These claims of hundreds of murders by nurses and/or hospital workers are generally born out of the possibility that in the often uncontrolled world of hospitals and medical establishments pushing troubled nurses from one facility to another—without as much as sending along a report of previous suspicious behavior—the atmosphere provides the perfect space for a killer to develop his or her skills and become, essentially, an expert at killing without being detected. Charles Cullen went from hospital to hospital, killing and killing and killing. There’s no doubt about that. The number, however, is subject to close scrutiny.
Regardless of the numbers, the scariest part of it all is this: I am comfortable saying that this type of crime is taking place somewhere—if not several places—in the world today and is not being detected, or there are several coworkers suspicious, but they are not yet saying anything.
A good friend, former detective Tim Braun, president of Braun Consulting & Investigation, LLC,1 who helped me out during my investigation into the Atlantic City, New Jersey, prostitute murders I profiled on season one of Dark Minds (the “Eastbound Strangler” episode), was part of the team that investigated and arrested Charles Cullen. Tim is one of those topnotch, dedicated, and tenacious investigators who digs in and doesn’t let go until he has answers.
I asked Tim, who spent years investigating Cullen, how many Cullen killed, by his estimation. I considered these recent numbers of three hundred-plus to be going out on a limb.
Tim’s answer surprised me. “That’s not too far-fetched,” he said. “We always thought many more, but we never put a number on it. Just the way that he was doing it would lead you to believe it was more than the forty that he claimed.”
Tim emphasized that arresting and prosecuting Charles Cullen was a team effort. Although Tim and his partner arrested Cullen and interviewed him, there were scores of agencies, investigators, pharmaceutical professionals, prosecutors, and many others involved.
“We worked on the case with a team of people,” Tim clarified. “There were forty-plus people involved, who ultimately worked together to solve this case. My partner and I were in the right place at the right time and got the statement from Cullen. We did a lot of work, but it was not a two-man show, by any means.”
The date he first killed is unknown, but Cullen claims the first murder he can recall dates back to the late 1980s.
“He doesn’t even remember how many he killed,” Tim said.
I asked about the criteria they used in going back and looking at medical records to determine how many potential victims Cullen had. Insight into how Cullen killed, how he chose his victims, how long he killed for, is imperative to understanding Kristen Gilbert and what happened to me after Perfect Poison was published.
Tim and his team did a lot of the same things investigators in Gilbert’s case had done. They made charts of Cullen’s shifts, the wards he worked on, and the days he worked. The difference with Cullen, Tim maintained, was that he would “spike” bags of medicine stored for future use. Effectively, Cullen was killing without even being present inside the hospital when the poison was delivered.
I asked Tim if Cullen is the most prolific serial killer this country has ever seen.
“I’m not saying that,” he said, “because I don’t know. I’m saying that he killed more people than he told us he did. I cannot put a number on it.”
I wanted to know Tim’s opinion regarding the biggest differences—besides the most obvious—between serial killers such as Cullen and Gilbert and those serial killers lurking in the shadows of the night. You know, the ones who get all the media attention. We often think of the two as vastly different because of their methods and choice of weapon.
“It’s the environment they choose to work in and the victims they choose to kill,” Tim answered. “There’s a satisfaction, a gratification they get from doing what they do. I hate to say it’s common sense to think that way, but it is.”
Which, for my money, makes the nurse/caretaker serial killer the most dangerous killer out there.
Finally, Tim says, in his opinion, the reason Cullen has talked to the media (he gave an interview to 60 Minutes and the author of the recent book about him) is shame: “[It’s] the shame of getting caught. The shame that it will bring to his family, in his case, his daughters.”
Gilbert, apparently, didn’t feel the same shame.
What Tim later told me about Cullen had already proven itself to me as I embarked on my book tour to discuss Perfect Poison, back in 2003. I met with several patients who claimed to have had a run-in with Gilbert—that she had poisoned them. I was given dramatic documents. I heard countless anecdotal narratives of chilling scenes involving Gilbert and a patient, with Gilbert trying to poison him or her. Children of possible Gilbert victims sought me out and handed me photos of their loved ones, telling me they believed Gilbert, their family member’s nurse at one time, killed their family member. They were certain of it. I looked into the eyes of many family members, felt their pain, and understood their frustrations at getting nowhere with the hospitals in question. Ultimately I could only say sorry, there’s not much I can do at this point.
I was told Gilbert had been assaulting patients and poisoning them as far back as her first nursing gig at a Massachusetts hospital I do not wish to name. Time and again, I was told, Gilbert was continually around when cardiac arrests occurred. She always seemed to be there when a patient went from bad to worse to death.
