Unsolved - The Tylenol Murders

Americans everywhere, whether they know it or not, have had their everyday life impacted by a single event. Imagine: it’s 1982, the Steve Miller Band is topping charts, E.T is the hottest new film, but those things don’t matter as the entire country’s gaze focuses on Chicago, Illinois. On September 29, the city experienced its first of seven tragic killings. 12-year-old Mary Kellerman woke up experiencing a mild fever and sore throat, not uncommon for this time of year. To resolve the fever, her parents give her a capsule of extra-strength Tylenol, unknowingly sealing her fate. By the time 7:00 am rolled around Mary was pronounced dead.

Mary’s death incited panic into the public after it came to light that her death was the result of severe cyanide poisoning. The poison was hidden in the Tylenol capsule she took to resolve her cold. In the following few days, the city of Chicago was gripped by devastating events, as six more people dropped dead from apparent poisoning, the oldest victim being just 35-years-old. It wasn’t until early October that investigators pieced together the common denominator in each case and reached out to McNeil Consumer Products, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, to decide next steps.

McNeil Consumer Products immediately issued a mass recall of all extra-strength Tylenol bottles from all shelves in homes and stores. During the recall, several more bottles were discovered to contain tainted capsules, while luckily remaining on store shelves. More than 31 million bottles were seized in the recall and a mass panic ensued relating to medications on store shelves. Johnson & Johnson and McNeil Consumer Products issued safe bottles in return and offered a reward for any information on how the poisonous bottles ended up on shelves.

It’s believed that the bottles laced with cyanide were purchased from pharmacies in Chicago, and later brought back and placed on shelves with the tainted capsules inside. Police and citizens were left confused and terrified by these events, as there were no leads on suspects and no way to ensure that the poisonings wouldn’t continue. Because of this fear, and also facing financial ruin, Johnson & Johnson began selling products with safety seals, an aluminum wrapping under the cap, so that consumers could ensure their products were untainted and safe to consume.

While there were a handful of suspects, even a man claiming to be the Tylenol Murderer writing in to Johnson & Johnson, the case continues to be unsolved. The ransom note written to Johnson & Johnson was soon found out to be from James Lewis, and while he was found to be in New York at the time of the crimes and innocent of the murders, he was charged with extortion and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

However, there is one suspect I’d like to go into detail for: Ted Kaczynski. And if that name sounds familiar, it is a name that’s spoken commonly in American households, although he is more commonly known by a different name - The Unabomber. Yes, the man who mailed ten bombs over the span of 17 years, injuring 23 people and killing three. The bombings began in 1978 and ceased in 1995, he was arrested a year later. Kaczynski is currently serving eight consecutive life sentences at ADX Florence in Colorado.

So while it’s interesting to talk about his bombings, what does Ted Kaczynski have to do with The Tylenol Murders? Kaczynski was a mathematical prodigy and a self-described anarchist, teaching himself to live fully self-sufficient off the grid in Montana. However, he was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and can be placed in the city near the time of the killings. Kaczynski’s first bombings were sent to Chicago and it’s surrounding suburbs and in 1982 at the time of the poisonings, his parents owned a home in the city’s suburbs.

The investigation into The Tylenol Murders was renewed in 2009 by the FBI, continuing the most expensive and time consuming investigation in the bureau's history. They requested a sample of DNA from Kaczynski, hoping to tie him to DNA found on the bottles that contained the tainted pills. Given his history of randomly targeted crimes and intelligence, the FBI believed he was, and remains, a viable suspect. In Kaczynski’s manifesto seized by police when his home was raided for the bombings, he makes it apparent that he is strongly against drugs and the governments “desire to push them on the people.” His manifesto is quoted saying, “Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy, then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness.”

The only solid evidence that the FBI and investigators have against Kaczynski, aside from his residing in the city, is a photo of a man standing behind the victim Paula Pierce while she checked out at the pharmacy on the day of her death, Tylenol bottle in hand. The photo, though grainy, shows a man looking scruffy with a bushy beard watching. The photo isn’t definitive given it’s lack of clarity, but both investigators and theorists believe the man shares similar features to Kaczynski.

A case such as this changes the way people look at mundane tasks, such as taking pills for a headache. But cases like this also ensure that the safety of Americans is kept in mind while producing consumer products. Seven deaths in a single city shook the nation and had everybody watching. Sadly, it’s unlikely there will be justice for the victims, all taken far too soon by a devilish soul.