All language subtitles for How It Really Happened s08e08 Tylenol Murders.eng

[audio logo]

[tense music]

The Tylenol murders were a
horrible, horrible,

horrible incident.

There aren't many unsolved
crimes in American history

but it is impossible for me to
have been the Tylenol killer.

Tylenol murderer
is still out there.

[dramatic music]

Hello and welcome to
How It Really Happened.

I'm Jesse L. Martin.

On September 29,
1982, seven Chicago

area residents are suddenly
stricken with a deadly illness.

At first, doctors are at a loss.

But they soon discover
a sinister connection

launching an
investigation that has

lasted more than four decades.

Now, advanced DNA
testing may be closer

than ever to closing
this tragic case

that changed America forever.

[tense music]

[stirring music]

TERRY ANZUR: 1982 was a great
time in the Chicago area.

We had art fairs
and street cafes.

And you felt like you
just knew your neighbors.

And it was just a
great place to live.

[tense music]

CHUCK GOUDIE: And then on
that September day in 1982,

there was widespread concern.

And in many households,
there was fear

because people didn't
know what was happening

or whether they would be next.

Clearly, whoever was behind
this was intent on creating

fear and panic.

[tense music]

CHUCK KRAMER: Elk Grove is
a suburban community about

30 miles outside of Chicago.

JOY BERGMANN: On
September 29, 1982,

in the morning, 12-year-old
Mary Kellerman was home.

She was feeling sick.

She wanted to stay
home from school.

WENDI FRIEDMAN TUSH: And
she asked her parents

if she could take a Tylenol.

JOY BERGMANN: She took it and
collapsed on the bathroom floor

and died soon after.

[somber music]

[suspenseful music]

In Arlington Heights,
Illinois, a 27-year-old

postal worker named Adam
Janis was on his day off.

He was a very good person,
a very good family person.

MONICA JANUS: Adam
was a very humble man.

He was such a sweetheart.

JOY BERGMANN: He went
to the store that day,

picked up some flowers for his
wife, and a bottle of Tylenol.

Not feeling too great,
he took two capsules.

[tense music]

WENDI FRIEDMAN TUSH: He
came home and told his wife

he was going to lie down.

MONICA JANUS: My aunt Theresa
noticed something was wrong,

his breathing and everything.

And she called 911.

And the ambulance
came and took him.

CHUCK KRAMER: They got him
in but he was pronounced dead

later on in the emergency room.

[dramatic music]

JOSEPH JANUS: We didn't
know what was happening.

But everybody thought
he died of heart attack.

And he was a very healthy
person, you know, Adam.

MONICA JANUS: So they
were all in utter shock,

wondering why would he
even have a heart attack

when he was such a young man.

[tense music]

JOY BERGMANN: In Winfield,
another Chicago suburb,

a new mom, Mary Lynn Reiner, had
just delivered her fourth baby

and was recuperating at home.

Wasn't feeling so great.

So she took some Tylenol.

WENDI FRIEDMAN TUSH: She
collapses, and has a seizure,

and ends up in the hospital.

Dies shortly thereafter.

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

JOY BERGMANN: After Adam
Janus died in the hospital,

the whole Janus family
reconvened back at the house.

MONICA JANUS: My uncle
Stanley and his wife,

they met at Adam's House.

They were all gathered at the
house and they were all crying.

They were all very devastated.

They couldn't believe
the fact that Adam died.

And then my uncle Stanley
was like, I have a headache.

CHUCK KRAMER: Everybody
has headaches.

These people are under
tremendous stress

going back to the house to
plan a funeral for a young guy.

JOSEPH JANUS: And
then I see my brother

Stanley coming towards us.

He tried to say something,
you know, to us.

And all of a sudden
he's falling down.

MONICA JANUS: And he
grabbed his heart.

And he's like, oh,
my god, my heart.

And he fell to the ground.

And he had like, kind
of like a seizure.

And my aunt immediately
with my dad,

they were, like,
hovering over his body.

I see he's foaming
out his mouth.

When I see that, I say,
oh, my god, He's dying.

[dramatic music]

[alarm beeping]

CHUCK KRAMER: The tone
went off for an ambulance

out and gave the same numeric
address as the one just

before noon.

