IL IL - Chicago Tylenol Murders: 7 people dead from cyanide poisoning, 1982

[AKWILKS]

One thing, former FBI serial killer profiler John Douglas, who worked on the original Tylenol Murders case, in his book The Anatomy of Motive, pp. 140 -143, says the FBI thought the man in the picture was the UNSUB responsible for the deaths, and he also says there were SKETCHES made of a man seen around one or more tainted Tylenol sights acting suspicously, including a man an elderly woman thought was a shoplifter who had "second thoughts" and was observed taking something from his jacket and placing it on a shelf. I must assume that the sketches generally match the image of the bearded man in the picture, which to my mind, does look like Ted Kaczynski if he implemented the disguise of shaving his hairline back two inches.

This graphic below was put together by Douglas Oswell of www.unazod.com .

The Zodiac Killer operated in the SF Bay area during the time Ted was a math professor at U Cal Berkeley. After the murder of cab driver Paul Stine in October 1969, when Zodiac almost got caught and a sketch was made, Zodiac stated he would no longer announce his murders and they would be disguised as killings of anger, "routine robberies, + a few fake accidents, etc." The 1982 Tylenol cyanide deaths were first thought by police to be natural causes, accidential overdoses, suicides of killings by family members. In one of the possible crimes of the Zodiac, the murder of Caroline Davis in Sonoma County, the victim was killed by strychnine poison. And Zodiac claimed to have threatened a teacher named Daniel Williams, perhaps putting arsenic in a pop bottle, and sickening Mr. Williams.

Ted Kaczynski also used strychnine to kill his neighbors dogs.

But set aside the comparison to the Zodiac sketches for the moment, I include it here because it notes some of the disguise elements implemented by Kaczynski, and that was just going to a hardware store and buying sections of common plumbing pipe. In other instances he records in his journal he wore several shirts to make himself look heavier, stuffed the shirt for the same reason, put cotton balls in his cheeks, wax in his nostrils to make them larger, gum under his lips and cut and dyed his hair and beard. Thus Ted could very well shaved his hairline back two inches to give him an older look.

 

[kemo]

The guy in the Drug Store appears to have a distinctly receding hairline. A You-tube video taken at the time of his arrest shows had a rather full head of hair with minimal hair loss in front. I would have expected noticable progression of that receding headline in the following 13 years. I'm guessing TK doesn't use Rogaine. Unless the hairline is part of a disguise, it would rule out TK.

It could be part of a disguise but I would think creating a receding hairline from a full head of hair would be difficult. The bearded guy’s hairline looks pretty natural. I suppose one could shave his hairline and use Nair to clean it up (good idea Cubby) but I suspect it wouldn’t be that easy for someone to do it to themselves in a mirror without any training or prior practice. Changing his hairline would be a lot more difficult than making his face “fuller” using cotton. I am not aware that TK knew anything about theatrical make up or otherwise have special skills for concealing his identity.


It is hard to tell what the bearded man is up to. He appears to be starring right at Paula Prince but this is a still photo. He could have been moving or turning his head and the picture just “caught” him like that. It is possible that he has nothing to to do with the case.
Roger Arnold was, at one point, the prime suspect but he was pretty much dropped from contention and it isn’t clear why. He had ties to the far Right luniutic fring and was later convicted of murder for killing someone he mistook for the person who “dropped the dime” on him in the tylenol case. . Interestingly, he, James Lewis, Ted K and the man who appears to be starring at Paula Prince all had beards at the time.
I was not aware there was a witness who saw someone “reverse shoplifting” which may have appeared to be someone taking a product out of his pocket and returning it to a shelf. . It sopunds like he also had a beard. I wonder why there was no composite

 

[AKWILKS]

Thanks to PhillyTechNews and DREW for finding this item.

This goes to MOTIVE - why target Johnson & Johnson?

With Johnson & Johnson spending tens of millions of dollars to buy and expand BIOTECH and GENETIC ENGINEERING companies, and fund RESEARCH at such companies, he may well have thought it would fit his goals to essentially sink or cripple the Johnson & Johnson Company. Or at least, as he often put it, "get my revenge on the technological society."

This article apppears in May 1982, and in late July 1982 we have the Tylenol Cyanide death of Jay Mitchell in Sheridan, Wyoming, just across the Montana border.

