The Man Behind the Tylenol Cyanide Murders Might Be Living in Cambridge

Cambridge residents can be a sketchy crew, and James W. Lewis may be the sketchiest among them. In 1982, seven people died in the Chicago area because some Tylenol pills they took were laced with cyanide. (CYANIDE!) The case was never solved—and the $100,000 reward offered by Johnson & Johnson for finding the culprit was never claimed. At the time, Lewis became associated with the case because he wrote a letter demanding $1 million from Johnson & Johnson to stop the killings. He spent over a decade behind bars for this act of extortion, but he was never tried or convicted for the actual murders. That may soon change.

Now, Lewis is back in the news with a book—and maybe, another round of court hearings that may settle the question of his innocence once and for all.

Last week, Lewis and his wife provided DNA samples to investigators, which may be the evidence needed to clinch the case.  WCVB Boston reported last year that the FBI has suspected that Lewis is the man behind the murders. With today's new advanced forensic technology, they may finally be able to prove it.

In the meantime, Lewis has decided to try his hand at a new career path—writing. On Sunday, he went on camera with local “BeLive: The Cambridge Rag” producer Roger A. Nicholson for an exclusive interview in order to promote his book Poison! The Doctor’s Dilemma. Sadly, the book is only available for Kindle or in paperback on Amazon.com, so you can’t boost Lewis’ sales from the COOP.

The interview lasted 48 minutes, and throughout, Lewis dodged questions from callers and Nicholson about his connection to the seven murders nearly 30 years ago.

Nicholson said he was never easy on Lewis. He told us that he accused Lewis of "being a murdering piece of shit" when he ran into him last spring. "What kind of f***ing asshole, if you're not the killer, sends the FBI on a goose chase for so many years when they could be going after the real killer?"

But when Nicholson gave Lewis the opportunity to confess during this week's interview, Lewis called Nicholson “delusional.”

Nicholson, who has worked at CCTV for over 10 years, told us that it was because of the strange camaraderie he and Lewis have built over the past several years that Lewis granted him exclusive access this week.

An avid reader of books about the FBI, Nicholson was reminded of Lewis in 2005 and admitted to cyberstalking him after he kept seeing Lewis' name pop up. Realizing he and Lewis were "practically neighbors" (Lewis moved to Cambridge after being released from prison), Nicholson met up with Lewis for a private, untaped interview in July 2007. He pounded Lewis with questions about the Tylenol killings until, Nicholson said, Lewis got pretty angry. Yet surprisingly, Lewis then granted Nicholson a public interview later that year.

That Christmas, Nicholson offered Lewis a place to stay when Lewis' wife left him homeless. Nicholson's reason for letting a possible murderer into his home was simple: “When I die, I’m pretty sure I’m going to hell," Nicholson said. "But I didn’t want it to be because I let a guy who might be innocent freeze to death by the Charles River right before Christmas,” he added with a chuckle.

Unfortunately, Nicholson says he doesn’t have plans to release the video of the 2010 interview online (he says he wants money for his hard work), so Lewis won’t become a YouTube star. At least not yet.

This article has been revised to reflect the following corrections:

Correction: Jan. 13, 2010

A previous version of this post stated incorrectly that Nicholson's comments were referring to an exchange that occurred during the televised interview with Lewis. In fact, Nicholson was referring to an earlier encounter with Lewis.

In addition, the post incorrectly misquoted Nicholson as saying, "What kind of asshole sends the FBI on a goose chase for so many years?" In fact, Nicholson said, "What kind of f***ing asshole, if you're not the killer, sends the FBI on a goose chase for so many years when they could be going after the real killer?"

Finally, the post stated incorrectly that Nicholson first heard of Lewis in 2005. In fact, Nicholson had previously met Lewis in 1995.

Correction: Jan. 15, 2010

A previous version of this post stated incorrectly that Lewis' book, Poison! The Doctor's Dilemma, is only available for Kindle. In fact, the title is also available in paperback on Amazon.com.