Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 373 - The Chicago Tylenol Murders

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

Who decided to add cyanide to a bunch of bottles of Tylenol in the Chicago area in 1982? A couple of real shifty, odd suspects emerged in an investigation that lasted decades. In this episode, we'll not only look at the Chicago crimes, we'll also look at how these crimes led to legal changes to protect the consumers of all kinds of products. Protections all of us benefit from today. And we'll look into some copycat crimes that came later. Get ready to smell your medicine and vitamins for the scent of almonds. CLICK HERE TO WATCH MY NEW SPECIAL ON YOUTUBE! Trying to Get BetterGet tour tickets at dancummins.tv Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TmdclOqbE8sMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comTimesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard?  Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog  (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE.  You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.  And you get the download link for my secret standup  album, Feel the Heat.

It was very strange to be completing research on this topic on the afternoon of Halloween, preparing for a parade of kids and costumes and their parents to be stopping by our house, the overwhelming majority of them, total strangers, to take some of whatever candy we wanted to give them, and then head home and eat it. All these people, trusting that we didn't, I don't know, fill us a range full of some highly lethal, odorless and tasteless poison, inject that through the packaging into all the candy bars they're grabbing or at least into some of them. Phyllis Ringe, Phyllis Somm, Highly-Lethal, Otarless, and Tasteless poison, and Jek that through the packaging into all the candy bars they're grabbing or at least into some of them. This episode freaked me out a little bit.

We are all constantly just trusting whether we think about it consciously or not. That some random psycho hasn't poisoned the fruit we grab at the store, the vitamins that show up in the mail, the hamburger we pick up at the drive-through, the bottle of Tylenol, we grab at the drugstore. If you like me, you don't really think about this possibility because it feels like, yeah, but who would do that? Not many would. It almost never happens. Almost never. But it did happen in Chicago in the fall of 1982. Back when some dirtbag, or perhaps a couple dirtbags, but probably just one dirtbag, decided to have anyone living in the Chicago area who bought a bottle of Tylenol unwillingly play a little Russian roulette, not knowing that

some of the capsules in the bottle had been poisoned. On September 29, 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died shortly after ingesting Tylenol capsules poisoned with highly lethal potassium cyanide. Investigators quickly determined that the poison did not occur accidentally during production, packaging or shipping. Instead, someone deliberately poisoned the capsules with the intention of killing multiple people. The murders caused nationwide panic and the recall of

over 31 million bottles of Tylenol, which caused Johnson and Johnson, the owner of Tylenol's manufacturer, around $100 million. The Tylenol murders are now considered an act of domestic terrorism, a term that had not been coined yet when it happened. The victims included a 12-year-old girl, a flight attendant, two mothers of young children, three members of the same damn family. Who the hell did it? Now, why did they do it? The Tylenol murders have left a lasting impact, not just with the families of the victims,

but with the entire country. This week, we will discuss how these murders changed the way medication is packaged. We'll follow the investigation into who did it and take a look at the terrible day when seven random deaths shocked and devastated the Chicago area in into who did it and take a look at the terrible day when seven random deaths shocked and devastated the Chicago area in another who done it, what the fuck is wrong with some people? Sometimes I wish I had a magic button. I could push just to erase certain meat sacks

from the planet forever, addition of Time Suck. This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to Time Suck. Oh! Oh! You're listening to Time Suck. You're listening to Time Suck. Happy Monday Meet Sex. Welcome or welcome back to the Cult of the Curious. I'm Dan Cummins of Max, blah blah blah blah blah.

The Suck Master, Fireball Scroll Seeker. Curious I'm Dan Cummins max the blah blah blah blah blah blah the suck master fireball scroll seeker Guy who wasn't been able to get Barry the demon to give me shit guy who's clean wean is still tragically bent at a 90 degree angle after last week's fall out of my bed And you're listening to time suck. I hail named rod hell Lucic Fena praise beat a bow jangles glory bee to triple M Before we jump in, huge thank you. To the space lizards on Patreon who have stuck around after the conclusion of the secret suck in October to see what's in store, bonus content wise going forward or just to be supportive bonus content wise, that does include ad free time suck episodes, which have

already begun. But seriously, your continued support allows us to keep a staff hired, rent a studio, give money to charity. Lindsey and I could pair way down, record only audio, no video, do almost no social media, and just do it all ourselves at home, outsource a few things like adding the spooky soundbets to scared of death.

But instead, we get to keep the suck dungeon and the amazing staff we have, and when I'm done touring this next year, use the staff to help create some additional content, very excited to focus solely on just bad magic. Be able to do that and recharge as well, beginning next year. Also going forward on these big episodes of Time Suck,

there will be two mid-roll ad breaks. I know I know, I know. But most podcasts that have episodes this long do more than two and half for a while. We've put off going to two ads as long as we could, but our ad agency has finally strongly insisted enough of the enough that we move closer to the industry standard. If you don't want to hear the ads, you can join Patreon, and for five bucks a month, you will get completely ad free episodes. The entire nearly 300, 300 episode backlog of the Secret Suck, a 20% merch discount at badmagicmarch.com.

Very new challenge coins in there, by the way, they're so cool. And you'll have a 20% of your patronage go straight to charities, including the annual Bad Magic Giving Tree, which gives back to our community and more. I will soon have a pin post in Patreon, Deer Space Lizards, illustrating how to add both the entire ad-free catalog of Time Suck and the Secret Suck catalog to your preferred podcast player and more cool stuff coming in 2024. So thank you, thank you, thank you, seriously, it's huge. Last thing, happy Veterans Day to any and all veteran meat sex.

Thanks again for letting a dipshit like me live in a land where I can talk all the shit I do. And I don't take that for granted. And happy 40th birthday to the love of my life, Lindsey Cummins, the queen of bad magic, whose birthday is on Veterans Day. Looking forward to another decade with my very own Lucifina and the best person truly that I know. And now enough love for a bit. Let's dive into a very strange, very compelling,

for me at least murder mystery, full of some just incredibly odd suspects. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC a brief overview of the history of Tylenol's downfall from a spot as the leading over the counter pain killer on the market, despite Johnson and Johnson, the owner of Tylenol until recently not having done anything wrong. They were just another victim. After that, we'll discuss the evolution of tamper-proof packaging for medication and other products, and then a full timeline of the Tylenol murders, focusing on the main suspects

and the long, long investigation into the murders. Johnson and Johnson was founded in 1886 by three brothers, James, Edward Mead, and Robert Johnson. Robert Johnson, years earlier, in 1861, Robert Wood Johnson actually, yes his name was Bobby Wood Johnson, a fuck yeah bro, got a job as a pharmaceutical apprentice at his mother's family pharmacy in Pekip, senior York because he was too young to fight in the American Civil War. To fight for the Union while this law was often overlooked.

You were supposed to be at least 18. And Bobby Wood. Oh, Bobby Wood Johnson only 16. Had he been just a bit older, there was a real good chance that he would have died in that incredibly bloody war. And now there would be no Johnson and Johnson, a top 50 Fortune 500 company employing around to 130,000 people and one of only two US based companies with a prime credit rating of AAA. During his apprenticeship, Bobby Hardwood learned how to make medicated plasters,

which were rubber plasters that had medication mixed in and an adhesive layer that allowed it to stick to the skin. Excuse me, most plasters were made with popular pain relieving ingredients of the day like Beledana mustard seed It's weird to think about I'm gonna go grab some mustard seed from my muscle ache Capsa come aka nightshade or stronger ingredients like opium Yeah, that'll that'll knock some pain down Mr. Wooden Johnson moved to New York City after his apprenticeship and got into the drug sales industry In 1873. He founded Seabury in Johnson with George, you can probably guess, Seabury, chemist and

pharmacist to sell their brand of medicated plasters. Within a few years, Seabury in Johnson was one of the most widely recognized medicated plaster brands in the world. 1876, Bobby Rockhardwood Johnson represented Seabury in Johnson at the World's Fair in Philadelphia. It was there in Philly where he watched the International Medical Congress, the largest gathering of doctors in U.S. history. He listened to a man named Dr. Joseph Lister, explained the procedures for antiseptic surgery, which was a revolutionary concept at the time. He'll stay interested in antiseptics and that interest will soon become very profitable for him.

He'll stay interested in antiseptics and that interest will soon become very profitable for him. Decade later in 1886 Robert left his partner because he had a hanker in for more Johnson He wanted more Johnson in his life and he founded Johnson and Johnson with his two younger brothers Seems like it should have been Johnson and Johnson and Johnson or triple Johnson or something But I guess Johnson and Johnson sounded best It would become the first company to mass-produce sterile surgical supplies Johnson and Johnson produced the world's first aid kit, the world's first first aid kit. After Robert Johnson spoke with the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Lions Chief Surgeon and learned that the workers needed easily accessible medical supplies because they worked super fucking dangerous jobs in areas,

you know, with no doctors or medical resources. J and J initially made two types of first aid kits, one for railroad workers and one for regular customers. Both contained items such as sterile dressing sutures and surgical tape. Weird to think about a time when there wasn't first aid kits. Johnson and Johnson also published modern methods of antiseptic wound treatment, a guide on antiseptic surgery for doctors, and this guide helps spread germ theory and antiseptic wound treatment, a guide on antiseptic surgery for doctors, and this guide helps spread germ theory and antiseptic surgical methods across the country in a short amount of time. By 1889, most surgeons had adopted the antiseptic surgery methods, first promoted by that doctor, Lister, the guy who made a real impression on Bobby Softwood

back in Philly, and antiseptic, by the way, means free from or cleaned of germs and other micro organisms. A few decades later, now 1920, J&J employee, Earl Dixon came up with the idea to combine two products, surgical tape and antiseptic gauze to make fucking band-aids. By 1921 band-aids, as we know them now, we're on the market. J&J continued to grow throughout the 20th century as a leader in the healthcare industry making all kinds of products acquiring all kinds of companies. This year Johnson and Johnson actually named the world's most admired company by Fortune. That's right, in 2023. Back in 1982, the year of the Tylenol murders, J&J was, as it had been, for so long now,

an absolute powerhouse in the pharmaceutical industry and one of its best products was Tylenol murders, J&J was, as it had been, for so long now, an absolute powerhouse in the pharmaceutical industry and one of its best products was Tylenol. In 1982, the year of the murders in Chicago, PBS said that Tylenol was the best-selling, non-prescription, pain-releaver, sold in the US, with an estimated 37% market share of a billion-dollar a year pain-releaving industry. Industry and analysts estimated Tylenol sales

at more than 300 million a year that equates to about a billion dollars today. The active ingredient of Tylenol is a, oh boy, here comes medical word. Perseidimol defined as a non-opioid analgesic and antipyretic. Oh my God, antipyretic agents used to treat fever and mild to moderate pain.

Pharmacist doctors, I'm sure you're very comfortable these words, I will probably never, ever say those again after this week. The Tylenol brand was created back in 1955 by McNeil Laboratories, sold by McNeil Consumer Products, and then Johnson and Johnson, and another Johnson, and the other two Johnson's, that they don't like to acknowledge, acquired McNeil Laboratories in 1959. Millions of people were buying Tylenol every day in stores across the country, just like

now. But it wasn't packaged the same way, neither was it's over-the-counter medication competitors. Before the 1992 murders, non-prescription drugs were sold in so-called flip up containers with a cotton ball between the medicine and the plastic cap because nothing, and I mean nothing, can get past a soft cotton ball. If you open a bottle of medicine

and that cotton ball was sitting on top of the pills, you knew those pills were 100% safe because it was literally impossible to gently pull that cotton ball out, puts them poison in there, and then place it back in and have it look exactly the same. Obviously, I'm being very sarcastic. The medication was put inside capsules also

that could be easily pulled apart, and then put back together. The cap's word child resistance, that had been around since 1970, but while medication had child resistant lids, it didn't have that type of safety seal underneath the cap that is so, so very common today. I actually can't think of the last time I opened up a bottle of vitamins, Tylenol, container of protein powder, so many other containers and bottles that did not have that seal.

Sometimes those seals are real bits to open by the way. I need to stab and holes with a knife, tearing it apart and little tiny fucking pieces while cursing a bunch. We have these murders to thank for that. Dr. Alan Wolf, a pediatrician at the Boston's Children Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, was quoted about a decade ago as saying 40 years later, we take it for granted granted that bottles of over the counter medicine are shrink wrapped in plastic and there's a piece of foil that you need to peel back. Those tragic killings changed the pharmaceutical industry and changed federal labeling laws. Interesting, right? I feel like hundreds if not thousands of those little seals over

the course of my life and never once thought prior to this week's episode, what led to those seals? Had no idea. It was these murders. I had no idea these murders occurred. Thank you, Space Lizards, for bringing them to my attention. Johnson and Johnson had a lot of financial incentive to make people feel safe to buy a Tylenol again after these murders. While they had an estimated 37% market share of over-the-counter payment medications before the murders, within a few weeks after the murders, that had fallen from 37% to 8%. Thailand all accounted for 17% of J&J's net income

before the murders, which was enough to make for pairing Thailand all's brand image, you know, a huge priority for the massive conglomerate. Marketers and the wake of the murders predicted that the company would literally never fully recover from the tragedies. Experts thought the Thailand all brand was doomed. Advertising executive Jerry Dela Femina told the New York Times in October of 82, there may be an advertising person who thinks he can solve this.

And if they can find him, I want to hire him because then I want him to turn our water cooler into a wine cooler. I thought I needed, they needed a miracle. I mean, Neil consumer products executives working at the subsidiary that they created, or that created manufactured and distributed Tylenol put this quote in their offices as inspiration for their recovery. They consider renaming Tylenol, but didn't mostly due to pride. Instead, they focused on designing packaging to increase consumer safety. And J and J responds to the Tylenol murders was was fantastic. It would end up being a shining example of corporate ethics and crisis management per the Chicago Tribune. Tylenol will be back on the market less than two months after the murders with tamper-proof packaging, a massive new media campaign, lots of commercials focused on customer concern

and safety. In collaboration with the FDA, J&J produced a triple sealed packaging that included a box with glued flaps, tight plastic wrap around the bottle cap, and a foil seal covering the mouth of the bottle. The box and bottle also featured a warning for consumers not to use the medicine if the seals were broken. J&J held a news conference November 11th, 1982 to announce their new packaging at the news conference.

CEO James Burke said, all of us can demonstrate a united determination not to allow our lives to be ruled by acts of terrorism, not to allow America to be poisoned the way these seven people were poisoned. McNeil even offered a free bottle of Tylenol to anyone who requested one. This tamper-proof packaging would then become the industry standard for over-the-counter medications. All of Tylenol's primary competitors

would adopt it or an equivalent. Jane Dei also produced a new version of Tylenol called a caplet, a tablet coated with gelatin that would be much harder to tamper with than the old gelatin capsules that could be know easily be open and shut. A year after the murders, Tylenol sales rebounded and it again became the leading over the counter pain killer. Noise.

Then in 1983, Congress passed the Federal Anti-Tampering Act, aka the Tylenol Bill, which made it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products the Federal Anti-Tampering Act would sentence an individual to a maximum of 20 years in prison for tampering with medications food and other consumer goods Six years later, 1989 the FDA established new guidelines for manufacturers to make all products tamper proof over the counter medication would be legally required to be sold in tamper evidence packaging. And all of this traces back to the Chicago Tylenol murders, which is actually great, right? Something good came from something really terrible. We are all safer today because of these tragic and senseless killings. And now that we know a little bit about what came from these tragedies,

time for our timeline of the Tylenol murders and the long investigation that followed. After the first of today's two mid-roll breaks. Thank you for sticking around and now let's hop into this big old timeline. Round and now let's hop into this big old timeline. On September 29, 1992, seven people in the Chicago area ingested poison Tylenol capsules filled with potassium cyanide. According to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, potassium cyanide releases hydrogen cyanide gas, a highly toxic chemical asphyxiant that interferes with the body's ability to use oxygen. Exposure to potassium cyanide can be rapidly fatal. It has whole body, systemic effects, particularly affecting those organ systems most sensitive

to low oxygen levels. The central nervous system, i.e. the brain, the cardiovascular system, i.e. the heart and blood vessels, and the pulmonary system, i.e. the lungs. The seven victims will be 12-year-old Mary Kellerman from the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, 27-year-old Adam Janice from Arlington Heights, another Chicago suburb, 25-year-old Stanley Janice from the suburb of Lyle, 20-year-old Teresa Janice, also from Lyle, 27-year-old Mary Lynn Reiner

from the suburb of Winfield, 31-year-old Mary Sue McFarland from the suburb of Elmerhurst, and 35-year-old Mary Sue McFarland from the suburb of Elmerst and 35-year-old Paula Prince from Chicago Proper. All the murders occurred in either Cook or DuPage County. Let's now walk through the tragic events of September 29. Mary Kellerman was born on March 9th, 1970. She was the only child of Dennis and Gina Kellerman. The 12-year-old liked to make pottery, cook with her mom, ride her pony, and play a tarry with her dad. I was also playing a tarry with my dad in 1982.

That's right, a 1,000 years old. Chopper command, baby, so fun. She recently started babysitting, using her money to buy books, gifts for her parents. She was a great kid, Mary's friend Sharon Hogg would later tell the Chicago Tribune, I remember just a very happy, go lucky person. I remember her crooked teeth because she was always smiling. She

was just a very warm and loving person. I was certainly drawn to her because I think, as kids, we kind of have a good radar for good people. At 6.15 a.m. on September 29, 1982, young Mary woke up with a head cold, decided to stay home from school. She went into her bathroom, took an extra strength Tylenol that her mom had just purchased at the grocery store the night before, and within literally seconds. After taking just one capsule, Mary's father, Dennis, heard her start to cough. A few minutes later, he heard something hit the floor in the bathroom. It was his daughter's body. He called out and Mary didn't respond. The door found her line on the floor, set her eyes were fixed and dilated and her breathing was

shallow. Dennis Keller men recalled that Chicago Tribune many years later I heard her go into the bathroom. I heard the door close. Then I heard something drop. I went to the bathroom door. I called Mary. Are you okay? There was no answer. I called again. Mary, are you okay? There was still no answer. So I opened the bathroom door,

and my little girl was on the floor unconscious. She was still in her pajamas. How horrifying. For any parent to think about this happening. By the time they reached the hospital, Mary was in full cardiac arrest, doctors quickly installed a pacemaker in her heart, called a priest to perform last rites,

and Mary was pronounced dead at 9.56 a.m., less than four hours after taking the one-sign eyed lace Tylenol. The next death occurred in Arlington Heights, about seven miles away from Mary's home in Elgro Village. Adam Janice was born on March 7th, 1955 in Tarnoff, Poland. And I'm not even going to make any of my old, tired Polish jokes today. Polish Americans, you know, they, uh, well, they don't fare well in this story. And I, and I just, I don't want to rile up, you know, my Polish wife. It's, you know, it's a birthday coming

up. You know, and, you know, Lindsey Lindsey's I've already complained about recently. She, she does continue just to, uh, to refuse to submit to my rightful patriarchal authority. She just, I don't, I don't know where fucking deal is, but she just won't be subservient. It's crazy. It's crazy. She's loose cannon. And I'm pretty sure a lot of Polish women have witch powers. And I just, I don't want to be hexed with her dark, dirty, Polish, black magic. So I'm not going to make fun of Polish people at all.

