This case appeals to me so much because I found that the offender is pretty intelligent. Yes there were finger prints on the bottles, but they could not be traced back to him/her. He was a ghost. I can't imagine how the families of the victims feel when they have no reassurance, no answers to their questions. The thought knowing he/she's still at large probably haunts them still to this day.In September 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman was feeling sick at home and took a Tylenol Extra Strength to stop her from feeling any pain. What she didn't know is that it would do so much more. It would also stop her heart from beating. Mary lied dead on the floor shortly after ingesting the medication. Little did we know, Mary had become the first victim to have lost her life to this famous unknown American serial killer.
That same day, only a few hours later, a 27 year old man, named Adam Jenus, was the next victim. He took the pill for headache relief and died as a result. The day prior to his funeral, his fiancé and his brother took the same medication to soothe them from the physical pain that came from grieving. They were both dead before the funeral could take place. Police suspected it might have been a gas leak. Eventually it became evident that the 4 people had died shortly after ingesting Tylenol. A couple days after that discovery, 3 more people lost their lives to the Tylenol terrorist. So the investigators decided to do a toxicology test on the medication, and it came out positive with traces of cyanide (chemical often used in the gas chambers during WWII). There were only 2 suspects to this case, and they both turned out to be innocent in the end. Which left this case completely dry, with no evidence to point the investigators in any direction.
In my opinion, for someone to get their hands on such a toxic and dangerous chemical, they must have worked in one of the chemical factories in the area. Or they simply had profound chemistry knowledge. The reason to why this person did this is unknown. I suspect he/she might have been a social misfit and wanted to punish their community because they didn't fit in. Which would be why they planted their lethal poison in the 6 pharmacies in the small town.
According to Johnson & Johnson (the Tylenol manufacturing company), the cyanide was inserted into the capsules after they were manufactured in the factory. That leads investigators to believe the killer stole the medication from the stores, added the lethal chemical then returned them to their place on the shelf to be sold to some poor soul.
But whoever he/she is, must have planned everything carefully to avoid getting caught by law enforcement. I think that whoever did this must have mental issues to think that they have the right to take somebody's life, especially that of a child. It is a heinous act and difficult to understand. Even if the law enforcement did figure it out, it would still be hard to wrap your head around it trying to understand why. It's an act against nature.
Source(s)
-http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/tylenol_murders/index.html
-http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/tylenol_murders/index.html
It's tough to admit, but you must appreciate the intelligence and plotting behind this case! How creative this criminal must be! The mysterious element to this post in particular makes it all the more worth while to read - my imagination can't help but whirl with the possibilities of what this criminal is doing/has done since then. However, it is very unfortunate and saddening how the victims families were left with this heavy ambiguity, and that two of them even became victims because of this!
ReplyDeleteWow, very interesting! I often take medicine such as Tylenol for the same reasons as the victims which kind of scares me. The "mastermind" behind this project must have had some type of messed up reasoning for his doings, and clearly is intelligent enough to keep his (or hers) identity a secret! It's sad that there are such unstable people out there willing to hurt others.
ReplyDeleteI guess evil geniuses still exist, I'm just hoping this one is dead, imagine taking a Tylenol, but only to end up dead a couple minutes later. I might never take them again. This is very interesting because they never actually caught him, but they also didn't know anything about him, he could have any name or look like anyone. Keep up the blogging, you're doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that people are this bored, deranged or angry just leaves me speechless. Though, I do still give whoever this is credit for his/her ridiculously intelligent planning and performance. Really, who thinks of this kind of thing? Was he/she just sitting in his/her basement one night thinking 'Yup I hate everybody. Lets go put some chemicals on Tylenol and watch people die!' Congrats on managing to find such interesting case studies!
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to applaud this killer's intelligence, simply because it is completely masked by the unfathomable idiocy of the people killed. Assuming that Tylenol had a seal on each bottle at the time and that the killer had tampered with the medication outside of the factory, how could one take medication they bought after finding that the bottle wasn't sealed? I mean common, the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Use your noodle.
ReplyDeleteThat is a valid question Jake, but this event took place before Tylenol put an air-tight seal on their products. Because of this event, the medication companies are now obligated to assure their customers that their medication hasn't been tampered with. During the time of this case, the during companies simply stuffed a cotton ball in their containers. Which explains how it was so easy to add anything to the medicine without the customers realizing it.
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