In work that would later be heralded in scientific journals, the scientists also tested the cyanide kept at the Tylenol plant to see if it somehow got into the production process. I stepped off that dais, Fahner told the Tribune this year. A long-planned meeting with DuPage prosecutors also was pushed back in the spring. The investigators would then return around 5 p.m. to update everyone on the days developments. (Carl Wagner / Chicago Tribune). Several suspects did too. Or, at the very least, get them to remember his name. Some of those interviews may have gone to an agent who didnt do a good job., Shari Kouba, shown in July at an FBI office in Mount Prospect where she used to work, ran a tips desk as part of the Tylenol task force. I said, Agent, agent. Among those questioned was a clerical worker who was fired for repeatedly missing work. Another tip involved a man who was threatening to poison Hormel food products. Fahner, as head of the task force, quickly became the public face of the investigation. Im absolutely sure about that. The substance was grainier than the untainted Tylenol on the left. Forty years later, it still bothers him. We used every single technique available to us. Several people had died within the last day in the Chicago suburbs after ingesting Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide and the situation needed attention. I think its pretty important, the aide replied. Now Fahner had to win the job for himself, and he faced a formidable opponent in Democrat Neil Hartigan, a vote magnet from Chicagos North Side. Lab technicians Nlada Marzette, left, and Lynn Pilaggi inspect the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules for cyanide contamination at the Illinois Department of Public Health in 1982. With no apparent motive and little evidence to go on, it was a tough task. 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. In all, the task force had only eight bottles to offer clues to where and when the tampering could have taken place. (James Mayo / Chicago Tribune). The Unsolved Tylenol Murders of 1982: The Unabomber Theory Written by C.W.S. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. Tylenol murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case. I had people dropping dead all over the place.. In 2000, Joy Bergmann revisited the story in "A Bitter Pill" . The attorney general had no authority to intervene, but Fahner had been an outstanding federal prosecutor, a well-liked director of the state police and an effective leader of major criminal investigations. Authorities were convinced the killer didnt know any of the victims. On Friday afternoon, doctors removed Stanley Janus wife, Terri, from life support. The Chicago Tylenol Murders: With Laurence Fishburne. Every night, I would come home after my kids were in bed, he said. Whats going on? Scott Stump is a staff reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY. I said, Excuse me. 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. Investigators took the funeral guest books and jotted down license plates, then entered names into a newly developed computer program that allowed them to cross-check for anyone attending multiple memorials, according to the state police report. In the end, it was decided that the state police would take the lead among the agencies and that investigators would be divided into nearly four dozen teams. In the meantime, Kasia Janus has said shes dealt with occasionally overwhelming sadness because of the graduations her father couldnt attend. The guy was a little wimpy, but his ham did stink.. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof. Still, in his opinion, Fahner was exactly what the task force needed. The new timeline suggests Lewis wrote the letter before the public knew the deaths were linked to the tainted Tylenol pills, according to the Chicago Tribune. . We felt kind of creepy doing it, retired FBI agent Bob Gibson said of his graveyard duty. In 1983, the U.S. Congress passed what was called the Tylenol bill, making it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products. 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. Dr. Howard Markel writes a monthly column for the PBS NewsHour, highlighting momentous historical events that continue to shape modern medicine. I was the detective at the scene. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. Its a one-way street for information back and forth. The bottle's cap was easily opened. The batch contained more than 1,800 pounds of cyanide, divided into packages of various sizes. Investigators say new evidence may help finally solve the case of seven people who died after ingesting Tylenol laced with cyanide in the Chicago area in 1982. Given the totality of the circumstances, some thought it unusual for the Illinois attorney general to lead the investigation. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Mary was dead by 7 a.m. Thats because nobody was keeping track of who was buying cyanide, Wolnik said. In 2010, DuPage County prosecutors filed a sealed affidavit stating investigators had found DNA on three bottles and the capsules inside, according to documents obtained by the Tribune. As weeks went by without an arrest, detectives started using different doors to avoid the cameras. wide worlds of science, health andtechnology. 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. Paramedics came and took Adam Janus to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead from what they suspected may have been a heart attack. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. In those early days, there were so many agencies involved, so many people desperate to solve the case. Neither did the chemist who performed the cyanide test. The red cap was easily flipped open, with nothing but a little piece of cotton left to cover the capsules. The evening marked an important shift in the tragedy, moving from a swiftly solved medical mystery into a massive criminal investigation. The dire situation, both in terms of human life and business, made it imperative that the Johnson & Johnson executives respond swiftly and authoritatively. "While this tragic incident remains unsolved, this event resulted in important industry improvements to patient safety measures including the creation of tamper-resistant packaging.". Thats just human nature. And they would remain apart for the next four decades. No one has ever been charged with the murders. Fahner stepped off the stage and ducked behind a blue velvet curtain, where a state police officer briefed him. In late September of 1982 seven people were killed after an unknown suspect placed cyanide laced Tylenol pills in store bottles. We had gloves in our car and basically used them on decomposed bodies. Arlington Heights police Chief Rodney Kath, second from left, works with other members of the Tylenol task force in an old state police bunker in Des Plaines. We didnt get anything, but we were kicking around ideas like that.. In the years that followed, Fellmann would rise through the ranks of the Arlington Heights Police Department and eventually become police chief of far north suburban Island Lake. Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. Tylenol Ty, Ford said. 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). The FBI put about three dozen agents on the case, under the premise that the agency needed to determine whether Johnson & Johnson had violated federal law by failing to list potassium cyanide among the active ingredients in Tylenol. The Tylenol Murders Pt. He received the assignment by default, and then it became part of a national news story. On that day, two unrelated things happened: A pub owner made a phone call to police, and an extortion letter arrived at a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Retired FBI agent Roy Lane Jr., shown in August, is the only member of law enforcement who has been part of the Tylenol investigation in its entirety. 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. The Tylenol Murders Victims Mary Kellerman On September 29, 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman woke up feeling ill. FBI agents carry boxes out of the apartment building in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. Sadly, the tragedies that resulted from the Tylenol poisonings can never be undone. The victims had all taken Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Subscribe to our Science Newsletter to explore the Pain in the neck, Hogberg said of his CPD counterparts. The investigation would fork, taking the FBI and Chicago police down vastly different paths. Security cameras were scarce in suburban Chicago in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed. Retired FBI agent Roy Lane Jr., shown in August, is the only member of law enforcement who has been part of the Tylenol investigation in its entirety. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration then cautioned the public against taking the pain reliever in capsule form. The CPD set up its own tip line and organized 35 detectives to work out of what was then Area 6 Headquarters at Belmont and Western. It was so Dick Tracy to me, Steed said. Investigators took pictures of people who attended the victims funerals to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. 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. He told her no, then carried the memory of the Kellermans anguish with him for the rest of his time on the task force. With fears mounting, Johnson & Johnson recalled all over-the-counter Tylenol capsule products on Oct. 5, nearly a week after Mary Kellermans death. Next week: Police investigate a poor mans James Bond, and an eighth person dies. 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. Bottles that werent tossed out were sent to J&J, the FDA and various government laboratories for testing. They knew the locations. They came up with nothing. The Chicago detectives shared that worry. He also would have a history of animal cruelty, Lane told the Tribune. The company, however, did not keep records of where the products were shipped. We were looking for somebody that really looked like they didnt belong. . 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. And, in the decades since, scientific advances have allowed investigators to detect DNA profiles on at least three of the tainted bottles and the capsules inside. Chicago police Detective Charlie Ford, assigned to the Prince murder, recalled being stunned when Cook County Medical Examiner Robert Stein showed up at the victims Old Town condo and immediately asked to see the Tylenol. He was released in 1995 after serving only 13 years. These packaging protections soon became the industry standard for all over-the-counter medications. NBC News reached out to Lewis and did not receive a response. A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. ]. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics According to the state police memo obtained by the Tribune, the FDAs work traced the cyanide from the tainted capsules to Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based lab supply company, which distributed that particular batch in 1978. And everyone in the meeting is aware of one undeniable truth: There is no physical evidence linking a suspect to the poisonings. When that happened, the suspect would make contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case. 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. Here, he offers a Spanish-language flyer to Luisa Acevada. Security cameras were scarce in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed, including this photograph from a drugstore camera showing Paula Prince, center, buying a bottle of tainted Tylenol. 