THE TYLENOL MURDERS

THE 1982 TYLENOL MURDERS

                                                                                                                                           In the autumn of 1982 a sinister assassin terrorized the nation when dozens of his simple but lethal devices were distributed throughout the Chicago area. The killer's random victims were ordinary folks who on one fateful day consumed medicine from "the company you can trust" that had been turned into an especially heinous murder weapon.

The "Tylenol crisis" began just after sunrise on Wednesday, September 29, when a 12 year-old girl was found dying on the bathroom floor of her Elk Grove Village home. By days' end seven unsuspecting victims would collapse after becoming nauseated, dizzy, and confused. Death had become inevitable when minutes earlier they'd swallowed Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules the Tylenol killer had filled with cyanide.

The Illinois Attorney General formed a task force of more than

100 lawmen from fifteen federal, state, and local agencies. Detectives worked around the clock for months, but the investigation was an unmitigated disaster that fizzled into a database of meaningless leads gathered by clueless investigators who allowed themselves to be manipulated by J&J executives and FDA bureaucrats.

Johnson & Johnson used a campaign of deception to dictate the scope of the investigation. Information was covered up that proved the Tylenol capsules had been adulterated during distribution, not at the local retail stores, as was claimed by J&J, the FDA and FBI. Critical evidence was hidden or destroyed with the approval of high level Illinois politicians, and help from the Chicago Mafia.

Buried in the cover-up was the shocking vulnerability of the unsecured distribution network, the reliance on mafia controlled companies and employees to distribute medicine, and the incompetence of an FDA that was incapable of safeguarding the nation's drug supply.

Those who find it hard to believe that law enforcement officials and executives from well respected companies would cover-up such a horrendous crime should consider a tampering incident that preceded the 1982 Tylenol murders by seven years.

In 1975, at a hospital in Marion, Illinois, officials and well respected executives covered up the poisonings of eight people who were given drugs that had been adulterated and turned into murder weapons; three of the victims died. 

The 1975 hospital murders cover-up was exposed, but the killer was never found and no one was held accountable.

THE 1986 TYLENOL MURDER

After the 1982 Tylenol murders, J&J refused to correct the dangerous packaging flaw that had been exploited by the killer; their use of easily adulterated capsules.

In 1986, J&J's reckless process of Tylenol encapsulation was once again exploited by a killer. This time the poisoned capsules ended up in two Bronxville NY stores.

Shortly after midnight on February 8, Diane Elsroth went to bed after taking two Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules from a bottle purchased at the Bronxville A&P store. She never woke up.

Upon learning that Elsroth's murder had been picked up by national media outlets, J&J, FDA and FBI officials picked up their "approved theory" scripts from 1982, and they covered up key evidence from the 1986 Tylenol Murder.

J&J CEO James Burke, when asked if he was sorry he hadn't discontinued the use of capsules after the 1982 murders, replied:  "Yes, Indeed I am."

Burke then went on the "Donahue Show" and expressed his sorrow by promoting to a national audience his ridiculous and false theory that the 1986 murder was a pre-meditated plot to kill Diane Elsroth.  Burke's ludicrous hypothesis led people to suspect that Elsroth's boyfriend had laced the Tylenol capsules with cyanide.

THE TYLENOL MURDERS COVER-UP

 J&J executives, the IL Attorney General (A.G.), FDA and FBI covered up the truth about the 1982 & 1986 Tylenol murders.

Cover-up: J&J, the A.G., FDA & FBI said cyanide was put into the Tylenol capsules after the Tylenol bottles were placed on the retail store shelves.

Fact: Cyanide was put into the Tylenol capsules before the Tylenol bottles were delivered to the retail stores.

Cover-up: J&J, the A.G., FDA & FBI said the cyanide laced Tylenol did not pass through a common point in the distribution channel.

Fact: Cyanide laced Tylenol did pass through a common point in the distribution channel.

Cover-up: J&J, the A.G. and FDA said Tylenol was encapsulated, bottled, labeled and packaged at the manufacturing plants.

Fact: Tylenol was packaged at Customer's facilities. It was not encapsulated, bottled, labeled, or packaged at the manufacturing plants.

Cover-up: J&J, the A.G., FDA & FBI said the Killer was an unemployed madman.

Fact: The Killer was employed; probably by J&J or one of its customers.

Cover-up: J&J, the A.G., FDA & FBI said the Tylenol killer murdered 7 people in 1982.

Fact: The Tylenol killer murdered at least 8 people in 1982.

Cover-up: J&J, the A.G., FDA & FBI said cyanide corrodes through gelatin-based capsules in 8 to 30 days.

Fact: The shelf life of gelatin-based Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide can be indefinite.

Cover-up: J&J and the A.G. said one of the victims cyanide laced Tylenol was purchased at Frank's Finer Foods.

Fact: None of the victim's cyanide laced Tylenol was purchased at Frank's Finer Foods.

