THE TYLENOL MURDERS

THE TYLENOL MURDERS INVESTIGATION WAS REACTIVATED in February 2009. Click here for the latest news.

YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TYLENOL MURDERS

There was no madman "salting" Chicago-area stores with cyanide laced Tylenol, the Tylenol was not bottled and packaged at J&J's manufacturing plants, no cyanide laced Tylenol was purchased at Frank's Finer Foods, the Tylenol was contaminated before it was packaged, the Tylenol was adulterated at a single point in the channel of distribution, the Tylenol murders began months before Sept. 29, 1982, the Tylenol Killers murdered more than 7 people, J&J executives did not tell the truth about the packaging and distribution of Tylenol, Jewel Foods executives did not disclose important information about their distribution and repackaging of Tylenol, FDA officials did not disclose important information about the distribution of Tylenol. The Tylenol task force, J&J executives, and FDA officials did cover-up the truth about the 1982 Tylenol murders and the 1986 Tylenol murder.

The Tylenol Killer was not some anonymous Madman

The cyanide was not put into the Tylenol capsules at the local retail stores

AmericanFraud.blogspot.com

ACTION OF CURRENT JOHNSON & JOHNSON EXECUTIVES REGARDING THE TYLENOL MURDERS INVESTIGATIONS

In June 2008 I posted, on a now defunct blog, evidence related to the Tylenol murders. I also sent an email to J&J requesting contact information for the FBI agent currently assigned to the case. When J&J failed to reply, I posted the following on my blog:

On Friday, June 13, 2008, I sent an email to Johnson & Johnson. I told them I have information that may lead to the capture and conviction of the Tylenol killers. On Wednesday, June 18, 2008, I received the following canned reply.
Thank you for contacting Johnson & Johnson. It is always important to hear from our customers and we appreciate the time you have taken to contact us. We have forwarded your message to the appropriate Department. They will contact you directly if interested.

Again, thank you for your interest in Johnson & Johnson. 0128736A
After posting information about the Tylenol murders the previous two days that had never been published, I received 55 visits to my blog from at least half a dozen IP addresses at J&J headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ. Fourteen of the visits, shown below, lasted at least two hours.

How is it that J&J is able to spend so much time on my website, but no one can take a minute to send me contact information for the federal agent in charge of the never closed 1982 and 1986 Tylenol murders investigations?

Two hours after publishing the above post, I received the following email from Johnson & Johnson:

“Thank you for reaching out to us with this information. As you may know, this case has never been resolved, and since it is not a closed case, we suggest you contact the law enforcement agency that has been involved with this investigation over the years directly. You can call the Newark Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at ###-###-####. Also, with your permission, we will forward your contact information and e-mail directly to the agency and ask that they contact you for further information.”

The reply came from an anonymous media relations email address.

The FBI did subsequently contact me. I had two phone conversations, about 15 minutes each, with an agent in New Jersey. I provided a brief summary of the evidence I'd collected and offered to send everything over to the FBI. He wasn't interested.

The FBI agent asked just one question: "When were you born?"

THE 1982 TYLENOL MURDERS

In the autumn of 1982 a sinister assassin terrorized the nation with dozens of simple but lethal devices that were distributed throughout the Chicago area. His victims were ordinary folks who on one fateful day consumed a common medicine that had been turned into an especially heinous murder weapon.

Just before sunrise on Wednesday, September 29, a 12 year-old girl was found dying on the bathroom floor of her Elk Grove Village home. By days' end seven unsuspecting victims would collapse after becoming nauseated, dizzy and confused. Their deaths had become inevitable minutes earlier, when they'd swallowed Tylenol capsules that had been filled with cyanide.

The Illinois Attorney General formed a task force of more than one hundred lawmen from fifteen federal, state, and local agencies who worked around the clock searching for the Tylenol killer. But the investigation was an unmitigated disaster that fizzled into a database of meaningless leads interpreted as relevant clues by investigators who allowed themselves to be manipulated by J&J executives and FDA bureaucrats.

Johnson & Johnson dictated the scope of the investigation as they waged a campaign to obfuscate the facts. They even hired their own ex-FBI agents to privately "investigate" the murders. J&J was privy to evidence gathered by the Tylenol task force, but it appears that J&J did not turn over evidence gathered by it's own extremely well-paid ex-FBI agents.

Information was covered up that proved the Tylenol capsules had been adulterated during distribution, not at the local retail stores as was claimed by J&J, the FDA, and FBI. Working in collusion with J&J were local distribution businesses controlled by the Chicago Mafia.

The investigation was corrupted further by local politicians and lawmen who needed to do more than just cover up seven murders; they needed to keep hidden their unholy alliance with radical right-wing extremists who had a history of carrrying out their dirty work.