After the book came out and I had heard countless stories of Gilbert trying to kill people, I asked one of the medical investigators hired to look at Gilbert’s entire history at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Leeds to give me a number. He had studied all of the documents pertaining to Gilbert’s work history there in Leeds. He knew these records better than anyone.
I was told well over one hundred.
There is no way to prove this, of course. Nor is there any way to prove that all of the stories I heard from broken and frustrated family members are true.
But I ask myself: Am I comfortable with this number? I have thought about this and thought about this for years now, even going back to my boxes and boxes of research to see if I overlooked something or there’s an answer somewhere somebody missed.
When I give talks about Kristen Gilbert, I say I think she’s killed more than one hundred. I don’t think Gilbert, like Cullen, even knows the number. And none of us will ever know unless we exhume all of those bodies.
Acknowledgments
Working on a book like this, one meets a variety of people from all walks of life. Although a few of my encounters were hostile, the majority of the people I met were kind, and helpful in a number of ways.
There is, naturally, a long list of people for whom thanking would be impossible, along with many more who assisted me in a variety of ways but choose to remain anonymous. I want to say that I was overwhelmed by the respect, consideration and sincerity many of you demonstrated. Thank you.
I am indebted greatly to, specifically, four people. I cannot name you, but you certainly know who you are. Over a period of weeks and months, we spoke for hours about the VAMC, nursing, law, medical issues and, of course, Kristen Gilbert. Please know that you have my deepest appreciation and gratitude. The time you gave me, the honesty and insight you brought to this book, along with your ability not to be influenced by what others thought of your coming forward to talk, made all the difference. I could not have written this book without you.
In no specific order, I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of those who helped with the book, along with some who did not:
To William Acosta, a true hero in world that is seemingly overflowing with them today: I salute you, sir. Every American owes you part of their freedom. You have put away more trash than any lawman I have ever met, known or read about. You got me started in the business of writing books—and I can never thank you enough for that.
David Perkins (a lifelong friend and brother),
Susan Lessard, Trina Taylor, Peter Sauer, Laura Sauer, Victoria Getis, from the University of Massachusetts (for helping me locate Lizzie Borden’s complete family history), and all those at the Forbes Library (in Northampton) who were helpful, kind and patient as I sat for hours doing research.
Springfield Federal Court Clerk John Stuckenbruck; a very special thanks to Court Reporter Alice Moran; guards at the Springfield Federal Building: Mike and Mike, Bob and Bob, Brendon, John, Jim, and Al; the US Marshal’s Office, and all those in the US Attorney’s Office who showed me hospitality.
Special Agent Steve Plante (you are a cut above the rest, sir, and a credit to your profession); Massachusetts State Police Detective Kevin Murphy (the world could use a few more cops with the passion and determination you have for solving crimes); Dr. Michael M. Baden; US attorneys Bill Welch and Ariane Vuono; a very special thanks to Legal Secretary Lorraine Simpson (for locating and photocopying the endless array of documents associated with this case); retired Illinois Highway State Patrol Lieutenant Garry Rice, a man whose knowledge of the criminal mind is, without question, useful to me in more ways than I can say; and the jurors who helped me understand how emotionally taxing sitting on a jury can be.
J.G. (the music); R.K. (the song); A.R. and N.D.W. (the books); my students throughout the years; Josephine and Louis Castellassi; JulieAnn Charest, my editor at New England Entertainment Digest; Danny Lemay, my first editor (for not laughing years ago at those terribly written early stories); Boston Globe reporter Thomas Farragher (for heading me in the right direction early on).
Of course, my loving mother, Florence Borelli, and her husband, Thomas Borelli, my brothers: Thomas Phelps, Frank Phelps and Mark Phelps; my nephews Mark Jr. and Tyler Phelps; Allison Atwood (for, years ago, listening); my father, Frank Phelps, and his wife, Mary. Frank Mauri and John Brand from Dynamic Technologies, LLC (for resuscitating my computer’s hard-drive on several occasions); Ruth, Tom, Laura, and Alexandra Stalgehtis; Martha Brazauskas; Gunther “John Kava” Brazaukas; former Kensington Publishing Corp. senior editor Karen Haas (for pulling this story out of the pile and bringing it to life); Norris Hawkins; Jim Barakos and “the boys” (Bob Hruskocy and Bob Kayan) at Adcom Express in Hartford, Connecticut.
Gregg Olsen and Harvey Rachlin, who believed in me when they didn’t even know me.
