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Police in Illinois have released secret video interviews with Tylenol murder suspect James Lewis showing how close he came to incriminating himself over the 1982 poisoning spree that left seven dead.
Lewis, who died last month at 76, was jailed for 13 years after demanding $1 million from Tylenol manufacturer Johnson & Johnson to stop the killings and was the only murder suspect ever identified - though never charged over the deaths.
Now new videos from 2008 show him explaining to undercover FBI agents how the killer would have swapped the painkillers for cyanide without trace, and admitting his extortion attempt appeared to have started before the first deaths were reported.
‘Everybody's got paper clips,' he points out.
‘It's probably so obvious it'd make everyone here feel stupid that we didn't think of it.'
James Lewis was repeatedly recorded secretly by FBI agents who told him they were going to help him write his book about the killings
Lewis on his release from prison in 1995 after 13 years behind bars for a $1 million extortion attempt against Johnson & Johnson
Scientists tested suspect bottles of Tylenol for cyanide as fear swept the nation in the wake of the poisonings
The deaths of four women, two men, and a 12-year-old girl caused worldwide panic and led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged as the FDA introduced new tamper-proof packaging like foil seals.
Although he always denied it, police believed he was behind the killing spree and Lewis was questioned as recently as September, as authorities worked to find the person behind the murders 40 years later.
The first to die from the Tylenol poisonings was 12-year-old Mary Kellerman from Elk Grove Village. Her parents gave her one capsule and by the next morning she was dead.
The same day, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, 27, also mysteriously died after taking a Tylenol pill.
When mourning the 27-year-old, his brother Stanley, 25, and sister-in-law Theresa, 19, took tablets from the same bottle. Stanley died that day, and Theresa two days later.
After that, three others lost their lives - 35-year-old Mary McFarland of Elmhurst, Illinois, 35-year-old Paula Prince of Chicago, and 27-year-old Mary Weiner of Winfield, Illinois.
Police managed to trace a letter demanding $1 million to 'stop the killings' back to Lewis but were unable to prove he had carried them out.
When the case was revisited in 2007 undercover FBI agents held more than 60 meetings with him at locations in Boston, Chicago, New York and Missouri, persuading him they would help with a book he was writing about the killings.
Mary Kellerman, 12, from Elk Grove Village was the poisoner's youngest victim and the first to die
At a 2008 meeting in a suite at the Sheraton Grand in Chicago, Lewis mentioned to the agents that it had taken him at least three days to write his extortion letter.
By then the agents knew the letter had been mailed on October 1, 1982, meaning that it had been started on September 29 at the latest - a day before the first killings were made public.
'I see your quandary,' he responds nervously as agents point out the evidence.
'It just seems like I worked on it for three days because that's the way I usually do things,' he mutters.
'But, um — it's what I told you but it's impossible to have happened because — until you pointed that out I had no idea that — I've been telling myself for 25 years that I worked on it for three days and I don't know — it's impossible for me to have done that.
'I see what a big puzzle it is now because you clearly had that in mind,' he adds.
'I didn't have that in mind. Until you pointed out — that, I didn't know it was a conflict in my memory.'
FBI Special Agent Roy Lane tells him that, given Lewis' timeline, Lewis 'would have written the letter the same day they were dying'.
Lewis replies: 'Yeah, well that didn't happen. (Faulty) memory.
'And, for 25 years, if you'd have asked me that and hadn't pointed that out, I would have stuck to that under oath. I would have sworn to it — three days — it's impossible.'
The release by Arlington Heights police includes detailed sketches by Lewis showing how the poisoner could have tampered with the pill bottles without trace.
Lewis reminisces about how easy it was in 1982 to obtain cyanide, and suggests the killer could have been caught if investigators had investigated why he placed some poisoned Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules into a bottle of regular-strength Tylenol.
Theresa, Stanley and Adam Janus were three members of the same family who fell victim to the poisoner
The joint funeral for the Janus family attracted hundreds of mourners
Sales of Tylenol slumped in the wake of the attack but recovered when foil safety barriers were introduced
'(The killer) made a mistake, a big blunder that you guys didn't figure out what to do with,' he tells them, suggesting they missed a chance to 'go on the evening news and talk about how Fit Smart testimonials you guys were'.