I also wanted to be firing up her dad. You know, he's a large man who claims to be pretty handy with a shotgun and again, like a lot of Polish people, but not the one in today's story. You know, he's mentally unstable and kind of mentally feeble. So I'm, again, I'm not gonna poke any big dumb, completely insane dirty Polish bears today. Nothing but respect for the Poles.

Anyway, this actually is, this actually is so fucking sad. This poor family, Adam Janice, 27 when he died. The Janice family had moved to the US when Adam was eight because his father refused to join the Communist Party. They settled in the northwest side of Chicago. Chicago does have a large Polish population. Adam met his wife Teresa when he was visiting his former hometown. They then returned to the US to get married. Adam and Teresa have two kids, Kathy and Thomas. Adam and Teresa moved to Arlington Heights in the late 70s. Excuse me.

September 29th started off as just another normal day for Adam. At 11 a.m. he was out running errands with his wife and son. He worked as a post office supervisor. You know, had a great job. It was his day off. Adam had experienced some chest pains a day before. maybe a cold settling into his chest or something, nothing serious, but he was feeling plenty well enough to go out. He picked up his daughter from preschool, then stopped at the grocery store to buy steaks, flowers for his wife, a bottle

of extra strength Tylenol for a bit of a headache he also had. Adam returned home, put away the groceries, went to the bathroom, took two Tylenol capsules. Theresa didn't even see Adam take the capsules. She did see him come out of the bathroom, clutching his chest, complaining about feeling pain. When she followed him into the bedroom, she saw that his eyes were, again, like the other person, fixed and dilated, and his breathing was shallow. This shit hits so fast.

In seconds. Theresa saw two neighbors talking outside. She knew that one of them was a nurse who happened to speak Polish, so she asked for her help. As she did, Adam lost consciousness. The nurse rushed inside, tried to resuscitate Adam while the other woman called an ambulance. And Adam was pronounced dead at 3.15 pm.

Again, just dead within hours of ingestion this poison and knocked to the fucking floor within just a few minutes. Within just what sounds like one minute. According to Dr. Thomas Kim, the medical director of the ICU at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, there was no way to determine the cause of death immediately. They initially diagnosed Adam with either a heart attack or a brain injury, but those just educated guesses and had to wait for further testing.

Because Teresa didn't speak much English, Dr. Cam primarily spoke with Adam's parents and his younger brother Stanley. Tragically Adam will not be the only member of the Janus family to die suddenly and unexpectedly the same day. Hours later, Stanley and his wife Teresa will also take poison Tylenol capsules from the same fucking bottle. The stress of Adam, you know, dying left them with headaches. Stanley Janus was also born in Tarnoff, Poland, April 6, 1957, the youngest of the Janus siblings. Stanley agreed to be set up with a young woman named Teresa Tarssevich, who went by the nickname Terry, who was born June 23rd 1962 her parents from Poland and immigrated to the US

Before she was born Terry and Stanley got married just a few months earlier June 12 1982 went on a honeymoon in Hawaii when they returned They moved in across the street from Terry's parents in Lyle about 30 minutes from Arlington Heights Stanley ran an auto-part store in Chicago Lyle, about 30 minutes from Arlington Heights, Stanley ran an auto part store in Chicago. Terry and Stanley started remodeling their house, preparing to spend the rest of their lives together, hadn't even gotten their wedding photos back yet when all this happened. After Adam died, the whole family made plans to go to his house to be with Teresa. Stanley tried to get out of it.

His back was hurting. He wanted to go home, be with his wife, his mom, Aloeza, insisted that he go to Adam's house anyway. And within a few hours, he will also be dead. Backing up slightly now to about an hour after Adam died, a young mother in windfield, about 35 minutes from all these nights will be the next victim of the poison capsules. Mary Lynn Reiner, born on April 15, 1955 1955 also just 27 years old when she's murdered She grew up nearby Villa Park another Chicago suburb one of eight children of Howard and Catherine Feren Lynn and her husband Ed when lived in Winfield their fourth child had been born a mere six days earlier

that four young kids at home and days earlier. They had four young kids at home. And 3.45 pm, Lynn was getting ready to feed her kids, but she had a headache. She decided to take some Tylenol. She bought earlier that day at the grocery store. She took two capsules and almost immediately felt dizzy. Try to go to the bathroom, but couldn't even make it there. On the way, she collapsed onto a chair and started having seizures. Her husband quickly called the police. An officer arrived, saw that Lynn's eyes a chair and started having seizures. Her husband quickly called the police. An officer arrived, saw that Lynn's eyes were fixed and dilated again. She was having continuous seizures. The scene was chaotic. Lynn's mother-in-law was holding the baby. One of the older kids

is upstairs trying to find out what the fuck is going on. Edwin shouting at the kids to stay upstairs. Lynn is taking to a hospital in Winfield and put on life support. She'll never regain consciousness and she'll die the next day. Now back to the poor Janice family, right? Stanley, 515 PM, while the family is making funeral plans at Adam Janice's house, Stanley announces he needs to take some Tylenol. He asks if anybody else wants them. Very unfortunately, his wife Terry says she would like some because she also has a headache. They go into the bathroom together, moments later, Stanley comes out holding his chest, saying, my God, I feel bad.

And then he collapses. He's caught as he falls, already losing consciousness by his brother Joseph. And then his wife, Terry starts complaining that her chest is hurting as well. And a family member calls 911. Firefighters and paramedics at Arlington Heights Station number three received the call. Realize it had came from the exact same address they had just responded to 1262 South Mitchell Avenue. Lieutenant Chuck Kramer has a fire truck follow the ambulance to the house. He tells the Chicago Tribune years later as we were coming down the street. There were crowds of people and as we

pulled up in front I started to go up to the house and I can hear screaming come out of the house. A paramedic looked at Kramer as he tried to revive Stanley saying, this is the exact same thing that happened to the man this morning. And we lost him. At that time, Terry grabs Kramer's shoulder and shouts, Stanley, Stanley. And these will be her final words. She collapses to the floor like the other victims.

Her breathing shallow, her eyes fixed and dil words. She collapses to the floor like the other victims for breathing shallow her eyes fixed and dilated. She's lost consciousness. Lieutenant Kramer orders the entire family to be put in police cars, send to the hospital immediately in case anyone else is sick from the same contagious disease or the same poison. And totally will isolate 14 people across the city as Stanley and Terry are dying. More people are being poisoned. Mary McFarland was born December 7th, 1950 in Chicago.

Yes, another Mary, a third Mary, really shitty day to be a Mary living in Chicago. This Mary was a 31-year-old divorce mother to young children. She'd recently started dating again at the time for death, just getting back out there, just getting her life back. Mary worked as a sales rep at a bell telephone store in the Yorktown shopping center in Lombard about 20 miles from Chicago. Mary was working on the evening of September 29th, 1982, 6.45 pm. She was taking her dinner break with her friend slash co-worker, Jan Hoffman,

and then Mary went back to work like normal, but you know stopped by by the break room because she had a headache headaches, you know, they're common amongst the staff there, maybe because of the fluorescent lights. The company kept a jar of generic pain pills in the break room. Mary didn't like those, preferred her own medicine. So she took two Tylenol capsules from a bottle she had just bought, offered some to her coworker, Diana Hilderbrand. Diana said she was good. She just took some generic pills,

so she declined, lucky her. Within roughly 10 minutes, Mary told her coworkers, I don't feel good, and then promptly collapsed to the floor. Again, fucking insane. How fast this shit just absolutely destroys people. She never regained consciousness. When the paramedics arrived, they asked her coworkers, if she had taken anything, Diana Hilderbrand

said, uh, yeah, she just taken some Tylenol. Mary went to the hospital. Her family was told she had a catastrophic stroke. Meanwhile in Arlington Heights, Stanley and Terry still in critical condition at 7 p.m. Arlington Heights fire lieutenant Chuck Kramer believed they needed to contact a public health expert to assess the situation. So he called a nurse and a friend of his, Helen Jensen. Kramer told her they needed to figure out how three healthy young people from the same family

became deathly ill minutes after feeling fine. So she came to the hospital, entered the quarantine zone to speak to Adam's wife Teresa. She told Helen about what Adam did that morning, what the family did in the afternoon, and Helen quickly determined that the common denominator was Tylenol. She asked Teresa for her house key, got an officer to escort her to the house. She arrived at 8 p.m. picked up some items that all three might have come into contact with a pot of coffee,

use coffee grounds, jarred fruits, cherry juice, a cake, prescription medications, flowers, you know the Tylenol, the receipt for the Tylenol. She counted 44 capsules in the 50 count bottle, meaning the three victims each took two capsules. At the hospital, Helen hands the bottle of Tylenol to a representative from the Cook County Medical Examiner's office and tells them it has to be the Tylenol. Hail Nimrod, Hail Helen, she's on the fucking top of this. But then they seem skeptical. So she says it again, there's something in the Tylenol.

She goes home that night feeling super frustrated. She tells her husband that people are in danger and no one is believing her. And she cries herself to sleep the night of the 29th. She later tells the Chicago Tribune, I'm a woman and a nurse. No one was going to listen to me. At 10 p.m., how fucked up by the way, 10 p.m.

Lieutenant Kramer learns that Stanley Janice is dead, Terry's on life support with no chance of recovery. The first responders are released from quarantine, instructed to decant, decantaminate their homes, the rest of the Janice's admitted for overnight observation. Joseph Janice, uh, ruined with the sister Sophia that night and would tell the Chicago Tribune, I was just looking at my sister and she was looking at me to see if we were still alive. I thought we were going to die too. What a absolutely horrific day for this family.

Lieutenant Kramer's team go back to the Firehouse and Arlington Heights. He receives a phone call from Arlington Heights Fire Lieutenant, Phil Capitelli, taking all my strength. Not to say Mazarradi, Bugatti, Spaghetti, or Antonio Benderos right now. Thank you, Nimrod, for giving me the strength to push past them. Phil heard Kramer's radio message that the trucks were all out of commission until further notice and he wanted to know what had happened. Kramer told him about the mysterious illness in the Janus family, mentioned all of them had taken Tylenol that day.

Phil then told him about the death of young Mary Kellerman. Phil already knew about Mary's death because he spoke to a firefighter in Elk Grove Village. There were no hippo laws at that time. So the firefighter was able to obtain details about her death and share them with Phil. Kramer called the Elk Grove Village Fire Department, talked to the paramedic who treated Mary Kellerman, learned that her symptoms matched the Genesis symptoms.

Kramer then called the hospital to tell them he believed now as well the Genesis were poisoned by Tylenol. Dr. Thomas Kim, the ICU director and Onision Heights, you know, didn't think that a family could have died from a seat of benefit poisoning. So what was it? He wanted to know what it caused a sudden cardiac arrest. He talked to some poisoning experts, looked at them textbooks, and the only thing that kept coming up to could kill people that fast was cyanide. Their hospital couldn't test for cyanide, so we called the cabs and two vials of blood

from Stanley and Terry to a 24 hour lab in Highland Park. Around that time, an Elk Grove Village officer brought to the caliber of the Tylenol bottle to the hospital, gave it to Nicholas P. Shows, who was investigated with the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. P. Shows also had was investigated with the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. P. Shows also had the bottle from Nurse Helen Jensen. Jensen both shared the same lot number, right? Both part of the same group of bottles manufactured at the same time, same place. P. Shows called Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Edmund Donahue. Donahue asked him to open up one

of the bottles and smell it. P. Sh's immediately detected an almond scent in both bottles, which is characteristic of cyanide. How many of you are now going to be smelling your vitamins? An aspirin, right? Did you see like, does it smell like almost you? I feel like I can smell it just a hint of almond. According to the Chicago Tribune, the almond odor isn't always present though. And even when it exists, it's discernible

by only about 60% of the population. And that is just fucking great. Smell test, doesn't even work, a lot of the time. Probably still gonna smell for all ones though. Donnie Hueck called Cook County Chief Toxicologist, Michael Schaefer, asked him to go to the morgue, test the Tylenol, or come to the morgue, test the Tylenol, excuse me. I drink a smoothie really fast before the show,

and I'm like, come on, just digest already. A test he found that four of the remaining 44 capsules in the Janus bottle contain cyanide between 550 and 610 milligrams in each, three times the amount necessary to kill someone. Crazy that it's that potent. And also how unlucky were they? Right, the overwhelming amount of capsules in the bottle

didn't contain cyanide. So clearly whoever added cyanide to some of the capsules set those capsules on top, you know, so whoever grabbed the first capsules would die. Which makes me think that either they bought them or stole them, walked out to their car with them and replaced some pills with the poison pills, you know, or maybe made the swap right in the store. Maybe just take a bottle into the bathroom, replace some pills with the poison capsules,

you know, you have in a bag and your pocket or something, put that little cotton ball back in there, reseal the childproof cap and away you go. At 1.30 a.m., early on September 30th, still less than 24 hours from the first known poisoning, a technician from the Highland Park Lab notified Dr. Kim that massive amounts of cyanide have been found in terriens Steve's blood now. She added that she had never run a cyanide test before, but that she did follow all of the screening protocols. I wonder if other people died that no one just will ever learn about, right?

Maybe elderly people living alone Who deaths were never properly investigated, you know because it looked like they died of natural causes Dr. Kim recalled the technician saying there's just so much cyanide. I mean, it's just too much He asked for the lab directors phone number the technician seemed hesitant to give it So he threatened to send the audience in heights police to the lab if he didn't or if she didn't. And now she complied. The lab director assured Dr. Kimmy felt confident the tech ran the test correctly. Their blood was fucking loaded with cyanide.

This officially confirmed the Terry and Stanley also died of cyanide poisoning. 307 AM, the city news bureau, a-hour news organization, now reports on this case. Reporter John Flynn Rooney published a bulletin that the authorities were looking into the deaths of Adam and Stanley Janice. Their source was a hospital spokesperson. This was based on a tip received by overnight editor Rick Bert. City News Bureau did not mention Tylenol because Rooney could not get anyone to confirm that info fast enough. 5.30 a.m. the city news bureau does report that the M.E.'s office attributed three deaths to an unnamed headache remedy. Local news stations soon pick up and run with this sensational and very true story around

9 a.m. on the morning of September 30th. Cook County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Edmund Donney, who holds a news briefing to announce the deaths and warn people against taking Tylenol. The FDA throws their own warning into the mix. Numerous Illinois communities immediately pull the product from the store, from the stores. And a whole bunch of police officers

cruise up and down streets, using their intercom system to tell people to throw out their Tylenol. Both police and fire stations start collecting bottles. At same day, while performing random checks of extra strength, Tylenol, the FDA discovers another bottle poising with potassium cyanide from an Oscar drug store at Woodfield Shopping Center in Schomburg, about 33 miles from Chicago. Right? Cue a lot of fear now. How many other bottles have been poisoned?

Has anything else been poisoned? People very scared, rightfully so. Tylenol, Makers Johnson and Johnson and McNeil Laboratories are subsidiary now in crisis mode. According to the Chicago Tribune, J&J CEO James Burke told McNeil, Chairman David Collins, you better fucking fix this. I'll have your head in a platter.

Or he said you take care of this. Joe responsibility. McNeil executives rapidly establish a war room with their headquarters in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, Collins contacts some lawyer friends in the Chicago area, asked them to get more info. Johnston and Johnson and McNeil, very cooperative with law enforcement from the very beginning.

J&J provided a list of disgruntled, current and former employees and unhappy customers. They also offered a $100,000 reward of the request of state authorities. Funny to me that the like manufacturing center and the headquarters of this massive international corporation have a list of unhappy customers, you know, like by name. You know, it might be Karen Bagley. She's written over a hundred easily, over a hundred angry letters to us over the years. Our shampoo makes her eyes sting and she thinks she's going blind. Our lotion makes her skin break out in a rash and she thinks

she's going to need a complete skin replacement. Her baby hasn't been the same since she used our baby powder. She wants a million dollars or quote, there will be hell to pay. Tylenol made her headaches so much worse, she had to knock herself unconscious, get to sleep. Or you know what, it might be Gary Menky. The scratches from his cat still hurt after he put on one of our bandates. His palms are too rough and dry. Quote for pleasure, no matter how much lotion he uses, we've had to have him physically

a scorer from our headquarters on several occasions. Jan J first recalled over 93,000 bottles of Tylenol from the batch connected to the Janus and Columnum deaths, then expanded the recall to 171,000 bottles that are the same lot number as the bottle purchased by Mary McFarlane as well, and they temporarily stopped production of all Tylenol nationwide, even though they weren't fault. Actually, worldwide, I don't know why I said Nation went. Even though they weren't fault. Actually, worldwide, I don't know why I said nationwide. Even though they weren't fault at all, they will still lose millions and millions and millions of dollars. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fainer now gets involved in the case because the Illinois

Department of Law enforcement, now the Illinois State Police wanted his help. Fainer becomes the leader of the investigation. Fainer had a staff call local police, corners, the FBI, the FDA, prosecutors, public health officials. He also started the process of getting extras Frank's Tylenol removed from stores across the entire state. At this same time, the CEO of Advil almost dies from high-fiving his other execs.

