Forty years later, investigators still cant say with certainty. Product tampering would become a crime in 1983 as a result of these murders, but in 1982 there was no federal law against it. John Fellmann at his home in Huntley in September. (Earl Gustie / Chicago Tribune). he answered. Mary was dead by 7 a.m. Investigators express frustration, anger even. Stanley died that very day and Theresa died two days later. 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. Not just the hours, but the frustration. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), People were terrified, Fahner said. (Fred Jewell/AP). She rarely heard how the tips panned out. Police reports mention several former Johnson & Johnson employees, though none was ever considered a serious suspect. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. They looked at accused shoplifters, including a man charged with attempting to steal 28 Tylenol bottles from a Wheaton pharmacy in August. The attorney general largely stopped campaigning after joining the task force, but his face was on TV every night. Chicago police Officer Sam Barsevich, left, takes inventory of Tylenol bottles that residents turned in at his station on Oct. 2, 1982. What are you giving this story for? So they ran him off the stage and I got up there.. Investigators pulled library records to see who had checked out books on cyanide. The evening marked an important shift in the tragedy, moving from a swiftly solved medical mystery into a massive criminal investigation. Eight of them would be three-member squads composed of a federal agent, a state investigator and a suburban detective from one of the towns where the victims lived or tainted bottles were discovered. Six suburbanites had already died from cyanide poisoning by that time, but this was Chicagos first and, in the end, only victim. A casket is carried out of St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church after the funeral Mass for three members of the Janus family in 1982. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). 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. 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. Unfortunately, each victim swallowed a Tylenol capsule laced with A lethal dose of cyanide. Records show law enforcement has spent the past several years dealing almost entirely with forensic evidence. They were particularly concerned that something happened during the manufacturing or the shipping or storage, Wolnik said. I realized I was in the deep end of the pool, he said. But something more sinister was afoot when Kasias paternal uncle Stanley Janus and his wife, Theresa Tarasewicz Janus, each took pills from the same Tylenol bottle that Adam had bought in an attempt to fight headaches. Tylenol murders: A nationwide panic, a family tragedy Her dad, aunt and uncle were killed in the notorious unsolved poisonings that terrorized Chicago. Male murderers are more likely, in general, to kill randomly and on a large scale. 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. The prints, however, dont match the prime suspect. 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. Theories The first suspect is 48 year old dock worker Roger Arnold, who said some suspicious things about the Tylenol murders at a bar one night. We had an absolute tsunami of Tylenol bottles. 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. Another tip involved a man who was threatening to poison Hormel food products. 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. The man hurriedly told the Hormel operator that he had to go and he would call her back later. Im absolutely sure about that. The substance was grainier than the untainted Tylenol on the left. He had never been better known in Illinois and was inching up in the polls too. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration then cautioned the public against taking the pain reliever in capsule form. Thats just human nature. 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. 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. I knew how to organize things.. I said, Agent, agent. 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. Lane would think of that line a year later when, without prompting, a suspect called him and offered to help solve the case. When Thompson, a Republican, became governor in 1977, Fahner followed him to Springfield to lead the Illinois state police. Pursuing the mission, however, eventually sent the FBI and the Chicago Police Department in two different directions. To this day, however, the perpetrators of these murders have never been found. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. The Soviets were willing to assist, but their satellites werent trained on the Chicago suburbs at the time. Here, he offers a Spanish-language flyer to Luisa Acevada. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. Thats being made out of whole cloth all these years later. I think we ended up charging that guy with a misdemeanor, some disorderly conduct or some nonsense, he said. You werent there. And my next thought was that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.. Scott Stump is a staff reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY. They told stories of information hoarding, turf wars and glory seeking even when there was none to be had. (Michael Budrys / Chicago Tribune). In theory, the plan would prevent anyone from griping about being kept out of the loop. Severns worked on the case for three days before he realized no one had offered an update to young Mary Kellermans grieving parents. Agents interviewed the victims families, neighbors, co-workers and friends about any known enemies. Indeed, the Johnson & Johnson recall became a classic case study in business schools across the nation. 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 it took over my life.. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). He needed to be there, no matter how much he hated campaigning. Editors note: This report has been updated to remove the reported amount of cyanide used. The Tylenol Murders Pt. Whats going on? After just one or two task force meetings, Ford and Gildea told their boss they werent going back. But no one has ever been arrested in connection with the spate of poisonings that shattered the families of Janus and the others. 