Buried in the cover-up was the shocking truth about the vulnerability of the distribution network, the reliance on mafia controlled companies and workers to distribute medicine, and the incompetence of the FDA.

Those who find it inconceivable that law enforcement officials and corporate executives would cover up evidence of these horrendous crimes should consider a tampering incident that preceded the 1982 Tylenol murders by seven years.

In 1975, at a hospital in Marion, Illinois, lawmen and hospital executives covered up the poisonings of eight people who were given drugs that some unknown killer had adulterated, turning them into lethal weapons. Two of the victims died.

The 1975 hospital murders cover up was exposed, but the killer was never found and no one was held accountable.

THE 1986 TYLENOL MURDER

J&J refused to correct the dangerous packaging flaw that had been exploited by the Tylenol killer in 1982; their use of easily adulterated capsules. In 1986, J&J's reckless process of Tylenol encapsulation was once again exploited by a killer. This time the poisoned capsules ended up in two Bronxville NY stores.

Shortly after midnight on February 8, Diane Elsroth went to bed after taking two Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules from a bottle purchased at the Bronxville A&P store. She never woke up.

Upon learning that Elsroth's murder had been picked up by national media outlets; J&J, FDA, and FBI officials picked up their scripts from the 1982 "approved theory" farce, and they covered up key evidence from the 1986 Tylenol Murder.

J&J CEO James Burke, when asked if he was sorry he hadn't discontinued the use of capsules after the 1982 murders, replied: "Yes, Indeed I am."

But Burke then went on the "Donahue Show" and expressed his sorrow by promoting to a national audience his ridiculous and false theory that the 1986 murder was a premeditated plot to kill Diane Elsroth. Burke's ludicrous hypothesis led people to suspect that Elsroth's boyfriend had poisoned the capsules.

THE RETAIL STORES - 1982

All of the cyanide laced Extra-Strength Tylenol recovered after the 1982 Tylenol murders came from the following stores (I believe this is the only complete list ever published):

Jewel Foods - 948 Grove Mall, Elk Grove Village, IL 60005

The cyanide laced Tylenol that killed 12-year-old Mary Kellerman was purchased at this store.

Jewel Foods - 122 N Vail Ave, Arlington Heights, IL 60005

The cyanide laced Tylenol that killed Adam, Stanley, and Theresa Janus was purchased here.

Frank’s Finer Foods - N40 Winfield Rd, Winfield, IL 60190

This is where Mary Reiner was said to have purchased the cyanide laced Tylenol that killed her. In fact, Mary Reiner did not buy cyanide laced Tylenol at Frank's Finer Foods.

Undisclosed Location (The Smoking Gun)

One outlet has always been referred to as the "undislosed location." The cyanide laced Tylenol that killed Mary Reiner was dispensed at the undisclosed outlet.

Authorities kept secret the name and location of this one outlet, because the truth would have destroyed the premise of their theory that the Tylenol capsules were laced with cyanide by some madman after the Tylenol bottles were placed on retail store shelves.

The "Undisclosed Location" is the smoking gun in the Tylenol murders cover up. When I reveal the name and location of the outlet that for 26 years has been known as the undisclosed location, the "approved theory" will be exposed as a fraud perpetrated on American consumers by J&J, the FDA and FBI to cover-up the truth about the Tylenol Murders.

Walgreen Drug Store - 1601 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60614

This is where Paula Prince bought the cyanide laced Tylenol that killed her.

Osco Drug Store - Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, IL 60173

Two bottles of cyanide laced Tylenol were pulled off the shelves of this store. None of the victims purchased Tylenol here.

Dominick’s Finer Foods - 424 W Division, Chicago, IL 60614

The "seventh" bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol was returned to this Dominick's store and then turned over to the police. Officials are unable to confirm that the poisoned Tylenol was actually purchased at Dominick's.

Frank’s Finer Foods - Wheaton, IL 60187

The "eighth" bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol was purchased at this store and then returned three weeks later. This bottle may have been contaminated with cyanide after the murders and then planted into evidence by someone involved in the investigation.

The Ninth Store

Investigators never determined where the cyanide laced Tylenol that killed Mary McFarland was purchased. Therefore, unless she purchased the Tylenol at one of the stores listed above, there must have been a ninth store. Over the past 26 years officials have always said that 7 contaminated Tylenol bottles were found in 8 stores. Their numbers don't add up.

THE RETAIL STORES - 1986

A&P - Bronxville, NY

The Cyanide laced Extra-Strength Tylenol that killed Diane Elsroth on February 8, was purchased at A&P

Woolworth - Bronxville, NY

On February 13, a second bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol was found among bottles that had been removed from Woolworths' on February 10.

