Tylenol Murders Suspect James Lewis’ Eerie Last Interview Before His Death Included Him Answering ‘All the Hard Questions’
James Lewis was the number one suspect in one of the most popular unsolved mysteries in American history. Now, with Netflix‘s newest documentary Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, James Lewis tells his side of the story before his sudden death.
In 1982, seven people died from Tylenol poisoning in the Chicago area. The pills were laced with cyanide. The case brought nationwide panic and called for a more efficient way of ensuring product safety. One suspect came out on top: James Lewis. Lewis was convicted of extortion for sending a letter to Tylenol maker Johnson & Johnson, taking responsibility for the deaths and demanding $1 million to stop them. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the DNA evidence at the crime scenes did not match his DNA.
The Tylenol killings were not the only things Lewis was suspected of. Lewis was charged with the murder of Raymond West in 1976, but could not secure a conviction. He was also charged with mail fraud in 1983 and was accused of aggravated rape. So, what happened to the suspect after 40 years?
How did James Lewis die?
According to his autopsy, James Lewis died from natural causes, according to a spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. The autopsy listed Pulmonary Thromboemboli as the cause of death. The condition is also known as a pulmonary embolism, when a blood clot gets stuck in the blood vessels in the lungs.
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Documentarians Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines interviewed Lewis right before his death for the Netflix doc, but they didn’t know he was going to die beforehand. They also weren’t expecting a confession from the suspect. “There was something in him that wanted to say what he wanted to say, for many years,” Guendelman told The Hollywood Reporter. “Having people basically trying to get you for 40 years, I guess also makes you want to talk and enjoy this attention.”
Though it’s every documentarian’s “dream” to scope out a confession to murder, it was highly probable that he was going to keep mum. “Jim is not the only suspect in this case,” Pines said. “We don’t know for sure that he’s responsible. So we didn’t do this interview just to get a confession out of [Lewis], but to really confront him about all the hard questions about this case and the other cases…that he was suspected of in the past.”
Casting director Molly Forster developed a friendly relationship with Lewis in order for him to speak out. “You’re a human being,” Forster pitched to Lewis. “We want to talk to you as a human being — even if you did all of this horrible stuff.”
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis prosecuted Lewis for attempted extortion was disappointed in the suspect’s death when he said in a statement, “I was saddened to learn of James Lewis’ death, not because he’s dead, but because he didn’t die in prison.”
“There are so many families here who never got the answer they wanted,” said Pines. “The truth is out there, and there’s someone out there who knows more. I hope that person will see this film, see the families and come forward. … I think every cold case needs closure.