And in September 1982 the Tylenol Murders cause a $100 Million direct loss to J & J because of the massive recall and huge drop in sales. The Tylenol Murders also caused a $1 Billion plunge in J & J stock. No doubt this financial disaster severely set back any future plans J & J had for buy and expanding biotech and genetic engineering companies, or funding their research.

Don't we have examples of Ted Kaczynski reading the NY Times to select targets? Yes, apparently the FBI thought it likely based on the timing of articles that Ted used the NY Times to target McConnell, Epstein and Gerlenter, probably Mosser, and perhaps others.

Didn't Ted Kaczynski send a bomb to Dr. Charles Epstein, a GENETIC ENGINEER? Yes he did.

Didn't Ted Kaczynski write in his Manifesto and elsewhere about what he felt were the extreme dangers associated with BIOTECH and GENETIC ENGINEERING? Yes, in section "2" of the Manifesto, right at the start, Ted says the industrial-technological system will permanently reduce "human beings and other living organisms to engineered products and mere cogs in the social machine." (Emphasis added). In his April 24, 1995 letter to the NY Times Ted stated "The people we are out to get are the scientists and engineers, especially in critical fields like computers and genetics." (emphasis added). And there are multiple references throughout his writing to the extreme dangers of the biotech and genetics fields.

 

[AKWILKS]

Though Kaczynski could have come and left the Chicago area without notice or detection by staying in a motel, there is some evidence he was in the area in the fall of 1982. While Kaczynski had a cabin in Montana that he was still developing, he lived and worked in the Chicago area in parts of 1978 and 1979. He did do bombings while he was there, including placing the bomb on the jet in November 1979.

As Doug notes David told the FBI in 1996 he had "vague" memories of Ted visiting in 1979 or 1980 or perhaps "later dates".

And a neighbor named Roy Froberg told the Washington Post in an article printed on April 5, 1996 that Ted had last visited his family in Lombard "about 15 years ago", which would have been in or around 1981 or 1982.

And look at this, remember as well Diane Elsroth and the numerous 1986 cyanide deaths, including those on the East Coast in New York and New Jersey, and the fact that Ted Kaczynski did NOT visit his family anytime after 1982:

“Eleanor Fulgham gave Kaczynski a ride into town to the Trailways bus stop one time in the mid-1980s. 'Ted was walking with a big backpack on his back and said he was going east to visit family,' she says”.

“Neighbors say Kaczynski's mother visited him in Montana, although she preferred to stay in a motel rather than his primitive cabin. She also wired money to her son frequently. Kaczynski apparently returned home to Illinois several times.” From: USA Today 11/13/96.

 

[AKWILKS]

For persons new to the case and just coming here, I would suggest going to http://www.unazod.com/Tylenol.html for some key facts and then to get my entire long essay and supporting evidence on the possible link of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski to the Tylenol Murders go to http://unazod.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=63 . What follows is a brief summary of just some of the most important information showing possible links.

* Ted Kaczynski, like the Tylenol Killer, killed by remote control, killed from a distance. He did later mostly do targeted mailbombs. But from 1978 to 1985 he mostly left items in public places where whoever picked them up would be maimed or killed, and on two occasions did this in the suburban Chicago area in 1978 and 1979, plus did an attempted airline bombing in Chicago and a mailbomb in the Chicago suburbs in 1980. The Tylenol Murders took place in Chicago and its suburbs.

* Ted Kaczynski was later convicted of multiple murders, had a genius level IQ, sufficient knowledge of science, engineering and chemicals to create the Cyanide filled tablets and defeat the tamper resistant packaging and when arrested had Strychnine poison and potassium based chemicals in his home. His neighbor Chris Waits thought Ted did poison and kill his several of his dogs.

* Ted had an intense hatred for the modern consumer system, despised large corporations and also expressed the desire to kill large numbers of random people to get his personal "revenge" on society.

* Ted also did do a little gold and silver prospecting in Montana, and Cyanide is used for that purpose. Montana is filled with both open working silver and gold mines, and closed abandoned mines. Cyanide is available at some of these sites, and can also be purchased from many prospectors stores, one of which Ted was known to shop at.

* Ted also had a family home that he sometimes stayed at in Lombard, Illinois that was within 20 minutes of all the known Chicago area tampering sites, at the exact epicenter in fact, and there is some evidence he was in the area at the time.

