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our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at anytime you need support please contact
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your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support please see the show notes for this
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episode on your app or on our website on Wednesday September 29 1982 in the Illinois a suburb of Arlington Heights
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27 year old US postal worker Adam Janus felt the symptoms of a cold coming on and decided to take the day off from
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work after picking up his two children from preschool he visited a local jewel supermarket to purchase some pain relief
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medication he chose a 50 capsule bottle of extra strength tylenol an over-the-counter brand of paracetamol
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used to treat pain and fever Adam returned home ate lunch then informed his wife he was going to take
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two Tylenol and to lie down when she went to check on him a short while later she found out him in bed convulsing
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paramedics were called and by the time they arrived to the janus house Adams State had worsened significantly
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he was completely unresponsive his pupils were fixed and dilated his breathing labored and his blood pressure
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was alarmingly low they rushed Adam to Northwest Community Hospital he arrived in a comatose state
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and two died in the emergency ward shortly thereafter at 3:15 p.m. the hospital's medical director dr. Thomas
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Kim declared Adams cause of death as cardiac arrest but was unsure what prompted the fatal condition in the
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otherwise young and healthy father dr. Kim struggled to explain his uncertain diagnosis two grieving members of Adams
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family and they left confused and devastated over their sudden loss the group reconvened at Adams Arlington
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Heights home to support his wife and children and begin making funeral plans later that afternoon
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Adams 25 year old younger brother Stanley was overcome with a grief induced headache he informed his wife 19
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year old Teresa mm - the couple went in search of a remedy finding a full bottle
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of extra strength tylenol on the kitchen counter Stanley took two capsules as did
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Teresa as she also felt unwell minutes later Stanley grasped his chest and collapsed
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to the floor his eyes rolled back into his head as foam started pouring out of his mouth by the time the mergency
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services arrived - near 7 minutes later Teresa had also fallen violently ill and
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started having a seizure Stanley's pulse weakened and his breathing became heavy and too labored
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once Teresa's seizure subsided her body stiffened interbreeding decreased to just four to five intakes per minute
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before she stopped breathing on her own all together back at Northwest Community
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Hospital dr. Thomas Kim was getting ready to leave work for the day when a nurse informed him that the Jana's
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family were being brought back in dr. Kim presumes something must have happened to Adams parents as they had
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been weak with distress over the unexpected death of their son that afternoon the nurse explained no it's his brother
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dr. Kim had met Stanley Janus earlier that day and was surprised to hear that the healthy 6-foot tall young man had
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suddenly fallen ill presuming he must have fainted from grief the nurse informed him they are doing CPR and they
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are working on his wife too the remaining members of the Jana's family were placed under observation in
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hospital and even given their last rites in fear that they too would succumb to the unidentified illness that had struck
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Adam Stanley and Teresa multiple explanations for the sickness were considered including carbon monoxide
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poisoning and botulism a rare and potentially fatal type of food poisoning but both were investigated and ruled out
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a search party consisting of an investigator for the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office
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several local police officers and Arlington Heights nurse Helen Jensen were sent to Adams quarantine house to
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look for possible contaminants nurse Jensen came across the bottle of Tylenol and recalled a conversation she had with
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Adams grieving widow who had explained that the last thing her husband did before falling unconscious was taped
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some of the painkillers Stanley and Teresa had reportedly taken some to suspecting that there was something
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wrong with the medication Jensen confiscated the bottle and to the search party returned to the Northwest
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Community Hospital where they learned Stanley Janus had since passed away his wife Teresa was in an extremely critical
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and unstable condition [Music] that same night Arlington Heights Fire Lieutenant Philip Cappotelli received a
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phone call from his mother-in-law Marge the daughter of her friend Gina Kellerman had died suddenly that morning
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and she sought an explanation for the tragedy the Kellerman's lived in the neighboring suburb of Elk Grove Village
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so Philippa rang a fellow firefighter who worked in the region richard keyworth richard was aware of the
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incident as earlier that day he made an impromptu visit to his fire station to collect some mail and while there
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overheard radio chatter about the peculiar death of 12 year old Mary Kellerman hours earlier as dawn broke at
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6:30 a feverish Mary complained to her parents that she had a sore throat runny nose and headache Denis and Regina
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Kellerman decided to keep her home from school and gave her one extra strength tylenol to ease her discomfort a short
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while later Denis heard a heavy thud emanate from the bathroom and to went to investigate
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finding his pajama-clad daughter unconscious on the floor by the time paramedics arrived
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Mary was in full cardiac arrest she was rushed to Alexian Brothers Medical Center where she died at 956 AM heart
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attack stroke and an undiagnosed terminal condition were opted as possible causes of death with more
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sinister speculation centered on the kellerman family an investigator interviewed Mary's father and the police
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visited their home but they uncovered too nothing out of order the paramedics who treated Mary compiled a report which
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noted that the 12 year old had taken tylenol shortly before her collapse given the popularity of the painkiller
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this detail didn't stand out as particularly meaningful as firefighter Richard Keyworth relayed of the