He is so fucking fucked. He's like, oh my God, we're gonna be the fucking number one now. No, I don't know what he was doing. He was calling the exeteran guy. Are you, are you hearing this shit? Oh my God, this is great day for us. No, I mean while DuPage County Deputy Corner Pete Seekman was in an office at the Illinois Department of Public Health

Tax Collegiate Lab in Chicago, waiting to see if it's a Tylenol ingested by Lynn Reiner and Mary Sue McFarland had also been poisoned He suspected they were because some of the capsules contained a grainy Translucence substance See to men of thin the active ingredient in Tylenol is supposed to be a fine white powder I don't know why I didn't talk about a seat of men for the entire time instead of trying to say those crazy fucking top shelf former single words earlier At 1.30 a.m. early in the morning of October 1st, the test results come back confirming that the capsules indeed contain cyanide bringing

the official death total to five victims now. Seekman now drives to the Arlington Heights Police Department to speak to law enforcement assembled by AG Fainter's team. This was the first meeting of the Tylenol Task Force. Retired FBI agent Roy Lane Jr. told the Chicago Tribune that President Reagan wanted the FBI to get involved right away But they didn't think the feds technically had jurisdiction So the Department of Justice did some digging Quickly found an FDA law about truth and labeling that did allow the FBI to insert themselves in the case that they kind of meant truth a little bit Three dozen agents were assigned to the case under the premise that they needed to determine if

Johnson and Johnson violated federal law by failing to list potassium cyanide as an active ingredient in Tylenol, which of course is not what really happened, right? No one actually thought that Johnson Johnson intentionally put you know a little bit of cyanide into their Tylenol capsules and that's the only real problem with that, you know, was it the fact that it mentioned that on the label? And the only real problem with that, you know, was it the fact that it mentioned that on the label Warning careful taking these pills some of them have a fuck ton of poison in them You'll probably get lucky get one of the good ones. Just knock your headache down But you might get one of the bad ones that completely will fucking wreck you at about five minutes

You'll be sure you know for sure be dead if you take one of those you've been warned Well, the state police take the lead in investigation and again, yeah, they just did that so they could get the feds involved. Investigators were divided into almost four dozen teams, the original task force had over 100 members, eight of the teams had three members, one federal agent, one state investigator, and one detector from a town where a victim died or a tainted bottle was found. Despite these efforts at equality, there were still tensions amongst the task force members, especially between the FBI and Chicago PD. And that'll grow later because they will disagree very much on who the main suspect is.

The task force operated out of a state police bunker and does planes, which hosted a tip line and twice a day briefings and news conferences. Terry Janice is taking off life support late in the day, Friday, October 1st. That evening, 35 year old Paula Prince's dead body is then found inside her condo in the old town neighborhood of Chicago, the seventh victim. Yeah, and I said, October 1st, okay,

just make sure I said the day right. She was quickly linked to the other Tylenol victims. Paula Prince, a little bit about her born November 21, 1946 in Nebraska. She worked as a United flight attendants for years, but a recently decided to quit to start a party planning business with some friends. At 834 PM September 29, Paula landed at the O'Hare airport after a long day of work. She had gone to Las Vegas and Hartford, Connecticut. Before she left O'Hare, Paula checked the schedule, saw that her friend Jean Regula Levin Good, who lived in her same condo building, wouldn't get back

for another hour. She wrote a note, left it in Jean's airport mailbox, said, let's meet for a drink later. I have exciting news to tell you. On the way home, she stopped at Walgreens, security camera capture, her to cash register at 9.16 PM. She purchased a 24 count bottle of extra strength Tylenol. This should be strong. One-zone Paula changed to her pajamas and started taking off her makeup.

She took just one capsule of Tylenol. Sadly, we discovered later that she already had an open bottle of Tylenol in her travel bag that she must have forgot about. The Paula's friend and her sister were the ones who found her body. Later a Paula's funeral, a man approached Jean said that he met Paula during the layover in Vegas and instantly fell in love with her and they had plans to get married. And that was the exciting news.

The Paula wanted to tell her friend that night. So much senseless tragedy. At midnight, October 1st, Chicago mayor Jane Byrne holds a briefing to announce the death of Paula Prince and now bans a sale and distribution of all Tylenol in the city. Meanwhile, the task force hard at work trying to find the killer. The tip line received over 6,000 calls in just the first few weeks. I can only imagine how many innocents, but maybe like kind of creepy people were reported by, you know, family and friends and just acquaintances. Yeah, you're going to want to talk to my

uncle Vince. Holy shit. Something is fucking off with this guy. You just see the way he hugs his nieces makes me sick and uh, and he's got anger issues. This fucking dope picks a fight. Everything's giving three years ago. Punches my grandpa and my dad, another one of his brothers kicked a fucking shit out of him. He's where he's going to kill everyone in the family. I'm telling you, look in the Vince Giblowski. That's your fucking guy. How many calls like that do they have to do with? Investigators put 24 hour surveillance on the victim's homes, assuming that the killer might drive by.

They also photograph every one of the funerals, set up time-lapse cameras at the grave side, see if some creep is coming by to, you know, bays in the glory of its kills, but no one suspicious, you know, keeps showing up. To ask for us, you even use a new computer program to look into over 35,000 individuals and 15,000 companies. People in companies with more access than the random person to tampering with Tylenol. Agents interviewed the victims' families, neighbors, co-workers, friends to see if anybody had an enemy.

But this investigation was taken very seriously from the beginning. As it should have been, right? What if the motherfucker or mother fuckers responsible decided to release another wave of poisons? Maybe next time they'll add a cyanide to a salad bar or to bag the sugar, what if the motherfucker or mother fuckers responsible decided to release another wave of poison? Maybe next time they'll add a cyanide to a salad bar or to bag the sugar, flower that might be baked in hundreds of cookies or something. What if cyanide shows up in some school cafeteria and hundreds of kids are now dead? Investigators soon dismissed the possibility that the killer was after one particular victim and planted the other contaminated bottles to throw off the investigation. They came to believe that the killer was a stranger to all those who had died, which is so much scarier for the general public than someone who has a particular ax to grind

with a few families. The task force contacted Hospital to see if anyone had come in for poison burns or poisoning symptoms recently. Maybe the killer or killers had experimented with the poison before the attacks made some mistakes. They also looked at library records to see if anyone checked out a book about, you know, Sinide. Now I picture some seriously fucked up book that should have never made it into the

libraries in the first place. Murder doesn't have to be messy. How to poison people and get away with it. You know, written by Ted Kuzinski or some shit. Investigators spoke with veterinarians and see if the killer had tested the poison on any animals first. Now, even though Yelp was not around then, because neither was the internet.

I'm picturing a veterinarian with the lowest rating ever. Just so dark, just nothing but one stars. Took my puppy and for a rabie shot, dead in an hour. Fourth dog in a row, I've taken here that died almost immediately. I will not be back. All my dog needed was to have his nails clipped, died on the way home.

Pro, I literally don't know of anyone who has ever taken their pet here and not had a die immediately. Con offers, oh fuck, I swear it sounds like no. Con, you know what, let me back up. Con, you know what, what I said earlier, and then pro offers a substantial discount. That's really now.

The FBI, let's move on. Even reached out to the Soviet Union to ask for spy satellite images that could possibly help. Soviet Union was willing to assist, but they claimed they didn't have any satellites. Pointed at Chicago. Nice try, FBI. You almost get the Russia to have any satellites pointed at Chicago nice try FBI you almost get the Russia to admit satellite spine

Which we do not do But we almost say we did but we do not have four satellites have point at Chicago all time for just pretend you know make believe Investigators took over 200 samples of cyanide from businesses institutions, sent them to an FDA research lab in Cincinnati. Chemists established a trace element pattern or a chemical fingerprint for the sign-eyed found in the capsules and compared the samples to the known pattern. And the FDA was able to trace the sign-eyed in the capsules to Fisher Scientific, a lab supply company in Massachusetts that distributed the batch in 1978.

That's wild to me. Like I didn't know batches of chemicals like this could leave a type of fingerprint. I have to put some of my future plans on hold. The batching question contained over 1,800 pounds of cyanide sold in different sizes. But Fisher Scientific did not keep records of where products were shipped so the trail quickly went cold. And my plan is back on! So you've got to remember to only use cash, wear a wig and stuff when I buy my poison. Authority suspected the killer was a man but didn't automatically rule out a female suspect.

This is just based on women being more likely than men to kill with poison, but they almost always target people that they know. Male killers much more statistically likely to target random individuals. The FBI ended up creating a profile on the suspect, one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling. They speculated that the suspect had been treated for mental health issues and possibly an attack on his parents. Very specific.

They also assumed that he or she would have a history of animal cruelty. They believed the suspect was enjoying the attention and thought that they had outsmarted the police and that they would eventually seek more excitement by contacting an investigator to offer their help. This profile will turn out to be eerily accurate, shockingly accurate for one of the suspects. accurate, shockingly accurate for one of the suspects. Investigator thought that the Tylenol tampering could have taken place at the manufacturing plant level, using a lot of numbers, a trace to colorment and Janice bottles to Pennsylvania. They were manufactured on April 26, 1982, but then traveled to different

warehouses and a storage shop at a jewel facility in Franklin Park, Illinois. They were then delivered to different grocery stores before the Poisonines, the McFarland, Reiner and Prince bottles were manufactured in Round Park, Illinois. They were then delivered to different grocery stores before the Poisonings, the McFarland, Reiner, and Prince bottles were manufactured in Round Rock, Texas, and they were sent to warehouses in the Chicago area. So different manufacturing centers, different warehouses, obviously made it extremely unlikely that the tampering took place, where the Thailand, Thailand all was bottled, where it was originally shipped, or where it was stored. Within 48 hours of task force, concluded that the Tylenol almost certainly not poisoned during production. Much more likely that the tampering occurred at either, I mean, maybe the storage facility level still, distributing from the storage facilities to stores where Tylenol would be sold, or most likely,

at the stores themselves, including possibly by customers after the Tylenol bottles had already been put on the shelves. McNeill did keep potassium cyanide on site and it was stored in three unlocked laboratories. Over a thousand people had access to these labs. However, that cyanide did not have that same trace element pattern as the cyanide found in the capsules. All this is investigated, because it's very fascinating to me how they're able to eliminate things and so quickly narrow things down

October 5th Johnson and Johnson recall all Tylan all capsules now and this is the first mass product recall of this scale Or anything near the scale in US history over 31 million bottles are recalled and that cost Johnson Johnson around a hundred million dollars. Even though again, they didn't do shit. I'd have fucked up that they have to take the financial fall because some asshole has tampered with their products. Any bottles that weren't thrown out were sent back to J&J or to the FDA or various government labs for testing.

J&J alone will test over 10 million capsules for cyanide, right? At more cost to them, the company also sent 450,000 notices to health professionals, hospitals, and customers informing them they were taking their product back. And then J&J offered to replace capsules with new tablets for free. I can't wait to costly and time intensive shit show and just the damage to brand identity.

Investigators were now primarily looking into workers at trucking companies and storage warehouses that distributed Tylenol and then customers and then nothing pans out with the store warehouses or the people working in the trucking companies. So now eventually investigators think that a you know, a killer is almost certainly a customer. Someone who contaminated the bottles, either in store at home and put them back on the shelves. According to a state police memo, fingerprints not belonging to the victim or those living in their home were found on at least one poison bottle. And a full print was found on the inside of a box of a different bottle. The box and unused bottle were turned

in a couple weeks after the murders, everyone who had access to the box provided their fingerprints, including some suspects, but none matched. Three partial prints were found on the capsules from the bottle from the Schomburg Pharmacy, but there just wasn't enough of them to properly compare what they had to the ones the police had. Investigators will spend years getting DNA samples from anyone who could have come in contact with the Tylenol, including law enforcement, public health officials, scientists, medical professionals, etc. Recently, some of the people who handled the evidence back in 1982 did admit to the Chicago Tribune

that they did not wear gloves at this time. It just wasn't part of protocol back in 1982. So the risk of evidence contamination, you know, very high with the fingerprints, print could have easily come, you know, from someone, you know, doing the investigation, part of the investigation. Despite all these problems, about a week into the investigation, law enforcement does get their first big lead on October 6, 1982, an extortion letter arrives at McNeil Pharmaceuticals in Pennsylvania and reads as follows. Johnson and Johnson, parent of McNeil Laboratories, gentlemen. As you can see, it is easy to play a cyanide, both potassium and sodium, into capsules, sitting on store shelves. And since the cyanide is inside the gelatin, it is easy to get buyers to swallow the bitter

pill. Another beauty is that cyanide operates quickly. It takes so very little, and there will be no time to take countermeasures. If you don't mind the publicity of these little capsules, then do nothing. So far, I've spent less than $50, and it takes me less than 10 minutes per bottle. If you want to stop the killing, then wire a million dollars to bank account eight four dash four nine dash five nine seven at continental Illinois bank Chicago Illinois Don't attempt to involve the FBI or local Chicago's Chicago authorities with this letter a couple of phone calls by me

Will undo anything you can possibly do This phone phone call detail it's a little weird, right? Read to me like some random loser who wants to appear, you know, much more powerful than they actually are. Like they didn't personally put the sign out into the capsules. No, no, they're above that. They placed a couple of calls

and then their evil minions went out and did their dirty work. Some reason when I first came across as my brain, turned the letter writer into Cobra Commander from the LGI Joe, you know, after school cartoons. Gentlemen, as you can see, it is easy to play cyanide, both potassium and sodium, into capsule sitting on on store shelves. If you want to stop the killing, then wire a million dollars to Destro's bank account. Don't attempt to involve the FBI or local authorities with this letter. A couple phone calls by me.

Perhaps to bear an S definitely to storm shadow Will undo anything you could possibly do you fools Whoo that voice is uh that voice is pretty hard any throat I pick her whoever was used to voice co-brick commander just in a home somewhere. He's completely mute now The bank account number provided by the later writer a letter writer led to an account that once belonged to Frederick Miller McKay he owner of a failed travel agency McKay he had recently dealt with complaints by his former employee Nancy Richardson and her husband Robert Richardson aka Bobberdixon when her final paycheck bounced

And the Richardson's had left Chicago about three weeks before the poisons Few months back to Chicago Tribune had published one of Robert Richardson's essays in their opinion section on July 26th. It was titled a slice of Chicago life and was about the little details he noticed while waiting for the bus. Essay itself was important, but the Tribune had published Richardson picture. Now this photo was distributed to the media on October 13th

and the day was announced that a federal arrest and that day was also announced that a federal arrest warrant was issued for Richardson and more on this fucking weasel later a lot more. Same day the extortion letter arrived the Chicago police received a tip that led them in a different direction. A Chicago tavern owner, owner called the police to report that one of his regulars, Roger Arnold, told patrons he had cyanide in his home for a project. Just a little cyanide project folks nothing to see here nothing to be alarmed about.

Detectives asked all bartenders on Lincoln Avenue to call them the next time this motherfucker showed up at a bar. And we're going to meet Roger now. The guy the guy who showed up at the bar, one of the primary suspects in the Tylenol murders right after our second mid-roll break. Thanks again for sticking around. And now we shall meet a real guilty semen motherfucker. Roger Arnold was a dockhand at a jewel food store warehouse, a warehouse where Tylenol

bottles were often stored. The Chicago Tribune will describe him as a disheveled man with thick glasses and a beard. Something funny to me about being described as disheveled in the paper. Like what if he thought he really looked put together? Oh come on! My glasses aren't that thick, mama says they're stylish. Disheivelled? I used to comb almost every week. Roger would say that he was adopted as a baby

and grew up in Chicago, and that he was the only child of working class parents. When I first read about Roger, I don't know, I was just tired of something. Instead of adopted as a baby, I actually thought to the newspaper said he was adopted by a baby. Just for a second,

my irrational reaction was like, that's bullshit. How the fuck a baby adopt anyone? And then, oh yeah, of course I just read that wrong. That would be a very interesting claim to make. Sorry, did you mean you were adopted as a baby? No, I said what I said. I was adopted by a baby. I spoke very clearly.

I was 10 and it wasn't easy. But my baby mom did the best she could. She didn't really put food in the table or provided roof over my head or make me feel safe and protected or teach me literally anything actually. But I'm not mad. I mean, she was literally a baby.

And my mommy baby did the very best she could. I'll stop. Roger dropped out of school in the seventh grade, bounced around, worked a variety of odd jobs, joined the Army in 1957, received an honorable discharge two years later, 1959. Roger will tell people for the rest of his life that he was a demolitions expert.

He was not. He was a quarter master who managed clothing and betting for soldiers. Roger's wife of master who managed clothing and bedding for soldiers. Rogers wife of a dozen years, Dolores filed for Dolores just before Christmas 1901. So less than a year from the Tylenol murders, claiming mental and physical cruelty. Roger denied the claim, filed a counter petition, testified that Dolores struggled with mental illness and belittled him in front of others. I don't know about the belittoline, but I don't think she was mentally ill. He struggled with mental illness though. They came from an agreement that Dolores

would keep their home and he would keep his pension after his retirement. Roger was already considered a loner when he was married, but then with his birth parents dead, due to not maintaining a relationship with his adoptive or adoptive parents, you know, his baby, mommy, and his wife gone. He was really a loner, a super weird, creepy loner. Very little activity in his social life leading up to the murders. He was either at work where coworkers generally tried to avoid him. It seems at home alone, or he was the fucking annoying guy at the bar, making him stories about his old demolition days,

or talking shit about his ex wife ruined in his life. Work record showed that he was almost always on time for work though, didn't take much time off, had only one minor reprimand in a dozen years of work history. Despite his punctuality, one co-worker said that Roger thought of himself as a rebel to the norms of society. The rebel who never takes a day off. He was a rebel in other ways. Investigators learned that Roger disliked authority and the police had a quick temper and got

easily frustrated when things didn't go his way. Roger, you know, as I kind of referred to, I already referenced didn't have many friends, really no close friends. He did like to go to bars, talk to people about a time in the military, interesting chemistry. So, you know, he overall, he sounds like a fucking loser that no one wanted to be around. A lone wolf braggarts telling tall tales or a bitching about something, a mouth content.