* The primary weapon Kaczynski used in his crusade against the twentieth century was the home made bomb, either mailed to victims or placed at locations, to be detonated by the random person who picked it up. But there is no reason to think Kaczynski was limited only to bombs as a weapon. Kaczynski also committed burglaries, arson and industrial sabotage. He is also suspected of shooting a worker at a mining site with a high powered rifle and using Strychnine poison to kill a neighbor's dogs. He built a gun out of spare parts and wood and wrote he intended to use it as a "homicide weapon". He wrote of a desire to kill regular people and "bigshots" by use of a "bomb or other means".

* In his journal that gave details of all of his Unabomber bombing crimes, he wrote that accounts of and evidence from other crimes had been either buried or burned because their revelation would be "dangerous", "embarassing" or "very bad public relations". So it seems fairly clear, by his own words, that he DID committ other crimes than just the Unabomber bombings. What were they?

* As mentioned above, this suspect had a family home within 20 minutes of all the known Chicago area tampering sites. In fact, if you were to draw a horizontal line from the tampering site at 1601 N. Wells St. in Chicago to the tampering site on N040 Winfield Road in Winfield, it would run right through the city of Lombard and the exact area where the suspect's family home on N. Ridge was in 1982. If you draw a vertical line through the tampering sites on N. Vail in Arlington Heights and the Grove Mall in Elk Grove Village and continue that line it again would literally go right through where the suspect's family home was in Lombard.

* It is well known that Kaczynski had a hatred for the modern technological system and all large corporations. The Tylenol Murders, while a personal tragedy for the victims, were also the most economically devasting criminal attack on corporations in modern American history. But in his famous Unabomber Manifesto, he also expressed a specific dislike for the manufacturers of drugs and pills. He felt that they played an essential role in sustaining the system he hated, as they numbed the pain of modern society to allow people to continue to function. Among other specific criticisms, he states:

- Unabomber Manifesto Section 145. "Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy, then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness."

- A New York Times article of May 13, 1982, told how Johnson & Johnson was aquiring a stake in Enzo Biochem, a biotechnology and genetic engineering company, and would spend millions to fund research at the company. As far back as his 1971 essay, and throughout the Unabomber Manifesto, Kaczynski explains his fear and hatred of biotechnology and genetic engineering, stating that they will destroy human free will and fundamentally change the human race into engineered products and mere cogs in the machine.

- Unabomber Manifesto, Section 190, he states that any kind of social conflict "helps to destabilize the system", and in Section 143 he states the best way to attack the system is not an armed uprising but striking at and through "technology and ECONOMICS (emphasis added), not politics."

- The Tylenol Murders, which resulted in Johnson & Johnson pulling all Tylenol products off the shelf, caused over $100 million in direct losses to one of the largest corporations in America, and a loss in stock value of over $1 billion. It was, in effect, an act of economic terrorism against the modern technological consumer system. It also terrorized the public and caused a lack of faith in modern manufacturing and packaging methods of consumer products. The Tylenol Murders had exactly the kinds of serious economic and social effects that Kaczynski sought and wrote about.

* Kaczynski wrote in the Fall of 1977: "The technological society may be in some sense inevitable, but it is so only because of the way people behave. Consequently I hate people...Almost anyone who holds steady employment is contributing his part in maintaining the technological society...I emphasize that my motivation is personal revenge. I don't pretend to any kind of philosophical or moralistic justification." In keping with this desire to kill any working members of society, from 1978 to 1985, Kaczynski placed bombs in public places were they can and did wound and kill anyone, and also put a bomb on Flight 444 out of Chicago, which had it exploded properly, would have killed over 100 men, women and children. Random death against the population at large, targeting the Chicago area - just like the Tylenol Murders.

* THE CRIMINAL SIGNATURE OF THEODORE KACZYNSKI - NATURE, MOUNTAINS, WATER, TREES, WOOD

Former FBI Special Agent and Serial Killer Profiler John Douglas on "Signature":

I've found that signature is a more reliable guide to the behavior of serial offenders than an MO. That's because the MO evolves, while the emotional reasoning that triggers the signature doesn't.

