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Seeing Red A True Crime Podcast

Murder by Remote Control

Seeing Red A True Crime Podcast

Mark Randell & Bethan Trueman

True Crime

4.21.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Painkillers. Cold medicine. Morphine, if you're Mark! Something to take the edge off a headache. In 1982, people across Chicago did exactly that — and some of them never got back up. This week on Seeing Red, we’re talking about the case that changed everything: the Chicago Tylenol murders. Cyanide-laced capsules. Random victims. A killer who never had to meet the people they murdered — just quietly tamper with bottles and put them back on the shelf. But it didn’t stop there. Because once the fear was out in the world, someone else saw an opportunity. We also look at the copycat killings that followed — including a case where “random” poisonings were anything but, and innocent people died to cover up a far more personal murder. This is murder without warning, without motive you can see, and without a suspect we can name. So… how safe is that bottle in your bathroom cabinet? www.patreon.com/seeingredpodcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/seeingredtw⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.seeingredpodcast.co.uk Theme music arranged and composed by Holly-Jane Shears: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.soundcloud.com/DeadDogInBlackBag⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm I'm Mark.

0:37.4

And I'm Mark.

0:41.5

And I'm Bethen. Welcome back, everybody. And thank you for joining us once again.

0:49.1

We're back fresh from CrimeCon Birmingham when you listen to this. So I'm sure we will have put lots of stuff on social media.

0:53.9

But obviously, we are recording this just in advance, which is always a little bit weird. And that's

0:55.0

why we have no Patreon thank yous this week. So this week, we're going to be talking about two

1:00.4

cases. They are linked, though. And we have an unsolved string of murders from the early 1980s,

1:07.8

and then a case from the late 1980s. And we're going to head to the US of A mark.

1:13.3

The reason I've chosen to talk about these cases is because the aftermath of these saw huge

1:18.7

changes to packaging and security for us all. It also enhanced the law in the US and what happened

1:25.2

completely changed how medicine is sold in America.

1:29.2

It's also a really chilling reminder to us all, how much trust we put into the purchases that

1:34.8

we make being safe for us to consume.

1:38.9

If you have a headache, you may turn to the bottle or the box of medicine that sat in your

1:43.6

bathroom cabinet, pop a couple of pills and turn to the bottle or the box of medicine that sat in your bathroom cabinet,

1:44.7

pop a couple of pills and hope to feel better shortly. And we all know, Mark, that is definitely

1:50.7

you, whereas I'm more likely to go, I will keep drinking some water until the headache gets so

1:55.8

bad that I have to take a couple of tablets. But it's not unusual, is it? That is completely

2:00.4

normal in our society. Yeah. Headache tablets. But it's not unusual, is it? That is completely normal in our society.

2:02.4

Yeah. Headache tablets. I am. Sometimes it's not even tablets, Beth. And I've been known to

2:07.4

swig morphine if a headache has been particularly bad. So that's how I roll in this house.

2:13.1

The first thing you said to me when I said I'd really, really hurt my back was what pills you

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