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circumstances of Mary's death to philip Cappotelli over the phone that night Philip grew increasingly concerned he
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had been monitoring a police radio throughout the day and overheard reports of a string of bizarre tragedies in his
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Arlington Heights district in which two brothers had died and one of their wives
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was left in a critical condition Philip noticed that Janus families incident shared remarkable similarities
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to the sudden death of Mary Kellerman as the two firefighters compared to notes Richard noticed the common feature in
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all four incidents and remarked this is a wild stab but maybe it's tylenol Richard and Phillips theory reached the
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team at Northwest community who were already attributing the genesis illness to the Tylenol but had yet to connect
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Mary kellerman to the case the tylenol seized from the two homes were compared both 50 pill bottles with a brand's
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extra-strength variety purchased from Jewell supermarkets within Chicago's western suburbs and marked with batch
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number mc2 eight eight zero the remaining red and white capsules inside the bottles were poured out
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releasing a strong odor of bitter almonds the group immediately knew what this peculiar sign indicated cyanide
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when ingested cyanide blocks the body's ability to absorb oxygen nausea headache
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and to dizziness occur within minutes and can be followed by the poisons tell-tale signs shortness of breath
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cherry red skin discoloration and dramatic shifts in heart rate or blood pressure progressing to cause seizures
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coma and death Cook County's chief toxicologist Michael Schaeffer conducted an immediate analysis of the tylenol he
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noticed several of the capsules were slightly discolored and swollen in the red-colored half furthermore tylenol
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powder was typically white powdery and did not dissolve in water but the contents of these abnormal capsules were
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moist gray lumpy crystalline and completely soluble testing of this unknown substance confirmed it was
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potassium cyanide six of the remaining capsules in the Kellerman bottle and four from Adam Genesis were laced with
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cyanide 5 to 7 micrograms of the poison was fatal the tainted capsules were filled with approximately 65 milligrams
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ten thousands of times more than the amount required to kill the average person blood samples obtained from Mary
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Kellerman as well as Adam n Stanley Janus came back positive for a lethal amount of cyanide critically ill Teresa
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Janus was also found to have the toxic salt in her system at the time tylenol was the best-selling non prescription
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pain reliever in the United States the capsule variety was especially popular as it was considered easier to swallow
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than the brand's tablet form in 1982 alone tylenol learned its proprietor Johnson & Johnson approximately 400
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million dollars in sales and claimed 37% of the over-the-counter pain relief market share tylenol made up 1/5 of the
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company's total product revenue which included a range of medications first aid supplies baby products and skin care
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Johnson & Johnson were unaware of the emergency unfolding in Chicago's West until a local reporter contacted the
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company seeking comment on the deaths a seven-member strategy team was established to deal with the crisis
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maintaining the protecting the public was their primary concern followed by salvaging their brand company officials
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met with detectives in the affected areas before launching an internal investigation to track down the cause of
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the contamination in the meantime they recalled the estimated 94 thousand bottles of Tylenol in circulation from
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batch MC to 8 8 0 widespread public panic dubbed tylenol hysteria ensued the medical examiner's
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office was bombarded with phone calls from worried a locals who had recently taken the painkiller while paramedics
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were equipped with cyanide antidote kids as an influx of patients flooded regional hospitals reporting symptoms of
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poisoning local church groups and to the Boy Scouts door knocked through neighborhoods to help spread the word
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about the contamination as police patrols cruised the streets announcing the threat over loudspeakers the Health
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Department plastered the front doors of local homes with notices that read this message is to alert you about a
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contaminant that has been found in tylenol products we strongly urge you to stop using these products immediately at
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Johnson & Johnson's washington-based the manufacturing plan where batch mc2 a80 had originated a quality control sample
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of the shipments tylenol powder was analyzed and came back clean company representatives assured the public they
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did not store cyanide at any of their factories and were certain that contamination occurred elsewhere some
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speculated the poisoning was an intentional act of sabotage by a vindictive employee but this was quickly
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curtailed by the company who explained the majority of tylenols production was carried out by machinery as news of the
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tylenol poisoning spread police departments and hospital staff throughout Illinois initiated inquiries
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into recent sudden or suspicious deaths in their regions that might be linked to
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cases emerged one in Elmhurst and the other in Winfield at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday September 29
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office worker Mary mcFarland complained to her colleagues at the Illinois Bell phone center of a tremendous headache it
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wasn't unusual the 31 year old was a periodic migraine sufferer and as such carried a 10 in her purse filled with a
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range of pain relief medication Mary had stopped up her supplier that day earlier
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purchasing a 50 capsule bottle of extra strength tylenol from the Woolworth five
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and dime store in the York town shopping center when she felt a headache coming on at work Mary disappeared into the
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break room to take some of her medicine she reimagine later and informed her colleagues that she felt nausea Sande
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dizzy before she collapsed against the table Mary was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital he nearby Downers Grove where
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she died at 3:18 the following morning detectives later searched the tin in Mary McFarland's purse and found 10
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Tylenol capsules amongst the assorted pills inside fathered them contained cyanide the bottle these pills had