From the book Unabomber: A Desire To Kill, by Robert Graysmith:

"In the Unabomber's case a large factor was his obsession with wood. Wood. Wood was everywhere. It haunted his mind, controlled his actions, wood was his goal and mode of attack. He selected as his enemies people who had wood - associated names, addresses, or businesses."



Acting as the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski used a criminal signature utilizing NATURE themes such as water, ice, animals, hills, mountains and in particular TREES and WOOD. The NATURE, TREES and WOOD theme became a major focal point of the FBI investigation, as it was one of the few obvious clues Kaczynski left in his trail of bombings. Kaczynski of course lived not far from a stream in a wood cabin among the tree covered hills and mountains of Montana. The consistent references to Water, Trees, Wood and Mountains could have been a way to signal his belief in the primacy of nature over industrial technology, a taunting clue to his Montana location and/or a calling card link to claim credit for his crimes. We can't say for sure exactly why Kaczynski used these themes - as John Douglas noted about a criminal signature "I can't explain why he did it. He felt the need to do it."

Kaczynski later targeted certain groups of people - business executives, professors in technological subjects, computer workers. But within these broad groups, he would often select a specific person whose name, street or city had a tie to a Nature, Wood or Trees theme, or he would make the references in fake return addresses. It would take several pages to list in detail all of the examples of the Kaczynski Nature, Trees and Wood mania, so I will just mention the highlights.

Kaczynski as the Unabomber mailed bombs to targets in Salt LAKE City, LAKE FOREST Illinois and Ann ARBOR Michigan. He included a copy of the novel "The ICE Brothers" in a bomb package, the story of which concerns a boat on OCEAN patrol near GREENland. He targeted for death persons named Patrick FISCHER, James HILL, Percy WOOD and Leroy WOOD Bearson. All of his bombs had parts made of WOOD and/or were concealed in WOOD boxes. He even enclosed items within his bomb packages such as parts, sprigs, sticks or twigs from TREES of Maple WOOD, Red WOOD, Cherry WOOD and Douglas Fir WOOD. He selected victims that lived on streets like FOREST HILL or ASPEN (a type of poplar TREE and a town in Colorado associated with MOUNTAINS). He used return addresses of OAKland California, RAVENSWOOD Street and BERG or BURG three times which is German for MOUNTAIN/CASTLE. There are many other examples with NATURE, WOOD or TREE themes, but one more will make the point rather clearly - a fake return address of Frederick Benjamin Isaac WOOD, 549 WOOD Street, WOODLAKE California. (Former FBI serial killer profiler John Douglas, who worked on the Unabomber case, noted the probable meaning of this was "FBI:WOOD, WOOD, WOOD!").

In this respect, keep in mind that a "grove" is a group of trees, a "field" can be of grass, plants or trees, "heights" are the high points of hills and mountains, "burg" is phoenetic German for mountain, "Vail" is another town in Colorado associated with mountains and Latin for 'down to the VALLEY', "Wells" bring forth water and "green" is a term for plants and the color associated with the environmental movement.

In the Tylenol Murders, out of the thousands of retail outlets to pick from, the killer chose:

A. Osco store in the WOODFIELD Mall in SchaumBURG
B. Jewel store at the GROVE Mall in ELK GROVE Village
C. Store on WinFIELD Road in WinFIELD
D. Jewel store in Arlington HEIGHTS on VAIL Street
E. WalGREEN on WELLS Street in Chicago
F. Store on ButterFIELD Road in WHEATon.

Of course many streets and cities have nature based names. So we might expect to find one or even two such names by pure coincidence. But for EVERY confirmed Tylenol location to have multiple Nature, Mountain, Water, Tree and Wood themes is beyond coincidence, and speaks clearly of intent and design. It seems that the Tylenol Killer had the same identical criminal signature as Ted Kaczynski - an obsession with selecting targets with Nature, Mountain, Water, Tree and Wood themes.


At least one other location was either not discovered or not disclosed publicly, that being where victim Mary McFarland purchased her Tylenol, but we known that she lived in ELMhurst. People usually shop near where they live (or work), and if the tainted Tylenol was placed in and purchased in ELMhurst, that would be yet another NATURE-TREES-WOOD choice made by the Tylenol Killer.

