New Netflix Documentary Explores Unsolved Chicago Tylenol Murders

The story of the 1982 Tylenol murders continues to fascinate Chicagoans and YouTube essayists alike. For those who lived through it, they can probably vividly recall the panic that ensued across the city and the surrounding suburbs.

My mother was about 19-years-old when it happened. She lived in Franklin Park, IL, not super far from the city, and told me about how police cars went up-and-down streets in her neighborhood imploring people to discard any/all Tylenol pills that might be in their medicine cabinet. Those were truly unprecedented times.

READ MORE: Documentary on Bellevue, IA Woman's Murder to Air on CBS

Now, those string of murders are the subject of a three-episode docuseries currently streaming on Netflix.

Directed by Ari Pines and Yotam Guendelman, Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders tells the story from the perspective of those inextricably linked to it. The murders began occurring in September 1982, as detailed by the former Arlington Heads Fire Chief in the first episode. A 12-year-old girl was hospitalized after consuming a capsule of Extra-Strength Tylenol, and died the next day.

The following day, three members of the Janus family each took a Tylenol from the same bottle and died. Soon thereafter, three other innocent victims died. Tylenol was the link between them all.

Local health departments were contacted, as well as different poison control centers, and it was found that the Tylenol pills were laced with potassium cyanide. Cyanide kills quickly; so quickly that it prevents any kind of countermeasure from being effective. Some of the victims simply dropped dead. Others had violent convulsions, foamed at the mouth, or had their pupils dilate before they took their final breaths.

Over the course of three, roughly 40-minute episodes, Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders outlines everything from the victims to the investigation to the case's lone suspect. To date, the case hasn't been solved. The lone suspect, James William Lewis, was accused of writing a letter to Johnson & Johnson (the company behind Tylenol) demanding $1 million to stop him from allegedly lacing the pills with cyanide.

However... I'll stop there. You have a new docuseries you need to watch.

Get our free mobile app

If you're unfamiliar with the Chicago Tylenol murders, it's truly a terrifying story with a lot of questions that still remain. Furthermore, it's also the reason our over-the-counter medicine has protective foil, cotton, and tamper-proof plastic seals. I am still shocked Johnson & Johnson and Tylenol as a whole was able to rebound after such a catastrophic fallout from these highly publicized murders.

Stream Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders on Netflix today. Read more about the murders on Wikipedia.