Poison Madness in the Midwest

Seven people die after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol

Adam Janus, 27, had a minor chest pain last Wednesday morning, so he went out and bought a bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. About an hour later in his home in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Janus suffered a cardiopulmonary collapse. He was rushed to Northwest Community Hospital, where doctors worked frantically to revive him. "Nothing seemed to help," said Dr. Thomas Kim, chief of the hospital's critical-care unit. "He suffered sudden death without warning. It was most unusual."

That evening, grief-stricken relatives gathered at Janus'...