Case 118: The Chicago Tylenol Murders

DESCRIPTION
Back at Northwest Community Hospital, Doctor Thomas Kim was getting ready to leave work for the day when a nurse informed him that the Janus family were being brought back in...
CREDITS
Narration - Anonymous Host
Research - Milly Raso and Anonymous Host
Writing - Milly Raso
Production, scoring - Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn
SOCIAL LINKS
Website
www.casefilepo...
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RESOURCES
For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcas...

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

Wow- I've heard of this case before but this is the first time I've ever heard that investigators actually suspected at the time that the motive was to cover up the targeted murder of a single person by making it look like a widespread product tampering case! It's so shocking to realize that Stella Nickell actually DID carry out such a plan several years later in an attempt to cover up the murder of her husband. Once again, your coverage of this case includes information that I've never before heard, even though I've read up quite a bit on this case over the years! Bravo!

[@piguien4295]

Im doing homework and listening to this idk why this just keeps my brain stimulated and I think about why the one would do such acts. I find this type of stuff to be informitive and creepy which I enjoy. Anyone else?

[@user-mt4ku7jw1y]

Yes me too

[@SHurd-rc2go]

I remember this so well. I was working at a hospital, and my partner was working as a pharmacy tech at an in-hospital pharmacy. The news of the problem with Tylenol created a spitstorm. Pharmacy shelves were emptied of all Tylenol products and the situation was on the news every evening. Why we have 'caplets' since.

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

My mom was living in the Chicago area at the time this happened, and as a former medtech she was permanently traumatized by this case. I'm too young to remember this, but I do remember vividly how throughout my childhood my mom was super paranoid about any packaging that even vaguely appeared to have been damaged or opened...she'd return bottles or packages of OTC meds just because the cardboard flap seemed to be crumpled or peeled back a tiny bit.

[@karen81986]

My favourite casefile. Never disappoints

[@fuksnark]

Greetings from Adelaide, South Australia. Thank you very much for your hard work in producing and posting such well researched subject matter. Keep up the good work. Never ceases to amaze me what people will do to others.

[@thebarky1988]

I remember when this happened. It was terrible and scary. I don’t recall the details and appreciate your professionalism to such tragic stories.

[@bethannesperring872]

I love your channel...don't understand why you don't have more subscribers.

[@scottclark1123]

Me neither I think it should have more subscribers too

[@cloudscapemysterio]

Yea I still don't get why this channel hasn't blown up yet

[@pooky1972]

I see this comment on nearly every episode I watch. Have you tried sharing the link?

[@bethannesperring872]

@@pooky1972 yes bitch I did

[@pooky1972]

Wow. So rude.

[@dougstyles5091]

I was 9 growing up in NY when this happened. I'm in my 40s now,and somehow wrote it off as an urban legend. I'm dumbfounded that they never caught the culprit.

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

I'm not old enough to remember this, but my mother lived in the Chicago area at the time this happened, and it traumatized her so much that even when I was a kid, she was still so terrified by this case that she'd never let me take any capsule medication. And, even now, she still always checks and double-checks any over the counter medications to ensure that the seals on the box and bottle are all still undisturbed. I've seen her return brand-new boxes of medications simply because it appeared that the box flap was peeled back a bit. This is the kind of case that doesn't just affect the victims...it leaves deep, permanent scars on many people who merely lived in the area at the time. I don't think my mom will ever totally overcome her fear and suspicion of product tampering...she's afraid of everything from dented soup cans to crushed boxes of breakfast cereal, and as far as I can tell her fear is based entirely on this case. May the memories of those who perished by a blessing to all who knew and loved them, and may the perpetrator someday be apprehended and punished.

[@corneliaarendsen1358]

I check and double-check all medications like your mother. I knew of this case,and it terrified me. I am European and live in Europe.❤❤

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

@@corneliaarendsen1358 Wow...talk about far-reaching consequences! I feel really silly now, but for whatever reason I'd always thought it was local or at the very most domestic news...I had no idea it had made the news in Europe! And the reason I feel so silly is my family lived in Europe both before and after I was born, and we'd also go there to visit my french cousin in Paris whilst he was alive. (He apparently worked with the french resistance, and so was kind of a family legend we all respected) But for some reason, I forgot that even before the internet there were international news affiliates in every major city from Chicago to Budapest to Bombay, and that the international news wire is even older than I am, and I'm pre-internet, hah. Anyhow, I'm so sorry you were affected by this case, too. And for me at least, it makes it even worse somehow to know that whoever perpetrated such a horrific and traumatizing crime got away scot-free and never faced any punishment! So I can totally understand why people like my mom might think that's maybe the poisoner is still out there...maybe still even living in the Chicago area! It makes me so sad and angry to know that there are murderers out there who escape justice.

[@Youneverknow222]

This is crazy. I'm enjoying listening while driving

[@gaylemc2692]

You shouldn't be texting, Shame Shame.

