Melvin T. Simcoe was 66 when he died on May 5, 2003, while a patient at Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey. His death was initially treated as natural; an obituary at the time described him as a beloved husband, father, and grandfather and noted funeral services and a Mass of Christian Burial at St. John’s Church. The family asked for donations to the Green Brook Rescue Squad or the Somerset Hospital Intensive Care Unit, where he had been treated.

Years later investigators identified Simcoe as one of the patients killed by Charles Cullen, a nurse employed at Somerset Medical Center who secretly administered lethal doses of medication to multiple patients. Simcoe was a Korean War veteran and retired district manager whose death was later connected to this pattern of criminal activity.

Did anyone who knew Melvin or his care at Somerset Medical Center have information about his final days or the hospital’s practices at that time?