In 1982, the deaths of seven people forever changed Americans’ sense of safety. The otherwise healthy individuals, all from the Chicago area, who sought relief from their headaches or cold symptoms collapsed and died not long after taking Tylenol capsules that had been intentionally laced with cyanide. No one was ever charged with the so-called “Tylenol murders,” and the case remains open. But one man in particular drew the attention of the authorities and journalists for decades... Read more
On September 29, 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove, Illinois, woke up in the morning with cold symptoms. Her parents gave her Tylenol to ease her discomfort. Hours later, Mary was dead. What followed was a string of seven Chicago-area deaths connected by one thing: Each victim had died shortly after taking Tylenol. Lab tests confirmed the victims were poisoned, the pills all laced with a lethal dose of cyanide. A massive, multi-jurisdictional task force was formed, and thousands of leads were run down. Authorities eventually focused on one suspect, James Lewis, after discovering he had penned extortion letters demanding $1 million dollars to stop the killings. Lewis denied his involvement in the murders for decades, and no hard evidence ever led to a prosecution in the case. Now 40 years later, the Tylenol murders remain one of the nation’s most notorious – and unsolved – crimes.
