Knight Ridder Newspapers

SOMERVILLE, N.J. – Killer nurse Charles Cullen was sentenced Thursday to 11 consecutive life terms in prison after a hearing during which relatives of his victims denounced him and blamed his kill spree for wrecking their lives.

“You betrayed the ancient foundations of the healing professions,” said Superior Court Judge Paul W. Armstrong.

Cullen, New Jersey’s worst serial killer, would not be eligible for parole for 397½ years.

He stood quietly as the judge admonished him for murdering 22 people in New Jersey and attempting to kill three others.

Cullen claimed he took the lives of as many as 40 people during a nursing career that began in 1987.

He was to be sentenced later this month for seven murders and three attempted murders in Pennsylvania.

The sentence was handed down after relatives of his victims recalled fond memories of their loved ones, but also talked about how the killings and their aftermath ruined marriages, careers and report cards.

“My heart, it aches for my son,” said Mary Strenko, whose 21-year-old son was Cullen’s youngest victim. “It bleeds for my son. I walk around with a hole in my heart.”

Cullen, his eyes closed and head bowed, sat in the Somerset County courtoom as a long line of his victims’ relatives challenged him to look at them and at the pictures they clutched.

“I am very brave to stand here today,” said Melissa Strenko, sister of Cullen’s youngest victim, Michael Strenko, through tears. “But you can’t even look me in the eye.”

Cullen had wanted to be sentenced in absentia.

He agreed to appear at Thursday’s sentencing after the judge said he would allow the killer nurse to donate a kidney to a friend.

The serial killer avoided the death penalty by agreeing to help prosecutors identify his victims.

Seemingly unfazed by the crying, sometimes shouting, people who stood before him, Cullen sat statue-still in a gray striped shirt and black pullover sweater, his left hand resting on his right wrist.

“In case you forgot what my mom looked like, look into my eyes Mr. Cullen and you’ll see her eyes,” said Richard Stoecker, son of 60-year-old victim Eleanor Stoecker.

Cullen didn’t look up.

“It really incenses me that you’re sitting there with your eyes closed like you’re asleep,” said Linda Gregor, sister of Philip Gregor, who Cullen tried to kill. Philip Gregor has since died at age 48.

Cullen’s eyes remained shut.

The only time he stirred this morning was when Dr. David Agoada, son of 83-year-old Frances Agoada, implored Cullen to use his life to help protect hospital patients from other killers.

“Tell us how you did this,” Agoada said. “I think our medical system has a disease and you’re part of that disease.”

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