The new timeline suggests Lewis wrote the letter before the public knew the deaths were linked to the tainted Tylenol pills, according to the Chicago Tribune. Lab technicians Nlada Marzette, left, and Lynn Pilaggi inspect the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules for cyanide contamination at the Illinois Department of Public Health in 1982. Extra-Strength Tylenol bottles, for example, came in a paper box with an unglued lid. What are the Tylenol murders? He is the director of the Center for the History of Medicine and the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and the author ofThe Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick and the Discovery of DNAs Double Helix (W.W. Norton, September 21). The pills were sold at stores in suburban Chicago, and bottles of Tylenol were immediately pulled from shelves to be tested by health departments for the presence of cyanide. . (Fred Jewell/AP). Even after he retired from the FBI in 1996, he didnt let it go. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. I think after a day or two, the state police realized theyre on their own. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. Eight of them would be three-member squads composed of a federal agent, a state investigator and a suburban detective from one of the towns where the victims lived or tainted bottles were discovered. Im just being honest, Siekmann said. 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. 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 bottles, however, needed to be tested before they could say with certainty. Subscribe to our Science Newsletter to explore the Testing found cyanide in the Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule on the right. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration then cautioned the public against taking the pain reliever in capsule form. Dr. Howard Markel writes a monthly column for the PBS NewsHour, highlighting momentous historical events that continue to shape modern medicine. And they would remain apart for the next four decades. Im absolutely sure about that. 6 Amazon travel essentials for your next getaway, starting at $12. (Chicago Tribune archive). A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Male murderers are more likely, in general, to kill randomly and on a large scale. The guy was a little wimpy, but his ham did stink.. FBI agent Shari Kouba, one of the few women on the task force, ran the tips desk. In fact, so many big dogs were present, Fellmann said he couldnt find a free chair inside his own 60-seat roll call room. The Chicago Tylenol Murders: With Laurence Fishburne. Unfortunately, each victim swallowed a Tylenol capsule laced with A lethal dose of cyanide. I think its pretty important, the aide replied. That thrill, however, would eventually diminish over time and the killer would seek more excitement, according to the profilers. [Para leer en espaol] Los asesinatos de Tylenol, parte 2: Tylenol mezclado con cianuro fue el arma homicida. 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. Its a one-way street for information back and forth. Sadly, the tragedies that resulted from the Tylenol poisonings can never be undone. Rosen's theory is that the tampering did not happen on store shelves, but at the manufacturing plant before the product was shipped out. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. Thats clear, Margolis told the Tribune. Because all the other possibilities had been eliminated.. That same day, a 27-year-old postal worker named Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, died of what was initially thought to be a massive heart attack but turned out to be cyanide poisoning as well. The Illinois State Police told NBC News the investigation remains ongoing. Elmhurst police Detective Herb Hogberg interviewed a chemist who had been laid off from the company in recent months. The operation was primarily staffed by female agents who answered phone calls and assessed information while their male counterparts worked in the field. He didnt get in our way. It was then that Mary Kellerman, a 12-year-old girl from Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago, told her mother and father about her symptoms. Stanley Janus soon collapsed on his late brothers kitchen floor. Kasia Janus also always verifies products are properly sealed before she buys anything at stores, she said in a recently published series of interviews with CNN that described the gut-wrenching legacy left behind for her by the unsolved Tylenol killings, which made tampering with medications as well as other consumer goods a federal crime but remain unsolved. Several people had died within the last day in the Chicago suburbs after ingesting Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide and the situation needed attention. What are you giving this story for? So they ran him off the stage and I got up there.. 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. They also started grumbling about politics overshadowing their work. These packaging protections soon became the industry standard for all over-the-counter medications. He didnt fit that profile, Hogberg said. I was the detective at the scene. Lewis admitted to the FBI that he sent a ransom letter at the time to Tylenol's parent company, Johnson & Johnson, according to reporting by The Chicago Tribune. He brought personal knowledge (as the former state police director) and experience regarding a criminal investigation. No one has ever been charged with the murders. Who would be next? While acetaminophen the active ingredient in the top-selling pain reliever was a fine white powder, these were filled with a grainy, translucent substance. 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. I always wear the blue suit and the red tie, Lane said. Or, at the very least, get them to remember his name. His task force partners the FBI and state police had blindsided the Elk Grove Village detective, and he was angry. Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Transformed by tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle died 40 years ago after taking poisoned Tylenol. I think hes nothing but a class act, said McQuaid, a retired state police captain. The substance was grainier than the untainted Tylenol on the left. 