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originated from was found in a medicine cabinet at her own Hurst home with only one of the remaining capsules inside
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testing positive for the poison the contaminated bottle featured a batch number one nine one zero MD which was
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manufactured in Johnson and Johnson's Texas based plant around six hours after the death of Mary mcFarland
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27 year old Mary Reiner passed away at central 2-page hospital in Winfield the mother had only just given birth to her
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fourth child a baby boy at the same hospital six days earlier when Mary was discharged following the delivery the
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hospital staff handed her a bag of items to help with her postpartum recovery which contained a blister pack of 8
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extra strength tylenol capsules on the afternoon of Wednesday September 29 Mary consumed two of the capsules and
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was struck with nausea and dizziness her symptoms quickly worsened and she died the next day
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four of the remaining six tylenol capsules in her blister pack were found to contain cyanide initial media reports
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linked to Mary runners death to a bottle of regular strength tylenol she had purchased earlier that day however Scott
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Bart's author of the tylenol mafia concluded the capsules responsible where the extra-strength variety from the
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hospital blister pack in his book Bart's explained that when Mary returned home from the store with her Tylenol bottle
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she swallowed two pills from the blister pack before emptying the remaining six into the regular strength bottle none of
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the regular strength capsules contained cyanide meaning the bottle had had not been tampered with how the blister pack
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came to be contaminated remained unclear after learning of Mary Ranas death hospitals throughout the region
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destroyed the tylenol in their possession meaning the batch number these pills originated could not be accurately
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determined as anticipated blood samples taken from Mary McFarland and Mary Rinna
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came back positive for a lethal amount of cyanide increasing the tylenol death toll to five the crisis claimed its
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sixth victim the following afternoon of Friday October 1 when Teresa Janus was taken off life support after doctors had
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declared her completely brain-dead [Music] at 5:00 p.m. that same afternoon just
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over 20 miles away in Chicago's Old Town district Carroll Prince arrived at the high-rise apartment that belonged to her
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sister 35 year old United Airlines flight attendant Paula Carroll held concerns about her sister as her family
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had received a phone call from the airline informing them that Paula had failed the show up for work that day
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Carroll gained access to Paula's seventh floor apartment and found her lifeless body on the floor in the hallway an open
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bottle of extra strength tylenol was sitting on the vanity in the nearby bathroom six of the capsules inside were
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found to contain cyanide it was marked with batch number one eight zero one mA which also originated from Johnson &
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Johnson's Texas manufacturing plant Paula Prince became the seventh victim of what would come to be known as the
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Chicago tylenol murders and two the first in the city meaning the contamination zone had
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expanded from the western suburbs into the heart of Chicago putting millions of lives at risk the search of Paula's
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apartment uncovered a Walgreens pharmacy receipt for the tylenol dated the evening of Wednesday September 29
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investigators determined that after touching down from an interstate flight at O'Hare International Airport at
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around 8:00 p.m. Paula drove towards her apartment stopping at the Walgreens on the corner
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of western North Avenue and North Wells Street where she purchased the Tylenol upon arriving home
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Paula inadvertently took a poisoned capsule and collapsed beyond the bathroom door remaining there for two
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days until her sister found her the Walgreens store hadn't no security cameras in the aisles to show how the
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cyanide a laced to tylenol ended up on the shelf but there was one camera at the front of the store that was part of
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an automatic teller machine this camera snapped a picture whenever someone withdrew cash capturing an
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overview of the entire register area at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday September 29 as a
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customer obtained money from the ATM a photograph was taken that happened to capture all the prints at the exact
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moment she purchased the Tylenol the black-and-white photo showed her in her flight attendants uniform turning away
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from the register to look at a nearby magazine rack investigators noticed the Caucasian men standing several feet away
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facing towards her as he was positioned in the far right background of the image
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the men's facial features were somewhat indistinct but it was clear that he had a groomed beard dark hair that was
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thinning on top and was wearing a light-colored jacket and possibly white rimmed spectacles the chilling way in
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which the man appeared to be watching paula led police to believe he could be the killer intently observing his
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oblivious victim as she purchased the pills he had poisoned as pills originating from multiple batches
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manufacturing plants and drugs thoughts were now found to be poisoned Johnson and Johnson announced the total
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nationwide recall of all tylenol products a decision that would cost the company one hundred million dollars it
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was a huge task given there was an estimated thirty 1 million bottles in circulation that the company vowed to
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destroy them all they offered refunds and exchanges while halting all Tylenol production and advertising four hundred
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and fifty thousand telex messages were sent to doctors offices hospitals and trade groups to warn them of the
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potential dangers as company executives appeared on news programs promising that
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tylenol would not return to store shelves until the company had perfected tamper proof packaging Johnson & Johnson
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also offered a $100,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of the person or persons
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responsible for the tampering at the time there was no protective sealing on any over-the-counter drug bottles which
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made tampering easy furthermore capsule casings could be pulled apart to allow its contents to be replaced with the two
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halves then reattached to appear untouched investigators noted that some of the poisoned capsules were put
