[TV News clips]: A bizarre and terrifying story today: seven persons are now dead in the Chicago area … after they took Tylenol capsules that had been laced with poison. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders I, Netflix 2025
In two cases in Cook County, Illinois, we have found Cyanide in Tylenol. ibid. Medical examiners’ office
There are two distinct locations. ibid.
After the 1982 deaths there was a sense of disbelief within Johnson & Johnson corporate circles that this was happening. And there is reason to believe that in those early days, Johnson & Johnson executives suspected that they had some responsibility. ibid. Gardiner Harris
When a whole nother factory was implicated, that got harder to believe that maybe there was a rogue employee somewhere. ibid.
The determination was that the perpetrator purchased or took by shoplifting Tylenol off the shelves of drug stores, took em someplace, contaminated just a few off the top, put the top back on, and then walked back in the shop and put it back on the shelf. ibid. rozzer
We got a warrant for Robert Richardson and printed out wanted flyers. ibid. rozzer
Dan Rather puts up a picture of a suspect wanted for questioning in a Tylenol extortion attempt. He was identified as a guy named Richardson. And I looked at the picture and immediately recognised him. Jumped off the couch and said, … Goddamnit! That’s not Robert Richardson. That’s James Lewis. ibid.
I wouldn’t hurt anybody. ibid. James Lewis
[rozzer]: What kept pulling us to James Lewis was James Lewis himself. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders II: The Bitter Pill
We found the dismembered body of an elderly white man. ibid.
Two hairs were recovered and sent to the crime lab. One of the hairs on the soap bar matched that of James Lewis. ibid.
One thing that stuck in my mind was a book on poisoning. ibid.
The chief judge sentenced him to ten years for the extortion [Tylenol] letter. ibid.
Good evening, there is another Tylenol scare. This time it’s Westchester County. ibid. TV news
And then you also have two additional bottles that show up contaminated with Cyanide on store shelves, also triple sealed. ibid.
Cyanide is present and is used in crucial tests of the Tylenol. ibid. comment
[Reporter]: October 11 1982, twelve days after the Chicago Tylenol murders: I think it was about a week in, we heard that they had a suspect. Yeah, another one. And his name was Roger Arnold. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders III: Sealed for Your Protection
It was only circumstantial evidence [The Anarchist Textbook]. ibid.
Later on, Roger Arnold was so angry at this bar owner who reported him to police that he tried to kill him. Problem was, he got the wrong guy. He killed a perfectly innocent person. ibid.
Roger Arnold died in 2008. ibid.
Now that I have this possible new truth that this was not a madman going store to store, I started questioning the official narrative. ibid. investigator
Almost anyone could walk into the room where they [Johnson & Johnson] were keeping it [cynide]. ibid. researcher
The investigation was problematic from the start ... and immediately exonerated Johnson & Johnson. ibid.
The company did most of the investigating, even though they seemed to have every reason to hide the extent of the contamination problem. When Johnson & Johnson announced the nationwide recall of Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson themselves did nearly all the testing of the bottles. ibid.
They tested such a small percentage and destroyed the rest … I think we would have found a lot more poisonined capsules in these bottles. ibid.
In 1995 James Lewis is released from prison … He reamerges as a rape suspect! ibid.
Jim [James Lewis] said it was done out of revenge for his daughter that had passed … That was his way of getting back at Johnson & Johnson for the death of his daughter. ibid. cellmate
Hours ago FBI agents searched the home of James W Lewis of Cambridge, Massachusetts. ibid. TV news
James Lewis is an asshole, but he is not the Tylenol killer. ibid. rozzer
Suspect in 1982 Chicago Tylenol poisoning dies. ibid. newspaper article Mark Pratt