IL IL - Chicago Tylenol Murders: 7 people dead from cyanide poisoning, 1982

[Kell1]

Correct. Johnson & Johnson says they tested millions of capsules (I want to say it was 6.5 mil) while FDA/law enforcement did the rest of the testing (1.5 mil capsules).

No one else did testing of the capsules before they were all destroyed.

They investigated themselves, and we all know exactly how problematic that is.

Right, i mean why destroy any potential evidence unless you are involved

 

[Betty P]

Correct. Johnson & Johnson says they tested millions of capsules (I want to say it was 6.5 mil) while FDA/law enforcement did the rest of the testing (1.5 mil capsules).

No one else did testing of the capsules before they were all destroyed.

They investigated themselves, and we all know exactly how problematic that is.

I wonder which ones the FDA tested? Were they a sample from both production facilities or just one? How much information about the investigation is still on file?

What’s the likelihood there were contaminated capsules distributed in areas besides Chicago? It seems unlikely , but hard to say. If contaminated product shipped elsewhere, there should have been some reports of people being poisoned or contaminated product found. It all happened very quickly, within hours or a day. Was it ever determined how long

Chicago area may have been the only place affected. If so, that seems relevant.

 

[Kell1]

I wonder which ones the FDA tested? Were they a sample from both production facilities or just one? How much information about the investigation is still on file?

What’s the likelihood there were contaminated capsules distributed in areas besides Chicago? It seems unlikely , but hard to say. If contaminated product shipped elsewhere, there should have been some reports of people being poisoned or contaminated product found. It all happened very quickly, within hours or a day. Was it ever determined how long

Chicago area may have been the only place affected. If so, that seems relevant.

Possibly there's also the chance there were many more deaths that weren't discovered. Cyanide deaths if not observed can to a point resemble other medical issues, first its not that obvious , but becomes more obvious later in stages of livor mortis as the pooling blood will appear bright red instead of the usual darker color

If toxicology tests werent performed its not impossible the deaths were attributed to other causes

 

[333_OnlyHalfEvil]

Possibly there's also the chance there were many more deaths that weren't discovered. Cyanide deaths if not observed can to a point resemble other medical issues, first its not that obvious , but becomes more obvious later in stages of livor mortis as the pooling blood will appear bright red instead of the usual darker color

If toxicology tests werent performed its not impossible the deaths were attributed to other causes

I had not thought of that, but people with known medical conditions and/or elderly people could have died and no one realized it was from the Tylenol they took. Yikes.

 

[sleeptoker]

exactly

I had not thought of that, but people with known medical conditions and/or elderly people could have died and no one realized it was from the Tylenol they took. Yikes.

Exactly. Why would they autopsy anyone over 50 (especially if they were slightly overweight) suffering from a heart attack for anything else? I actually shudder to think how many more people died that we will NEVER know about.

 

[kemo]

Cook county and other countries in the Chicago metro area went back and reviewed the medical records of everyone who died suddenly and unexpectedly in the two month period before and after the Tylenol deaths. Apparently in these types of deaths, full autopsies were always done and blood samples were retained (but testing for cyanide was not routinely done). All of these retained blood samples were tested and three of those deaths were discovered to have cyanide and were reclassified as homicides. All three had initially been labeled accidental drug overdoses due to the positive presence of drugs (apparently all cocaine). These deaths occurred more than a month before or after the Tylenol deaths and none were in the same geographic areas. All of these cases were determined to be unrelated to the Tylenol deaths and were assumed to be “drug related” homicides. None resulted in prosecution. If you are inclined to trust Law Enforcement, this might satisfy you that there were no other deaths related to this incident.

 

[Melquiades]

Weird documentary. Interesting case and worthy of a deep dive but the series basically just goes off the deep end into conspiracy theories and Big Pharma fearmongering.

Literally zero evidence that Johnson & Johnson did anything wrong, just a whole bunch of vague insinuations.

Like, the poison capsules were found in bottles produced in factories at opposite ends of the country. It’s pretty cut-and-dried that this was done at the store level and basically impossible that it was a production error or a rogue employee. And when it’s that obvious, of course the company isn’t going to be investigated deeper.

Likewise I doubt they were thrilled about the prospect of paying for the testing of literally millions of bottles of pills that they knew were all just fine.

James Lewis is overwhelmingly likely to be the killer. Guy was a known murderer with a grudge against Johnson & Johnson, wrote the ransom note, was credibly accused of drugging someone later in life.