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Once detectives identified Betkouski and began to learn about
him, they came to believe he was a possible suspect in the
killings of seven people in the Chicago area with cyanide-laced
Tylenol, Cooper said.
No one was ever charged in those killings, which triggered a
widespread recall of the over-the-counter painkillers.
An engraved key found with the body in the Boise church led
investigators to a street in Jacksonville, Florida, where a
property owner disappeared in 1982. They used photos and DNA
testing to confirm his identity.
Investigators then learned that Betkouski worked in drugstores.
Former colleagues and acquaintances said he had a history of
volatility, was fascinated by the idea of a “perfect crime” and
once said cyanide was a means to kill without detection,
authorities said.
Detectives found cyanide in Betkouski’s desk, which Cooper said
appeared to be homemade and was a different compound than what
was used in the 1982 killings.
Betkouski lived in five states throughout his life but never in
Illinois or close to Chicago, according to investigators. Photos
showed that Betkouski visited the Chicago area a year before the
killings, but it was not clear if he returned the following
year.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement that its
detectives have been in contact with Idaho authorities to
determine whether their findings are connected to the Tylenol
murders investigation, which remains an open cold case. It did
not say whether they consider Betkouski a suspect.
Investigators long believed a man named James Lewis was
responsible for the killings, though he was never charged. Lewis
died in 2023 after serving more than 12 years in prison for
sending an extortion note to Johnson & Johnson, the drug's
manufacturer at the time, demanding $1 million to “stop the
killing.”
When Lewis was arrested in 1982, he gave investigators a
detailed account of how the killer might have operated. He
always denied involvement, however.
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