, a 27-year-old man felt a muscle ache. He took several extra-strength Tylenols and collapsed. When he died that evening, his stunned family gathered at his house. His younger brother took several Tylenols and then passed the bottle to his wife. Both soon died.
In the coming days, three more women in the Chicago area died after taking extra-strength Tylenol. One of the victims had just given birth to her fourth child and turned to the acetaminophen for relief. Another was a single mother raising two young boys. The last victim was a flight attendant who had just returned to Chicago and stopped at a drugstore on her way home to buy the bottle.that the Tylenol was the sinister link between the fatalities.
The poisoner was determined to kill, and the toxic tablets were designed to resemble the well-known Tylenol pills. The deadly plan worked, and although authorities still don’t understand the motivation for the murders, they know the culprit picked a poison and delivered a dose that no antidote could have cured in time. Beyond that, the shocking murders catalyzed major changes in the way that we take pills that still exist today.
But cyanide can also be manufactured in several forms, including hydrogen cyanide , a liquid that is colorless, odorless and highly flammable. It boils at room temperature, and in its gas state, it can kill within a minute.