Eleanor Stoecker, 60, died on February 12, 2003, at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, New Jersey. A retired medical assistant who had recently moved to Bedminster with her husband, she was a mother and grandmother who grew up in Clifton and had lived in Middletown for many years.

Although her death was not initially treated as suspicious, it was later determined that Charles Cullen, a registered nurse employed at Somerset Medical Center, killed Stoecker by administering a lethal dose of the heart medication Digoxin while she was being treated for asthma. Reports say she had been recovering and was not in pain when the fatal injection was given; she was Cullen’s first victim at that hospital.

Cullen was arrested in December 2003 and later admitted to killing multiple patients during his nursing career. He pleaded guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty; family members, including one of Stoecker’s sons, confronted him during sentencing. If anyone knew Eleanor, her time in Bedminster or at Somerset Medical Center, can you share what you remember?