>>19159171

Tyb

James Lewis, the suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that killed 7 in the Chicago area, has died.

The suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that killed seven people in the Chicago area, triggered a nationwide panic, and led to an overhaul in the safety of over-the-counter medication packaging, has died, police said on Monday.

Officers, firefighters and EMTs responding to a report of an unresponsive person at about 4 p.m. Sunday found James W. Lewis dead in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home, Cambridge Police Superintendent Frederick Cabral said in a statement. He was 76, police said.

“Following an investigation, Lewis’ death was determined to be not suspicious,” the statement says.

No one was ever charged in the deaths of seven people who took the over-the-counter painkillers laced with cyanide. Lewis served more than 12 years in prison for sending an extortion note to manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, demanding $1 million to “stop the killing.” He and his wife moved to Massachusetts in 1995 following his release. Listed numbers for his wife were not in service.

When Lewis was arrested in New York City in 1982 after a nationwide manhunt, he gave investigators a detailed account of how the killer might have operated. Lewis later admitted sending the letter and demanding the money, but he said he never intended to collect it. He said he wanted to embarrass his wife’s former employer by having the money sent to the employer’s bank account.

Lewis, who had a history of trouble with the law, always denied any role in the Tylenol deaths, but remained a suspect and in 2010 gave DNA samples to the FBI. He even created a website in which he said he was framed. Although the couple lived briefly in Chicago in the early 1980s, Lewis said they were in New York City at the time of the poisonings.

In a 1992 interview with The Associated Press, Lewis explained that the account he gave authorities was simply his way of explaining the killer’s actions.

“I was doing like I would have done for a corporate client, making a list of possible scenarios,” said Lewis. He called the killer “a heinous, cold-blooded killer, a cruel monster.”

The FBI seized a computer and other items from Lewis’ home in February 2009 after Illinois authorities renewed the investigation.

https://apnews.com/article/tylenol-killings-chicago-suspect-death-af8a7b44d2f45cb438bd7caf8cdb171c

Putin met with Wagner Group mercenary leader Prigozhin at Kremlin after failed uprising

Putin had branded Prigozhin, his former close ally, a traitor and denounced the uprising last month.

Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin met with Russian President Vladimir Putin days after the commander led a brief rebellion, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. 

The three-hour meeting on June 29 also involved Wagner Group commanders and Putin gave an assessment of the mercenary group's actions in Ukraine, Peskov said, according to The Associated Press. 

The Wagner forces also pledged to be loyal to Putin, per Peskov. 

Putin had branded Prigozhin, his former close ally, a traitor and denounced the uprising last month.

Putin had, until recently, denied that Russia was connected to the Wagner Group as mercenaries are technically illegal in the country. The law has not stopped Wagner forces from fighting on behalf of Russian interests globally. 

Prigozhin initially reached a deal with the Kremlin to be exiled to the neighboring ally of Belarus, but last week Belarus said the mercenary leader was in Russia.

https://justthenews.com/world/europe/putin-met-wagner-group-mercenary-leader-prigozhin-kremlin-after-failed-uprising