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together more rightfully than others leading them to believe that either two or more people were involved with some
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working more carefully than others or that it was the work of just the one person who didn't have much patience
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millions of pills were surrendered a nationwide in addition to the five bottles that led to the victims deaths
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three more bottles sold in the Chicago area were found to have been poisoned two were handed in by customers while
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the other was found in an Oscar drugstore in the northwestern suburb of Schaumburg the recall was a success
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bringing an abrupt end to the crisis and ensuring the death toll ended at 7 a task force comprised of more than 100
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investigators from 15 agencies fronted inquiries into what was now regarded a mass murder investigation with many
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officers working 15 to 20 hour shifts with no breaks to expedite efforts to find the culprit in a surprise
00:25:12
revelation Johnson & Johnson disclosed that they had not been completely forthright earlier admitting they did
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indeed store potassium cyanide at some of their factories the substance was used in laboratory based chemical
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testing specifically to test povidone the primary binder used to make tylenol company officials insisted these labs
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were in a remote and separate location far from the manufacturing sector and were confident the foreign substance
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would have been detected if it was added during production as only a few capsules
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per bottle were contaminated and that had come from two separate batches and factories had seemed unlikely the
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poisoning was carried out during the manufacturing process nevertheless investigators interviewed current and
00:26:06
former staff as well as their friends and families but failed to identify any disgruntled suspects who had a deadly
00:26:13
vendetta against the company the contaminated tylenol bottles were manufactured in Washington and Texas in
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August before being dispersed nationwide to approximately 100 distributors who then turned them over to around 11,000
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retailers as none of the victims knew one another and the crisis was isolated to the Chicago area it seemed to likely
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that the tampering occurred after the tylenol was shipped to Illinois but before it was purchased by the victims
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employees at each of the stores the salt the poisoned pills were questioned as were the janitors delivery men and
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maintenance personnel who had access to the stores the no arrests were made many
00:27:03
theories of rose including that the crimes were committed by one of Johnson & Johnson's competitors for someone who
00:27:10
stood the profit from investing in the safety packaging industry recently released prison inmates psychiatric
00:27:18
patients and a Puerto Rican terrorist group were also investigated as possible suspects it was even speculated that the
00:27:26
murderer only intended to kill one of the victims but carried out the widespread contamination as a cover-up
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consequently several of the victims family members friends and associates were questioned but they too were
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eventually cleared investigators considered whether someone might be seeking reprisal for the death of a
00:27:49
loved one caused the bio tylenol overdose and poured through a year's worth of local newspapers trying to find
00:27:56
reports of such an incident failing to uncover anything they scan to the papers for something that could give
00:28:03
significance to the date of the murders but once again found nothing of interest
00:28:09
in the meantime a police hotline rang off the hook as callers offered up thousands of leads but the process of
00:28:17
sifting through this information was hampered by pranksters false confessions and psychics detailing their dubious
00:28:24
visions it seemed as though the perpetrator was local to the Chicago area after purchasing or shoplifting the
00:28:35
bottles they then returned to the stores to discreetly deposit them back on the shelves no clear foreign fingerprints
00:28:43
were isolated on any of the tampered bottles indicating the killer may have worn gloves which would have drawn
00:28:49
attention given that the weather was warm but no such sightings were reported as it was a four-hour drive between the
00:28:58
six affected stores investigators believed the perpetrator distributed the bottles in a single day likely the day
00:29:06
before the poisonings commenced this theory was supported by an incident reported by two Illinois police officers
00:29:14
occurring in the early morning hours of Tuesday September 28th the pair arrived to the Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge and
00:29:23
restaurant in Elgin to grab a bite to wait where on the grassy median strip separating the parking lot from the
00:29:30
adjacent road they noticed two cardboard boxes marked with the words extra strength tylenol capsules and to the
00:29:38
name McNeil the subsidiary company of Johnson & Johnson responsible for manufacturing Tylenol information
00:29:47
displayed on the boxes indicated they contained 30 bottles of extra strength tylenol one box was open and only 24
00:29:56
bottles remained inside two of which were open a large quantity of white powder was scattered on the ground along
00:30:05
with hundreds of empty red and white capsule casings some of which appeared to have been emptied and put back
00:30:11
together one officer handled the items but as the cyanide poisoning 'he's had not yet
00:30:18
occurred the pair ultimately disregarded the find and two went to get food as planned as they ate the officer who
00:30:27
touched the items developed a headache and his arm broke out in a painful rash and started swelling when the pair
00:30:35
returned to their vehicle they stopped to re-examine the tylenol boxes and at this time the second officer handled the
00:30:43
items and was soon overcome with a headache dizziness and nausea when the news of the Chicago tylenol murders
00:30:52
broke two days later the officers reported their bizarre warrant to their superiors and to the Howard Johnsons
00:31:00
Motor Lodge and restaurant parking lot was thoroughly searched little remained of the mysterious
00:31:06
tylenol boxes and a testing of what was recovered came back negative for cyanide
00:31:15
the first three memorial services for the Chicago tylenol murders began on Saturday October to around 150 mourners
00:31:25
gathered a queen of the Rosary Catholic Church in Elk Grove Village to farewelled the youngest victim 12 year
00:31:33
old Mary Kellerman her unexpected death had to left her fellow 7th grade classmates and teachers in shock and her
00:31:42
grief-stricken mother had to be physically supported throughout the service less than 10 miles away
00:31:49
Mary Reiner was farewelled by her loved ones in her childhood town of Villa Park
00:31:55
her husband ed reminisced about their long and loving marriage which had resulted in four children including
00:32:02
their newborn son in the neighboring suburb of Elmhurst Mary McFarland was remembered as an exceptional single
00:32:11
mother to her two sons aged four and two friends and colleagues spoke of the positive impact she had on others from
00:32:20
her sense of humor to her work ethic describing her as a good person and a good friend the scale of loss was
00:32:29
particularly immense for the Jana's family who had lost three members within days of one another on Tuesday October 5
00:32:38
a joint funeral service was held for Adams Stanley and of Teresa Adams four-year-old daughter kept her hand on
00:32:46
her father's casket as the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago blessed all three victims and said this is a great tragedy
00:32:55
into loss I wish as your pastor that I could relieve you of your burden of sorrow but I can't
00:33:04
at the same time a funeral was held for paula prince in her hometown of Omaha Nebraska
00:33:12
detectives staked out at each of the funerals on the lookout for anyone uninvited out of place or otherwise