'You've got a little piece of information that the person made a mistake, and if they made that mistake they may have made some others that were equally stupid and you just didn't see it,' he adds.
Police have said they believe Lewis acted on revenge against Johnson & Johnson after his five-year-old daughter, Toni, died in 1974. The girl passed away after sutures made by a subsidiary of the company were used to fix her congenital heart defect and they tore.
The tampered bottles came from different factories so sabotage in production was ruled out.
Instead, it is thought someone must have gone around drug stores, opening bottles and adding a lethal potassium cyanide compound.
The Arlington Heights Illinois Police Department (AHPD) has been pushing the investigation as it continues to probe the deaths of three members of the same family - Adam Janus, Teresa Janus, and Stanley Janus.
Joe Janus, who lost his two brothers and sister-in-law, said his dying wish is that DNA will help police arrest the person responsible.
Before the 1982 crisis, Tylenol controlled more than 35 percent of the over-the-counter pain relief market. Only a few weeks after the murders, that number plummeted to less than 8 percent.
The case led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged. Working with the FDA they introduced new tamper-proof packaging, which included foil seals and other features consumers are familiar with now.
A new version of the pill was also introduced, known as the caplet, in which a tablet was coated with easy-to-swallow gelatin.
Lewis appeared to enjoy his celebrity as he was jailed for extortion
Lewis died in July this year still protesting his innocence despite 40 years of police attention
Within a year, and after an investment of more than $100 million, Tylenol's sales rebounded, and it had a renaissance as the nation's favorite over-the-counter pain reliever.
In 1983, the U.S. Congress passed what was called 'the Tylenol bill,' making it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof.
Although he always denied it, police believed the former accountant was behind the killing spree and Lewis was questioned as recently as September, as authorities worked to find the person behind the murders 40 years later.
'I was saddened to learn of James Lewis' death. Not because he's dead, but because he didn't die in prison,' said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, who prosecuted Lewis for extortion.
Johnson & JohnsonFBIIllinois
Lewis, who died last month at 76, was jailed for 13 years after demanding $1 million from Tylenol manufacturer Johnson & Johnson to stop the killings and was the only murder suspect ever identified - though never charged over the deaths.
Now new videos from 2008 show him explaining to undercover FBI agents how the killer would have swapped the painkillers for cyanide without trace, and admitting his extortion attempt appeared to have started before the first deaths were reported.
‘Everybody's got paper clips,' he points out.
‘It's probably so obvious it'd make everyone here feel stupid that we didn't think of it.'
James Lewis was repeatedly recorded secretly by FBI agents who told him they were going to help him write his book about the killings
Lewis on his release from prison in 1995 after 13 years behind bars for a $1 million extortion attempt against Johnson & Johnson
Scientists tested suspect bottles of Tylenol for cyanide as fear swept the nation in the wake of the poisonings
The deaths of four women, two men, and a 12-year-old girl caused worldwide panic and led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged as the FDA introduced new tamper-proof packaging like foil seals.
Although he always denied it, police believed he was behind the killing spree and Lewis was questioned as recently as September, as authorities worked to find the person behind the murders 40 years later.
The first to die from the Tylenol poisonings was 12-year-old Mary Kellerman from Elk Grove Village. Her parents gave her one capsule and by the next morning she was dead.
The same day, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, 27, also mysteriously died after taking a Tylenol pill.
When mourning the 27-year-old, his brother Stanley, 25, and sister-in-law Theresa, 19, took tablets from the same bottle. Stanley died that day, and Theresa two days later.
After that, three others lost their lives - 35-year-old Mary McFarland of Elmhurst, Illinois, 35-year-old Paula Prince of Chicago, and 27-year-old Mary Weiner of Winfield, Illinois.
Police managed to trace a letter demanding $1 million to 'stop the killings' back to Lewis but were unable to prove he had carried them out.
When the case was revisited in 2007 undercover FBI agents held more than 60 meetings with him at locations in Boston, Chicago, New York and Missouri, persuading him they would help with a book he was writing about the killings.
