Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide. His task force partners the FBI and state police had blindsided the Elk Grove Village detective, and he was angry. It didnt take long for the Tylenol murders to become national news. [[Para leer en espaol] Los asesinatos de Tylenol, parte 2: Tylenol mezclado con cianuro fue el arma homicida. With no apparent motive and little evidence to go on, it was a tough task. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. Tylenol Ty, Ford said. They can account for the differing DNA profiles. But thats not a problem, the investigators say. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. 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). NBC News has not reviewed that evidence. In Illinois, some towns began pulling bottles from the store shelves and sent police officers down the street with bullhorns encouraging people to throw out their Tylenol. Ford and Gildea arrived at the campus with hopes of a break in the case, only to find out the so-called professor was a high school boy pretending to work at UIC so he could pick up college girls. For example, Johnson & Johnson quickly established that the cyanide lacing occurred after cases of Tylenol left the factory. . Many of the task force members interviewed by the Tribune recounted difficulties as more than 100 people tried to work as a team. It all goes to them, and you get nothing in return., Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek talks about the Tylenol investigation on Oct. 7, 1982, about a week after the seven deaths. Here, you go, Pete, the police chief said, passing the bottle to him without the type of evidence bag that would now be standard in any investigation. 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. We had an absolute tsunami of Tylenol bottles. And there were a lot of bottles to come out of that lot.. Authorities believed they offered clues about who could and who could not have poisoned the capsules. On Friday afternoon, doctors removed Stanley Janus wife, Terri, from life support. Written by a high-ranking Illinois state police supervisor in April 1983, the document describes the wide net authorities cast in the hopes of solving the mystery. 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. Several months have passed since the suburban detective made his pitch to the Cook County states attorneys office. But on Oct. 1, 1982, he had been a detective for only a year. Members of the media the same people who were constantly pestering him for information nicknamed Fahner Tylenol Ty. It stuck. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. 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. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. September 22, 2022. Stacy has a journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, with minors in American politics and Spanish. 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. Illinois state police and FBI supervisors did most of the talking at that first meeting, several attendees told the Tribune. 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. Chicago police Officer Sam Barsevich, left, takes inventory of Tylenol bottles that residents turned in at his station on Oct. 2, 1982. FBI agents carry boxes out of the apartment building in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. 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. The Illinois Department of Law Enforcement, now called the Illinois State Police, wanted him to help. 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. As the 40th anniversary of the 1982 Tylenol murders approaches, investigators are working with prosecutors on a now-or-maybe-never effort to hold a longtime suspect responsible for the. Forty years later, Ford shook his head at the memory. I always wear the blue suit and the red tie, Lane said. Six suburbanites had already died from cyanide poisoning by that time, but this was Chicagos first and, in the end, only victim. Before the 1982 crisis, Tylenol controlled more than 35 percent of the over-the-counter pain reliever market; only a few weeks after the murders, that number plummeted to less than 8 percent. Thats being made out of whole cloth all these years later. 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. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. It is something that altered the life of every person in the world, Janus, who had never before spoken publicly about her ordeal, told CNN. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. Chicago police Detectives Jimmy Gildea. The best suspect for the Tylenol murders has always been James William Lewis, who sent an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million to stop the murders. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). I stepped off that dais, Fahner told the Tribune this year. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Do not use it.. I do think it created a lot of problems because youre always thinking theres somebody doing something behind your back.. Medicare Pharmacy employee Mary Butler, right, shows a box of Extra-Strength Tylenol to Officer Michael Miljan in Arlington Heights. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. I dont know what he thought. Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle were killed in the notorious unsolved poisonings that terrorized Chicago. And they talked to veterinarians about any unusual animal poisonings, thinking the murderer may have tested the chemical on pets first. It wasnt a grab for authority. Lane would think of that line a year later when, without prompting, a suspect called him and offered to help solve the case. But others, including Lane, found it immensely helpful and from his perspective ultimately accurate. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). 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. It would likely be someone with gray hair. It marked the first mass recall in U.S. history, involving more than 31 million bottles. Was Charles Dickens the first celebrity medical spokesman? No one has ever been charged with the murders. 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. Siekmann, who had been working since 8 a.m., believed some capsules were tainted from the first time he laid eyes on them. Fahners critics accused him of milking the Tylenol tragedy for his own benefit, and his opponents camp worried that he knew who the killer was and would make an arrest right before the November election. 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. The program went far beyond any database previously used by law enforcement in Illinois. However, investigators believe circumstantial evidence is enough to make this a "chargeable" case, but that decision would have to come from prosecutors, according to documents reviewed by the Chicago Tribune. They told stories of information hoarding, turf wars and glory seeking even when there was none to be had. And my next thought was that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.. Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. Kasia said she long blamed herself for her fathers death, even though she was just in preschool when it happened. And you know, some agents are better than other agents and can really do a good job. Seven people between 12 and 35 died after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol pills in the Chicago area in 1982. Another theory was that whoever poisoned the medication did it at home or in a car, then placed the bottles back on the shelves. I knew how to organize things.. 