A man who said he could stop the 1982 murders caused by tampered Tylenol capsules if he was paid $1 million has died.
James Lewis, now 76, was found dead in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home after first responders received a call about an unresponsive person around 4 p.m. on Sunday, police said in a statement.
“Following an investigation, Lewis’ death was determined to be not suspicious,” the statement read.
Lewis was once considered a suspect in the 1982 Tylenol murders that killed seven people, but DNA tests ultimately cleared him.
He gained police focus after he sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson saying the murders would stop if the company paid him $1 million. Lewis was arrested and convicted of extortion and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Years after his release, he provided DNA to authorities, which did not match the DNA pulled from the tainted bottles distributed in the Chicago area.
Police still do not know who placed the potassium cyanide in the bottles more than four decades ago.
The murders began on September 29, 1982, with 12-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago. Kellerman woke up with a sore throat and a runny nose. Not the most concerning symptoms, but Mary told her parents, and they gave her a single Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule.
Within seconds of taking the capsule, Mary’s father heard her coughing and then the sound of something hitting the floor, the Chicago Tribune reported. He called Mary’s name but received no response, so he went to the bathroom door and found her lying on the floor. Her eyes were fixed and dilated, her breathing was shallow, and she seemed to be suffocating.
Paramedics failed to help her, so she was rushed to Alexian Brothers Medical Center. By the time they arrived, Mary was in full cardiac arrest. Doctors installed a pacemaker and called a priest.
Shortly before 10 a.m., Mary died.
About an hour after Mary died, in Arlington Heights, some seven miles from Elk Grove, 27-year-old postal worker Adam Janus walked out of his bathroom clutching his chest in pain after taking Tylenol. His wife, Teresa, followed her husband into their bedroom, noticing his eyes were fixed and dilated and his breathing was shallow. Adam was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m.
His wife and brother, Stanley, would also take Tylenol that day and die.
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That same day, 27-year-old Mary Reiner, United flight attendant Paula Prince, and single mother Mary McFarland each took Tylenol and ended up dying.
Authorities quickly determined that the Tylenol could have been the cause since each person became violently ill after taking the capsules. Testing determined that the capsules contained potassium cyanide, a deadly poison.
A multi-agency investigation was launched, with investigators noticing that the bottles of Tylenol in the Kellerman and Janus cases were from the same lot. Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Tylenol, recalled the entire lot. But bottles from McFarland were traced to other lots, so Johnson & Johnson recalled those as well. The company warned hospitals and distributors, halted production, and stopped advertising. On October 5, 1982, the company issued a nationwide recall for an estimated 31 million bottles worth $100 million ($315 million in 2023 dollars).