[siren blaring]

There was something really
weird about this second call

at the same address
on the same day.

When I pulled up in
front of that building,

I could hear screaming
coming out of that house.

I went running in there and
there were paramedics working

on this young guy on the floor.

And one of the guys looked
at me, a seasoned paramedic,

and I could see
fear in his face.

He said, lieutenant,
this is the same thing

as we had this morning.

We lost that guy.

And we're losing him.

He was foaming.

Like, all this foam started
coming out of his mouth.

And his eyes flipped back.

[dramatic music]

CHUCK KRAMER: Stanley's wife
was holding on to my shoulder.

And she's calling to her
husband, Stanley, Stanley.

And the next thing
I heard was a groan

and she collapsed at my feet.

And when I turned her over, I
could see that her pupils were

already fixed and
dilated and her breathing

had changed to this
rapid, shallow breathing.

Stanley passed away
at the hospital.

Teresa they put on life support.

But there was no
chance to recover.

As soon as they took her off
life support, she passed away.

I had no idea what
we were dealing with.

All I know is this is not
normal and we can't figure out

what's killing these people.

[dramatic music]

[audio logo]

[dramatic music]

JOY BERGMANN: These deaths were
a giant mystery to paramedics,

medical investigators.

What possibly could have
happened to these very young,

very healthy people
to cause them to die

so suddenly in such an odd way?

It was a medical mystery.

What was happening here?

MONICA JANUS: They thought
that my family had a disease.

And so they quarantined them
and they kept them there.

They thought that something
horrible happened because three

family members died.

They were running
tests because they

didn't know what was going on.

JOSEPH JANUS: They called me
and my sister to emergency room.

Priests came in to give
us last rites, you know.

[dramatic music]

And then that's how we stayed
over there waiting to die.

[tense music]

EDMUND DONOGHUE: When
you have multiple deaths

inside a building,
the most likely

thing is that they've been
poisoned with carbon monoxide.

It's very common.

In the case of a home, it would
come from a defective

heating system.

We do get carbon
monoxide calls.

But those symptoms, we
can spot that right away.

This was not that.

[dramatic music]

We have a health department
in Arlington Heights.

Helen Jensen was
our Health Expert.

And I called her.

And I told her, I
said, Helen, I don't

know what we're
dealing with here

but these people are going down.

HELEN JENSEN: I went over
to the hospital immediately.

And I saw Theresa
Janus, that was Adam's

wife, standing to the side.

She told me what had happened.

After Adam died, the family had
gathered to discuss the funeral

and the brother, Stanley, had
back pain, chronic back pain.

So he asked his wife to go
get him a couple of Tylenol.

And then a few minutes
later, she took two Tylenol.

And he went down.

And then she went down.

Both collapsed.

I heard Helen Jensen
interviewing these people.

And I know they
all took Tylenol.

[dramatic music]

HELEN JENSEN: I felt
very strongly that I had

to go and look at that house.

And two police
officers and I went out

and looked through the house.

I went into the bathroom and
found a bottle of Tylenol.

And then I took it
out to the kitchen,

and emptied the container,
and counted the pills.

And there were
six pills missing.

And there were
three people dead.

And I said that it
has to be the Tylenol.

Something's wrong
with the Tylenol.

[dramatic music]

JOY BERGMANN: Another Chicago
suburb, Lombard, Illinois.

Mary McFarland's at work
and develops a headache.

So she takes a break,
goes into the break room,

gets some Tylenol that
she had in her purse,

takes two capsules,
and collapses

in front of her coworkers
a few minutes later.

She too would die.

[device beeping]

All of a sudden, somebody
in your family is dead.

Why did she die?

NANCY ELIASON: Mary's friend
had told us she had a headache.

And Mary went downstairs,
bought Tylenol at the Walgreens,

came back upstairs,
took it immediately,

slumped to the floor.

[tense music]

EDMUND DONOGHUE: The paramedics
and the fire department

think there's something
wrong with Tylenol.

And they had the container
from the Janus's residence

at the hospital.

HELEN JENSEN: We went
back to the hospital.

And I presented it to
the medical examiner,

and poured the pills
out, and counted

them again in front of him.

And I said, there are
six capsules missing.

There are three people dead.