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. They were particularly concerned that something happened during the manufacturing or the shipping or storage, Wolnik said. And everyone in the meeting is aware of one undeniable truth: There is no physical evidence linking a suspect to the poisonings. 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. 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. 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 murders would soon spur the development of plastic seals and tamper-evident packaging. Though the company expanded the recall the same day to cover the batch involved in McFarlands death, the piecemeal approach troubled Fahner. Some investigators on the case, including a few still involved with it, considered the rendered profile too vague to be of any real use. Before that she reported for the Daily Herald, the Dayton Daily News and The Topeka Capital-Journal. They had a lot of questions and I didnt have any answers at all., Mike Severns, a former Elk Grove Village police detective assigned to Mary Kellerman's murder, says it still bothers him that officials neglected to update her grieving parents in the early days of the investigation. 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. He was released in 1995 after serving only 13 years. 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. Hearing that threat, the detectives said, they banged on the door and announced themselves as police. Next week: Police investigate a poor mans James Bond, and an eighth person dies. See where the eight tainted Tylenol bottles were purchased or discovered. 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. The profilers believed the killer was likely to visit one of those named places to see the heartbreak he had caused. If people threw out their Tylenol, authorities would never know the full extent of the tampering. Pero quin fue el asesino? 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. the fact remains, the Tylenol murders of 1982 . The Tylenol murders fundamentally changed the way we consume medication - among other things, leading to tamper-proof pill and bottle designs. (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune). Authorities already considered the womens deaths to be cyanide related by the time they contacted Fahner during his campaign event. Editors note: This report has been updated to remove the reported amount of cyanide used. 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. So I stopped by the house on the way home, introduced myself and tried to answer any questions they had, he said. And only months later, it changed the way we purchase and consume over-the-counter medications. Testing found cyanide in the Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule on the right. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. 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. I said, Excuse me. 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. It was so Dick Tracy to me, Steed said. The Tylenol murders: The story of a 40-year-old unsolved case begins with a terrifying medical mystery. Siekmann didnt wear gloves. Im absolutely sure about that. The Tylenol Murders Pt. Male murderers are more likely, in general, to kill randomly and on a large scale. 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. (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. I tell you, this wasnt a CSI show, he said. 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. The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. Tylenols parent company, Johnson & Johnson, also saw its stock price drop after the news about the tainted capsules broke. 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. (Stan Policht / Chicago Tribune). If Fahner had any chance of keeping his office in November, he had to build enthusiasm among conservative voters in the suburbs. A photograph of a television screen shows the specific lot number for a batch of Extra-Strength Tylenol that was the first to be recalled. After eliminating the possibility that the poisonings happened at the plant level, investigators scoured the backgrounds of workers at trucking companies and storage warehouses involved in the distribution of the tainted bottles, as well as other company records. The man shrugged off his dismissal when investigators asked, saying it was the nature of the business. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. We locked him up.. READ: The awful work of the real doctors who inspired M*A*S*H. The case continued to be confusing to the police, the drug maker and the public at large. Records show law enforcement has spent the past several years dealing almost entirely with forensic evidence. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof. Nobody knew what to do with (the investigation) because it was all over the place, Fahner said. These other men were all worried about his chances. 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. There was no clear leader. The 40-year-old Tylenol murder investigation remains at a standstill. 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. The FBIs involvement puzzled some because, as far as anyone knew, the federal agency didnt have jurisdiction in the case. As the de facto leader of the task force, he would come to be known in the media as "Tylenol Ty.". I mean, theres 10,000 reasons why people compete with each other. Someone, police hypothesized, must have taken bottles off the shelves of local grocers and drug stores in the Chicago area, laced the capsules with poison, and then returned the restored packages to the shelves to be purchased by the unknowing victims. 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. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. The discovery, so far, has been more of a curse than a blessing for present-day investigators, who have spent years obtaining DNA samples from investigators, public health officials, scientists and medical professionals who came in contact with the poisoned Tylenol. 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. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). In the meantime, Kasia Janus has said shes dealt with occasionally overwhelming sadness because of the graduations her father couldnt attend. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune). The latest Tribune poll showed he was down by about 20 points in the upcoming election. James Thompson, Illinois Secretary of State James Edgar and shook his head. Despite the passage of time and, in a way, because of it the bottles still may offer clues as to who poisoned the capsules. Fahner ordered his staff to work through the night, calling local police, sheriffs, coroners, the FBI, the FDA, prosecutors and public health officials. When the column ran, Severns knew instantly that the authorities had planted the story. You understand? Ford said he told Stein. Seven people died in 1982 after taking painkillers from bottle someone police do not know who had slipped cyanide pills into. Ford said he quickly interrupted. 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