The Tylenol tampering case that terrified the nation | Forensic Files

our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at anytime you need support please contact
your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support please see the show notes for this
episode on your app or on our website on Wednesday September 29 1982 in the Illinois a suburb of Arlington Heights
27 year old US postal worker Adam Janus felt the symptoms of a cold coming on and decided to take the day off from
work after picking up his two children from preschool he visited a local jewel supermarket to purchase some pain relief
medication he chose a 50 capsule bottle of extra strength tylenol an over-the-counter brand of paracetamol
used to treat pain and fever Adam returned home ate lunch then informed his wife he was going to take
two Tylenol and to lie down when she went to check on him a short while later she found out him in bed convulsing
paramedics were called and by the time they arrived to the janus house Adams State had worsened significantly
he was completely unresponsive his pupils were fixed and dilated his breathing labored and his blood pressure
was alarmingly low they rushed Adam to Northwest Community Hospital he arrived in a comatose state
and two died in the emergency ward shortly thereafter at 3:15 p.m. the hospital's medical director dr. Thomas
Kim declared Adams cause of death as cardiac arrest but was unsure what prompted the fatal condition in the
otherwise young and healthy father dr. Kim struggled to explain his uncertain diagnosis two grieving members of Adams
family and they left confused and devastated over their sudden loss the group reconvened at Adams Arlington
Heights home to support his wife and children and begin making funeral plans later that afternoon
Adams 25 year old younger brother Stanley was overcome with a grief induced headache he informed his wife 19
year old Teresa mm - the couple went in search of a remedy finding a full bottle
of extra strength tylenol on the kitchen counter Stanley took two capsules as did
Teresa as she also felt unwell minutes later Stanley grasped his chest and collapsed
to the floor his eyes rolled back into his head as foam started pouring out of his mouth by the time the mergency
services arrived - near 7 minutes later Teresa had also fallen violently ill and
started having a seizure Stanley's pulse weakened and his breathing became heavy and too labored
once Teresa's seizure subsided her body stiffened interbreeding decreased to just four to five intakes per minute
before she stopped breathing on her own all together back at Northwest Community
Hospital dr. Thomas Kim was getting ready to leave work for the day when a nurse informed him that the Jana's
family were being brought back in dr. Kim presumes something must have happened to Adams parents as they had
been weak with distress over the unexpected death of their son that afternoon the nurse explained no it's his brother
dr. Kim had met Stanley Janus earlier that day and was surprised to hear that the healthy 6-foot tall young man had
suddenly fallen ill presuming he must have fainted from grief the nurse informed him they are doing CPR and they
are working on his wife too the remaining members of the Jana's family were placed under observation in
hospital and even given their last rites in fear that they too would succumb to the unidentified illness that had struck
Adam Stanley and Teresa multiple explanations for the sickness were considered including carbon monoxide
poisoning and botulism a rare and potentially fatal type of food poisoning but both were investigated and ruled out
a search party consisting of an investigator for the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office
several local police officers and Arlington Heights nurse Helen Jensen were sent to Adams quarantine house to
look for possible contaminants nurse Jensen came across the bottle of Tylenol and recalled a conversation she had with
Adams grieving widow who had explained that the last thing her husband did before falling unconscious was taped
some of the painkillers Stanley and Teresa had reportedly taken some to suspecting that there was something
wrong with the medication Jensen confiscated the bottle and to the search party returned to the Northwest
Community Hospital where they learned Stanley Janus had since passed away his wife Teresa was in an extremely critical
and unstable condition [Music] that same night Arlington Heights Fire Lieutenant Philip Cappotelli received a
phone call from his mother-in-law Marge the daughter of her friend Gina Kellerman had died suddenly that morning
and she sought an explanation for the tragedy the Kellerman's lived in the neighboring suburb of Elk Grove Village
so Philippa rang a fellow firefighter who worked in the region richard keyworth richard was aware of the
incident as earlier that day he made an impromptu visit to his fire station to collect some mail and while there
overheard radio chatter about the peculiar death of 12 year old Mary Kellerman hours earlier as dawn broke at
6:30 a feverish Mary complained to her parents that she had a sore throat runny nose and headache Denis and Regina
Kellerman decided to keep her home from school and gave her one extra strength tylenol to ease her discomfort a short
while later Denis heard a heavy thud emanate from the bathroom and to went to investigate
finding his pajama-clad daughter unconscious on the floor by the time paramedics arrived
Mary was in full cardiac arrest she was rushed to Alexian Brothers Medical Center where she died at 956 AM heart
attack stroke and an undiagnosed terminal condition were opted as possible causes of death with more
sinister speculation centered on the kellerman family an investigator interviewed Mary's father and the police
visited their home but they uncovered too nothing out of order the paramedics who treated Mary compiled a report which
noted that the 12 year old had taken tylenol shortly before her collapse given the popularity of the painkiller
this detail didn't stand out as particularly meaningful as firefighter Richard Keyworth relayed of the
circumstances of Mary's death to philip Cappotelli over the phone that night Philip grew increasingly concerned he
had been monitoring a police radio throughout the day and overheard reports of a string of bizarre tragedies in his
Arlington Heights district in which two brothers had died and one of their wives
was left in a critical condition Philip noticed that Janus families incident shared remarkable similarities
to the sudden death of Mary Kellerman as the two firefighters compared to notes Richard noticed the common feature in
all four incidents and remarked this is a wild stab but maybe it's tylenol Richard and Phillips theory reached the
team at Northwest community who were already attributing the genesis illness to the Tylenol but had yet to connect
Mary kellerman to the case the tylenol seized from the two homes were compared both 50 pill bottles with a brand's
extra-strength variety purchased from Jewell supermarkets within Chicago's western suburbs and marked with batch
number mc2 eight eight zero the remaining red and white capsules inside the bottles were poured out
releasing a strong odor of bitter almonds the group immediately knew what this peculiar sign indicated cyanide
when ingested cyanide blocks the body's ability to absorb oxygen nausea headache
and to dizziness occur within minutes and can be followed by the poisons tell-tale signs shortness of breath
