Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . 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. The likelihood that the same person could have put cyanide into different batches manufactured at different times in different places was logistically zero.. The bottles traveled to various warehouses, including a final storage stop at a Jewel facility in suburban Franklin Park, before being delivered to different grocery stores on different days before the poisonings. Forty years later, investigators still cant say with certainty. Was Charles Dickens the first celebrity medical spokesman? I stepped off that dais, Fahner told the Tribune this year. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide following the deaths. Conspiracy theories about motives and suspects for all these heinous acts continue to be bandied about on the Internet to this day. I realized I was in the deep end of the pool, he said. But I didnt have the gray hair yet.. And soon, many medications and foods sold over store counters began being sold in tamper-proof, sealed packaging. The most promising leads involved people doing curious things with chemicals. Product tampering would become a crime in 1983 as a result of these murders, but in 1982 there was no federal law against it. And you know, some agents are better than other agents and can really do a good job. As the de facto leader of the task force, he would come to be known in the media as "Tylenol Ty.". 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. What are the Tylenol murders? He didnt fit that profile, Hogberg said. Some of the investigators started using it privately, too. He didnt get in our way. Thank you. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The bottle's cap was easily opened. 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. The police investigation into the Tylenol murders has centered around prime suspect James Lewis for decades. Stanley died that very day and Theresa died two days later. Because all the other possibilities had been eliminated.. In the end, it was decided that the state police would take the lead among the agencies and that investigators would be divided into nearly four dozen teams. 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. Investigators say new evidence may help finally solve the case of seven people who died after ingesting Tylenol laced with cyanide in the Chicago area in 1982. FBI agents carry boxes out of the apartment building in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. We felt kind of creepy doing it, retired FBI agent Bob Gibson said of his graveyard duty. Why was this happening? The Tylenol murders: The story of a 40-year-old unsolved case begins with a terrifying medical mystery. The killer may have salted the bottles with cyanide-laced capsules while standing in the store aisle, investigators thought. Investigators first considered whether the tampering could have occurred at the manufacturing plants. An FBI agent stood up and started to give a rundown of Chicagos case. Each participant has a packet of information that authorities use to explain their findings. 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. Indeed, the Johnson & Johnson recall became a classic case study in business schools across the nation. Im just being honest, Siekmann said. Both experienced throbbing headaches, a not uncommon response to a death in the family and each took a Tylenol extra-strength capsule or two from the same bottle Adam had used earlier in the day. The 40-year-old Tylenol murder investigation remains at a standstill. The Tylenol Murders Pt. Severns confronted people at both agencies, who blamed each other for keeping him in the dark. 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. 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. The agencies, at times, clashed with each other. The bottles, however, needed to be tested before they could say with certainty. The Soviets were willing to assist, but their satellites werent trained on the Chicago suburbs at the time. In theory, the plan would prevent anyone from griping about being kept out of the loop. 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. Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek talks about the Tylenol investigation on Oct. 7, 1982, about a week after the seven deaths. So I stopped by the house on the way home, introduced myself and tried to answer any questions they had, he said. The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. John Fellmann at his home in Huntley in September. Police departments were working the murders in relative isolation, and each county had its own states attorney to oversee the case. 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. We didnt get anything, but we were kicking around ideas like that.. The attorney general largely stopped campaigning after joining the task force, but his face was on TV every night. These other men were all worried about his chances. We still receive tips that are being evaluated and investigated. A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. 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. None matched. In the meantime, Kasia Janus has said shes dealt with occasionally overwhelming sadness because of the graduations her father couldnt attend. All of them, it turned out, took Tylenol shortly before they died. Each person underwent a rigorous background check. The red cap was easily flipped open, with nothing but a little piece of cotton left to cover the capsules. For example, Johnson & Johnson quickly established that the cyanide lacing occurred after cases of Tylenol left the factory. In reality, some task force members still accuse their colleagues of secretive behavior 40 years later. 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. A long-planned meeting with DuPage prosecutors also was pushed back in the spring. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). "While this tragic incident remains unsolved, this event resulted in important industry improvements to patient safety measures including the creation of tamper-resistant packaging.". newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. 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. He regaled reporters with all kinds of stories during that final interview, but none seemed to amuse him more than the unhappy Hormel ham man. 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. It didnt take long for Fellmann to recognize the pressures and expectations under which the newly formed task force would operate. These packaging protections soon became the industry standard for all over-the-counter medications. The investigators would then return around 5 p.m. to update everyone on the days developments. He hangs up, opens the door and we come in like gangbusters, Gildea said. She rarely heard how the tips panned out. Paramedics came and took Adam Janus to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead from what they suspected may have been a heart attack. 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. 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. I think its pretty important, the aide replied. Pain in the neck, Hogberg said of his CPD counterparts. Still, in his opinion, Fahner was exactly what the task force needed. 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. The Tylenol task force may be no exception, he said, but the tensions didnt affect the overall effort. Another theory was that whoever poisoned the medication did it at home or in a car, then placed the bottles back on the shelves. 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. Our highest responsibility has always been the health and safety of our consumers," Johnson & Johnson said in a statement to NBC News. 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. 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. 