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. 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. Police departments were working the murders in relative isolation, and each county had its own states attorney to oversee the case. Ford said he told the renowned pathologist the bottle was on the vanity, and Stein, who wasnt wearing gloves, went to grab it. A native of the south suburbs, Gutowski received a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield and is a graduate of Southern Illinois University. 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. I always wear the blue suit and the red tie, Lane said. Come to 1425 Armstrong Lane.. The company also introduced price reductions and a new version of their pills called the caplet a tablet coated with slick, easy-to-swallow gelatin but far harder to tamper with than the older capsules which could be easily opened, laced with a contaminant, and then placed back in the older non-tamper-proof bottle. 1: Poisoning the Well: Directed by Travis Clark. Our property guy, he couldnt keep up with it., Chicago police Officer Sam Barsevich, left, takes inventory of Tylenol bottles that residents turned in at his station on Oct. 2, 1982. No, Oscar Wilde probably didnt die of syphilis. Another tip involved a man who was threatening to poison Hormel food products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration then cautioned the public against taking the pain reliever in capsule form. 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. And it took over my life.. In a surveillance still photo, you can see a man who looks remarkably similar to Lewis standing in the background as one of the victims, Paula Prince, checks out. 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. A new book by a former Johnson & Johnson employee suggests the Tylenol poisonings, which killed seven people in the Chicago area in 1982, took place in the company's production or distribution. The police questioned him and searched his home, they turned up several interesting connections. 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. We also are still were looking at emerging forensic technology, Sgt. 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. The investigators would then return around 5 p.m. to update everyone on the days developments. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide following the deaths. 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. What happens in most cases, and certainly what happened here beyond any question, was a 100% selfless, unified devotion to a very important mission.. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune). Before the 1982 crisis, Tylenol controlled more than 35 percent of the over-the-counter pain reliever market; only a few weeks after the murders, that number plummeted to less than 8 percent. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. But when she opened the . In reality, some task force members still accuse their colleagues of secretive behavior 40 years later. 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. 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. Here, he offers a Spanish-language flyer to Luisa Acevada. Next week: Police investigate a poor mans James Bond, and an eighth person dies. Nothing has come of that January 2022 meeting. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). 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. 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. Extra-Strength Tylenol, shown in a Tribune studio photograph, once was packaged in a paper box with an unglued lid. And wherever they fell on the issue, that position hasnt changed much over the past four decades. The Tylenol murders of 1982,was a pointless killing spree that resulted in the death of seven Chicago area people from Tylenol tablets .The Tylenol poisoning killings was from tampering with over-the-counter Tylenol branded acetaminophen pills laced with potassium cyanide. Fahner had worked for James Thompson in the U.S. attorneys office, handling some of the citys biggest federal corruption cases. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982, Why Eleanor Roosevelts civics book for kids is making a comeback. You know, boost exposure and stuff like that.. It didnt take long for Fellmann to recognize the pressures and expectations under which the newly formed task force would operate. Neither did the chemist who performed the cyanide test. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. Introduction Heading link Copy link. The Tylenol case marked one of the earliest uses of the approach. 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. I said, Agent, agent. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. If people threw out their Tylenol, authorities would never know the full extent of the tampering. By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. Seven people between 12 and 35 died after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol pills in the Chicago area in 1982. 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. He regaled reporters with all kinds of stories during that final interview, but none seemed to amuse him more than the unhappy Hormel ham man. "While this tragic incident remains unsolved, this event resulted in important industry improvements to patient safety measures including the creation of tamper-resistant packaging.". To its credit, the company took an active role with the media in issuing mass warning communications and immediately called for a massive recall of the more than 31 million bottles of Tylenol in circulation. With no apparent motive and little evidence to go on, it was a tough task. But no one has ever been arrested in connection with the spate of poisonings that shattered the families of Janus and the others. There wasnt that much tension, Fahner said. Investigators soon confirmed there was lethally poisonous cyanide inside the Tylenol capsules in question. Given the totality of the circumstances, some thought it unusual for the Illinois attorney general to lead the investigation. Finally, in late July, officials from both Cook and DuPage gather for a video conference. Investigators express frustration, anger even. The couple were later pronounced dead, too. . The Illinois Department of Law Enforcement, now called the Illinois State Police, wanted him to help. Mary was dead by 7 a.m. (Earl Gustie / Chicago Tribune). The operation was primarily staffed by female agents who answered phone calls and assessed information while their male counterparts worked in the field. Fahner stepped off the stage and ducked behind a blue velvet curtain, where a state police officer briefed him. Her parents gave permission. But before Sept. 29, 1982, consumer products had few defenses against a person bent on sabotage. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." I dont want to get off here, he quietly said. The task force opted to work out of an Illinois state police bunker in Des Plaines, a central location that would be home to a tip line, twice-a-day investigator briefings and news conferences for the scores of reporters camped outside the building. 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. 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. It was at this point, early October of 1982, that investigators made the connection between the poisoning deaths and Tylenol, the best-selling, non-prescription pain reliever sold in the United States at that time. One man, James Lewis, claiming to be the Tylenol killer wrote a ransom letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million in exchange for stopping the poisonings. 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. A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. Investigators also collected more than 200 cyanide samples from Chicago-area businesses, facilities and institutions and sent them to an FDA research laboratory in Cincinnati. The poisonings spanned multiple towns and two counties. Fahner looked at all the power brokers on the platform U.S. Sen. Charles Percy, Gov. Many people who handled the evidence in 1982 told the Tribune they didnt wear gloves because it wasnt part of their agencys protocol at the time. (Josh Reynolds/AP) The investigation into the 1982 Tylenol murders was pretty dormant when an FBI . Severns worked on the case for three days before he realized no one had offered an update to young Mary Kellermans grieving parents. Stanley died that very day and Theresa died two days later. 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. Ford said he quickly interrupted. (Chicago Tribune), If you are the Tylenol killer, though, you may be harboring just the vaguest curiosity about the people on the other end of your plan: The people who were unfortunate enough to purchase the bottle you had touched, Greene wrote. I dont know what he thought. Now she's sharing her story for the first. It wasnt a grab for authority. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. Others found Fahner the obvious choice. With fears mounting, Johnson & Johnson recalled all over-the-counter Tylenol capsule products on Oct. 5, nearly a week after Mary Kellermans death. The Tylenol murders launched a massive criminal investigation. The task force didnt know who or why.. Investigators first considered whether the tampering could have occurred at the manufacturing plants. The Tribune interviewed nearly two dozen members of the task force, many of whom confirmed the reports veracity and added their own perspective. He brought personal knowledge (as the former state police director) and experience regarding a criminal investigation. FBI agents carry boxes out of the apartment building in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. Forty years later, these earliest days remain a point of pride for some and a source of frustration for others. That box had been turned in, along with an unused bottle, a couple weeks after the murders by the wife of a DuPage County judge. By days end, however, tainted capsules would be blamed for two deaths in neighboring DuPage County, broadening both the scope of the investigation and the threat to the public. Wherever they stand, everyone wishes they had achieved a different result. Thats being made out of whole cloth all these years later. He believed Thompson was behind the move, though Fahner denied it. ]. He bought a rancid ham at Jewel and when he opened it, it was spoiled. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. We were getting flooded with calls, said John Fellmann, an Arlington Heights detective assigned to the case. There was little evidence to go on, no inkling of a motive and five people dead. Ford and his partner Jimmy Gildea both said they tried to stop him because evidence technicians hadnt been to the scene yet, but Stein brushed off their concerns. The Chicago detectives shared that worry. What are the Tylenol murders? The agencies, at times, clashed with each other. He investigated the Tylenol poisonings in the Janus family and later served as police chief in Island Lake. Severns confronted people at both agencies, who blamed each other for keeping him in the dark. IE 11 is not supported. As Fahners team made calls, a DuPage County deputy coroner named Pete Siekmann sat in an office at the Illinois Department of Public Healths toxicology lab in Chicago and waited to see if the Tylenol capsules taken by Mary Lynn Reiner and Mary Sue McFarland were poisoned. Nobody knew what to do with (the investigation) because it was all over the place, Fahner said. Some of the investigators started using it privately, too. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. 6 Amazon travel essentials for your next getaway, starting at $12. Every agency imaginable attended, many of them represented by their top leaders. 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. Joe McQuaid, a task force investigator with the state police who had worked for Fahner when he was director, acknowledged it was an unorthodox setup. Dr. Howard Markel. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). The best suspect for the Tylenol murders has always been James William Lewis, who sent an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million to stop the murders. We felt kind of creepy doing it, retired FBI agent Bob Gibson said of his graveyard duty. Investigators took pictures of people who attended the victims funerals to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. 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. Roger Arnold worked at a jewel warehouse with the father of one of the victims named Mary Reiner. Fahner ordered his staff to work through the night, calling local police, sheriffs, coroners, the FBI, the FDA, prosecutors and public health officials. Tensions flared, even among law enforcement personnel sincerely dedicated to the job. I stepped off that dais, Fahner told the Tribune this year. That wasnt there.. Was Charles Dickens the first celebrity medical spokesman? The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. And we were able to analyze the cyanide and show that it was not the same (cyanide at the plant) as cyanide in the capsules., 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. When that happened, the suspect would make contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case. 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. (Stan Policht / Chicago Tribune). McNeill and Johnson & Johnson offered replacement capsules to those who turned in pills already purchased and a reward for anyone with information leading to the apprehension of the individual or people involved in these random murders. 