The kind of guy who might do something like, I don't know, randomly poison people. Maybe his ex was a big Tylenol user, and he wanted to kill her in a way that no one could trace back to him. Marty Sinclair owned the Oxford pub on Chicago's Lincoln Avenue and Roger, unfortunately, was one of his regulars. Sinclair thought of Roger as being strange.

Notice it became a lot more erratic after his marriage ended. In June of 1982, just three months before the Poisonings, another area tavern owner called the police to report that Roger threatened him with a gun when he tried to break up a bar fight. So this guy is unstable. Marty was the one who called the police October 6th. Some of his regulars told him that Roger had previously talked about keeping cyanide in his home, which is at the very least a weird fucking thing to talk about. Like, a why would you ever talk about that at the bar and be? Why would you have cyanide at home? If you're not a chemist or something, what would you need it for other than for killing people? I mean, it's mainly used in manufacturing making textiles, papers, plastics.

What's he doing some light textile manufacturing at home? It's used by exterminators too, but like commercial exterminators. And there's some other random, mostly industrial uses. But in general, yeah, you don't fucking buy it for something not directly related to your work. A police report stated the subject was recently divorced and is despondent. He supposedly picked up a quantity of sign. I had two 16 ounce bottles six months ago and said that he was working on a quote project.

Again, a project does not sound good. That doesn't sound good at all. That sounds nefarious On the evening of October 11th 19 to two 13 days after the Tylenol murder victims began to die Roger seen in a bar on Lincoln Avenue called lilies He's picked up by the police at 7 p.m Taken to the area six headquarters where he is interviewed by detectives Jimmy Gildayah and Charlie Ford Gildayah was working the Paula Prince case. The only victim killed inside Chicago city limits Ford and Gildea noticed that Roger seemed to be in the interview room, which they thought was odd because he didn't have

a criminal record. So why was he acting like he was accustomed to being interviewed by authorities? They got him to talk about his life and what a weird conversation would unfold. Gildeya said about Roger as quoted by the Tribune, he just struck me as being real resentful of his lot in life. The fact he lost his house, his wife. I think he was kind of a broken little man really. Ouch. It couldn't even just stop with a broken man. They had to call him a broken little man. Really continuing to paint quite a picture of this dude.

Fortigo de Got Roger to admit he purchased potassium cyanide from a mail order company Wisconsin for quote experiments. So projects and experiments. Oh, nothing to worry about. He didn't specifically say what his experiments were. You know, just some experiments with deadly poison, nothing suspicious. Probably just trying to make some new plastics at home for funsies. He said he threw his cyanide and most of his lab equipment away during the summer because he was, quote, having trouble with his wife, his ex, and didn't want the stuff around

Fuck does that mean? Why wouldn't your ex-wife want your experiment equipment around maybe because she was worried that your experiment had something to do with murdering people Roger and I being involved in the murders, but did say it sure would have been fun to be the guy who killed a bunch of strangers Now you can say that But he did suggest it would be easy to open some capsules up and put a bunch of deadly cyanide in them, which is still some weird shit to say to detectives. Roger now allowed the detectives to search his home without a warrant, and they found a lot of stuff.

They found unlicensed handguns, a rifle, a bag of suspicious looking white powder, a laboratory company catalog with different chemicals circled, be vials funnels test tubes that books magazines and Manuals about things like oh homemade fucking explosives detonators drugs and poisons This guy was a menace One of his books was titled the poor man's James Bond and it had instructions inside on how to make potassium cyanide The book even suggested putting the poison into an enemy's medicine cabinet contained in capsules.

Capsules. Holy shit. Those detectives had to have been thinking, fucking got him. Got our guy. He clearly did this. I mean, how many people just in general at any given day would have this exact assortment of very suspicious, sure looks like I'm preparing to kill a bunch of people in material. And how many had it in Chicago right after these murders? And this motherfucker even

worked at a warehouse where Tylenol bottles were stored. And if all that wasn't enough, Roger had also just purchased a fucking one way ticket to Thailand. The dude who never misses work, the dude who has shown up on time for a dozen years suddenly just happens to have a lot of books about how to use stuff like signite to kill people, bunch of lab equipment, and this dude is the guy who admitted to having bought a bunch of signite for experiments in the past few months.

This very guilty looking dickhead was supposed to leave in four days, October 15th, casually also said he was going to travel to Thailand to spend time with sex workers. What about your lucky ladies? Oh, I'm sure he would have treated them with just a lot of, you know, dignity and respect. Luciferina just threw up a little. Sadly, despite how incredibly guilty he looked detectives still didn't have any concrete

evidence tying him to the murders and were not able to charge him with anything. But they did take him from his home back to the station, tried to get him to the murders and were not able to charge him with anything, but they did take him from his home back to the station, trying to get him to confess while they documented a lot of what the evidence, you know, of what he had lying around, detectives forward in Gilday's superiors now started to question Roger and they couldn't crack him. He was arrested on five charges of failure to register firearms, but those charges only missed a meters. So they were able to hold him overnight and then the next day on October 12th, the bar owner who threatened back in June, who, you know, was threatened, excuse me, back in June, they were able to get him to sign a

complaint for aggravated assault, which let them hold him a little longer. However, he wasn't going to be able to be held much longer without, you know, more serious charges being filed. The same day, the testing for the white powder in his home comes back and it's identified as potassium carbonate, not potassium cyanide. So bummer, the police eventually find more circumstantial evidence against Roger, though, which is summarized by the Chicago Tribune. Victim Paula Prince lived very near Roger's favorite bar. Two bottles were found in Chicago, one of which was purchased by Paula, not a Walgreens within walking distance of his favorite bar. around in Chicago, one of which was purchased by Paula, that a while green, within walking distance

of his favorite bar. Victim Lynn Reiner, her father worked at the same warehouse as Roger for a year, and they both lived in Villa Park. Roger moved back to Chicago before the poisons, but knew the West suburbs, where most of the killings went down very, very well. Roger and Lynn's father, sometimes even ate lunch together.

Roger got rides from him when his car broke down. Finally, Roger's ex-wife Dolores was treated at a psychiatric hospital, so maybe she did deal with some mental illness directly across the street from the Winfield grocery store where victim Lynn bought her Tylenol. Okay, now let's check in with the letter writer. It was written by another guy who also looks guilty as shit, which has made my brain hurt with this episode because of what I just shared about Roger. Right? I would be willing to execute Roger for almost certainly being the murder and definitely being somebody that society could do without.

So how could another person also look guilty? Well, we'll find out here. October 13th, the Tylenol Task Force publicly identifies the author of the extortion letter as Robert Richardson, Bobby Dixon, distributes the photo of him that was previously published by the Chicago Tribune. He's wanted on a federal arrest warrant for attempted extortion. Kansas City Police Sergeant David Barton sees the news coverage recognizes Robert Richardson as a man actually named James Lewis. Calls a contact within the FBI right away. And then Sergeant Barton meets with law enforcement to talk about James.

The last time Barton saw James, he was searching his home as part of an investigation into some credit card fraud. FBI agents showed Barton pictures of Robert Richardson, his wife Nancy, asked Barton to be sure this is James and his wife Lee in. He says I'm 100% confident that this is the right people. Barton, two Kansas City officers now fly to Chicago with their evidence against Lewis. Meanwhile, the task force still working with Chicago police on the Roger Arnold lead. This first suspect guy about to look even guilt with them.

He already does and I'll have a lot more stuff to share about James here soon. I forgot that I was popping back over here for a second. Attorney General Ty Fainer pushes for a second search of Roger's home. He obtains a search warrant, home. He obtained the search warrant You know listing the tip from the bar owner and evidence founder in the first search The warrant also said that a jewel supervisor informed the police that Arnold recently said he was quote Matt at people and wanted to throw acid at them or poison them Doesn't look good. It takes us forward. Guildea some task force agents return to the house

They find nothing important By this point Rogers name has been leaked to the public. His name and image broadcasts a newspaper in TV. Police also search Roger's garage, car, and his locker at work. His ex-wife Dolores says she doesn't think he's capable of the murders. She recalled accepting deliveries of boxes, though, of chemicals a few times. But said she didn't know what they were or what Roger did with them. Yeah, totally normal. You know, your spouse orders boxes of chemicals a few times, but said she didn't know what they were or what Roger did with them. Yeah, totally normal.

You know, your spouse orders boxes of chemicals from mysterious experiments and projects, and you don't talk about it. Lindsay and I have that same kind of marriage. I had a whole bunch of pipes and chemical fertilizer packages and blasting caps and fuses delivered there day, and she didn't question it. She just shrugged and said, ha, boys will be boys and then did some laundry or you know, bake some stuff. Additionally, a police record stated that Roger asked a student nurse at Joule if she

could get him body parts so he could place them around the city to frustrate the police. Who fuck was this guy? Roger only held in custody for two days. During this time, Roger asked the Chicago police sergeant to tell him who spoke about him having the signite and said he, quote, would like to be in on the homicide of that guy for what he's done to me. Jesus Christ. This guy's cartoonishly suspicious.

I'm still amazed after going over all those research, after knowing how the story ends and all the other details that the investigation into the Tylenol murders didn't just end right here. But Roger released on bond and then the task force publicly rules him out as a suspect. They couldn't identify a definitive motive. Roger went back to work in November, but said it was difficult for him. He later wrote an illegal filing. My name and picture had been in newspapers across the country, usually in the first breath

of a phrase, a prime suspect in the Tylenol Murs. I was used as a suspect to give the general public release from its fears caused by the grizzly slanes. My life was scrutinized like under a microscope and the information was devoured by the media. My reputation and life stability was destroyed. I'm not so sure that Robert Rodger's reputation was very good before being arrested. Definitely didn't have a lot of life stability. Still Roger wrote that he was alienated from friends and coworkers, even though he didn't have friends really before,

and coworkers and like him. And said he felt like his house and his attorneys law firm were bugged. No proof of that. He wrote that he was clinically depressed, drinking heavenly, drinking heavily, and very angry at Marty Sinclair, whom he learned gave his name to the police then in April of nineteen three roger purchased a forty five-calibre calibre pistol to protect himself vigilantes

i think it's maybe while the task force ruled roger out as the suspect uh... i should note that the chicago police overall still thought very strongly that he was the killer to the point it created you know more tension between the task force and the Chicago PD they were pissed that he was ruled out because you know they thought the task force fucking blew it with this guy's investigation. And this is not the last time Roger will make the news more on him later. Now we'll transition back into the

investigation of Robert Richardson slash Jim Lewis. This guy who also looked very, very guilty. Uh, another guy I would have been happy to execute for again, being the guy who, if he didn't murder people with poison, Tylenol capsules, definitely did enough other shit to warrant his removal from society. Uh, October 14th, still 92, Sergeant David Barton arrives in Chicago, briefs the Tylenol task force about his allegations against James Lewis. A news briefing has held that day to reveal his true identity. Also that day, Attorney General Ty Fainer makes an announcement about James Lewis as the

author of the letter saying, it is an important lead. Yes, this has great significance. This is the day the task force publicly eliminates Roger Arnold as a suspect without consulting the Chicago police. Okay, so we're really going to dig into James now. So James William Lewis, old Jimmy Billy, born August 8th, 1946 in Memphis, Tennessee. Most of what we know about James' life comes from court transcripts, parole documents, and psychological assessments maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration.

James was the youngest of seven children and did not grow up in a great home. Like no one was thinking damn that Lewis family. They really have their shit figured out. Federal court documents state that his parents were poor, irresponsible and ill-equipped to care for kids. Pretty rough assessment. Two of James's brothers died at a young age at young ages and it seems like both deaths may have been avoidable may have been the result of parental neglect. One brother died from pneumonia that was not properly discovered nor treated because his parents were checked the fuck out. Other brother died before the age of one after eating two year old tomatoes that were not properly canned and apparently

beyond rotten and then receiving no medical treatment when it made him sick. I did not know that a really bad can of tomatoes could kill you, but I guess you know if it gets enough fucking bacteria in it. When James was one himself his dad finally abandoned the family, which is probably for the best, you know, because his dad sucked. His mom, Opal moved the family to Joplin, Missouri to be closer to her mom now, then struggle to provide for her kids for about another year and then she herself bounced in the summer of 1948. Probably also for the best. Having both parents abandon you and your siblings, that is not going to do wonders for your self-esteem or overall psychological well-being.

The remaining five kids lived on their own for about two weeks until a local grocer called the police. When he caught James's older sisters, stealing milk, she was going to be using to feed herself in her siblings. Kids were now all put in orphanage. And then James will be adopted by a local couple named Floyd and Charlotte Lewis. And they changed his name. And he grows up as the only child of theirs on a farm near job. Which is so fucking sad to me.

Nice that they adopted him, but damn damn they didn't adopt any of the siblings Separated from everyone he knew. I mean, I know he was a toddler, but still that's a traumatic He would later describe his adoptive parents as loving and supportive But then his adoptive dad will die of a heart attack when he's 12 and his mom will remarry when he's 14 and he and his stepdad will butt heads So dude had a rough start to life for sure 14 and he and his stepdad will butt heads. So dude had a rough start to life for sure. James participated in the school band, earned average grades and was generally considered a loner.

In 1966, the age of 19, James went missing for two days and then was founded upon, quote, apparently trying to drown himself, which is very sad. Also confusing. I mean, was he in the pond the whole two days? I mean, sad. Sad that he didn't want to live anymore, obviously, but also kind of sad he couldn't figure out

how to drown himself in a pond. I mean, not that I've ever tried to drown myself, but it seems simple and theory. I think you just stand in water, you know? Maybe put a big ass rock in your shirt, and then you wait out into the water until it's over your head and then just kind of fall forward and let the rock pin you to the bottom. But I mean, but don't do that. I'm not trying to give instructions. I just, I just, uh, you know, I don't know how that this is confusing. Okay, when he was brought home from the pond,

he, which is a weird sentence when he's brought home from the pond, he demanded access to a stepfather's gun cabinet. When his stepdad refused to give him the key, he attacked him aggressively enough to break some of his ribs Then both of his parents ended up fleeing the property when he threatened them with an axe James is then arrested for assault spends the next three weeks in the county jail Quickly attempts to end his life again when he gets out by taking 36 aspirin. So this guy is struggling He's now committed to a state psychiatric hospital in June of 66, and the assault charges against him are dropped. Even though during his time in the hospital, he spoke at length about killing a girlfriend's husband and also about killing his parents. And this makes me recall the FBI profile on the Tylenol murderer suspect, or Tylenol

murder, the Tylenol murder suspect, right? They speculated that the suspect had been treated for mental health issues and possibly an attack on his parents. And they suspected cruelty towards animals as well. Don't know that he was cruel to animals, but also don't know that he wasn't. Interestingly, in the following decade, James will deny ever attacking his stepfather.

He'll tell a judge in 1984, my parents were good and loving people. And he said that his time in the hospital was merely a ruse he perpetrated in concert with his parents in order to evade the draft. A ruse that made it into his official medical records? I don't know. He denied having homicidal thoughts or trying to kill himself

and claimed he edited his hospital records to show he had a mental illness so he could get a college scholarship. And that sounds like something that someone would say if they were mentally Oh and a federal probation officer will later write the defendant's belief in such an elaborate scheme and his inability to acknowledge mental health problems May have been the beginning of a life dominated by manipulation fraud and con artistry. Yeah, there we go James returned to the hospital in 1967 after failing several classes

in his first semester at the University of Missouri. He will also later deny being hospitalized again. Never happened, just something he, you know, that he added to his records to make it more, I don't know, easier for him to stay out of Vietnam or something. At college, Lewis Metley Ann Miller, who was described by the Chicago Tribune as a young woman with an upper middle class upbringing and a talent for crunchy numbers, and also maybe

questionable taste to men. These two will get married in November of 1968. Their daughter, Tony Ann, will be born in 1969. Tony will be born with Down syndrome. She was only able to learn 30 words by the age of five James taught her most of them And he was described as having a clinical interest in Tony and development James Leanne opened a bookkeeping and tax preparation business in Kansas City called Lewis and Lewis sources said that Leanne did almost all the work

Which is something that she would do throughout their marriage tragically Tony and will die at the age of five from surgery complications, because she'd also been born with a heart defect, and had her first surgery when she was just three months old, which is so fucking sad. After her second surgery, the sutures used for the whole in her heart tore apart, and that's what caused her death. I do feel bad for James, right? Life keeps throwing some serious tragedy in him. FBI agents will interview Tony Ann's doctors,

caretakers and friends of the Lewises to ask how they reacted to her death. It was said that they accepted it, didn't blame anyone. However, federal investigators now looking into James, you know, they learned that the stitches were sold by the brand Prolean, a brand trademarked by Johnson, or which was trademarked, excuse

me, by Johnson Johnson in 1968. Uh, they were made by Ethicon, which was a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. So did that give Jimmy Billy an extra grind? Well, the task force thought it maybe it did. Now they have a potential motive. Also three years after Tony and dies, the Lewis has become friends with the man named Percy Menzies, who is a former pharmaceutical executive in India. They helped him and his family find a place to live, help them get visas, then Jim tried

to start a business with Percy and another mutual friend. The company was called Al-Jeeve International, and it was supposed to sell drumroll please, pill presses in developing countries. Mendiz told the Chicago Tribune years later that the Lewis's ambitions dwarfed his abilities and his bank account. Their relationship eventually fizzled out and now Jim started spending time with Raymond West,

one of his and Leanne's clients. And this relationship will make investigators much more suspicious of Jim Lewis. When you're looking into a possible murder suspect and you find out that they clearly once got away with murder, you should be more suspicious of them. Raymond West was a 72 year old retired delivery man who lived in the neighborhood. The lifelong bachelor was a good dude by all accounts, mostly known for looking out for his neighbors. 6.30 PM July 23rd 1978, Raymond called his friend Candy Lowe and talked to her

for about an hour. He said he had an upset stomach. Told her he would come out later that week to fix her fridge. Also mentioned that one James Lewis was hanging out at his house against his wishes. Based on what happens next, this will make Candy feel certain that Jimmy Billy killed Raymond. The next evening, Raymond's friend Charles banker drives to his buddy's house knocks on the door. Raymond had the door secured with the padlock because he was repairing his house after a flood. Raymond doesn't answer.