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. 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. Thompson put him in charge of the investigation to get TV time. In an attempt to paint a more detailed portrait of the killer, the FBI turned to a relatively new technique at the time called criminal profiling, in which agents try to identify the personality and behavioral characteristics of an offender based on an analysis of the crime. The guy was a little wimpy, but his ham did stink.. Subscribe to our Science Newsletter to explore the The Tylenol case marked one of the earliest uses of the approach. Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. They also started grumbling about politics overshadowing their work. We were looking for somebody that really looked like they didnt belong. Tylenol murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case. (Carl Wagner / Chicago Tribune). Even after he retired from the FBI in 1996, he didnt let it go. Meanwhile, a 12-year-old child named Mary Kellerman had also died suddenly in another Chicago suburb after taking an Extra-Strength Tylenol. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune). Dr. Howard Markel. 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. Fahner thought state officials needed to be even more aggressive, despite the consequences for the investigation. In all, the task force had only eight bottles to offer clues to where and when the tampering could have taken place. 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. It would likely be someone with gray hair. McNeil Consumer Products, a subsidiary of the health care giant, Johnson & Johnson, manufactured Tylenol. But when she opened the . The Tylenol murders fundamentally changed the way we consume medication - among other things, leading to tamper-proof pill and bottle designs. The victims had all taken Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Lewis, who now lives in the Boston area, has long denied any involvement in the murders and has never been charged. Severns confronted people at both agencies, who blamed each other for keeping him in the dark. Members of the Illinois State Police join, as well. He goes, It smells like burnt almonds. . (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), Obviously, Johnson & Johnson didnt put cyanide in their own product. The 40-year-old Tylenol murder investigation remains at a standstill. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. The Tylenol task force may be no exception, he said, but the tensions didnt affect the overall effort. The couple were later pronounced dead, too. What are the Tylenol murders? The FBI and Chicago police performed separate, but largely parallel, investigations until Oct. 6. CBS put a human face on the story which contained the following: "When 12 year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village, Ill., awoke at dawn with cold symptoms; her parents gave her one Extra-Strength Tylenol and sent her back to bed. Finally, in late July, officials from both Cook and DuPage gather for a video conference. 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. Most working detectives really dont trust the FBI, and the FBI doesnt trust us, Ford said. Now she's sharing her story for the first. Dr. Howard Markel 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. So, the theory was the tampering took place at the store, said FBI agent Lane. . Ford said he quickly interrupted. 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). 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. 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. Dr. Howard Markel writes a monthly column for the PBS NewsHour, highlighting momentous historical events that continue to shape modern medicine. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. Fahner looked at all the power brokers on the platform U.S. Sen. Charles Percy, Gov. Some expressed surprise at how casually other people treated the poisoned bottles. 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. Stacy St. Clair joined the Chicago Tribune in 2007. The first few days were spent talking to people closest to Prince and sifting through the many tips they received. The 50-count bottle, which the woman told police she purchased at Franks Finer Foods in Wheaton, contained seven capsules filled with potassium cyanide, records show. Christy Gutowski focuses her work on stories about criminal justice, public corruption and issues that impact the everyday man. So as we organized, there were about 10, 15 different avenues of investigations to pursue, like disgruntled employees, former employees, lawsuits, Lane said. Another theory was that whoever poisoned the medication did it at home or in a car, then placed the bottles back on the shelves. Members of the media the same people who were constantly pestering him for information nicknamed Fahner Tylenol Ty. It stuck. Her parents gave permission. Only really frivolous things went in that other pile, she said. I stepped off that dais, Fahner told the Tribune this year. Elk Grove Village Detective Michael Severns said investigators were so intent on chasing leads that they at times lost sight of the grieving families. She has received numerous national honors for her work. Forty years after that terrifying period in September 1982, investigators say new evidence and a potential motive may be enough to finally solve the case. Seven people between 12 and 35 died after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol pills in the Chicago area in 1982. Testing found cyanide in the Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule on the right. They would work the case in Chicago and send someone else to Des Plaines to play nice with the others. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. 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. Investigation remains at a standstill however, the plan would prevent anyone from about. To remove the reported amount of cyanide used task force meetings, Ford and Gildea told their boss werent. Poisoned bottles we consume medication - among other things, leading to pill. 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