In solving decades-old cold case, Ada County detectives may have found suspect in 1982 Tylenol killings
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BOISE — On a winter day in 1982, a man wandered into Boise’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church and was dead within hours.
Cyanide poisoning is what killed him, according to an autopsy done by the Ada County Coroner’s Office. Who he was or where he came from, no one knew.
The man was carrying no identifying information, according to Ada County sheriff’s detectives. He was well-dressed and had 19 $100 bills in his possession, but his wallet was empty. Among his belongings, detectives also found two key rings containing multiple keys and a typed note that was signed with what investigators later determined to be a fake name.
So, despite detectives’ best efforts to identify the man, his case eventually went cold. He was dubbed “The Unknown Wanderer,” and kept that name for 43 years.
That was until Wednesday, when the Ada County Sheriff’s Office announced during a news conference that detectives had identified him as Mathew Francis Betkouski, of Florida.
What’s more, law enforcement says they uncovered a load of evidence that could link him to the infamous Tylenol murders of 1982. That case involves multiple unsolved homicides in the Chicago area, which happened in rapid succession of one another and were all tied to the person’s use of the brand-named pain reliever.
New eyes on a cold case
Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford detailed the Boise cold case for reporters on Wednesday, explaining how detectives had never really given up on it. After years of dead ends, he said the sheriff’s office had the case featured on a segment of the show “Unsolved Mysteries” in 1990.
“Our goal in partnering with ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ was simple — we wanted more tips, and we wanted more evidence to come forward,” Clifford said.
The show garnered thousands of tips from across the country, but those tips did not lead to any conclusion, the sheriff said.
Then, in 2019, Ada County Sheriff’s Detective Tim Cooper, an expert in cold-case investigations, reviewed the case and reopened the investigation. Cooper cross-referenced the case against more than 17,000 missing persons records, but the big break came when he found an address etched into one of the keys in the Wonderer’s belongings.
Cooper traced the address to a hardware store in Jacksonville, Florida, according to the sheriff’s office. “There, detectives identified a property owner who had disappeared in 1982 and was later declared deceased in absentia. Photo comparison and familial DNA confirmed his identity,” a news release reads.
Who was Matthew Betkouski?
Cooper then set to work on learning all he could about Betkouski. He contacted the man’s surviving family members and others who knew him. Through them, Cooper learned that Betkouski was an organic chemist who held a doctoral degree.
The sheriff’s office says those who knew Betkouski also said he was a man who struggled with mental illness throughout his life. They “described a history of volatility, including a documented fascination with explosives,” the release said.
At some point, Betkouski became interested in cyanide and its ability to carry out “the perfect crime,” the sheriff’s office said. In writings saved by family members, Cooper said he found Betkouski musing about how he believed acts of violence may provide euphoria that could treat his schizophrenia and paranoia.
Cooper also learned that Betkouski had worked at two drug stores during college and had a “working knowledge of pharmacy operations,” the release says. The investigation found that Betkouski was later employed at a chemistry lab but was fired after he allegedly discussed with a co-worker the potential for injecting poison into medicine capsules; he was also accused of stealing products from the lab.
Family members told Cooper that Betkouski walked away from his Florida home in 1982 and was never seen again. Among his belongings left behind, the detective found a map of Chicago and a bottle of cyanide with a handwritten label. It should be noted that the cyanide in that bottle was a different form of cyanide than what was used in the Tylenol killings.
“Knowing I’d consulted with the FBI on the Tylenol murders in 1982 and had studied product tampering, Detective Tim Cooper called me in July of 2021 and began sharing data from his investigation. By December 2021, Tim’s findings convinced me he’d identified a viable suspect for the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders,” said Dr. Park Dietz, a prominent forensic psychiatrist, said in the release.
Investigation into Tylenol killings continues
In the news conference on Wednesday, the sheriff emphasized that Betkouski has not been named as a suspect in the Tylenol murders case. But he also clarified that it is not in the jurisdiction of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office to do so, as the crimes took place outside Idaho.
Still, detectives say Betkouski’s writings from 1980 and 1981 suggest the man was interested in visiting Chicago. And in 2024, photos were discovered that proved Betkowski had visited the Windy City.
The case is still under investigation, and Ada County has shared its findings with the Chicago Police Department, Clifford said. The sheriff also told reporters that while there is information in the case, his office would not be releasing it at this time.
“Detective Cooper has done incredible work on this case, but there are still a lot of questions we don’t have answers to, and we’re hopeful this documentary helps us get there,” Clifford said.
The documentary the sheriff mentioned is called “Unsolved Mysteries: Unmasking the Tylenol Killer,” and it’s scheduled to start streaming on ROKU on Oct. 9.
“Mathew Betkouski lived in five states over the course of his life — California, Texas, New Mexico, Ohio and Florida,” Cooper said. “We’re hoping that getting his story out generates new leads, not just for this case, but for others we may not even know about yet. I’m especially interested in learning more about his movements between Oct. 15 and Dec. 4, 1982.”
Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Ada County Sheriff’s Office at ACSOtips@adacounty.id.gov.
CORRECTION: An earlier version misspelled Mathew Betkouski’s last name as Betkowski.