cherry red skin discoloration and dramatic shifts in heart rate or blood pressure progressing to cause seizures
coma and death Cook County's chief toxicologist Michael Schaeffer conducted an immediate analysis of the tylenol he
noticed several of the capsules were slightly discolored and swollen in the red-colored half furthermore tylenol
powder was typically white powdery and did not dissolve in water but the contents of these abnormal capsules were
moist gray lumpy crystalline and completely soluble testing of this unknown substance confirmed it was
potassium cyanide six of the remaining capsules in the Kellerman bottle and four from Adam Genesis were laced with
cyanide 5 to 7 micrograms of the poison was fatal the tainted capsules were filled with approximately 65 milligrams
ten thousands of times more than the amount required to kill the average person blood samples obtained from Mary
Kellerman as well as Adam n Stanley Janus came back positive for a lethal amount of cyanide critically ill Teresa
Janus was also found to have the toxic salt in her system at the time tylenol was the best-selling non prescription
pain reliever in the United States the capsule variety was especially popular as it was considered easier to swallow
than the brand's tablet form in 1982 alone tylenol learned its proprietor Johnson & Johnson approximately 400
million dollars in sales and claimed 37% of the over-the-counter pain relief market share tylenol made up 1/5 of the
company's total product revenue which included a range of medications first aid supplies baby products and skin care
Johnson & Johnson were unaware of the emergency unfolding in Chicago's West until a local reporter contacted the
company seeking comment on the deaths a seven-member strategy team was established to deal with the crisis
maintaining the protecting the public was their primary concern followed by salvaging their brand company officials
met with detectives in the affected areas before launching an internal investigation to track down the cause of
the contamination in the meantime they recalled the estimated 94 thousand bottles of Tylenol in circulation from
batch MC to 8 8 0 widespread public panic dubbed tylenol hysteria ensued the medical examiner's
office was bombarded with phone calls from worried a locals who had recently taken the painkiller while paramedics
were equipped with cyanide antidote kids as an influx of patients flooded regional hospitals reporting symptoms of
poisoning local church groups and to the Boy Scouts door knocked through neighborhoods to help spread the word
about the contamination as police patrols cruised the streets announcing the threat over loudspeakers the Health
Department plastered the front doors of local homes with notices that read this message is to alert you about a
contaminant that has been found in tylenol products we strongly urge you to stop using these products immediately at
Johnson & Johnson's washington-based the manufacturing plan where batch mc2 a80 had originated a quality control sample
of the shipments tylenol powder was analyzed and came back clean company representatives assured the public they
did not store cyanide at any of their factories and were certain that contamination occurred elsewhere some
speculated the poisoning was an intentional act of sabotage by a vindictive employee but this was quickly
curtailed by the company who explained the majority of tylenols production was carried out by machinery as news of the
tylenol poisoning spread police departments and hospital staff throughout Illinois initiated inquiries
into recent sudden or suspicious deaths in their regions that might be linked to
cases emerged one in Elmhurst and the other in Winfield at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday September 29
office worker Mary mcFarland complained to her colleagues at the Illinois Bell phone center of a tremendous headache it
wasn't unusual the 31 year old was a periodic migraine sufferer and as such carried a 10 in her purse filled with a
range of pain relief medication Mary had stopped up her supplier that day earlier
purchasing a 50 capsule bottle of extra strength tylenol from the Woolworth five
and dime store in the York town shopping center when she felt a headache coming on at work Mary disappeared into the
break room to take some of her medicine she reimagine later and informed her colleagues that she felt nausea Sande
dizzy before she collapsed against the table Mary was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital he nearby Downers Grove where
she died at 3:18 the following morning detectives later searched the tin in Mary McFarland's purse and found 10
Tylenol capsules amongst the assorted pills inside fathered them contained cyanide the bottle these pills had
originated from was found in a medicine cabinet at her own Hurst home with only one of the remaining capsules inside
testing positive for the poison the contaminated bottle featured a batch number one nine one zero MD which was
manufactured in Johnson and Johnson's Texas based plant around six hours after the death of Mary mcFarland
27 year old Mary Reiner passed away at central 2-page hospital in Winfield the mother had only just given birth to her
fourth child a baby boy at the same hospital six days earlier when Mary was discharged following the delivery the
hospital staff handed her a bag of items to help with her postpartum recovery which contained a blister pack of 8
extra strength tylenol capsules on the afternoon of Wednesday September 29 Mary consumed two of the capsules and
was struck with nausea and dizziness her symptoms quickly worsened and she died the next day
four of the remaining six tylenol capsules in her blister pack were found to contain cyanide initial media reports
linked to Mary runners death to a bottle of regular strength tylenol she had purchased earlier that day however Scott
Bart's author of the tylenol mafia concluded the capsules responsible where the extra-strength variety from the
hospital blister pack in his book Bart's explained that when Mary returned home from the store with her Tylenol bottle
she swallowed two pills from the blister pack before emptying the remaining six into the regular strength bottle none of
the regular strength capsules contained cyanide meaning the bottle had had not been tampered with how the blister pack
came to be contaminated remained unclear after learning of Mary Ranas death hospitals throughout the region
destroyed the tylenol in their possession meaning the batch number these pills originated could not be accurately
determined as anticipated blood samples taken from Mary McFarland and Mary Rinna
came back positive for a lethal amount of cyanide increasing the tylenol death toll to five the crisis claimed its
sixth victim the following afternoon of Friday October 1 when Teresa Janus was taken off life support after doctors had
declared her completely brain-dead [Music] at 5:00 p.m. that same afternoon just
over 20 miles away in Chicago's Old Town district Carroll Prince arrived at the high-rise apartment that belonged to her
sister 35 year old United Airlines flight attendant Paula Carroll held concerns about her sister as her family
had received a phone call from the airline informing them that Paula had failed the show up for work that day
Carroll gained access to Paula's seventh floor apartment and found her lifeless body on the floor in the hallway an open
bottle of extra strength tylenol was sitting on the vanity in the nearby bathroom six of the capsules inside were
