Tylenol murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case. Illinois state police and FBI supervisors did most of the talking at that first meeting, several attendees told the Tribune. As everyone left that first meeting Friday morning, DuPage deputy coroner Siekmann, who hadnt slept in more than 24 hours, looked around the room and wondered how it would all work. They were particularly concerned that something happened during the manufacturing or the shipping or storage, Wolnik said. Details about the seven victims, how they obtained the tainted bottles and their final moments were outlined in a confidential police memo obtained by the Tribune. The tips were written up on 3x5 index cards. Why was this happening? You understand? Ford said he told Stein. Chicagos doing what they want, so lets just give them something minor to do.. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. Siekmann didnt wear gloves. Critics who had prematurely announced the death of the brand Tylenol were now praising the companys handling of the matter. Many of the task force members interviewed by the Tribune recounted difficulties as more than 100 people tried to work as a team. But when she opened the . Fahner, as head of the task force, quickly became the public face of the investigation. The task ahead was difficult. 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. The city's most notorious unsolved murdersthe killing of seven people with cyanide-laced Tylenols in 1982is back in the news, as the seating of a grand jury is 1 2 Adam Janus, a 27-year-old postal worker, wasnt feeling well and without having any way to know the mortal peril that the bottle posed for him, he took a pill from it before going to sleep that day. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. 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. He bought a rancid ham at Jewel and when he opened it, it was spoiled. And 35 years later, this murder mystery is still . Because all the other possibilities had been eliminated.. Police departments were working the murders in relative isolation, and each county had its own states attorney to oversee the case. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. Some worked at the medical examiners office, which played a key role in figuring out the cyanide connection. Investigators took pictures of people who attended the victims funerals to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. After a lengthy cat and mouse game, police and federal investigators determined that Lewis lived in New York and had no demonstrable links to the Chicago events. His brother and sister-in-law, Stanley, 25, and Theresa, 19, of Lisle, Illinois, rushed to his home to console their loved ones. J.J. Bittenbinder a tough-talking, mustachioed detective who would later gain fame as a TV safety expert served as a liaison to Fahners task force in Des Plaines. . As a result of the crime, makers of Tylenol developed new product protection methods. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune), John Fellmann at his home in Huntley in September. Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. Other copy-cat poisonings, involving Tylenol and other over-the-counter medications, cropped up again in the 1980s and early 1990s but these events were never as dramatic or as deadly as the 1982 Chicago-area deaths. At first, the story focused in the Chicago/Cook County . Her parents gave permission. Extra-Strength Tylenol bottles, for example, came in a paper box with an unglued lid. The Tylenol murders would soon spur the development of plastic seals and tamper-evident packaging. Ford and his partner Jimmy Gildea both said they tried to stop him because evidence technicians hadnt been to the scene yet, but Stein brushed off their concerns. Seven people died in 1982 after taking painkillers from bottle someone - police do not know who - had slipped cyanide pills into Ramon Antonio Vargas Sun 2 Oct 2022 02.00 EDT Forty years after the. In theory, the plan would prevent anyone from griping about being kept out of the loop. Next week: Police investigate a poor mans James Bond, and an eighth person dies. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. 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. Members of the media the same people who were constantly pestering him for information nicknamed Fahner Tylenol Ty. It stuck. Fahner ordered his staff to work through the night, calling local police, sheriffs, coroners, the FBI, the FDA, prosecutors and public health officials. But on Oct. 1, 1982, he had been a detective for only a year. The profilers believed the killer was likely to visit one of those named places to see the heartbreak he had caused. Reports would be written in triplicate so each member would get a copy. Several victims families told the Tribune they didnt hear much from investigators after those initial interviews. That evening, Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner sat on a dais listening to stump speeches at the Kane County Republican Organizations annual dinner. Whoa, whoa, he recalled. I said, Excuse me. That box had been turned in, along with an unused bottle, a couple weeks after the murders by the wife of a DuPage County judge. Lewis, who now lives in the Boston area, has long denied any involvement in the murders and has never been charged. Thompson put him in charge of the investigation to get TV time. There was no clear leader. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. Their opinion soured even further at their first meeting, when one of the lead investigators asked for a briefing on the Prince murder. We had an absolute tsunami of Tylenol bottles. You know, because Ty was just a classy lawyer, and he never was a politician, he said. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). When Ford and Gildea arrived at the North Side flophouse where the man lived, he was still on the phone with a company operator and was promising to punish Hormel just like he had in the Tylenol case. The Illinois State Police told NBC News the investigation remains ongoing. The CPD set up its own tip line and organized 35 detectives to work out of what was then Area 6 Headquarters at Belmont and Western. A decadeslong investigation has centered around Massachusetts man James Lewis, 76, who was 36 at the time of the murders. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures of everyone who attended the victims funerals and set up time-lapse cameras at grave sites to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. See where the eight tainted Tylenol bottles were purchased or discovered. They understood the tension between the FBI and local law enforcement some of them shared those same resentments but they thought Chicago didnt even try to be team players. So whatever fits or doesnt fit the storyline, that didnt happen. The Tylenol case, however, would loom largest over his professional life. Deputy coroner Siekmann recalled going to Winfield to pick up the Tylenol collected from Reiners house a few hours after her death. Security cameras were scarce in suburban Chicago in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Stacy St. Clair joined the Chicago Tribune in 2007. The state police memo indicates fingerprints were found on at least one of the bottles, as well as a full print on the inside of a different bottles box. And I would wake them up just to say good night, you know?. Tensions flared, even among law enforcement personnel sincerely dedicated to the job. History's Greatest Mysteries looks into the theories regarding the Tylenol Murders in Chicago 1982. In 2010, DuPage County prosecutors filed a sealed affidavit stating investigators had found DNA on three bottles and the capsules inside, according to documents obtained by the Tribune. "As you can see, it is easy to place cyanideinto capsules sitting on store shelves," he wrote in the letter. Agents interviewed the victims families, neighbors, co-workers and friends about any known enemies. They looked at accused shoplifters, including a man charged with attempting to steal 28 Tylenol bottles from a Wheaton pharmacy in August. With fears mounting, Johnson & Johnson recalled all over-the-counter Tylenol capsule products on Oct. 5, nearly a week after Mary Kellermans death. And I want people to know that, yeah, this was my family, and it has changed all of us.. An FBI agent stood up and started to give a rundown of Chicagos case. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). We were getting flooded with calls, said John Fellmann, an Arlington Heights detective assigned to the case. We didnt get anything, but we were kicking around ideas like that.. Someone, police hypothesized, must have taken bottles off the shelves of local grocers and drug stores in the Chicago area, laced the capsules with poison, and then returned the restored packages to the shelves to be purchased by the unknowing victims. And soon, many medications and foods sold over store counters began being sold in tamper-proof, sealed packaging. In the first year alone, the task force used it to track more than 35,000 individuals and 15,000 companies contacted as part of the investigation. He said Marys mother, Jeanna, asked him if she should have noticed that someone had tampered with the bottle. She has received numerous national honors for her work. If Fahner had any chance of keeping his office in November, he had to build enthusiasm among conservative voters in the suburbs. The task force knew the mechanism behind the murders, Fellmann said. The Tylenol murders: The story of a 40-year-old unsolved case begins with a terrifying medical mystery. And lives were at risk. Hearing that threat, the detectives said, they banged on the door and announced themselves as police. Over the next few days, three more strange deaths occurred: 35-year-old Mary McFarland of Elmhurst, Illinois, 35-year-old Paula Prince of Chicago, and 27-year-old Mary Weiner of Winfield, Illinois.. The red cap was easily flipped open, with nothing but a little piece of cotton left to cover the capsules. We also are still were looking at emerging forensic technology, Sgt. Retired FBI agent Roy Lane Jr., shown in August, is the only member of law enforcement who has been part of the Tylenol investigation in its entirety. A lot of people who didnt like me or didnt like Thompson or my association were taking shots, Fahner said. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. Its a one-way street for information back and forth. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. In keeping with that theory, the task force contacted hospitals to ask about anyone treated for poison burns or symptoms, in case the killer became ill or injured during the spree. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. So, the theory was the tampering took place at the store, said FBI agent Lane. The 40-year-old Tylenol murder investigation remains at a standstill. 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. Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. Two main suspects in this unsolved case are James Lewis and Roger Arnold, who had both been linked to this occurrence in some way. The poisonings spanned multiple towns and two counties. Daniel Walker and several Chicago aldermen convicted in Operation Silver Shovel. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. And he grabs the pills, picks them up in his hand, dumps a whole bunch of them in his hand and starts sniffing, Ford recalled. Joe McQuaid, a task force investigator with the state police who had worked for Fahner when he was director, acknowledged it was an unorthodox setup. Christy Gutowski focuses her work on stories about criminal justice, public corruption and issues that impact the everyday man. Some expressed surprise at how casually other people treated the poisoned bottles. With absolute certainty, they can say the following: Records show at least four fingerprints were found during the initial investigation. The program went far beyond any database previously used by law enforcement in Illinois. (Stan Policht / Chicago Tribune). In this op-ed, he reflects on his experiences leading the public health response to the Tylenol murders of 1982. Seven people in the Chicago area were killed that year by Tylenol