What the poisoned Chicago Tylenol bottles revealed
In 1982, seven people died after Tylenol capsules bought at different Chicago stores contained cyanide. The case remains unsolved.
Poison in separate stores
Tylenol capsules bought at different Chicago stores contained cyanide. In 1982, seven people died in what became known as the Chicago Tylenol murders. Investigators found poison in bottles from separate stores. The poisoned capsules were not traced to bottles from just one store: investigators found them in bottles bought at different Chicago locations.
What investigators found
The bottles from separate stores pointed to someone tampering with them on store shelves, after they had left the manufacturer. That finding shaped how the poisonings were understood. The case changed how medicines were packaged.
It remains unsolved today. No one has been convicted of poisoning the capsules, and investigators have never identified who put the cyanide there. Despite the deaths, the poisoned bottles found in separate stores and the change to medicine packaging, the question of who put cyanide in the capsules has no identified answer.