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. And neither does the DNA. The victims had all taken Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Come to 1425 Armstrong Lane.. NBC News reached out to Lewis and did not receive a response. Chicago police Detectives Jimmy Gildea. Medicare Pharmacy employee Mary Butler, right, shows a box of Extra-Strength Tylenol to Officer Michael Miljan in Arlington Heights. In fact, so many big dogs were present, Fellmann said he couldnt find a free chair inside his own 60-seat roll call room. Working with FDA officials, they introduced a new tamper-proof packaging, which included foil seals and other features that made it obvious to a consumer if foul play had transpired. Tylenol murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case. The couple were later pronounced dead, too. What was he like in school? I knew how to organize things.. Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. President Reagan wanted the FBI in the investigation, retired FBI Special Agent Roy Lane Jr. told the Tribune. Another tip involved a man who was threatening to poison Hormel food products. 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. The Tylenol case, however, would loom largest over his professional life. Within a week, her death would panic the entire nation. Subscribe to our Science Newsletter to explore the Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." 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. 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 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.. Scott Stump is a staff reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY. At first, the story focused in the Chicago/Cook County . Siekmann didnt wear gloves. 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. Studies have found women who kill use poison more often than men do, but they typically target people they know. Though the company expanded the recall the same day to cover the batch involved in McFarlands death, the piecemeal approach troubled Fahner. He needed to be there, no matter how much he hated campaigning. They were particularly concerned that something happened during the manufacturing or the shipping or storage, Wolnik said. 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. In 2000, Joy Bergmann revisited the story in "A Bitter Pill" . The latest Tribune poll showed he was down by about 20 points in the upcoming election. He couldnt leave. If you are curious, come to a small house on a quiet, winding street in Elk Grove Village. The investigation would fork, taking the FBI and Chicago police down vastly different paths. Their departments relationship with the FBI had been rocky for decades, but it was at a particularly low point in September 1982. 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. (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune). Unfortunately, each victim swallowed a Tylenol capsule laced with A lethal dose of cyanide. As a state crime, murder fell under the purview of local law enforcement. 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. In an attempt to paint a more detailed portrait of the killer, the FBI turned to a relatively new technique at the time called criminal profiling, in which agents try to identify the personality and behavioral characteristics of an offender based on an analysis of the crime. The first tainted Tylenol victim - Mary Kellerman, 12, of Elk Grove Village - collapsed and died on . [Para leer en espaol] Los asesinatos de Tylenol, parte 2: Tylenol mezclado con cianuro fue el arma homicida. Please check your inbox to confirm. 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. I thought he was perfect.. The tips were written up on 3x5 index cards. 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. 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. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. And when the sitting attorney general was indicted on tax fraud charges, Thompson appointed Fahner to fill the post. 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. Ford said Stein encouraged him to smell the pills, but the detective refused and pushed away the pathologists hand. He said Marys mother, Jeanna, asked him if she should have noticed that someone had tampered with the bottle. He also would have a history of animal cruelty, Lane told the Tribune. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide. Here, he offers a Spanish-language flyer to Luisa Acevada. Severns worked on the case for three days before he realized no one had offered an update to young Mary Kellermans grieving parents. In those early days, there were so many agencies involved, so many people desperate to solve the case. He investigated the Tylenol poisonings in the Janus family and later served as police chief in Island Lake. The dire situation, both in terms of human life and business, made it imperative that the Johnson & Johnson executives respond swiftly and authoritatively. That testing uncovered three more poisoned bottles: two turned in by customers in Wheaton and Chicago and one found on a Schaumburg pharmacy shelf. The Chicago detectives shared that worry. If people threw out their Tylenol, authorities would never know the full extent of the tampering. On Friday afternoon, doctors removed Stanley Janus wife, Terri, from life support. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. Members of the media the same people who were constantly pestering him for information nicknamed Fahner Tylenol Ty. It stuck. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. 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. All Rights Reserved. Investigators, however, are prepared should that question arise. I dont want to get off here, he quietly said. With absolute certainty, they can say the following: Records show at least four fingerprints were found during the initial investigation. What are the Tylenol murders? Pursuing the mission, however, eventually sent the FBI and the Chicago Police Department in two different directions. Her parents gave permission. But no one has ever been arrested in connection with the spate of poisonings that shattered the families of Janus and the others. You know, because Ty was just a classy lawyer, and he never was a politician, he said. 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. And I want people to know that, yeah, this was my family, and it has changed all of us.. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), Obviously, Johnson & Johnson didnt put cyanide in their own product. 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. He was released in 1995 after serving only 13 years. (Stan Policht / Chicago Tribune). Critics who had prematurely announced the death of the brand Tylenol were now praising the companys handling of the matter. 1: Poisoning the Well: Directed by Travis Clark. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. NBC News has not reviewed those documents. Stacy has a journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, with minors in American politics and Spanish. There wasnt that much tension, Fahner said. 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 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. I tell you, this wasnt a CSI show, he said. It wasnt a grab for authority. The police questioned him and searched his home, they turned up several interesting connections. The panic stemming from the Tylenol murders resulted in a permanent change in the packaging of medicine. If Fahner had any chance of keeping his office in November, he had to build enthusiasm among conservative voters in the suburbs. When the column ran, Severns knew instantly that the authorities had planted the story. Customers who had a problem, anybody that could make some money out of it.. McNeil Consumer Products, a subsidiary of the health care giant, Johnson & Johnson, manufactured Tylenol. I do think it created a lot of problems because youre always thinking theres somebody doing something behind your back.. Members of the Illinois State Police join, as well. 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. Chicagos doing what they want, so lets just give them something minor to do.. Their opinion soured even further at their first meeting, when one of the lead investigators asked for a briefing on the Prince murder. By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. 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. Dr. Howard Markel The batch contained more than 1,800 pounds of cyanide, divided into packages of various sizes. Ford said he quickly interrupted. Even after he retired from the FBI in 1996, he didnt let it go. 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