James Lewis, the man believed to be responsible for poisoning bottles of Tylenol capsules with cyanide which claimed the lives of 7 people in and around Chicago in the fall of 1982, was found dead yesterday in his apartment here in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of 76.
I remember the Tylenol murders vividly because in the immediate aftermath of those deaths, there was a massive recall of Tylenol and over the drug medication would have safety caps and have seals.
Lewis would soon come to public attention because he wrote an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million. For this, he would serve a dozen years in prison. After his release from prison, Lewis moved to Cambridge.
In 2004, Lewis would be arrested for drugging, kidnapping and raping a woman. He would spend three years in prison awaiting trial, but the charges would be dropped when the victim refused to testify.
Prior to the Tylenol murders, Lewis was accused in 1978 of murdering a man in Kansas City and dismembering his body. But the charges would be dismissed because a judge determined police had done an illegal search.
Lewis remained a person of interest in the Tylenol murders. Authorities in Chicago and Illinois had traveled to Cambridge to interview Lewis as recently as September 2022.
Of course, there are bad people here, there and everywhere and we never know what happens when we turn the corner. Yet I am thankful that I never crossed paths with James Lewis during the time I've lived in Boston and Cambridge. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the families of those who did cross his path.
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