that had been poisoned with potassium cyanide. The bottles, however, needed to be tested before they could say with certainty. It didnt take long for the Tylenol murders to become national news. The panic stemming from the Tylenol murders resulted in a permanent change in the packaging of medicine. Finally, in late July, officials from both Cook and DuPage gather for a video conference. The couple were later pronounced dead, too. Fahner thought state officials needed to be even more aggressive, despite the consequences for the investigation. The Tylenol Murders Victims Mary Kellerman On September 29, 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman woke up feeling ill. Records show law enforcement has spent the past several years dealing almost entirely with forensic evidence. (Earl Gustie / Chicago Tribune). Written by a high-ranking Illinois state police supervisor in April 1983, the document describes the wide net authorities cast in the hopes of solving the mystery. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. Over the next several months, Fahners task force would do groundbreaking police work, generate 19,000 pages of investigative reports, be accused of playing politics and, ultimately, fail to hold anyone accountable for the murders. He believed Thompson was behind the move, though Fahner denied it. 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. That testing uncovered three more poisoned bottles: two turned in by customers in Wheaton and Chicago and one found on a Schaumburg pharmacy shelf. Several suspects did too. Do not use it.. The man shrugged off his dismissal when investigators asked, saying it was the nature of the business. And the last point that they wanted to strike home was that the person who committed this is enjoying the attention right now and the fact that he or she had outsmarted the law enforcement, Lane said. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. The likelihood that the same person could have put cyanide into different batches manufactured at different times in different places was logistically zero.. IE 11 is not supported. Helena Tarasewicz, mother of Tylenol victim Theresa "Terri" Janus, weeps over the casket containing her daughter's body during graveside services at Maryhill Cemetery in Niles in 1982. And wherever they fell on the issue, that position hasnt changed much over the past four decades. She rarely heard how the tips panned out. And my next thought was that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.. He also laid the foundation to get Extra-Strength Tylenol off store shelves statewide, going beyond the single batch the pain relievers manufacturer had recalled that day. The tip line received more than 6,000 calls within the first few weeks. The 18-page investigative summary also provides key evidence, including the names of the three main suspects, during the first seven months of the case. Others found Fahner the obvious choice. 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. 1: Poisoning the Well: Directed by Travis Clark. Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek talks about the Tylenol investigation on Oct. 7, 1982, about a week after the seven deaths. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. The substance was grainier than the untainted Tylenol on the left. The Soviets were willing to assist, but their satellites werent trained on the Chicago suburbs at the time. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide following the deaths. (Chicago Tribune), Look, like any other series of government bureaucracies, theres always tension between agencies, he said. The company, however, did not keep records of where the products were shipped. Forty years later, it still bothers him. The company also introduced price reductions and a new version of their pills called the caplet a tablet coated with slick, easy-to-swallow gelatin but far harder to tamper with than the older capsules which could be easily opened, laced with a contaminant, and then placed back in the older non-tamper-proof bottle. For example, Johnson & Johnson developed new product protection methods and ironclad pledges to do better in protecting their consumers in the future. Members of the Illinois State Police join, as well. One man, James Lewis, claiming to be the Tylenol killer wrote a ransom letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million in exchange for stopping the poisonings. The task force didnt know who or why.. (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune). I thought he was perfect.. Most working detectives really dont trust the FBI, and the FBI doesnt trust us, Ford said. Given the totality of the circumstances, some thought it unusual for the Illinois attorney general to lead the investigation. I tell you, this wasnt a CSI show, he said. Some investigators on the case, including a few still involved with it, considered the rendered profile too vague to be of any real use. There was little evidence to go on, no inkling of a motive and five people dead. Every night, I would come home after my kids were in bed, he said. The Unsolved Tylenol Murders of 1982: The Unabomber Theory Written by C.W.S. The Tylenol murders fundamentally changed the way we consume medication - among other things, leading to tamper-proof pill and bottle designs. At the time just four, Janus recalls being with her father, Adam, in their Chicago suburb when he bought an Extra-Strength Tylenol bottle that someone had slipped cyanide pills into. The police investigation into the Tylenol murders has centered around prime suspect James Lewis for decades. I realized I was in the deep end of the pool, he said. Every Tylenol bottle had a lot number that offered specific details about the batch those capsules came from. Investigators assumed the culprit was a man, though records indicate they didnt automatically rule out anyone based on gender. I mean, theres 10,000 reasons why people compete with each other. In 1983, the U.S. Congress passed what was called the Tylenol bill, making it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products. Dr. Howard Markel. What are the Tylenol murders? The most promising leads involved people doing curious things with chemicals. The bottle's cap was easily opened. NBC News reached out to Lewis and did not receive a response. NBC News has not reviewed those documents. It was 1982. From the start, Detectives Ford and Gildea didnt understand the purpose of driving out to Des Plaines each day in rush hour traffic when they had a murder to solve back in the city. The police questioned him and searched his home, they turned up several interesting connections. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune). 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. And they talked to veterinarians about any unusual animal poisonings, thinking the murderer may have tested the chemical on pets first. The evening marked an important shift in the tragedy, moving from a swiftly solved medical mystery into a massive criminal investigation. Among them was Lane, a well-respected federal agent who would help put away all kinds of criminals during his nearly 30-year career, including mob boss Sam Carlisi, former Illinois Gov. Advances in technology have allowed investigators to determine the postmark date on the extortion letter written by Lewis that demands $1 million be wired to a bank account "if you want to stop the killing," according to the Chicago Tribune's review of the documents. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), People were terrified, Fahner said. A new book by a former Johnson & Johnson employee suggests the Tylenol poisonings, which killed seven people in the Chicago area in 1982, took place in the company's production or distribution. 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. The best suspect for the Tylenol murders has always been James William Lewis, who sent an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million to stop the murders. As the de facto leader of the task force, he would come to be known in the media as "Tylenol Ty.". As the de facto leader of the task force, he would come to be known in the media as "Tylenol Ty." When the column ran, Severns knew instantly that the authorities had planted the story. The publication reported this week that it has obtained video and thousands of documents outlining law enforcement's current case and a possible motive for the killings. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide. Thats being made out of whole cloth all these years later. The bottle's cap was easily opened. By the time he reached his house in Evanston, he was the de facto leader of what had quickly become the countrys highest-profile murder case. The Tylenol Murders Pt. In those early days, the best leads came from the Tylenol bottles themselves. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. Four decades later, task force leaders downplay accusations of tensions among the agencies, suggesting history has been revised in an effort to explain why no one has been charged with the murders. But no one has ever been arrested in connection with the spate of poisonings that shattered the families of Janus and the others. 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. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. Introduction Heading link Copy link. The Tylenol task force may be no exception, he said, but the tensions didnt affect the overall effort. The Tylenol murders of 1982,was a pointless killing spree that resulted in the death of seven Chicago area people from Tylenol tablets .The Tylenol poisoning killings was from tampering with over-the-counter Tylenol branded acetaminophen pills laced with potassium cyanide. The operation was primarily staffed by female agents who answered phone calls and assessed information while their male counterparts worked in the field. Other task force members, it should be noted, werent particularly fond of Chicagos efforts either. He hangs up, opens the door and we come in like gangbusters, Gildea said. The results came back positive for cyanide at 1:30 a.m. The arrests came as the result of an undercover FBI operation, and The Marquette 10 as the disgraced officers came to be known remain an enduring symbol of police corruption in Chicago. The Tylenol Murders Pt. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). James Thompson, Illinois Secretary of State James Edgar and shook his head. Chicago police Officer Sam Barsevich, left, takes inventory of Tylenol bottles that residents turned in at his station on Oct. 2, 1982. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. Helena Tarasewicz, mother of Tylenol victim Theresa "Terri" Janus, weeps over the casket containing her daughter's body during graveside services at Maryhill Cemetery in Niles in 1982. Investigators express frustration, anger even. 6 Amazon travel essentials for your next getaway, starting at $12. Theories The first suspect is 48 year old dock worker Roger Arnold, who said some suspicious things about the Tylenol murders at a bar one night. Back then, bottles of pills did not have tamper-proof seals, just a cotton ball stuffed inside. Nothing was being solved.. The death toll now stood at five: Reiner, McFarland, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, his brother Stanley Janus of Lisle and 12-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village. Though the company expanded the recall the same day to cover the batch involved in McFarlands death, the piecemeal approach troubled Fahner. A long-planned meeting with DuPage prosecutors also was pushed back in the spring. (Fred Jewell/AP). Authorities already considered the womens deaths to be cyanide related by the time they contacted Fahner during his campaign event. Late July, officials from both Cook and DuPage gather for a briefing on the Chicago Tribune ) that,... It should be noted, werent particularly fond of chicagos efforts either tainted bottle of Tylenol victim Paula bought! Number that offered specific details about the batch those capsules came from knew the mechanism tylenol murders theories... Numerous national honors for her work then, bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules /! 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