The Tylenol Murders: Unsealed's Christy Gutowski and Stacy St. Clair on the Death of Suspect James Lewis

Murder Sheet

MurderSheet

True Crime, Murder, Unsolved Case, Killing, Murderer, Cold Case

3.8 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1982, seven people died in Chicago after taking Tylenol capsules injected with potassium cyanide. An investigation into the seemingly random poisonings carried on for decades. No one was ever convicted of the Tylenol murders. But many in law enforcement believed that they had a decent circumstantial case against James Lewis.

A longtime con man, Lewis was convicted of attempting to extort Johnson & Johnson, the company behind Tylenol. He had a troubled past, including one other murder charge where he walked after a Miranda violation. He also had a penchant for taunting investigators.

On July 9, 2023, Lewis was found dead. The Murder Sheet interviewed Christy Gutowski and Stacy St. Clair about the news, the legacy Lewis leaves behind, what his death means for the murder case, and the work they plan to do continuing to uncover answers.

Here's a link to the article on Lewis' death that Christy and Stacy wrote for the Chicago Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-tylenol-james-lewis-dies-20230710-tzzcoedaareazprveofqw732km-story.html

Read some of their past Tribune coverage here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/tylenolmurders/ct-tylenol-murders-investigation-listicle-20220922-kndriges6zgdpf5pvrxdjatah4-list.html

Listen to Unsealed here, or wherever you listen to podcasts: https://unsealed-the-tylenol-murders.simplecast.com/

Here's our earlier interview with Christy and Stacy: https://art19.com/shows/murder-sheet/episodes/63f3f314-baeb-4944-b2f4-b094bc7e5835

Send tips to [email protected].

The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You know by now that we're all about the journey, June's journey that is.
0:05.0	Like, I feel this game was made for us specifically.
0:08.0	It's the closest I've come to feeling like I've been dropped in the middle of a mystery novel set in the 1920s.
0:14.0	That's because you get to play as June.
0:17.0	A globetradding flapper slash amateur sleuth who lives to solve mysteries.
0:23.0	You get to visit all sorts of fascinating places from Paris to Cuba.
0:27.0	You beat levels by identifying hidden objects in the scene.
0:31.0	And we've found that the more we play, the sharper our observational skills become.
0:36.0	The game is delightful and a wonderful way to relax.
0:40.0	I'll often pull my phone out and play it when I've got a free moment.
0:44.0	Like I'm on hold with an archive or I'm waiting for a courthouse to open up in the morning.
0:48.0	I'm currently on chapter 16, meaning I'm searching for the son of June's housekeeper,
0:55.0	who's on the run from New Orleans gamblers and the police.
0:59.0	It's a wild time.
1:01.0	We know our audiences filled with folks who love a good mystery.
1:05.0	Now is your chance to try your hand at being a sleuth yourself.
1:09.0	Discover your inner detective when you download June's journey for free today on iOS and Android.
1:17.0	Content warning, this episode contains discussion of violence, rape, and murder.
1:23.0	You probably saw the same stories and headlines we did.
1:27.0	A few weeks ago, James Lewis, the prime suspect in the 1982 Tylenol murders,
1:33.0	died of the age of 76 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1:38.0	That case has always haunted us.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MurderSheet, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MurderSheet and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.