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. Critics who had prematurely announced the death of the brand Tylenol were now praising the companys handling of the matter. Kouba reviewed each as it came in, deciding which needed a field agents attention and which could be placed in a bin with other ludicrous claims. The red cap was easily flipped open, with nothing but a little piece of cotton left to cover the capsules. Records show law enforcement has spent the past several years dealing almost entirely with forensic evidence. Why was this happening? Please check your inbox to confirm. After just one or two task force meetings, Ford and Gildea told their boss they werent going back. The Tylenol murders have never been solved, though at one point, the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, was a suspect. 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. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Dr. Howard Markel 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. 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. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). Another tip involved a man who was threatening to poison Hormel food products. Forty years after the infamous Tylenol murders killed her father and two other close relatives, a Wisconsin woman refuses to take the popular pain pills. And I would wake them up just to say good night, you know?. (Ovie Carter / Chicago Tribune). Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . The task force met each morning at the Des Plaines headquarters to discuss leads and get their assignments. And neither does the DNA. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), People were terrified, Fahner said. As for the ongoing case, sources familiar with the investigation told the Chicago Tribune that charges are not imminent and may not come at all because the case lacks physical proof. That wasnt there.. 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. Stanley died that very day and Theresa died two days later. Security cameras were scarce in suburban Chicago in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). You understand? Ford said he told Stein. And 35 years later, this murder mystery is still . He already had a new job. But before Sept. 29, 1982, consumer products had few defenses against a person bent on sabotage. 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. The company, however, did not keep records of where the products were shipped. Security cameras were scarce in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed, including this photograph from a drugstore camera showing Paula Prince, center, buying a bottle of tainted Tylenol. The FBI and Chicago police performed separate, but largely parallel, investigations until Oct. 6. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide following the deaths. The Tribune interviewed nearly two dozen members of the task force, many of whom confirmed the reports veracity and added their own perspective. 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. 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. 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. The tips were written up on 3x5 index cards. Michael Petros, DrPH Wednesday, September 29, 1982 at 6:30am CDT, the nightmare that was to be known as the "Tylenol Murders" began 1. 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. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. Not just the hours, but the frustration. James Thompson, Illinois Secretary of State James Edgar and shook his head. The likelihood that the same person could have put cyanide into different batches manufactured at different times in different places was logistically zero.. History's Greatest Mysteries looks into the theories regarding the Tylenol Murders in Chicago 1982. McNeill and Johnson & Johnson offered replacement capsules to those who turned in pills already purchased and a reward for anyone with information leading to the apprehension of the individual or people involved in these random murders. Reports would be written in triplicate so each member would get a copy. I thought he was perfect.. 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. The evening marked an important shift in the tragedy, moving from a swiftly solved medical mystery into a massive criminal investigation. Local police departments and states attorneys offices have been trying to crack the case for 40 years. 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. Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. Stacy St. Clair joined the Chicago Tribune in 2007. All of them, it turned out, took Tylenol shortly before they died. When that happened, the suspect would make contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case. Every Tylenol bottle had a lot number that offered specific details about the batch those capsules came from. It sounds like an urban legend, but it was chillingly real in 1982. Police departments were working the murders in relative isolation, and each county had its own states attorney to oversee the case. Severns confronted people at both agencies, who blamed each other for keeping him in the dark. Here, he offers a Spanish-language flyer to Luisa Acevada. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Chicagos doing what they want, so lets just give them something minor to do.. The Tylenol Murders Victims Mary Kellerman On September 29, 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman woke up feeling ill. Now she's sharing her story for the first. My theory is that Anna is a diabetic and had just come home from a . Marquette 10 is one of a thousand reasons why theres tension, personal jealousy, personal ambition, jurisdictional turf fights. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide. The Illinois Department of Law Enforcement, now called the Illinois State Police, wanted him to help. The bottle's cap was easily opened. In the meantime, Kasia Janus has said shes dealt with occasionally overwhelming sadness because of the graduations her father couldnt attend. But when she opened the . The batch contained more than 1,800 pounds of cyanide, divided into packages of various sizes. 