I do not know why, but I thought of the Tylenol killer recently. It was not the first time the case has crossed my mind over the years. Tamperproof containers are usually good for setting me off. So, I was surprised today to see in The Guardian, Tylenol murders: daughter tells of toll of unsolved killings, 40 years on. Years ago, I read or heard someone say there had never been a successful terrorist. I thought then of the Tylenol case. Whoever that person was, they succeeded in changing how we live.
Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide. Congress eventually criminalized tampering with medications and other consumer products, classifying that as a federal crime that could carry up to life imprisonment in cases involving a death.
And soon, many medications and foods sold over store counters began being sold in tamper-proof, sealed packaging.
But no one has ever been arrested in connection with the spate of poisonings that shattered the families of Janus and the others. Authorities won’t discuss the potential theories or suspects they have amid an investigation that they insist remains open and unforgotten.
But the police chief of the Chicago suburb where Adam Janus lived, Joe Murphy, told CNN he hopes forensic technology used to analyze DNA could eventually produce the break they need to conclusively identify whoever was responsible for the Tylenol killings.
I hope they do find the killer.
sch 10/2/22
My senior year at Ball State my Analytical Chemistry professor used this story as a practical way to look at the chemistry of investigating such a crime. Electrochemistry was, and remains, one of the most sensitive techniques for analysis.
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