One of the most interesting and horrifying serial killing cases I came across a few years ago was about the serial killer, Charlie Cullen.
Here's what I have surmised (I may be getting some of this wrong). Charlie Cullen was a nurse. He used to routinely kill patients by administering lethal doses of drugs. In the first hospital he was in, a patient on IV developed acute diabetes. When they took him to the emergency room he miraculously recovered. When he went back to his room he developed diabetes again. After a few rounds of this, someone began suspecting that there was something wrong in the room. The tested the IV fluid and discovered it had insulin. Then they discovered someone had used a hypodermic needle to inject the IV fluid packs with insulin. Now, this was so extreme that they didn't know what to do. Suspicion fell on the patient's relatives. Ultimately, they narrowed it down to Cullen and he basically said they couldn't prove it. They could not fire him, but the effectively stopped assigning him work. The chilling part is that just as he was being terminated, he found work at a different hospital where he could start again afresh.
He went on to move from hospital to hospital. In every hospital he served at, they ultimately became suspicious, often figured out he was involved, but never followed through, allowing him to leave, move on to a new hospital and start again.
He served as a nurse for 16 years before he was caught. He is known to have killed as many as 40 people but no one knows for sure. Some estimates suggest he may have killed as many as 300 people. Since he added poisons to IVs etc., it was often unclear when it was a natural death and when it was him. So, even he isn't sure of how many he may have killed. At 300 odd though, he is very close to being one of the most prolific known serial killers in history.
Now there is a book called "The Good Nurse" by Charlie Graeber about him. Here's an interview with the author on NPR. Chilling! It's startling how long he went undetected.
Here's what I have surmised (I may be getting some of this wrong). Charlie Cullen was a nurse. He used to routinely kill patients by administering lethal doses of drugs. In the first hospital he was in, a patient on IV developed acute diabetes. When they took him to the emergency room he miraculously recovered. When he went back to his room he developed diabetes again. After a few rounds of this, someone began suspecting that there was something wrong in the room. The tested the IV fluid and discovered it had insulin. Then they discovered someone had used a hypodermic needle to inject the IV fluid packs with insulin. Now, this was so extreme that they didn't know what to do. Suspicion fell on the patient's relatives. Ultimately, they narrowed it down to Cullen and he basically said they couldn't prove it. They could not fire him, but the effectively stopped assigning him work. The chilling part is that just as he was being terminated, he found work at a different hospital where he could start again afresh.
He went on to move from hospital to hospital. In every hospital he served at, they ultimately became suspicious, often figured out he was involved, but never followed through, allowing him to leave, move on to a new hospital and start again.
He served as a nurse for 16 years before he was caught. He is known to have killed as many as 40 people but no one knows for sure. Some estimates suggest he may have killed as many as 300 people. Since he added poisons to IVs etc., it was often unclear when it was a natural death and when it was him. So, even he isn't sure of how many he may have killed. At 300 odd though, he is very close to being one of the most prolific known serial killers in history.
Now there is a book called "The Good Nurse" by Charlie Graeber about him. Here's an interview with the author on NPR. Chilling! It's startling how long he went undetected.
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