Murder: True Crime Stories - UNSOLVED: The Tylenol Murders, Pt. 1

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

On September 29th, 1982, 27-year-old Adam Janus died from an apparent heart attack. Authorities quickly determined he'd actually died after taking a Tylenol pill that had been laced with cyanide... and he wasn't the only one. Soon enough, seven people in Chicago were dead from taking poisoned Tylenol -- and the killer was still at large. Murder: True Crime Stories is part of Crime House Studios. For more, follow us on Instagram @crimehouse. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's a lot of things we take for granted in life. Chief among them is that when we take medicine, it'll help us feel better. But for at least seven people in Chicago in the fall of 1982, that wasn't the case. These people didn't have a rare allergy or take too many pills. These people didn't have a rare allergy or take too many pills. They'd all taken the recommended dosage of a common over-the-counter medicine to alleviate aches or pains or low-grade fevers. But instead of making them feel better, the contents of these pills led to their deaths.

However, these people weren't medical mysteries. They were murder victims. And they'd all been killed after taking one of the world's safest, most trusted medicines. Tylenol. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the real ending.

I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories, a Crime House original show powered by Pave Studios. Every Tuesday, I'll explore the story of a notorious murder or murders. I'll be giving a voice and awareness to stories that need to be heard with a focus on those who are impacted. At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. This is the first of a three-part series on the Tylenol murders, a string of shocking deaths in the fall of 1982 that left the entire city of Chicago on edge. Today, I'll walk you through the harrowing

chain of events as seven people are killed by poison Tylenol pills. In next week's part two, I'll zero in on the ensuing investigation and the deep clashes that undermine the entire operation. And in our third and final episode on the Tylenol murders, I'll take you down the winding path investigators followed to catch their suspect in the mystery we're left with. All that and more coming up. Hey everyone, it's Carter. I have a favor to ask you. If you are enjoying Murder True Crime Stories, I would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review us on Apple and Spotify. Your valuable feedback helps us improve and expand our reach so other true crime fans can find us too.

Your support means everything. September 29th, 1982 was a special day for Adam Janis. The 27-year-old postal worker was celebrating a big occasion with his wife, Teresa. So after Adam picked up their four-year-old daughter from preschool, he stopped at the store to pick up a bouquet of lilies and a couple steaks. Unfortunately, he was also feeling under the weather, so he grabbed a bottle of Tylenol too. Adam then drove back to the family's house in Arlington Heights, a suburb on the edges of Chicago. It was a modest home, but for the Januses, who were both Polish immigrants, this house symbolized the American dream. Adam walked inside with his shopping bags, said hello to Teresa, and got their daughter

settled in. He probably wanted to feel better for their special night, so he told Teresa that he was going to lie down for a bit, then went into the bathroom to take a couple Tylenol. But as he walked out of the bathroom, Adam started clutching his chest. Teresa knew something was wrong and called for help. EMTs quickly arrived and determined that Adam was having a heart attack. It made no sense. Adam was young and healthy and had no history of heart issues, but this wasn't the time for questions. Once Adam had been transported to the hospital, Teresa called Adam's brother Joe and told him that Adam had a heart attack. Joe rushed to his brother's side.

He also called their third brother Stanley. Stanley and his wife Terry dropped everything and joined them at the hospital. The Janice family didn't wait for very long before Dr. Thomas Kim, the hospital's chief of critical care, entered the waiting room. He had terrible news. Adam was dead. Teresa, Joe, Stanley, and Terry were in disbelief. Adam was only in his 20s and in great shape. He wasn't the kind of person who suffered from sudden cardiac arrest. All they could do now was return to Adam and Teresa's house in Arlington Heights

so they could all grieve together. At some point, Stanley excused himself. He went down the hall and into the bathroom. A minute later, he stumbled back into the room where the family was gathered and fell to the ground. He was foaming at the mouth. Joe noticed a cloudy white color in his eyes. Once again, the Janice family called paramedics to the home. The same crew who had responded to Adam's call were dispatched. This time, Fire Lieutenant Chuck Kramer joined them at the scene. As soon as he arrived, a medic told him that they were dealing with the exact same situation as before. Kramer had heard about Adam's call, and he was skeptical that it really was a heart attack. Some of Adam's symptoms, like his chest pain, tracked with cardiac