THE DISTRIBUTORS

The Louis Zahn Drug Company

Jewel Co. Manufacturing & Wholesaling, Franklin Park, IL

1982: J&J shipped Tylenol from their manufacturing facility in Ft. Washington, PA, to the Jewel facility in Franklin Park, between August* 19 and August* 26, 1982. The poisoned Tylenol was purchased at Chicago area stores on September 28 and 29, 1982.

1986: J&J shipped Tylenol, lot ADF916, from their regional distribution center in Montgomeryville PA to the Jewel facility in Franklin Park on August* 22, 1985. Jewel then shipped the Tylenol to the Bonxville, NY A&P store where the cyanide laced Tylenol was purchased on February 4, 1986.

* Bulk purchasers of pharmaceuticals buy large quantities just before the annual increase of the wholesale acquisition price.

Bulk Pharmaceuticals

Active pharmaceutical ingredients are typicaly shipped from the manufacturing plant to repackagers in drums like the one below.

Price per kilogram and metric tons of bulk acetaminophen powder sold by two US manufacturing plants; Tyco Healthcare and Rhodia:

Need more than 1 or 2 barrels of acetaminophen? Buy it by the truckload for the best price.

Mallinckrodt Chemical Inc., the largest acetaminophen producer, raised its US price early in 1998 and its European price on July 1. The company quotes a price of $8.55 per kilo for truckload quantities of pure powder acetaminophen.

The Chicago Outfit in the 1980s

THE TYLENOL MURDERS COVER-UP

J&J executives, the IL Attorney General, FDA and FBI covered up the truth about the 1982 & 1986 Tylenol murders.

Officials from Johnson & Johnson, FBI, FDA and IL OAG (They) claimed cyanide was put into Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules after Tylenol bottles were placed on retail store shelves.

Truth: Cyanide was put into the Tylenol capsules before the Tylenol bottles were delivered to the retail stores.

They said the cyanide laced Tylenol did not pass through a common point in the distribution channel.

Truth: Cyanide laced Tylenol did pass through a common point in the distribution channel.

They said Tylenol was encapsulated, bottled and packaged at the manufacturing plants.

Truth: Tylenol was packaged at repackaging facilities owned and operated by J&J and their Customers. Tylenol was not encapsulated, bottled, or packaged at the manufacturing plants.

They said the Killer was an unemployed madman.

Truth: The Killer was employed; probably by J&J or one of its customers.

They said the Tylenol killer murdered 7 people in 1982.

Truth: The Tylenol killer murdered at least 8 people in 1982.

They said cyanide corrodes through gelatin-based capsules in 8 to 30 days.

Truth: The shelf life of gelatin-based Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide can be indefinite.

They said the cyanide laced Tylenol that killed one of the victim's was purchased at Frank's Finer Foods.

Truth: None of the cyanide laced Tylenol was purchased at Frank's Finer Foods.

They said capsules in the "eighth" Tylenol bottle had been laced with cyanide by the Tylenol killer.

Truth: The "eighth" Tylenol bottle was planted into evidence after the murders to keep secret the identity of the Tylenol killer.

They said the killer removed and skillfully replaced the tamper-resitant packaging on both bottles of contaminated Tylenol in 1986.

Truth: The cyanide laced capsules were put into both bottles of Tylenol before they were packaged in 3 layers of tamper-resistant seals in 1986.

They said cyanide laced Tylenol was found in 7 Chicago area outlets.

Truth: Cyanide laced Tylenol was found in at least 8 Chicago area outlets.

They claim that the adulterated Tylenol did not pass through the same distribution center.

Truth: The adulterated Tylenol did pass through the same distribution center.

They claim they don't know who the Tylenol killers are.

But I believe they do know who the Tylenol killers are.

Johnson & Johnson's History of Sociopathic Behavior

What the great investigative journalist Morton Mintz knew at least twenty years ago; what I learned just recently, and what the American public seems unwilling to learn, is best captured in an important article by Mintz: Drug fiends; even inside J&J, public safety can take a back seat to profits:

“When a corporation freely and repeatedly can do so much harm and then escape meaningful punishment, and when a CEO can stand by while hundreds are injured and some even killed and still be hailed as a champion of corporate ethics, there is something deeply wrong with the way America is doing business.”

Drug feinds was published in 1991, and includes this assessment of J&J CEO James Burke:

“Over the past 15 years, J&J and its subsidiaries have been accused of knowingly and needlessly endangering millions of people. A tour through the inner workings of the J&J empire suggests that, in the case of at least four drugs - Zomax, Suprol, Ortho-Novum birth-control pills, and Retin-A - J&J, under Burke's leadership, willfully disregarded public safety in order to push its products.”

The Tylenol Murders Investigation lies

Some officials knowingly made false statements regarding the Tylenol murders, others made false statements out of ignorance.