Editor-in-chief at Kensington, Michaela Hamilton, and senior editor Johnny Crime for their sage advice, understanding, and tender care with my words. I am blessed to be able to work with such wonderfully talented and dedicated people. I have the utmost respect for you both.
A special thanks to Dr. Richard Orris, who helped me understand some of the more complex medical issues involved in the book; and Dr. Sam Vaknin (for his endless well of information about those who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder).
My literary agent, Jim Cypher, from The Cypher Agency (for sticking behind me all those years, teaching me how to write, and working all those extra hours). I am lucky to have met such a great man who has not only become my good friend, but an agent I thought never existed.
If there is anyone I’ve overlooked, I apologize; it wasn’t intentional.
Lastly, my wife, Regina, and my children, April, Jordon and Mathew (for never questioning my dreams and goals, for allowing me the time to investigate and write, for not putting any limitations on me, and for accepting the fact that it takes a lot of time away from us to do what I do). With every ounce of my soul, I love you.
Kristen Strickland, 16, in her 1984 high-school yearbook photo.
(Courtesy Groton-Dunstable Regional High School yearbook)
Gilbert, 25, in 1992, looked every bit the “soccer mom.”
(Courtesy Rachel Webber)
Gilbert, 27, in 1994, less than a year before she started her killing spree.
(Courtesy Rachel Webber)
Kristen Gilbert living it up at a 1995 Halloween party. By this time, Gilbert had already killed one of her patients.
Since 1924, the 197-bed Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Leeds, Massachusetts, has served the needs of over 600,000 patients.
The back entrance to Building One, where Ward C was located.
Shortly before her killing spree began, Gilbert began an extramarital affair with VAMC security guard James Perrault.
Perrault later realized his dream of becoming a “real” cop.
(Courtesy Hatfield Police Department Web site)
The Michael C. Curtain VFW in downtown Florence, Massachusetts, was a popular after-work hangout for the Ward C staff.
The Drewson Drive home in Florence, Massachusetts, where Kristen Gilbert lived with her husband, Glenn.
The Easthampton, Massachusetts, apartment where Gilbert moved after she left her husband was only two miles from her boyfriend James Perrault’s apartment.
Inside Kristen Gilbert’s apartment, investigators found a book that clearly outlined adverse reactions to epinephrine.
In the pantry of Kristen and Glenn Gilbert’s home, investigators found this copy of the Handbook of Poisoning.
Epinephrine shocks the heart of a dying person back into a normal beating pattern, but to Kristen Gilbert it was the perfect poison.
Gilbert’s first victim, Stanley Jagodowski, in a tender moment with his grandchild.
(Courtesy Susan Lessard)
Gilbert’s second victim, thirty-five-year-old Air Force veteran Henry Hudon, succumbed to epinephrine poisoning on December 8, 1995.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
Authorities believe Gilbert gave World War II veteran Francis “Buck” Marier a massive overdose of insulin just weeks after killing Henry Hudon.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
Spent ampoules of epinephrine were found in Thomas “Tomcat” Callahan’s room after his heart rate suddenly doubled on January 22, 1996.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
Gilbert killed bedridden U.S. Army veteran Kenneth Cutting on February 2, 1996, so she could leave work early.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
Confined to a wheelchair and stricken with multiple sclerosis, Kenneth Cutting always had time for his children.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
Gilbert tried to kill Marine Corps veteran Angelo Vella, 68, right under the noses of several of her colleagues.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
Gilbert’s last known victim, Edward Skwira, loved fishing on the Connecticut River.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
A proud father and dedicated husband, Edward Skwira gave away his daughter Marcia on her wedding day.
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Springfield, Mass.)
Special Agent Steve Plante, from the Northeast Field Office of the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, in Bedford, Massachusetts, investigated and tracked Kristen Gilbert for five years.
With more than twenty-six years on the job, Massachusetts State Police Detective Kevin Murphy joined Steve Plante in the investigation of Kristen Gilbert in June 1996.
Dr. Michael Baden was asked by the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General to look at the medical files of VAMC patients who died during the seven years that Kristen Gilbert worked at the hospital. (Courtesy Michael Baden)
Arrested on July 11, 1996, for breaking and entering into boyfriend James Perrault’s apartment, Kristen Gilbert was photographed by the Easthampton Police Department.
(Courtesy VA-Inspector General’s Office, Bedford, Massachusetts)
Under a federal grand jury subpoena, Kristen Gilbert was photographed by Special Agent Steve Plante on September 5, 1996, shortly after submitting to handwriting samples and fingerprinting.
Perfect Poison Page 44