00:33:20
acting suspiciously although several people caught their attention nothing further developed time-lapse
00:33:29
surveillance cameras were discretely positioned around to the cemeteries to monitor the grave sites 24-hours a day
00:33:35
and two remained in place until the device's internal mechanisms were frozen by the inbound cold weather on Wednesday
00:33:46
October 6 eight days into the investigation an envelope labeled tylenol arrived at the
00:33:53
philadelphia-based office of tylenols manufacturer MacNeil consumer health care inside was a handwritten letter
00:34:01
which read gentlemen as you can see it is easy to place cyanide both potassium and sodium into capsules sitting on
00:34:12
store shelves and since the cyanide is inside the gelatin it is easy to get buyers to swallow the bitter pill
00:34:22
another beauty is that cyanide operates quickly it takes so very little and there will be no time to take
00:34:30
countermeasures if you don't mind it the publicity of these little capsules then
00:34:36
do nothing so far I have spent less than 50 dollars and it takes me less than 10 minutes per bottle
00:34:45
if you want to stop the killing then why are $1,000,000 to bank account eight four four nine five nine seven at
00:34:54
continental Illinois bank Chicago don't attempt to involve the FBI or local Chicago authorities with this letter a
00:35:04
couple of phone calls by me will undo anything you can possibly do the letter was immediately handed to the
00:35:15
FBI who worked to determine if the extortion attempt was just a conman capitalizing on the crimes all
00:35:22
legitimately the murderer responsible for the tampering 'z they managed to lift fingerprints from the document and
00:35:30
scratch away the envelopes postmark revealing a postage Commerce number linked to a travel agency called
00:35:37
lakeside in Chicago the US Department of Justice directed the continental Illinois bank
00:35:45
to turn over the financial records of the account mentioned in the letter the account had been closed five months
00:35:53
earlier and belonged to Frederick Miller McKay he and heir to the Miller Brewing
00:35:58
fortune investigators quickly established that Frederick was not responsible for penning the letter and
00:36:05
request it he lists the names of anyone who would seek to ruin his reputation Frederick was the former owner of the
00:36:14
now-defunct a lakeside travel agency and to many of his ex employees suspected he
00:36:20
had diverted a company funds to pay his own personal bills which resulted in their final paychecks bouncing given the
00:36:29
envelope used was from Frederick's former business his list contained the names of four resentful staff members
00:36:37
one was Nancy Richardson former colleagues recalled that her husband Robert was somewhat eccentric and
00:36:45
outspoken during a wage claim hearing for the former lakeside travel agency staff members he had become particularly
00:36:54
outraged when told there was nothing they could do about their unpaid wages as there was no money for them to lay a
00:37:01
claim against immediately after the hearing he was witnessed having a heated argument with Frederick and although
00:37:09
others accepted the result and moved on Robert continued going after Frederick investigators looking into Roberts
00:37:18
background discovered he had a rabid unhinged temper and a reputation for holding grudges they obtained
00:37:26
handwriting samples from Roberts former employer the First National Bank of Chicago where he had worked as a temp in
00:37:33
numerous departments until early September and they discovered the handwriting was a match to the extortion
00:37:40
letter sent to Johnson & Johnson police attempted to apprehend Robert but he and his wife Nancy had since left
00:37:49
their run-down apartment in Chicago's North Side for an unknown destination a nationwide search commenced and to the
00:37:59
police soon discovered that the names Robert entered Nancy Richardson were aliases for James enter Lee Ann Lewis
00:38:08
[Music] selling products online can be a hassle you have to copy and paste the orders
00:38:24
from multiple sites package up items to be sent out and figure out which carrier
00:38:30
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premium made-to-measure suit once you go custom you don't go back after being abandoned by his parents at
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age three James Lewis was adopted by a childless couple he grew up to become a troublesome child who is known to fly
00:43:43
into rages in one instance he chased his mother with an axe and in another he faced an assault charge after breaking
00:43:51
several of his father's ribs at one point Lewis was hospitalized and diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia
00:43:58
after overdosing on over-the-counter painkillers but he later claimed his suicide attempt and violent behavior was
00:44:06
simply a plan concocted by his family to avoid him being drafted to fight in the
00:44:11
Vietnam War despite the dysfunction in his home life Lewis enjoyed school and received a good
00:44:18
grades later attending the University of Missouri where he met his future wife Glee Ann the pair was staunchly devoted
00:44:27
to one another and cultivated a comfortable life both working as bookkeepers at attack service until
00:44:34
Lewis exploded at the business owner over a trivial matter prompting the couple to leave the pair then started
00:44:42
their own taxation business in Kansas City where 72 year-old Raymond West became their client Raymond was a
00:44:51
retired truck driver who lived a quiet life alone tending to his garden and taking daily walks on Monday July 24
00:45:01
1978 a missing-persons report was filed on his behalf as a friend notice the Raymond's car was in the
00:45:09
garage of his home but knocks to his front door were going unanswered a note was found stuck in the door written on
00:45:17
James Lewis's business letterhead at red Ray's out of town until Thursday for further call Jim
00:45:29
police forced their way into the home and found another note on the coffee table which read please don't disturb
00:45:36
until after 1:00 p.m. sleeping late Raymond despite being signed off with the elderly man's name that was not scrawled
00:45:47
in his handwriting three weeks later on Saturday August 14 police conducted a second a search of Raymond's house a
00:45:57
foul odor lingered inside and too they uncovered a bloody bed sheets in the bedroom in the basement was a
00:46:05
blood-stained two lawn chair along with a garbage bag containing Raymond's toupee and eyeglasses in an upstairs
00:46:13
room officers noticed the footlong stain running from the ceiling down the wall and made their way into the Attic to
00:46:20
determine its source there they found Freeman's decomposed and dismembered body partially wrapped in sheets in the
00:46:29
garbage bags his legs had been severed at the hip joint and placed alongside his head due to the state of his remains
00:46:38
a cause of death could not be established investigators discovered $5,000 had been withdrawn from Raymond's
00:46:48
bank account and paid to James Lewis who was promptly arrested he maintained that
00:46:55
the payment was a business expansion loan which seemed unusual given Raymond was known to be tight with money
00:47:03
Lewis was released from police custody and permitted officers to search his home and vehicle where they found 20
00:47:11
feet of knotted white rope a garbage bag and a black case containing papers and checks bearing Raymond's name he was
00:47:21
arrested again and charged with Raymond West's murder a crime which he V manely denied committing in October 1970 nine
00:47:32
days before his trial was set to begin Louis's defense counsel argued that the police had a no probable cause to arrest
00:47:41
client in the first instance and that he wasn't read his Miranda rights at the time they also claimed that the original
00:47:50
indictment was defective and was not worded correctly as it emitted the term felonious as Raymond's cause of death
00:47:59
was unknown his attorney had lined up a series of witnesses to testify the elderly man had higher blood pressure
00:48:06
and a potent medication regime both of which may have been responsible however it didn't explain how Raymond's legs
00:48:16
came to be severed from his body and in a bizarre assertion Louis's attorney told the Chicago Reader newspaper it's
00:48:25
one thing to kill somebody it's another thing to dismember them after they're dead and whilst dismembering somebody
00:48:34
after they're dead is repulsive and repugnant it's not homicide with nothing but circumstantial evidence to link
00:48:44
Lewis to the crime the case was dismissed and he left court a free man prosecutor James Bell told reporters
00:48:52
that it was quote one of the most mysterious confusing the fuddling complex and probably one of the most
00:49:02
difficult cases I ever handled in December 1981 Lewis and his wife Leanne fled the state after police became aware
