The 1982 Tylenol murders continue to baffle investigators and those from in and around the area. The unsolved poisonings of seven victims, including that of a 12-year-old girl, feature on Paramount Plus’s Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders. The documentary premiered on the streaming service earlier today, and as such many are wondering about the victims and killer in the case, if it was ever solved, and what happened to prime suspect James Lewis.
Chicago’s 1982 Tylenol murders, explained
In a span of three days starting on September 29, 1982, multiple people in the Chicago area started dying under strange circumstances. They had only one thing in common — each one had consumed/ingested the over-the-counter pain medicine prior to their deaths. Medical examiners revealed that their medications had been laced with deadly amounts of cyanide.
So far, investigators have failed to charge the individual(s) responsible for spiking the Tylenol bottles. However, they did have a primary suspect, James Lewis, who died earlier this year after serving 12 years in prison for extortion.
Who was James Lewis and why was he suspected to be the Tylenol Murders killer?
According to NBC News, investigators as well as other people targeted Lewis as the primary suspect in the Chicago-area poisonings from 1982. However, he never faced charges for the seven murders. The 76-year-old died earlier this year in July at his suburban Boston home after serving 12 years in prison for extortion.
Shortly after the deaths, Lewis, then in his 30s, sent a ransom note to the company that manufactured Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson. In the note, he claimed to be the killer and demanded $1 million to stop the killings. For this, he was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The outlet further reported that former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, who served as the prosecutor in the suspect’s extortion case, reportedly expressed his regrets after learning of James Lewis’ death, “not because he’s dead, but because he didn’t die in prison.”
Were the Tylenol Murders ever solved?
The Tylenol murders remain unsolved to this day. When James Lewis was arrested in 1982 for extortion, he provided officers with a detailed account of how the murders may have been carried out, though later told the Associated Press that his comments were merely speculation, calling the murderer “a heinous, cold-blooded killer, a cruel monster.”
While Lewis may have been the prime suspect in the case, he was ultimately never convicted of the murders. In 2009, his computer and other possessions were seized by the FBI after the investigation was renewed due to advancements in forensic technology. However, this did not lead to a further arrest. He ultimately only served 13 years in federal prison after being convicted of extortion in 1983.
Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders is now streaming on Paramount+.
