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Idaho John Doe Linked to Tylenol Murders?
23 Sep
Summary
- Unknown man found dead in Boise church in 1982 identified as Dr. Matthew Francis Betkouski.
- Betkouski had a fascination with poisons and had experimented with them.
- Investigators found a map of Chicago and cyanide, linking him to Tylenol murders probe.
An unidentified man discovered deceased in a Boise, Idaho, church in December 1982 has been identified as Dr. Matthew Francis Betkouski. For decades, authorities pursued leads, with a 2019 investigation uncovering a key detail on one of his many keys, leading to his identification through a relative in Los Angeles.
Betkouski, from a prominent Los Angeles family, had a documented fascination with chemistry and poisons, exacerbated by mental illness. His past employment included work where he discussed introducing poison into medication capsules. He was fired from Lockheed in March 1982 after an incident involving an attempt to obtain pills for an experiment.
During a 2021 search of personal items kept by his deceased brother in Los Angeles, investigators found a hand-drawn map of Chicago, photos of Betkouski in the area, and a bottle of homemade cyanide. While police cannot place Betkouski in Chicago during the final week of September 1982 when the Tylenol poisonings occurred, this evidence has been shared with Chicago police. The investigation into the 1982 Tylenol murders remains active, with James Lewis, the primary suspect, having passed away in July 2023.