[@veronicaellen4634]

Ugh. The things that people choose to do to each other wears on me more and more every day. And the stupid arguments don't help. So we're expected to believe that Raymond West died from something like high blood pressure. Then he was dismembered and someone left sketchy notes for what- shits and giggles? Yeah, some random guy dies and the response of an associate is to just go into his house and cut him up, hide him in the attic. And might as well just take those cheques, because Raymond doesn't need them anymore. Honestly.

[@CathrynMcCoy]

I wonder if one person was the main victim. Maybe the new mother? She got the capsules from the hospital. Later the killer brought poisoned capsules to the stores to be not suspicious in the first place. A person in a hospital would be able to tamper with the capsules, they might even have the opportunity to get their hand on cyanide.

[@wiebkescantick947]

This is an interesting perspective.

[@Fire_Animates_]

Never heard of this before 😢 how scary

[@patsyparkin3536]

I cuss this person every time I spend 20 minutes trying to get through the blister packs, plastic packaging, and skin-tight aluminum lids which all came about or became much more important after this horrendous mindless event. I know my inconvenience is a small price considering the deaths involved. I wonder if this monster would have been caught using today's methods.

[@Seek1878]

Well there are more cameras these days.

[@emilyschultz2102]

I wish they just had a plastic ring-top thing (like a soda bottle or milk carton) that's easier to open but is also easy to decipher if it's been tampered with.

[@margaretbanks8969]

I agree every time I get a blister pack it's awkward (arthritis)

[@stee8345]

I'm 17 min into this video and they're discussing Mary Reiner who died from consuming Tylenol from a hospital blister pack 😂

[@deoglemnaco7025]

I had a very similar experience to this

[@moankeyman5285]

I am not old enough to even know about this but I was nosy one day and listened in on a conversation between a few of my parents and there friends and over here something about tylenol killing people. Also as a kid this seems like a scp thing except for the cyanide part

[@njadakaboles9999]

I remember this! Somebody also tried it with Excedrin but they got caught

[@Brandon-rq3ys]

You should start referring to the people by their last names. There were 3 Mary's who died from the Cyanide and I was having a hard time figuring out which ones you were talking about. Had to keep rewinding to catch the last names.

[@johnirish2969]

Privacy for the victims

[@emilyschultz2102]

That's more of a comprehension problem on your part; not Casefile's fault. This is easy to follow.

[@margaretbanks8969]

Where did killer get cyanide from. Surely you can't just walk into drug store and buy it?

[@SaltyMinorcan]

Yeah I always guessed this was Bayer sabotage, after the news of killed their top seller aspirin.

[@lilvamp9691]

Why the dislikes?

[@DIS6103]

👍

[@scottclark1123]

7:00

[@voiceofreason1208]

I thought it was CoTylenol now known as Tylenol Cold& Flu, or was that a different case? I think there were a couple similar cases back in the 80s

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

There was a similar-seeming case in Washington State a few years after this one, which involved Excedrin. I actually think that Casefile covered that case, under the title "Stella Nickell." Fascinating case; I urge you to check it out of you're interested!

[@steemdup]

I've never used Tylenol again after this happened; it annoys me that hospitals love to give it to patients.

[@emilyschultz2102]

That shouldn't annoy you.

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

I can totally understand feeling that way, but there are plenty of generic acetaminophen/paracetamol brands that aren't tylenol if you ever need a quick, cheap painkiller or fever reducer. It does do the trick, and works for me vastly better than ibuprofen. Although Tylenol IS incredibly dangerous to anyone with compromised liver function, so if hospitals are giving it to patients without ensuring they have healthy livers then that is really quite scary.

[@LoyaltyIsEverything91]

Easy money... 1 penny pill costs you 20$

[@QBee240]

Why do channel hosts like this feel the need to put on an ‘eerie voice’

[@emilyschultz2102]

Because it makes it better!

[@LoyaltyIsEverything91]

Way better. I HATE the people who start off talking about themselves or there channel or something else... just tell us some information about a case and get on with it already... that's how you get likes and follows... not telling us to do it

[@jeffreymorrow4966]

Plot twist, has anyone considered the Janus family as the culprits it seems weird that they all happened to take poisoned pills from the same bottle.

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

That is a really, *really* weird coincidence...but I'm pretty sure I've read that the family was indeed investigated thoroughly. But yeah, a very strange coincidence, for sure!

[@maryl1735]

Qq

[@billj.4347]

WAY TO MANY OUTDATED ADDS. BEST TO SKIP THIS STATION.

[@TheKiaraLady]

Are the ads the only reason to listen to these cases..?

[@maneckineckbeard1749]

I just fast forward through most of them, and remind myself that the only reason many people are able to produce content at all is due to having sponsors. (FWIW, I also fast forward through commercials on TV and free streaming services...)