Tylenol Killer

Here's a story that we had completely forgotten about:

• Investigators have breathed new life into the decades-old, unsolved Tylenol killings, prompted by advances in forensic technology and new tips on the crimes, FBI officials said today.

  The FBI executed search warrants today on the man convicted of extortion related to the infamous Tylenol killings that claimed seven lives in the Chicago area in the 1980s.

We remember sitting in a classroom somewhere when the announcement came over the PA that anyone who may have ingested a Tylenol product that morning should report to the school nurse immediately. It was a bit frightening to say the least. It was also pointless as we later found out anyone who took the tainted product was pretty much dead within a minute or so. But nobody knew much about that at the time - product tampering on this scale was unheard of.

And here's a bit of info we never had heard before (or maybe we heard it and just forgot) about the subject of these search warrants and the suspect who was later convicted of extortion:

• In 1978, Lewis was charged with the murder of Raymond West, an elderly former client of Lewis' accounting business. West's body had been dismembered, stuffed in a plastic bag and hoisted to an attic ceiling in West’s home.

  Charges were dismissed after a judge ruled that Lewis’ arrest and a search of his home had been improperly conducted.

This guy seems like a genuine psycho who should have been put away and put down years before he may have killed seven more people. He even offered a eerily accurate flowchart and explanation of how a killer may have laced the capsules that some investigators have called a veiled confession.

Maybe the cops in 1978 had it right?