So Charles goes to the back stands on a flower pot peaking to the bedroom window. Can't see anything and something feels off. He's worried. Calls the police suggests that they asked James Lewis about Raymond and officer calls James and he says Raymond, he went to to feels off. He's worried. Calls the police suggest that they ask James Lewis about Raymond. An officer calls James and he says Raymond, uh, he went to the Ozarks for a few days with his girlfriend. No one else in Ray's circle knew a damn thing about this. Charles Banker

now real worried about his friend, super duper suspicious of Jim. He and Raymond have been friends for about 30 years and he knew for sure that Raymond did not have a girlfriend. Also, if Ray went into the Ozarks, well then why was his car still in the garage? Charles Nell calls Raymond repeatedly over the next two days. Doesn't answer. He then goes back to his house and sees that Raymond's bedroom window shade has been pulled down since his previous visit. And a note has been taped at the front door saying that Raymond is off to the Ozarks and to contact James if you need anything. The note was written on stationary from Lewis and Lewis, right?

Jim and Leanne's business. Charles called the police again, now they forcefully enter the house. They find a note on a coffee table that says, please don't disturb until after 1 p.m. sleeping late, supposedly signed by Raymond. But Charles insisted it was not Raymond's handwriting, and that he always signed his name just Ray, unless it was for you know legal paperwork. The police in Charles now search the house,

can't find anything out of the ordinary. Charles secures Raymond's doors with new padlocks after the police leave before he leaves. While he's doing that, Jim comes to the house, right? Charles is put a lock on the front door. He confronts Charles and yells, what the hell are you doing? Sources don't say what Charles said back. Only the gym grew angry and then drove away. Charles then went to Raymond's bank to see if there

was any recent suspicious activity on the account. I fucking love Charles, man, by the way, world needs more Charles's in it. VP of the bank tells him that there sure as shit was some suspicious activity. The bank had just refused to cover a $5,000 check allegedly signed by Raymond because they thought it was a forgery. Raymond had previously never written a check for more than a hundred bucks without telling the bank first. And he had banked there for decades. Well, that check happened to be dated July 23rd 1978, the last day anyone heard from Raymond and it was made out to, I bet you can guess, Lewis and Lewis, to fucking Jimmy Billy. Jimmy tried to cash that check too. He later told the police that Raymond was giving them a loan

at 8% interest that he had never talked about with anybody. Also admitted that he put the note on Raymond's door because, you know, he didn't want anybody to worry about Raymond's whereabouts. Three weeks later, August 14th 1978, Raymond's body is found in the attic. Charles Banker returned to Raymond's house, noticed a foul odor coming from the guest bedroom. Goes in the bedroom, he kicks this sheet that was on the floor, which had been there the first time they searched the house, but they didn't think of it.

Well, underneath that sheet is a large blood stain. The police arrive, moved the furniture around to further inspect the house, they find a bullet hole in the guest bedroom wall with a blood stain below that. Raymond's favorite chair is missing from its usual spot. While the blood stain chair will be found in the basement, next to the chair is a bag containing Raymond's wig, glasses, and some bloody sheets. Blood is found in the guest bedroom closet and a trail of blood will lead investigators to the attic where the smell is coming from. Their investigators find Raymond's decomposing dismembered body.

The Tribune reported in graphic detail, saying, The corpse's skin had turned from its normal pale color to a putrid orange. A white sheet had been tied around the head, leaving it mummified and almost unrecognizable. Both legs have been severed at the hip joints and placed in different parts of the attic. The torso still dressed in a polo shirt, was covered by a trash bag and cinched around the waist with a Venetian blind-type cord. A cotton clothesline was tied around the chest. The gold-colored saco watch on the body's bloated wrist belonged to Raymond West.

It had not been wound since July 23. Raymond's exact cause of death was unclear. The medical examiner did not find a bullet wound on his body, but decomposition had greatly affected the exam. Inside the attic, investigators found rope and a triple pulley game hoist, something used to hang a slaughtered animals. The theory was that Raymond was shot and dismembered, and the killer pulled his body into the attic. Forensic specialist, Stephen Warlin,

dusted for prints in the attic and found a thumbprint on the pulley. James Lewis was brought to the police station hours, hours after Raymond was found. He was handcuffed, briefly kept in a holding cell and questioned. And this very, this is very unfortunate. He was questioned without first being reminded of his rights remained silent, without being

read his Miranda rights. This one slip up will have major implications when it comes to bringing Raymond's killer to justice. The next day, Jim allowed the police to search two vehicles. One car had 34 canceled checks belonging to Raymond and a rope that was a perfect match to the one that was found binding Raymond's body. In the other car, the police find a nylon rope with slipknotts that matched the ones tied

in the rope around Raymond's body and the knots in the pulley. Well, James said he was helping Raymond repair his home after recent flood. And maybe he left the rope behind after using to lift and furniture. Uh-huh. He was soon brought back in for further questioning this time with his attorney present. Sergeant David Barton was one of the people who questioned James. He asked about the $5,000 check. James said he repaid the bank with money from his father-in-law. He admitted that he filled out all the fields on the check except the signature which he said Raymond signed the day he disappeared.

Sergeant Barton told the Chicago Tribune it was sort of like he really enjoyed the interaction with and the involvement. It was sort of like a game, I think, his attorney kept telling him, you don't need to answer this or we'll save this for a later time, but he just kept right on talking. And again, I think of that Tylenol murder suspect FBI profile. They believed the suspect was enjoying the attention and thought they had outsmarted the police. Uh, one of James's close friends gave an alibi. She said that she went out to the movies that night with him and Leanne.

She and Leanne picked James up around 6.37, which is when Raymond spoke with his friend on the phone, and she dropped the couple off at 11.30 p.m. Well, he could have went over there after that and killed him. She also confirmed that a year earlier, James had tried to find a buyer for a 32 caliber pistol she owned.

Records showed that James had asked a local officer whom whom he did taxes for, how much his friend could get for the gun. And that gun was now missing. She said she didn't know what happened to it, but she provided a clip that she had in her house and the clip contained six live rounds of 7.65 millimeter cartridges, which matched the bullet found in Raymond's home. A handwriting examiner then determined that Raymond's signature on the check was forged and that the note in the house had similarities to James' handwriting. Then a strand of hair found in Raymond's bathtub matched James Lewis. Finally, a match could not

be made at the time between James Lewis' prints and the print found on the pulley, but later! Boy, it's not going to look good. Still, James is charged with murder August 18th, his defense then files 40 motions challenging the case. Then a year later, a judge finds that because James was handcuffed August 14th, 1978, when he was brought to the station, he then should have been read his Miranda rights. And because of that violation, all the fucking evidence found in the cars, all his initial statements, the big, you know, not confession, but a lot of mistakes. All of that is now suppressed.

So buy, buy murder conviction. There goes the bulk of the prosecution's evidence. Prosecutors dismissed the case before went to trial because they knew that now they didn't have enough evidence to convict him. Jimmy Billy got away with murder. In 1982, when the FBI looks at Jimmy James, they will reexamine the case of Raymond's murder with more advanced equipment and will be able to match James's fingerprint to the one on the pulley. So he fucking did it. He for sure killed this guy.

Three years after Jimmy got away with murder in the spring of 1981, Sergeant Barton now receives information about a fraud scheme related to him. A local complaint that multiple credit cards have been taken out in his name and used without his knowledge. Detectives were sent out to the rural addresses, listed on some of the applications, and saw that some of those homes did not exist. Postal Service Carriers reported that new mailboxes

have been placed along their rural routes. It was normal for rural mail carriers to deliver mail to a row of boxes along a road rather than going up to the individual houses. But these new mailboxes were different. It looked like somebody had put the post in a bucket of cement next to the existing mailboxes. Investigators did a stakeout, saw a tall thin man put a mailbox in the back of a station wagon before driving away.

When they showed pictures to Barton, he recognized him as, yeah, that's James William Lewis. Investigators now put a tracker under his car, followed him for several weeks. They saw him spending hours in the reference section of the library, visiting his mailboxes. They learned that James was filling out credit card applications and using the fake addresses. He would install the new mailboxes, send in the application, wait for the credit cards to arrive, then you know, pick them up, take back the mailbox, then max the credit card out and never intend to pay the bill. Some of the victims were his wife's tax clients. NFBI reports stated that around 17,500 dollars worth of fraudulent charges were made on the cards

between just May and June, 1991. So there's some two months. Things like clothes, plane tickets, and car rentals. That's about 60 grand in today's money. Some paperwork led investigators to a man named George Ray who was one of James's friends. James will maintain that George was the man behind the scheme, not him. Police do not buy this. December 4, 1981, the Kansas City Police and the US Postal Inspection Service raid James and Leanne's home as part of a credit card fraud investigation. Authorities find multiple credit card applications and receipts with the names of the known victims. They find photography equipment and backdrops used to make fake driver's licenses. Investigators also found extortion letters addressed to local banks, but they were never sent.

Jimmy James also possess two large binders with instructions on how to commit crimes such as travel agency fraud, instructions on how to commit crimes such as travel agency fraud instructions on how to disguise your handwriting obtaining the license plates for everyone on a block renting cars with a fake idea and more James claim to these crime manuals were used to research novel he was working on because he was totally an author and stuff. And FBI reports state that a book on essentially how to fucking poison people was found in the house. But investigators couldn't take it because it wasn't covered by the initial warrant, but they photographed it.

Authorities then returned on December 9th with the warrant for James' arrest, but he had disappeared. James Leanne had fled to Chicago and they left behind over 2,000 books and stacks of paperwork. Their friend who was keeping it all for them turned it all over to the FBI so they were eventually able to obtain that book on the poisons. And one section of that book discussed

how much cyanide it would take to kill the average person. And then in 2023, a podcaster, you're listening to right now, spent way too much time trying to find out what that book was by googling all sorts of alarming shit like. Is there a book about how to kill someone with cyanide?. Is there a book about how to kill someone with cyanide? What is the best book about how to kill people with cyanide? Best book about how to get away with poisoning people with cyanide.

I want to kill someone with cyanide. What book should I buy? I'm sure the NSA officer in charge of my file received some push notifications for something. Yeah, you're going to want to dig back into what comes as up to check for any suspicious deaths in any city he's been in the past six months. Find out if he's purchased or tried to purchase some side night recently. The day after fleeing, uh, the day after fleeing authorities.

Yeah, back in 1981, December 10th, James and Lee and now check into the surf hotel in Lincoln Park, uh, that neighborhood of Chicago, using the names Robert and Nancy Richardson. A week later, they move into an apartment on West build Navinue using those fake names. Jimmy James Robert now gets a job at a tax firm, but it doesn't last long because he's fired for arguing with his boss. Following being fired, spends most of his time at home and then source, this is what the source said.

Training his building manager's dog and lecturing his neighbors on economic theories. Okay, I love it. Apparently that's what he was real focused on at that time, training someone else's dog and sharing economic theories that no one asked him to talk about. Sounds like a real gem. A person he'd loved to hang out with. Leanne got a job as a bookkeeper at Lakeside Travel Agency, owned by Frederick Miller-Makahi, the heir of the Miller Brewing fortune, according to the Chicago Tribune. James Offer would go with Leanne to work. Leanne's co-workers will later say they thought he was highly intelligent but extremely strange.

Leanne could tell that the travel agency was having financial difficulties. The accounts were over drawn. They weren't paying their bills. And airlines had revoked their ticketing privileges. So she decides to leave the company. April 23rd, 1922, Leanne receives her final paycheck from Lakeside Travel for $512. This is the same day the agency shuts down and Leanne's check bounces. She casts a check at a currency exchange place and they would sue her to recover their money. Well, James is furious. Now how fucking dare? Fuck him out of his money. Didn't they know that he was the guy who fucked other people out of their money? That's what was right and fair. Him fucking over other people, not vice versa. No, thank you. Not cool.

Well, now he starts researching state law. He really wants that 500 bucks. It's a principle of it all. He prepares a three page document alleging the McCay he diverted company funds into his personal accounts, also called the end's former co-workers offered to file a claim for everyone with Illinois Labor wage claim board. I'll send them a green with his plan. And the end's former supervisor gave him McCay's bank account names and numbers. Well August 3rd, 1922, the month before the Tylenol murders, James tries to speak on the employees behalf at a wage board hearing, but then is told he has no standing because he did not work at the company. Fair point. You know, he's not a lawyer. So take a seat, crazy pants. Well, McKay's lawyers said that all the accounts were frozen and the business was insolvent. The board ruled that because there

was no money, nothing could be done for the employees. McKay he showed up after the meeting and he and Jimmy James Robert Crazy Pants got into a huge argument in the hallway. They were shouting hurling accusations at each other per court records. On his bus ride home, Jimmy James swore he would make the authorities investigate McKay. He planned to mail the paperwork to federal prosecutors and Illinois Attorney General Ty Fainter. Frederick Miller, McKayee, will pay. This is as soon as I get off this fucking bus.

What's he so consumed with rage towards McKayee that he would, you know, poison a bunch of Tylenol pills, then send a letter to McNeil pharmaceuticals trying to make them think that McKay he did that. Where the Tylenol murders the results of some maniac with a history of forging documents and murder attempting to frame someone He held a very petty grudge against it is possible September 4th 1982 a little over three weeks before the murders James and Leanne Lee for Chicago They already had paid their months rent and full they told friends they were moving to Texas to be closer to Leanne Lee for Chicago. They already had paid their months rent in full. They told friends they were moving to Texas to be closer to Leanne's parents, but that was another lie. They paid cash for two one-way train tickets to New York City using the new aliases of

Karen and William Wagner now. When they arrived in New York, they once again went back to the aliases of Robert and Nancy Richardson. And they checked into a motel in Midtown Manhattan. Leanne soon got another job. James spent his time escorting her to and from work and reading papers of the library. October 1st, the day the New York Times published a story on the murders. James mailed the extortion letter to McNeil Pharmaceuticals. Or, yeah, he mailed it on the October 1st. It was hard to determine when the envelope was postmarked for investigators. It would take them years to figure out that that was when it was sent. When they finally do, James will look more guilty because it was sent, you know, after he, he told people for years that he was, you know, for three days before the letter, he

was thinking about, you know, exactly how to write it. And if you back up three days from October 1st, it's before anybody has been poisoned yet before anybody would know about the poison means. So if he really did do that, it makes it very likely that he is the killer. October 2nd, James mails another letter to President Reagan, signs it Fred M. Letter stated, Mr. President Reagan,

one, I understand that you were planning to change tax laws in a way that would cause me to pay more income tax. Two, I am sure you have heard about the tax laws in a way that would cause me to pay more income tax. 2. I am sure you have heard about the Tylenol capsule deaths in Chicago. 3. I used to own a travel agency, and before it closed, I caused the issuance of many airline tickets and many names. With these tickets, I can fly to any city quickly and plant more cyanide and stores all over

the country. 4. I can even fly to any place you happen to be and cause model airplanes, gasoline or alcohol powered to home in on your secret service radios. Needless to say, the devices 8 to 10 may not all hit you, but again, they might. In any case, a lot of people may die needlessly. Five, I will cease these killings if you will not let the taxes increase. Also, I want all past due payroll taxes for all employers abated. Your prompt consideration may save the lives of many yours, Fred M. I mean, he's really going out of his way to frame his wife's

old boss. And she barely worked there. One fucking check bounced. One. This guy really holds a grudge. You know, I've had numerous club owners Bounce checks on me over the years Doing stand up a few of them for a significant amounts and was I pissed? Oh, yeah, very much so did I take some legal action? Yes After doing that that I continued to waste a lot of time and energy on them time and energy that would just end up cost to be more money Nope That's just letting them to continue to fuck me over. But now, I'm the one allowing it. Trying to get some

justice for wrongdoing, 100% get it. When something as small as a check for two weeks' worth of work or pay for one weekend worth of work, it's crazy to devote months of your life trying to get justice, I think, very time consuming, right, to do this. You know, because now even if you do get your money back, you're also still probably down overall after lawyers, fees and due to all the time wasted, where you could have been productive, you know, a lot more than the money you're getting back. You know, Fred didn't rape his wife or try to kill him or something. His company went under and one check didn't clear. Jimmy Billy is a maniac.

October 18th, Illinois attorney general, Ty Fainter, names James Lewis and his wife as the prime suspects in the Tyler Tylan all murders. James will claim to be in New York when the murders were committed, but we will learn not necessarily later on in the episode. However, Chicago police superintendent Richard Breezeck, Dick Breeze, all weener wind said we have no real leads, no prime suspects, no tentative suspects, we have no mediocre suspects, we have no suspects period. Well, again, the Chicago police still think that the other lunatic did it, Roger Arnold,

Chicago's king of cyanide experiment projects. Before moving on with the timeline, it should be noted that there was a third potential suspect described as a 35 year old West suburban man with a history of anger issues. The Tribune chose not to release his name. An informant said he claimed responsibility for the murders. The US Secret Service was already keeping tabs on him because he allegedly threatened President Nixon and Carter previously. He had a history of mental instability and held a judge against jewel stores per an affidavit. A search warrant from October 29 stated that he had hundreds of clear jellison capsules and bottles marked poison in his room, but Sinai specifically was not found in his possession. He turned himself in in Los Angeles, Chicago law enforcement

flew to LA to meet him, flew back with him. He was interviewed a few times, but never charged and now he hasn't been connected with the case in decades. And this episode really started to make me wonder just how many people have weird shit like books that have poison people, lab equipment to make poison, bottles marked poison and more in their homes. And also while the Chicago Tribune won't release this suspect's name, I will release the name of another suspect that was balanced around in these circles at the same time. Daniel Neil Cummins, my dad, he has to be who, they were also looking into. In the fall of 1982, my dad was super angry, doing a lot of blow, very unstable, more than normal. He was 28 years old in his physical prime, angry at the world, a loose cannon, and to this fucking day, he is not willing to provide me with

paperwork and witness statements accounting for his whereabouts in late September of 1982. He could have easily been fucking around Chicago, such a shame the dead watch, you know, just wasn't around yet. It's tracking and other dads. I mean, the Tylenol murders, exactly the kind of murders, a dad would commit an angry unstable dad met at the world for you know tying him down with some kids. If you're new and confused just know we've covered a lot of dad related crimes here in the suck first and we can account for my dad's whereabouts for most of them. Not saying he did this not saying he was involved

in the other murders just saying that you know he most likely was involved and allowed these murders. others. Just saying that, you know, he most likely was involved and allowed these murders. Okay. October 21st, 1982 back in the story now, more poison is discovered. A J and J employee doing tests on extra strength Tylenol bottles from Chicago area retailers found capsules tamed with cyanide in a bottle that was turned in at a Dominix in the North side of Chicago. Eleven out of the 50 capsules were poisoned. October 25th, yet another tainted bottle is found. The wife of a DuPage County judge turned in an unopened bottle of extra strength Tylenol to the Wheaton police on October 14th. It was sent to McNeil consumer products for testing. She had purchased it from Frank's finer foods in Wheaton, September 29th.

