Irene Krampf, a 79-year-old woman from Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, died on June 22, 2001, while she was a patient at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill. Her death, however, was not from natural causes but was the result of a lethal dose of medication administered by a nurse who would later be identified as one of America's most prolific serial killers.
For a time, the circumstances surrounding Krampf's death remained without suspicion.
She was one of many patients who died under the care of Charles Cullen, a nurse who moved from hospital to hospital in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, leaving a trail of mysterious deaths in his wake. Cullen's method was to inject his victims with lethal doses of drugs, often digoxin or insulin, that were difficult to detect without specific toxicological testing. Many of his victims were elderly or seriously ill, allowing their deaths to be attributed to their underlying health conditions.
The investigation into the series of patient deaths at various medical facilities eventually led authorities to Charles Cullen. After his arrest in December 2003, Cullen began to cooperate with investigators, ultimately confessing to the murder of dozens of patients throughout his 16-year nursing career. Among the many lives he admitted to taking was that of Irene Krampf. In a Lehigh County courtroom, Cullen pleaded guilty to the murder of Krampf and five other individuals, as well as the attempted murder of three others. By cooperating with authorities and confessing to his extensive crimes, Cullen avoided the death penalty. He was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison, ensuring he would never be eligible for parole.
