In late September/early October 1982, seven Chicago-area people died from popping Tylenol pills laced with cyanide. Adam Janus was experiencing chest pain. He popped a few Extra-Strength Tylenol and collapsed an hour later. He died. That night, Janus' younger brother and sister-in-law, grief-stricken and achey, popped a few of Adam's Tylenol pills. They died. A 12-year old girl with a cold took some Extra-Strength Tylenol on account of a cold. Dead. All in all, seven were felled by the poisoned pills. Hysteria followed. A 1982 TIME story reports, "Police cruisers, rolling through Chicago streets Thursday afternoon and evening, blared warnings over loudspeakers." The drug was removed from shelves. Vague copycat incidents pins and needles discovered in candy bars led several communities to ban Halloween trick-or-treating. A gentleman was arrested after trying to extort Johnson & Johnson for $100,000, though he was never charged with the murders. Tamper-proof seals became the norm.
Top 10 Unsolved Crimes
John Walsh founded America's Most Wanted after police failed to nab the person who killed his son, Adam. But on Dec. 16, police revealed the killer's identity and officially closed the case. TIME looks at more than a century's worth of other mysterious cases.