This is the cause.

That house is clean.

There is nothing in
there that could have

caused this kind of
an instantaneous death

except for these pills.

We've got to get the Tylenol
off the shelves in this town.

It's poisoned.

And it could be contaminants
and all of the bottles.

And we said, you
know, there are only

two poisons that
cause a rapid demise

and that's cyanide and nicotine.

We decided that we're
probably dealing with cyanide.

[dramatic music]

Officials are now
starting to connect

the dots between the similar
deaths of the Janus family

in Arlington Heights
and the death

of Mary Kellerman in Elk Grove.

They have the bottle of
Tylenol from the Janus family.

Now they need the bottle
from the Kellerman home.

EDMUND DONOGHUE: They said, have
the Elk Grove Village people

bring in the other
container and call

me back when they get there.

And they dispatched Nick
Pishos, who was an investigator.

One of the interesting things
is that cyanide has a smell.

That it smells like
bitter almonds.

CHUCK KRAMER: Now they've
got the bottle of Tylenol

from the Janus home.

They've got the bottle of
Tylenol from the Kellerman home.

EDMUND DONOGHUE: I asked Nick
to take the caps off the bottles

and to smell them to see
if he could smell cyanide.

And he opened the containers,
sniffed the contents,

and he says, doctor,
I can smell cyanide

in both of these containers.

CHUCK GOUDIE: Cyanide doesn't
end up in pain relief

capsules accidentally.

It was intentional.

[dramatic music]

[audio logo]

[tense music]

EDMUND DONOGHUE: Cyanide
is a chemical asphyxiant.

And it kind of smothers
you or cuts you

off from your oxygen supply.

You get a rapid heart rate,
your blood pressure drops.

CHUCK KRAMER: It suffocates you.

It prevents the
hemoglobin in your blood

from absorbing
oxygen. You can be

pouring 100% oxygen on a person,
it's not going to accept it.

So the brain dies.

EDMUND DONOGHUE: So we called
the toxicologist and said,

we think you better come in
because we think somebody

has put cyanide in Tylenol.

BRIAN TODD: The toxicologist
worked all night

analyzing the bottles
from the Janus home

and from Mary Kellerman's home.

Then he found that it
was cyanide in both

of those bottles.

EDMUND DONOGHUE: They said we're
going to have to have a press

conference because we have
now got cyanide in Tylenol

from two communities
10 miles apart.

So we have a public
health problem.

NEWS ANCHOR: The day began with
Cook County Medical examiners

issuing what amounted to a
nationwide Tylenol alert.

Deputy Chief Medical
Examiner Edmund Donoghue.

The only safe course
here is that people should

refrain from taking
extra strength Tylenol,

the 500 milligram capsules.

We scheduled a second
press conference

where we announced that Adam and
Stanley Janus and Mary Kellerman

had died of cyanide poisoning.

NEWS ANCHOR: People
across the country

are being warned not to
take it just to be safe.

Until further investigation,
until we can perhaps determine

where the contamination
took place, if it were me,

I wouldn't take them.

CHUCK GOUDIE: Within a day,
the confirmation of cyanide

found in the Tylenol
said to everybody,

this was a criminal act.

[tense music]

JEREMY MARGOLIS:
Don't forget, this

is prior to the
kind of protective,

tamper-proof packaging.

Back in those days, take it
out of a little cardboard box,

you unscrew the plastic top,
and you dump the pills out.

It was very clear
that there was foul play

at work, to say the least.

And the authorities were intent
on making sure that they didn't

end up with any more victims.

Five people are
dead after taking

extra strength
Tylenol capsules that

had been laced with cyanide.

A sixth victim is not
expected to survive.

The public definitely is
nervous, scared, insecure.

MAN: It seems that people don't
want capsules of any kind.

Tablets they seem to go for.

But the capsules they
try to stay away from.

I'm staying away
from capsules.

I'd rather buy the regular pill.

WENDI FRIEDMAN TUSH:
All of a sudden,

there is a threat that's coming
from the most benign place.

And really, nobody
knew how to handle it.

I was horrified by the
pure evil that was out there.

There's a lot
of weirdos about.

REPORTER: Are you frightened
enough to do anything about it?

And if so, what?