Regarding Cyanide used in the 1986 Tylenol tampering

‘‘We have conviction'' that none of the poison was put in the capsules by a worker at the plant. Cyanide breaks down the gelatin-based capsules and the deterioration becomes evident ''in less than a month.'' - McNeil President, Joseph Chiesa

The cyanide must have been added to the Tylenol recently because the poison would corrode through the gelatin capsule “within about two weeks.” - J&J spokesman, James Murray

“We have conviction that none of the poison was put in the capsules by a worker at the (J&J) plant.” Cyanide breaks down the gelatin based capsules and deterioration becomes evident “in less than a month.” - FDA spokesman, William Grigg

Fact: FBI officials and the FDA's own scientists confirmed that the cyanide used in the 1986 Tylenol murder would not have caused the capsules to deteriorate. The cyanide laced Tylenol capsules had an indefinite shelf life.

Regarding the 1986 Tylenol killer's modus operandi

The same person who tampered with the pills that killed Miss Elsroth, later took another ''package off the shelf'' of some store, ''then did a very professional job of putting five capsules in, putting it back on the shelf, probably to mislead people from the first bottle.'' - J&J CEO, James Burke

Fact: Invesitgators had publically dismissed, weeks earlier, the hypothesis Burke presented to a national audience during an interview on the "Phil Donahue Show".

Regarding distribution of the poisoned Tylenol in 1986

“A company computer analysis showed the odds were in the ''10 billions'' against two bottles of tainted capsules from plants 1,000 miles apart ending up in stores within a block and half of each other in a two-week period.” - J&J CEO, James Burke

Fact: No computer analysis was done. The bulk Tylenol ingredients were manufactured in differerent plants, but the ingredients from both plants were packaged at the same J&J distribution facility in Montgomeryville, PA.

Regarding the packaging and bottling of Tylenol in 1982

Plastic shrink-wrap was wrapped around groups of six bottles at the manufacturing factory." - McNeil President, Joseph Chiesa, while standing next to CEO, James Burke.

Fact: Tylenol was not bottled or packaged at manufacturing plants. Tylenol was packaged and bottled at repackaging facilities all across the United States.

The Tylenol murder fable, as told by former J&J Public Relations Vice President 20 years after the 1982 Tylenol murders

“The unknown murderer went out and bought 8 bottles of extra strength capsules from 5 different drug and convenient stores in a 20 mile radius of Chicago. Then they separated the capsules and took out the acetaminophen which was the analgesic product, mixed it with cyanide, put the acetaminophen and cyanide back into the capsules.

Then they took them back to the exact same five stores they had purchased them from and put them on the shelves so some unsuspecting customer would come by and pick them up, ingest the capsule and die from it. They were very careful because they had to put the packaging back in the exact same store, otherwise, when they got to the checkout counter, there would be a discrepancy. They did it very carefully and there was no suspicion at the checkout counter.” - J&J Public Relations VP, Larry Foster

Fact: Nice story, but not a grain of truth to it. The capsules were laced with cyanide during distribution, before the Tylenol was delivered to the stores.

The 1986 Tylenol tamper-resistant packaging ruse

“Previously undetected signs of tampering have now been discovered using sophisticated scientific examinations. Our examinations have further determined it was possible to invade the bottles after packaging was complete without detection through conventional means of examination.” (Ahlerich refused to comment further or answer questions from reporters). - FBI chief of public affairs, Milt Ahlerich

Fact: The packaging was not tampered with. All the evidence released about the FBI inspection of the tamper-resistant packaging showed the packaging had not been tampered with. The Tylenol capsules were laced with cyanide before they were bottled and packaged, and before the Tylenol bottles were shipped to the retail stores.

The "benevolent" James Burke's red herring

“A person who would put poison in the Tylenol capsules clearly was a deranged person. Psychiatrists tell us that these people are saying they need help. These kinds of people know they are not well. They don't want to be called kooks; they don't mind being called sick. If that person came forward and asked for help, he would receive it, although that doesn't mean the person would not have to deal with the halls of justice.'' - J&J CEO, James Burke

Fact: The killer was employed by J&J or one of its customers

James Burke

Q: Other than what's stated, what do these three murder sprees have in common?

When adulterated drugs were used in 1974-75 to poison 8 people and kill two, officials covered-up the facts. The killer was never found.

When poisoned Tylenol capsules were used in 1982 to kill 7 people, officials covered-up the facts . The killer was never found.

When poisoned Tylenol capsules were used in 1986 to kill one person, officials covered-up the facts . The killer was never found.

A: The drugs were poisoned before they ever reached a retail outlet. The killer(s) worked in the pharmaceutical industry.

When cyanide was used in the Chicago area to kill 3 people, two weeks before the 7 cyanide laced Tylenol murders, officials covered-up the facts, and the killer was never found.

There's a problem with one of these lot numbers. Do you know what it is?