Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders – Review | Netflix

COLD CASE: THE TYLENOL MURDERS on Netflix is a new true crime documentary series in three parts. Watching this, the most unbelievable thing to me is how the brand managed to survive. Read our Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders docuseries review here!

COLD CASE: THE TYLENOL MURDERS is a new Netflix docuseries. This one covers the true crime of how Tylenol laced with cyanide took the lives of random people in 1982.

As the title indicates, this is a cold case, so don’t expect definitive answers. Maybe that’s why I was most surprised that the Tylenol brand was ever able to survive this huge scandal. I mean, if someone had been convicted of the crime, then maybe. But now, it’s too strange.

Continue reading our Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders docuseries review below. Find it on Netflix from May 26, 2025.

A terrifying crime

With Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, we’re going back to 1982. This was when seven people in the greater Chicago area died from cyanide poisoning. Common for them all was that they had just taken Tylenol.

Minutes later, they dropped dead where they stood.

Obviously, the news of cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules resulted in a wild panic all over the country. And also, it was the beginning of one of the largest criminal investigations in US history.

How could this possibly happen? And why would anyone kill people at random like this?

I mean, we know the answer to the latter question, as virtually all serial killers have (to a point) killed people at random. Sure, maybe they went after young brunettes, but the ones they went after were still ones in millions.

Basically, these people don’t function as everyone else, so you can’t expect the same reasoning.

Why is The Tylenol Murders still a cold case?

With all the capabilities of modern forensic evidence, why is The Tylenol Murders still a cold case? I mean, of course, back in 1982 things were more complicated. And yet, even back then, some strange choices were made.

Such as allowing Johnson & Johnson (who owned McNeil, the manufacturer of Tylenol) to check the remaining Tylenol capsules from the same batches. Clearly, letting those who are responsible for the product check it, rather than a third party, is very strange.

That’s like asking a suspected murderer, who is also a lab technician, to check whether their own blood work matches the forensic evidence. It’s not surprising when the “result” is in their favor.

In any case, the FBI quickly found a suspect and locked in on him. They believe they know who did it. They just haven’t been able to prove it. Of course, other people (including a child of one murder victim) don’t agree with their theory.

Instead, they believe the FBI missed other important leads due to having already decided on a main suspects. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders attempts to take a fresh look at what happened back in 1982, which makes for a fascinating true crime documentary series.

Watch Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders on Netflix now

The new Netflix docuseries comes from directors Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines (Shadow of Truth, Buried) and executive producer Joe Berlinger (Conversations with a Killer).

It’s well-made and tries to cover the case from multiple angles. We hear from the FBI agents working the case, reporters following the story from the beginning, relatives and friends of victims, and even the main suspect.

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I can’t ask for much more except, of course, definitive proof. Unfortunately, I have to say that after watching this docuseries, it seems like the FBI isn’t too busy doing this. Or maybe the evidence doesn’t match their theories?!

Whatever the case, I can see at least two possible suspects and find it strange that they’re supposedly so hung up on one of them. Then again, they may know a lot more than the public, which could explain why.

That would leave the question: Why not come forward with all the evidence now? Surely they can prioritize DNA and either shut the case or definitively state that it’s no longer active. But they don’t.

Instead, they call it an “ongoing investigation”, and that seems too odd for comfort.

The Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders docuseries is on Netflix on May 26, 2025.