[dramatic music]

Just to check
when I'm, you know,

buying stuff, making sure it
hasn't been opened before.

[tense music]

We were hopeful that since
we had gotten the message out

and the message was quite
clear that maybe there

wouldn't be any more deaths.

DOCTOR: We've been
receiving calls

about once every 15 seconds.

We only have three poison lines.

And they're lit up constantly
ever since yesterday morning.

CHUCK KRAMER: The calls
coming in were unbelievable.

Then people wanted us to come
out and check their Tylenol.

If they think they do
have cyanide poisoning

to go to an emergency
room immediately.

REPORTER: At the city's
poison control center

at Rush Presbyterian
Saint Luke's hospital,

hundreds of calls have come in.

POLICE OFFICER (ON
LOUDSPEAKER): Don't take

Tylenol until further notice.

And that's when they
started deploying police cars

and ambulances in the
neighborhoods warning

people not to take Tylenol.

NEWS ANCHOR: Police
have done everything

possible to make
sure everyone knows

about the Tylenol problems.

[siren blaring]

And in Chicago, all city
ambulances have been equipped

with a cyanide antidote kit.

If you have it in your
house, don't take Tylenol.

[tense music]

NEWS ANCHOR: Health
officials say their biggest

worry now concerns.

The other
over-the-counter capsule

drugs still on the market.

Like Tylenol, many are
in packages that are

easy to open and tamper with.

You would look at your
medicine cabinet, your shelves.

People were looking
in the refrigerator.

Well, if it's capsules
today, what about my milk?

All these things
went through my mind.

Magnify that by a couple
of hundred million people

all around the country
and many, many millions

more around the world.

It was a very frightening time.

[tense music]

[audio logo]

Welcome back to How
It Really happened.

Six people in the
Chicago suburbs

are dead after taking extra
strength Tylenol pain reliever.

Investigators
discovered the victims

were poisoned by Tylenol
capsules laced with cyanide.

Now the hunt is on to find
the mad man who did this.

As authorities quickly spread
the word not to take Tylenol,

there is a fear that
the killing isn't over.

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

I was a flight attendant
for United Airlines.

Paula and I met flying together.

And it was just one
of those things,

we became instant friends.

We both loved to laugh.

And we'd go out
drinking together

and just spend lots and
lots of time together.

[dramatic music]

JOY BERGMANN: On
September, 29 Paula Prince

had stopped at a
Walgreens on her way home

to pick up some
Tylenol and then heads

up to her high-rise apartment
on the North side of Chicago.

JEAN LEAVENGOOD: By
that point, the news

had not broken about the Tylenol
being tainted with cyanide.

As she's taking
off her makeup,

she takes two
Tylenol and collapses

in her bathroom hallway.

When Paula didn't show
up for her next flight,

her friends became
very concerned.

[dramatic music]

JEAN LEAVENGOOD: I call
Carol, Paula's older sister.

And I said, Carol,
there's something wrong.

Paula missed her trip yesterday.

I said, I'm going to
go up to her place.

And Carol said, well,
wait till I get there.

We went up to Paula's door.

And I opened the door.

And Paula was
lying on the floor.

And she was orange.

We were absolutely hysterical.

We just clung to each other.

Our top story,
authorities in Chicago

have officially confirmed
the death of a seventh victim

from Tylenol capsules
laced with deadly cyanide.

NEWS ANCHOR: Paula Prince bought
cyanide-loaded extra strength

Tylenol at a nearby drugstore.

A TV security camera
snapped a picture of her

in the checkout line.

That photo sent
a chill up my spine

because you saw Paula Prince,
the young flight attendant,

standing in line to buy some
Tylenol, the safest headache

remedy you could
possibly imagine,

not knowing that it would be
the thing that would kill her.

[tense music]

A deadly pattern
emerging in Chicago

has prompted a nationwide recall
of a top-selling pain reliever.

Officials do not know how the
poison got into the capsules

but they are investigating the
case as a possible homicide.

BRIAN TODD: On October
5th, Johnson & Johnson

recalls all Tylenol capsules.

That's 31 million-plus
bottles of Tylenol.

It's the first mass recall
in American history.

[dramatic music]

CHUCK KRAMER: Johnson & Johnson
did an unbelievable thing.

