Chicago Tylenol Murders

Submitted By tdoubled
Words: 499
Pages: 2

Poison began to be used in 4500 BC and continues to be used today as an easy murder tool. They are commonly used in medications, weapons, and syringes. Back in 4500 BC people would use poison as a hunting method. They would put poison on their weapons and shoot animals with it which would lead the animal to die quicker if not instantly. As the years have gone by poison has become very popular in other ways other than methods of killing. Poison is now being put in pesticides and preservatives. It is used to prevent the infestation of insects and growth of bacteria on food.

The people who die from poisoning normally die accidental as it is compared to being stabbed by a knife or even as rare as being stabbed with a dull object. It is said by the FBI that many people are poisoned each year, but many of the deaths are classified as a natural cause because they cannot identify the poison in their body. When you are poisoned, it takes a few for it to kick in and then you get very sick. At this point the person just thinks they ate something bad or they have a bad virus. Shortly after, the person dies and if the crime scene does not look suspicious then there will be no autopsy done and the investigation will not go any further.

The criminal case I chose was “The Chicago Tylenol Murders”. On September 29, 1982 and October 5, 1982 seven people died from taking extra strength Tylenol capsules. After the deaths were reported the investigators started to look deep into the cases. The Tylenol bottles seemed to have been tampered with, but all the deaths occurred in Chicago so therefore investigators assumed that interference during the production of those bottles had not occurred. This was a murder done by a criminal targeting certain subjects.

Toxicologists believed that cyanide