On this day, October 5, 1982, Tylenol products were recalled after bottles were found with cyanide.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_5

• 1982 – Tylenol products are recalled after bottles in Chicago laced with cyanide cause seven deaths.

[cyclonefence]

1. And thus began

the foil/plastic liners you have to punch through to get to OTC meds and all kinds of other changes I can't recall right now which made it a lot harder to tamper with or, actually, buy OTC meds.

Was anyone ever arrested? This was a horrible yet incredibly ingenious crime. It would be difficult to pinpoint who the intended victim was (if there was one), and nobody had apparently ever capitalized on the ease with which capsules could be opened, emptied and refilled.

A really important historic date.

[Chainfire]

2. I can't recall a disposition of the case either.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. I'm pretty sure no one was ever connected to the poisoning.

And it's not just medications. I just bought two spices in bottles, and it was a major effort to get the safety film and top liner off.

[Ocelot II]

4. They had several suspects but not enough evidence to prosecute.

There was another case in Washington a few years later where a woman murdered her husband and another person by putting cyanide in several Excedrin bottles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Nickell

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Thank you for that informatiion.