There was little evidence to go on, no inkling of a motive and five people dead. Its a one-way street for information back and forth. 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. The 20-year-old would be buried alongside her husband and her brother-in-law Adam in a triple funeral made even more heartbreaking when relatives had to pull Terris mother off her daughters casket before it was lowered into the ground. NBC News reached out to Lewis and did not receive a response. Unfortunately, each victim swallowed a Tylenol capsule laced with A lethal dose of cyanide. Some investigators on the case, including a few still involved with it, considered the rendered profile too vague to be of any real use. The most promising leads involved people doing curious things with chemicals. Records show law enforcement has spent the past several years dealing almost entirely with forensic evidence. It was 1982. But on Oct. 1, 1982, he had been a detective for only a year. The Tylenol investigation began as a loose collaboration among detectives in Arlington Heights and Elk Grove Village, the towns where the first three deaths were identified. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. The latest Tribune poll showed he was down by about 20 points in the upcoming election. The task force investigating the Tylenol killings doubted that James Lewis would be reckless enough to stay in Manhattan after mailing an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million . Not just the hours, but the frustration. The Tribune has spoken with several people who have been asked to provide DNA samples within the last decade all men who had access to poisoned bottles found in Cook County. Nothing was being solved.. 40 years later, Kasia Janus is sharing. 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. We had an absolute tsunami of Tylenol bottles. Im just being honest, Siekmann said. Sadly, the tragedies that resulted from the Tylenol poisonings can never be undone. The tip line received more than 6,000 calls within the first few weeks. Police departments were working the murders in relative isolation, and each county had its own states attorney to oversee the case. He investigated the Tylenol poisonings in the Janus family and later served as police chief in Island Lake. It would likely be someone with gray hair. Neither did the chemist who performed the cyanide test. 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. Security cameras were scarce in suburban Chicago in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed. These other men were all worried about his chances. As the 40th anniversary of the 1982 Tylenol murders approaches, investigators are working with prosecutors on a now-or-maybe-never effort to hold a longtime suspect responsible for the. Thompson put him in charge of the investigation to get TV time. [Para leer en espaol] Los asesinatos de Tylenol, parte 2: Tylenol mezclado con cianuro fue el arma homicida. And I want people to know that, yeah, this was my family, and it has changed all of us.. 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. The red cap was easily flipped open, with nothing but a little piece of cotton left to cover the capsules. Within a week, her death would panic the entire nation. 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. When that happened, the suspect would make contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case. The Tylenol murders launched a massive criminal investigation. J.J. Bittenbinder a tough-talking, mustachioed detective who would later gain fame as a TV safety expert served as a liaison to Fahners task force in Des Plaines. See where the eight tainted Tylenol bottles were purchased or discovered. After just one or two task force meetings, Ford and Gildea told their boss they werent going back. The 18-page investigative summary also provides key evidence, including the names of the three main suspects, during the first seven months of the case. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). Her parents gave permission. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Or, at the very least, get them to remember his name. The first few days were spent talking to people closest to Prince and sifting through the many tips they received. Elk Grove Village Detective Michael Severns said investigators were so intent on chasing leads that they at times lost sight of the grieving families. 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. With fears mounting, Johnson & Johnson recalled all over-the-counter Tylenol capsule products on Oct. 5, nearly a week after Mary Kellermans death. Johnson & Johnson initially recalled only those products with the same batch number as the Janus and Kellerman bottles. 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 tainted bottle from the Schaumburg pharmacy contained three partial prints on the capsules, but (they) were not suitable for comparison, the memo states. They had a lot of questions and I didnt have any answers at all., Mike Severns, a former Elk Grove Village police detective assigned to Mary Kellerman's murder, says it still bothers him that officials neglected to update her grieving parents in the early days of the investigation. Four decades later, task force leaders downplay accusations of tensions among the agencies, suggesting history has been revised in an effort to explain why no one has been charged with the murders. The state police memo indicates fingerprints were found on at least one of the bottles, as well as a full print on the inside of a different bottles box. The agents didnt bother to pretend that labeling rules were their true motivation for getting involved. Editors note: This report has been updated to remove the reported amount of cyanide used. Ford said he quickly interrupted. 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. Police reports mention several former Johnson & Johnson employees, though none was ever considered a serious suspect. So, the theory was the tampering took place at the store, said FBI agent Lane. But on this unseasonably warm October morning, during a separate meeting between the FBI and state police, Lane was one of several investigators who gathered to brainstorm possible motives behind the crime. 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. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. 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. Two main suspects in this unsolved case are James Lewis and Roger Arnold, who had both been linked to this occurrence in some way. 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. Pain in the neck, Hogberg said of his CPD counterparts. I realized I was in the deep end of the pool, he said. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . 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. 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. 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. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. Pursuing the mission, however, eventually sent the FBI and the Chicago Police Department in two different directions. IE 11 is not supported. Investigators took pictures of people who attended the victims funerals to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. Police Officer Michael Miljan leaves an Arlington Heights pharmacy after making sure bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were being removed from shelves. She rarely heard how the tips panned out. Fahner, as head of the task force, quickly became the public face of the investigation. He also would have a history of animal cruelty, Lane told the Tribune. September 22, 2022. Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. His task force partners the FBI and state police had blindsided the Elk Grove Village detective, and he was angry. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. 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. And they had a very good theory as to when they were placed. 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