00:49:14
of his involvement in a fraudulent credit card scheme a warrant was issued for his arrest but the couple
00:49:21
successfully evaded capture heading north east to Chicago where they adopted the aliases Robert and Nancy Richardson
00:49:29
making it one of seventeen aliases Lewis adopted over the years Leeanne secured a
00:49:36
job working as an accounting clerk at Lakeside a travel agency before its closure
00:49:41
three months later Lewis bounced between temp jobs leaving the National Bank of Chicago in early September which
00:49:50
prompted the now unemployed couple to relocate again news of Lewis's fugitive status sent a
00:49:58
connection to the tylenol case began making headlines and he started penning letters to the Chicago Tribune newspaper
00:50:05
to declare his innocence post marks on the letters revealed he was now living in New York leading 200 FBI agents to
00:50:14
descend on the city in an effort to find him as it was evident that Lewis was regularly reading the Chicago Tribune
00:50:22
every newsstand the stopped the paper was put under 24-hour surveillance but he never showed up to make a purchase
00:50:31
agents concluded he must have been reading copies of the newspaper in a library and paid a visit to all the city
00:50:38
libraries to inform the staff to be on the lookout for Lewis on Monday December 13 a New York Public Library employee
00:50:48
contacted the police when they saw Lewis sitting in to reading two books newspapers of the Southwest and two
00:50:55
largest corporations in America while shutting down the names and addresses of newspaper publications he was promptly
00:51:04
placed under arrest without incident and his wife turned herself in to authorities soon after Lewis's
00:51:13
fingerprints were checked against to those on the Johnson and Johnson extortion letter revealing a match and
00:51:19
further cementing his involvement his handwriting also matched a second extortion letter that had been addressed
00:51:27
to President Ronald Reagan in mid-october which warned that the tylenol poisonings would continue unless
00:51:33
a federal taxation overhaul was conducted the writer also threatened to fly remote controlled model airplanes
00:51:41
into the White House to scramble Secret Service telecommunications it appeared too Lewis wrote this second letter in a
00:51:50
desperate bid to deflect police attention upon realizing his attempt to frame Frederick Miller McKay he had only
00:51:57
succeeded in bringing attention to himself Lewis eventually admitted to writing the
00:52:04
Johnson and Johnson extortion letter as an act of revenge against Frederick for leaving his wife five hundred dollars
00:52:11
out of pocket while also alerting police to the business man's alleged fraudulent
00:52:15
practices Lewis had stockpiled envelopes from Lakeside a travel agency and investigators suspected he had waited
00:52:25
for the right crisis to pin on his wife's former boss striking when the Chicago tylenol murders presented the
00:52:32
perfect opportunity although Lewis maintained he never intended to collect the million dollars he demanded from
00:52:40
Johnson & Johnson police found evidence to suggest that savvy con man knew how to use a computer
00:52:47
to transfer money from one bank account to another he was subsequently charged with attempted extortion although he
00:52:57
denied having anything to do with the tylenol murders arguing that he was in New York at the time the tampering were
00:53:03
believed to have taken place investigators were not fully convinced many noted he bore a resemblance to the
00:53:12
man caught on camera in Walgreens who had been watching Paula Prince for she unknowingly purchased the poisoned
00:53:18
capsules right down to the groom to beard in spectacles less than a month after married kellerman had been laid to
00:53:29
rest the Chicago Tribune published a candid piece titled living in the tylenol killers shadow in which
00:53:36
columnist Bob Greene addressed the child's killer directly writing if you are the tylenol killer some of this may
00:53:46
matter to you or it may make no difference at all if you are the tylenol killer though you may be harboring just
00:53:56
the vaguest curiosity about the people on the other end of your clan the people who were unfortunate enough to purchase
00:54:03
the bottles you had touched if you are curious come to a small house on a quiet winding street in Elk Grove Village
00:54:12
Illinois the people who live there Dennis and Gina Kellerman feel you have already been inside anyway the piece
00:54:23
went on to describe the crushing guilt felt by Gina for purchasing the tylenol that ended up taking her daughter's life
00:54:30
Bob Green explained if you are the tylenol killer you should know one more thing mary's mother can't have any more
00:54:41
children Mary was her only baby you might be interested in knowing that Mary was born one month premature and that as
00:54:51
she entered the world her mother was scared because she was not crying but the doctor smiled and said it's
00:54:59
alright she's only sleeping and she was she was a quiet child and because the Kellerman's knew she would be their only
00:55:11
child she was especially precious to them Green detailed how the Kellerman's had considered themselves overprotective
00:55:21
of their only child who had to be home by dark and to call frequently to let them know she was alright
00:55:28
quote they thought they knew about every danger that could possibly touch Mary but they didn't know about you Bob
00:55:40
greens column included the following statement to Mary's killer if you are wondering whether Mary's parents talked
00:55:48
about you you don't have to wonder anymore they do you have never been in their house and yet they cannot walk
00:55:57
into a room without feeling you were there you don't know them but you have changed their lives forever they feel as
00:56:06
if they can't get away from you as it is you should know Mary's parents are too shattered even to visit the cemetery
00:56:16
Mary is buried at Saint Michael the Archangel in nearby Palatine Illinois and they wish they could go to her grave
00:56:24
but they can't the hurt is too deep and you are keeping them even from that ridden with the full permission of the
00:56:36
Kellerman family Bob greens emotional peace had actually been commissioned by the tylenol task force in the hopes that
00:56:43
would compel the unknown killer to visit Mary's grave after the column was published her headstone was put under
00:56:51
24-hour covert surveillance for several months but the killer did not appear in the month following the Chicago
00:57:03
tylenol murders hundreds of copycat incidents emerged across America with the Food and Drug Administration
00:57:10
tallying more than 270 occurrences of product tampering people across the country fell ill after consuming pills
00:57:18
tainted with everything from rat poison to hydrochloric acid on Halloween parents reported finding sharp pins
00:57:27
concealed in candy forcing some communities to be in trick-or-treating altogether tylenol returned to store
00:57:36
shelves just over a month following the murders after Johnson and Johnson developed triple-sealed tamper-proof
00:57:42
packaging and invented the coupler a tablet coated with the gelatin that was easy to swallow but harder to
00:57:49
contaminate these innovative concepts became the global industry standard and was soon implemented by other companies
00:57:57
involved in the production of medicine and other consumables eight months after James Lewis sent the fraudulent letter
00:58:06
to Johnson & Johnson he was convicted of extortion and sentenced to serve 20 years in federal prison although he
00:58:14
remained a suspect in the tylenol murders he was just one of four hundred people of interest who were extensively
00:58:21
investigated for their possible involvement among them was 48 year-old Roger Arnold a doc hand who worked for a
00:58:30
jewel foods warehouse west of Chicago the supermarket chain has sold the poison to Tylenol - Adam Janus and Gina
00:58:38
Kellerman in early October 1982 Arnold was drinking at a bar called a lilies when he started telling stories about
00:58:48
killing people with cyanide the bars owner Marty Sinclair overheard the remarks and contacted authorities
00:58:57
the police conducted a search of Arnold's Southside apartment and uncovered a bag of chemical powder
00:59:04
funnels beakers test tubes for unlicensed firearms how to crime manuals and copies of Soldier of Fortune
00:59:12
magazine Arnold was arrested and questioned for three days in relation to the Chicago tylenol murders during which
00:59:22
he professed his innocence and to told officers I'd like to be in on the homicide of the guy that turned me in
00:59:29
for what he did to me the powder found in Arnold's apartment was determined to be potassium carbonate a relatively
00:59:39
harmless salt used in the production of glass and soap he refused to say what the chemicals were used for but asserted
00:59:47
