --> 01:21:53,325
A former nurse at a hospital in New Jersey
is accused of killing his patients.
1074
01:21:53,408 --> 01:21:54,284
Lots of them.
1075
01:21:54,367 --> 01:21:57,621
If it's true what he says,
he left a trail of death behind him.
1076
01:21:57,704 --> 01:22:00,373
As he sees it,
he only helped people who were suffering,
1077
01:22:00,457 --> 01:22:03,293
but police call him
nothing more than a mass murderer.
1078
01:22:03,376 --> 01:22:06,588
Vanessa Tyler is in Somerville
with more on all this.
1079
01:22:07,839 --> 01:22:10,425
Well, this nurse
may have killed more people
1080
01:22:10,508 --> 01:22:13,678
than anyone else
in the history of New Jersey,
1081
01:22:13,762 --> 01:22:17,807
in a career spanning many years,
involving many hospitals,
1082
01:22:17,891 --> 01:22:19,726
including Somerset Medical Center,
1083
01:22:19,809 --> 01:22:23,605
where the nurse claims
to have killed a dozen people here alone.
1084
01:22:25,607 --> 01:22:29,152
[Donna] I think people were in shock
in general, as far as the staff.
1085
01:22:29,903 --> 01:22:35,533
But the community,
um, some of the older patients,
1086
01:22:35,617 --> 01:22:38,662
would make comments like, um,
1087
01:22:39,412 --> 01:22:44,834
"You're not gonna kill me
like Charles Cullen killed patients?"
1088
01:22:45,585 --> 01:22:49,547
The first time someone said that to me,
I went in the bathroom and cried.
1089
01:22:51,257 --> 01:22:55,553
Because he didn't represent who we were.
1090
01:22:58,390 --> 01:23:01,643
[reporter] Charles Cullen confessed
to killing a 40-year-old cancer patient,
1091
01:23:01,726 --> 01:23:04,020
and Catholic priest Father Florian Gall.
1092
01:23:04,854 --> 01:23:07,816
That brings the total
number of murders to 23.
1093
01:23:07,899 --> 01:23:10,068
He didn't show any remorse in court today.
1094
01:23:10,151 --> 01:23:13,321
I don't wish to be represented.
1095
01:23:13,405 --> 01:23:17,325
I don't plan to contest the charges.
I plan to plead guilty.
1096
01:23:36,678 --> 01:23:41,182
My late husband was in the hospital
and very ill 14 years before he passed.
1097
01:23:43,476 --> 01:23:44,894
My eldest grandson
1098
01:23:45,687 --> 01:23:48,189
was able to grow up with my husband,
1099
01:23:49,774 --> 01:23:50,984
knowing his Pop-Pop…
1100
01:23:53,528 --> 01:23:56,239
because my husband
lived through that crisis.
1101
01:23:58,199 --> 01:24:02,078
My husband had a tremendous impact
in his life and his values.
1102
01:24:05,999 --> 01:24:08,501
And that's what Charlie
took away from people.
1103
01:24:10,795 --> 01:24:13,131
He took away holidays
with their loved ones,
1104
01:24:13,214 --> 01:24:17,635
and graduations, and weddings,
and birthdays, and life lessons,
1105
01:24:17,719 --> 01:24:21,097
and all the things
for dozens, perhaps hundreds of people.
1106
01:24:26,728 --> 01:24:29,272
He stole from their families
and from them.
1107
01:24:36,071 --> 01:24:40,116
I guess I wanted
the opportunity to see him.
1108
01:24:40,200 --> 01:24:43,036
[man] Today is the sentencing hearing
for State v. Cullen.
1109
01:24:43,578 --> 01:24:48,875
[Lucille] And I wanted him to know
what kind of person my brother was.
1110
01:24:49,751 --> 01:24:55,090
Good morning. I'm the sister
of the Reverend Florian J. Gall.
1111
01:24:55,173 --> 01:24:59,344
He was a very shy,
humble, quiet, and caring man.