This was the eighth and final tainted bottle that the police were able to find. Meanwhile, investigators searching for James Jimmy Billy Lewis, now involved in what was then the largest manhunt in US history. While on the run, Jim sends letters to the Chicago Tribune, the Kansas City star, the FBI, Leanne's parents, this fucker love to write a letter. Eventually, the task force received a tip that Leanne had attempt job in Manhattan under the a list of Nancy Richardson. She showed up every day for three weeks, then stopped coming into work.

Her husband called the office, said she was too sick to come in. But then she never even returned to pick up her final paycheck, which is obviously weird. Investigators learned that James Leanne left their hotel October 14th, even though they had paid to stay through the 18th. A warrant was issued for Leanne for a charge of using a fake social security number at work, 150 FBI agents and New York detective searched the city for James Leanne,

but after a week their efforts dwindled. In late October of 1982, someone now calls with a tip reporting the site of James Leanne in Miami. Lian's parents submitted an information that she may have sought treatment for a kidney infection there. So medical center medical centers in Florida told to be on the lookout for the couple. October 27th, James Lewis mails the first of three letters to the Chicago Tribune, signed it with his alias Robert Richardson

and denies being the Tylenol killer. He wrote, as you have probably guessed, my wife and I have not committed the Chicago area Tylenol murders. That's a weird opening. Why would anyone guess that? Why would anyone assume that you did not commit the murders, Jim? Almost no one fucking knows you. And those who do know you, I'm guessing absolutely we think that you're the kind of unstable angry guy Who would do something like this?

He continues we do not go around killing people we never have and we never shall Such a weird way to write a letter Contrary to reports we are not armed unless unless one means in the anatomical paraplegic sense We shall never carry weapons now, no matter how bizarre the police and FBI reports. Domestically, weapons are for two quite similar types of mentalities. One, criminals, and two police, we are neither. Okay, throwing some random shaded cops here, and I guess gun owners. Also, not sure that's the right use of the word paraplegic. I'm pretty sure it's not. Lewis's numerous letters, referenced at the title investigation

and included photocopy newspaper articles and one letter to the tribune he wrote i hope the law finds whoever poisoned these capsules and i would demand capital punishment but what the chances in the hands of the f b i and fainters fumblers he loves focusing bears uh... again i think about the fb i profile I and fainters fumbles. He loves poking these bears. Again, I think about the FBI profile. They believed the suspect was enjoying the attention

and thought they had outsmarted the police. October 31st, Chicago experiences a dramatic decrease in trick-or-treating. Yeah, not surprised. Over 40 other cities across the US actually straight up banned trick-or-treating this year because of these murders. In anticipation of Halloween, Tribune and Columnus, Bob Green wrote,

if you are a parent and you have any sense, you will forbid your child from going out trick-or-treating his Halloween. In this year of the Tylenol Killer, it would be especially foolish to let a boy or girl go door to door asking for food. Ah, Fair point. I mean, in general, it is pretty weird to have our kids put that much faith in strangers

every October. But I guess it does, you know, almost always work out. And it's nice to get, you know, the sense of your community actually not being predominantly dirt bags. And hysteria over tampered Halloween treats very much overblown. According to Joel Best, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware who has researched allegations of poison candy, poison Halloween candy specifically, since 1975, he cannot find a single case of a child killed or seriously injured by a contaminated

treat picked up in the course of trick or treating. And he has a treasure trove of data going from, you know, 2023 all the way back to 1958. And to learn that, I had to Google how many kids have been poisoned trick or treating, which on top of my other searches, fucking just elevated my status with my NSA agent. There have been a few cases of razor blades or sewing needles turned up in candy, you know, Halloween candy, which is, you know, terrifying, an Oregon in 2022 and in Ohio in 2021. So fucked up, but no poise needs. One Texas man did poison his own kids with Halloween candy in 1984 and he tried to blame

it on candy they pick up trick or treating. But this fucker had just taken out life insurance policies on his kids and was quickly caught, convicted and executed. Love it that he was executed. Still like at the fear of 1982, one million leaflets were distributed in Chicago encouraging residents to give out money or toys instead of candy. Toys have been pretty dope. I think I would have preferred toys to candy actually. Right? Like if I was a kid, a people were handing out baseball cards or GI Joe figures on Halloween, I would hit every single house in the entire town.

It'd be a better holiday than Christmas. In November, Ty Fainer loses his reelection for Attorney General. He led the task force for two more months until he left office. And then in a letter to Leon's parents, James took credit for his defeat riding. We think we may be able to continue similar victories. This is not the type of game most people can stomach.

But this appears to be the only game in town. He is such a douchebag just the way he writes fucking letters. He's a man of the people. Unbeknownst to Jimmy Billy, Leon's parents were cooperating with law enforcement and sharing jim's letters with law enforcement and one letter james detailed his belief that there was a conspiracy against him he wrote as you know we did not start this mess

it was started four years ago by a certain government employees who violated a very sacred public trust as for us we are just to dumb country kids with our love for each other to keep us warm. Fuck this guy. Oh, damn you Sergeant David Barton. When you tried to frame me for Raven West murder, you started this whole damn mess. November 11, 1982, Johnson and Johnson announced a reintroduction of Tylenol in, quote, special bottles that have packaging that say 99% certain this bottle is lethal, poison free.

The new bottle set a picture of a dead guy laying on the floor and a little caption above and it said, highly unlikely, this is going to be you with a little arrow pointed at him. No, of course not. Now, these new bottles have tamper resistant containers. November 21st, Lee and his father wires the couple couple 140 bucks, but with the FBI's knowledge. Not doing this to help him, doing this trying to catch him, trying to get his daughter out of this mess and away from this fucking weirdo. James Leanne captured on camera, picking up the money at a Western Union in Manhattan.

And this launches another week-long manhunt in the city. Investigators decide to stake out the public library where they suspect James was photocopy in the articles he sent his letters. They stopped at all the public libraries that carried the Chicago Tribune and left copies of James's wanted poster. And then boom, December 13th, 19th to the FBI arrests James Lewis at one of the branches of the New York City Library and ends the two months long manhunt. A library worker reported the sighting in Midtown Manhattan minutes later,

FBI agents swarmed the library surrounding the man, believed to be James. He didn't have ID with him, initially refused to give his name, but they knew it was him. He's printed, photographed, agreed to talk to one of the higher ups then. He describes where he and Leanne had been

since they arrived in New York, said they hid in plain sight during the manhunt Little cocky Said they rented a room used the name's Edward and Carol Scott Leanne got another job said they even went to the macy's Thanks giving day parade you dumb mother fuckers I'm sure he said all this in a tone of a lot of arrogance James was held on charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and attempted extortion and was extradited to Chicago, December 28th. December 29th, Leanne

surrenders at the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and refuses to cooperate with investigation. Her dad will use his house as collateral for her bond that's poor bastard and she returns to Missouri. I guess I'm guessing he is so happy that she is just not with him. The misdemeanor charge against her, a legend use of a fake social security number to work in Chicago is later dropped. After James' arrest, Attorney General Ty Fainer, he's still in office, just barely,

and Chicago police superintendent, Richard Breesack, Dick Brees, disagreed on his role in the murders. Fainer told reporters that James was very capable of doing the things that were done. Breezec, however, said that James couldn't be ruled out, but the possibility he was the actual killer was highly remote. Decades later in 2022,

Dick Breese told the Chicago Tribune, James Lewis is an asshole, but he's not the Tylenol killer. That's a great quote. While investigators are still trying to determine if James is the Tylenol killer or not, he goes to trial for credit card fraud. That scheme of his in Kansas City. Jerry selection for that trial started May 24th, 1983. The prosecution argued that James can obtain cards from 13 banks and businesses using another man's name. And now he is also

awaiting trial for a charge of giving false information to the IRS to get a tax refund. This dickhead dealing with all kinds of shitstorms that he created. And the chickens are coming home Now he is also awaiting trial for a charge of giving false information to the IRS to get a tax refund. This dickhead dealing with all kinds of shitstorms that he created and the chickens are coming home to roost. He was to quote one of the world's worst attorneys. The suck versus own rooster boat boggle cock a dude or doomed. During the trial, James's former accomplice George Ray testifies that James told him the credit card scheme was meant to raise money for yet another scheme in St. Louis.

So many schemes. James told him he set up a firm that would pose as a telephone or mail order business and that he had already opened bank accounts for this fake business. He would then report purchases from the firm so that financial institutions issuing credit cards would transfer funds to the accounts. But they didn't have the money to get the scheme going so James came up with his other credit cards would transfer funds to the accounts. But they didn't have the money to get this game going, so James came up with his other credit cards scheme. James gave him applications with the name and information of one of his clients. He filled out most of the applications, but then would give them to James to look over and actually mail. James's defense presented one witness,

a PI, who testified that the handwriting on the credit card applications was not his, however, this dude was not a handwriting expert. So what the fuck was he even allowed to testify? It's so weird to me, right? My mind will have your grandma testify for you as an expert witness. That's not Jimmy's handwriting. I know my sweet boy, he wouldn't do that. You heard her, members of the Jerry.

Would this sweet lady steal you wrong? Thank you, Nana Nana the defense rests May 26, 1973 James is found guilty of six council mail fraud It was reported that his tax indictment case would be re-evaluated in light of his conviction Because he's now facing up to 30 years a five-year maximum for each conviction James will not get that many years unfortunately, but he will be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison each conviction. James will not get that many years unfortunately, but he will be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. A day after his conviction, James wrote a

letter to the lead prosecutor offering to help the US justice department solve crimes. claim to had knowledge and expertise in corporate bankruptcy, land fraud, agriculture, credit, roofing randomly, hair cutting, even more random, carpentry, welding, legal research, and most random cake decorating. Also said that he and Leanne were willing to assume new identities and move if they could be together. And the Justice Department, yeah, they passed, they passed. Why the fuck would he include hair cutting and cake decorating? How is it going to be useful to an investigation in extortion or fraud in any way?

He is very mentally unstable. Shortly after James is convicted, Roger Arnold shows back up in the headlines. Remember baby boy? Remember the guy the task force didn't think committed the murders, but the Chicago PD did think did it? The disheveled guy with the thick glasses who had books on how to use cyanide to kill people and like to talk about projects and experiments involving cyanide with people to bar. The loner with the homemade lab, lots of unregistered weapons, long history of threats of violence, who had tons of personal connections, locations where poison bottles were found, who had a one way ticket to a fuck fest in Thailand, and was supposed to leave the country within weeks of the murs. In the early morning hours of June 18, 1983, Roger Arnold shot and killed 46-year-old John

Stinesha near Lily's bar on Chicago's Lincoln Avenue. John Stinesha was a computer programmer, divorced father of three. On the night of June 17th, Roger had started drinking at Lily's around 7 pm. And then three hours later, somebody told him, hey, watch out. Marty Sinclair is in here. Roger was still furious with Marty, because Marty was the guy who reported him to the police as a Tylenol murder suspect. And he had mentioned wanting to take revenge against his informer in the past, right?

He told the police wanted to fucking kill this guy. Well Roger leaves the bar, walks up to a Mexican restaurant, but then returns to Lily's later near closing time because he had left his cigarette later behind. And that was when he thought he saw Marty Sinclair walking with his friends on Lincoln Avenue. Roger later wrote, I was thinking that this was going to be the end of this mess. But the problem was with all this was it was not Marty. It was John Stinesha. I met him with a similar build and a similar beard as in Claire.

John was out with three friends. They've been complaining about the new ownership at the place they worked, the fact that some of their other friends had just lost their jobs. Roger confronts John as he walks towards him yelling, Marty, did you turn me in? And then when he's about five feet away, he pulls his gun out of his waistband

and then just fucking shoots this random dude in the chest, This fucking moron. Of course, this unstable dipshit loser would shoot the wrong guy. John falls to the ground and says, I've been shot. His friends tell the police that he begged God, that he begged God now not to let him die. So fucking sad. One of John's friends now chases after Roger as he runs away. It doesn't get a hold of him, but does get his license plate as he flees.

Roger then throws his gun into the Chicago River at 35th Street and then drives to a motel in Indiana. He calls his lawyer the next morning and the lawyer talks him into surrendering to the police. According to detective Jimmy Gildea, Roger was inconsolable when he realized he had killed the wrong person, more on him in just a bit, bouncing back quickly to Jimmy Billy. James Lewis's Chicago extortion trial opens October 17th, 1983 with jury selection, testimony starts October 19th. Prosecution led by US Attorney Dan Webb, assistant US

attorneys Jeremy Margolis and sent the sent me a guillotine. A guillotine, a guillotine par majana, man, and all that. I don't know. and sent the sent me a guillichetti. Guillichetti Parmesan, a man in order to know my dad's had to get out of my system from earlier. Prosecutors were expected to call on handwriting experts to connect James to the McNeil extortion letter. Assistant, U.S. Attorney, Cynthia, guillichetti said in her opening statement, the hand of the extortionist, the hand of the author of that letter is the hand of the defendant, James Lewis. In his opening statement, defense attorney Michael Monico says, uh, no,

I didn't. Bullshit. And they just shook his head and sat out. No, he shocked the court by admitting that James did write the extortion letter. Uh, but he said he did it because he was seeking revenge against his wife's former boss, Frederick McCayhee, which I buy. He said, this case is not about murder. It is also not about who wrote the letter, Jim wrote the letter. As I stand before you, I tell you that fact does not end his case. It begins it. The defense argued that James was trying to capitalize on the attention surrounding the Tylenol murders by portraying McCayhee as an extortionist. The defense then rested on October 25 after submitting a letter that James wrote to the FBI where he tried to convince authorities to investigate Frederick, McKayhee, that letter dated November

11, 1922. James also attached his thumbprint in a copy of his license. He wrote, I have attempted to act as an informant to act on the side of the law, but the FBI and their state associates have used their precarious resources to terrorize, humiliate, ridicule, and speculate in public about the private lives of my family and me. Gotta hate this guy. October 27, 1993, James is convicted of attempted extortion. In February, 1984 interview, he will deny poisoning the Tylenol, express remorse for writing

the letter, and claim he just didn't think it would all be taken so seriously. He told the Chicago Tribune, I will regret sending that letter for the remainder of my life. I became an all-purpose monster to satisfy the demand for a public appearance of justice. No, you are already a monster who constantly scam people, innocent people, and murdered at least one person. That poor old neighbor helping bachelor who was supposed to be your friend. November of 19, 23, while awaiting sentencing, James Lewis offers to help solve the Tylenol

case. He met with FBI special agent Roy Lane, Jr., an assistant US attorney, Jeremy Margolis. Several times to discuss how the killer may have poisoned the capsules, but denied being the killer. And yet again, I think of the original FBI profile. They would eventually seek more excitement by contacting an investigator to offer their help. Jim still maintained he literally could not have done it because he was in New York when the poison has occurred, not necessarily. Before I explain that, James gave elaborate descriptions of how the killer could have put the cyanide into the capsules and put the bottles back.

He even drew out diagrams. To go with his descriptions, always adding the note, drawn on speculation at the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy D. Margolis. The meetings ended when Jim wanted the investigators to agree not to use anything he said against him. When they declined, he reinstated his Miranda rights. More on Jim and a bit. Uh, jury selection for Roger Arnold's murder trial starts January 9, 19, 24. Testimody started the next day. Defense attorney Thomas

Royce argued that Roger was followed by investigators and harassed by strangers after he was named a suspect in the Tylenol murders. He mistook Johnston, Asia for the informant who caused him months of anguish and maintained that the shooting was accidental. Royce called Roger, I don't know how he did this with the straight face, a victim of the horror and confusion of the Tylenol poise needs. And said Roger's life was falling apart

due to media attention and harassment. No, his life was falling apart because he was a fucking weirdo psychopath. Some asshole who brought all this shit on himself. Roger also now claimed that he had a confrontation with, uh, with John, where John said they're gonna get you. Roger said he and John were standing on sidewalk, that he told John to stay away from him. But he approached anyway, John did and Roger then accidentally shot him when he pulled

his gun out in self-defense and it went off. This guy's so full of shit. You know, there's a bunch of witnesses, like John's friends who were with him when this entire confrontation went down and they all said the same thing that John didn't say shit to Roger. Didn't speak to him, right? Didn't fucking know this guy. Roger Arnold was convicted of murder January 11th, 1984.