arrest, but others didn't. Adam's breathing had been shallow and rapid, and his eyes were fixed, dilated, and non-responsive. Now, Stanley appeared the same way. The entire crew seemed bewildered as one EMT worked to keep Stanley alive. While he worked, Stanley's wife Terry cried out for her husband. In her dismay, she clutched Lieutenant Kramer's arm. Suddenly, Terry's screaming stopped and she let go. She let out a small groan, then collapsed. Lieutenant Kramer wasted no time. He shined a light in her eyes. They were fixed and dilated. Whatever this was, it wasn't a heart attack. Just hours after Adam Janis died, Stanley and Terry were loaded into ambulances and rushed to the same hospital.

When they arrived, Dr. Kim, the same doctor who tried to save Adam, was on his way out. But when he saw Stanley and Terry on stretchers, he stopped in his tracks. He raced back up to the ICU and told the nurses he wasn't leaving. Dr. Kim couldn't understand why three people from the same family, all young and healthy, would suddenly be at death's door. He considered carbon monoxide poisoning or even botulism poisoning, but their symptoms didn't quite align with those possibilities. Still, he didn't want to take any chances. After stabilizing Stanley and Terry, Dr. Kim decided to quarantine everyone who had come in contact with them, including the

rest of the family and the medics. He put everyone in a conference room and told medical staff to watch them. No one could leave until he ruled out a virus. Chuck Kramer felt helpless. He was a fire lieutenant. It was in his blood to help people. He figured if he couldn't do anything, he knew someone who could. He figured if he couldn't do anything, he knew someone who could. He picked up the conference room's phone and called his friend Helen Jensen, Arlington Heights' only public health official.

Helen was a nurse, and she handled everyone's basic health needs in the suburban enclave. Kramer knew she'd be able to help investigate. When he explained the situation to her, Helen dropped what she was doing and headed over right away. She arrived at the hospital intent on speaking with the only person who had witnessed every moment of mayhem that day. Adam Janis' wife, Teresa. Through a translator, Teresa explained everything. Adam feeling unwell, picking up their daughter, buying flowers and steaks, then taking a couple Tylenol and clutching his chest. Helen knew something unusual must have caused Adam's sudden death, something neither he nor Teresa may have even noticed. She needed to search the Janice's house for clues. Once there, she noted how clean the home was.

She walked through and noticed some home-jarred fruits, the lilies Adam had bought, a pot of black coffee, and some cherry juice. She looked through the fridge, and nothing was spoiled. Then Helen went into the bathroom. That's when she spotted a bottle of Tylenol and a receipt from that day. Every bottle had the same amount of pills and six were missing from this one. Two for Adam, two for Stanley, and two for Terry. two for Adam, two for Stanley, and two for Terry. And Helen's assumption was right.

When Stanley and Terry arrived at Adam's house earlier that day, they both took some Tylenol, the same Tylenol that Adam took when he returned home from his errands. Helen later said, quote, I knew it had something to do with this bottle. That was the only thing in common for all three of them. She said as much to an investigator from the medical examiner's office, but he didn't think that was it. People took Tylenol every day. Plenty of people had surely taken it that day. That couldn't be it. Fire Lieutenant Chuck Kramer, however, agreed with

Helen. He thought she was on to something. It was scary to think, but Tylenol was the only thing that the members of the Janus family had in common. His gut instinct intensified. There was something seriously wrong. Soon, Dr. Kim ruled out a virus, just as Kramer expected, but the danger wasn't over yet. Later that night, Kramer got a call from a fellow fire lieutenant, a man named Phil Capitelli. Phil had heard about the Janus cases on the dispatch radio, and he had some bad news to share with Lieutenant Kramer. That day, Phil had seen another case like the Janus's, and the patient was dead. To be continued... on the twisted psychology of the world's most notorious serial killers. Names like Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, the Night Stalker,

