Thread: FBI Probes Unabomber Connection to Tylenol Murders

FBI Probes Unabomber Connection to Tylenol Murders

Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, offered to provide DNA samples to help the FBI in their investigation of the 1982 Tylenol murders, but if -- and only if -- the government did not go forward with an online auction of his personal effects, the convicted killer said in court documents.
The government, however, went ahead with the auction Wednesday in which various possessions of Kaczynski's, from his infamous anti-technology hand-written manifesto to his typewriter, are currently fetching thousands of dollars.
"Kaczynski has not been indicted in connection with the Chicago Tylenol investigation, and no such federal prosecution is currently planned," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in its own court filing in response to Kaczynski's. "Consequently, there is no basis for an order interfering with the sale previously approved by the district court, as directed by the court of appeals."
The FBI said Kaczynski was among "numerous individuals" from whom the Bureau tried to obtain voluntary DNA samples as part of a reexamination of the 1982 killings in which seven Chicago residents ingested Tylenol capsules laced with deadly cyanide.
A week before the auction, Kaczynski filed court papers claiming he had nothing to do with the crime and agreeing to provide the sample should his possessions remain private until his death.
"I have never even possessed any potassium cyanide," he wrote. "But, even on the assumption that the FBI is entirely honest (an assumption I'm unwilling to make), partial DNA profiles can throw suspicion on person who are entirely innocent."
Kaczynski asserted that if he is a suspect and his DNA profile is related to the 1982 killings, "some of the evidence seized from my cabin in 1986 may turn out to be important," apparently referring to some of the objects up for auction.
Kaczynski is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted in 1998 for killing three people and injuring over 20 others in a mail bombing spree that spanned two decades.
The proceeds from the auction will serve as part of the "effort to pay $15 million restitution order to the victims [of Kaczynski's crimes] and their families," according to the government auction website.
The FBI announced it was making a reexamination of the Tylenol case in 2009 "given the many recent advances in forensic technology" and new tips which had been called in on the 25th anniversary of the murders two years before.
FBI officials in Washington said that they were in the process of obtaining a court order to seek the DNA sample from Kaczynski.
The Sacramento Bee first reported on the court filing.

FBI Probes Unabomber Connection to Tylenol Killings - ABC News

I was working in a pharmacy when this started. I remember scrambling to pull all tylenol products off the shelves. Scary times.

I can't believe they don't already have his DNA. He's in solitary - couldn't they have gotten it from a cup or something?

You would think they would have.

That's what I thought too. I also believe that I read that the tylenol murders were solved. From what I remember, it was the husband of one of the victims.

From Wiki:

During the initial investigations, a man named James W. Lewis sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million to stop the cyanide-induced murders. Police were unable to link him with the crimes, as he and his wife were living in New York City, New York, at the time. He was convicted of extortion, served thirteen years of a twenty-year sentence, and was released in 1995 on parole. WCVB Channel 5 of Boston reported that court documents, released in early 2009, "show Department of Justice investigators concluded suspect James W. Lewis, who now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was responsible for the poisonings, despite the fact that they did not have enough evidence to charge him." Lewis continues to deny responsibility for the poisonings.[4][5]
A second man, Roger Arnold, was investigated and cleared of the killings; however, the media attention caused him to have a nervous breakdown, and he blamed a bar owner, Marty Sinclair, for the police investigation of him. In the summer of 1983, he shot and killed John Stanisha, whom he mistook for Sinclair, but who was, in fact, an innocent man who did not know Arnold.[6] Arnold was convicted in January 1984 and served fifteen years of a thirty-year sentence for second-degree murder. He died in June 2008.
Laurie Dann, who poisoned and shot victims in a May 1988 rampage in and around Winnetka, Illinois, was briefly considered as a suspect, but no direct connection was found.[7]
On May 19, 2011, the FBI requested DNA samples from Ted Kaczynski, known as the "Unabomber", as part of its investigation into the killings.[8]

Originally Posted by Gypsy

That's what I thought too. I also believe that I read that the tylenol murders were solved. From what I remember, it was the husband of one of the victims.

No, never solved. An attorney on the tube today was saying the problem with what the Feds are doing by ruling out Kaczynski the way they are, they have now provided any future suspect a reason for doubt of their guilt. FBI doesn't really believe Kaczynski had anything to do with it but wanted to rule him out anyway.