Charles Cullen, was born in West Orange, New Jersey, on February 22, 1960, Charles was the youngest of eight kids in a working-class, Catholic family. Tragedy struck early when his father, a bus driver, passed away when Charles was just seven months old. Growing up, Charles often felt miserable and was frequently bullied at school and even at home by his sisters' boyfriends.
When Charles was only nine years old, he made his first attempt to escape his painful life by drinking chemicals from a chemistry set. Unfortunately, this marked the beginning of his long struggle with dark thoughts and actions.
Life delivered another cruel blow when his mother, who had moved to the U.S. from England after World War II, died in a car accident in 1977. Charles was just 17 and in his last year of high school. Losing his mother was a devastating event for him, and he was further distressed by how the hospital handled her death, choosing to cremate her body without his immediate knowledge.

After high school, seeking direction and perhaps a new start, Charles joined the United States Navy. He served on the submarine USS Woodrow Wilson and worked his way up to petty officer second class, responsible for operating Poseidon missiles. However, Charles struggled to fit in and faced bullying from his crewmates. His time in the Navy was marked by odd behavior, including an incident where he was found at the missile controls wearing surgical attire instead of his uniform. This led to several stints in the psychiatric ward, and eventually, he was medically discharged in 1984.
Hoping to find a new purpose, Charles enrolled in nursing school at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey. He did well academically, even becoming president of his class, and graduated in 1986. He then began working in the burn unit of Saint Barnabas Medical Center. It seemed like he might have turned a corner, but personal troubles continued to haunt him.

Charles got married in 1987 to Adrianne Baum, and they soon had two daughters. However, the marriage was rocky. Adrianne became increasingly alarmed by Charles's bizarre and threatening behavior, which included harming their pets and acting unpredictably around their children. By 1993, the situation had deteriorated so much that Adrianne filed a restraining order against him, fearing for the safety of herself and their daughters.

Charles Cullen was a nurse who worked in several hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where he committed a series of crimes that shocked the community. His story began in 1988 at Saint Barnabas Hospital, where he gave a patient a dangerous overdose of medication, leading to their death. This was just the start of a series of similar incidents. Charles confessed to harming many patients during his time there, including an AIDS patient whom he fatally overdosed with insulin. When the hospital started investigating mysterious issues with IV bags, Charles left the job in early 1992, as it was suspected he was involved in causing harm to dozens of patients.
Shortly after leaving Saint Barnabas, Charles found a new job at Warren Hospital. Here, he continued his harmful actions, giving lethal doses of heart medication to three elderly women. One of these women described Charles as a "sneaky male nurse" who injected her while she slept, but unfortunately, her concerns were not taken seriously at the time.
Charles's life outside of work was troubled too. He went through a difficult divorce and had to keep working to pay for child support, despite his desire to quit nursing. His behavior grew more alarming, including a break-in at a co-worker's home and stalking, which led to a police report and a guilty plea for trespassing.

Despite his personal and professional issues, Charles managed to continue working in healthcare. He worked at several hospitals, where he harmed more patients and attempted suicide multiple times. His method typically involved using medications improperly to cause overdoses. Despite suspicions and some evidence of his actions, it took years for his crimes to be fully recognized due to a lack of communication and reporting mechanisms among hospitals, as well as general reluctance to take decisive action against him.

In 2003, his pattern of behavior finally caught up with him at Somerset Medical Center. After he accessed medications and patient records suspiciously, the hospital started an internal investigation. This eventually led to his arrest and he was charged with multiple counts of murder. Charles later confessed to harming up to 40 patients over his career. In 2006, he received several life sentences and will not be eligible for parole.