In Chicago 1982, taking acetaminophen was a bit like playing Russian roulette. At least seven people died after ingesting additional tylenol capsules to cyanide and to date, the federals have never nailed the culprit. In 2025, Cold case: tylenol murder Documentarians Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines have obtained their man – or at least, the Netflix The filmmakers obtained the only suspect in the FBI, James Lewis, To speak in large length on the camera. It was the producer Molly Forester who landed Lewis.
“We gave her the task of doing it and she brought it,” said Guendelman. “She is the best about this.” Joe BerlingerAn executive producer on docuseries is not to be outdone in space itself.
In 2022, while journalists set off on the lawn of Lewis hoping for a soundbite that never came, it was Forester who led him to open the front door. She promised Lewis that he could tell her full story – a promise that she would repeat in the next year.
“You are a human being,” said Forester Lewis. “We want to talk to you as a human being – even if you have done all these horrible things.”
“She won her confidence in a way,” said Guendelman.
There is no doubt that Lewis, abandoned as a baby by his parents, did horrible things. But what has never been proven – and has still not been – it is if not Lewis did This “Horrible things.”
Forester and Lewis, and by osmosis Guendelman (and by additional osmosis, the pines) and Lewis, ended up having a “really intimate” report, said Guendelman.
There was another factor that certainly did not hurt. “As you can see in the series, he likes attention,” said Guendelman. “But he never gave an interview because he was so careful.”
One thing that Lewis has never been accused is to be stupid – or probably, be a good guy. Although never charged in Tylenol’s real murders, Lewis was found guilty of extortion for sending a letter to the manufacturer of Tylenol Johnson and Johnson assuming the death and demanding $ 1 million to stop them. Lewis later said that his letter was an attempt to point the authorities to the former boss of his wife. He had a 10 -year sentence.
Years earlier, in 1978, Lewis was charged in the murder of Raymond West, who had hired Lewis as an accountant, but a bad police job killed all chance of conviction. In 1983, Lewis was found guilty of postal fraud; Another time, he was accused of aggravated rape, but the alleged victim chose not to pass with the case.
In other words, Lewis knew there were a lot of opportunities to slip during an interview.
“There was something in him who meant what he meant, for many years,” said Guendelman. “Having people who are mainly trying to get you for 40 years, I guess also makes you want to talk and enjoy this attention.”
Shortly after their maintenance, Lewis is dead.
In 1982, at least seven residents of the Chicago region died after having taken additional force.
With the kind authorization of Netflix
It would have been cool to make a tape confession – “The dream of each documentary maker” – Guendelman conceded, at La Robert Durst The Jinx. But there is a difference between Durst and Lewis.
“Jim is not the only suspect in this case,” said Pines. “We do not know for certainty that he is responsible.”
Roger Arnold, a docker who admitted to having had potassium cyanide, has also been the subject of a police investigation.
“So we did not do this interview just to withdraw a confession from (Lewis), but to really confront it with all difficult questions about this case and in other cases … which was suspected in the past,” continued Pines.
It was not for the lack of tests, of course. And Guendelman and Pines have already proven the value of their work to the legal system.
Guendelman and Pines are the duo behind Shadow of truthA doc on the murder in 2006 of a 13 -year -old Israeli girl whose body was found in a school bathroom. Roman Zadorow, a Ukrainian immigrant who had worked at school, was arrested and sentenced. Well, he was sentenced until Guendelman and Pines arrive.
The four games Shadow of truthSince acquired by Netflix, has led to a new trial for Zadorow. He was finally acquitted and released.
“Documentaries on real crime have a lot of being able to change reality,” said Pines, “and they can do very important things.”
Cold case: tylenol murder is now available on Netflix.