featuring expert psychological analysis from licensed clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Tristan Engels. Mind of a Serial Killer will take you into their stories like never before. So get ready to uncover what drives someone to commit the unimaginable. Mind of a Serial Killer is a Crime House original. New episodes drop every Monday. Just search Mind of a Serial Killer and follow wherever you listen to podcasts. If you're fascinated by the darker sides of humanity, join us every week on our podcast, Serial Killers,

where we go deep into notorious true crime cases. With significant research and careful analysis, we examine the psyche of a killer, their motives and targets, and law enforcement's pursuit to stop their spree. Follow Serial Killers wherever you get your podcasts and get new episodes every Monday. On the night of September 29th, 1982, Arlington County Fire Lieutenant Chuck Kramer spoke with his colleague, Phil Capitelli, about the mysterious deaths in the Janus family. Not only did Phil agree that the deaths were

bizarre, he told Chuck he'd seen the same thing that day, less than 10 miles from where the Januses lived, and it had ended just as tragically. That morning, in a neighboring suburb known as Elk Grove, a 12-year-old girl named Mary Kellerman woke up with a sore throat. At some point that morning, Mary went to the bathroom to take some Tylenol to ease the pain. Her mother had purchased it just the day before, so Mary was the first one to take a pill from that bottle. Minutes later, her father heard a thump. He ran to the bathroom door and asked Mary if she was okay.

She didn't answer. He called her name again, and still nothing. That's when he pushed the door open and found his daughter unconscious on the floor. Mary was rushed to the hospital, and shortly after, doctors pronounced her dead. When Chuck Kramer heard this story, he became certain that Tylenol was the cause. But he refused to panic. Instead, he fell back on his training. First, he phoned the medics who responded to Mary Kellerman's call, and they confirmed all the same bizarre symptoms as the Janice's. Kramer then called the hospital and told them, quote,

there's something wrong with the Tylenol. Kramer didn't even know yet that there were two more victims. The first was Mary Reiner, a 27-year-old brand new mother. She died shortly after taking some Tylenol for her postpartum recovery. The second victim was 31-year-old Mary McFarland, who took Tylenol for a headache at work. She died shortly after as well. By nighttime on September 29, 1982, Adam Janis, Stanley Janis, Mary Kellerman, Mary Reiner, and Mary McFarland were all dead. Terry was on life support. Joe Janis and his sister were still quarantined at the hospital. It seems they didn't know about the Tylenol connection yet. They were still afraid that whatever had killed their family

members would get them next. Joe and his sister were taken to a hospital room for monitoring. They laid in their beds, frozen and afraid, staring at each other but not speaking. Medical staff kept an eye on them throughout the night. In the meantime, Dr. Kim furiously searched for an answer. The Tylenol connection was striking, but the active ingredient in Tylenol was acetaminophen, and the symptoms he was dealing with didn't look like acetaminophen poisoning. He paced in his office and poured through medical books. Nothing provided an explanation. But then a light bulb went off in his head. What if the pills had been tampered with?

What if there was something else in them? If that were the case, then the deaths wouldn't stop here. Dr. Kim wasted no time. He took samples of Stanley and Terry's blood and rushed them off to an overnight lab for testing. Meanwhile, the medical examiner's office worked on getting corroborating evidence. They didn't know what the lab results would show, but they probably didn't want to wait and find out. The deputy chief medical examiner for Cook County, Dr. Edmund Donahue, caught wind of the Tylenol theory. Donahue thought of one poison that could kill someone so quickly. Cyanide. According to Stacey St. Clair from the Chicago Tribune,

cyanide only takes a few minutes to kill someone when ingested. Her colleague, Christy Gutowski, described such a death as, quote, a life interrupted and stopped. All the victims' deaths fit the profile of cyanide poisoning, and there was a relatively easy way to check that theory. Cyanide has a unique odor. It's often described as bitter almonds. So Donahue instructed one of his investigators to open one of the victims' Tylenol bottles and smell it. Sure enough, the investigators smelled bitter almonds. They rushed the pills to a toxicologist who found that each tampered capsule contained almost three times the amount of potassium cyanide needed to kill someone. Dr. Kim also got his lab results back.

