THE UNKNOWN PHARMACY OUTLET
Was the "unknown pharmacy" really unknown, or was it just another component of the cover-up?
Investigators were never able to determine where the cyanide laced Tylenol responsible for the death of Mary McFarland, the sixth Tylenol murder victim, was purchased; at least that's what they said.
The FDA reported that on October 22, 1982 they'd discovered a bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol (the 7th bottle), supposedly returned to a Dominick's store in Chicago. According to J&J executives and officials from the Tylenol Task Force, the Tylenol returned to the Chicago Dominick's store was the only bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol linked to Dominick's.
Tainted capsules were used by each of the victims who bought them at Jewel stores in Arlington Heights and Elk Grove Village, Frank's Finer Foods in Winfield, Dominick's in Villa Park and Walgreen's at North Avenue and Wells Street In Chicago.
The Dominick's in Villa Park?
Cyanide laced Tylenol was never again linked to the Dominick's in Villa Park, until ten years later.
On September 27, 1992 The Daily Herald once again ran a story that linked one bottle of poisoned Tylenol to the Dominck's Villa Park store:
The killer then restocked the booby-trapped containers in the front row of shelves of stores in Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Village, Schaumburg, Winfield, Villa Park and Chicago.
Maybe investigators did know where Mary McFarland's adulterated Tylenol was purchased, and maybe someone involved in the investigation revealed information to a reporter from The Chicago Daily Herald that officials did not want disclosed.
Was the seventh bottle of poisoned Tylenol - the one that officials said was returned to the Dominick's store on Chicago's north-side - actually purchased by Mary McFarland at the Villa Park Dominick's store?
Officials from the Tylenol task force said the seventh bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol had not been opened; yet it was returned without its box. Officials also said they were unable to determine who returned the seventh bottle to the Chicago Dominick's.
Mary McFarland lived in Elmhurst, IL, just 1.5 miles from the Dominick's at 215 S Rt 83 Villa Park.
Mary McFarland would have driven right past the Villa Park Dominick's every day on her way to and from work. She was at work at the Bell Center in Yorktown mall when she swallowed the poison Tylenol on Wednesday afternoon, September 29.
(A) Mary's Home, (B) Dominick's Villa Park, (C) Mary's Work
Additional evidence that the Seventh Tylenol Bottle was not purchased at the Chicago Dominick's
The following excerpts from a story that ran in several newspapers on October 25, 1982, contradict the claim that the "seventh Tylenol bottle" was purchased at the Dominick's store in Chicago:
That bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol was discovered Thursday by a laboratory technician seeking cyanide in bottles taken off store shelves after the deaths of seven people. The bottle was among a batch turned over by a Dominick's Finer Foods store, and investigators believe it was returned by a customer because it was without its cardboard box.
"But that's not proof,' said Chicago police Lt. August Locallo: 'There would be proof if someone had marked it in some way when it was returned."
The bottle also apparently had a different lot number than the other Tylenol on the store's shelves but the same as two bottles that killed four people.
Since the seventh Tylenol bottle had "a different lot number than the other Tylenol on the store's shelves" of the Chicago Dominick's, it's incredibly unlikely that the seventh Tylenol bottle was purchased at that store.
The seventh Tylenol bottle, like the eighth bottle, appears to have been placed into evidence to cover up the fact that all of the cyanide laced Tylenol was contaminated during distribution, before it was delivered to Chicago-area stores.
The cyanide laced Tylenol responsible for Mary McFarland's death was in all probability purchased at the Dominick's Finer Foods in Villa Park, just as was reported in The Daily Herald on October 4, 1982 and September 27, 1992.
But why would officials cover-up this simple bit of factual information?
In the early hours of the investigation officials most likely began to realize -a bottle at a time - that each bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol was linked to one single Jewel Foods distribution center. Officials wanted to link the Tylenol murders to an anonymous nut-job, not a rich powerful corporation.
I've linked Mary McFarland's Tylenol to Dominick's, but how is that relevant to linking the Tylenol to Jewel Foods?
Because Dominick's Finer Foods received its Tylenol from the Jewel Foods distribution center.