The Jewel-Osco chain seems to have been a particular target of the murderer, showing up several times. And there are two Jewel stores in Elmhurst, one of which is at 153 E. Schiller St., on an exact horizontal line with the tampering site at 1601 N. Wells St. in Chicago to the East and the Kaczynski residence on N. Ridge in Lombard to the West. Ms. McFarland also worked for Bell Telephone at the Yorktown Center in Lombard, the same city as the Kaczynski family home. There is a Jewel store on 1177 S. Main St. in Lombard, within walking distance (just over a mile) from the Kaczynski family home on N. Ridge in Lombard.

So there is a very clear pattern of placing the tampered Tylenol at sites with Nature themes, in particular Water, Mountains, Wood and Trees, just as we know Kaczynski selected bombing targets with similar names. The MO of these crimes are partially different - bombs vs. poison. But the criminal signature of Water - Trees - Wood - Mountains is the same. And the MO of both was to cause random death while the killer was away from the scene, and both targeted corporations and the modern technological society.


We can also ask why was Tylenol, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, chosen? There are of course many makers of pain killers and headache relief pills. Keeping in mind that the FBI believed Kaczynski selected bombing victims in part because of their names, such as Percy WOOD and Leroy WOOD Bearson, two of the founders of the Johnson & Johnson company were Robert WOOD Johnson and James WOOD Johnson. Just as in the targeted locations mentioned above, when it comes to the corporate victims, the Tylenol Killer operated with the exact same criminal signature Theodore Kaczynski used as the Unabomber. And in May 1982 Johnson & Johnson started making major investments in biotech and genetic engineering companies, a technology that Kaczynski felt had dire consequences for the existence of the human race.

* Often ignored in the media coverage is the death of Jay Mitchell, age 19, of Sheridan, Wyoming, on July 26, 1982. The coroner reported he had the exact same level of Cyanide in his body as the Chicago area victims. Though he had no Tylenol in his body, it is known that the killer emptied all of the Tylenol product out of the poisoned capsules before he put in the cyanide. The victim's family states he did take Tylenol just before his death, and that it was probably purchased at the local Jewel-Osco outlet in Sheridan, which is located on I-90, right by the Wyoming - Montana border.

* What is also interesting is that the highway bus route from the Kaczynski cabin in Lincoln, Montana to the Chicago area, I-90, happens to run right through Sheridan, Wyoming. In his journal Kaczynski mentioned not wanting to commit any major crimes in Montana because people might remember him riding the bus the day that a murder in the state happened. Kaczynski would note the results of his actual bombings to learn how to do it better. If he wanted to do a "test run" to see if the Cyanide filled Tylenol capsules actually worked, but wanted a victim outside the state of Montana, Sheridan Wyoming is the first town across the border on the way to Chicago on I-90.

* There was also a strange incident at a Howard Johnsons motel parking lot in suburban Chicago, right off the same I-90 freeway that links Montana to Wyoming to Chicago. On September 28, 1982, numerous boxes and bottles of Tylenol were found by two police officers, along with a pile of white powder. The officers got sick with moderately serious symptoms of Cyanide poisoning by skin contact. This may have been the spot where the Tylenol Killer filled many of the capsules with Cyanide, and it happened right off the I-90.

* We know that Kaczynski sent a bomb to Thomas Mosser, an executive at the public relations firm Burson-Marstellar, which killed Mr. Mosser on December 10, 1994. But look what major corporate crisis Burson-Marstellar did work on - from wikipedia:

"Burson-Marsteller’s strong position in crisis management has resulted in its identification with many major corporate crises of the past half century. It is well known for assisting Johnson & Johnson in the two Tylenol crises in 1982 and 1986."

Thus it appears that Kaczynski later targeted and murdered a man who worked for the firm that handled public relations for Johnson & Johnson during both Tylenol tragedies. And Robert Graysmith in his book Unabomber: A Desire to Kill notes in passing that many were very confused why Mosser was targeted by the Unabomber as he mainly worked for sports and entertainment clients, not high tech firms or Exxon. But Graysmith notes Mosser did work for Johnson & Johnson during the Tylenol crisis. Thus Ted Kaczynski punished the man and the PR firm largely credited for saving Johnson & Johnson being destroyed by the Tylenol Murders of 1982 and 1986.

