The Tylenol Case (product-tampering) a.k.a. the "Tymurs"-case
(partially unsuccessful)
Date: late 1982
Place: Chicago, U.S.
Facts of the case: people suddenly and mysteriously dying in the Chicago area; connection between the deaths: the victims had all taken Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Once the capsule broke down in the stomach, death followed quickly. The primary difficulty was the random nature of the poisonings.
The profile: The offender obviously targeted neither a specific victim nor was he (or, very rarely, she) present at the crime scene. The killings were apparently motiveless (no traditional motive, such as love, jealousy, greed, or revenge was plausible). Possible targets were the manufacturer, any of the stores selling the product, one or more of the victims, or even society in general. In this type of crime, the offender never sees the faces of his victims. He is therefore more concerned with acting out his anger than with targeting a particular type of victim. If he were to see his victims faces, he would probably show some remorse.
Research has shown that subjects who kill indiscriminately without seeking publicicty tend to be motivated primarily by anger. This anger might stem from experienced failures in school, jobs, or relationships, the subject would probably be an inadequate, hopeless type with bouts of severe depression. Statistically, he would likely be a white male in his late twenties to early thirties, a nocturnal loner, employed in some position as close to power an authority as he could come, such as a security guard, auxiliary policeman, store detective, or ambulance driver. He would probably also have some military experience. He would have had psychiatric treatment in the past and have been on prescription drugs to control whatever condition he had. He would own an older car, but a "power model". Before the first poisoning happened, he would have had experience a precipitating stressor for which he may have blamed society in general and thus fueling his anger. Once his case became public, he would discuss it with whoever was willing to, people in bars, drugstores or even the police, which would create a huge boost for his ego, which indicated he might keep a diary or scrapbook with media coverage.
He had probably written to people in positions of power (the president, the director of the FBI, the governor, the mayor) to complain about perceived wrongs against him, signing his name in the first few letters. As time passed without what he considered an appropriate response from anyone, he grew angry over being ignored. His random homicides could be his way of getting back at all those who didn't take him seriously. Anyhow, his was a crude, sloppy operation, Tylenol was a common drug and the capsules were easy to open. There shouldn't be read too much meaning in his selection of Tylenol as the means of poisoning.
Proactive techniques: In a large city like Chicago, many people would fit the general profile by John Douglas of the FBI. Therefore, it was important to focus on proactive techniques. That means keeping the pressure on the subject by the police and not let him cope, i.e. by issuing only positive statements, and not provoking him by calling him a madman. It would be important to encourage the press to print articles humanizing the victims (i.e. by printing photographs), since the nature of the crime tended to dehumanize them in the killer's mind. J. Douglas (Mindhunter, p. 326) suggested holding a nighttime vigil at the grave sites of some of the victims to "attract" the subject.
J. Douglas (op. cit., p. 327) suggested to the police that they should release information to the press in a particular order. "First they should describe the crime and our crime analysis. Second, they should emphasize the full thrust of FBI involvement with state and local authorities and that 'if it takes us twenty years, we're going to get this guy!'. And third, someone had to have seen something (...) My reasoning here was that if the killer thought someone might have seen him at some point, then he would think he had to neutralize that with the police, to explain an legitimize his presence at the scene.
The Tylenol case is sort of anormal because it didn't seem to be primarily an extortion. Extortionists who threaten product tampering will typically alter one bottle or package of the product, mark it in some way, and deliver a warning in a phone call or a note. Here, there weren't any threats, the killer moved right to the killings. J. Douglas (op. cit., p. 331): "By extortionist standards, he wasn't sophisticated. Based on the crude nature of the tampering (after these murders, Johnson & Johnson spent a fortune developing effective tamper-resistant packaging), I knew this guy wasn't highly organized. But of those who do make threats, some of the same guidelines can be used as would apply to a political-threat analysis to determine whether the threatener is actually dangerous and capable of carrying out his announced intention. The same is true of bombers. If a bomb threat is made, it is always taken seriously (...) Bombers and extortionists typically use the word we in their communications to imply a large group watching from the shadows. The fact is, though, most of these people are suspicious loners who don't trust others."
Outcome: The murderer wasn't (officially) caught. A suspect was apprehended and convicted on extortion charges linked to the murders, though there wasn't sufficient evidence to try him for the murders themselves. However, he fit the profile. And after his incarceration, no more poisonings were reported...
For more information, see J. Douglas/M. Olshaker, Journey into Darkness, pp. 232 - 320.
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