Some of those interviews may have gone to an agent who didnt do a good job., 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. 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. In Illinois, some towns began pulling bottles from the store shelves and sent police officers down the street with bullhorns encouraging people to throw out their Tylenol. A drugstore clerk removes Tylenol capsules from the shelves of a pharmacy Sept. 30, 1982, in New York City after reports of tampering. Kasia said she long blamed herself for her fathers death, even though she was just in preschool when it happened. 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. Among them was Lane, a well-respected federal agent who would help put away all kinds of criminals during his nearly 30-year career, including mob boss Sam Carlisi, former Illinois Gov. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. At first, the story focused in the Chicago/Cook County . In late September of 1982 seven people were killed after an unknown suspect placed cyanide laced Tylenol pills in store bottles. When that happened, the suspect would make contact with an investigator and offer to help solve the case. Tylenol murders investigators pursue new charges in 40-year case. Fahner had worked for James Thompson in the U.S. attorneys office, handling some of the citys biggest federal corruption cases. Two main suspects in this unsolved case are James Lewis and Roger Arnold, who had both been linked to this occurrence in some way. The first few days were spent talking to people closest to Prince and sifting through the many tips they received. The White House, however, had ordered the FBI to find a way into the case amid growing public panic. Stores were pulling the product off shelves. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . In 2000, Joy Bergmann revisited the story in "A Bitter Pill" . Three of the deaths occurred in Arlington Heights, where police told NBC Chicago last year that they still have the pills, bottles and boxes as evidence. He believed Thompson was behind the move, though Fahner denied it. Michael Petros, DrPH Wednesday, September 29, 1982 at 6:30am CDT, the nightmare that was to be known as the "Tylenol Murders" began 1. On that day, two unrelated things happened: A pub owner made a phone call to police, and an extortion letter arrived at a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Siekmann, who had been working since 8 a.m., believed some capsules were tainted from the first time he laid eyes on them. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. (Ovie Carter / Chicago Tribune). (Earl Gustie / Chicago Tribune). He had never been better known in Illinois and was inching up in the polls too. What the hell is this? I said, Agent, agent. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. Former Chicago police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, shown in September, says he felt Ty Fahner was chosen to head the task force for political reasons. 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. Tensions flared, even among law enforcement personnel sincerely dedicated to the job. If people threw out their Tylenol, authorities would never know the full extent of the tampering. And by days end, flight attendant Paula Princes body would be discovered and tests would show that a Tylenol bottle inside her home contained four cyanide-laced capsules. Their departments relationship with the FBI had been rocky for decades, but it was at a particularly low point in September 1982. On Friday afternoon, doctors removed Stanley Janus wife, Terri, from life support. Whats going on? I thought, well, this is rather impressive, Siekmann said. A photograph of a television screen shows the specific lot number for a batch of Extra-Strength Tylenol that was the first to be recalled. Adam Janus, a 27-year-old postal worker, wasnt feeling well and without having any way to know the mortal peril that the bottle posed for him, he took a pill from it before going to sleep that day. In one instance, someone reported that a chemistry professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago had been bragging about access to labs with cyanide. He couldnt leave. The substance was grainier than the untainted Tylenol on the left. Im just being honest, Siekmann said. Forty years later, it still bothers him. Oct. 2, 1982: CBS 2's Phil Walters reports on the investigation into the Tylenol poisonings. Many people who handled potential evidence in 1982 didnt wear gloves because it wasnt protocol at the time. From the start, Detectives Ford and Gildea didnt understand the purpose of driving out to Des Plaines each day in rush hour traffic when they had a murder to solve back in the city. What was he like in school? I do think it created a lot of problems because youre always thinking theres somebody doing something behind your back.. 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. With no apparent motive and little evidence to go on, it was a tough task. In 2010, DuPage County prosecutors filed a sealed affidavit stating investigators had found DNA on three bottles and the capsules inside, according to documents obtained by the Tribune. Prince was officially declared dead by the Medical Examiner's office at 6:45 p.m. Investigators discovered a bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol in her bathroom with one capsule missing and a. 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. Thank you. Thompson put him in charge of the investigation to get TV time. Several suspects did too. So, the theory was the tampering took place at the store, said FBI agent Lane. Indeed, the Johnson & Johnson recall became a classic case study in business schools across the nation. Though the company expanded the recall the same day to cover the batch involved in McFarlands death, the piecemeal approach troubled Fahner. