Jacksonville Eyedrop Tamperings Linked to 1982 Tylenol Case

A cold case detective investigating the 1982 Tylenol poisonings believes he has uncovered a link to product tamperings in Jacksonville years earlier.

Ada County Sheriff’s Office Detective Tim Cooper recently connected a Jacksonville man to the Tylenol case. He revealed that similar incidents involving eye and nasal drops occurred in the Jacksonville area in the late 1970s.

The investigation centers on Dr. Matthew Francis Betkouski, a chemist identified as the “Unknown Wanderer” found deceased in a Boise Catholic church in December 1982. Cooper linked Betkouski to the Tylenol poisonings after a key found on him opened a door off Mills Court in Jacksonville.

Newspaper clippings detail local tamperings dated May 15, 1979. Six people were injured after using Murine eyedrops containing hydrochloric acid. The tampered bottles were purchased from four stores along U.S. 1, from Jacksonville to Waycross, Georgia, in March and April 1979.

An FDA spokesman confirmed the incidents were not manufacturing errors but deliberate tampering.

Cooper noted these Jacksonville tamperings occurred while Betkouski resided in the city, shortly before his institutionalization. Photographic evidence suggests Betkouski also lived in Waycross during that period.

Additional newspaper clippings from August 1982, months before the Tylenol poisonings and Betkouski’s death, indicate similar tampering incidents in Betkouski’s hometown of Los Angeles.

Betkouski remains officially unnamed as a suspect in any of these cases.

Cooper hopes sharing these discoveries will yield new information about the Chicago Tylenol poisonings. He noted Dr. Betkouski suffered from severe mental illness.

Anyone with information can contact the Ada County Sheriff’s Office at [email protected].