tylenol murders theories

Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. But ultimately, three more people Mary Reiner, Mary McFarland and Paula Prince died within days after taking what they thought was an Extra-Strength Tylenol. Next week: Police investigate a poor mans James Bond, and an eighth person dies. Seven people between 12 and 35 died after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol pills in the Chicago area in 1982. They came up with nothing. The new timeline suggests Lewis wrote the letter before the public knew the deaths were linked to the tainted Tylenol pills, according to the Chicago Tribune. In late September of 1982 seven people were killed after an unknown suspect placed cyanide laced Tylenol pills in store bottles. Among the earliest priorities was 24-hour surveillance outside the victims homes, on the assumption that someone who killed anonymously would want to see the results of their work and might drive by the house. And you had a lot of very experienced, very intelligent, very resourceful people thinking about this all the time, thinking about angles, thinking about ideas, testing them and implementing them wherever we possibly could. Most working detectives really dont trust the FBI, and the FBI doesnt trust us, Ford said. Unfortunately, each victim swallowed a Tylenol capsule laced with A lethal dose of cyanide. The Tylenol task force may be no exception, he said, but the tensions didnt affect the overall effort. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. His wife whom he had just married fell limp in the living room a short while after that. As the 40th anniversary of the 1982 Tylenol murders approaches, investigators are working with prosecutors on a now-or-maybe-never effort to hold a longtime suspect responsible for the. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration then cautioned the public against taking the pain reliever in capsule form. Two main suspects in this unsolved case are James Lewis and Roger Arnold, who had both been linked to this occurrence in some way. Every Tylenol bottle had a lot number that offered specific details about the batch those capsules came from. But their deaths did inspire a series of important moves to make over-the-counter medications safer (albeit never 100 percent safe) for the hundreds of millions of people who buy them every year. He would gravitate toward someone with a blue suit and red tie, the quintessential 1980s-style power suit. So, the theory was the tampering took place at the store, said FBI agent Lane. The investigation would fork, taking the FBI and Chicago police down vastly different paths. Roger Arnold worked at a jewel warehouse with the father of one of the victims named Mary Reiner. In the meantime, Kasia Janus has said shes dealt with occasionally overwhelming sadness because of the graduations her father couldnt attend. Three of the deaths occurred in Arlington Heights, where police told NBC Chicago last year that they still have the pills, bottles and boxes as evidence. We also are still were looking at emerging forensic technology, Sgt. See where the eight tainted Tylenol bottles were purchased or discovered. As Fahners team made calls, a DuPage County deputy coroner named Pete Siekmann sat in an office at the Illinois Department of Public Healths toxicology lab in Chicago and waited to see if the Tylenol capsules taken by Mary Lynn Reiner and Mary Sue McFarland were poisoned. Tylenol Ty, Ford said. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. He hangs up, opens the door and we come in like gangbusters, Gildea said. In 1983, the U.S. Congress passed what was called the Tylenol bill, making it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. The Kellerman and Janus bottles contained Tylenol from lot MC2880, manufactured in Pennsylvania on April 26, 1982. Our property guy, he couldnt keep up with it., Chicago police Officer Sam Barsevich, left, takes inventory of Tylenol bottles that residents turned in at his station on Oct. 2, 1982. This Oct. 18, 1982, column by Tribune columnist Bob Greene included specific details at the request of the FBI, such as the home address of Tylenol victim Mary Kellerman. He believed Thompson was behind the move, though Fahner denied it. (Fred Jewell/AP). Lane would think of that line a year later when, without prompting, a suspect called him and offered to help solve the case. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide following the deaths. According to the state police memo obtained by the Tribune, the FDAs work traced the cyanide from the tainted capsules to Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based lab supply company, which distributed that particular batch in 1978. The task force opted to work out of an Illinois state police bunker in Des Plaines, a central location that would be home to a tip line, twice-a-day investigator briefings and news conferences for the scores of reporters camped outside the building. Several victims families told the Tribune they didnt hear much from investigators after those initial interviews. Lab technicians Nlada Marzette, left, and Lynn Pilaggi inspect the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules for cyanide contamination at the Illinois Department of Public Health in 1982. By days end, however, tainted capsules would be blamed for two deaths in neighboring DuPage County, broadening both the scope of the investigation and the threat to the public. Every night, I would come home after my kids were in bed, he said. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. Illinois state police and FBI supervisors did most of the talking at that first meeting, several attendees told the Tribune. DNA evidence wasnt part of police work at the time, but it would become a factor in the case a quarter-century later. Daniel Walker and several Chicago aldermen convicted in Operation Silver Shovel. Fahner left the dinner immediately and made calls throughout the drive home, taking advantage of his position as a statewide official with access to a car phone, then a relatively rare piece of technology. After eliminating the possibility that the poisonings happened at the plant level, investigators scoured the backgrounds of workers at trucking companies and storage warehouses involved in the distribution of the tainted bottles, as well as other company records. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. I knew how to organize things.. It was so Dick Tracy to me, Steed said. I have no idea who gave that one, but it was perfect.. Some of the investigators started using it privately, too. Male murderers are more likely, in general, to kill randomly and on a large scale. Security cameras were scarce in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed, including this photograph from a drugstore camera showing Paula Prince, center, buying a bottle of tainted Tylenol. That said, he was charged with extortion and sentenced to 20 years in prison. 1: Poisoning the Well: Directed by Travis Clark. Nobody knew what to do with (the investigation) because it was all over the place, Fahner said. The Tribune interviewed nearly two dozen members of the task force, many of whom confirmed the reports veracity and added their own perspective. Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Transformed by tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle died 40 years ago after taking poisoned Tylenol. 3: A Nightmare on Halloween: With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. Some worked at the medical examiners office, which played a key role in figuring out the cyanide connection. That same day, a 27-year-old postal worker named Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, died of what was initially thought to be a massive heart attack but turned out to be cyanide poisoning as well. They told stories of information hoarding, turf wars and glory seeking even when there was none to be had. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Arlington Heights police Chief Rodney Kath, second from left, works with other members of the Tylenol task force at its Des Plaines headquarters in 1982. Every agency imaginable attended, many of them represented by their top leaders. Extra-Strength Tylenol, shown in a Tribune studio photograph, once was packaged in a paper box with an unglued lid. The first few days were spent talking to people closest to Prince and sifting through the many tips they received. The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. Still, in his opinion, Fahner was exactly what the task force needed. And, in the decades since, scientific advances have allowed investigators to detect DNA profiles on at least three of the tainted bottles and the capsules inside. Authorities were convinced the killer didnt know any of the victims. The lot numbers for the McFarland, Reiner and Prince bottles indicated they were manufactured in Round Rock, Texas, and went to different warehouses in the Chicago area before ending up on store shelves. At first, the story focused in the Chicago/Cook County . "Ladies, you ever been harassed for something for 40 years that you had nothing to do with?" Chicagos doing what they want, so lets just give them something minor to do.. The FBI and Chicago police performed separate, but largely parallel, investigations until Oct. 6. I said, Agent, agent. The Tylenol case, however, would loom largest over his professional life. The police investigation into the Tylenol murders has centered around prime suspect James Lewis for decades. The gelatin-based capsules were especially popular because they were slick and easy to swallow. Local police departments and states attorneys offices have been trying to crack the case for 40 years. Come to 1425 Armstrong Lane.. FBI agent Shari Kouba, one of the few women on the task force, ran the tips desk. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek told the Tribune he believed Fahners selection was purely political, done specifically because of the November election. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). Within hours of finding cyanide in the capsules that killed three people in the northwest suburbs, the Cook County medical examiners office held a news conference on the morning of Sept. 30, 1982, to warn people about the potential poison in their medicine cabinets. So I stopped by the house on the way home, introduced myself and tried to answer any questions they had, he said. Many people who handled the evidence in 1982 told the Tribune they didnt wear gloves because it wasnt part of their agencys protocol at the time. When that happened, the suspect would make contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case. In reality, some task force members still accuse their colleagues of secretive behavior 40 years later. Its a one-way street for information back and forth. Deputy coroner Siekmann recalled going to Winfield to pick up the Tylenol collected from Reiners house a few hours after her death. We were getting flooded with calls, said John Fellmann, an Arlington Heights detective assigned to the case. Most came from a banking service that snapped a photograph of anyone writing a check. Sadly, the tragedies that resulted from the Tylenol poisonings can never be undone. Lewis admitted to the FBI that he sent a ransom letter at the time to Tylenol's parent company, Johnson & Johnson, according to reporting by The Chicago Tribune. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). Kasia said she long blamed herself for her fathers death, even though she was just in preschool when it happened. A photograph of a television screen shows the specific lot number for a batch of Extra-Strength Tylenol that was the first to be recalled. I thought, well, this is rather impressive, Siekmann said. Halfway through the speeches, an aide tapped him on the shoulder and told him he needed to take an important call. His brother and sister-in-law, Stanley, 25, and Theresa, 19, of Lisle, Illinois, rushed to his home to console their loved ones. Complaining of a sore throat and a stuffy nose, her parents gave Mary one Extra Strength Tylenol capsule and let her stay home from school. And so the Department of Justice just looked up a law and by a little bit of a hook and a crook said the FBI has jurisdiction because of an FDA law (about) truth in labeling.. Seven people between the ages of 12 and 35 years old died in 1982 after ingesting extra-strength Tylenol capsules that were found to have been laced with cyanide, a deadly chemical. As for the ongoing case, sources familiar with the investigation told the Chicago Tribune that charges are not imminent and may not come at all because the case lacks physical proof. In the end, it was decided that the state police would take the lead among the agencies and that investigators would be divided into nearly four dozen teams. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . It was 1982. Kasia Janus also always verifies products are properly sealed before she buys anything at stores, she said in a recently published series of interviews with CNN that described the gut-wrenching legacy left behind for her by the unsolved Tylenol killings, which made tampering with medications as well as other consumer goods a federal crime but remain unsolved. The red cap was easily flipped open, with nothing but a little piece of cotton left to cover the capsules. The man hurriedly told the Hormel operator that he had to go and he would call her back later. As the de facto leader of the task force, he would come to be known in the media as "Tylenol Ty.". Ford and Gildea arrived at the campus with hopes of a break in the case, only to find out the so-called professor was a high school boy pretending to work at UIC so he could pick up college girls. A photograph of a television screen shows the specific lot number for a batch of Extra-Strength Tylenol that was the first to be recalled. We didnt get anything, but we were kicking around ideas like that.. You know, because Ty was just a classy lawyer, and he never was a politician, he said. They knew the locations. Arlington Heights police Chief Rodney Kath, second from left, works with other members of the Tylenol task force in an old state police bunker in Des Plaines. September 22, 2022. Employees of the Chicago City Health Department continue to test Tylenol medication for the presence of deadly cyanide at the Department's lab on Oct. 7, 1982. Investigators say new evidence may help finally solve the case of seven people who died after ingesting Tylenol laced with cyanide in the Chicago area in 1982. The bottles traveled to various warehouses, including a final storage stop at a Jewel facility in suburban Franklin Park, before being delivered to different grocery stores on different days before the poisonings. I mean, it just got to me, Severns said. And neither does the DNA. Only really frivolous things went in that other pile, she said. Christy Gutowski focuses her work on stories about criminal justice, public corruption and issues that impact the everyday man. John Fellmann, whose last name was misspelled on his ID from 1980, was a young Arlington Heights police detective when he was assigned to the Tylenol murders. Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide that were sold in the Chicago suburbs were linked to the deaths of seven people, leading to a nationwide panic that had the Food and Drug Administration advising consumers across the country to stop taking Tylenol products. 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