Oct. 2, 1982: CBS 2's Phil Walters reports on the investigation into the Tylenol poisonings. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics 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. Tylenol murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case. Tainted capsules were discovered in early October in a few other grocery stores and drug stores in the Chicago area, but, fortunately, they had not yet been sold or consumed. 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. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. The Kellerman and Janus bottles contained Tylenol from lot MC2880, manufactured in Pennsylvania on April 26, 1982. But the police chief of the Chicago suburb where Adam Janus lived, Joe Murphy, told CNN he hopes forensic technology used to analyze DNA could eventually produce the break they need to conclusively identify whoever was responsible for the Tylenol killings. The Tylenol Murders Pt. We still receive tips that are being evaluated and investigated. The panic stemming from the Tylenol murders resulted in a permanent change in the packaging of medicine. Product tampering would become a crime in 1983 as a result of these murders, but in 1982 there was no federal law against it. Because all the other possibilities had been eliminated.. The agents didnt bother to pretend that labeling rules were their true motivation for getting involved. Siekmann, who had been working since 8 a.m., believed some capsules were tainted from the first time he laid eyes on them. We were looking for somebody that really looked like they didnt belong. It was standing room only inside the Arlington Heights Police Department for the first meeting of what would become the Tylenol task force. Chicago police Detective Charlie Ford, assigned to the Prince murder, recalled being stunned when Cook County Medical Examiner Robert Stein showed up at the victims Old Town condo and immediately asked to see the Tylenol. What happens in most cases, and certainly what happened here beyond any question, was a 100% selfless, unified devotion to a very important mission.. The man shrugged off his dismissal when investigators asked, saying it was the nature of the business. The victims had all taken Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Unfortunately, each victim swallowed a Tylenol capsule laced with A lethal dose of cyanide. The task force didnt know who or why.. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. They knew the locations. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." Thank you. Authorities believed they offered clues about who could and who could not have poisoned the capsules. But she said years of therapy and yoga have helped her overcome her anger and guilt, and shes hopeful there will be justice in the killings of her father as well as her aunt and uncle. Medicare Pharmacy employee Mary Butler, right, shows a box of Extra-Strength Tylenol to Officer Michael Miljan in Arlington Heights. he answered. Within a year, and after an investment of more than $100 million, Tylenols sales rebounded to its healthy past and it became, once again, the nations favorite over-the-counter pain reliever. Some worked at the medical examiners office, which played a key role in figuring out the cyanide connection. Extra-Strength Tylenol bottles, for example, came in a paper box with an unglued lid. Thats because nobody was keeping track of who was buying cyanide, Wolnik said. She would be the seventh and final person to die from taking the poisoned medication. I think after a day or two, the state police realized theyre on their own. The investigation would fork, taking the FBI and Chicago police down vastly different paths. The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), People were terrified, Fahner said. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. The substance was grainier than the untainted Tylenol on the left. Lewis, who now lives in the Boston area, has long denied any involvement in the murders and has never been charged. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. "As you can see, it is easy to place cyanideinto capsules sitting on store shelves," he wrote in the letter. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . The more she . 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. 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.. Wherever they stand, everyone wishes they had achieved a different result. The Tylenol murders would soon spur the development of plastic seals and tamper-evident packaging. Among those questioned was a clerical worker who was fired for repeatedly missing work. Pero quin fue el asesino? Thompson put him in charge of the investigation to get TV time. Ford, a Vietnam veteran with a classic Chicago accent and an Irishmans love of storytelling, died of a heart attack a few days after speaking with the Tribune. When the column ran, Severns knew instantly that the authorities had planted the story. Seven people died in 1982 after taking painkillers from bottle someone police do not know who had slipped cyanide pills into. There, research chemist Karen Wolnik and her colleagues established a trace element pattern a sort of chemical fingerprint for each sample to determine whether it was identical to the poison used in the Tylenol killings. Back then, bottles of pills did not have tamper-proof seals, just a cotton ball stuffed inside. Shari Kouba, shown in July at an FBI office in Mount Prospect where she used to work, ran a tips desk as part of the Tylenol task force. It would likely be someone with gray hair. Fahner had worked for James Thompson in the U.S. attorneys office, handling some of the citys biggest federal corruption cases. FBI agents carry boxes out of the apartment building in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. The FBIs counterintelligence unit even reached out to their Soviet counterparts to see if they had any spy satellite images that could help, according to former FBI agent Grey Steed. The 20-year-old would be buried alongside her husband and her brother-in-law Adam in a triple funeral made even more heartbreaking when relatives had to pull Terris mother off her daughters casket before it was lowered into the ground. Every agency imaginable attended, many of them represented by their top leaders. 