The 1982 Tylenol poisonings panicked the nation. Bottles were pulled off shelves across the U.S., and a massive criminal investigation got underway, hunting for the person who tainted the popular painkiller with deadly cyanide.
At the core of this story are seven people, from Elk Grove Village to Chicago, who died simply because they took some Extra-Strength Tylenol for their aches and pains. Their deaths left children, spouses, parents, siblings and friends to mourn.
Here is how the murders unfolded 40 years ago over several days in late September, and a remembrance of each person.
Click on a dot to read more about what happened to each victim and when.
Mary was born March 9, 1970. The inquisitive seventh grader was Dennis and Jeanna Kellerman’s only child. They doted on her. Mary enjoyed making pottery and cooking with her mom, taking guitar lessons, practicing gymnastics, riding her pony and playing Atari with her dad. She loved her three dogs and goldfish. Mary began babysitting in the final year of her life. She left an imprint on those she met, including her elementary teacher who for decades kept the flower vase Mary had made for her as a gift. Her childhood friend said Mary was warm and loving. “I was certainly drawn to her because I think, as kids we kind of have a radar for good people,” friend Sharon Hogg said.
- 4 p.m., Sept. 28, 1982: Jeanna Kellerman, Mary’s mother, buys a 50-count bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules at a Jewel store formerly located at the southwest corner of Arlington Heights and Biesterfield roads in Elk Grove Village.
- 6:15 a.m., Sept. 29: Mary Kellerman takes a capsule of Tylenol at her family’s Elk Grove Village home, then collapses.
- 9:56 a.m., Sept. 29: Mary is pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.
Adam was born March 7, 1955, in Tarnow, Poland. Raised on a small farm in the southern part of the country, Janus and his family immigrated to the United States when he was 8. He and his wife, Teresa, owned a tidy brick bungalow in Arlington Heights, where they raised their two young children, Kathy and Thomas. Janus worked as a postal supervisor and enjoyed tinkering with clocks in his spare time. After he died, his wife told police that he was a loving father who played with his children and really listened to them when they spoke. She said he was “always happy,” content with both his job and his family.
- About 11 a.m., Sept. 29: Adam Janus buys a 50-count bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules at a Jewel on Vail Avenue in Arlington Heights.
- 2:33 p.m., Sept. 29: He is transported to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
- 3:15 p.m., Sept. 29: He is pronounced dead.
She was born April 15, 1955, as one of eight children. Her parents, Howard and Kathryn Fearon, raised their family in Villa Park. Known as Lynn to those who loved her, she and her husband, Edwin, had a home in Winfield. Lynn delivered the couple’s fourth child days before her death. Her children — two girls and two boys — were 9, 8, 22 months and 7 days old, respectively, at the time. Lynn is remembered as a devoted mom and good cook.
- 3 p.m., Sept. 29: Mary “Lynn” Reiner buys a 50-count bottle of regular Tylenol capsules at a Frank’s Finer Foods in Winfield.
- 3:30 p.m., Sept. 29: She takes at least one capsule of Tylenol at her Winfield home, then becomes comatose.
- 5 p.m., Sept. 29: At Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield.
- 9:05 a.m., Sept. 30: She is removed from life support and pronounced dead.
Stanley was born in Tarnow, Poland, on April 6, 1957. The youngest of four siblings, Stanley Janus came to the United States with his family in 1963 and settled on Chicago’s Northwest Side. He quickly adapted to life in the Midwest, learning English easily and making friends quickly. His heritage remained an important part of his identity, so he agreed to be set up with a pretty blond woman named Theresa Tarasewicz whose parents had immigrated to the U.S. before she was born. They married June 19, 1982, and honeymooned in Hawaii.
- 5:40 p.m., Sept. 29: Stanley Janus takes at least one capsule of Extra-Strength Tylenol at his brother Adam’s home in Arlington Heights, then clutches his chest.
- 6:30 p.m., Sept. 29: At Northwest Community Hospital.
- 8:15 p.m., Sept. 29: He is pronounced dead.
Theresa was born June 23, 1962, and grew up in Lisle. She was a business major at Illinois Benedictine College when she married Stanley Janus on June 19, 1983. The couple lived in a house on the same street as her parents and had started an ambitious home remodeling project. when just before they died. “Terri,” as she was known by family and friends, was adored by Stanley’s nieces and nephews. They always vied for the attention of their young, modern aunt. “She always made us feel special,” her niece Monica Janus said. “Everyone wanted to be her favorite.”
- 5:40 p.m., Sept. 29: Theresa Janus takes at least one capsule of Extra-Strength Tylenol, then complains her chest hurts.
- 6:30 p.m., Sept. 29: She and her husband, Stanley, are at Northwest Community Hospital.
- 1:15 p.m., Oct. 1: She is pronounced dead.
Mary was born Dec. 7, 1950, in Chicago. Her parents, John and Jane Eliason, raised Mary and her four siblings in Elmhurst. She was a sales rep at an Illinois Bell Telephone store in the Yorktown Shopping Center in Lombard and the loving mother of two sons. Her boys, Ryan and Brad, were 4 and 2, respectively, when she died. Her family and friends say the children were her “everything.” The divorced mom often shared stories about her boys and their afternoons at the zoo, park and swimming. She is remembered as “Mary Sue” and “Mary Mac,” a woman with strawberry blond hair and freckles who had a bubbly, outgoing personality and wicked sense of humor.
- 6:35 p.m., Sept. 29: Mary McFarland tells Illinois Bell Telephone colleagues she feels dizzy after taking Tylenol at her workplace, then collapses. Paramedics arrive two minutes later.
- 7:22 p.m., Sept. 29: At Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
- 3:18 a.m., Sept. 30: She is pronounced dead.
Paula was born Nov. 21, 1946, in Nebraska. She was the youngest of Lloyd and Margaret Prince’s four children. The striking blonde was a longtime United Airlines flight attendant and lived in a high-rise condo in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. She recently started a party planning business with friends. Paula is remembered for her love of travel and adventure. A single gal living the good life, she hoped to marry and start a family in her future, friends say. “She was a bombshell,” friend Jean Regula Leavengood said. “Always laughing.”
- 9:16 p.m., Sept. 29: Paula Prince buys a 24-count bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol at a Walgreens on Wells Street in Chicago.
- 9:30 p.m., Sept. 29: She takes Tylenol at her Chicago apartment.
- 5:40 p.m., Oct. 1: Her lifeless body is discovered. She would be pronounced dead at 6:45 p.m.