* THE 1986 CYANIDE AND TYLENOL DEATHS

* In the three years after the 1982 Tylenol Murders, there were numerous tampering incidents and injuries. All of these were thought to be copycats, hoaxes or isolated acts. None were thought to be the work of the 1982 Chicago Tylenol Killer. But there was an incident in May of 1984 that proved to be lethal. In Manitowoc, Wisconsin a tax auditor named Thomas Dresser died after drinking a Coca - Cola bottle that had Cyanide in it. At first considered a murder, suicide was later mentioned as a possibility, though the known facts are not in accord with a suicide and the case was never fully solved. An item found in Kaczynski's cabin indicates that he might have been in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. It is a box containing Potassium based chemicals, chemicals which can be a precursor to making Potassium Cyanide. The label on the box indicates it came from a lab in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Since it is highly doubtful Kaczynski ordered it through a traceable means like mail delivery, he probably bought, stole, garbage picked or otherwise obtained it directly from the premises of that lab. The FBI inventory lists the item as "MB 171 two small white cardboard boxes labeled "Potassium chromate K. CrO, for lab use only. Hagenow Labs, Inc., Manitowoc, Wis.," in a white plastic shopping bag." This item is poisonous.


* In 1986 from February to September, not counting two poisoning deaths for which Stella Nickell was convicted for in Washington State, five people died of Cyanide poisoning and one other man was sickened. Of the six incidents, four involved Tylenol, one involved Anacin 3 and one involved Lipton Cup A Soup. Hotel records show that Kaczynski was on the move and headed out of state when these incidents happened. He almost never left the state unless it was to commit a crime, he had Helena hotel stays in April and May of 1986 and yet there were no bombings during the entire year of 1986.

* On February 8 1986 in Bronxville (Yonkers), New York - Diane Elsroth, 23, a legal secretary and daughter of a NY State Policeman, dies of Cyanide in Tylenol. Death is ruled to be a clear homicide, but is never solved. Nationwide press coverage sparks fears of a new series of Tylenol Murders. The killer was apparently able to defeat the new three layers of tamper resistant packaging. Poisoned bottles were purchased at the A & P grocery store on CEDAR Street in Bronxville, and another poisoned bottle was found at the nearby Woolworth store on PONDFIELD Road in Bronxville. A CEDAR is a type of TREE and a commonly used WOOD, a POND is a small body of WATER and a FIELD can be of GRASS, PLANTS or TREES. Just like Kaczynski throughout his career as the Unabomber, and just like the Tylenol Killer of 1982, in 1986 locations are selected that reference themes of Nature, here in particular Wood, Trees, Water and Fields. In fact, three of the 1982 Chicago area sites had the word "Field" in their street or city names, and others refer to Trees, Wood or Water.

* James Lewis can be ruled out as a suspect in the 1986 crimes because he was in federal prison in 1986. Yet there are strong reasons to think the 1982 and 1986 murders were done by the same person. And once again, significant signature, direct, circumstantial and geographic evidence points to Theodore Kaczynski as a viable suspect.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

AKWILKS, Thank you for sharing with us! I linked your awesome information to the LI Serial Killer Thread for reference. Hopefully it will give us some perspective in sleuthing that case and we will learn from your hard work!

All my best,

wm

 

[Secret77]

I remember this case, too. Do you remember what mistakes she made that lead police to her?

not the brightest bulb in the box..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Nickell

Stella Nickell then came forward, stating that she had two bottles of the contaminated medicine. However, she was soon suspected of being the source of the tampered pills because she possessed two of the five bottles. Stella failed a polygraph test, which she had continuously refused to take for a few months. Her daughter, Cindy, later testified that her mother had talked about killing her father for the insurance money; the daughter later received $250,000 in reward money put up by the drug industry for information that would solve the tampering case. In addition to that the police found Stella's fingerprints on various books from libraries which she had borrowed to read about poisons. She was also proven to have forged her husband's signature on two insurance policies.

 

[Cubby]

Very compelling theory AKWILKS! Excellent work! Being very familiar with the far west suburbs and having seen the home on Ridge (from the outside only) I'd like to share a little additional information. Just as an FYI.

The only locations within 20 min. of the home on N. Ridge are Wheaton, Winfield and Elmhurst (and Lombard of course). I used to drive the route from Lombard to EGV (Elk Grove Village daily) and it is no less than a 30-45 min drive depending on traffic. It would be at least 45 min to the location on Wells in Chicago if not longer. ( I didn't check where in Chicago that location may be.)