it was for nothing illegal he was ultimately released with our charge but the notoriety of having been considered
00:59:55
a suspect in the case took a huge toll on his reputation colleagues gave him the unwanted
01:00:02
nickname tylenol kid and his local community kept their distance buying him with constant suspicion overwhelmed by
01:00:13
the profoundly negative impact the single tip-off had on his life Arnold sought revenge on the person who
01:00:19
gave his name to the police eight months later on the night of June 17 1983 he drove to Lilly's bar and confronted the
01:00:29
owner Marty Sinclair telling him you turned me in before shooting him at point-blank range
01:00:39
however in a case of mistaken identity Arnold had not shot Marty Sinclair at all he had executed 46 year-old father
01:00:50
of three johnston Esha who happened to closely resemble marty Arnold was convicted of second-degree
01:00:58
murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison serving only 15 prior to his death in 2008 he expressed the remorse
01:01:08
of his botched act of revenge remarking I killed a man a perfectly innocent person I had choices I could have walked
01:01:20
away as the Chicago tylenol murders investigation continued a dossier listing potential persons of interest
01:01:32
that grew to 10,000 names a special computer program was created to collate the hundreds of reports taken by the
01:01:40
various police departments which would alert officers to important discoveries like when an individual was mentioned in
01:01:47
multiple reports or a common thread that was recognized despite these efforts with no direct connection between the
01:01:55
victims and to no motive crime-scene or useful evidence investigative options were limited FBI criminal behavior
01:02:06
specialists were given the task of developing a psychological profile of the killer and although they couldn't
01:02:12
come up with the unanimous result they agreed that the perpetrator was likely male aged in his 20s or 30s well above
01:02:20
average intelligence meticulous in his personal habits and a loner who may hold a disdain for women
01:02:29
the specialists were perplexed to discover that the perpetrator hadn't left behind a message or any type of
01:02:36
indicator to draw conclusions from making it particularly difficult to establish their rationale one
01:02:44
psychologist concluded that the killer likely believed they had a perfectly good reason for committing the crimes
01:02:50
but might never justify it to anyone else it was his opinion that normal investigative procedures were not going
01:02:58
to work in this situation and if the person responsible was likely never going to be found nevertheless
01:03:08
politicians and senior police personnel continued to mask the dire status of the
01:03:13
investigation by employing progress was being made frustrated by these false claims Illinois police called a press
01:03:22
conference to admit they knew nothing more now than they did when the first murders took place these comments caused
01:03:30
an immediate backlash and when Chicago police superintendent Richard Brezza was asked by his superiors to justify the
01:03:37
remarks he answered because it's the truth you're bullshitting the people enter they're terrified out there stop
01:03:47
giving them false hope tell them the truth by November 1982 the tylenol task force
01:03:57
had been reduced from 115 investigators to approximately 50 and by March the following year the police tip line had
01:04:06
been disconnected when the one-year anniversary of the murders arrived the task force had been scaled down further
01:04:15
to a team of just ten full-time state and federal agents that month Illinois Criminal Investigations Commander Thomas
01:04:25
Sharpe told the Chicago Tribune that efforts were still underway to re-examine all the data collected over
01:04:31
the previous year vials were constantly being shifted between investigators in the hopes of fresh pair of eyes would
01:04:39
pick up on something that had been missed chump was surprised the case had not been solved sooner stating I applied
01:04:49
my best people to this case these are guys used to success and early on we all thought we were going to be successful
01:04:57
this time too we were full of energy convinced that it was just a matter of hard work painstaking research and
01:05:06
making our own breaks when you apply the kind of resources we used you solve 99%
01:05:14
of the cases that year a bill was passed by the US Congress titled the tylenol bill making it a federal crime to tamper
01:05:26
with consumer products the penalty for tampering aimed at hurting the reputation of a business included a
01:05:33
$10,000 fine and up to three years in prison those convicted of meddling with products and endangering consumers lives
01:05:42
or safety faced up to $100,000 fine and a life sentence these new laws were put into practice just three years later
01:05:52
when two people in Washington state died after consuming over-the-counter excedrin pain relief capsules laced with
01:06:00
cyanide this crime covered in Episode a 93 of case file was unrelated to but directly
01:06:08
inspired by the Chicago tylenol murders the mystery in Jewett over the following
01:06:16
years with millions of dollars and investigative hours amounting to very little advancement and to no major
01:06:23
breakthroughs nine years after the tragedy the families of the seven victims initiated a legal action against
01:06:31
Johnson & Johnson alleging that product tampering was a well known problem before the murders and that the company
01:06:38
should have taken steps to safeguard their product in May 1991 and out-of-court settlement
01:06:45
was reached after three days of negotiation with the exact terms and dollar amounts sealed by a court order
01:06:53
the plaintiffs were pleased with the result as the compensation included provision for the college education of
01:07:00
the eight children whose parents died in the poisonings some experts believed the
01:07:06
company chose to forego a trial as even an exorbitant financial settlement was preferable over the potential brand
01:07:13
damage that would result from litigation at Johnson & Johnson spokesperson maintained the company had nothing to do
01:07:21
with the poisonings and was just another victim of the crime stating while there
01:07:28
is no way that we could have anticipated a criminal tampering with our product or
01:07:32
prevented it we wanted to do something for these families and to finally put this tragic event behind us during his
01:07:43
imprisonment for extortion Tylenol murders suspect - James Lewis met with US Attorney
01:07:49
Jeremy Margolis to volunteer his services to help solve the crime during the pair's meetings Lewis provided
01:07:57
hundreds of pages of manuscripts diagrams and theories as to how the killings were carried out in one sketch
01:08:05
he depicted how cyanide could be inserted in the capsules that captioned it with the statement drawn on
01:08:13
speculation at the request of Assistant US Attorney Jeremy D Margolis to ensure it could not
01:08:19
be treated as a confession an article in the Chicago Reader newspaper titled a bitter pill explained
01:08:28
quote in that drawing Louis delineates in great detail how the killer might have used an ordinary breadboard to turn
01:08:38
an ordinary pain reliever into an agent of death the poisoner could have drill holes in the board place separated hem
01:08:47
PP capsule halves into the holes fill them with cyanide and scrape off the excess with a knife recap the capsules
01:08:55
and put them back into their original containers the entire process could be performed in a car at the stores parking
01:09:03
lot allowing the killer to buy the tylenol contaminate the capsules and to return the bottle to the shelf minutes
01:09:11
later nothing would appear out of the ordinary because the bottle would still bear the
01:09:17
price tags and other identifying marks of that particular store despite all the information Louis provided he never
01:09:27
directly implicated himself in the crimes in 1995 after serving 13 years of his 20-year prison sentence he was
01:09:36
released on parole nine years later in 2004 he was charged with rape kidnapping and other offenses in relation to the
01:09:46
attack of a woman in his apartment building on the day this trial was due to commence in July 2007 the district
01:09:55
attorney's office announced they were dropping the charges because the victim refused to testify on the 25th
01:10:05
anniversary of the Chicago tylenol murders in September 2007 James Lewis published a post on his web design and
01:10:13
programming business website cyber Lewis which read in a quarter of a century or
01:10:20
have not been able to escape the tylenol Mian label a Google search of James Lewis tylenol yields over two hundred
01:10:29
and forty thousand documents and the list is growing after 25 years of cringing in fear I am tired of hiding in
01:10:39
silence I will not run and tie it anymore I will now face this controversy head-on
01:10:48