found to contain cyanide it was marked with batch number one eight zero one mA which also originated from Johnson &
Johnson's Texas manufacturing plant Paula Prince became the seventh victim of what would come to be known as the
Chicago tylenol murders and two the first in the city meaning the contamination zone had
expanded from the western suburbs into the heart of Chicago putting millions of lives at risk the search of Paula's
apartment uncovered a Walgreens pharmacy receipt for the tylenol dated the evening of Wednesday September 29
investigators determined that after touching down from an interstate flight at O'Hare International Airport at
around 8:00 p.m. Paula drove towards her apartment stopping at the Walgreens on the corner
of western North Avenue and North Wells Street where she purchased the Tylenol upon arriving home
Paula inadvertently took a poisoned capsule and collapsed beyond the bathroom door remaining there for two
days until her sister found her the Walgreens store hadn't no security cameras in the aisles to show how the
cyanide a laced to tylenol ended up on the shelf but there was one camera at the front of the store that was part of
an automatic teller machine this camera snapped a picture whenever someone withdrew cash capturing an
overview of the entire register area at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday September 29 as a
customer obtained money from the ATM a photograph was taken that happened to capture all the prints at the exact
moment she purchased the Tylenol the black-and-white photo showed her in her flight attendants uniform turning away
from the register to look at a nearby magazine rack investigators noticed the Caucasian men standing several feet away
facing towards her as he was positioned in the far right background of the image
the men's facial features were somewhat indistinct but it was clear that he had a groomed beard dark hair that was
thinning on top and was wearing a light-colored jacket and possibly white rimmed spectacles the chilling way in
which the man appeared to be watching paula led police to believe he could be the killer intently observing his
oblivious victim as she purchased the pills he had poisoned as pills originating from multiple batches
manufacturing plants and drugs thoughts were now found to be poisoned Johnson and Johnson announced the total
nationwide recall of all tylenol products a decision that would cost the company one hundred million dollars it
was a huge task given there was an estimated thirty 1 million bottles in circulation that the company vowed to
destroy them all they offered refunds and exchanges while halting all Tylenol production and advertising four hundred
and fifty thousand telex messages were sent to doctors offices hospitals and trade groups to warn them of the
potential dangers as company executives appeared on news programs promising that
tylenol would not return to store shelves until the company had perfected tamper proof packaging Johnson & Johnson
also offered a $100,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of the person or persons
responsible for the tampering at the time there was no protective sealing on any over-the-counter drug bottles which
made tampering easy furthermore capsule casings could be pulled apart to allow its contents to be replaced with the two
halves then reattached to appear untouched investigators noted that some of the poisoned capsules were put
together more rightfully than others leading them to believe that either two or more people were involved with some
working more carefully than others or that it was the work of just the one person who didn't have much patience
millions of pills were surrendered a nationwide in addition to the five bottles that led to the victims deaths
three more bottles sold in the Chicago area were found to have been poisoned two were handed in by customers while
the other was found in an Oscar drugstore in the northwestern suburb of Schaumburg the recall was a success
bringing an abrupt end to the crisis and ensuring the death toll ended at 7 a task force comprised of more than 100
investigators from 15 agencies fronted inquiries into what was now regarded a mass murder investigation with many
officers working 15 to 20 hour shifts with no breaks to expedite efforts to find the culprit in a surprise
revelation Johnson & Johnson disclosed that they had not been completely forthright earlier admitting they did
indeed store potassium cyanide at some of their factories the substance was used in laboratory based chemical
testing specifically to test povidone the primary binder used to make tylenol company officials insisted these labs
were in a remote and separate location far from the manufacturing sector and were confident the foreign substance
would have been detected if it was added during production as only a few capsules
per bottle were contaminated and that had come from two separate batches and factories had seemed unlikely the
poisoning was carried out during the manufacturing process nevertheless investigators interviewed current and
former staff as well as their friends and families but failed to identify any disgruntled suspects who had a deadly
vendetta against the company the contaminated tylenol bottles were manufactured in Washington and Texas in
August before being dispersed nationwide to approximately 100 distributors who then turned them over to around 11,000
retailers as none of the victims knew one another and the crisis was isolated to the Chicago area it seemed to likely
that the tampering occurred after the tylenol was shipped to Illinois but before it was purchased by the victims
employees at each of the stores the salt the poisoned pills were questioned as were the janitors delivery men and
maintenance personnel who had access to the stores the no arrests were made many
theories of rose including that the crimes were committed by one of Johnson & Johnson's competitors for someone who
stood the profit from investing in the safety packaging industry recently released prison inmates psychiatric
patients and a Puerto Rican terrorist group were also investigated as possible suspects it was even speculated that the
murderer only intended to kill one of the victims but carried out the widespread contamination as a cover-up
consequently several of the victims family members friends and associates were questioned but they too were
eventually cleared investigators considered whether someone might be seeking reprisal for the death of a
loved one caused the bio tylenol overdose and poured through a year's worth of local newspapers trying to find
reports of such an incident failing to uncover anything they scan to the papers for something that could give
significance to the date of the murders but once again found nothing of interest
in the meantime a police hotline rang off the hook as callers offered up thousands of leads but the process of
sifting through this information was hampered by pranksters false confessions and psychics detailing their dubious
visions it seemed as though the perpetrator was local to the Chicago area after purchasing or shoplifting the
bottles they then returned to the stores to discreetly deposit them back on the shelves no clear foreign fingerprints
were isolated on any of the tampered bottles indicating the killer may have worn gloves which would have drawn
attention given that the weather was warm but no such sightings were reported as it was a four-hour drive between the