I am 99% certain there is no bus in Lombard that circles the route of the mapped locations where the tylenol was purchased. TK would have had to have access to a car for transportation. There used to be a bus, the 313 that went from Yorktown Mall in Lombard to Main and Madison street then headed east down Madison to Chicago. IIRC it went to Lake Street and ? in Chicago.

I really need to 'study' your theory further to see if anything jumps out at me as a local. I'm eagerly interested in seeing what occurs with this DNA request from the FBI.

Cubby

 

[AKWILKS]

Thanks for the compliments! And thanks for the info. Given variance of travel based on traffic, perhaps it would be more accurate to say all the sites were within 20 miles of North Ridge Ave, Lombard? That appears to be correct. And do you see how the sites are to the East, West and North of N. Ridge Ave, Lombard? Any thoughts you have are appreciated. For more detail see http://unazod.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=63 .

Victim Mary McFarland bought her tainted Tylenol at an unknown location, but she lived in Elmhurst and complained of a headache while at work in the Yorktown Center in Lombard. She was transported to the hospital from her home in Elmhurst, but the Tylenol was found in her purse, which makes me think it likely she bought it at a store somewhere between work and home, and just threw away the receipt.

Yes when this story broke around May 19, 2011, ABC News reported the FBI said it would seek a court order to get the DNA of Kaczynski. I have not yet heard any follow up, such as did they file a motion to get the DNA, either publicly or under seal? That is what I am waiting to hear!

 

[Cubby]

I'm very interested in looking into Mary McFarland and Elmhurst. If she was taken by ambulance from Yorktown Mall the closest hospital is Good Sam or Good Samaritan in Downers Grove less than 5 min or so south on Highland Ave from York Town Mall. There is also a dental college very near there near Highland and 31st Street; Midwest University. The Dental college that no one has ever heard of is between Yorktown mall and Good Sam hospital.

I would very much like to learn more about Mary McFarland and her history in Elmhurst....

I would agree within 20 miles except for the location on Wells in Chicago which I still have not looked up.

 

[AKWILKS]

Victim Mary McFarland bought her tainted Tylenol at an unknown location, but she lived in Elmhurst and complained of a headache while at work in the Yorktown Center in Lombard. She was transported to the hospital from her home in Elmhurst, but the Tylenol was found in her purse, which makes me think it likely she bought it at a store somewhere between work and home, and just threw away the receipt.

If she did buy it on the way home from work, looking at a likely route, she may have got it at the "Mister Z Super Market" at 401 South Main Street in Lombard. That store certainly invokes another case in which Ted Kaczynski is a suspect, the Zodiac case, and it is right after Maple and Ash Streets, and right across from Hickory Street, all possible tie-ins to the Tree-Wood theme noted before.

Looking again at a possible route home from work, she may have purchased the Tylenol at the Jewel store at 1177 South Main Street in Lombard. Many of the tampered bottles were found at stores in the Jewel chain, which led some investigators to speculate that the Jewel store may have been a particular target of the killer. And that Jewel store in Lombard, at 1177 South Main Street, is very close to the Kaczynski family home on North Ridge in Lombard.

It is incredible that one of the worst acts of random murder and economic terrorism against a major corporation engaged in the biotech and genetic engineering industries should happen within walking distance of a killer who did random acts of murder and attacks targeted at persons and companies in the biotech and genetic engineering industries.

And the other 1982 cyanide in Tylenol death, of Jay Mitchell on July 26 1982, happened in Sheridan, Wyoming, just over the Montana border and right on the I-90 freeway that runs from the area around Ted's cabin near Lincoln, Montana to Chicago, Illinois.

 

[AKWILKS]

This map shows:

A: Kaczynski family home on North Ridge in Lombard
B - F: Confirmed sites of tainted Tylenol in September 1982
G: Jewel store in Lombard possible site where Mary McFarland bought tainted Tylenol

The Kaczynski home is at the epicenter of the tainted sites.

 

[Aqua]

Akwilks,
Great work! I really think you are on to something here. Interesting, for sure.


