The sole suspect investigators believed was responsible for the 1982 Tylenol murders in Chicago has died, police said Monday.
James Lewis, 76, was never charged in the seven murders but was the only person targeted by law enforcement as a suspect for more than 40 years in the case.
Police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, confirmed that the department and EMS workers responded to Lewis’ suburban Boston home for a call of an unresponsive person on Sunday afternoon. He was later declared deceased.
“Following an investigation, Lewis’ death was determined to be not suspicious,” the department said.
Seven people in the Chicago area were killed, ranging in age from 12 to 35, after ingesting extra-strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Lewis, who was in his 30s at the time, denied any involvement in the deaths.
But Lewis was convicted of attempted extortion after writing a ransom note to Johnson & Johnson, the parent company that manufactures Tylenol. Lewis demanded $1 million from the company “if you want to stop the killing,” according to The Chicago Tribune.
The Chicago Tribune revisited the case last year in an eight-episode podcast series, which included a review of documents and video evidence sourced by law enforcement. NBC News has not reviewed that evidence.
The postmark on the letter appeared to show Lewis wrote the letter before the public knew the deaths were linked to the tainted Tylenol pills, the Tribune reported.
Sept. 23, 202203:03
Former assistant U.S. attorney Jeremy Margolis, who successfully prosecuted the extortion case, told the Chicago Tribune he regrets Lewis was never brought to justice for the Tylenol deaths.
“I was saddened to learn of James Lewis’ death,” Morgolis said in a statement to the Tribune. “Not because he’s dead, but because he didn’t die in prison.”
Even 40 years later, the impact of the Tylenol murders is still obvious in homes and pharmacy shelves across the country. The Food and Drug Administration passed regulations on tamper-proof packaging as a direct response to the 1982 deaths, according to the agency’s website.
And in 1983 Congress passed the Federal Anti-Tampering Act, which made tampering with consumer products punishable up to 20 years in prison. The sentencing increases to a lifetime maximum if someone dies as a result.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