He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, but sentencing laws the time meant he would be eligible for parole after 15 years. Roger's attorney approached investigator Philip Manion, told that Roger might be interested in talking about the Tylenol murders, if his appeals failed. Fuck does that mean? Right, which one of these clowns did it? Manion and a lot of other investigators still suspected Roger of

being the killer. But the US Attorney's Office still did not agree. So now back to dipshit number two. June 14th, 1984, James Lewis, sends to 10 years in federal prison for attempted extortion order to complete a sense after finishing his concurrent 10 year sentences in Missouri that we talked about earlier. At the hearing, US Attorney Dan Webb revealed

that James did a series of interviews with investigators where he described how someone would feel the capsules were cyanide but still didn't have enough evidence to charge him. Also brought up James' connection to the murder of Raymond West, the credit card scam, and the alleged attack on his own stepfather calling him a walking crime waif. Yep. Jump ahead to January of 1989, James Lewis notified that he is ineligible for, for, for release that August. He had served less than seven years in prison. But then on August 23rd, the U.S.

parole commission rescinded the decision after they received letters from former U.S. attorney, Jeremy Margolis and U.S. attorney Anton Volukas, who said Jim was a threat to public safety. So fuck yeah, he was. Uh, the commission also considered the evidence provided by on Volukas, who said Jim was a threat to public safety. So fuck yeah, he was. The commission also considered the evidence provided by Webb with a sentencing hearing

and determined the preponderance of the evidence indicated Lewis was responsible for the Tylenol murders. May 13th, 1991 now, Johnson and Johnson reached an out-of-court settlement with the victim's families. The amount remained secret. J&J admitted no wrongdoing because they

truly didn't do anything wrong. Sucks they had to shell out money because some psycho, you know, just so happened to pick their capsules to add poison to them. The families of the seven victims had argued in their lawsuit that J&J and McNeill were culpable because they knew the capsules were susceptible to tampering. At the time of the murders, McNeill sold Tylenol to hospitals in tamper-per evident packaging, but didn't use that packaging for over-the-counter products, which is true, but none of their competitors did that either. During the discovery phase, J&J turned over records showing that they'd received

almost 300 complaints about tampering mix-ups or contamination before the murders, which is bad. The 2012 book to Tylenol Mafia, marketing, murder, and Johnson and Johnson stated the families received between $200 and $900,000 each. One of the collaborators of this book was Michelle Rosen, daughter of victim Lynn Reiner. She criticized authorities for ruling out the possibility that the contamination occurred during distribution and repackaging. Also questioned why Johnson and Johnson was allowed to test the capsules once they were collected. However, McNeill Chairman David Collins told the Chicago Tribune they had permission to destroy the capsules after testing

and that they were monitored by the task force throughout the process and that they did destroy the capsules so they would not be sold on the black market. October 13th, 1995, Friday the 13th. 49-year-old James Lewis is released from prison. He had served 13 years at a federal prison in El Reno, Oklahoma. In a 1992 prison interview, James acknowledged that he told the police how the killer could have gotten the sign I'd in to the capsule saying, they asked me to show how it might have been done. And I

tried as a good citizen. I still fucking hate this guy to help. It was a speculative scenario. I could tell you how Julius Caesar was killed, but that does not mean I was the killer. I picture him laughing a lot of his own shit like that. He's just he's a good citizen you guys. You know, this happens to have a lengthy criminal record of fraud and possible murder. He reunited with his wife, Leanne, how pissed was her dad. I kind of hope he had passed away by now in Boston and started a web design business. Why did she fucking wait for this douche bag? One of his websites

was cyber Lewis, which had a page dedicated to the Tylenol case that website no longer around. She had head number one, Roger Arnold released from prison 1998. That crazy fuck move back to Chicago Southside and got a job as an at an auto supply store. Roger seems to have maybe turned his life around in prison. He got a job to compare a legal course, helped other inmates with some appeals. He petitioned for early parole but was denied.

James Lewis psycho number two did not turn his life around. July 30th, 2004, James charged with rape, kidnapping, and other offenses after allegedly attacking his former business partner. There will be a few years before there was any significant developments in this case. 2006, the so-called task force two now forms to reinvestigate the Tylenol murders. By this point, FBI agent Roy Lane Jr., who worked on the original case, well he was retired, but he kind of comes back here. He receives a call from current special agent Robert Grant, who told him that an investigative reporter named Bob Aria thought he saw the

case. Aria presented his information at a meeting with the FBI. He identified the third potential subject, maybe my dad, whom the Tribune did not identify earlier because he was never charged. The agent's presence sadly did not think the third potential suspect was viable, but this did revive interest in the case overall. About six months after the meeting with Araya, a woman came to the Arlington Heights Police Station to report that she thought her ex-husband was the killer responsible for the deaths of the Janus family. She was suspicious of him because he knew where Mary Kellerman lived, but many people knew where the Kellerman's lived. So he was ruled out

as a suspect. After this incident, Detective Scott Winklemann becomes interested in the case. He reaches out to the FBI and that is how the second task force gets going. Task force two started meeting early 2007. The task force was made up of detectives from local municipalities, FBI agents, and an investigator from the Illinois State Police. On July 16, 2007, prosecutors dropped the rape and kidnapping charges against James when his former business partner declines to testify against him. And now James returns to his condo in Cambridge. This piece is shit. Task force to investigators launched a sting operation against him there. Former FBI agent Roy Lane, right, briefly out of retirement, introduced James Leanne

now to a woman named Sherry Nichols, who was posing as an investigative journalist writing a book about the murders. She was actually an undercover FBI agent. Lane told James that Sherry believed someone else was the killer and could help him clear his name. James was eager to work with her. He provided an account of the sting operation on his website, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Later, Roy Lane and Sherry Nichols met the Louisis over five dozen times, excuse me, from April, 2007 to November, 2008. Lane even helped James with a novel. He started in jail titled Poison, The Doctor's Delima. The book featured a doctor from Missouri who worked with the task force to find a rogue government employee and find the person who poisoned underground water sources. James would self-publish this book in 2010, which seems a little gross. Seems a little gross for him to publish a book about poison.

All things considered. On his website, James wrote that Sherry Nichols gave him money for a new laptop that he and Leanne were treated to nice dinners, encouraged to drink. Also wrote that Nichols paid for him and Leanne to go on a week-long trip to Missouri. Nichols and Lane went with the Lewises to New York at separate times to visit the hotels where they had lived, Leanne's former workplace, and the library where James was arrested. In 2007, they went to Chicago and visited the building where Paula Prince lived, and the Walgreens where she bought the Tylenol. February 6, 2008, James was recorded in an interview

with the FBI. He once again offered his theories on how the killer could have gotten the capsules, could have gotten them into the stores, could have added them to the bottles, speculated that someone as young as 15 could have done it, which is a little bit of planning and practice saying they could have bought a bottle a month before and played with it until they got it right. James explained how someone could use a paper clip to open the paper lid on the box, remove the cotton ball without damaging the packaging. That's great, what?

They can, they can remove that very protective cotton ball with a paperclip. He said about the killer's method, it's probably so obvious it would make everyone here feel stupid that we didn't think of it. I figured him just fucking winking real hard or one of us knows because you know they did it James also talking about how easy it was to get signed I'd back in 1982 pointed out that the killer made a big blunder

By putting extra strength Tylenol into a bottle of regular Tylenol Said you got a little piece of information that the person made a mistake and if they made that mistake They may have made some others that were equally stupid and you just didn't see it All right again He just he just likes to fuck with these guys. During a different 2008 meeting in Chicago, Lane confronts James about the extortion letter. This is something I reference we're going to get to a while back now, right, with some dates. They were in a room with the Sheridan Grand Chicago members of the task force listing from an adjacent room, a hidden camera, record of the conversation.

Lane told James there was a problem with his timeline. James confirmed that he told agents that he for sure spent three days working on his extortion line, which he had been saying this entire time, spent three days working on the letter before he ever mailed it to Johnson & Johnson. Back in 1983 prosecutors, right,

they couldn't determine the exact postmark date, but technological advance was now allowed the FBI to determine that the extortion letter, the Jimmy Billy was convicted of sending. Definitely was sent on October 1st. And this is very important, right? Jim asked Agent Lane when the deaths happened. Agent Lane, Druidah Calendar, counted back three days from October 1st, which was September 28th, 1982. News of the murders did not become public knowledge until September 30th. This is a problem for Jim. Would Agent Lane confront him about the discrepancy in the timeline?

Jim says, I see your quandary. It just seems like I worked on it for three days because that's the way I usually do things. But it's what I told you, but it's impossible to have happened because until you pointed that out, I had no idea that I've been telling myself for 25 years that I worked on it for three days and I don't know. It's impossible for me to have done that. I see what a big puzzle is now because you clearly had that in mind. I didn't have that in mind until you pointed out that I didn't know it was a conflict in my memory. So he's really fumbling around here.

When Lane told him that given the timeline, he would have written the letter on the day that people were dying or the day before actually. James said, yeah, well, that didn't happen. Faulty memory. And for 25 years, if you'd asked me that and had pointed that out, had pointed that out, I would have stuck to that under oath. I would have sworn to it three days, but it's impossible.

So this doesn't look good. And it's not impossible. In his 1983 interviews with Margolason Lane, James said he first learned about the poisons when he read The New York Times, which was first reported on October 1st. If this is true, it would mean he spent less than one day writing the letter, finding the address, mailing the letter. If he did in fact spend three day writing the letter, finding the dress, mailing the letter. If he did in fact spend three days writing the letter like he said over and over for 25 years and the letter was sent out on October 1st, well, this is the closest thing the

Tylenol murders investigation ever had to a smoking gun. Because it would mean he did write the letter on the 28th a day before people started to die would not even the police fucking knew yet. Of course, right? That the killer was going to use cyanide, poison and Tylenol capsules only the killer would know that on the 28th no one else unless the killer told someone else they were about to do that which is unlikely so this thing would prove that James Lewis Jimmy Billy either was the killer or at the very least told of the killings by the killer and that second scenario again highly unlikely

bit more about Jimmy Billy after quickly wrapping up Roger Arnold's story. Roger Arnold, dip shit number one dies on June 16th, 2008 at the age of 73. His friend send a said he spent his final weeks depressed and haunted by his past. Well fucking good. Roger will die denying any involvement in the Poisonings. He was working for Steve Shulman, the owner of A1 truck and auto supply in Archer Heights. Shulman hired Roger as a part-time delivery driver. And it was determined that he died of a heart disease. Good ridden

to that sad creep. February 4, 2009 FBI conducts a raid on James Lewis's home in storage spaces in Cambridge. This is going to make this guy look even more guilty. Investigators find a four-page handwritten timeline of the Lewis's movements before and after the murders. The writer refers to James in first and third person. There were entries for Leigh-Anne throughout September of 82, but no entries for James from September 25th to the 28th. Very important dates. That's when whoever poised in the Tylenol capsules

would have done so. On September 29th, the timeline states he arrived in Manhattan around midnight. Where'd he been? Chicago, maybe? The police also sees the handwritten list titled, Yes, I am a killer, but I got 10 good reasons. The author of the list, unknown, but probably Jim. Among the reasons to kill were to wipe out scum to show who his boss to protect my family to teach a lesson. All that sounds like exactly the kind of shit that Jimmy Billy would have written. January of 2010, Jim ordered to provide his DNA to task force to investigators take a mouse swab fingerprints. Also took samples from Leanne. Turns out the gym did not match any of the DNA found in the Tylenol bottles

according to the Tribune sources. Neither did Leanne. James now wrote on his website, okay boys and girls, now you have my DNA and your Jillian set up my fingerprints. You could have saved thousands of taxpayers' dollars coming here to Massachusetts for DNA, which you knew would never match anything in your archive because you already knew that. I was never near that evidence in the first place.

But remember that print and any DNA found in the bottle could have come from a lab tech some investigator, right, probably did since back in 1982, wearing gloves for handling evidence, you know, not part of protocol. June 30, 2010 Roger Arnold's body is exhumed for DNA testing investigators remove his femur, rebarry him the later that day. His DNA also doesn't match the DNA on the bottles, but again, this doesn't really matter. Unless it was one of them, like it only matter if it was, you know, from somebody who wasn't connected to the investigation.

May of 2011, the infamous Ted Kaczynski file's court documents indicating the FBI is seeking his DNA in connection with this investigation. Kaczynski revealed these efforts in a court motion trying to stop the government from oxygen and off some of his items. Sources told the Tribune that the unibomber was not a suspect, did not match the DNA profiles, but investigators just wanted to test his DNA basically for optics. So no one could accuse them later of overlooking the possibility that the murders were committed by a known domestic terrorist from the Chicago area. In the summer of 2012, now, task force two presents their findings to Cook County and DuPage County prosecutors in hopes that one of the officers will file charges against James Lewis. Their presentation emphasizes the drawings made by James back in 1984. Dr. Christopher

Hallsteadge, a poisoning expert, determines that the drawings are feasible methods of filling and transporting the capsules. Robert Grant, former special agent, charges a Chicago office, leads the presentation, and will later tell the Tribune, there's not as the prosecutors say a smoking gun. But smoking guns can come in a lot of different places, and they can come from a compilation of evidence. It's all the pieces assembled on the table that makes a gun and it's all those pieces I think we have.

Prosecutors asking or prosecutors asked acting US attorney Gary Shapiro for his impressions on the evidence if they should move forward. Sources recalled him saying, I don't know what you're waiting for. The state attorneys did not reject or advance the findings though. Investigator sent a memo to prosecutors asking a grand jury to obtain testimony from about six witnesses, but they can't get anyone to provide the testimony they need. The most important witness invokes her Fifth Amendment right and doesn't want to talk about it.

No one wanted, after many years, you know, passing to have their lives upended again by being part of a big trial. So no charges are approved. And just like that, investigation collapses again. 2013, the FBI pulls out of the task force, transfer and responsibility to the Arlington Heights PD, which is still the lead agency today. However, no one currently working on the case full time July 9, 2023, James Lewis found dead in his home in Cambridge. 76 years old, died in natural causes. Public records show that James had a history of heart problems and was in poor health.

The time was death. And Cabral told the public, we have no reason to believe there was anything suspicious. James's death marked the like the end of the case. It was now almost certain that no one will ever be charged with the Tylenol murders. retired agent Roy Lane told the Tribune James is Lewis's death, and the lifetime of cruelty to others and a compulsive need for revenge. His death puts the pursuit of justice to an end. And I believe Cabral, if I didn't mention him earlier, when I did a final edit for this, he was just another investigator. So sorry if I didn't mention his name earlier, and now we're going to get out of this timeline. So sorry if I didn't mention his name earlier and now we're going to get out of this timeline. Good job, soldier. You've made it back. Barely. So a crazy story, you know, years and years of investigating, decades of investigations.

Two different task forces, a massive manhunt, so much investigative journalism, a crime that led to the first massive recall of a product in the US, a crime that led to seven deaths to Johnson and Johnson losing around $100 million and the US enacting new laws that would forever change. How many products have to legally be sealed now for our protection and no one ever charged, not directly for the killings. But it had to be Roger Arnold or James Lewis, right? This mystery is such a mind-fuck for me because they both look so guilty. I mean, look at them both here,

right around the time of the killings, dipshit one, Roger Arnold, loan or not well liked by anyone, wife recently left him, blabbing about having cyanide for a project right after the fucking murders or an ounce. I will admit he did buy signied, 32 ounces worth of potassium signied, exact kind using the killings. Uh, he did middie at a whole fucking lab at home, even though he was no chemist.

He was a guy who worked at a storage facility for random grocery and drug store products like Tylenol admitted to throwing away his lab equipment and cyanide before investigators came to his home. Investigators found unlicensed handguns, leftover lab equipment, bags of chemicals, a bunch of books on shit like how to make explosives or how to kill people cyanide. One book even instructed you on how to add cyanide to someone's medicine to their capsules. On top of all that, this guy who didn't miss work in a dozen years suddenly has a one-way ticket to Thailand. It's supposed to be leaving the country, you know, shortly after the killings. Looks very fucking guilty. And this guy

was so unstable, he would soon kill a guy because he thought that guy was another guy who had ratted him out to the police over the Tylenol murders. And many Chicago PD investigators would finish their careers thinking he is the guy. But there was never enough evidence to charge him. And then somehow there's another guy who many investigators thought looked even more guilty. Right, the FBI thought was the guy, James William Lewis, fucking Jimmy Billy.

This guy fit the FBI's profile of the killer almost perfectly. Right, he had been treated for mental health issues numerous times. He did attack his parents badly. Did he have a history of animal cruelty? Well, you know, as I said, nothing confirmed, but who knows?

He did for sure enjoy the intention of law enforcement, did think he outsmarted the police who was very arrogant, did possibly seek more excitement when he for sure offered help to an investigators numerous times. Almost certainly killed a man before, Raymond West, also had books about how to kill people, including a book that told you how to use cyanide specifically.

He was quick to anger, vengeful, tried to frame another man, Frederick Miller-Machei over a check to his wife, bouncing when the travel agency she worked at, the one Fred owned, went out of business. He would be convicted of attempted extortion for trying to frame Fred for sending an extortion letter to McNeil Pharmaceuticals regarding the Tylenol killings. He was convicted of credit card fraud, had a history of using aliases committing sneaky

ass crimes, kind of shit that somebody would do. The kind of person who would sneak poison into Tylenol bottles, right? And this is so big, he claimed for over 25 years that he took three days to write the extortion letter. 26 years after the murder, the FBI write the extortion letter. 26 years after the murder, the FBI determined the extortion letter was postmarked October 1, 1982, three days before that is September 28, right? The day before the victim started to die over two days before anyone other than the killer and whoever the killer may have personally

chose to confess to would know about the murders, which makes him look so guilty. Then the FBI finds shit in his storage facility like a four-page handwritten timeline of the Lewis's movements before and after the murders with no info for James between September 25th and the 28th. Dates when investigators were certain the poison was added to the capsules. On September 29th, time line stated James arrived to Manhattan around midnight, right after poisoning people in Chicago, maybe to get back at his wife's old boss, and a handwritten list found titled,

yes, I'm a killer, but I got 10 good reasons. How could two separate guys, who it seems, did not run in the same circles, or ever meet each other, both look so fucking guilty of the same crime? At least both of them would spend years in prison for other murders, I guess. One of them had to have done it, I think. Or I guess if two guys could both look so guilty and they both can't be guilty, right?

Then I guess some other guy could be fucking responsible for the title of all murders. Such a strange murder mystery. What do you think? Who do you think did it? I think as guilty as Roger Arnold looked, I think it was James. I think it was Jimmy Billy. That postmark is a smoking gun for me, you know, especially when compiled with everything else around this guy. I think Roger Arnold was

just another maniac who liked to get attention and maybe wanted some people to think he was the fucking killer, even though he got so mad when that bartender accused him of being the killer. The world always has some real wackos in it. Thank God they are the exceptions to the rule. If they were the rule, this world would not be worth living it. Time now for our takeaways. Time Shock, Top 5 Take Away! Number one, seven people in the Chicago area all died of cyanide poisoning after taking Tylenol capsules, September 29, 1982.

