James Lewis, the suspect in the deadly 1982 Tylenol poisonings, dies at 76

James Lewis, the suspect in the infamous 1982 Tylenol poisonings in Chicago that resulted in seven deaths and triggered a nationwide panic, died at the age of 76 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The backstory: Lewis was suspected but never charged in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings, which led to a significant overhaul in the safety of over-the-counter medication packaging.
* He was found dead at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Sunday.
* Lewis had previously served more than 12 years in prison for sending an extortion note to Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturer of Tylenol, demanding $1 million to “stop the killing.”

Significant remarks: Despite his criminal history, Lewis always denied any involvement in the Tylenol deaths and even provided DNA samples to the FBI in 2010.
* To support his claims, he created a website in which he declared that he was framed.

Context: The 1982 Tylenol poisonings led to a nationwide recall of the product and resulted in the adoption of tamper-proof packaging for over-the-counter medications.
* The victims, including a 12-year-old girl, had consumed Tylenol laced with cyanide.
* No one was ever held accountable for the killings, which targeted people from the Chicago area.

Lewis’s criminal history: Prior to the Tylenol incident, Lewis faced legal issues, including a murder charge in Kansas City and six counts of mail fraud for a credit card scheme.
* Charges were later dismissed due to lack of evidence and illegally obtained evidence.
* In 2004, he was charged with rape, but the charges were dropped when the victim refused to testify.

View original article on NPR

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