six affected stores investigators believed the perpetrator distributed the bottles in a single day likely the day
before the poisonings commenced this theory was supported by an incident reported by two Illinois police officers
occurring in the early morning hours of Tuesday September 28th the pair arrived to the Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge and
restaurant in Elgin to grab a bite to wait where on the grassy median strip separating the parking lot from the
adjacent road they noticed two cardboard boxes marked with the words extra strength tylenol capsules and to the
name McNeil the subsidiary company of Johnson & Johnson responsible for manufacturing Tylenol information
displayed on the boxes indicated they contained 30 bottles of extra strength tylenol one box was open and only 24
bottles remained inside two of which were open a large quantity of white powder was scattered on the ground along
with hundreds of empty red and white capsule casings some of which appeared to have been emptied and put back
together one officer handled the items but as the cyanide poisoning 'he's had not yet
occurred the pair ultimately disregarded the find and two went to get food as planned as they ate the officer who
touched the items developed a headache and his arm broke out in a painful rash and started swelling when the pair
returned to their vehicle they stopped to re-examine the tylenol boxes and at this time the second officer handled the
items and was soon overcome with a headache dizziness and nausea when the news of the Chicago tylenol murders
broke two days later the officers reported their bizarre warrant to their superiors and to the Howard Johnsons
Motor Lodge and restaurant parking lot was thoroughly searched little remained of the mysterious
tylenol boxes and a testing of what was recovered came back negative for cyanide
the first three memorial services for the Chicago tylenol murders began on Saturday October to around 150 mourners
gathered a queen of the Rosary Catholic Church in Elk Grove Village to farewelled the youngest victim 12 year
old Mary Kellerman her unexpected death had to left her fellow 7th grade classmates and teachers in shock and her
grief-stricken mother had to be physically supported throughout the service less than 10 miles away
Mary Reiner was farewelled by her loved ones in her childhood town of Villa Park
her husband ed reminisced about their long and loving marriage which had resulted in four children including
their newborn son in the neighboring suburb of Elmhurst Mary McFarland was remembered as an exceptional single
mother to her two sons aged four and two friends and colleagues spoke of the positive impact she had on others from
her sense of humor to her work ethic describing her as a good person and a good friend the scale of loss was
particularly immense for the Jana's family who had lost three members within days of one another on Tuesday October 5
a joint funeral service was held for Adams Stanley and of Teresa Adams four-year-old daughter kept her hand on
her father's casket as the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago blessed all three victims and said this is a great tragedy
into loss I wish as your pastor that I could relieve you of your burden of sorrow but I can't
at the same time a funeral was held for paula prince in her hometown of Omaha Nebraska
detectives staked out at each of the funerals on the lookout for anyone uninvited out of place or otherwise
acting suspiciously although several people caught their attention nothing further developed time-lapse
surveillance cameras were discretely positioned around to the cemeteries to monitor the grave sites 24-hours a day
and two remained in place until the device's internal mechanisms were frozen by the inbound cold weather on Wednesday
October 6 eight days into the investigation an envelope labeled tylenol arrived at the
philadelphia-based office of tylenols manufacturer MacNeil consumer health care inside was a handwritten letter
which read gentlemen as you can see it is easy to place cyanide both potassium and sodium into capsules sitting on
store shelves and since the cyanide is inside the gelatin it is easy to get buyers to swallow the bitter pill
another beauty is that cyanide operates quickly it takes so very little and there will be no time to take
countermeasures if you don't mind it the publicity of these little capsules then
do nothing so far I have spent less than 50 dollars and it takes me less than 10 minutes per bottle
if you want to stop the killing then why are $1,000,000 to bank account eight four four nine five nine seven at
continental Illinois bank Chicago don't attempt to involve the FBI or local Chicago authorities with this letter a
couple of phone calls by me will undo anything you can possibly do the letter was immediately handed to the
FBI who worked to determine if the extortion attempt was just a conman capitalizing on the crimes all
legitimately the murderer responsible for the tampering 'z they managed to lift fingerprints from the document and
scratch away the envelopes postmark revealing a postage Commerce number linked to a travel agency called
lakeside in Chicago the US Department of Justice directed the continental Illinois bank
to turn over the financial records of the account mentioned in the letter the account had been closed five months
earlier and belonged to Frederick Miller McKay he and heir to the Miller Brewing
fortune investigators quickly established that Frederick was not responsible for penning the letter and
request it he lists the names of anyone who would seek to ruin his reputation Frederick was the former owner of the
now-defunct a lakeside travel agency and to many of his ex employees suspected he
had diverted a company funds to pay his own personal bills which resulted in their final paychecks bouncing given the
envelope used was from Frederick's former business his list contained the names of four resentful staff members
one was Nancy Richardson former colleagues recalled that her husband Robert was somewhat eccentric and
outspoken during a wage claim hearing for the former lakeside travel agency staff members he had become particularly
outraged when told there was nothing they could do about their unpaid wages as there was no money for them to lay a
claim against immediately after the hearing he was witnessed having a heated argument with Frederick and although
others accepted the result and moved on Robert continued going after Frederick investigators looking into Roberts
background discovered he had a rabid unhinged temper and a reputation for holding grudges they obtained
handwriting samples from Roberts former employer the First National Bank of Chicago where he had worked as a temp in
numerous departments until early September and they discovered the handwriting was a match to the extortion
letter sent to Johnson & Johnson police attempted to apprehend Robert but he and his wife Nancy had since left
their run-down apartment in Chicago's North Side for an unknown destination a nationwide search commenced and to the
police soon discovered that the names Robert entered Nancy Richardson were aliases for James enter Lee Ann Lewis
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into rages in one instance he chased his mother with an axe and in another he faced an assault charge after breaking
several of his father's ribs at one point Lewis was hospitalized and diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia
after overdosing on over-the-counter painkillers but he later claimed his suicide attempt and violent behavior was
simply a plan concocted by his family to avoid him being drafted to fight in the
Vietnam War despite the dysfunction in his home life Lewis enjoyed school and received a good
grades later attending the University of Missouri where he met his future wife Glee Ann the pair was staunchly devoted
to one another and cultivated a comfortable life both working as bookkeepers at attack service until
Lewis exploded at the business owner over a trivial matter prompting the couple to leave the pair then started
their own taxation business in Kansas City where 72 year-old Raymond West became their client Raymond was a
retired truck driver who lived a quiet life alone tending to his garden and taking daily walks on Monday July 24
1978 a missing-persons report was filed on his behalf as a friend notice the Raymond's car was in the
garage of his home but knocks to his front door were going unanswered a note was found stuck in the door written on
James Lewis's business letterhead at red Ray's out of town until Thursday for further call Jim
police forced their way into the home and found another note on the coffee table which read please don't disturb
until after 1:00 p.m. sleeping late Raymond despite being signed off with the elderly man's name that was not scrawled
in his handwriting three weeks later on Saturday August 14 police conducted a second a search of Raymond's house a
foul odor lingered inside and too they uncovered a bloody bed sheets in the bedroom in the basement was a
blood-stained two lawn chair along with a garbage bag containing Raymond's toupee and eyeglasses in an upstairs
room officers noticed the footlong stain running from the ceiling down the wall and made their way into the Attic to
determine its source there they found Freeman's decomposed and dismembered body partially wrapped in sheets in the
garbage bags his legs had been severed at the hip joint and placed alongside his head due to the state of his remains
a cause of death could not be established investigators discovered $5,000 had been withdrawn from Raymond's
bank account and paid to James Lewis who was promptly arrested he maintained that
the payment was a business expansion loan which seemed unusual given Raymond was known to be tight with money
Lewis was released from police custody and permitted officers to search his home and vehicle where they found 20
feet of knotted white rope a garbage bag and a black case containing papers and checks bearing Raymond's name he was
arrested again and charged with Raymond West's murder a crime which he V manely denied committing in October 1970 nine
days before his trial was set to begin Louis's defense counsel argued that the police had a no probable cause to arrest
client in the first instance and that he wasn't read his Miranda rights at the time they also claimed that the original
indictment was defective and was not worded correctly as it emitted the term felonious as Raymond's cause of death
was unknown his attorney had lined up a series of witnesses to testify the elderly man had higher blood pressure
and a potent medication regime both of which may have been responsible however it didn't explain how Raymond's legs
came to be severed from his body and in a bizarre assertion Louis's attorney told the Chicago Reader newspaper it's
one thing to kill somebody it's another thing to dismember them after they're dead and whilst dismembering somebody
after they're dead is repulsive and repugnant it's not homicide with nothing but circumstantial evidence to link
Lewis to the crime the case was dismissed and he left court a free man prosecutor James Bell told reporters
that it was quote one of the most mysterious confusing the fuddling complex and probably one of the most
difficult cases I ever handled in December 1981 Lewis and his wife Leanne fled the state after police became aware
of his involvement in a fraudulent credit card scheme a warrant was issued for his arrest but the couple
successfully evaded capture heading north east to Chicago where they adopted the aliases Robert and Nancy Richardson
making it one of seventeen aliases Lewis adopted over the years Leeanne secured a
job working as an accounting clerk at Lakeside a travel agency before its closure
three months later Lewis bounced between temp jobs leaving the National Bank of Chicago in early September which
prompted the now unemployed couple to relocate again news of Lewis's fugitive status sent a
connection to the tylenol case began making headlines and he started penning letters to the Chicago Tribune newspaper
to declare his innocence post marks on the letters revealed he was now living in New York leading 200 FBI agents to
descend on the city in an effort to find him as it was evident that Lewis was regularly reading the Chicago Tribune
every newsstand the stopped the paper was put under 24-hour surveillance but he never showed up to make a purchase
agents concluded he must have been reading copies of the newspaper in a library and paid a visit to all the city
libraries to inform the staff to be on the lookout for Lewis on Monday December 13 a New York Public Library employee
contacted the police when they saw Lewis sitting in to reading two books newspapers of the Southwest and two
largest corporations in America while shutting down the names and addresses of newspaper publications he was promptly
placed under arrest without incident and his wife turned herself in to authorities soon after Lewis's
fingerprints were checked against to those on the Johnson and Johnson extortion letter revealing a match and
further cementing his involvement his handwriting also matched a second extortion letter that had been addressed
to President Ronald Reagan in mid-october which warned that the tylenol poisonings would continue unless
a federal taxation overhaul was conducted the writer also threatened to fly remote controlled model airplanes
into the White House to scramble Secret Service telecommunications it appeared too Lewis wrote this second letter in a
desperate bid to deflect police attention upon realizing his attempt to frame Frederick Miller McKay he had only
succeeded in bringing attention to himself Lewis eventually admitted to writing the
Johnson and Johnson extortion letter as an act of revenge against Frederick for leaving his wife five hundred dollars
out of pocket while also alerting police to the business man's alleged fraudulent
practices Lewis had stockpiled envelopes from Lakeside a travel agency and investigators suspected he had waited
for the right crisis to pin on his wife's former boss striking when the Chicago tylenol murders presented the
perfect opportunity although Lewis maintained he never intended to collect the million dollars he demanded from
Johnson & Johnson police found evidence to suggest that savvy con man knew how to use a computer
to transfer money from one bank account to another he was subsequently charged with attempted extortion although he
denied having anything to do with the tylenol murders arguing that he was in New York at the time the tampering were
believed to have taken place investigators were not fully convinced many noted he bore a resemblance to the
man caught on camera in Walgreens who had been watching Paula Prince for she unknowingly purchased the poisoned
capsules right down to the groom to beard in spectacles less than a month after married kellerman had been laid to