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. President Reagan wanted the FBI in the investigation, retired FBI Special Agent Roy Lane Jr. told the Tribune. He also would have a history of animal cruelty, Lane told the Tribune. He couldnt leave. The investigators would then return around 5 p.m. to update everyone on the days developments. 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. Marquette 10 is one of a thousand reasons why theres tension, personal jealousy, personal ambition, jurisdictional turf fights. And wherever they fell on the issue, that position hasnt changed much over the past four decades. 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. In this op-ed, he reflects on his experiences leading the public health response to the Tylenol murders of 1982. Forty years later, Ford shook his head at the memory. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). James Thompson, Illinois Secretary of State James Edgar and shook his head. 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. But when she opened the . And Fahner wasnt the only source of tensions. Investigators first considered whether the tampering could have occurred at the manufacturing plants. Former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner stands on the former site of the Tylenol task force headquarters in Des Plaines, now an empty parking lot. The FBIs involvement puzzled some because, as far as anyone knew, the federal agency didnt have jurisdiction in the case. Whats going on? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration then cautioned the public against taking the pain reliever in capsule form. The latest Tribune poll showed he was down by about 20 points in the upcoming election. 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. 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. In a surveillance still photo, you can see a man who looks remarkably similar to Lewis standing in the background as one of the victims, Paula Prince, checks out. I had people dropping dead all over the place.. They looked at accused shoplifters, including a man charged with attempting to steal 28 Tylenol bottles from a Wheaton pharmacy in August. An FBI agent stood up and started to give a rundown of Chicagos case. He bought a rancid ham at Jewel and when he opened it, it was spoiled. Investigators assumed the culprit was a man, though records indicate they didnt automatically rule out anyone based on gender. The Unsolved Tylenol Murders of 1982: The Unabomber Theory Written by C.W.S. And then there are agents who dont. In those early days, the best leads came from the Tylenol bottles themselves. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. When that happened, the suspect would make contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case. 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. Authorities were convinced the killer didnt know any of the victims. Nearly three weeks after the murders, for example, the FBI asked Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene to write a column about Mary Kellerman and include specific details such as the familys home address and the location of the little girls grave, with her parents permission. The Tylenol case, however, would loom largest over his professional life. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. In the years that followed, Fellmann would rise through the ranks of the Arlington Heights Police Department and eventually become police chief of far north suburban Island Lake. For example, Johnson & Johnson developed new product protection methods and ironclad pledges to do better in protecting their consumers in the future. Roger Arnold worked at a jewel warehouse with the father of one of the victims named Mary Reiner. He held news conferences, sometimes twice a day, to meet the insatiable media demands. History's Greatest Mysteries looks into the theories regarding the Tylenol Murders in Chicago 1982. 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. Early on, the task force decided to instruct the public to get rid of their Tylenol by either turning it in to police departments or throwing it away. His wife whom he had just married fell limp in the living room a short while after that. Simply put, the feds entry into the investigation hinged on the admittedly preposterous notion that the manufacturer intentionally put poison in the pain reliever and then committed a misdemeanor crime by not including it on the label. Ford said Stein encouraged him to smell the pills, but the detective refused and pushed away the pathologists hand. It was at this point, early October of 1982, that investigators made the connection between the poisoning deaths and Tylenol, the best-selling, non-prescription pain reliever sold in the United States at that time. 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. 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. I think we ended up charging that guy with a misdemeanor, some disorderly conduct or some nonsense, he said. Finally, in late July, officials from both Cook and DuPage gather for a video conference. The bottle's cap was easily opened. Johnson & Johnson initially recalled only those products with the same batch number as the Janus and Kellerman bottles. Nobody knew what to do with (the investigation) because it was all over the place, Fahner said. (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune). There wasnt that much tension, Fahner said. Joe Murphy told NBC Chicago last year. Extra-Strength Tylenol, shown in a Tribune studio photograph, once was packaged in a paper box with an unglued lid. 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 Illinois State Police told NBC News the investigation remains ongoing. Before that she reported for the Daily Herald, the Dayton Daily News and The Topeka Capital-Journal. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982, Why Eleanor Roosevelts civics book for kids is making a comeback. Tensions flared, even among law enforcement personnel sincerely dedicated to the job. (Chicago Tribune), If you are the Tylenol killer, though, you may be harboring just the vaguest curiosity about the people on the other end of your plan: The people who were unfortunate enough to purchase the bottle you had touched, Greene wrote. Agents interviewed the victims families, neighbors, co-workers and friends about any known enemies. Stanley died that very day and Theresa died two days later. The White House, however, had ordered the FBI to find a way into the case amid growing public panic. His boss assigned him to the Janus murders two days earlier because the departments more seasoned detectives were working the fatal beating of a homeless man in a local park. Bottles that werent tossed out were sent to J&J, the FDA and various government laboratories for testing. Thats just human nature. Later, Lewis was arrested,. They apologized, he said, but the trust had been broken. 