Forty years later, investigators still cant say with certainty. Members of the Illinois State Police join, as well. He goes, It smells like burnt almonds. . The guy was a little wimpy, but his ham did stink.. It would likely be someone with gray hair. The Tylenol Murders Remain One of the Nation's Biggest Unsolved Mysteries Popular belief is that the killer was James Lewis, the man imprisoned for 13 years for extorting Johnson & Johnson in the. Several suspects did too. The task force didnt know who or why.. 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 they had a very good theory as to when they were placed. What was my dads favorite color? Investigators first considered whether the tampering could have occurred at the manufacturing plants. Some of those interviews may have gone to an agent who didnt do a good job., 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. Back then, bottles of pills did not have tamper-proof seals, just a cotton ball stuffed inside. Elk Grove Village Detective Michael Severns said investigators were so intent on chasing leads that they at times lost sight of the grieving families. Now she's sharing her story for the first. 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. 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. The man shrugged off his dismissal when investigators asked, saying it was the nature of the business. The bottle's cap was easily opened. He brought personal knowledge (as the former state police director) and experience regarding a criminal investigation. 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. She would be the seventh and final person to die from taking the poisoned medication. So, the theory was the tampering took place at the store, said FBI agent Lane. 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. 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. The decision cost the company more than $100 million, an enormous amount in 1982. Mary was dead by 7 a.m. The Tylenol investigation began as a loose collaboration among detectives in Arlington Heights and Elk Grove Village, the towns where the first three deaths were identified. He also would have a history of animal cruelty, Lane told the Tribune. The investigators would then return around 5 p.m. to update everyone on the days developments. Lane would think of that line a year later when, without prompting, a suspect called him and offered to help solve the case. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." 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. Thats because nobody was keeping track of who was buying cyanide, Wolnik said. And by days end, flight attendant Paula Princes body would be discovered and tests would show that a Tylenol bottle inside her home contained four cyanide-laced capsules. The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982. No, Oscar Wilde probably didnt die of syphilis. The panic stemming from the Tylenol murders resulted in a permanent change in the packaging of medicine. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. And they would remain apart for the next four decades. The company, however, did not keep records of where the products were shipped. Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Transformed by tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle died 40 years ago after taking poisoned Tylenol. They apologized, he said, but the trust had been broken. You know, because Ty was just a classy lawyer, and he never was a politician, he said. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. As the de facto leader of the task force, he would come to be known in the media as "Tylenol Ty." Local police departments and states attorneys offices have been trying to crack the case for 40 years. We were getting flooded with calls, said John Fellmann, an Arlington Heights detective assigned to the case. All 3 networks lead with the Tylenol story on the first day of the crisis. 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 When Thompson, a Republican, became governor in 1977, Fahner followed him to Springfield to lead the Illinois state police. But before Sept. 29, 1982, consumer products had few defenses against a person bent on sabotage. he answered. In theory, the plan would prevent anyone from griping about being kept out of the loop. What was he like in school? Many of the task force members interviewed by the Tribune recounted difficulties as more than 100 people tried to work as a team. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? And you know, some agents are better than other agents and can really do a good job. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. The tainted bottle from the Schaumburg pharmacy contained three partial prints on the capsules, but (they) were not suitable for comparison, the memo states. The FBIs involvement puzzled some because, as far as anyone knew, the federal agency didnt have jurisdiction in the case. I think hes nothing but a class act, said McQuaid, a retired state police captain. Extra-Strength Tylenol bottles, for example, came in a paper box with an unglued lid. Most came from a banking service that snapped a photograph of anyone writing a check. Investigators took pictures of people who attended the victims funerals to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. Thats just human nature. 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. Customers who had a problem, anybody that could make some money out of it.. Please check your inbox to confirm. Christy Gutowski focuses her work on stories about criminal justice, public corruption and issues that impact the everyday man. 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. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. And when the sitting attorney general was indicted on tax fraud charges, Thompson appointed Fahner to fill the post. 3: A Nightmare on Halloween: With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. Tensions flared, even among law enforcement personnel sincerely dedicated to the job. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, shown in his Chicago office in July, was part of the original Tylenol task force in 1982. Testing found cyanide in the Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule on the right. "While this tragic incident remains unsolved, this event resulted in important industry improvements to patient safety measures including the creation of tamper-resistant packaging.". In those early days, there were so many agencies involved, so many people desperate to solve the case. But for something like this, for looking at a pill, it never would even cross our mind., Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. The batch contained more than 1,800 pounds of cyanide, divided into packages of various sizes. Oct. 2, 1982: CBS 2's Phil Walters reports on the investigation into the Tylenol poisonings. They came up with nothing. The Tylenol Murders Victims Mary Kellerman On September 29, 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman woke up feeling ill. What are the Tylenol murders? And I want people to know that, yeah, this was my family, and it has changed all of us.. And I would wake them up just to say good night, you know?. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . Its a one-way street for information back and forth. 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. And 35 years later, this murder mystery is still . The police investigation into the Tylenol murders has centered around prime suspect James Lewis for decades. Everyone who had access to the box including the judge and his wife provided fingerprints for comparison. 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. The task force opted to work out of an Illinois state police bunker in Des Plaines, a central location that would be home to a tip line, twice-a-day investigator briefings and news conferences for the scores of reporters camped outside the building. Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide that were sold in the Chicago suburbs were linked to the deaths of seven people, leading to a nationwide panic that had the Food and Drug Administration advising consumers across the country to stop taking Tylenol products. The evening marked an important shift in the tragedy, moving from a swiftly solved medical mystery into a massive criminal investigation. The Soviets were willing to assist, but their satellites werent trained on the Chicago suburbs at the time. As weeks went by without an arrest, detectives started using different doors to avoid the cameras. For example, Johnson & Johnson quickly established that the cyanide lacing occurred after cases of Tylenol left the factory. Neither did the chemist who performed the cyanide test. NBC News reached out to Lewis and did not receive a response. 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