rest the Chicago Tribune published a candid piece titled living in the tylenol killers shadow in which
columnist Bob Greene addressed the child's killer directly writing if you are the tylenol killer some of this may
matter to you or it may make no difference at all if you are the tylenol killer though you may be harboring just
the vaguest curiosity about the people on the other end of your clan the people who were unfortunate enough to purchase
the bottles you had touched if you are curious come to a small house on a quiet winding street in Elk Grove Village
Illinois the people who live there Dennis and Gina Kellerman feel you have already been inside anyway the piece
went on to describe the crushing guilt felt by Gina for purchasing the tylenol that ended up taking her daughter's life
Bob Green explained if you are the tylenol killer you should know one more thing mary's mother can't have any more
children Mary was her only baby you might be interested in knowing that Mary was born one month premature and that as
she entered the world her mother was scared because she was not crying but the doctor smiled and said it's
alright she's only sleeping and she was she was a quiet child and because the Kellerman's knew she would be their only
child she was especially precious to them Green detailed how the Kellerman's had considered themselves overprotective
of their only child who had to be home by dark and to call frequently to let them know she was alright
quote they thought they knew about every danger that could possibly touch Mary but they didn't know about you Bob
greens column included the following statement to Mary's killer if you are wondering whether Mary's parents talked
about you you don't have to wonder anymore they do you have never been in their house and yet they cannot walk
into a room without feeling you were there you don't know them but you have changed their lives forever they feel as
if they can't get away from you as it is you should know Mary's parents are too shattered even to visit the cemetery
Mary is buried at Saint Michael the Archangel in nearby Palatine Illinois and they wish they could go to her grave
but they can't the hurt is too deep and you are keeping them even from that ridden with the full permission of the
Kellerman family Bob greens emotional peace had actually been commissioned by the tylenol task force in the hopes that
would compel the unknown killer to visit Mary's grave after the column was published her headstone was put under
24-hour covert surveillance for several months but the killer did not appear in the month following the Chicago
tylenol murders hundreds of copycat incidents emerged across America with the Food and Drug Administration
tallying more than 270 occurrences of product tampering people across the country fell ill after consuming pills
tainted with everything from rat poison to hydrochloric acid on Halloween parents reported finding sharp pins
concealed in candy forcing some communities to be in trick-or-treating altogether tylenol returned to store
shelves just over a month following the murders after Johnson and Johnson developed triple-sealed tamper-proof
packaging and invented the coupler a tablet coated with the gelatin that was easy to swallow but harder to
contaminate these innovative concepts became the global industry standard and was soon implemented by other companies
involved in the production of medicine and other consumables eight months after James Lewis sent the fraudulent letter
to Johnson & Johnson he was convicted of extortion and sentenced to serve 20 years in federal prison although he
remained a suspect in the tylenol murders he was just one of four hundred people of interest who were extensively
investigated for their possible involvement among them was 48 year-old Roger Arnold a doc hand who worked for a
jewel foods warehouse west of Chicago the supermarket chain has sold the poison to Tylenol - Adam Janus and Gina
Kellerman in early October 1982 Arnold was drinking at a bar called a lilies when he started telling stories about
killing people with cyanide the bars owner Marty Sinclair overheard the remarks and contacted authorities
the police conducted a search of Arnold's Southside apartment and uncovered a bag of chemical powder
funnels beakers test tubes for unlicensed firearms how to crime manuals and copies of Soldier of Fortune
magazine Arnold was arrested and questioned for three days in relation to the Chicago tylenol murders during which
he professed his innocence and to told officers I'd like to be in on the homicide of the guy that turned me in
for what he did to me the powder found in Arnold's apartment was determined to be potassium carbonate a relatively
harmless salt used in the production of glass and soap he refused to say what the chemicals were used for but asserted
it was for nothing illegal he was ultimately released with our charge but the notoriety of having been considered
a suspect in the case took a huge toll on his reputation colleagues gave him the unwanted
nickname tylenol kid and his local community kept their distance buying him with constant suspicion overwhelmed by
the profoundly negative impact the single tip-off had on his life Arnold sought revenge on the person who
gave his name to the police eight months later on the night of June 17 1983 he drove to Lilly's bar and confronted the
owner Marty Sinclair telling him you turned me in before shooting him at point-blank range
however in a case of mistaken identity Arnold had not shot Marty Sinclair at all he had executed 46 year-old father
of three johnston Esha who happened to closely resemble marty Arnold was convicted of second-degree
murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison serving only 15 prior to his death in 2008 he expressed the remorse
of his botched act of revenge remarking I killed a man a perfectly innocent person I had choices I could have walked
away as the Chicago tylenol murders investigation continued a dossier listing potential persons of interest
that grew to 10,000 names a special computer program was created to collate the hundreds of reports taken by the
various police departments which would alert officers to important discoveries like when an individual was mentioned in
multiple reports or a common thread that was recognized despite these efforts with no direct connection between the
victims and to no motive crime-scene or useful evidence investigative options were limited FBI criminal behavior
specialists were given the task of developing a psychological profile of the killer and although they couldn't
come up with the unanimous result they agreed that the perpetrator was likely male aged in his 20s or 30s well above
average intelligence meticulous in his personal habits and a loner who may hold a disdain for women
the specialists were perplexed to discover that the perpetrator hadn't left behind a message or any type of
indicator to draw conclusions from making it particularly difficult to establish their rationale one
psychologist concluded that the killer likely believed they had a perfectly good reason for committing the crimes
but might never justify it to anyone else it was his opinion that normal investigative procedures were not going
to work in this situation and if the person responsible was likely never going to be found nevertheless
politicians and senior police personnel continued to mask the dire status of the
investigation by employing progress was being made frustrated by these false claims Illinois police called a press
