Rest in Powder
James W. Lewis, the prime suspect in the deaths of seven people in 1982 from cyanide-laced Tylenol, a poisoning that terrified the nation and changed the way manufacturers packaged medications, died on Sunday in Cambridge, Mass. He was 76.
Mr. Lewis was pronounced dead after the authorities responded to a report of an unresponsive person at his home, Superintendent Frederick Cabral of the Cambridge Police Department said on Monday. The cause of death was “not suspicious,” Superintendent Cabral said, declining to comment further.
Mr. Lewis spent more than four decades under scrutiny in connection with the notorious unsolved poisonings, in which someone laced Extra-Strength Tylenol with deadly potassium cyanide, killing seven people in the Chicago area in September and October of 1982.
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The Chicago Tribune reported last year that some investigators were still pushing for Lewis to be prosecuted, and that Lewis said he’s been treated unfairly and continued to deny involvement.
In 2009, FBI agents searched Lewis’s Massachusetts home. Investigators seized a computer from Lewis and collected a sample of his DNA.
2001 anthrax attacks
A major focus in the early years of the investigation was bioweapons expert Steven Hatfill, who was eventually exonerated. Bruce Edwards Ivins, a scientist at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, became a focus around April 4, 2005. On April 11, 2007, Ivins was put under periodic surveillance and an FBI document stated that he was "an extremely sensitive suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks".[5] On July 29, 2008, Ivins committed suicide with an overdose of acetaminophen (Tylenol).[6]
The Amerithrax investigation involved many leads which took time to evaluate and resolve. Among them were numerous letters which initially appeared to be related to the anthrax attacks but were never directly linked.
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