tylenol murders theories
(Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). They came up with nothing. And then there are agents who dont. 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. Wherever they stand, everyone wishes they had achieved a different result. Prince was officially declared dead by the Medical Examiner's office at 6:45 p.m. Investigators discovered a bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol in her bathroom with one capsule missing and a. 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. 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. I thought he was perfect.. The Chicago Tylenol Murders: With Laurence Fishburne. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof. (Chicago Tribune), Look, like any other series of government bureaucracies, theres always tension between agencies, he said. To this day, however, the perpetrators of these murders have never been found. Please check your inbox to confirm. Investigators quickly dismissed the possibility that the killer was targeting a single victim and the other bottles were contaminated to make it harder to solve that murder. Product tampering would become a crime in 1983 as a result of these murders, but in 1982 there was no federal law against it. 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. On that day, two unrelated things happened: A pub owner made a phone call to police, and an extortion letter arrived at a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. ]. The man hurriedly told the Hormel operator that he had to go and he would call her back later. 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. No one has ever been charged with the murders. Testing found cyanide in the Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule on the right. (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. But something more sinister was afoot when Kasias paternal uncle Stanley Janus and his wife, Theresa Tarasewicz Janus, each took pills from the same Tylenol bottle that Adam had bought in an attempt to fight headaches. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing news stories and features across the trending, pop culture, sports, parents, pets, health, style, food and TMRW verticals. Later that morning, Siekmann drove to the northwest suburbs to share what he had learned with a group of law enforcement officials assembled by Fahners team. Some of the investigators started using it privately, too. He held news conferences, sometimes twice a day, to meet the insatiable media demands. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune). His task force partners the FBI and state police had blindsided the Elk Grove Village detective, and he was angry. In the meantime, Kasia Janus has said shes dealt with occasionally overwhelming sadness because of the graduations her father couldnt attend. He didnt get in our way. (Fred Jewell/AP). And wherever they fell on the issue, that position hasnt changed much over the past four decades. Who would be next? Most came from a banking service that snapped a photograph of anyone writing a check. You know, because Ty was just a classy lawyer, and he never was a politician, he said. There was no clear leader. As Fahners team made calls, a DuPage County deputy coroner named Pete Siekmann sat in an office at the Illinois Department of Public Healths toxicology lab in Chicago and waited to see if the Tylenol capsules taken by Mary Lynn Reiner and Mary Sue McFarland were poisoned. Medicare Pharmacy employee Mary Butler, right, shows a box of Extra-Strength Tylenol to Officer Michael Miljan in Arlington Heights. It would likely be someone with gray hair. 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. Oct. 2, 1982: CBS 2's Phil Walters reports on the investigation into the Tylenol poisonings. 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. Local police departments and states attorneys offices have been trying to crack the case for 40 years. Johnson & Johnson initially recalled only those products with the same batch number as the Janus and Kellerman bottles. I tell you, this wasnt a CSI show, he said. Later, Lewis was arrested,. I do think it created a lot of problems because youre always thinking theres somebody doing something behind your back.. Thats because nobody was keeping track of who was buying cyanide, Wolnik said. (Charles Knoblock / AP). A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. 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. Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Transformed by tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle died 40 years ago after taking poisoned Tylenol. "As you can see, it is easy to place cyanideinto capsules sitting on store shelves," he wrote in the letter. I think after a day or two, the state police realized theyre on their own. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. And they talked to veterinarians about any unusual animal poisonings, thinking the murderer may have tested the chemical on pets first. They also started grumbling about politics overshadowing their work. (Earl Gustie / Chicago Tribune). Roger Arnold worked at a jewel warehouse with the father of one of the victims named Mary Reiner. Margolis, who later became director of the Illinois State Police, says multiagency efforts always endure allegations of infighting and spotlight stealing. Tylenol murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case. Severns, who had two young children, heard the undeserved guilt in her voice. We didnt get anything, but we were kicking around ideas like that.. 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. I dont want to get off here, he quietly said. 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. 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. 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. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. They were particularly concerned that something happened during the manufacturing or the shipping or storage, Wolnik said. Other task force members, it should be noted, werent particularly fond of Chicagos efforts either. The task force questioned stock boys, managers, disgruntled former employees and problematic customers at the hot locations, the teams name for the stores that sold the tainted Tylenol. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics The final Tylenol death was confirmed on the evening of Oct. 1, when 35-year-old flight attendant Paula Prince was found dead in her Old Town condominium. 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. Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle were killed in the notorious unsolved poisonings that terrorized Chicago. We were looking for somebody that really looked like they didnt belong. There wasnt that much tension, Fahner said. The most promising leads involved people doing curious things with chemicals. Was Charles Dickens the first celebrity medical spokesman? And when the sitting attorney general was indicted on tax fraud charges, Thompson appointed Fahner to fill the post. 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. Arlington Heights police Chief Rodney Kath, second from left, works with other members of the Tylenol task force at its Des Plaines headquarters in 1982. The Tylenol murders: How we reported this story. 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. She has received numerous national honors for her work. He already had a new job. . Siekmann didnt wear gloves. 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. Even after he retired from the FBI in 1996, he didnt let it go. 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. 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. 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. Chicago police Officer Sam Barsevich, left, takes inventory of Tylenol bottles that residents turned in at his station on Oct. 2, 1982. 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 . So he thought hed maybe get a lifetime supply of ham. 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. Though the company expanded the recall the same day to cover the batch involved in McFarlands death, the piecemeal approach troubled Fahner. Here's what to know about the history of the case and the latest developments. 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. Everyone who had access to the box including the judge and his wife provided fingerprints for comparison. You werent there. All 3 networks lead with the Tylenol story on the first day of the crisis. The Tylenol case, however, would loom largest over his professional life. NBC News reached out to Lewis and did not receive a response. According to the state police memo obtained by the Tribune, the FDAs work traced the cyanide from the tainted capsules to Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based lab supply company, which distributed that particular batch in 1978. 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. Fahner left the dinner immediately and made calls throughout the drive home, taking advantage of his position as a statewide official with access to a car phone, then a relatively rare piece of technology. 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. Rosen's theory is that the tampering did not happen on store shelves, but at the manufacturing plant before the product was shipped out. The FBI put about three dozen agents on the case, under the premise that the agency needed to determine whether Johnson & Johnson had violated federal law by failing to list potassium cyanide among the active ingredients in Tylenol. Because all the other possibilities had been eliminated.. We locked him up.. The man shrugged off his dismissal when investigators asked, saying it was the nature of the business. So as we organized, there were about 10, 15 different avenues of investigations to pursue, like disgruntled employees, former employees, lawsuits, Lane said. In reality, some task force members still accuse their colleagues of secretive behavior 40 years later. 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. But I didnt have the gray hair yet.. Investigators, however, are prepared should that question arise. Police reports mention several former Johnson & Johnson employees, though none was ever considered a serious suspect. Siekmann drove to a state laboratory in the city with the bottle on the seat next to him. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." I had people dropping dead all over the place.. Authorities were convinced the killer didnt know any of the victims. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. 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. Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). Three months earlier, 10 Chicago officers from the citys West Side were convicted of taking bribes to protect heroin rings. 40 years later, Kasia Janus is sharing. We also are still were looking at emerging forensic technology, Sgt. 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 Tylenol Murders Victims Mary Kellerman On September 29, 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman woke up feeling ill. Her parents gave permission. The 50-count bottle, which the woman told police she purchased at Franks Finer Foods in Wheaton, contained seven capsules filled with potassium cyanide, records show. 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. President Reagan wanted the FBI in the investigation, retired FBI Special Agent Roy Lane Jr. told the Tribune. (Stan Policht / Chicago Tribune). Extra-Strength Tylenol, shown in a Tribune studio photograph, once was packaged in a paper box with an unglued lid. The White House, however, had ordered the FBI to find a way into the case amid growing public panic. Christy Gutowski focuses her work on stories about criminal justice, public corruption and issues that impact the everyday man. . If Fahner had any chance of keeping his office in November, he had to build enthusiasm among conservative voters in the suburbs. Ford said he quickly interrupted. Im just being honest, Siekmann said. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. He told her no, then carried the memory of the Kellermans anguish with him for the rest of his time on the task force. In work that would later be heralded in scientific journals, the scientists also tested the cyanide kept at the Tylenol plant to see if it somehow got into the production process. On Friday afternoon, doctors removed Stanley Janus wife, Terri, from life support. He goes, It smells like burnt almonds. . The task force knew the mechanism behind the murders, Fellmann said. 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. I said, Excuse me. 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. 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. CBS put a human face on the story which contained the following: "When 12 year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village, Ill., awoke at dawn with cold symptoms; her parents gave her one Extra-Strength Tylenol and sent her back to bed. 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