# 1980's Tainted Tylenol Scare... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230 "2001-11-08T18:05:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/1 "2001-11-08T18:05:25Z")
Was it ever determined who was behind this and how it was done? Or, did the gelcaps end the threat w/o a culprit being caught? I don’t recall ever hearing… - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/2 "2001-11-08T18:19:30Z")
IIRC, no. The person responsible was never caught. On of the prime suspects ended up going to jail for something else later though. There is a good discussion of this in the book _Anatomy of Motive_ by John Douglas, the FBI agent who was in charge(I think) of the investigation. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/3 "2001-11-08T18:22:52Z")
From this site: [http://www.criminalprofiling.ch/cases-tylenol.html](http://www.criminalprofiling.ch/cases-tylenol.html) > [@](#): > > Outcome: The murderer wasn’t (officially) caught. A suspect was apprehended and convicted on extortion charges linked to the murders, though there wasn’t sufficient evidence to try him for the murders themselves. However, he fit the profile. And after his incarceration, no more poisonings were reported… ---
**Author:** ![ClintPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@ClintPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/4 "2001-11-08T18:45:13Z")
John Douglas was not the Agent in Charge, he was the criminal profiler, and built the profile for the suspect. I read about this in another of his books called Mindhunter. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/5 "2001-11-08T19:03:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ClintPhoenix \* > \*\*John Douglas was not the Agent in Charge, he was the criminal profiler, and built the profile for the suspect. I read about this in another of his books called Mindhunter. \*\* I stand corrected. I thought he did more than the profile though. Didn’t he work on coming up with proactive techniques to try to catch the guy? I seem to remember him talking about setting up a sting at one of the victims gravesites. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/6 "2001-11-08T21:25:52Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes2.com/horrors/poison/tylenol.htm) has some additional information about this case. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/7 "2001-11-10T03:28:13Z")
I remember seeing a TV show about the Excedrin case mentioned in the snopes article. I think the woman ground up the poison in the same pestle as for some aquarium product, and it was that particular product that left enough traces in the pills for the police to figure out what had happened. Many people just thought the husband had died of natural causes, since he was chronically ill anyways. Was that the chemical that only a few people can smell (for some unknown genetic reason?). By chance, a medical examiner who could smell the stuff was doing the autopsy, and that’s what started the whole investigation. I hope I’m not misremembering this. Either way, it was a pretty good show. ---
**Author:** ![Bossk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@Bossk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bossk)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/8 "2001-11-10T07:56:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > \*\*I remember seeing a TV show about the Excedrin case mentioned in the snopes article. I think the woman ground up the poison in the same pestle as for some aquarium product, and it was that particular product that left enough traces in the pills for the police to figure out what had happened. Many people just thought the husband had died of natural causes, since he was chronically ill anyways. > > Was that the chemical that only a few people can smell (for some unknown genetic reason?). By chance, a medical examiner who could smell the stuff was doing the autopsy, and that’s what started the whole investigation. > I hope I’m not misremembering this. Either way, it was a pretty good show. \*\* You’re misremembering it a little bit. A woman killed her husband by crushing poison (cyanide?) in a pestle that she also crushed algae destroyer pills for her aquarium. She put the poison into a capsule and gave it to her husband. Husband died, but the coroners wrote it off as a heart attack. In order to get the double indemnity on the husband’s life insurance, she didn’t say anything at the time, but started poisoning other packages of Excedrin and placing them on store shelves. After a woman died, and the cause was found, the woman “recalled” that her husband had taken some Excedrin right before he died. When autopsies were taken of both victims, they found traces of a very rare algaecide in the stomachs. They found only one brand of algae destroyer carried the chemical. The FBI then went to all the fish stores in town and asked the employees if they remembered selling that brand to anyone. Guess what? Wifey bought some, and when her pestle was analyzed, they found traces of the poison, and the algaecide. Combine that with her life insurace policy on her husband, and she was convicted. I can’t remember if she got the death penality, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Sota\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Sweet\_Sota\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Sota_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980s-tainted-tylenol-scare/92230/9 "2001-11-10T19:04:19Z")
That actually reminds me alot of the movie Double Indemnity. I shoulda worked, but lo and behold, poof!