Three of the victims members of the same family. Number two, the first suspect to appear on police radar was Roger Arnold. The disheveled psychopath. On October 6th, the week after the murders, the Chicago tavern owner called the police to report that one of his regulars told patrons he had some cyanide for a project. Roger Arnold was a dockhanded warehouse for jewel food stores, which was sold, Tyler, or stored it. Investigators found evidence inside Arnold's home suggesting he had experimented with chemicals, but no cyanide actually found in his possession.

But he told investigators he had bought a whole bunch but no sign I'd actually found in his possession, but he told investigators he had bought a whole bunch and then gotten rid of it. He was publicly identified as a suspect, and although the Tylenol Task Force later announced that he was no longer a suspect, Roger's life was ruined according to Roger. He wanted to get revenge on the man who called in the tip and then fatally shot a man. He thought was that man. Roger was convicted of murder, served about half a sentence before he was released. He died in 2008 never having been charged for the Tylenol murders. Number three, the second prime suspect, James Lewis, a man from Kansas City, Missouri. James had been living in Chicago under the alias Robert Richardson with his

wife, Lehan. And he was going by the name, who was going by the name Nancy. They fled Missouri after James was investigated for credit card fraud. Three years earlier, James was charged in a gruesome murder of one of his former tax clients, but the charges were dropped even though he for sure fucking did it. Dude got off on a technicality. James was found guilty of writing an extortion letter to McNeil Laboratories, the manufacturer of Tylenol, demanding a million dollars, stopped the murders. He signed the letter using the name of Leanne's former boss, who had issued a check to her within sufficient funds. And he sent that letter before the murders were public knowledge.

But by the time investigators figured that out, it had just been too long, I guess, since the murders occurred, witnesses no longer wanted to be a part of a trial. Just wasn't enough physical evidence to prove to a jury he was the guy. Number four, maybe my dad did this. Wouldn't be the first time he probably got away. Number four, maybe my dad did this. Wouldn't be the first time you probably got away with murder. Just have to think about. Number five new info. Did I just say number five a second ago? If I did, I was supposed to say number four. Let's talk about the Tylenol murders, inspiring some copycat killings, which is scary. February

8, 1996, 23 year old Diane Elsoth was staying with her boyfriend's parents home in Yonkers, New York. That night, I guess we stayed at her boyfriend's parents home. That night, she took two extra strength tile and all capsules went to sleep, didn't come to breakfast or lunch the next day. When the family checked on her, they only found her dead. What the fuck? I thought this shit was fixed. Diane took a capsule from a newly opened sealed bottle, but still, it was somehow poisoned again with cyanide. Three of the capsules in the bottle purchased by the family would turn out to be poisoned.

Then on February 13th, a second bottle was found at a Woolworths in nearby Bronxville, less than a mile from the A&P where the other bottle was purchased. The FDA will determine that the same cyanide was found in both bottles. After Diane's death, 14 states will ban the sale of Tylenol. Johnson and Johnson will make a public statement saying,

what the fuck? Are you serious? Could the next maniac please put the poison in some exedron, maybe in some Advil, or so sick of this shit? No, they called the tampering and active terrorism offered a $100,000 reward. Then on February 14th, the police announced the arrest of a man who admitted to riding a $2 million extortion letter. Here we go again, like the same pattern, claiming he poised the Tylenol, they killed Diane. The letter was discovered, the letter was discovered in Bronxville. In the letter, the author claimed he was the number two Tylenol killer. He threatened to poison Tylenol and also orange juice if he didn't receive the money in 72

hours. But then 55 year old, Dewitt Gilmore, 21 year old Dewitt Jr. and Dewitt Jr.'s girlfriend, 18 year old, Daffodil Graham, all arrested by secret service agents at their home in New Rochelle in a credit card fraud case and a copy of this letter found during the search. So many similarities. Dewitt Jr. admitted to writing the letter at his arrangement and claim responsibility for in a credit card fraud case, and a copy of this letter found during the search. So many similarities. Do it, junior admitted to writing the letter at his arrangement and claim responsibility for the death of Diane Ells Roth case closed right? Nope. The letter was discounted as fraud. A year later, there were no suspects and few leads in

Diane's murder. Sweet Jesus. In response to Diane's death, J&J has now stopped selling pull apart capsules. This time law enforcement did not rule out the possibility that Tylenol was contaminated during production or distribution, but they did believe that was unlikely. New York FBI agents worked with Illinois agents to determine if the poisons were carried out by the same person. Couldn't reach a conclusion. FBI and Yalkers, please, came to believe again that the poison capsules were put in the bottles once they got to the stores. And FBI analysis indicated that this time,

they killer removed the bottom of the bottle to insert the capsules. Not sure how they did that. Yonkers detective Lieutenant Jack Roach told the Chicago Tribune that his team became skilled at removing seals and putting them back on with a soldering iron to the point where no one could tell the difference. Is that what

the killer did? Like who knows? Again, they got away with it. Then later, 1906, two more people killed by poison capsules. June 11th, 1906, 40-year-old Sue Snow, a bank manager, wakes up with a headache, takes two extra strength, excedrin capsules. Johnson and Johnson, again, make a public statement of, oh, fuck yeah oh fuck yeah bro finally someone else to deal with this shit Of course not no Su said good morning to her daughter went to the bathroom plugged in her curling iron and turned on her shower the day she died Her 15-year-old daughter later went to the bathroom to check on her mom found her unconscious on the floor Su's taking to the hospital She will die in the hospital hours later the medical examiner will suspect Sue died of cyanide poisoning because of an almond smell coming from her body.

Testine will confirm that June 17th, the day after the manufacturer of Accenture and recalled the product, a woman named Stella Nichol now calls the police to report she was worried her husband had also been poisoned. Bruce Nichol died suddenly on June 6th after taking four extra strength exedering capsules. Initially, he thought that he died from complications of amphysema, but testing done on June 19th confirmed he did die of cyanide poisoning. Two tainted bottles of exedering found in the Nichol home. In the following months, two more poison bottles found in Auburn and Kent, Washington. In total, five bottles taken to Washington, DC for testing. Investigators find tiny green crystals in the capsules, which came from algae sites,

used in aquariums and fish ponds. Strange. They're able to identify the exact brand, algae destroyer, and they determine that the killer used a container of algae destroyer to mix a sign at. How cool is that? They can figure that out. Investigators find that still a nickel

owned a fucking fish tank and purchased algae destroyer right before the murders. Stella also suspiciously took out three life insurance policies on Bruce. Bruce, the year before he died. The policies were worth $71,000 with a $100,000 accidental death writer and Stella confronted her doctor about the decision to label Bruce death as natural. She wanted it accidental Well, all this of course makes her primary suspect then after failing a polygraph investigators come to believe She put the sirenite in the capsules repackaged five bottles keeping two putting three in local stores She wanted to make it seem like there was another poisoner out there You know poison people randomly to avoid suspicion. And that is some evil shit.

In early 1997 Stella's adult daughter Cindy comes forward to report that her mom often talked about killing Bruce because she was bored with the marriage. Not being abused, not being constantly cheated on her something, not just bored. Stella previously admitted to trying to kill him with Fox Glove when she was interrogated, but that poisoning attempt failed, so she researched Sinai at the library months before Bruce died. The FBI spent most of 1987 collecting evidence against Stella and she was charged with two murders on December 9. She was convicted in May of 1988, sends to 90 years in prison with parole eligibility beginning in 2018. Stella Nickel, the first person to be tried and convicted under that federal product tampering

law that was passed because of the Tylenol murders. In October of 2023, so just very recently, Stella denied early release from prison after attempting to be granted release on the grounds that her health was failing. She won't be eligible for release until 2040, even with credit for good behavior. And by that time, she'll be 96 years old. So she will very likely die in prison. Time suck. Top five takeaway. The Chicago Tylenol murders have been sucked. I hope you found that story is interesting as I did. Thank you yet again to Olivia Lee for her

initial research this week. And thanks to the Space Lizards on Patreon for supporting this show. Add free episodes have begun. Thanks to the team here, including Tyler C, the suck Ranger for recording, uploading today's episode for distribution. Thanks to the all seen eyes,

moderating the cult of the curious, private Facebook group, the mod squad, making sure Discord keeps running smooth, and everyone on the time sucks subreddit and bad magic subreddit. Next week on time suck, we're talking about the famous Dugor family. The majority of the American population has at least heard the Dugor name, right? The Duggers, their 19 children, many of their children's children.

Why did the Duggers become so popular? Why is their family mired in scandals now? When 17 kids in county, first premiered in September of 2008, the show was an instant hit, huge hit. The audience fastened by this large family, how their lives were so different from mainstream people's lives. 17 kids in county also a family friendly show.

Right, whole family could watch together. Jim Bob and Michelle got married as teens. Never thought they would have such a large family with Michelle experienced a miscarriage during her second pregnancy. She and Jim Bob were Michelle got married as teens. Never thought they would have such a large family but Michelle experienced a miscarriage during her second pregnancy. She and Jim Bob were devastated, right? They turned to their church for a source of comfort, found verses, told them that children are a gift from God,

decided they would no longer use birth control except any number of kids. From 1988 to 2009, Michelle would give birth to 19 children. Jim Bob and Michelle enjoyed the success of the show. They were able to showcase a Christian family on a national television show and promote their values. You know, that all children are gifts from God. And then Jim Bob made plans for a political career to spread his message of traditional

family values further, but then things changed. In May of 2015, in Touch Magazine released an article that exposed some disturbing family secrets that the duggers, old son Josh molested five girls when he was a teen, and four of them were his sisters, and that Jim Bob went to great lengths to sweep all this under the rug. TLC Cantal the Show, the family went on a massive PR image cleanup campaign, doing interviews to clear up a bunch of rumors. But then Josh brought more shame to the family. In 2021, Josh Dugger arrested for downloading and possessing child pornography on his work and personal computers.

Adding to this, Dugger family was in the focus of more criticism for supporting focus on the family. A fundamentalist organization that promotes large families and an organization whose leader had to step down over serious sexual abuse allegations. Next week, I'll share a full timeline of Jim Bob and Michelle's early lives. Sounds like one of the names I make up. It's Jimmy Bobby.

No, his name really was Jim Bob. Or is. And yeah, we'll talk about their early lives, marriage, rise to reality TV fame, 2015 scandal, Josh Duggers, more recent arrests. I'll examine their beliefs and the focus on the family organization and more. Right now, I'm gonna head on over to focus on the family organization and more.

Right now, I'm going to head on over to this week's Time Sucker Updates. If you would like to add your message to these updates, send an email to Bojangles at TimeSuckPodcast.com. We love a good update. Our first update this week coming in from a Bond Jovi fan in Succ-and-Sac, Alana Brown. Who writes, Hey there McMaster, sucker.

I'm a long time listener, first time caller. I just recently found out my family has some ties to Jeffrey Lunggren. After my father-in-law and I got into a discussion. Apparently my father-in-law's cousin was responsible for transporting Lunggren back and forth to court during the trial. She didn't last long doing it though. She ended up quitting and jumped straight into therapy. It was a short drive, maybe 15 minutes,

but I guess he never shut up. My father-in-law's cousin has never opened up about what he said to her, but I can only imagine how horrific it was all things considering. But anyway, I love the podcast and the new Bon Jovi references. Keep doing what you're doing. We appreciate it. If you read this on the podcast, go Chicatilo. Maybe give a shout out to my buddy, Kenden. Maybe give him some help for abandoning me for a new job. Much love, Alana Brown.

Alana, what did Colt leader and scat play lover, Jeffrey Lungbran say to your father and lost cousins. Do you talk a lot about Skidmark? Did he tell her that God wanted him to take a dump on her tits? Did he talk about how the the best anal loop is blood? I still can't believe that story is more widely known. Or do you think he maybe said, I don't know, something like, I'm going down in a blaze of glory. Take me now, but no, with the truth, I'm going down in a blaze of glory. Lord, I never drew first, but I drew first blood. I'm no one's son. Call me young gun.

Or is that what premier Korean war historian John Bon Jovi once said? I forget And finally what this big deal can then why you take shamecock leave a lot of to jerk and corner alone like fool Thank you for the update Lana and now some advice from helpful sucker Jenny Chang who just wants to make the show better and writes hey suck master's supreme and glorious cool leader I'm not very clever and I don't know how to be funny in an email but regardless I wanted to write in about you referencing quotes from your research. Oftentimes it's hard to tell when the quote starts and stops unless you do the quote in a funny voice. Additionally you will often start a quote by saying quote blah blah blah but never say end

quote which can make it hard to tell what was the truth versus your comments. Maybe I'm the only one who has this concern but when I'm hearing the facts and someone is quoting their source, I would like to know what is the facts versus your comments. Not always apparent, which is which I hope that makes sense. Anyway, you can tell me to pound sand if you don't care. I thought I'd bring it up anyway. If you do read this on the podcast, please give a shout out to myself and my dog Apollo noodle. I don't have any friends who listen to this podcast as religiously as I do because they're lame. I've been considering new friends.

Thank you for everything, Jenny. Jenny, no, that was a great reminder. For me to try and make it more clear what is facts, right? Especially like quotes and what is my nonsense. That is important. I love updates like this. And actually yours affected today's show. I did try to be more clear when I was, you know, relaying quotes.

I didn't say the quote end quote, but I tried to like give little pauses and, you know, change my voice a little bit to make it more clear that that's a quote. I think that kind of feedback is invaluable, right? I love to work on stuff, try and make things better, get better at my job. Also a great dog name, Apollo noodle. You kid me? Is it noodle for short? Nude? Apollo? I'm sure there's quite a story behind that and fuck your friends. Check out some of our Facebook groups and rebuild Hail Nimrod. And finally, it offends against my attack on Alchemy last week. From a dirty wizard, Kelly McMillan who writes, Hail Lord Suck Master, Bear of the L-shaped Palace.

It is I, loyal sucker, Kill. I've listened to Time's Up for five years now, and you had a big inspiration for me to start my own podcast, which ties into why I'm writing you today. Excuse me, in your latest episode on Jildere, you addressed Alchemy, a subject I've been looking into for months, for my own podcast, and I thought the fates have to creed me worthy to address some of the gripes you had about Alchemy. Alternating lead or base metals into gold and achieve immortality were fable goals of alchemy. Back in those centuries,

it was seen as not just a natural process, but achievable. Bear in mind, metal jurists are metaler, metaler gists, that's a tricky word, metaler gists. And blacksmiths would observe that as a metal or ore was heated, it would change color. We in the modern age now know this is because of impurities in the metal or ore itself, but to them in ancient times, where knowledge wasn't as vast as it is now, it seemed like metal could undergo some kind of metamorphosis, not unlike a caterpillar to a butterfly or a tadpole and to a frog. Also, calling alchemy

alchemy quackery is one of those, yes, but also no kind of statements. We have alchemy, alchemy, quackery is one of those yes, but also no kind of statements. We have alchemy to thank for purifying techniques and metals and medicines that we still use to this day. So, if you're acid and the immersion of certain alloys, we're direct results of alchemical discoveries. So, it's easy to see how people in yold, yolden times who thought soap was the devil's foam block could think that the goal of turning lead into, or producing the philosopher's stone was a real possibility. Although nowadays we know that has to be horseshit.

And yes, alchemy does still exist today, but it's no longer bearded fox and robes, mixing tinctures to turn lead into gold. It exists mainly as a philosophy, where base metals like tin, lead, and mercury are symbolic of a man's base animal nature, and gold is a state of personal enlightenment through knowledge. Not unlike the philosophy of a certain cult I know of, wink wink nudge nudge. That's awesome.

So that's my bullshit I needed to share. Blah blah blah, three to five stars. Sorry about you falling out of your bed, landed on your boner. Your loyal sucker and alchemical scholar, KELT. Also I think alchemy would be a great topic. There's lots of history, biblical figures, kings, and queens as well to the, oh, excuse me, as well as the secret order of the roast accrucians for you to sink your teeth into.

Well, thank you, KELP. But what the fuck is the name of your podcast? Or is it not out yet? Next time you send in a cool ass update, you got to include that. Because that wasn't a really good update, right? Point taken, not all of the alchemists were quacks they really thought that they were on a selfie a Francois pralotti the source were though he was a pure grifter I think we can all agree on that I don't think he

truly believed Barry the demon was gonna shower gold upon Jill Durey thank you for the info kale and Hill Nimrod to everyone who wrote in. Thanks, time suckers. I need a net. We all did. Thank you for listening to another Bad Magic Productions podcast. Scared of death, time suck each week. Please, please don't add cyanide to any bottles of Tylenol this week. They've been through enough.

If you have to poison someone anonymous, you know, at least do it with, you know, Advil or something. And just keep on sucking. [♪ Music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a

Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a

Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, sounds of a Christmas music playing in background, And magic productions. And I got a squeeze this in here. I totally forgot to mention another sponsor. I know we already had two to add breaks, but this is very important.

Today's time suck is brought to you by Tylenol. Paying its fast, almost as fast as cyanide, which we have never ever added to our products. I'm John Tylenol, CEO of Tylenol, and I just want to remind everyone of how safe Tylenhal is. 99.99% of all the pills we have ever made have never killed anyone to signite poison. And again, we have never, ever added that to our products. We wouldn't do that! We wouldn't do that because when other people have done that, on a few occasions now, despite our safety precautions,

people have died very quickly after taking Tylenol. But Tylenol is safe. I'll prove it by coming to your house and taking some out of the same bottle the next time you have a headache, muscle cramps, menstrual cramps, sinus pain, anything else that causes pain. Pain that Tylenol can ease.

You know what doesn't ease pain? Sinite. It hurts, it kills you, really fast. And sometimes people sneak it into our products. I'm not gonna lie about that, it's happened, it's been in the news, it's happened a few times. And people have died after taking Tylenol, but not that many people. So give it a try. It's maybe not as safe as, uh, et cetera.

Definitely more dangerous than Advil, but it's still pretty safe. Tylenol, the pain reliever that almost never kills anyone because it's been contaminated with a highly lethal poison called cyanide. Tylenol is proudly manufactured and distributed by Bear Evil Incorporated.