Where Is The Real Charlie Cullen Now?

Hot on the heels of Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Netflix has yet another dramatized true-crime project. The Good Nurse tells the true story of a New Jersey medical practitioner named Charles Cullen, who used his position and access to moonlight as a serial killer — until he was brought to justice, thanks in part his coworker Amy Loughren. Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain star as the two opposing coworkers in the film.

Cullen is believed to have committed over 300 murders — which would make him the most prolific serial killer ever — during his 16-year career as a nurse, though he has only confessed to 40 of them (and only 29 have been confirmed by authorities). His murderous streak came to an end in 2003, when Loughren met with him after hours while wearing a wire, gaining enough evidence to warrant his arrest. Cullen was apprehended at a restaurant, after which he promptly admitted to committing at least two murders at the local hospital in Somerset, New Jersey.

More confessions rolled out as he was questioned by detectives. At the time of his sentencing in 2004, he plead guilty to killing 13 patients and to attempting to kill two more by lethal injection. So, where is the real Charlie Cullen today?

The 62-year old is currently serving 17 consecutive life sentences in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, meaning his earliest possible parole date is in 2403. Cullen was originally sentenced to 11 life terms in prison, but had six more added on when he asked the judge to step down repeatedly during a hearing. He ended up taking a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, and as a part of that deal, he is cooperating with authorities.

In 2013, Cullen tried to explain his actions and motive. “I thought that people aren’t suffering anymore, so in a sense, I thought I was helping,” he said from prison. “My goal here isn’t to justify. You know what I did there is no justification. I just think that the only thing I can say is that I felt overwhelmed at the time.” However, this motivation doesn’t fit with at least one victim named Florian Gall, who was recovering from pneumonia when Cullen injected him with a lethal dose of digoxin.