The cornerstone of the approved theory of the Tylenol murders deception ran into trouble, thanks to the revelations of Carl Vergari, when on February 18, 1986 he reiterated during a press conference the findings provided to him by FBI scientists. Vergari said Federal investigators had found no evidence that the triple seals on the bottles of tainted Tylenol had been broken after they left the factory, suggesting that they might have been tampered with there (at the factory).
The two bottles that contained contaminated capsules were sent to the FBI labs to determine “to a reasonable degree of certainty” through microscopic examination “whether the metal foil that’s heat-welded to the top of the bottle has been tampered with after it left the factory.”
“And they say in both cases that their laboratory examination reveals that it was not,” he said, ”that these bottles were not tampered with after they left the factory; that, ergo, the contamination was done at some time during the manufacturing process before the seal was placed on it.”
“What could be clearer than that?” Vergari said.
FBI spokesman, Jack French, declined to confirm or deny Vergari’s assertion, but the fact remained; the FBI’s own evidence didn’t fit the approved theory. If the packaging on the Tylenol bottles hadn’t been tampered with, then the Tylenol capsules had to have been laced with cyanide before the bottles were packaged and before they were placed on the local retail store shelves. (What Vergari didn't know, was that the the Tylenol wasn't packaged at the factory; it was packaged at repackaging facilities.)
Still, the FBI refused to deviate from their story. Milt Ahlerich, chief of public affairs for the FBI, said the lack of evidence “does not mean that the tampering did not occur."
Here again, despite the FBI’s own evidence that showed otherwise, they publically discounted the findings made in their own lab by their own investigators. Ahlerich's statement that “the lack of evidence does not mean that the tampering did not occur,” was especially ridiculous.
Some FBI lab guy had obviously not been brought into the loop regarding the approved theory of the Tylenol murders.
The FDA and J&J quickly weighed in on the discussion by making public statements to discredit Vergari. Their erroneous statements were quoted in virtually every newspaper, and were considered facts in the minds of the media and the public. Officials from the FDA and J&J said, “The weight of evidence suggested that the crime was a local one.”
James Burke appeared on "The Donahue Show" and said:
“We do not have any proof it didn’t happen in the plant or the warehouse, but all logic tells us it didn’t.”
Burke went on to note the ''considerable amount of confusion'' in the case that may have led to an opinion held by Carl Vergari, the Westchester County District Attorney, who had said he believes the pills were probably adulterated at the manufacturing plants.
What confusion was Burke talking about? There was no confusion about the fact that the FBI found no evidence that any of the three separate layers of tamper resistant seals had been tampered with. Any confusion was created through statements made by Burke and FDA Commissioner, Frank Young. It was the many erroneous statements made by J&J, FBI, and FDA officials that conflicted with the very simple truth that the Tylenol capsules had been adulterated during distribution, before any of the deadly capsules were delivered to the local food and drug stores.
The all out marketing blitz of deception didn’t change the fact that Vergari had spilled the beans.
The seals on the Tylenol bottle had not been tampered with; that was a fact. To rectify this problem, the FBI was forced to take action to quash this troubling truth. So the FBI did what any self respecting government agency would do when faced with circumstances such as this. They ordered a bogus inspection of the tamper resistant packaging and made up evidence that aligned with their approved theory. For their second inspection the FBI would use a sophisticated ultra-tech investigatory technique; a technique that the FBI refused to disclose to the public.
Of course the FBI's second inspection wasn't really done with the help of some top secret ultra-tech equipment. In fact, there was no second inspection; it wasn’t needed. The only equipment needed to get the desired results from the second inspection were the pen and paper that were used to write the press release that seemingly fit the approved theory of the Tylenol murders.
THE TAMPER-RESISTANT INSPECTION SCAM
On February 26, in response to questions about the progress of the case over the previous few weeks, Milt Ahlerich, chief of public affairs for the FBI held a press conference in which he issued this statement:
“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 said the bureau was releasing this information “because of the intense national interest in the case.”
Ahlerich refused to comment further, but several "un-named authorities" confirmed the bureau’s findings applied to both bottles of tainted capsules.
Ahlerich’s statement contradicted the original FBI findings revealed publically by Carl Vergari. Ahlerich offered no explanation and supplied no proof that the packaging had been tampered with, but his statement, which in fact revealed no new information, did seem to comply with the official “approved theory”.
A spokesman for Johnson & Johnson jumped all over the FBI’s reversal, saying that the company welcomed the FBI’s finding.
“The company has contended that it was extremely unlikely that the capsules were tainted during the manufacturing process,” said J&J spokesman, James Murray. “We were puzzled all along as to how someone could have breached the three safety seals on the bottle and carton without being detected. We find the FBI statement very interesting.”
In my days at Johnson & Johnson, when someone replied to one of my damning emails with statements like - “Your findings are very interesting,” or, “I’m puzzled by these results”, or, “This is very interesting; what does so and so think about this?” - I knew what they really meant was, “I’m not going to confirm or deny anything because I don’t want my lie documented in this email."
Officials Inspect J&J's Manufacturing Facility
Days before Ahlerich's press conference, Carl Vergari said he planned to inspect the McNeil plant in Fort Washington, PA to "look into the possibility that the adulteration had occurred there.” Vergari said, “their review would examine manufacturing processes and might include employee personnel files."
Prior to Ahlerich's press conference, a team of investigators, including officials from Vergari's office, visited the McNeil plant. Afterward, Vergari said that the tour by a team of investigators: “suggested additional broad areas of inquiries.”
Vergari added that the case of the poisoned Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules is "still wide open," but refused to elaborate on the inspection tour of the manufacturing plant on Monday. "We still haven't eliminated anything," Vergari said. "We haven't had evidence to exclude tampering at the factory."
Now, just after Vergari determined there were still "broad areas of inquiries" at the factory, and it appeared he would intensify his investigation of McNeil Consumer Products, FBI Director Milt Ahlerich came out with a statement designed to confrim to the public that the Tylenol bottles had been tampered with at the local retail stores.
One day after Vergari said he hadn't excluded tampering at the McNeil factory, the FBI reversed their initial findings regarding the tamper-resistant packaging. Accordingly, there would be no need for upstart Carl Vergari to pursue his investigation.
Well, actually there were plenty of reasons for Vergari to pursue his investigation - the facts hadn’t changed - but the Tylenol murder investigations were never about getting to the truth.
Never again would Carl Vergari be heard from with regard to the 1986 Tylenol murder investigation.
Two weeks after FDA official William Grigg stated, “Everyone involved believes that this is a local situation,” he’d gotten everybody in line. With the truth obscured, authorities could now focus the public’s attention back on the search for a fictitious unemployed psychopath.