1112
01:24:59,427 --> 01:25:02,472
He was extremely trusting of others.
1113
01:25:03,389 --> 01:25:04,933
He never looked at anyone.
1114
01:25:06,309 --> 01:25:08,770
And I said,
"I'm ashamed that you were a nurse."
1115
01:25:08,853 --> 01:25:14,067
"I'm a nurse. We're taught to save lives,
not to kill people."
1116
01:25:14,150 --> 01:25:17,112
He never made a comment
to say, "I'm sorry."
1117
01:25:18,321 --> 01:25:19,614
[man] Your Honor,
1118
01:25:19,697 --> 01:25:22,951
Charles Cullen is charged
with the murder of Pasquale Napolitano.
1119
01:25:23,535 --> 01:25:25,787
I want to tell you
a little bit about my dad.
1120
01:25:26,788 --> 01:25:30,959
My dad was bigger than life. He nurtured
and supported me throughout my life.
1121
01:25:31,042 --> 01:25:33,795
You may have taken her physical body away,
1122
01:25:33,878 --> 01:25:37,215
but her spirit and character
is in this room now.
1123
01:25:37,966 --> 01:25:40,051
You don't even have the guts
to look this way.
1124
01:25:41,344 --> 01:25:42,262
It's a shame.
1125
01:25:43,221 --> 01:25:46,057
My heart, it aches for my son.
1126
01:25:46,141 --> 01:25:48,434
It bleeds for my son!
1127
01:25:52,605 --> 01:25:55,525
I walk around with a hole in my heart
1128
01:25:55,608 --> 01:25:57,694
that will never be filled again.
1129
01:25:58,528 --> 01:26:02,240
It's unbelievable that one person
could impact that many lives.
1130
01:26:03,241 --> 01:26:06,619
[cries] A registered nurse,
who is supposed to be a caretaker,
1131
01:26:06,703 --> 01:26:08,246
took the life of my brother…
1132
01:26:09,038 --> 01:26:09,873
[sniffles]
1133
01:26:09,956 --> 01:26:13,668
…for his own personal,
selfish, and twisted gain.
1134
01:26:15,253 --> 01:26:17,172
I am so lost without my brother.
1135
01:26:18,464 --> 01:26:21,217
When we were younger,
we did everything together.
1136
01:26:22,093 --> 01:26:23,928
[cries] He was my best friend.
1137
01:26:24,429 --> 01:26:31,394
[emotional music playing]
1138
01:26:39,569 --> 01:26:42,280
Larry had passed away in 2001…
1139
01:26:45,742 --> 01:26:50,288
hoping and praying
that this man would be found out.
1140
01:26:52,665 --> 01:26:57,837
And none of it happened
in his lifetime, unfortunately.
1141
01:27:01,132 --> 01:27:03,551
If only people had listened to him.
1142
01:27:05,303 --> 01:27:08,139
[judge] For these crimes
and for this betrayal,
1143
01:27:08,223 --> 01:27:13,186
you are sentenced to consecutive sentences
as set forth in the global plea agreement.
1144
01:27:13,269 --> 01:27:14,354
Do you understand?
1145
01:27:15,647 --> 01:27:17,857
-[mouths]
-[judge] Thank you all, then.
1146
01:27:18,399 --> 01:27:22,612
[reporter] Cullen has signed a plea deal
that will spare him the death penalty
1147
01:27:22,695 --> 01:27:25,573
if he participates fully
with the investigation.
1148
01:27:36,459 --> 01:27:39,921
[Tim] There are other people
responsible for the actions
1149
01:27:41,839 --> 01:27:44,509
of Charles Cullen, besides Charles Cullen.
1150
01:27:52,308 --> 01:27:54,352
[Cullen] Most of the hospitals
I've worked at…
1151
01:27:56,521 --> 01:27:58,982
they strongly suspected that there were
1152
01:28:00,358 --> 01:28:03,444
deaths associated with me.
1153
01:28:08,449 --> 01:28:10,243
[Tim] Why didn't they take it further?