P.S. I remember you from the zodiac boards, I'm Sourgirl,btw

 

[Cubby]

I had forgotten in the late 70's early 80's there was a Walgreens drug store and a Wags restaurant in Yorktown mall. It was right across from a Woolworths drug store which had a sit down counter style place to eat. They were on the same end as an anchor store, Either Montgomery Ward or JC Penneys as those were the two anchor stores on either far end of the mall at the time. It's been so long I don't recall which end of the mall either next to Penny's or Wards but I think next to Montgomery Ward. (Not 100% sure). IMO it is possible Mary could have purchased the tainted tylenol at Yorktown mall. however I think LE would have found either a receipt or perhaps survellience Mary purchased the tylenol at either Woolworths or Walgreens. Yorktown would have been a huge tax source for the village of Lombard so I can see how LE would not publically release the location if she had made the purchase in the mall.

 

[Cubby]

Correction to my above post, I think the dental college is Midwestern Univ, not Midwest Univ. I don't recall when the Walgreens and Woolworth drug stores closed in Yorktown Mall but I am 99% sure they closed after the Tylenol murders occured. I also can't positively say the Woolworth and Walgreens were directly across from each other but I am pretty sure they were. The mall has since been remodeled a few times.

 

[Cubby]

http://americanfraud.com/seventhtylenolbottle.aspx

There are also two possible addresses Mary may have purchased the tainted tylenol at the above link. 302 W. North Ave Villa Park and 215 S. Rt 83 Villa Park. The direct route from the home on Ridge in Lombard to the location on N. Wells in Chicago is a straight shot directly east down North Ave./Rt 64.

ETA: Villa Park is directly between Lombard and Elmhurst.

 

[Dreamnine]

I have to say this is great research, AK and others - and the input from Illinois natives is most welcome, too.

 

[Cubby]

Thinking outloud some more. The most likely direct route Mary would have taken home from York Town Mall is Butterfield Rd. east to York Rd and then North on York Rd. There is a Jewel Osco at the intersection of York and Butterfield Rds and was back in the late 70's early 80's. I think the current location of the Jewel at this intersection is not the exact location it was in the 70's or 80's. IIRC the Jewel was located at the SW corner of Butterfield and York then and has since relocated to the NW corner. Not sure if this helps or not but tossing it out there from my memory of various locations Mary may have shopped.

 

[AKWILKS]

Cubby and others - Thanks for your help. Still looking at several different aspects of this, will have more info to post over the weekend. Hopefully the FBI will soon get the court order to get the DNA from Kaczynski, I don't know why it is taking so long.

 

[AKWILKS]

One of the many mysteries in the case is how someone defeated the three layers of tamper resistant packaging in 1986 to insert cyanide laced capsules into Tylenol bottles in 1986. Such as the ones that killed Yonkers, NY resident Diane Elsroth. It seems as if it would have required someone with excellent technical skill and an eye for detail work to do so.

The other possibility that springs to my mind is making a cut at the bottom of the bottle, removing all the capsules, placing the tainted capsules back in so they go to the top, fill the rest of the bottle with regular capsules, and then perhaps seal the bottom by using heat and/or wax? Which would also require technical skill and an eye for detail, plus knowledge of the engineering elements involved.

These graphics show the tamper resistant three levels of protection used in 1986 and a map of the 1986 sites of tampering deaths or incidents.

For two decades the "official" position has been that the 1986 deaths were unrelated to the 1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders, and also that the Aurburn deaths were done by Stella Nickell, the Pullman Washington lab worker death was likely suicide, the Austin Texas lab worker death a likely suicide, the Tyler Texas sickening incident causes unknown, the Nashville death a likely suicide and the Yonkers New York and Runnemede New Jersey cases murder but probably unrelated.

Yet when you look at the sites on a map, they show a possible alignment.

And we learned that in 2010, after FBI prime suspect James Lewis apparently did NOT match DNA in the case, the FBI investigated at least one 1986 case, the Yonkers NY murder of Diane Elsroth, for possible links to the 1982 Chicago cases. Lewis was in prison in 1986. The FBI investigated the NY capsules for possible fingerprints and/or DNA. We don't yet know if any was found, but it was reported in the press the traces of silver were found.

And finally, is that really a severe and uneven receding hairline on the UNSUB photographed watching Paula Prince buy tainted Tylenol, or is it a triangle shaped lens flare or obstruction?