Idaho authorities investigate possible link to 1982 Tylenol poisonings

Idaho authorities say a man found dead in a Boise church decades ago may be connected to the 1982 Tylenol poisonings. Detective Tim Cooper of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office reopened the investigation in 2019, leading officials to identify Mathew Francis Betkouski posthumously. Authorities said he died by cyanide poisoning more than 40 years ago. An engraved key found with his body, along with photos and DNA testing, helped investigators confirm his identity.

Cooper said investigators came to believe Betkouski was a possible suspect in the killings of seven people in the Chicago area. Detectives found cyanide in his desk, but Cooper said it appeared homemade and was a different compound from the one used in the 1982 killings. Betkouski worked in drugstores and visited the Chicago area a year before the killings, though investigators do not know whether he returned the following year. Chicago police said detectives are in contact with Idaho authorities. The killings remain an open cold case, and no one was charged.