1154
01:28:10,326 --> 01:28:12,996
[Cullen] I think they were worried
about the publicity.
1155
01:28:14,080 --> 01:28:18,126
[Pat] If protecting human life
wasn't a priority for them,
1156
01:28:18,918 --> 01:28:22,171
it's impossible to guess
how low someone could stoop
1157
01:28:22,255 --> 01:28:27,677
to protect their financial interest
and the interest of the hospital.
1158
01:28:30,596 --> 01:28:33,850
[reporter 1] There are many questions
about how he was apparently able to
1159
01:28:33,933 --> 01:28:37,270
get away with murder
in hospitals for so long.
1160
01:28:37,353 --> 01:28:41,024
[reporter 2] Dennis Miller is CEO
and president of Somerset Medical Center.
1161
01:28:41,107 --> 01:28:43,651
-Do you take any responsibility for this?
[Miller] Absolutely not.
1162
01:28:43,735 --> 01:28:47,530
We take responsibility for investigating
this guy, leading to his arrest.
1163
01:28:47,613 --> 01:28:50,074
I'm extremely proud
of Dr. Cors and Mary Lund,
1164
01:28:50,158 --> 01:28:52,118
who led the investigation at our hospital.
1165
01:28:52,201 --> 01:28:55,204
We're the first hospital to identify him,
leading to his arrest.
1166
01:28:55,288 --> 01:28:57,999
Could you have done
a more thorough background check?
1167
01:28:58,082 --> 01:29:01,878
Absolutely not. The problem is
the other employers that we called.
1168
01:29:01,961 --> 01:29:04,464
And we did
a complete criminal background check
1169
01:29:04,547 --> 01:29:07,508
and a complete reference check,
and everybody said the following.
1170
01:29:07,592 --> 01:29:10,011
He left in good standing
and his license was intact.
1171
01:29:10,094 --> 01:29:13,931
The question that gets asked,
how does somebody operate in a hospital,
1172
01:29:14,015 --> 01:29:16,267
how does somebody
kill people in hospitals,
1173
01:29:16,768 --> 01:29:19,270
over and over and over again for 16 years?
1174
01:29:20,396 --> 01:29:23,941
Again, nine hospitals and a nursing home.
Why didn't he get caught?
1175
01:29:24,776 --> 01:29:27,320
And the answer turns out to be, he was.
1176
01:29:27,403 --> 01:29:29,655
Over and over and over again.
1177
01:29:29,739 --> 01:29:35,536
And those that caught him, or had reason
to suspect that something was wrong,
1178
01:29:35,620 --> 01:29:36,996
um, they passed him on,
1179
01:29:37,705 --> 01:29:40,833
with positive or neutral references,
and he always found another job.
1180
01:29:41,584 --> 01:29:42,543
That's the scandal.
1181
01:29:42,627 --> 01:29:45,588
And Charlie Cullen
will spend the rest of his life in prison,
1182
01:29:46,547 --> 01:29:48,716
but those who passed him on,
1183
01:29:50,301 --> 01:29:53,429
those who are paid big bucks
to be responsible,
1184
01:29:54,305 --> 01:29:55,973
have never been held responsible.
1185
01:29:56,474 --> 01:29:59,310
They did a very good job at their job,
1186
01:29:59,394 --> 01:30:05,525
which was more to do with the institution
of private, for-profit healthcare,
1187
01:30:06,359 --> 01:30:07,485
but they didn't do good.
1188
01:30:07,985 --> 01:30:10,613
They didn't do good
by what that health system
1189
01:30:10,696 --> 01:30:12,031
is theoretically there to do,
1190
01:30:12,115 --> 01:30:15,868
which is to protect patients,
to provide patient care.
1191
01:30:15,952 --> 01:30:18,454
So they… they failed,
1192
01:30:18,538 --> 01:30:20,081
and have yet been rewarded
1193
01:30:20,164 --> 01:30:24,794
for their success in protecting
the institution over the patients.
1194
01:31:21,517 --> 01:31:25,521
[somber instrumental music playing]