I understand it cost them
$100 million in 1982 dollars.

DAVID WILLIAMS: Johnson
& Johnson told people

that anyone who had Tylenol
in their home in capsule form,

they should get rid of it.

The task force was
formed very quickly.

Then the next question
is, who, what's

the reason, who was the target.

We now have over 100 agents
and teams out on the street

that are investigating leads
along the line from the time

that the drugs would
hit Illinois until they

hit the ultimate customer.

DAVID WILLIAMS:
There was a time when

we thought that any one
of the seven victims

could have been targeted.

JEREMY MARGOLIS: We clearly
surveilled the funerals.

Compared photographs of
people who there might

be a common thread,
some stranger

who was at a Janus funeral
and the Paula Prince funeral.

We were able to discount
that, I think, pretty quickly.

There are so many
theories swirling around.

JEREMY MARGOLIS: Maybe
Tylenol was the target

and the victims were
just a means to an end.

Could there possibly be an
issue with a disgruntled current

or angry former employee?

Could it be somebody
who was somehow harmed

by some other Tylenol product?

But nothing came of the
disgruntled employee theory.

ROBERT REIFMAN: So my guess is
it's not a disgruntled employee.

It's just a guess it's not.

And my guess is
it's somebody who

has been harboring sadistic
fantasies for many years.

[tense music]

DAVID WILLIAMS: There were
questions about could it have

happened in the manufacturing.

So that was looked
at very carefully.

The bottles that were recovered
from the victims' homes,

if you look at a
pill bottle that you

have even today, there
is-- on the bottom of it

is often a number.

They call it a lot number.

And it describes where
it was manufactured.

WENDI FRIEDMAN TUSH:
These pills came

from two different locations
in two different states.

DAVID WILLIAMS: There was no
information despite hundreds

of interviews and
examination that this could

have happened during
the distribution

and manufacturing process.

The most logical conclusion
is that someone bought Tylenol

from drug stores, took
capsules out of the bottles,

replaced the Tylenol powder
with potassium cyanide,

and returned those
bottles to drug stores.

GREY STEED: In 1982, you didn't
have surveillance

cameras everywhere.

You also didn't have any type
of packaging protections.

It would have been very
easy to either purchase

or steal a few bottles and then
put them back on the shelf.

This wasn't just
about tampering.

It was about evil.

It was about knowing
that someone out

there would be perfectly
willing to hurt a stranger.

It was crazy.

[tense music]

[audio logo]

[tense music]

After a week of chaos and
frenzied investigatory efforts,

investigators got an
interesting new lead.

The author of
the letters claimed

to be the Tylenol killer.

WENDI FRIEDMAN TUSH: He writes
he doesn't like President

Reagan's proposed tax laws.

And he writes a letter to
President Reagan saying,

you heard about those
Tylenol killings.

Well, I have lots
of airline tickets.

I can go other
places and do this.

But I won't do that if
you change the tax laws.

CHUCK GOUDIE: And the
letter to Johnson & Johnson

demanded $1 million
to stop the killings.

TERRY ANZUR: It was huge
news when the extortion

letter was made public.

It's addressed to
Johnson & Johnson,

parent of McNeil Laboratories,
the maker of Tylenol.

"Gentlemen, as
you can see, it is

easy to place cyanide,
both potassium

and sodium, into capsules
sitting in store shelves.

And since the cyanide
is inside the gelatin,

it is easy to get buyers
to swallow the bitter pill.

If you don't mind the publicity
of these little capsules,

then do nothing.

If you want to stop the killing,
then wire $1 million to bank

account number 84-49-597."

[dramatic music]

JEREMY MARGOLIS:
The bank account

number led back to a company
called Lakeside Travel.

We learned that in minutes.

Lakeside Travel
was out of business

but it had been
owned by a man named

Frederick Miller McCahey
who lived in a Chicago

North Shore suburb.

Investigators went to Mr.
Miller McCahey and said,

do you know anything
about this letter?

And he did not.

So they asked him, do
you have any enemies,

people who might
want law enforcement

to be looking at you?

And he said, yeah,
there actually

are a couple of
people like that,

Robert and Nancy Richardson.

