©Deadline - NetflixThe Tylenol Murders is part of the Cold Case franchise, which Netflix launched last year with Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, which reinvestigated the murder of six-year-old Ramsey from Colorado.
That series is from director and producer Joe Berlinger, who will produce Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders. It is directed by Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines, who also directed the Israeli true-crime series Tzel Shel Emet (Shadow of Truth), which later aired on Netflix.
The Cold Case series is similar to the Turning Point franchise, which includes three series: Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War, Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror, and Turning Point: The Vietnam War, all from Brian Knappenberger. Netflix also has the successful Untold Sports series.
Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders looks back at the crime that shattered the nation’s confidence in the safety of everyday brands. The deaths sparked a nationwide panic and became one of the largest criminal investigations in American history. The series will explore whether a single mastermind was behind these horrific deaths, or if that theory was merely a convenient scapegoat in a dark conspiracy and potential cover-up.
No one was ever charged or convicted for the poisonings, but one man was convicted of extortion for sending a letter to Tylenol manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, taking responsibility for the deaths and demanding $1 million to stop them.
The series will feature never-before-seen interviews and testimonies from key players.
Berlinger said, “Re-examining unsolved cases with a fresh perspective and investigative rigor is at the core of the Cold Case franchise. With the JonBenét Ramsey story we were able to show how the mishandling of a case nearly destroyed the Ramsey family and now, with the Tylenol Murders, we can look back even further to the early 1980s when a string of random deaths gripped the country with fear and uncertainty. These two cases remain unsolved and our hope through the unprecedented access we gained is that the families of these victims can obtain some answers and closure.”
“Before 1982, nobody thought twice about opening a bottle of painkillers. Today, every tamper-proof seal is a reminder of that dark moment—when cyanide-laced capsules transformed an everyday medicine into a murder weapon, permanently reshaping consumer industries. For more than 40 years, this case has been viewed through a narrow lens, locked onto a single theory while crucial evidence and promising leads were left unexplored. Perhaps that’s why, even after all these years, the case remains unsolved,” added Guendelman and Pines. “With Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, we’re taking a fresh look at this complex, haunting puzzle, shedding new light through overlooked evidence, unheard testimonies, and troubling inconsistencies. Our hope is that by expanding the narrative, we might bring the families of the victims a step closer to the answers they’ve awaited for decades.”
Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders premieres on Netflix on Monday, May 26.