Dominick's Link to Jewel Foods Distribution Center
If the cyanide laced Tylenol responsible for Mary McFarland's death came from Dominick's, which I believe it did, then it also had gone through the Jewel Foods distribution center. And the answer to the question, "Why would officials want to hide information linking McFarland's cyanide laced Tylenol death to Dominick's," becomes clear.
Officials who wanted to cover-up evidence linking the Tylenol tamperings to the supply chain would not have wanted to release evidence linking Dominick's and Jewel Foods to the same distribution center.
Although officials claimed that only two bottles of cyanide laced Tylenol came from the Jewel Foods distribution center, by the time they learned that McFarland had been poisoned by cyanide laced Tylenol, they'd already linked three bottles of poisoned Tylenol to Jewel Foods.
I've linked all eight bottles of cyanide laced Tylenol to Jewel Foods.
Bottle #1 - Officials admit that the cyanide laced Tylenol that killed the first victim came from Jewel Foods in Elk Grove Village.
Bottle #2 - Officials also admit that the cyanide laced Tylenol responsible for the deaths of the three Janus family members - victims two, three, and four - came from a Tylenol bottle purchased at the Jewel Foods in Arlington Heights.
Bottle #3 - The poisoned Tylenol that killed the fifth victim came from the "Undisclosed location." But I've identified the so-called "undisclosed location," and have linked it to Jewel Foods. That information will be available when my book is published.
Bottle #4 - One bottle of cyanide laced Tylenol was removed from Jewel Foods subsidiary, Osco Drugs. Jewel Foods shipped Tylenol to all of its Jewel Foods and Osco Drugs stores from the same distribution center. Therefore, the poisoned Tylenol removed from the Osco Drugs store, went through the same Jewel Foods distribution center as did bottles #1, #2, #3.
Bottle #5 - The cyanide laced Tylenol responsible for the death of Mary McFarland, victim number six, was purchased at Dominick's, and it too was shipped from the Jewel Foods distribution center.
To show that Dominick's received its Tylenol from Jewel Foods in 1982, I'll need to reference a press release issued after officials learned that the 1986 Tylenol murder victims' cyanide laced Tylenol had been purchased at the Bronxville, NY A&P store.
Shortly after the 1986 Tylenol murder, Dominick's executive Larry Nauman said:
"Dominick's Finer Foods receives shipments from the same warehouse that shipped the capsules to New York. Since there's an element of the unknown we decided to pull the product."
The "same warehouse" referenced by Nauman is the Jewel Foods distribution center in Melrose Park, Illinois. In 1985 A&P purchased Jewel Foods. All Tylenol shipments to the Bronxville, NY A&P store in 1986 came from the Illinois Jewel Foods distribution center.
The fact that Jewel Foods shipped Tylenol to Dominick's stores in 1986 means that in all likelihood Jewel Foods shipped Tylenol to Dominick's in 1982. Both Jewel Foods and Dominick's are headquartered in the western suburbs of Chicago, and the vast majority of Dominick's stores are located in and around Chicago.
Bottle #6 - The seventh victim, Paula Prince, purchased her deadly Tylenol at a Walgreens on Chicago's north-side. Walgreens like Jewel Foods and Dominick's, is based in a western suburb of Chicago. I haven't yet verified a definitive link between Walgreens and Jewel Foods, but I do have information that if I can verify, will link Walgreens to the Jewel Foods Distribution center.
Bottle #7 - The seventh bottle was returned to a Dominick's store in Chicago. Dominick's, as was shown for bottle #5, must have received its Tylenol from the Jewel Foods distribution center.
Bottle #8 - The eighth bottle was returned to Frank's Finer Foods, although as discussed here that may not be true. Nevertheless, information that will be disclosed when my book is published will link Frank's Finer Foods to Jewel Foods.
In addition to the seven Tylenol murder victims in the Chicago area, there is also an eighth victim of the 1982 Tylenol killer(s). The eighth victim died in Wyoming after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules purchased at the Osco-Buttery store, which was also owned by Jewel Foods, and also received its Tylenol from the Jewel Foods distribution center in Melrose Park, IL.