Nancy Richardson had worked
for Miller McCahey at Lakeside

Travel, his travel agency.

Unfortunately, that agency
went right into the ground

and went bankrupt.

The final paycheck bounced.

She and her husband were really
angry, as were other employees.

TERRY ANZUR: The police put
out the word to the public

that they were looking for
Mr and Mrs. Richardson.

At that point, the focus of
the Tylenol investigation,

this information was
broadcast nationwide.

And in Kansas City, police
Sergeant David Barton

saw the report, saw the picture
of the man known as Richardson,

and realized, hey,
that's James Lewis.

[dramatic music]

NEWS ANCHOR: This is Robert
Richardson and his wife Nancy.

And this is Robert
Richardson and his wife

Nancy known in Kansas City
as James and LeAnn Lewis.

[tense music]

TERRY ANZUR: We started pursuing
the story in Kansas City.

James and LeAnn Lewis
had lived there.

They had been under
investigation for

some other scams in Missouri.

We were able to get more
information about other things

he was accused of,
including the murder

of Raymond West, the
man whose body was

found dismembered in an attic.

He had been a client of
James Lewis' accounting firm.

NEWS ANCHOR: Lewis
made headlines

in 1978 when he was arrested
for the murder of Raymond West.

The old man's body
was found cut up

and hidden in the
attic of his house.

[tense music]

JOY BERGMANN: Investigators
had a forged check for $5,000

to James Lewis from
Raymond West on the day

that Raymond West went missing.

So they arrested Lewis because
he was the obvious suspect.

But they didn't read
him his Miranda rights

before they questioned him.

And therefore, the search,
everything that came after

was thrown out and they
just couldn't convict him.

CHUCK GOUDIE: And he ended up
getting away with murder

back then.

And the authorities
figured this guy

has got to be a prime
suspect at this point

in the Tylenol killings.

That was critical to
be able to not only have

a name, an alias, but
an actual identification

of who we were looking for.

CHUCK GOUDIE: There
was also a face to this

when the authorities put
out a photograph of Lewis.

It was heavy manpower.

It was a really laborious
kind of operation for the FBI.

While the FBI is investigating
the original two letters,

James Lewis mails letters
to the Chicago Tribune

to try to communicate through
the Tribune to the FBI.

GREY STEED: Chicago
Tribune helped us

in the sense of
communicating with Lewis

and keeping him writing letters.

Well, Lewis engaged
in a letter war.

He liked the
attention but he also

kept trying to defer the fact
that he was being wrongly

accused, slammed
the FBI for labeling

him as the Tylenol killer.

[tense music]

JEREMY MARGOLIS: We knew
that the letters had

been postmarked in New York.

And so we targeted and focused
on every single location

in New York City
where you could either

buy or read a Chicago Tribune.

We were eventually led to
Lewis who was identified to us

as sitting in a New
York Public Library

reading a Chicago Tribune.

NEWS ANCHOR: An FBI
manhunt bears fruit.

James Lewis is
arrested in New York.

He's wanted on a
fugitive warrant

for allegedly trying to
extort a million dollars

from the makers of Tylenol.

Chicago investigators
also want to question

both Lewis and his wife
in connection with seven

Tylenol poisoning deaths.

So when the police arrested
James Lewis for the extortion

letter, naturally, he was
considered among their suspects

for the actual murders as well.

James Lewis never denied
writing the extortion letter.

I had nothing to do
with the Tylenol murders.

JOY BERGMANN: His
alibi was he was

in New York City
from early September

until he was
arrested in December.

The murders happened at
the end of September.

And James Lewis said, hey, I was
in New York City the whole time.

It is not physically possible
to be in Chicago and New York

at the same instance.

They're too far apart.

And I'm not possessed of magic
or I can't fly like Superman.

Since you didn't have
to show identification

to travel on a train,
travel on a plane,

we were never able to
prove that he had come back

to the Chicago area at the time
that the pills had been planned.

[dramatic music]

NEWS ANCHOR: Lewis is charged
with sending a letter to Johnson

& Johnson, the
makers of Tylenol,

demanding a million dollars
be deposited in an account

at Chicago's Continental
Bank in order to, quote,

"stop the killings."

I prosecuted James
Lewis for the crime

of sending extortion letters
through the United States mail.

