Inside the Tylenol Murders — A Chicago Stories Documentary

WTTW November 12, 2025
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On September 29, 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove, Illinois, woke up in the morning with cold symptoms. Her parents gave her Tylenol to ease her discomfort. Hours later, Mary was dead. What followed was a string of seven Chicago-area deaths connected by one thing: Each victim had died shortly after taking Tylenol. Lab tests confirmed the victims were poisoned, the pills all laced with a lethal dose of cyanide. A massive, multi-jurisdictional task force was formed, and thousands of leads were run down. Authorities eventually focused on one suspect, James Lewis, after discovering he had penned extortion letters demanding $1 million dollars to stop the killings. Lewis denied his involvement in the murders for decades, and no hard evidence ever led to a prosecution in the case. Now 40 years later, the Tylenol murders remain one of the nation’s most notorious – and unsolved – crimes. Audio-narrated descriptions are available. --------------------------- Dive deeper into the story: https://www.wttw.com/tylenolmurders --------------------------- Watch more amazing Chicago Stories: https://www.wttw.com/chicagostories --------------------------- #ChicagoStoriesWTTW