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. Helena Tarasewicz, mother of Tylenol victim Theresa "Terri" Janus, weeps over the casket containing her daughter's body during graveside services at Maryhill Cemetery in Niles in 1982. Customers who had a problem, anybody that could make some money out of it.. 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. Seven people died in 1982 after taking painkillers from bottle someone - police do not know who - had slipped cyanide pills into Ramon Antonio Vargas Sun 2 Oct 2022 02.00 EDT Forty years after the. 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. The death toll now stood at five: Reiner, McFarland, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, his brother Stanley Janus of Lisle and 12-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village. Stanley Janus soon collapsed on his late brothers kitchen floor. Elk Grove Village Detective Michael Severns said investigators were so intent on chasing leads that they at times lost sight of the grieving families. 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. Back then, bottles of pills did not have tamper-proof seals, just a cotton ball stuffed inside. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. But on Oct. 1, 1982, he had been a detective for only a year. The Kellerman and Janus bottles contained Tylenol from lot MC2880, manufactured in Pennsylvania on April 26, 1982. 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. Left: Scott Stump is a staff reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY. The FBI and Chicago police performed separate, but largely parallel, investigations until Oct. 6. 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. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. 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. Tainted capsules were discovered in early October in a few other grocery stores and drug stores in the Chicago area, but, fortunately, they had not yet been sold or consumed. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. (Fred Jewell/AP). But if they kept the bottles in their medicine cabinets, more people could die. The 40-year-old Tylenol murder investigation remains at a standstill. Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair told NBC News correspondent Kathy Park on TODAY Friday that a number of law enforcement sources close to the investigation have told her that Lewis is the only person currently described as a target of the investigation. In 2000, Joy Bergmann revisited the story in "A Bitter Pill" . So whatever fits or doesnt fit the storyline, that didnt happen. Extra-Strength Tylenol, shown in a Tribune studio photograph, once was packaged in a paper box with an unglued lid. In the first year alone, the task force used it to track more than 35,000 individuals and 15,000 companies contacted as part of the investigation. Kasia said she long blamed herself for her fathers death, even though she was just in preschool when it happened. At the time just four, Janus recalls being with her father, Adam, in their Chicago suburb when he bought an Extra-Strength Tylenol bottle that someone had slipped cyanide pills into. These other men were all worried about his chances. And 35 years later, this murder mystery is still . For example, Johnson & Johnson developed new product protection methods and ironclad pledges to do better in protecting their consumers in the future. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. . I was the detective at the scene. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). You understand? Ford said he told Stein. I think its pretty important, the aide replied. I thought, well, this is rather impressive, Siekmann said. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 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. All Rights Reserved. They understood the tension between the FBI and local law enforcement some of them shared those same resentments but they thought Chicago didnt even try to be team players. (James Mayo / Chicago Tribune). Even after he retired from the FBI in 1996, he didnt let it go. His wife whom he had just married fell limp in the living room a short while after that. Police departments and fire stations began collecting bottles, as well. Dr. Howard Markel writes a monthly column for the PBS NewsHour, highlighting momentous historical events that continue to shape modern medicine. 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. Bottles that werent tossed out were sent to J&J, the FDA and various government laboratories for testing. They came up with nothing. Halfway through the speeches, an aide tapped him on the shoulder and told him he needed to take an important call. Some investigators on the case, including a few still involved with it, considered the rendered profile too vague to be of any real use. It marked the first mass recall in U.S. history, involving more than 31 million bottles. Siekmann, who had been working since 8 a.m., believed some capsules were tainted from the first time he laid eyes on them. They apologized, he said, but the trust had been broken. (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. The Unsolved Tylenol Murders of 1982: The Unabomber Theory Written by C.W.S. 3: A Nightmare on Halloween: With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Other task force members, it should be noted, werent particularly fond of Chicagos efforts either. The arrests came as the result of an undercover FBI operation, and The Marquette 10 as the disgraced officers came to be known remain an enduring symbol of police corruption in Chicago. Their opinion soured even further at their first meeting, when one of the lead investigators asked for a briefing on the Prince murder. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide. The man hurriedly told the Hormel operator that he had to go and he would call her back later. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. As everyone left that first meeting Friday morning, DuPage deputy coroner Siekmann, who hadnt slept in more than 24 hours, looked around the room and wondered how it would all work. He couldnt leave. Its a one-way street for information back and forth. Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. Simply put, the feds entry into the investigation hinged on the admittedly preposterous notion that the manufacturer intentionally put poison in the pain reliever and then committed a misdemeanor crime by not including it on the label. NBC News has not reviewed that evidence. He investigated the Tylenol case marked one of the Janus family and later served as police in! Death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince Mary Kellermans death Unabomber Theory Written by.. Dickens the first Mass recall in U.S. history, involving more than million. 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