NEWS ANCHOR: Jurors hurried
out of the court building

after the verdict that took them
less than three hours to reach.

Judge Frank McGarr
read their decision,

guilty of attempted extortion.

And the judge sentenced
him to 10 years in prison.

NEWS ANCHOR: Earlier,
US attorney Dan Webb

had called him
vicious, mean, evil,

depraved, a premeditated
manipulator and opportunist.

JEREMY MARGOLIS: After
Lewis' conviction,

he made arrangements
to be interviewed

by Roy Lane, the FBI, Richie
Tetyk of the state police,

and me for hours and hours
on multiple occasions

to assist us in solving
the Tylenol killing.

GREY STEED: And he
started offering

his various theories as to
how it could have been done.

Even drew out a device that
could have been used to fill

the capsules with cyanide.

[tense music]

JEREMY MARGOLIS: During
that period of time,

he created manuscripts, and
drew pen and ink drawings,

and speculated about how the
Tylenol killer might have done

what he did, who the Tylenol
killer might have been,

what the motivations and
motives might have been.

INTERVIEWER: You made the point,
I think, that private citizen,

you felt compelled to
try and help in any way.

But you didn't have
any involvement in it.

Why would you try to
help in such a way?

For the same reason
that if I were going down

the street and your house
was on fire, not my problem,

but I would stop
and try to help.

If you were out in Lake Michigan
and crying for help and I'm

walking along the
beach, not my problem.

But I would try to jump
in the water and help you.

And I think there was
four, maybe five interviews

and a massive amount
of written detail

that Lewis provided
speculating on every aspect

of the Tylenol killings, never
admitting that he was the one.

BRIAN TODD: James Louis
does his time for extortion.

He is released from federal
prison on October 13, 1995.

That's when he and his wife,
LeAnn, move to Massachusetts.

But it's certainly not
the last time that the FBI

hears from James Lewis.

[audio logo]

[tense music]

[siren blaring]

Over the years,
investigators started

to look at other suspects
for the Tylenol murders.

Chicago Police were
very interested in a man

named Roger Arnold.

He's kind of a local
barfly in Chicago

who has talked about
having cyanide in his home

for some kind of a project.

But he's never arrested
for any of these crimes.

The FBI even considered Ted
Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

NEWS ANCHOR: It's
one of the FBI'S

most notorious unsolved cases,
the 1982 Tylenol murders.

Seven people in the Chicago
area died after taking Tylenol

laced with potassium cyanide.

Now, the Bureau's hinting
at a possible link

to one of America's most
feared domestic terrorists,

Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

Ultimately, there
was no evidence ever

linking the Unabomber to
any of the Tylenol murders.

[tense music]

NEWS ANCHOR: A real life cold
case reopened after 25 years.

The FBI is again investigating
a man who has already served

years behind bars in
connection with the 1982

Tylenol poisoning case.

JEREMY MARGOLIS: The
initial task force

simply stopped
functioning because there

was no more credible leads.

Years later, a second task force
was established and actively

pursued the investigation.

The FBI isn't really
saying much about this,

only that tips they received
last year on the 25th

anniversary of the
killing and new

technology prompted them to
gather possible new evidence.

When police reignited
the Tylenol investigation

and revisited James Lewis, doing
a whole new search of his house

in 2009 when he was living
in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

it baffled me.

I said, what are
they looking for?

NEWS ANCHOR: The FBI removed
several boxes from his apartment

and an old Macintosh computer.

The FBI just isn't
talking about this

but they say they have
this new technology

which may make them able to
better examine this evidence.

But it's strange
that there would

still be evidence in this man's
apartment after all these years.

[tense music]

JOY BERGMANN: By 2010,
James and LeAnn Lewis

had been on the radar of
investigators for close

to 30 years.

And they said,
here, take our DNA.

We didn't do this.

And so the FBI has been in
possession of a full DNA profile

of both of them since 2010.

After the case was re-examined
in 2009, no one was charged.

So ultimately, the
second Tylenol task force

was dissolved.

In 2013, the Arlington
Heights Police department,

that's where three
of the victims died,

they assumed primary
responsibility for the case.

