Daily Herald opinion: 40 years after Tylenol murders, we remember the victims and yearn for answers
This editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board
Thursday marks the 40th anniversary of the Tylenol murders, one of the most tragic and traumatic chapters in suburban history.
Seven deaths in three days — all from capsules found to be laced with cyanide — sent ripples of fear and panic across the nation and led to product safety changes in their aftermath.
A 12-year-old from Elk Grove Village was the first to die on Sept. 29, 1982. But young Mary Kellerman would be followed by Adam Janus of Arlington Heights; his brother and sister-in-law, Stanley and Theresa Janus of Lisle; Paula Prince of Chicago; Mary McFarland of Elmhurst; and Mary Reiner of Winfield, who had just returned home from the hospital after giving birth to her fourth child.
As a community, we remember them this week and send condolences to all who knew and loved them.
We also pause to offer thanks. Many more could have died 40 years ago but for the quick actions of investigators and medical personnel, including Arlington Heights nurse Helen Jensen.
Four decades have passed, and the Tylenol case remains the biggest unsolved murder mystery in local history.
Unsolved, investigators stressed in recent stories by reporters Barbara Vitello and Chris Placek, but never abandoned.
It's an important distinction.
“We call it a cold case but it's not a forgotten case,” said Elk Grove Village Police Chief Charles Walsh, a 32-year veteran of the force who was still in high school when the deaths made headlines across the country. “We need to get justice for those people and for their families.”
Justice, thus far, has been sadly elusive.
Yet, the investigation pushes forward, even through a new generation of law enforcement officials. A recent Chicago Tribune investigation, for example, said investigators traveled to Massachusetts last week to try to speak to the longtime suspect in the case, James Lewis.
Lewis, a former Chicago resident, served more than 12 years in prison for trying to extort $1 million from Johnson & Johnson. He has never been charged in the killings, however.
In a statement last week, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said prosecutors from both counties have spent countless hours toiling “to bring the person or persons responsible for the Tylenol murders to justice.” The case, they said, “remains an open and active investigation and will continue to be until justice is served.”
The pressure to solve the case has been immense, and we are grateful for the law enforcement officials who got the word out before more people fell victim in 1982 and have hunted for the person responsible ever since.
Meanwhile, witnesses grow older. So do suspects.
The families of those lost to a killer's whims have waited 40 years for justice — 40 years for answers.
We look forward to a day when they will get them.