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. The effort was Herculean, said Jeremy Margolis, a former U.S. attorney who was assigned to the task force. Within a year, and after an investment of more than $100 million, Tylenols sales rebounded to its healthy past and it became, once again, the nations favorite over-the-counter pain reliever. What was my dads favorite color? Chicago police Officer Sam Barsevich, left, takes inventory of Tylenol bottles that residents turned in at his station on Oct. 2, 1982. There wasnt that much tension, Fahner said. Both experienced throbbing headaches, a not uncommon response to a death in the family and each took a Tylenol extra-strength capsule or two from the same bottle Adam had used earlier in the day. He had never been better known in Illinois and was inching up in the polls too. Studies have found women who kill use poison more often than men do, but they typically target people they know. With absolute certainty, they can say the following: Records show at least four fingerprints were found during the initial investigation. She rarely heard how the tips panned out. Some of the investigators started using it privately, too. Rosen's theory is that the tampering did not happen on store shelves, but at the manufacturing plant before the product was shipped out. The bottles traveled to various warehouses, including a final storage stop at a Jewel facility in suburban Franklin Park, before being delivered to different grocery stores on different days before the poisonings. But if they kept the bottles in their medicine cabinets, more people could die. The results came back positive for cyanide at 1:30 a.m. Elk Grove Village Detective Michael Severns said investigators were so intent on chasing leads that they at times lost sight of the grieving families. The bottles, however, needed to be tested before they could say with certainty. 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. They can do it, in part, by revisiting the earliest days of the Tylenol investigation, a time when evidence was not always handled according to todays careful standards. There was no clear leader. Investigators quickly dismissed the possibility that the killer was targeting a single victim and the other bottles were contaminated to make it harder to solve that murder. 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. 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. Siekmann, who had been working since 8 a.m., believed some capsules were tainted from the first time he laid eyes on them. If you are curious, come to a small house on a quiet, winding street in Elk Grove Village. Kouba reviewed each as it came in, deciding which needed a field agents attention and which could be placed in a bin with other ludicrous claims. Seven people in the Chicago area were killed that year by Tylenol that had been poisoned with potassium cyanide. If people threw out their Tylenol, authorities would never know the full extent of the tampering. Most working detectives really dont trust the FBI, and the FBI doesnt trust us, Ford said. 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. September 22, 2022. Wherever they stand, everyone wishes they had achieved a different result. (Charles Knoblock / AP). Local police departments and states attorneys offices have been trying to crack the case for 40 years. 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. 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. Everyone who had access to the box including the judge and his wife provided fingerprints for comparison. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. Fahner left the dinner immediately and made calls throughout the drive home, taking advantage of his position as a statewide official with access to a car phone, then a relatively rare piece of technology. Details about the seven victims, how they obtained the tainted bottles and their final moments were outlined in a confidential police memo obtained by the Tribune. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. The 40-year-old Tylenol murder investigation remains at a standstill. And only months later, it changed the way we purchase and consume over-the-counter medications. No, Oscar Wilde probably didnt die of syphilis. Thats being made out of whole cloth all these years later. His task force partners the FBI and state police had blindsided the Elk Grove Village detective, and he was angry. A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. His wife whom he had just married fell limp in the living room a short while after that. Adam Janus, a 27-year-old postal worker, wasnt feeling well and without having any way to know the mortal peril that the bottle posed for him, he took a pill from it before going to sleep that day. Among them was Lane, a well-respected federal agent who would help put away all kinds of criminals during his nearly 30-year career, including mob boss Sam Carlisi, former Illinois Gov. She would be the seventh and final person to die from taking the poisoned medication. Three of the deaths occurred in Arlington Heights, where police told NBC Chicago last year that they still have the pills, bottles and boxes as evidence. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune), If you stopped a thousand people on the street, youd be lucky if one of them could tell you who Ty Fahner was. Six suburbanites had already died from cyanide poisoning by that time, but this was Chicagos first and, in the end, only victim. Dr. Howard Markel And as soon as we got the word out that Tylenol had been laced, people said, What do we do? I said, Well, if youve got any in your medicine cabinet either put it in a plastic bag and keep it or throw it away. Tylenol murders victims Among the victims there were three from the same family, as Adam Janus, aged 27 collapsed after ingesting extra-strength Tylenol and was rushed to the hospital where he died. For example, Johnson & Johnson developed new product protection methods and ironclad pledges to do better in protecting their consumers in the future. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing news stories and features across the trending, pop culture, sports, parents, pets, health, style, food and TMRW verticals. We also are still were looking at emerging forensic technology, Sgt. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. What the hell is this? But others, including Lane, found it immensely helpful and from his perspective ultimately accurate. Back then, bottles of pills did not have tamper-proof seals, just a cotton ball stuffed inside. You know, boost exposure and stuff like that.. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." What was he liked as a boss?, She added: Good and bad, I want to hear those stories, because its a reflection of who I am., Hurricane Ian: South Carolina and Florida comb wreckage to assess deadly toll, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Several victims families told the Tribune they didnt hear much from investigators after those initial interviews. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. But when she opened the . 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. Introduction Heading link Copy link. Kasia said she still remembers hearing her mother scream when she couldnt wake her father up the next day, 29 September 1982. The profilers believed the killer was likely to visit one of those named places to see the heartbreak he had caused. Extra-Strength Tylenol, shown in a Tribune studio photograph, once was packaged in a paper box with an unglued lid. You understand? Ford said he told Stein. The FBIs counterintelligence unit even reached out to their Soviet counterparts to see if they had any spy satellite images that could help, according to former FBI agent Grey Steed. His brother and sister-in-law, Stanley, 25, and Theresa, 19, of Lisle, Illinois, rushed to his home to console their loved ones. Over the next several months, Fahners task force would do groundbreaking police work, generate 19,000 pages of investigative reports, be accused of playing politics and, ultimately, fail to hold anyone accountable for the murders. The Illinois Department of Law Enforcement, now called the Illinois State Police, wanted him to help. His boss assigned him to the Janus murders two days earlier because the departments more seasoned detectives were working the fatal beating of a homeless man in a local park. But for something like this, for looking at a pill, it never would even cross our mind., Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide that were sold in the Chicago suburbs were linked to the deaths of seven people, leading to a nationwide panic that had the Food and Drug Administration advising consumers across the country to stop taking Tylenol products. Stanley died that very day and Theresa died two days later. Some investigators on the case, including a few still involved with it, considered the rendered profile too vague to be of any real use. 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. That thrill, however, would eventually diminish over time and the killer would seek more excitement, according to the profilers. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). The task force knew the mechanism behind the murders, Fellmann said. And when the sitting attorney general was indicted on tax fraud charges, Thompson appointed Fahner to fill the post. Margolis, who later became director of the Illinois State Police, says multiagency efforts always endure allegations of infighting and spotlight stealing. 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. (Chicago Tribune), Look, like any other series of government bureaucracies, theres always tension between agencies, he said. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. Former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner stands on the former site of the Tylenol task force headquarters in Des Plaines, now an empty parking lot. Prince was officially declared dead by the Medical Examiner's office at 6:45 p.m. Investigators discovered a bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol in her bathroom with one capsule missing and a. Deputy coroner Siekmann recalled going to Winfield to pick up the Tylenol collected from Reiners house a few hours after her death. Authorities wont discuss the potential theories or suspects they have amid an investigation that they insist remains open and unforgotten. What happens in most cases, and certainly what happened here beyond any question, was a 100% selfless, unified devotion to a very important mission.. He said Marys mother, Jeanna, asked him if she should have noticed that someone had tampered with the bottle. 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 realized I was in the deep end of the pool, he said. The FBIs involvement puzzled some because, as far as anyone knew, the federal agency didnt have jurisdiction in the case. Testing found cyanide in the Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule on the right. Nothing has come of that January 2022 meeting. 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. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Marquette 10 is one of a thousand reasons why theres tension, personal jealousy, personal ambition, jurisdictional turf fights. The lot numbers for the McFarland, Reiner and Prince bottles indicated they were manufactured in Round Rock, Texas, and went to different warehouses in the Chicago area before ending up on store shelves. For example, Johnson & Johnson quickly established that the cyanide lacing occurred after cases of Tylenol left the factory. McNeil Consumer Products, a subsidiary of the health care giant, Johnson & Johnson, manufactured Tylenol. The Soviets were willing to assist, but their satellites werent trained on the Chicago suburbs at the time. And so the Department of Justice just looked up a law and by a little bit of a hook and a crook said the FBI has jurisdiction because of an FDA law (about) truth in labeling.. Tylenols parent company, Johnson & Johnson, also saw its stock price drop after the news about the tainted capsules broke. Early on, the task force decided to instruct the public to get rid of their Tylenol by either turning it in to police departments or throwing it away. There, research chemist Karen Wolnik and her colleagues established a trace element pattern a sort of chemical fingerprint for each sample to determine whether it was identical to the poison used in the Tylenol killings. We still receive tips that are being evaluated and investigated. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures of everyone who attended the victims funerals and set up time-lapse cameras at grave sites to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. Some worked at the medical examiners office, which played a key role in figuring out the cyanide connection. After a lengthy cat and mouse game, police and federal investigators determined that Lewis lived in New York and had no demonstrable links to the Chicago events. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune). Finally, in late July, officials from both Cook and DuPage gather for a video conference. Of those named places to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual and little evidence to go,. 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