The sole suspect in the Tylenol murders has been found dead in his Massachusetts home, ending officials’ hopes of one day convicting him for the killings that changed the way over-the-counter drugs are manufactured and sold.
James Lewis, 76, was the only person to have been convicted in connection to the seven poisonings after he attempted to extort $1million from Tylenol maker’s Johnson and Johnson to stop the killings – but he was never found guilty of the actual murders.
The killings of four women, two men, and a 12-year-old girl, caused worldwide panic and led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged as the FDA introduced new tamper-proof packaging like foil seals.
Although he always denied it, police believed he was behind the killing spree and Lewis was questioned as recently as September, as authorities worked to find the person behind the murders 40 years later.
‘I was saddened to learn of James Lewis’ death. Not because he’s dead, but because he didn’t die in prison,’ said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, who prosecuted Lewis for extortion.
James Lewis, the sole suspect in the 1982 Tylenol murders, has been found dead in his Massachusetts home
Mary Kellerman, Mary McFarland, Mary ‘Lynn’ Reiner, Paula Prince, and Stanley, Adam and Terri Janus died after taking Tylenol pills that had been laced with potassium cyanide
The murders caused worldwide panic and led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged as the FDA introduced new tamper-proof packaging like foil seals
‘I was always hoping justice would be served, and this short-circuits it,’ added retired FBI special agent Roy Lane.
Chicago residents Mary Kellerman, Mary McFarland, Mary ‘Lynn’ Reiner, Paula Prince, and Stanley, Adam and Terri Janus died after taking Tylenol pills that had been laced with potassium cyanide.
Someone had opened the capsules and replaced some of the acetaminophen with cyanide and returned them to the shelves. At the time, the pills came in a container guarded only by a cotton ball.
Lewis, a former accountant, was arrested, charged, and convicted for writing extortion letters in which he threatened the killings would continue unless $1 million was wired to a bank account.
In a jailhouse interview, he explained an intricate scheme the killer ‘would have used’ to poison the pills using a drilled pegboard.
Police have said they believe Lewis acted on revenge against Johnson & Johnson after his five-year-old daughter, Toni, died in 1974. The girl passed away after sutures made by a subsidiary of the company were used to fix her congenital heart defect and they tore.
The first to die from the Tylenol poisonings was 12-year-old Mary Kellerman from Elk Grove Village. Her parents gave her one capsule and by the next morning she was dead.
The same day, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, 27, also mysteriously passed away after taking a Tylenol pill.
When going to mourn the 27-year-old, his brother Stanley, 25, and sister-in-law Theresa, 19, took tablets from the same bottle. Stanley died that day, and Theresa two days later.
After that, three others lost their lives – 35-year-old Mary McFarland of Elmhurst, Illinois, 35-year-old Paula Prince of Chicago, and 27-year-old Mary Weiner of Winfield, Illinois.
It was at this point, early October of 1982, that investigators made the connection between the poisoning deaths and Tylenol, the best-selling, non-prescription pain reliever sold in the United States at that time.
The tampered bottles came from different factories so sabotage in production was ruled out.
Instead, it is thought someone must have gone around drug stores, opening bottles and adding a lethal potassium cyanide compound.
In a jailhouse interview he explained an intricate scheme the killer would have used to poison the pills using a drilled pegboard
Although he always denied being the killer, Lewis was questioned as recently s September
The murders caused worldwide panic and led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged as the FDA introduced new tamper-proof packaging like foil seals.
DailyMail.com reported back in January that police were collecting DNA evidence from several sources, including relatives of the victims and a family that survived the deadly attack.
The Morgan family were among those who were approached to help in the police investigation.
Laura Morgan was a toddler when her mother Linda bought a tampered bottle of Tylenol from the grocery store for a pain in her leg. She survived but only by chance.
Linda, was 35 at the time and told the outlet that she’d was going to take the Tylenol but opted for an alternative instead.
The Arlington Heights Illinois Police Department (AHPD) has been pushing the investigation as it continues to investigate the deaths of three members of the same family – Adam Janus, Teresa Janus, and Stanley Janus.
Joe Janus, who lost his two brothers and sister-in-law, said his dying wish is that DNA will help police arrest the person responsible.
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.
The case led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged. Working with the FDA they introduced new tamper-proof packaging, which included foil seals and other features consumers are familiar with now.
A new version of the pill was also introduced, known as the caplet, in which a tablet was coated with easy-to-swallow gelatin.
Within a year, and after an investment of more than $100 million, Tylenol’s sales rebounded, and it had a renaissance as the nation’s favorite over-the-counter pain reliever.
In 1983, the U.S. Congress passed what was called ‘the Tylenol bill,’ making it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof.
