More than four decades after an unidentified man was found dead in a Boise church, Idaho investigators have identified him as Dr Mathew Francis Betkouski and said he may be connected to the unsolved 1982 Tylenol murders.
Betkouski, an organic chemist, was found beneath a pew at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on 4 December 1982 after ingesting cyanide. He was carrying a note signed with the false name “Wm. L. Toomey” and had no identification.
For years, he was known only as the “Unknown Wanderer”. The case was reopened in 2019 by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, after a detective examined the belongings found with the body, including a set of nearly 30 keys.
One key had a faint engraving that led investigators to a property in Jacksonville, Florida. Records showed that a man named Betkouski had owned a home at the address and had disappeared in 1982.
Detectives eventually located Betkouski’s surviving brother. DNA recovered from the unidentified man’s wallet was compared with the brother’s DNA, confirming that the two men shared the same father and establishing his identity.
Possible link to the Tylenol murders
As investigators reconstructed Betkouski’s life, they found what they described as troubling evidence of a possible connection to the Chicago-area poisonings.
Seven people died in September and October 1982 after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. The deaths prompted a nationwide recall and led to the introduction of tamper-resistant packaging for medicines.
Investigators said Betkouski had worked in drugstores and had shown an interest in cyanide. Former colleagues and acquaintances described him as volatile and said he had spoken about the idea of a “perfect crime”. Cyanide was also allegedly discussed by Betkouski as a way of killing without detection.
Detectives found cyanide among his possessions, apparently made at home. Testing indicated that it was a different compound from the cyanide used in the Tylenol killings.
Betkouski had also worked on a NASA-related project at a facility in New Mexico. His employment ended after an incident at a pharmacy in which he reportedly sought pills or capsules for what he described as an experiment.
Investigators found photographs showing Betkouski in the Chicago area and a hand-drawn map of the city. However, they have not established that he was in or near Chicago when the poisonings occurred, and said he did not live in Illinois.
The Chicago Police Department has been in contact with Idaho investigators but has not said whether it regards Betkouski as a suspect. The Ada County Sheriff’s Office has likewise stopped short of naming him as the killer.
Dr Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist who advised investigators during the original Tylenol inquiry, said he considered Betkouski a viable suspect after reviewing the evidence. He described the development as a potential breakthrough in a case that has remained unsolved since 1982.
Matt Clifford, the Ada County sheriff, said the investigation was continuing and appealed for anyone with information about Betkouski’s movements during the 1970s and 1980s to contact authorities.