conference to admit they knew nothing more now than they did when the first murders took place these comments caused
an immediate backlash and when Chicago police superintendent Richard Brezza was asked by his superiors to justify the
remarks he answered because it's the truth you're bullshitting the people enter they're terrified out there stop
giving them false hope tell them the truth by November 1982 the tylenol task force
had been reduced from 115 investigators to approximately 50 and by March the following year the police tip line had
been disconnected when the one-year anniversary of the murders arrived the task force had been scaled down further
to a team of just ten full-time state and federal agents that month Illinois Criminal Investigations Commander Thomas
Sharpe told the Chicago Tribune that efforts were still underway to re-examine all the data collected over
the previous year vials were constantly being shifted between investigators in the hopes of fresh pair of eyes would
pick up on something that had been missed chump was surprised the case had not been solved sooner stating I applied
my best people to this case these are guys used to success and early on we all thought we were going to be successful
this time too we were full of energy convinced that it was just a matter of hard work painstaking research and
making our own breaks when you apply the kind of resources we used you solve 99%
of the cases that year a bill was passed by the US Congress titled the tylenol bill making it a federal crime to tamper
with consumer products the penalty for tampering aimed at hurting the reputation of a business included a
$10,000 fine and up to three years in prison those convicted of meddling with products and endangering consumers lives
or safety faced up to $100,000 fine and a life sentence these new laws were put into practice just three years later
when two people in Washington state died after consuming over-the-counter excedrin pain relief capsules laced with
cyanide this crime covered in Episode a 93 of case file was unrelated to but directly
inspired by the Chicago tylenol murders the mystery in Jewett over the following
years with millions of dollars and investigative hours amounting to very little advancement and to no major
breakthroughs nine years after the tragedy the families of the seven victims initiated a legal action against
Johnson & Johnson alleging that product tampering was a well known problem before the murders and that the company
should have taken steps to safeguard their product in May 1991 and out-of-court settlement
was reached after three days of negotiation with the exact terms and dollar amounts sealed by a court order
the plaintiffs were pleased with the result as the compensation included provision for the college education of
the eight children whose parents died in the poisonings some experts believed the
company chose to forego a trial as even an exorbitant financial settlement was preferable over the potential brand
damage that would result from litigation at Johnson & Johnson spokesperson maintained the company had nothing to do
with the poisonings and was just another victim of the crime stating while there
is no way that we could have anticipated a criminal tampering with our product or
prevented it we wanted to do something for these families and to finally put this tragic event behind us during his
imprisonment for extortion Tylenol murders suspect - James Lewis met with US Attorney
Jeremy Margolis to volunteer his services to help solve the crime during the pair's meetings Lewis provided
hundreds of pages of manuscripts diagrams and theories as to how the killings were carried out in one sketch
he depicted how cyanide could be inserted in the capsules that captioned it with the statement drawn on
speculation at the request of Assistant US Attorney Jeremy D Margolis to ensure it could not
be treated as a confession an article in the Chicago Reader newspaper titled a bitter pill explained
quote in that drawing Louis delineates in great detail how the killer might have used an ordinary breadboard to turn
an ordinary pain reliever into an agent of death the poisoner could have drill holes in the board place separated hem
PP capsule halves into the holes fill them with cyanide and scrape off the excess with a knife recap the capsules
and put them back into their original containers the entire process could be performed in a car at the stores parking
lot allowing the killer to buy the tylenol contaminate the capsules and to return the bottle to the shelf minutes
later nothing would appear out of the ordinary because the bottle would still bear the
price tags and other identifying marks of that particular store despite all the information Louis provided he never
directly implicated himself in the crimes in 1995 after serving 13 years of his 20-year prison sentence he was
released on parole nine years later in 2004 he was charged with rape kidnapping and other offenses in relation to the
attack of a woman in his apartment building on the day this trial was due to commence in July 2007 the district
attorney's office announced they were dropping the charges because the victim refused to testify on the 25th
anniversary of the Chicago tylenol murders in September 2007 James Lewis published a post on his web design and
programming business website cyber Lewis which read in a quarter of a century or
have not been able to escape the tylenol Mian label a Google search of James Lewis tylenol yields over two hundred
and forty thousand documents and the list is growing after 25 years of cringing in fear I am tired of hiding in
silence I will not run and tie it anymore I will now face this controversy head-on
after 25 years the tylenol murders remain unsolved I have lived a long bizarre life and I have seen a lot yet I
am literate and to lucid enough to view and describe compare and contrast hugely
diverse world's cultures and topics without a moment of boredom or with an eye to professionalism demographics and
marketability plus the ease and hard sensitive to good taste and to victim's feelings two years later in early 2009
Department of Justice investigators stated publicly that although they didn't have enough evidence to charge
James Lewis they were confident he was responsible for the tylenol murders in February 2009 federal investigators
executed a search warrant at Louis's first floor apartment in Cambridge Massachusetts where he had believed
since he's released from prison in 1995 after searching the residence and a nearby storage facility five boxes full
of evidence and a late-model Macintosh computer were seized Theresa Janice's brother Walter said he
hoped the search would finally provide police with enough information to lead to an arrest
especially considering his father was about to celebrate his 80th birthday and to longed to see his daughter's killer
behind bars Walter said they always told us the cases like this never go into the
cold file that they just don't always get the attention they deserve all we can do is hope we'd like to bring it to
closure the search failed to uncover any evidence to effect an arrest but investigators were still unwilling to
rule Louis out as a suspect in January 2010 both he and his wife were ordered to submit DNA samples and
fingerprints to authorities after it closed the door court hearing though these submissions also did not lead to
his arrest Louis maintained he was just a scapegoat for incompetent police who were unable
