PROFILE OF THE TYLENOL KILLER
Throughout the Tylenol murders investigations, officials kept the media focused on the psyche of the killer rather than facts and physical evidence. It was reported in 1982, and referenced again by James Burke in 1986, that the Killer’s work was crude and clumsy. Some experts said that the killer was rather incompetent, but had feelings of superiority, and that he was probably not particularly intelligent. One investigator, when asked about the killer, said, "He is probably sitting back to admire his awful handiwork, savoring our frustration."
Dr. Robert Reifman, who in 1982 headed the Chicago courts' psychiatric service, profiled the Tylenol killer as a male loner of above-average intelligence whose goal was in part to produce intensive media coverage.
Governor James Thompson declared, “We have a madman out there."
The FBI brought in their own profiler, John Douglas, to develop a profile of the Tylenol Killer. In Douglas's book, “Mind Hunter,” he says, “despite the fact that this was early in my career and I’d never done a product tampering case before, nor had I ever interviewed a convicted tamperer in prison, it seemed to me that the killer would likely fit the development models we’d observed for other types of cowardly predators."
The FBI's profiling "expert" was a rookie who’d never handled a case that in anyway resembled the Tylenol murders. Douglas was the obvious choice though, since his predetermined idea of the Killer’s profile fit right in with the approved theory of the Tylenol murders.
The Tylenol tamperings were interpreted by Douglas as an act of anger, with no specific need to see a victim or to be present at the murder. It was a crime involving psychological distance. "Our research had shown," he wrote, "that subjects who kill indiscriminately without seeking publicity tend to be motivated primarily by anger." He also believed the person would have periods of depression and hopelessness. "He was like an assassin, a white loner who hated society and sought some expression of power."
Douglas surmised that the killer was a person with a long list of failures, in all areas of life, who would probably have a record of complaints of injustices against him (he did not consider that the person might be female). He would have gravitated towards positions of authority, but would have had trouble keeping a job, and he'd likely have a psychiatric record. He had likely experienced some stressful event around the time when the first deaths had occurred late in September. He would also be talkative about the news to anyone who would listen.
Maybe there was some validity to the FBI’s profile of the Tylenol Killer. I really don’t know, and neither did the they. I do know that the profile the FBI came up with provided absolutely no information useful to the investigation, but in fact diverted attention away from the true Tylenol killer. Douglas might have been right when he said the killer was angry and depressed and had feelings of hopelessness. And maybe the killer had recently experienced some stressful event; but really, how difficult would it have been for even the most clueless of halfwits to surmise that a person who would replace medicine with cyanide in dozens of Tylenol capsules was probably not a real happy guy, and was probably dealing with a fair amount of stress?
The approved theory deception allowed the FBI to eliminate from consideration the possibility that the killer was an identifiable employee of Johnson & Johnson or one of its Customers. Throughout the investigation J&J executives and government officials promoted their approved profile of the Tylenol killer in order to give a public identity to the fictional character they'd created who could have been almost any one of tens of millions of potential suspects.
The approved profile of the Tylenol killer kept America focused on an anonymous "madman" to whom the FBI had assigned some common characteristics. Their profile of the killer was just another red herring that diverted the investigation away from the actual killer who was working within the drug distribution system.
PSYCHO KILLER