In the late autumn of 1982, a quiet Sunday morning on the outskirts of Chicago turned into a national nightmare: a series of mysterious deaths (seven in a few days) after taking simple Tylenol pain relievers capsules. Panic spread throughout the country, while the police led to one of the most disturbing and cryptic cases of American history: who had mixed the drug with the lethal cyanide? The story is narrated in the document “Cold Case: the murders of Tylenol”, distributed by Netflix on May 26, 2025.
“Cold Houses: Tylenol’s murders”: true story
On September 29, 1982 in Chicago, the twelve year old Mary Kellerman felt bad and asked to stay at home. After taking a Tylenol capsule, he fell on the ground without a senses and died shortly after. That same day, in another area the 27 -year -old postman Adam Janus and, a few hours later, his brother and his sister -in -law took the drug from a common packaging and suffered the same destiny. In less than a week, four other residents – young mothers, workers, a teacher – disappeared in the same way: a lightning -free collapse in bed and the diagnosis of cyanide poisoning.
When it emerged that everyone had purchased the medicine on the pharmacy shelves, the Johnson & Johnson house ordered the first mass of mass in the history of the United States: 31 million bottles removed from the market. Panic crossed the country: police sirens, speakers who ordered “Don’t take Tylenol!”, Empty shelves, customers on the run. The hunt for “Tylenol killer” was immediately launched, but the suspicions multiplied without ever finding a definitive culprit.
A name soon jumped to the honors of the chronicles: James William Lewis, who had sent a shiny letter to Johnson & Johnson, demanding a redemption of one million dollars to stop the murders. Arrested and sentenced by extortion, the man became the face of the accusation. In prison he even offered his collaboration, suggesting hypotheses on how it was possible to contaminate the tablets; But direct tests did not emerge that they connected it to the poison and, at the end of the sentence, returned free without ever having undergone a convictions for murder. Also other suspicions (from the port porto Roger Arnold to the notorious “unabomber” Ted Kaczynski) were exonerated due to insufficiency of elements.
After these events, the warranty seal was introduced on all over -the -counter drugs. Today every Tylenol or aspirin box appears well sealed. Despite decades of increasingly sophisticated investigations and technologies – from forensic analysis to research on DNA – the figure of the opponent remains elusive. Today a new Docuserie Netflix entitled “Cold Case: the murders of the Tylenol” traces those dramatic events: can it reopen the hope of a twist thanks to the scientific progress in the collection of genetic tracks? The mystery has not yet been buried, but that of Tylenon’s murders seems to be a great mystery destined to remain such.
The trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sapbuvxeu
