Police have confirmed the death of the suspect involved in the infamous Tylenol poisonings of 1982, which resulted in the deaths of seven individuals in the Chicago area and sparked a nationwide panic.
On Monday, authorities confirmed that James Lewis, 76, was found dead in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Responding to a report of an unresponsive person on Sunday around 4 p.m., officers, firefighters, and EMTs discovered his lifeless body. Cambridge Police Superintendent Frederick Cabral said Lewis’s death was determined to be non-suspicious.
Despite the incidents that claimed the lives of seven victims who unknowingly consumed cyanide-laced medications, no one was ever formally charged in connection with the crimes. James Lewis, however, was sentenced to over 12 years in prison for sending an extortion note to Johnson & Johnson, in which he demanded $1 million as a means to “stop the killings.”
Upon his arrest in 1982, following an extensive nationwide manhunt, Lewis provided investigators with a detailed account of how the perpetrator might have carried out the acts. Subsequently, Lewis confessed to sending the letter and making the monetary demand, but maintained that he had never intended to collect the funds.
