Mary Natoli was 85 and a lifelong resident of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, remembered by family as a soft-spoken, steady grandmother who had worked in the local silk mills. She died at Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg on July 23, 1991, and was buried in Saint Philip and Saint James Cemetery in Greenwich Township.

At the time her death appeared to be an ordinary passing of an elderly patient. Years later investigators linked a series of unexpected deaths at Warren Hospital to nurse Charles Cullen, who admitted to administering lethal overdoses of digoxin to multiple patients. Cullen later pleaded guilty in 2004 to killing three Warren Hospital patients, including Mary; he was the only person charged in connection with her death.

Mary’s life encompassed decades of work, church, and family before her death became part of Cullen’s victim list.