MARK HUSTED
MARK HUSTED'S DEATH RECLASSIFIED
Mark Husted died from Cyanide Poisoning on September 14, 1982. He was found late Tuesday in the home of Louis Tedesco, 33, of 569 S. Anita St., Des Plaines. Tedesco, who was indicted on drug charges with Husted, told police he found Husted slumped over on a back porch. Before the paramedics arrived, Husted woke up and made light conversation but did not make any sense, Tedesco told police (One of the first symptoms of cyanide poisoning is confusion).
THE CRIME SCENE
Louis Tedesco's home was 5 miles away from the Jewel-Osco distribution center in Elk Grove Village.
A.) Louis Tedesco Home - 569 Anita St, Des Plaines, Illinois 60016
D.) Osco Drug Distribution Center - 2401 Lunt Ave, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
"A FEELING THAT HIS SON MAY HAVE BEEN MURDERED"
Mark Husteds' death was initially classified as accidental; the result of a "massive cocaine overdose."
At the time of his death, Husted's father was the Carpentersville Village Attorney and a former Illinois State's Attorney.
Mark Husted was a convicted drug dealer who had recenty served a three year prison term in Florida.
According to a source from the DEA, Husted was to have appeared Nov 8, in U S District Court on charges of conspiring to sell cocaine. He'd been indicted on charges of operating a $10-million-a-year cocaine ring from a Florida prison while serving a three year sentence on a marijuana conviction.
The investigation into Marks' death was re-opened at the request of his father, Richard Husted, who had a feeling that his son may have been murdered.
Toxicology tests were completed shortly after the September 29 Tylenol murders. The tests showed a lethal level of cyanide in Husted's blood. The death, initially classified as an accidental overdose, was changed to homicide.
The Husted family had many very powerful friends.
The standard sentence for Mark Husted's 1979 drug conviction was five years, but Florida Circuit Court Judge Charles Carlton reduced the sentence to three years after receiving letters from then-gubernatorial candidate James R. Thompson, Sen. Charles Percy, R-IL., Rep. Robert McClory, R-13th, and Elgin Mayor Richard Verbic.
Questions Never Answered
Why did investigators in the Tylenol murders exclude from their investigation the murder of Mark Husted?
Why did Cook County Medical Examiner Robert Stein initially classify the death as a "massive cocaine overdose"?
It's interesting that cyanide was used to kill Mark Husted, and the killer was never found; just like cyanide was used to kill the seven victims officially tied to the Tylenol murders, and the killer was never found.
Two open Tylenol cartons, 24 Tylenol bottles, hundreds of empty Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules, and a pile of white powder were found in the Elgin Howard Johnson's parking lot (B) by two Kane County Sheriff's deputies on September 28, 1982. Mark Husted's Father, Carpentersville Village Attorney Richard Husted, lived in West Dundee (A) at the time.
Box of twelve 6-packs of Extra Strength Tylenol bottles
Two More Cyanide Poisoning Deaths
Mark Husted wasn't the only murder that the Cook County Medical Examiner reclassified as a Homicide. Toxicology tests from blood samples of two others who died around the time of the "official" Tylenol murders, also revealed deadly levels of cyanide.
Dr Michael I. Schaffer, chief toxicologist in the medical examiner's office, said officials were checking the deaths of Husted, Galen Parriott, 30, of Skokie, and Marie Louise Watkins, 21, of Chicago "because of the close proximity (in time) to the cyanide deaths."
Toxicology reports showed each of the three had ingested lethal doses of cyanide.
On the day of the cyanide laced Tylenol deaths, Chicago police were investigating "suspicious deaths" in two nearby suburbs.