Paramount+ today announced that its five-part docuseries PAINKILLER: THE TYLENOL MURDERS will premiere exclusively on the service, beginning Tuesday, October 10. It’s a story that captivated the nation in 1982 when seven people, mostly in and around Chicago, died suddenly and without explanation. The victims included three people from one family and a child from another. Today marks the 41st anniversary of the first victim’s death – 12-year-old Mary Kellerman.
Eventually, a nurse quickly saw a common thread between the deaths; the victims all took the common pain reliever Tylenol, but their capsules were laced with cyanide. The deaths were soon dubbed the “Tylenol Murders” and started a frenzy to find the person responsible as fear spread across the country and store owners pulled Tylenol from their shelves.
PAINKILLER takes viewers inside the chaos of that time as police search for answers to one of the most notorious unsolved crimes. The case tortured families, a city and a nation for decades.
PAINKILLER follows as investigators focus on a key suspect: James Lewis. In real-time, the five-part docuseries unravels the dark, complicated mystery of the crime, exploring the various police missteps and the madness that consumed Lewis, who lived in plain sight for more than 40 years. The series meticulously pieces together other crimes to which Lewis was connected, including extortion, dismemberment and another murder. Four decades later, the grieving families carry the horror of the heinous crime. Past clues and new technology raise the question: Could DNA evidence finally nail the killer?
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