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. The original theory behind the crimes was a culprit who took the Tylenol bottles from drug and grocery stores in the Chicago area over a period of weeks, opened the capsules and added potassium cyanide, after which the culprit would return the bottles to the stores to be purchased. It sounds like an urban legend, but it was chillingly real in 1982. See where the eight tainted Tylenol bottles were purchased or discovered. The gelatin-based capsules were especially popular because they were slick and easy to swallow. Come to 1425 Armstrong Lane.. In fact, so many big dogs were present, Fellmann said he couldnt find a free chair inside his own 60-seat roll call room. Within 48 hours of the murders, the task force used this information to conclude publicly that the pills could not have been poisoned during production. NBC News has not reviewed those documents. There was little evidence to go on, no inkling of a motive and five people dead. His task force partners the FBI and state police had blindsided the Elk Grove Village detective, and he was angry. You know, its a hackneyed phrase, but we left no stone unturned., Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, shown in his Chicago office in July, was part of the original Tylenol task force in 1982. Severns confronted people at both agencies, who blamed each other for keeping him in the dark. Tylenol murders victims Among the victims there were three from the same family, as Adam Janus, aged 27 collapsed after ingesting extra-strength Tylenol and was rushed to the hospital where he died. And neither does the DNA. Next week: Police investigate a poor mans James Bond, and an eighth person dies. But I didnt have the gray hair yet.. 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. The tip line received more than 6,000 calls within the first few weeks. 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. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). The FBI and Chicago police performed separate, but largely parallel, investigations until Oct. 6. Thats being made out of whole cloth all these years later. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. The Tribune has spoken with several people who have been asked to provide DNA samples within the last decade all men who had access to poisoned bottles found in Cook County. He investigated the Tylenol poisonings in the Janus family and later served as police chief in Island Lake. (Charles Knoblock / AP). As weeks went by without an arrest, detectives started using different doors to avoid the cameras. They can account for the differing DNA profiles. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. The guy was a little wimpy, but his ham did stink.. 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. Congress eventually criminalized tampering with medications and other consumer products, classifying that as a federal crime that could carry up to life imprisonment in cases involving a death. Not just the hours, but the frustration. 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. "Ladies, you ever been harassed for something for 40 years that you had nothing to do with?" In one instance, someone reported that a chemistry professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago had been bragging about access to labs with cyanide. Records show law enforcement has spent the past several years dealing almost entirely with forensic evidence. 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. And everyone in the meeting is aware of one undeniable truth: There is no physical evidence linking a suspect to the poisonings. We didnt get anything, but we were kicking around ideas like that.. Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair told NBC News correspondent Kathy Park on TODAY Friday that a number of law enforcement sources close to the investigation have told her that Lewis is the only person currently described as a target of the investigation. The Tylenol Murders Victims Mary Kellerman On September 29, 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman woke up feeling ill. Investigators took pictures of people who attended the victims funerals to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. Pero quin fue el asesino? In late September of 1982 seven people were killed after an unknown suspect placed cyanide laced Tylenol pills in store bottles. 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. 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. Former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner stands on the former site of the Tylenol task force headquarters in Des Plaines, now an empty parking lot. Six suburbanites had already died from cyanide poisoning by that time, but this was Chicagos first and, in the end, only victim. The Tylenol murders have never been solved, though at one point, the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, was a suspect. What was he liked as a boss?, She added: Good and bad, I want to hear those stories, because its a reflection of who I am., Hurricane Ian: South Carolina and Florida comb wreckage to assess deadly toll, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. And they would remain apart for the next four decades. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? As a state crime, murder fell under the purview of local law enforcement. Reporters from the Chicago Tribune tracked down Lewis last month as part of the investigative podcast "Unsealed: The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. The task ahead was difficult. He investigated the Tylenol poisonings in the Janus family and later served as police chief in Island Lake. wide worlds of science, health andtechnology. In 2000, Joy Bergmann revisited the story in "A Bitter Pill" . 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. Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Kasia said she long blamed herself for her fathers death, even though she was just in preschool when it happened. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Transformed by tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle died 40 years ago after taking poisoned Tylenol. Tamper-resistant pill containers were introduced with packaging that allows consumers to notice if a bottle of pills or medication has been opened or altered. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Forty years after that terrifying period in September 1982, investigators say new evidence and a potential motive may be enough to finally solve the case. Within a week, her death would panic the entire nation. What was he like in school? Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle were killed in the notorious unsolved poisonings that terrorized Chicago. 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. As a result of the crime, makers of Tylenol developed new product protection methods. The Tylenol murders fundamentally changed the way we consume medication - among other things, leading to tamper-proof pill and bottle designs. Male murderers are more likely, in general, to kill randomly and on a large scale. I do think it created a lot of problems because youre always thinking theres somebody doing something behind your back.. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. Elk Grove Village Detective Michael Severns said investigators were so intent on chasing leads that they at times lost sight of the grieving families. No, Oscar Wilde probably didnt die of syphilis. 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. Chicago police Detectives Jimmy Gildea. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. (Earl Gustie / Chicago Tribune). Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. The evening marked an important shift in the tragedy, moving from a swiftly solved medical mystery into a massive criminal investigation. Though the company expanded the recall the same day to cover the batch involved in McFarlands death, the piecemeal approach troubled Fahner. They told stories of information hoarding, turf wars and glory seeking even when there was none to be had. 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. The man hurriedly told the Hormel operator that he had to go and he would call her back later. Another tip involved a man who was threatening to poison Hormel food products. 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. Our highest responsibility has always been the health and safety of our consumers," Johnson & Johnson said in a statement to NBC News. Members of the Illinois State Police join, as well. She also laments that her dad never got to meet her and her husband, her son, her stepson and her step-grandson. They gave her one extra-strength Tylenol capsule that, unbeknownst to them, was laced with the highly poisonous potassium cyanide. Indeed, the Johnson & Johnson recall became a classic case study in business schools across the nation. 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. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. Please check your inbox to confirm. The coppers and the FBI guys that I knew all worked together. Relatives, including two who took polygraph tests, were quickly eliminated from suspicion. Another theory was that whoever poisoned the medication did it at home or in a car, then placed the bottles back on the shelves. Pain in the neck, Hogberg said of his CPD counterparts. That testing uncovered three more poisoned bottles: two turned in by customers in Wheaton and Chicago and one found on a Schaumburg pharmacy shelf. Im just being honest, Siekmann said. (Fred Jewell/AP). Fahner looked at all the power brokers on the platform U.S. Sen. Charles Percy, Gov. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. 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. The bottles, however, needed to be tested before they could say with certainty. Severns worked on the case for three days before he realized no one had offered an update to young Mary Kellermans grieving parents. For example, Johnson & Johnson quickly established that the cyanide lacing occurred after cases of Tylenol left the factory. The killer may have salted the bottles with cyanide-laced capsules while standing in the store aisle, investigators thought. What are the Tylenol murders? It was the first of two such trips he made that day, initially with the Reiner bottle and later with the one that killed McFarland. We also are still were looking at emerging forensic technology, Sgt. 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. He had never been better known in Illinois and was inching up in the polls too. Scott Stump is a staff reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY. 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His task force x27 ; s tylenol murders theories Mysteries looks into the theories regarding the murders... Murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case from a swiftly solved medical mystery into a massive criminal.... He bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the memory for 40 years that you had nothing to do (! Was actually the Unabomber the recall the same batch number as the Janus family and later served as police in... Unsolved Tylenol murders have never been solved, though at one point, state. Contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case changed the way consume! The citys biggest federal corruption cases ( the investigation, retired FBI Agent! Slick and easy to place cyanideinto capsules sitting on store shelves, '' he wrote in the Janus family later. Fbi in the murders and has never been solved, though at one point, the approach! As well shelves, '' he wrote in the store aisle, investigators thought Here 's the,.: the Unabomber agencies, who now lives in the investigation ) because it was the nature of grieving. Room only inside the Arlington Heights Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of pills did not have poisoned capsules. One point, the piecemeal approach troubled Fahner his professional life Herald, the suspect would make with! Cyanideinto capsules sitting on store shelves, '' he wrote in the Janus and.
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