Product Tampering

Incidents of individuals using food and drink to deliver lethal doses of poisons to unsuspecting victims are fairly common in recorded history. However, product tampering as a means of murder wasn't much heard of until 1982, when the first and most notorious case occurred in Chicago.

All kinds of materials have been used to adulterate food and medicine. They include insecticides, pesticides, strychnine, arsenic, hydrochloric acid, mercury, mercuric chloride, fecal matter, and foreign objects such as straight pins, razor blades, staples, and glass. Cyanide is particularly popular with poisoners, because the lethal dose of 200 to 300 mg is just the amount that will fit into a typical gelatin capsule. In addition, it is readily available because it is used in a number of products found in industry (electroplating and chemical synthesis), educational chemistry laboratories, and domestic products, such as jewelry cleaners and rodent control. Another advantage of cyanide is that it is not [Page 369]routinely tested for in routine toxicological screens. Therefore, unless a physician or investigator specifically suspects cyanide poisoning and orders the appropriate tests, the poisoning is likely to go unnoticed.

Store clerk removing Tylenol. In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol capsules that had been tainted with cyanide. These victims, five females and two males, became the first ever to die from what came to be known as product tampering. The poisoned capsules had been placed on shelves in six different stores by a person(s) intent on the random killing of innocent people. Several other copycat product tamperings have occurred since the Chicago killings. The case has not been solved, and the $100,000 reward offered by Tylenol's maker, Johnson & Johnson, remains unclaimed.

Copyright © Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS.

In the first case of product tampering, known as the “Tylenol Murders,” seven people in the Chicago area collapsed suddenly and died after taking Tylenol capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. These seven victims, five females and two males, became the first victims ever to die from what came to be known as product tampering. The investigation of this crime was intense, and it was learned that the poisoned capsules were placed on shelves in six different stores by an individual intent on killing innocent people at random. Despite examining the route the killer must have taken, the residential neighborhoods where the victims died, the poison, the method of tampering with the capsules, and potential motives of the killer, the search for the perpetrator for this crime has not been successful in two decades and is unlikely to be in the future. Authorities used the information they gathered to develop a profile of the “Tylenol Killer,” some of which might be useful in other cases of random poisoning, should they occur. The characteristics include the following:

• White male in his 20s
• Lived in the Chicago area
• Owned a car or truck
• Devious but not particularly intelligent
• Skilled shoplifter
• Had few friends, no long-term friends
• Misanthropic, cowardly
• Limited income, working in a low-paying job
• May have a degree but is a failure in his field
• Objective: unknown

No evidence was ever found that anyone profited from these murders. No unusual stock trading occurred, and none of the victims were wealthy or seemed to be likely targets. Most of the victims were young and were not covered by large insurance policies. The motive may have been sheer hatred for humanity or perhaps the attempt to gain publicity or fame for another venture. Whatever the motive for the killer may have been, it appears that he did not receive the gratification he expected. What did happen as a result of this initial product-tampering case was a wave of copycat crimes. Lipton “Cup-A-Soup” was tampered with in 1986, Excedrin in 1986, Tylenol in 1986, Sudafed in 1991, and headache powder in 1992.

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