after 25 years the tylenol murders remain unsolved I have lived a long bizarre life and I have seen a lot yet I
01:10:58
am literate and to lucid enough to view and describe compare and contrast hugely
01:11:03
diverse world's cultures and topics without a moment of boredom or with an eye to professionalism demographics and
01:11:12
marketability plus the ease and hard sensitive to good taste and to victim's feelings two years later in early 2009
01:11:24
Department of Justice investigators stated publicly that although they didn't have enough evidence to charge
01:11:30
James Lewis they were confident he was responsible for the tylenol murders in February 2009 federal investigators
01:11:40
executed a search warrant at Louis's first floor apartment in Cambridge Massachusetts where he had believed
01:11:46
since he's released from prison in 1995 after searching the residence and a nearby storage facility five boxes full
01:11:56
of evidence and a late-model Macintosh computer were seized Theresa Janice's brother Walter said he
01:12:04
hoped the search would finally provide police with enough information to lead to an arrest
01:12:09
especially considering his father was about to celebrate his 80th birthday and to longed to see his daughter's killer
01:12:16
behind bars Walter said they always told us the cases like this never go into the
01:12:25
cold file that they just don't always get the attention they deserve all we can do is hope we'd like to bring it to
01:12:35
closure the search failed to uncover any evidence to effect an arrest but investigators were still unwilling to
01:12:45
rule Louis out as a suspect in January 2010 both he and his wife were ordered to submit DNA samples and
01:12:54
fingerprints to authorities after it closed the door court hearing though these submissions also did not lead to
01:13:02
his arrest Louis maintained he was just a scapegoat for incompetent police who were unable
01:13:09
to find the real tylenol killer but others remained convinced of his guilt with Chicago attorney Anton velu 'kiss
01:13:17
stating I believe that the evidence which was out there would lead a rational person to conclude that Louis
01:13:25
was in fact the murderer however other investigators were less convinced surmising lewis was just a schemer who
01:13:35
relished the attention as was evident when he self-published an e-book titled poison a doctors dilemma a fictional
01:13:44
thriller about a mass catastrophe in a Midwestern city in 2012 lifestyle publication Chicago magazine
01:13:55
interviewed several people involved in the tylenol murder case to discuss their theories about the long-standing mystery
01:14:01
thirty years on one detective expressed his opinion that James Lewis was not involved in any way as the extensive
01:14:10
investigation had revealed no duress the connections Attorney General ty Farner disputed this saying do I think
01:14:20
James Lewis was involved I did and God do but we could never put him in the city in the places at the right time
01:14:32
this was mirrored by Chicago Police Department lieutenant August local Oh who worked in the violent crime squad
01:14:39
two during the tylenol murders he said Lewis is a con man and he'll do anything to get to his goal I really believed he
01:14:51
might have killed somebody but they couldn't put anything on him Lewis remained in the large pool of suspects
01:15:00
which at one point included infamous Unabomber Ted Kaczynski Kozinski's first four acts of domestic
01:15:07
terrorism occurred in the Chicago area and he occasionally stayed at his parents home in Lombard Illinois he
01:15:16
denied any involvement in the crime and investigators weren't fully convinced as
01:15:21
it didn't entirely fit his MO when the Chicago tylenol murders occurred in 1982 there was an almost immediate impact on
01:15:33
Wall Street with Johnson & Johnson's 5.4 billion dollar stock plummeting and their market share collapsing from 35
01:15:42
percent to 8 percent nevertheless the company's swift actions to contain the emergency garnered praise from the media
01:15:50
and the public our Washington Post a newspaper article published the month following the deaths
01:15:57
stated Johnson & Johnson has effectively demonstrated how a major business ought
01:16:04
to handle a disaster after investing more than 100 million dollars Johnson & Johnson relaunched the
01:16:13
Tylenol brand and regained the 30% share of the market before resuming its number-one spot as America's top selling
01:16:20
over-the-counter pain reliever in 2003 Fortune magazine named the company's then CEO James Burke as one of history's
01:16:31
10 greatest CEOs for his handling of the crisis skeptics and cynics have since viewed the company with a far more
01:16:40
critical liar as Johnson & Johnson initially lied about storing cyanide at their tylenol manufacturing facilities
01:16:49
many theorists believe the company was somehow responsible for the contamination and went to great lengths
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to cover it up by encouraging the lone tamperer Theory to this day the Chicago tylenol murders remains one of the most
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notorious unsolved crimes in American history psychologists remain perplexed by the
01:17:11
unknown killer whose motive remains a point of contention investigators are uncertain whether the
01:17:18
crimes were a meticulously orchestrated and targeted murder or an act of domestic terrorism James has a Vil
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former director of the Illinois Department of law enforcement has spoken of his hope that the case will one day
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be solved noting we've solved other crimes a year two years twenty years afterwards I have not given up hope or
01:17:44
lost optimism sometimes you have to admit you've lost but that's not the case with the tylenol deaths authorities
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maintain the case is still active the families of the victims live on without justice six months after the
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murders Mary Ronnie's husband ed told reporters that the couple's two-year-old son would look at photographs of his
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mother and ask when she was coming home Edie explained I tell him she's in heaven now I still don't understand why
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something like this happened and I don't think I ever will on the crimes one-year
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anniversary Theresa Janice's mother Helen explained that while their house used to be full
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of life into parties that was now empty she kept a shrine of photographs to remember her daughter and son-in-law
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remarking it always hurts inside two decades on Mary Kellerman's grandmother Patricia spoke of the continuing grief
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stating it's still devastating to the family especially when they have in court who did it I'm sure a lot of
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people have forgotten it but I can tell you that the families still remember this sentiment was shared by Joseph
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Janus who lost two of his brothers to the Tylenol poisonings and said it never goes away it stays in your chest in an
01:19:24
interview with the Chicago Tribune in 2009 Mary McFarland's brother Elias and explained how he can no longer stomach
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even looking at a box of Tylenol quote I now think of Mary not being here what she's missing her son's growing up a
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granddaughter being born a daughter-in-law she would have loved a colleague of paula prince remembered
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her as a voracious woman with a gorgeous smile and spoke of the unknown killer quote that guy stole all her dreams her
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life her future he just destroyed it all just poof one pill what makes a man do something like that in the early days of
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the Tylenol investigation Illinois Criminal Investigation Commander Thomas Sharpe told the Chicago Tribune the
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first thing you look for in any murder is motivation in 99% of the cases it's relatively easy her husband wife lover
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boyfriend is involved or narcotics are involved and you are on your way to solving it but with tylenol there was
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never a message left behind it's so important to know why what was the message what was the reason with tylenol
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not only can't we say who we can't even say what or why [Music]