Dr. Kim also got his lab results back. The Janus' blood samples contained lethal amounts of cyanide. There was no doubt about it. The victims had been poisoned. It didn't take long for the story to capture national attention. Within hours, the entire country was on high alert. A simple over-the-counter pain medication had resulted in six deaths. No one knew how many pills had been poisoned, why it was happening, or who would be next. In drugstores and supermarkets, clerks removed boxes of Tylenol from the shelves. The FDA issued a temporary

warning against the use of Tylenol. Chemists tested samples of the drug in their labs. Public health workers went door to door and told people to throw out any Tylenol in their homes, and they plastered flyers with the same warning. Police officers drove through the streets with bullhorns to spread the word. The message to throw out any Tylenol was broadcast on the radio. Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturer of Tylenol, recalled millions of bottles. Not only that, they also tested capsules for potassium cyanide. Not only that, they also tested capsules for potassium cyanide. This process would take a long time, but in the end, the company recalled 31 million bottles and tested more than 10 million capsules.

According to the Chicago Tribune, this was the first mass recall in U.S. history. Considering the massive scope, it should come as no surprise that President Ronald Reagan wanted the FBI involved in the case. The Illinois State Police were also assigned to the investigation, and officers from each town where a poisoning occurred joined them. That's how the Tylenol Task Force was formed on September 30th, 1982, just one day after Adam Janis died. A command center was set up in a suburban police station, and almost 100 people attended the first meeting. The task force first had to answer one crucial question. When did the cyanide get into the bottles? This question stoked a lot of fear. The thought of an everyday pain reliever causing people to suddenly die was already

anxiety-inducing, and Tylenol was a popular drug, a trusted drug. If the bottles were contaminated during manufacturing or distribution, that would mean the whole country was at risk. So the task force looked at the lot numbers on the four bottles known to have caused death so far. This number identifies when a batch of medicine was made and where. The task force found that the bottles came from two different factories, one in Texas and one in Pennsylvania. That meant that the contamination did not occur during manufacturing because the pills came from two different batches. Next, they looked into each factory's shipping and warehousing. None of the contaminated bottles ever crossed paths.

So the contamination couldn't have occurred during the distribution phase either. This was a major revelation. It meant that the pills were tampered with while they sat on store shelves. Keep in mind, this was 1982. Over-the-counter medication was packaged differently then. Nowadays, a bottle of Tylenol is sold in a box, which is glued shut. The cap on the bottle is sealed with plastic wrap. The mouth of the bottle is sealed with foil. A cotton ball is stuffed into the bottle. Back then, there was just the cotton ball and the box.

Back then, there was just the cotton ball and the box. Plus, Tylenol pills used to be made from two gelatin half-shells with powder inside, as opposed to the solid pills of today, which made them easier to tamper with. So, the good news, the poison capsules were contained to the Chicago area. The bad news, there was at least one more poison bottle out there. After the shocking revelation that someone in Chicago was poisoning bottles of Tylenol, the entire city was on high alert. But after the first six deaths were reported on September 29, 1982, it seemed like maybe the worst had passed. But on October 1, the investigators on the Tylenol task force learned that the killer had claimed another victim.

On the night of October 1, two Chicago police detectives, Charlie Ford and Jimmy Gilday, were called to investigate a mysterious death at a high-rise downtown. When Ford and Gilday walked into the lobby, a frantic-looking woman approached them. She introduced herself as Jean Levengood and told the detectives she was the one who'd called them. Ford and Gilday learned that on the night of Wednesday, September 29th, 1982, the same day Adam Janis died, Jean was supposed to meet up with her friend, Paula Prince. Jean and Paula were incredibly close.

