The Chicago Tylenol Murders

The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982. On the morning of September 29th, 1982 twelve year old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village, Illinois died after taking a capsule of Extra-strength Tylenol. Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois died in hospital later that day, shortly after Adam's brother Stanley and sister in law Theresa Janus of Lisle, Illinois died after gathering to mourn his death having taken pills from the same bottle.
In the coming days Paula Prince of Chicago and Mary Reiner of Winfield also died in similar incidents.
Investigators soon discovered the Tylenol link, urgent warnings were broadcast and police drove through Chicago issuing warnings over loudspeakers.

As the tampered bottles came from different factories and seven people had died all in the Chicago area, the possibility of sabotage during production was ruled out. Instead the culprit was thought to have acquired bottles of Tylenol from various supermarkets and drug stores over a period of several weeks added cyanide to the capsules then returned to the stores to place the bottles back on the shelves. In addition to the five bottles that led to the deaths of seven people, three other tampered with bottles were discovered.

Johnson & Johnson distributed warnings to hospitals and distributors and halted Tylenol production and advertising. On October 5th 1982 they issued a nationwide recall of Tylenol products, the company also advertised in the national media for people not to use any of its products that contained acetaminophen after it was determined that only these capsules had been tampered with. Johnson & Johnson offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules already purchased for solid tablets.

During the initial investigations a man named James William Lewis sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million to stop the cyanide induced murders. Police were unable to link him to the crimes as he and his wife were living in New York at the time. He was convicted of extortion, served 13 years of a 20 year sentence, and was released in 1995 on parole. WCVB Channel 5 of Boston reported that court documents, released in early 2009, show Department of justice investigators concluded James Lewis was responsible for the poisonings, despite the fact that they did not have enough evidence to charge him. James Lewis has denied responsibility for the poisonings.

In early 1983 at the FBI's request Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene published the address and grave location of the first and youngest victim Mary Kellerman. The story was written with the family's consent it was proposed by FBI criminal analyst John Douglas on the theory that the perpetrator might visit the house or grave site if he were aware of their locations. Both sites were kept under 24 hour surveillance for several months, but the killer did not surface.

Johnson & Johnson received positive coverage for it's handling of the crisis and an article for the Washington Post applauded the company for being honest with the public. In addition to issuing the recall, the company also established relations with the Chicago Police Department, the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration. This way they could have a part in searching for the person who laced the capsules and they could help prevent further tampering's.
In November the company reintroduced capsules but in a new triple sealed package.

A number of copycat attacks involving Tylenol and other products also took place. The 1982 incident inspired the pharmaceutical, food and consumer product industries to develop tamper resistant packaging, such as induction seals and improved quality control methods. Moreover, product tampering was made a federal crime, the new laws resulted in copycat attacks being convicted of the crime. Additionally the tragedy prompted the pharmaceutical industry to move away from capsules, which were easy to contaminate as a foreign substance could be placed inside without obvious signs of tampering. Within the year the FDA introduced more stringent regulations to avoid product tampering. This led to the eventual replacement of the capsule with the solid caplet, a tablet made in the shape of a capsule, as a drug delivery form and with additional tamper evident safety seals to the bottles of many sorts.

In early January of 2009, Illinois authorities renewed the investigation. Federal agents searched the home of James Lewis in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and seized a number of items. Law enforcement officials have received a number of tips relating to the incidents coinciding with it's anniversary.

In January 2010, both James Lewis and his wife submitted DNA samples and fingerprints to authorities.

On May 19th 2011, the FBI requested DNA samples from "unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in connection with the Tylenol murders. Ted Kaczynski denied having ever possessed potassium cyanide. The first four Unabomber crimes happened in Chicago and it's suburbs from 1978 to 1980 and Ted Kaczynski's parents had a suburban Chicago home in Lombard, Illinois, in 1982, where he stayed occasionally.

In 2011, Scott Bartz a Johnson & Johnson whistle-blower and former employee claimed the poisoned Tylenol had actually been tampered with somewhere along the repackaging and distribution links in Tylenol's supply chain, rather than at retain locations.

What I find crazy about this case is that although some packaging has been made tamper resistant a lot of over the counter drugs here in the UK aren't. I can go into my local supermarket and buy Paracetamol and Ibuprofen capsules in cardboard boxes that have been on shelves among the general population, which are so easy to open and tamper with, so I never buy capsules of any kind whether in a bottle or a box. All these victims took these Tylenol capsules in the hopes of helping to reduce or get rid of pain and were met with a devastating end, what could be more terrifying as person to be in that situation where you are scared to take medication in case it's been tampered with, I wonder how many people this incident effected for months or years afterwards, I know that I would be so anxious to take medication if that situation had happened near me or to a drug that I deem to be safe and "good".

This post has been researched via various sources so i apologise if any of the information is wrong, if it is please let me know.


Tylenol victims image: http://www.thehookmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/tyleno10.jpg