3: A Nightmare on Halloween: With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. It wasnt a grab for authority. The task force investigating the Tylenol killings doubted that James Lewis would be reckless enough to stay in Manhattan after mailing an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million . Some of the investigators started using it privately, too. In 2000, Joy Bergmann revisited the story in "A Bitter Pill" . It didnt take long for the Tylenol murders to become national news. 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. A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. Their departments relationship with the FBI had been rocky for decades, but it was at a particularly low point in September 1982. 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. Early on the morning of Sept. 29, 1982, a tragic, medical mystery began with a sore throat and a runny nose. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. When Thompson, a Republican, became governor in 1977, Fahner followed him to Springfield to lead the Illinois state police. They were particularly concerned that something happened during the manufacturing or the shipping or storage, Wolnik said. Many people who handled the evidence in 1982 told the Tribune they didnt wear gloves because it wasnt part of their agencys protocol at the time. Within a week, her death would panic the entire nation. Seven people died in 1982 after taking painkillers from bottle someone police do not know who had slipped cyanide pills into. The Tylenol task force may be no exception, he said, but the tensions didnt affect the overall effort. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Three months earlier, 10 Chicago officers from the citys West Side were convicted of taking bribes to protect heroin rings. 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. Investigators assumed the culprit was a man, though records indicate they didnt automatically rule out anyone based on gender. I think we ended up charging that guy with a misdemeanor, some disorderly conduct or some nonsense, he said. (Josh Reynolds/AP) The investigation into the 1982 Tylenol murders was pretty dormant when an FBI . You werent there. Investigators soon confirmed there was lethally poisonous cyanide inside the Tylenol capsules in question. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. None matched. The panic stemming from the Tylenol murders resulted in a permanent change in the packaging of medicine. A decadeslong investigation has centered around Massachusetts man James Lewis, 76, who was 36 at the time of the murders. 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. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune). 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. 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. Investigators first considered whether the tampering could have occurred at the manufacturing plants. We had an absolute tsunami of Tylenol bottles. Nothing has come of that January 2022 meeting. When the family returned home, both Adam's brother Stanley and Stanely's wife Theresa took a Tylenol, resulting in both of their deaths. The Tylenol murders: How we reported this story. The first few days were spent talking to people closest to Prince and sifting through the many tips they received. Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images. We used every single technique available to us. Come to 1425 Armstrong Lane.. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), Obviously, Johnson & Johnson didnt put cyanide in their own product. Extra-Strength Tylenol, shown in a Tribune studio photograph, once was packaged in a paper box with an unglued lid. The couple were later pronounced dead, too. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. They told stories of information hoarding, turf wars and glory seeking even when there was none to be had. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982, Why Eleanor Roosevelts civics book for kids is making a comeback. IE 11 is not supported. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. Christy Gutowski focuses her work on stories about criminal justice, public corruption and issues that impact the everyday man. And they talked to veterinarians about any unusual animal poisonings, thinking the murderer may have tested the chemical on pets first. 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. I knew how to organize things.. Another theory was that whoever poisoned the medication did it at home or in a car, then placed the bottles back on the shelves. NBC News has not reviewed that evidence. He goes, It smells like burnt almonds. . While I was not born yet and don't personally remember the Chicago Tylenol Murders of 1982, I do feel like I have experienced some of the anxiety that has never gone away. 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. But on Oct. 1, 1982, he had been a detective for only a year. [[Para leer en espaol] Los asesinatos de Tylenol, parte 2: Tylenol mezclado con cianuro fue el arma homicida. 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. Siekmann drove to a state laboratory in the city with the bottle on the seat next to him. 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. What happens in most cases, and certainly what happened here beyond any question, was a 100% selfless, unified devotion to a very important mission.. I do think it created a lot of problems because youre always thinking theres somebody doing something behind your back.. Thats just human nature. 40 years later, Kasia Janus is sharing. Within hours of finding cyanide in the capsules that killed three people in the northwest suburbs, the Cook County medical examiners office held a news conference on the morning of Sept. 30, 1982, to warn people about the potential poison in their medicine cabinets. It didnt take long for Fellmann to recognize the pressures and expectations under which the newly formed task force would operate. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982. Beginning on Sept. 29, 1982, and over the next week, seven people were murdered in the Chicago area after unknowingly taking Tylenol pills that were spiked by a killer. 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. 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