[tense music]

In 2020, the Arlington
Heights Police

begins a coordinated effort
with Othram Labs, that's

a small biotech
company in Texas,

in the hopes that some
new DNA technology can

help in this case.

KRISTEN MITTELMAN: There
is no case that is too cold

or no piece of DNA
that is unusable.

If you've touched
something, you've left DNA.

It's on your body.

It's on your sweat.

It's very difficult to commit
a crime and not leave DNA.

Othram's specialty
is extracting

small and degraded pieces
of DNA from samples.

We get the question of
how old can the DNA be?

We've been able to
identify victims from 1881.

I call our DNA sequencing
forensic-grade

genome sequencing.

We extract the degraded DNA.

So we take all of the
information that you can get.

We get a really detailed
biogeographical ancestry

of the person that left
the DNA at the crime scene.

And so you can go back
to the investigators

and give them very clear
information that could help them

exclude suspects on their list.

And it leads to that one
person that actually left

the DNA at that crime scene.

JEREMY MARGOLIS: There
is more advanced,

much more profound
DNA technology

and matching capability today.

There's a hope that science
will provide an answer.

I'm optimistic that
it'll be solved.

BRIAN TODD: And then on July 9,
2023, something very

unexpected happens.

James Lewis suddenly
dies at his home

in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He's found unresponsive there.

The cause of death
was later determined

to be a pulmonary embolism.

He was 76 years old.

[tense music]

Well, it's
extremely difficult.

Extremely frustrating.

People die and take the
secret to their grave.

[dramatic music]

BRIAN TODD: One month
after his death,

the FBI releases multiple
hours of taped interviews

that it had conducted
with James Lewis.

These interviews were conducted
between 2007 and 2009.

Lewis discussed how
the Tylenol capsules

could have been tainted.

I still believe
James Lewis did it.

And it's based upon what I saw
the way of evidence, what I saw

in the way of his past history.

The cooperation and things that
he said to Roy Lane and others

in the cold case.

And I think he got
away with something

that was a horrendous crime.

[tense music]

JOY BERGMANN: 40-plus years
after the Tylenol murders,

we are still somewhat
in the same position

as we were in 1982-1983.

There's a cadre of
investigators that

think James Lewis
is their man and yet

charges haven't been brought.

This case file remains closed.

It's an open investigation,
which means family members,

media, private
investigators cannot

get their hands on the records.

So we don't know what's been
missed and what's been done.

And that's really the
crime at this point.

I do believe that
it's a matter of time

before all these cases
get solved that have DNA.

The science here at
Othram is getting

better at assessing
information from the evidence

every single day.

And I feel like when something
seems hopeless, it's not.

POLICE OFFICER (ON
LOUDSPEAKER): Do not take

Tylenol until further notice.

JOY BERGMANN:
September 29, 1982,

is a day that really
changed history

and represents a real loss
of innocence for people.

MONICA JANUS: I think
about how big of an impact

that day made on
the entire planet.

We lived in a lot of fear.

We were scared to take
any type of medication.

And because of our family, the
three members that passed away,

the world is now In a better
and safer environment.

BRIAN TODD: Starting
on November 11, 1982,

tamper-resistant
packaging was in effect

for all Tylenol bottles.

NEWS ANCHOR: Capsule
concern aside, it's

virtually impossible to get
to the new Tylenol capsules

without anybody noticing.

The box is sealed, the
bottle top is sealed,

and the bottle itself is sealed.

And that has made a difference
to many Tylenol users.

I remember I was so
surprised at how hard

it was to open the package.

Now we're so used to it.

Every package is like that.

JOY BERGMANN: An entire
industry of tamper-resistant and

tamper-evident packaging rose up
in the wake of these poisonings.

And today, we don't have to
fear this kind of contamination.

[stirring music]

[dramatic music]

There are, I suppose, many
unsolved crimes in history.

And I'm not smart enough to
solve those, let alone this one.

I think the Tylenol
murderer is still out there

dancing in the streets.

Four decades have passed
since the Tylenol murders.

And in that span of
time, several suspects

and investigators
close to the case

have died, leaving many
to wonder if time has run

out on solving this mystery.

But one thing is certain, time
stopped on September 29, 1982,

for the victims
and their families.

I'm Jesse L. Martin.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.

[dramatic music]

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