Flight attendant Paula Prince buys a bottle of Cyanide Tylenol. Prince was found dead on October 1, becoming the latest victim of a mysterious illness in Chicago, Illinois. In the previous days, six more people had died of unknown causes in northwest Chicago. After Prince’s death, Windward City firefighters Richard Keyworth and Philip Cappitelli realized that the seven victims had ingested extra strength Tylenol before falling ill. Further investigation revealed that several vials of Tylenol capsules had been poisoned with cyanide.
Mary Ann Kellerman, a seventh grade student, was the first to die after ingesting the over-the-counter pain reliever. The next victim, Adam Janus, was found in the emergency room in critical condition. After visiting his older brother in the hospital, Stanley Janus returned to Adam’s house with his wife, Theresa. To relieve their stress-induced headaches, they both took capsules from the open Tylenol bottle that was on the counter. They too were poisoned – Stanley died and Theresa fell into a coma and later died. That same day, Mary Reiner, who had a headache after giving birth, took the contaminated pills. A woman named Mary McFarland has also been poisoned.
While bottles of Tylenol Extra Strength have been recalled across the country, the only contaminated capsules were found in the Chicago area. The culprit was never arrested, but the mass murder led to new tamper-evident drug containers. It also led to a spate of imitation crimes, as others sought to blackmail companies with suspected poisoning plans, most of which turned out to be false alarms.
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