The first serial killer to appear on “60 Minutes” in 45 years, the “Angel of Death” Charles Cullen, apologized to the family and friends of the nearly 40 patients he killed while working as a nurse. While previously confessing to the murder of at least 40 patients in hospitals Cullen worked at as a nurse in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, his apology on “60 Minutes” on CBS on Sunday rang hollow to the family members of his victims.

Cullen was interviewed by Steve Croft at the New Jersey State Prison, located in Trenton, N.J, where he is serving 17 consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to the murder of 22 individuals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and attempted murder of five more patients. Cullen worked as a nurse for 16 years, and, during that time, he killed at least 40 patients. Cullen confessed to the murders and has worked with law enforcement officials to help identify victim. Cullen claims to have remembered killing at least 40 patients, although that number may be much higher, even as high as 400.

Croft interviewed Cullen in prison in March. In the “60 Minutes” interview, Croft asked the Angel of Death” if he was sorry for the murders, to which he replied, “Yes. But like I said, I don't know if I would have stopped [killing].”

Cullen believed he was helping the patients he killed, easing their pain and poisoning them with digoxen, a drug used to treat heart failure, heart pain and irregular heartbeat, “60 Minutes" notes. Cullen admits there is no way to justify the murders ,with Croft stating that not all of his victims were terminally ill or close to death.

The serial killer also discussed his suicide attempts throughout his life, saying to “60 Minutes,” “I tried to kill myself throughout my life, because I never really liked being who I was. I didn't feel I was worthy of anything.”

Despite Cullen’s apology on “60 Minutes,” family members of his victims do not find much comfort in his words. Speaking to the Express-Times of Lehigh Valley, Kristina Toth, daughter of murdered Ottomar Schramm, said, “That’s not going to mean anything to anyone.”

Another family member of one of Cullen’s victims, Lucille Gall, whose brother, Reverend Florian Gall, was killed by him in 2003, said she felt the “60 Minutes” interview was not necessary and just gave the serial killer the spotlight, once again, for his crimes.

Mark Altemose, an attorney who represented the families of five of Cullen’s victims and 12 other families of patients believed to have been killed by Cullen, said to the Express-Times, “He was a loser, a nobody, a failure in so many aspects of his life; he became literally God. He chose who would live and who would die. The idea that he did this is ridiculous.”

A segment of Cullen's "60 Minutes" interview can be viewed below.

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