Ada County Sheriff’s Office Detective Tim Cooper in a news conference Wednesday identified Mathew Francis Betkouski, a Lockheed Martin organic chemist who worked on NASA-related projects, as the man who poisoned himself with cyanide in Sacred Heart Catholic Church and was buried without a name. The case was reopened in 2019 because a church member had asked about its progress.
The chaos and uncertainty began in the greater Chicago area in the fall of 1982, when 12-year-old Mary Kellerman died in the hospital after consuming Tylenol capsules. Six more people, all below the age of 35 and also living in the Chicago area, died the same way.
Investigators discovered the capsules were laced with a lethal dose of cyanide, leading to a widespread recall of Tylenol and immediate removal of the medication across shelves nationwide.
Referred to as the “Unknown Wanderer” before his identification, Betkouski had a documented fascination with chemistry and explosives. His odd behavior increased following a brain injury in 1974 from falling off a tall fence, Cooper said, adding that though plagued with mental illness, Betkouski was a brilliant man who struggled to connect with people.