The Tylenol Murders Investigation lies

Some officials knowingly made false statements regarding the Tylenol murders, others made false statements out of ignorance.

 Regarding Cyanide used in the 1986 Tylenol tampering

‘‘We have conviction'' that none of the poison was put in the capsules by a worker at the plant.  Cyanide breaks down the gelatin-based capsules and the deterioration becomes evident ''in less than a month.'' - McNeil President, Joseph Chiesa

The cyanide must have been added to the Tylenol recently because the poison would corrode through the gelatin capsule “within about two weeks.” - J&J spokesman, James Murray

“We have conviction that none of the poison was put in the capsules by a worker at the (J&J) plant.” Cyanide breaks down the gelatin based capsules and deterioration becomes evident “in less than a month.” - FDA spokesman, William Grigg

Fact: FBI officials and the FDA's own scientists confirmed that the cyanide used in the 1986 Tylenol murder would not have caused the capsules to deteriorate. The cyanide laced Tylenol capsules had an indefinite shelf life.

Regarding the 1986 Tylenol killer's modus operandi

The same person who tampered with the pills that killed Miss Elsroth, later took another ''package off the shelf'' of some store, ''then did a very professional job of putting five capsules in, putting it back on the shelf, probably to mislead people from the first bottle.'' - J&J CEO, James Burke

Fact: Invesitgators had publically dismissed, weeks earlier, the hypothesis Burke presented to a national audience during an interview on the "Phil Donahue Show".

Regarding distribution of the poisoned Tylenol in 1986

“A company computer analysis showed the odds were in the ''10 billions'' against two bottles of tainted capsules from plants 1,000 miles apart ending up in stores within a block and half of each other in a two-week period.” - J&J CEO, James Burke

Fact: No computer analysis was done. The bulk Tylenol ingredients were manufactured in differerent plants, but the ingredients from both plants were packaged at the same J&J distribution facility in Montgomeryville, PA.

Regarding the packaging and bottling of Tylenol in 1982

Plastic shrink-wrap was wrapped around groups of six bottles at the manufacturing factory." - McNeil President, Joseph Chiesa, while standing next to CEO, James Burke.

Fact: Tylenol was not bottled or packaged at manufacturing plants. Tylenol was packaged and bottled at repackaging facilities all across the United States.

The Tylenol murder fable, as told by former J&J Public Relations Vice President 20 years after the 1982 Tylenol murders

“The unknown murderer went out and bought 8 bottles of extra strength capsules from 5 different drug and convenient stores in a 20 mile radius of Chicago. Then they separated the capsules and took out the acetaminophen which was the analgesic product, mixed it with cyanide, put the acetaminophen and cyanide back into the capsules.

Then they took them back to the exact same five stores they had purchased them from and put them on the shelves so some unsuspecting customer would come by and pick them up, ingest the capsule and die from it. They were very careful because they had to put the packaging back in the exact same store, otherwise, when they got to the checkout counter, there would be a discrepancy. They did it very carefully and there was no suspicion at the checkout counter.” - J&J Public Relations VP, Larry Foster

Fact: Nice story, but not a grain of truth to it. The capsules were laced with cyanide during distribution, before the Tylenol was delivered to the stores.

The 1986 Tylenol tamper-resistant packaging ruse

“Previously undetected signs of tampering have now been discovered using sophisticated scientific examinations.  Our examinations have further determined it was possible to invade the bottles after packaging was complete without detection through conventional means of examination.” (Ahlerich refused to comment further or answer questions from reporters). - FBI chief of public affairs, Milt Ahlerich

Fact: The packaging was not tampered with. All the evidence released about the FBI inspection of the tamper-resistant packaging showed the packaging had not been tampered with.  The Tylenol capsules were laced with cyanide before they were bottled and packaged, and before the Tylenol bottles were shipped to the retail stores.

The "benevolent" James Burke's red herring 

“A person who would put poison in the Tylenol capsules clearly was a deranged person.  Psychiatrists tell us that these people are saying they need help.  These kinds of people know they are not well. They don't want to be called kooks; they don't mind being called sick.  If that person came forward and asked for help, he would receive it, although that doesn't mean the person would not have to deal with the halls of justice.'' - J&J CEO, James Burke

Fact: The killer was employed by J&J or one of their customers

James Burke

Q: Other than what's stated, what do these three murder sprees have in common?

When adulterated drugs were used in 1974-75 to poison 8 people and kill two, officials covered-up the facts. The killer was never found.

When poisoned Tylenol capsules were used in 1982 to kill 7 people, officials covered-up the facts . The killer was never found.

When poisoned Tylenol capsules were used in 1986 to kill one person, officials covered-up the facts . The killer was never found.

A: The drugs were poisoned before they ever reached a retail outlet. The killer(s) worked in the pharmaceutical industry.

When cyanide was used in the Chicago area to kill 3 people, two weeks before the 7 cyanide laced Tylenol murders, officials covered-up the facts; the killer was never found.