CHICAGO, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- The FBI said it is reopening its probe into the 1982 Tylenol tampering killings that rocked Chicago, citing technology advances and new tips.
FBI agents Wednesday searched the Boston-area home of a man convicted of extortion in the case of seven unsolved deaths, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.
Federal, state and local authorities are conducting "a complete review of all evidence" gathered in intervening years, the FBI said. What remains unclear is whether authorities are close to charging anyone, the newspaper said.
After searching the residence of longtime suspect James William Lewis, the FBI said in a statement the renewed investigation also was prompted by publicity generated by the 25th anniversary of the killings and the resulting tips.
The series of deaths, caused by cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules, remains one of the nation's largest unsolved criminal cases, the Tribune said. Tylenol packages were tampered with in Chicago-area stores, resulting in a nationwide panic and prompting the pain-reliever's maker to initiate a multimillion-dollar recall. Lawmakers acted to deter tampering and the drug industry spent millions of dollars on tamper-resistant packaging used today.
"We owe it to the victims' families to bring modern technology and current cold-case homicide investigation techniques to this case in the hopes of solving it once and for all," FBI spokesman Tom Simon said.