to find the real tylenol killer but others remained convinced of his guilt with Chicago attorney Anton velu 'kiss
stating I believe that the evidence which was out there would lead a rational person to conclude that Louis
was in fact the murderer however other investigators were less convinced surmising lewis was just a schemer who
relished the attention as was evident when he self-published an e-book titled poison a doctors dilemma a fictional
thriller about a mass catastrophe in a Midwestern city in 2012 lifestyle publication Chicago magazine
interviewed several people involved in the tylenol murder case to discuss their theories about the long-standing mystery
thirty years on one detective expressed his opinion that James Lewis was not involved in any way as the extensive
investigation had revealed no duress the connections Attorney General ty Farner disputed this saying do I think
James Lewis was involved I did and God do but we could never put him in the city in the places at the right time
this was mirrored by Chicago Police Department lieutenant August local Oh who worked in the violent crime squad
two during the tylenol murders he said Lewis is a con man and he'll do anything to get to his goal I really believed he
might have killed somebody but they couldn't put anything on him Lewis remained in the large pool of suspects
which at one point included infamous Unabomber Ted Kaczynski Kozinski's first four acts of domestic
terrorism occurred in the Chicago area and he occasionally stayed at his parents home in Lombard Illinois he
denied any involvement in the crime and investigators weren't fully convinced as
it didn't entirely fit his MO when the Chicago tylenol murders occurred in 1982 there was an almost immediate impact on
Wall Street with Johnson & Johnson's 5.4 billion dollar stock plummeting and their market share collapsing from 35
percent to 8 percent nevertheless the company's swift actions to contain the emergency garnered praise from the media
and the public our Washington Post a newspaper article published the month following the deaths
stated Johnson & Johnson has effectively demonstrated how a major business ought
to handle a disaster after investing more than 100 million dollars Johnson & Johnson relaunched the
Tylenol brand and regained the 30% share of the market before resuming its number-one spot as America's top selling
over-the-counter pain reliever in 2003 Fortune magazine named the company's then CEO James Burke as one of history's
10 greatest CEOs for his handling of the crisis skeptics and cynics have since viewed the company with a far more
critical liar as Johnson & Johnson initially lied about storing cyanide at their tylenol manufacturing facilities
many theorists believe the company was somehow responsible for the contamination and went to great lengths
to cover it up by encouraging the lone tamperer Theory to this day the Chicago tylenol murders remains one of the most
notorious unsolved crimes in American history psychologists remain perplexed by the
unknown killer whose motive remains a point of contention investigators are uncertain whether the
crimes were a meticulously orchestrated and targeted murder or an act of domestic terrorism James has a Vil
former director of the Illinois Department of law enforcement has spoken of his hope that the case will one day
be solved noting we've solved other crimes a year two years twenty years afterwards I have not given up hope or
lost optimism sometimes you have to admit you've lost but that's not the case with the tylenol deaths authorities
maintain the case is still active the families of the victims live on without justice six months after the
murders Mary Ronnie's husband ed told reporters that the couple's two-year-old son would look at photographs of his
mother and ask when she was coming home Edie explained I tell him she's in heaven now I still don't understand why
something like this happened and I don't think I ever will on the crimes one-year
anniversary Theresa Janice's mother Helen explained that while their house used to be full
of life into parties that was now empty she kept a shrine of photographs to remember her daughter and son-in-law
remarking it always hurts inside two decades on Mary Kellerman's grandmother Patricia spoke of the continuing grief
stating it's still devastating to the family especially when they have in court who did it I'm sure a lot of
people have forgotten it but I can tell you that the families still remember this sentiment was shared by Joseph
Janus who lost two of his brothers to the Tylenol poisonings and said it never goes away it stays in your chest in an
interview with the Chicago Tribune in 2009 Mary McFarland's brother Elias and explained how he can no longer stomach
even looking at a box of Tylenol quote I now think of Mary not being here what she's missing her son's growing up a
granddaughter being born a daughter-in-law she would have loved a colleague of paula prince remembered
her as a voracious woman with a gorgeous smile and spoke of the unknown killer quote that guy stole all her dreams her
life her future he just destroyed it all just poof one pill what makes a man do something like that in the early days of
the Tylenol investigation Illinois Criminal Investigation Commander Thomas Sharpe told the Chicago Tribune the
first thing you look for in any murder is motivation in 99% of the cases it's relatively easy her husband wife lover
boyfriend is involved or narcotics are involved and you are on your way to solving it but with tylenol there was
never a message left behind it's so important to know why what was the message what was the reason with tylenol
not only can't we say who we can't even say what or why [Music]

Case 118: The Chicago Tylenol Murders

Back at Northwest Community Hospital, Doctor Thomas Kim was getting ready to leave work for the day when a nurse informed him that the Janus family were being brought back in...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research – Milly Raso and Anonymous Host Writing – Milly Raso Production, scoring – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn

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Brief Summary

The Chicago Tylenol murders in 1982 resulted in seven deaths from cyanide-laced capsules, sparking a nationwide panic and investigation.

Key points

The Mysterious Deaths Begin. On September 29, 1982, Adam Janus collapses after taking Tylenol, leading to a series of tragic events.
The Connection to Tylenol. As more victims emerge, firefighters suspect Tylenol might be the common link in the deaths.
Cyanide Discovered. Testing reveals that Tylenol capsules were laced with cyanide, confirming the cause of death for several victims.
Nationwide Recall. Johnson & Johnson announces a nationwide recall of all Tylenol products, costing the company $100 million.
The Tylenol Murders Investigation. A task force of over 100 investigators worked tirelessly to uncover the truth behind the Tylenol poisonings, which resulted in seven deaths.
Funeral Services for Victims. Memorial services were held for the victims of the Tylenol murders, highlighting the profound loss felt by families and friends.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is a wild stab, but maybe it's Tylenol.

Firefighter Richard Keyworth speculates about the cause of the deaths.

9:09WatchJul 21, 2019

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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