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune), People were terrified, Fahner said. I dont know what he thought. He also would have a history of animal cruelty, Lane told the Tribune. What happens in most cases, and certainly what happened here beyond any question, was a 100% selfless, unified devotion to a very important mission.. 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. Halfway through the speeches, an aide tapped him on the shoulder and told him he needed to take an important call. And so the Department of Justice just looked up a law and by a little bit of a hook and a crook said the FBI has jurisdiction because of an FDA law (about) truth in labeling.. The man shrugged off his dismissal when investigators asked, saying it was the nature of the business. Only really frivolous things went in that other pile, she said. 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. Who would be next? 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. 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. So whatever fits or doesnt fit the storyline, that didnt happen. Severns worked on the case for three days before he realized no one had offered an update to young Mary Kellermans grieving parents. NBC News has not reviewed those documents. 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. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). They gave her one extra-strength Tylenol capsule that, unbeknownst to them, was laced with the highly poisonous potassium cyanide. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. The first tainted Tylenol victim - Mary Kellerman, 12, of Elk Grove Village - collapsed and died on . He held news conferences, sometimes twice a day, to meet the insatiable media demands. he answered. 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. The results came back positive for cyanide at 1:30 a.m. Investigators, however, are prepared should that question arise. According to the state police memo obtained by the Tribune, the FDAs work traced the cyanide from the tainted capsules to Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based lab supply company, which distributed that particular batch in 1978. 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. Daniel Walker and several Chicago aldermen convicted in Operation Silver Shovel. Sadly, the tragedies that resulted from the Tylenol poisonings can never be undone. Later that morning, Siekmann drove to the northwest suburbs to share what he had learned with a group of law enforcement officials assembled by Fahners team. 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. That testing uncovered three more poisoned bottles: two turned in by customers in Wheaton and Chicago and one found on a Schaumburg pharmacy shelf. Local police departments and states attorneys offices have been trying to crack the case for 40 years. Extra-Strength Tylenol bottles, for example, came in a paper box with an unglued lid. John Fellmann, whose last name was misspelled on his ID from 1980, was a young Arlington Heights police detective when he was assigned to the Tylenol murders. Siekmann didnt wear gloves. I dont think that bore fruit at all.. The Kellerman and Janus bottles contained Tylenol from lot MC2880, manufactured in Pennsylvania on April 26, 1982. I mean, it just got to me, Severns said. NBC News reached out to Lewis and did not receive a response. 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. John Fellmann, whose last name was misspelled on his ID from 1980, was a young Arlington Heights police detective when he was assigned to the Tylenol murders. I thought he was perfect.. 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. ]. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). . The FBI and Chicago police performed separate, but largely parallel, investigations until Oct. 6. It sounds like an urban legend, but it was chillingly real in 1982. The batch contained more than 1,800 pounds of cyanide, divided into packages of various sizes. 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 profilers believed the killer was likely to visit one of those named places to see the heartbreak he had caused. Hearing that threat, the detectives said, they banged on the door and announced themselves as police. You know, its a hackneyed phrase, but we left no stone unturned., Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, shown in his Chicago office in July, was part of the original Tylenol task force in 1982. And soon, many medications and foods sold over store counters began being sold in tamper-proof, sealed packaging. The Tribune interviewed nearly two dozen members of the task force, many of whom confirmed the reports veracity and added their own perspective. Her parents gave permission. Elmhurst police Detective Herb Hogberg interviewed a chemist who had been laid off from the company in recent months. Male murderers are more likely, in general, to kill randomly and on a large scale. Despite the passage of time and, in a way, because of it the bottles still may offer clues as to who poisoned the capsules. Over the next few days, three more strange deaths occurred: 35-year-old Mary McFarland of Elmhurst, Illinois, 35-year-old Paula Prince of Chicago, and 27-year-old Mary Weiner of Winfield, Illinois.. 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. The agencies, at times, clashed with each other. 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. What are you giving this story for? So they ran him off the stage and I got up there.. I stepped off that dais, Fahner told the Tribune this year. 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. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." Even after he retired from the FBI in 1996, he didnt let it go. In fact, so many big dogs were present, Fellmann said he couldnt find a free chair inside his own 60-seat roll call room. 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. See where the eight tainted Tylenol bottles were purchased or discovered. 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