Mary Kellerman, 12, from Elk Grove Village was the poisoner's youngest victim and the first to die
At a 2008 meeting in a suite at the Sheraton Grand in Chicago, Lewis mentioned to the agents that it had taken him at least three days to write his extortion letter.
By then the agents knew the letter had been mailed on October 1, 1982, meaning that it had been started on September 29 at the latest - a day before the first killings were made public.
'I see your quandary,' he responds nervously as agents point out the evidence.
'It just seems like I worked on it for three days because that's the way I usually do things,' he mutters.
'But, um — it's what I told you but it's impossible to have happened because — until you pointed that out I had no idea that — I've been telling myself for 25 years that I worked on it for three days and I don't know — it's impossible for me to have done that.
'I see what a big puzzle it is now because you clearly had that in mind,' he adds.
'I didn't have that in mind. Until you pointed out — that, I didn't know it was a conflict in my memory.'
FBI Special Agent Roy Lane tells him that, given Lewis' timeline, Lewis 'would have written the letter the same day they were dying'.
Lewis replies: 'Yeah, well that didn't happen. (Faulty) memory.
'And, for 25 years, if you'd have asked me that and hadn't pointed that out, I would have stuck to that under oath. I would have sworn to it — three days — it's impossible.'
The release by Arlington Heights police includes detailed sketches by Lewis showing how the poisoner could have tampered with the pill bottles without trace.
Lewis reminisces about how easy it was in 1982 to obtain cyanide, and suggests the killer could have been caught if investigators had investigated why he placed some poisoned Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules into a bottle of regular-strength Tylenol.
Theresa, Stanley and Adam Janus were three members of the same family who fell victim to the poisoner
The joint funeral for the Janus family attracted hundreds of mourners
Sales of Tylenol slumped in the wake of the attack but recovered when foil safety barriers were introduced
'(The killer) made a mistake, a big blunder that you guys didn't figure out what to do with,' he tells them, suggesting they missed a chance to 'go on the evening news and talk about how Fit Smart testimonials you guys were'.
'You've got a little piece of information that the person made a mistake, and if they made that mistake they may have made some others that were equally stupid and you just didn't see it,' he adds.
Police have said they believe Lewis acted on revenge against Johnson & Johnson after his five-year-old daughter, Toni, died in 1974. The girl passed away after sutures made by a subsidiary of the company were used to fix her congenital heart defect and they tore.
The tampered bottles came from different factories so sabotage in production was ruled out.
Instead, it is thought someone must have gone around drug stores, opening bottles and adding a lethal potassium cyanide compound.
The Arlington Heights Illinois Police Department (AHPD) has been pushing the investigation as it continues to probe the deaths of three members of the same family - Adam Janus, Teresa Janus, and Stanley Janus.
Joe Janus, who lost his two brothers and sister-in-law, said his dying wish is that DNA will help police arrest the person responsible.
Before the 1982 crisis, Tylenol controlled more than 35 percent of the over-the-counter pain relief market. Only a few weeks after the murders, that number plummeted to less than 8 percent.
The case led to reforms in how over-the-counter medicines are packaged. Working with the FDA they introduced new tamper-proof packaging, which included foil seals and other features consumers are familiar with now.
A new version of the pill was also introduced, known as the caplet, in which a tablet was coated with easy-to-swallow gelatin.
Lewis appeared to enjoy his celebrity as he was jailed for extortion
Lewis died in July this year still protesting his innocence despite 40 years of police attention
Within a year, and after an investment of more than $100 million, Tylenol's sales rebounded, and it had a renaissance as the nation's favorite over-the-counter pain reliever.
In 1983, the U.S. Congress passed what was called 'the Tylenol bill,' making it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof.
Although he always denied it, police believed the former accountant was behind the killing spree and Lewis was questioned as recently as September, as authorities worked to find the person behind the murders 40 years later.
'I was saddened to learn of James Lewis' death. Not because he's dead, but because he didn't die in prison,' said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, who prosecuted Lewis for extortion.
Johnson & JohnsonFBIIllinois
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