Elk Grove Village

Elk Grove Village

Jewel Foods in Elk Grove Village (from CBS News footage, September 30, 1982)

The cyande laced Tylenol that killed 12-year old Mary Kellerman was purchased at this Jewel Foods store in Elk Grove Village on Tuesday, September 28, 1982.

OSCO DRUG WAREHOUSE

The Howard Johnson parking lot, where the deputies found the empty Extra-Strength Tyolenol capsules, is less than 2 miles from a huge Osco Drug warehouse. Osco Drug is owned by Jewel Foods (aka Jewel-Osco) today, just as it was in 1982.

Osco Drug (Jewel Foods) 2401 Lunt Ave. Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

Help Wanted Ad - Aug 1981

Osco Drug Repack Processor

FILM RECOVERY SYSTEMS

The short drive from the Osco Drug warehouse to the Howard Johnson Restaurant takes one right past the building that in 1982 was the home of Film Recovery Systems (FRS). FRS went bankrupt in 1983 about the same time that three top executives were charged with 2nd degree murder after one of their employees died from inhaling cyanide fumes.

This building, at 455 Jarvis ave. Elk Grove Village, IL, housed the Film Recovery Systems in 1982 & 1983

FRS used massive amounts of cyanide to recover silver from old film. They did not store the cyanide in a safe or secure manner, their employees were not trained on how to handle cyanide safely, and most employees were poor illegal immigrants who didn't even know they were handling cyanide. FRS illegally dumped and stored waste, contaminated with cyanide, all over Elk Grove Village.

(A) Osco Drug Distribution Center (B) Film Recovery Systems (C) Howard Johnson Restaurant

This article was run in newspapers across the nation on October 12, 1982

Suburbs no strangers to making headlines

The Daily Herald - Oct. 2, 1982

Another bizarre tragedy has put the Northwest suburbs of Chicago in the national spotlight.

The cyanide poisoning deaths of four Northwest suburbanites and two Du- Page County women — like the Columbo murders, the John Gacy killings, the crash of Flight 191 and the collapse of the Roscmont Horizon stadium roof — again have focused a startled national eye on the area.

Here Is a look at other Northwest suburban crimes and disasters that have gained national attention:

• On May 7,1976, Elk Grove Police found the bodies of Prank, Mary and Michael Columbo stabbed, shot and bludgeoned to death In their Elk Grove home. Michael, 13, the son of the Columbos, had been stabbed 97 times. The Columbos' 19-year-old daughter,. Patricia, and her boyfriend, Frank DeLuca, 39, were later convicted of the murders and sentenced to 200 to 300 years in prison.

• On Dec. 22,1978, investigators began pulling the skeletons of young men from the crawl space beneath the home of John Wayne Gacy, a self-employed contractor in Norwood Park Township. By the time police had entirely dismantled the house, the remains of 29 bodies had been found. Another four Gacy victims were found floating in rivers. The 33 killings made Gacy the worst mass murderer In U.S. history. He was, arrested after, Des Plalnes police linked him to the disappearance of a Des Plalnes teenager. Gacy Is now in prison.

• On May 25,1979, an American Airlines jetliner crashed In Elk Grove Township just after takeoff from O'Hare Airport, killing 273 persons. It was the nation's worst air disaster. In December of that year, the National Transportation Safety Council placed most of the blame for the DC-10 crash on the airline, which it charged with faulty maintenance procedures.

• On Aug. 16, 1979, 20,000-pound wooden roof beams at the partially completed Rosemont Horizon stadium splintered and collapsed, killing five construction workers and injuring 16 others. Federal investigators blamed the collapse on shoddy construction

and levied $60,000 -In fines on the construction firm, contractor and architect.

AMERICAN FRAUD and The Tylenol Murders