On the morning of September 28, 1982, Mary Kellerman, a 12-year-old Chicago resident, was given a Tylenol pill by her mother and father in response to complaints of a sore throat. Just a few hours later, she was lifeless. Kellerman was the primary of at the very least seven individuals who would die in brief succession within the Chicago metropolitan space after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. These deaths and the way they occurred are the topic of Netflix‘s “Chilly Case: The Tylenol Murders.”

Within the three-part sequence, administrators Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines revisit the terrifying deaths that sparked nationwide panic, which become a public well being disaster and led to Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Tylenol, to take swift motion and create tamper-proof seals. Earlier than the Tylenol poisoning case, medicines and meals gadgets have been steadily stocked on cabinets with only a screw-on cap and no seal. The sequence, govt produced by Joe Berlinger, additionally reexamines the case – one of many largest U.S. felony investigations that has by no means been solved.

By way of interviews with key gamers, together with FBI brokers and police concerned within the case, Guendelman and Pines examine how the poisoned Tylenol bottles arrived on retailer cabinets: Had been they intentionally contaminated with cyanide? Or have been the capsules by chance contaminated at a Johnson & Johnson plant?

Along with talking with key gamers within the investigation, Guendelman and Pines (“Shadow of Fact”) additionally interviewed sufferer members of the family, journalists who reported on the murders, in addition to the case’s major suspect, James Lewis. Lewis was sentenced to 10 years in jail for writing an extortion letter relating to the poisonings, however his DNA was by no means linked to the suspect bottles.

“For 40 years, the investigation was targeted in a single route, which is Jim Lewis’ facet,” says Pines. “What we tried to do within the sequence is broaden the scope. There are extra theories on the market, and so they have a number of advantage in them.”

“The Tylenol Murders” is the second version of Netflix’s Chilly Case franchise. The inaugural sequence, “Chilly Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey,” started streaming in 2024 and was directed by Berlinger.

Selection spoke to Guendelman and Pines forward of the sequence’ Might 26 Netflix launch.

The doc investigates how Johnson & Johnson could or could not have performed a task within the Tylenol murders. Are you hoping that the sequence will reopen the case and the investigation into Johnson and Johnson?

Pines: Johnson & Johnson is without doubt one of the largest drug firms on the earth. Tylenol to this present day is considered one of their hottest medicine. I feel in a case like this, once you understand what was at stake and what’s nonetheless at stake, it’s crucial to research each doable angle very totally.

The sequence doesn’t embrace any interviews with a consultant from Johnson & Johnson. Did you attain out and request an interview?

Guendelman: We did, however they didn’t wish to remark. Typically that’s linked to the truth that large pharma firms (have been) beneath fireplace for a few years now due to the opioid disaster after which the infant powder disaster.

The Tylenol murders perpetually modified how we view the merchandise in our drugs cupboards. Do you suppose that, on account of this sequence, individuals will grow to be afraid as soon as once more to take Tylenol?

Guendelman: I feel security seals usually work. If the crime occurred after the manufacturing unit, after all. If it was throughout the manufacturing unit, then we’re screwed. However I hope individuals won’t get scared, regardless that it’s scary.

Pines: This can be a very completely different kind of true crime doc as a result of in most documentaries that we see about homicide circumstances, there’s a killer who truly murdered somebody bodily with a knife or a gun or some form of weapon. It’s normally very graphic. On this case, the killer had no connection to the victims. No motive, but there’s something very scary on this uncanny notion that one thing as on a regular basis as a ache reliever can all of a sudden flip right into a weapon of mass homicide.

How did you observe down James Lewis and persuade him to do an interview?

Guendelman: Our producer, Molly Forster, was the one who truly contacted him and acquired him to talk. She was speaking with him and visiting him for, I feel, most likely a yr earlier than he truly agreed to take a seat in entrance of the digicam. It was one thing that we knew we would have liked to do for the present as a result of he’s probably the most attention-grabbing character within the present.

The sequence makes it clear that testing for cyanide after somebody dies just isn’t typical. Do you suppose greater than seven individuals died after taking Tylonel in 1982?

Pines: There most likely are extra circumstances. Cyanide turns into untraceable so quick. Even legislation enforcement to this present day thinks that there’s most likely extra victims than solely seven, most likely many extra.

Guendelman: I  simply wished so as to add that the truth that all of those seven victims have been so younger, I feel the oldest was like 30-something, there have been most likely different victims who have been older who have been possible handled as if that they had a coronary heart assault or some form of pure loss of life.