They were both in their mid-30s and worked as flight attendants for United Airlines. They had known each other for 15 years and even lived in the same high-rise. On the night of the 29th, Jean's last flight of the day had just landed at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, and she'd been expecting Paula to be waiting for her at the gate. Most nights after work, the two friends went out for drinks. So it was a surprise when Paula was a no-show at the airport. Instead, Jean found a note Paula had left in her locker that said she'd already landed and asked Jean to call her when she got home. In the note, Paula also said she had exciting news. When Jean got home that night, she'd called Paula right away,

but her friend didn't pick up. Jean called again, and still no answer. It went on like that for two days. Then Jean explained to the detectives that earlier that morning, October 1st, Jean went into work hoping to run into Paula. But Jean's co-workers told her that Paula wasn't there. She hadn't even stopped by to pick up her paycheck. Jean had been really worried. It just wasn't like Paula to go off the radar like that. Not only did she and Jean talk almost every day, but she almost never missed work. When Jean got home, she went down to their

building's parking garage to look for Paula's car. If it wasn't there, Jean thought that might mean Paula took a spontaneous getaway. But the car was right where Paula had left it. At that point, Jean was in full-on panic mode. She knew something was seriously wrong and she needed help, but she hadn't been ready to call the police yet. Instead, she called Paula's sister Carol and filled her in on everything. That's when Jean learned that Carol also couldn't get in touch with Paula. They were supposed to meet for dinner that night, but Paula wasn't answering her phone. Jean had a spare key to Paula's apartment. She told Carol she wanted to go over there and make sure everything was okay, but Carol told her not to go in by herself. If something terrible had happened, she didn't want Jean to be alone.

So she told Jean she'd be there soon and to wait for her. Once they arrived at Paula's apartment, Jean pulled out the key. And when she opened the door and looked inside, her worst fears came true. opened the door and looked inside, her worst fears came true, because just down the hall, Paula's body lay across the floor. The two women feared their friend and sister had been murdered, and they were afraid the killer was still inside. So they ran down to the lobby, called the police, and waited. A few minutes later, Ford and Gilday arrived. The two detectives were longtime friends turned police partners. They had gone to college together and had worked the same part-time security job at the start of

their careers. By the time Paula Prince died in 1982, they were full-fledged detectives in the Chicago PD used to handling multiple murders a week. After so many years working together, they were completely aligned in how they handled police work. And the moment the detectives stepped foot in Paula's apartment, they noticed it didn't look like a typical crime scene. Gilday described Paula's apartment as looking, quote, neat as a pin. There was no sign of a struggle, but the way her body lay across the floor stuck out to him. Paula was on her back, with her head and shoulders in the hall and her legs on the bathroom tile. It looked like she'd fallen straight backward from the bathroom into the hallway. The detectives carefully moved around the body and entered the bathroom. They noticed cotton balls and cold

cream on the counter. It looked like Paula had been removing her makeup when she just fell. Then something else caught their eye. A bottle of Tylenol, the cap still open. The detectives looked at each other. They suspected immediately what they had just become a part of, but they needed to confirm it. had just become a part of, but they needed to confirm it. Next, Ford and Gilday went into Paula's kitchen, where they discovered an open Tylenol box and a receipt next to it. According to the receipt, on the night of Wednesday, September 29th, Paula Prince went into a Walgreens and paid $2.39 for what she thought was a standard pain reliever. Paula had no idea she was holding her own murder weapon, and that the killer was still at large.

Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories. Come back next week for part two of our three-part series on the Tylenol murders. Murder True Crime Stories is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios here at Crime House. We want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media at Murder True Crime Pod on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. We'll be back next Tuesday.

Murder True Crime Stories, a Crime House original show powered by Pave Studios, is executive produced by Max Cutler. This episode of Murder True Crime Stories was sound designed by Ron Shapiro Written by Sarah Batchelor Edited by Alex Benidon Fact-checked by Catherine Barner And included production assistance from Kristen Acevedo and Sarah Carroll Murder True Crime Stories is hosted by Carter Roy by Carter Roy. every Monday. Just search Mind of a Serial Killer and follow wherever you listen to podcasts. If you're fascinated by the darker sides of humanity, join us every week on our podcast,

Serial Killers, where we go deep into notorious true crime cases. With significant research and careful analysis, we examine the psyche of a killer, their motives and targets, and law enforcement's pursuit to stop their spree. Follow Serial Killers wherever you get your podcasts and get new episodes every Monday.