Posted in Illinois May 24, 2020 by

How The Illinois Tylenol Murders Of 1982 Changed The World As We Know It

There was a series of Tylenol murders that took place in the 1980s in Chicago, Illinois, and it’s a little-known fact about our state’s history. This unusual catastrophe changed the way drug manufacturers package pills in order to keep us safe from those with ill intentions. Scroll on to learn more.

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In 1982, the city of Chicago was taken by storm when a series of deaths took place that were all caused by poisoned Tylenol. Due to these apparent murders, drug manufacturers around the world changed the way they package their medications.
pixabay/wisconsinpictures
It began in September of that year when a 12-year-old girl died shortly after taking an extra-strength Tylenol capsule. The same day, a 27-year-old man died of the same thing, though it was thought to be a heart attack at the time.
Wikimedia Commons/Katy Warner
The family of the man who died suffered the same fate when many of them took the same Tylenol he had taken.
Over three more days, three more strange deaths occurred with the only link being that they had all taken the same type of Tylenol. This caused investigators to start looking into what was going on.
Flickr/Mike Mozart
It was determined that those who had died after consuming the Tylenol capsules had also ingested a lethal dose of cyanide. Somehow this had been laced into the pills.
pixabay/qimono
The pills consumed by the deceased had been bought at different stores and manufactured at different facilities, which lead police to believe the pills were tampered with after being placed on shelves.
Flickr_Susana Fernandez
Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson pulled the capsules from all stores and issued a recall for those that had been sold, advising those who had them not to take them. In total, they had to recall 31 million bottles of pills.
Flickr/Mike Mozart
Though no one was ever found guilty of this crime, a man from New York wrote a ransom letter to Johnson & Johnson claiming to be the Tylenol murderer and asking for $1 million. He was charged with extortion and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Wikimedia Commons
The changes that came about due to this crisis are seen today. The manufacturer of Tylenol as well as many other drugmakers now use foil seals and other tamper-proof packaging to ensure the safety of their products. Even the pills themself were redesigned to protect how they can and cannot be affected.

What do you know about the Tylenol murders? Share with us below in the comments.

For more like this, check out eight famous murders that took place in Illinois.

Address: Chicago, IL, USA