Who Was The Tylenol Killer?

[akwilks]

Last Revision on this section:

A SPECIFIC MOTIVE?

We have already seen that Kaczynski had general motives of a rage against people, a desire to damage the modern technological system and a targeted hatred for drug companies. But why would he have decided to use Cyanide in 1982? Could there have been a specific motive, arising out of a grudge? Cyanide is used in gold and silver mining, something that Kaczynski himself, as well as some of his neighbors, engaged in. There are also many industrial mining operations that use mass quantities of Cyanide. THERE WERE SEVERAL MAJOR SPILLS AND LEAKAGES OF CYANIDE IN MONTANA IN 1982. These actions would be deplored by most citizens of Montana, but they would have ENRAGED Kaczynski, who would regard it as a personal assault on him and the area he loved. He might very well have been inspired to turn Cyanide, the agent of death to his beloved nature, against the very system he hated. This is the record of problems by the Pegasus Company at the Zortman/Landusky Mine in Montana:

1982

Zortman/Landusky Ruptured pipe caused 1,200 gallons of cyanide to be spilled.
Zortman/Landusky 50,000 gallons spilled into Alder Gulch contaminating Zortman's community water supply. Pegasus was required to replace the drinking water source. The State issued a $15,000 fine against the company.
Zortman/Landusky 75 gallons of cyanide solution spilled.
Zortman/Landusky 300 gallons of cyanide solution was spilled when the top of a leach pad froze and cyanide flowed over the top onto the ground.
Zortman/Landusky 4 pounds of cyanide spilled, contaminating groundwater.
Zortman/Landusky 780 gallon leak in the gold recovery system. Soil contamination resulted.
Zortman/Landusky Bighorn sheep found dead at cyanide ponds.

These spills and leaks killed TREES and ANIMALS and affected FIELDS and groundWATER. There was specific concern about the Cyanide getting into WELL WATER. CROPS and LIVESTOCK were affected. A local Indian tribe complained that a sacred site, Spirit MOUNTAIN, was damaged. The damage also affected an area known as the Little Rocky MOUNTAINS. The tampering sites in 1982 included WOODFIELD, the GROVE Mall in ELK Grove Village, WELLS Street, WinFIELD, BUTTERFIELD in WHEATon, VAIL Ave., Arlington HEIGHTS, possibly ELMhurst, etc. WELLS draw WATER from the ground, BUTTER comes from Cows (LIVESTOCK), WHEAT is a CROP, VAIL is a town in Colorado associated with the Rocky MOUNTAINS, HEIGHTS are the high points of MOUNTAINS, a GROVE is a group of TREES, ELK are a common Montana animal species. The other matches are self explanatory. Several of the selected stores were JEWEL stores - and the primary use (85%) of mined gold is for JEWELRY, and it is mass quantities of CYANIDE that was spilled or leaked to cause the damage, and it was CYANIDE used as a weapon by the Tylenol Killer.

It appears that the Tylenol Killer, by virtue of the poison used and the sites selected, was conveying not just a idea of the primacy of nature over the industrial consumer system, but a specific message about the massive recent Cyanide damage done to nature in Montana. Looking at the fact that it is Lombard IL that is the only site on both the vertical and horizontal lines of tampering sites, this would create a potential geographic profile of the Tylenol Killer being a person who was a resident of Montana, who traveled through the Sheridan WY area, and had lived in or had ties to Lombard IL. The profiles mentioned over the years also generally mention a loner, intelligent, some technical skill, filled with hatred for the world and a desire for revenge. Not only does Theodore Kaczynski fit all the geographic, skill and psychological elements of these profiles, it is difficult to imagine that there is anyone else who would.

There were more problems in 1985 and 1986:

1983
Z/L Mine A leak in the pond liner was discovered after cyanide contamination was identified in the nearest monitoring well.

1985
Z/L MineStorm event caused mining company to land apply process water on 17 acres of land. Tree kills resulted.
Golden Sunlight Mine 19 million gallons of cyanide solution leaked when a tailings impoundment failed. Resulting groundwater contamination affected the Jefferson River alluvium. Four domestic wells and a well at the veterinary clinic were contaminated. Placer Dome was sued by neighboring landowners. The company eventually bought out the landowners.

1986
Z/L Mine A storm caused Pegasus to spray 20 million gallons of process water on a hillside, resulting in tree kills. This event involved a nearly catastrophic failure of the pond system.
Golden Sunlight Mine A pipe fitting split and discharged approximately 2,000 gallons of cyanide solution.

So we have damage to a HILL side FIELD, TREE kills and twice damage to a POND system. In 1986 the Bronxville (Yonkers) Cyanide Tylenol tampering sites were at CEDAR Street and PONDFIELD Road.

See website here, scroll to bottom: http://www.nocyanide.org/faq.htm

[Drew]

Doug, ever have any thoughts of a Tylenol Taskforce meeting for this summer -- this investigation seems to be gaining some momentum.

[Doug]

Drew, it might be nice, but I'm afraid I haven't got the time to organize anything.

[akwilks]

Drew - what part of the country do you live in?

It might be nice to have a meeting.

And I'll buy a steak dinner to whoever can find out what month the first two big Cyanide spills happened in 1982 in Montana!

[Drew]

AK, I laughed when I saw your offer of a steak dinner because I spent the better part of an hour today scouring a Lexis-Nexis database with nothing to show for it. And this was after emailing a college librarian in Montana and having him come up empty too. I PMed you about my location details.

[linda]

I'm not wondering that if you were able to find a contact at the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, they would be able to supply the records/dates for these spills.

[akwilks]

That is a good suggestion Linda. The Pegasus Company, which operated (very poorly) the Zortman - Landusky mine was fined $15,000, I think for the 52,000 gallon Cyanide spill in 1982. So there MUST be a record of that, and the MT DEQ should have. Perhaps someone can inquire and obtain it. If not, I will give it a shot tomorrow.

[akwilks]

On page 47 of the Waits-Shors book, Waits relates how he told TJK about an old deserted gold mine shaft, and how there was equipment, supplies and a few gold flakes left there. We know Cyanide is used in gold mining. He states TJK did likely go there and notes items found in the FBI inventory suggesting he did go there, including:

FBI Inventory # L60 - Container of white powder

Cyanide, of course, is a white powder.

[akwilks]

In the book Unabomber: The Secret Life Of Ted Kaczynski By Chris Waits and Dave Shors, which seems to have been done with access to FBI data, it mentions on p. 242 that inside the Kaczynski cabin a "hit list" was found with the names and addresses of executives, including those who worked for PEGASUS GOLD, the company that operated mines in Montana, including the Zortman Landusky mine which was involved in several major spills and leakages of Cyanide in 1982 and 1986.

This would tend to confirm the hypothesis that Kaczynski would have been enraged to the point of murder over the Cyanide incidents. In 1982, he would have viewed them as a personal attack on his area and him personally. He might well have felt, in his twisted mind, "OK, if you are going to kill my trees, kill my wood fields, murder my elk, kill our crops, damage our livestock, wreck my ponds, and put Cyanide into well water I drink from, then I will use this same deadly Cyanide against the industrial consumer system you represent."

[akwilks]

Also, Pegasus was headquarted in the State of Washington. Washington was the site of three Cyanide deaths in 1986.

If Kaczynksi wanted to strike back at that company for leaking and spilling Cyanide in HIS state of Montana, he might very well decide to put Cyanide into products in THEIR home state of Washington.