Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills first three of seven victims

This day in History: 1982 - Three Chicago area residents become ill and die after ingesting Extra-Strength Tylenol later found to be poisoned with cyanide. They are the first of seven victims to lose their lives after taking the over-the-counter pain reliever, which had been tampered with. The case would create a national panic over the safety of nonprescription medications and lead to new standards for pill packaging.

Seventh grader Mary Ann Kellerman was the first to die after taking the medicine overnight to combat a sore throat. After the next victim, Adam Janus, didn't wake up from a nap, he ended up in the emergency room in critical condition, and later died. After visiting his older brother in the hospital, Stanley Janus went back to Adam’s house with his wife, Theresa. To alleviate their stress-induced headaches, they both took capsules from the open Tylenol bottle that was sitting on the counter. They too were poisoned—Stanley died that day, and Theresa the next, after lapsing into a coma.

Other victims included Mary Reiner, who had a headache after giving birth, 31-year-old Mary McFarland and flight attendant Paula Prince. After Prince’s death, Richard Keyworth and Philip Cappitelli, firefighters in the Windy City, realized that all seven victims had ingested Extra-Strength Tylenol prior to becoming ill. Further investigation revealed that several bottles of the Tylenol capsules had been poisoned with cyanide.

While bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were recalled nationwide, the only contaminated capsules were found in the Chicago area. A possible culprit was identified when investigators discovered letters demanding $1 million to stop the killings, but a lack of evidence prevented a conviction. The mass murder did, however, lead to new tamper-proof medicine containers. It also led to a string of copycat crimes, as others sought to blackmail companies with alleged poisoning schemes, most of which proved to be false alarms.

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