Is it any wonder why people are so
afraid of everything these days? It is almost as if even thinking about taking
a step outside can kill you. The scarier part is, staying indoors is just as
dangerous. It seems as if nothing is safe: not the house you live in, not the
food you prepare yourself, nor the air you breathe, and certainly not even the
one you love. Cheryl Lewis made a fatal mistake: meeting John Allan. Of course,
how was she supposed to know John was only into her for her money? Poor, naïve
Cheryl. It seems like men these days just can’t be trusted. But that is not the
only thing that comes with false advertising. Tylenol, the simplest of
pain-relievers, and the most trusted by almost everyone, must now be inspected
before even opening the package. Someone had the bright idea of contaminating
it with a deadly poison, killing innocent patronages of local stores. But what
does Cheryl Lewis and Tylenol has in common, you ask? The answer is rather
simple: cyanide.
John
Allan and Cheryl Lewis met in 1993, both single, divorcees of previous
marriages gone awry. Cheryl was a successful solicitor, and John, at this
point, was a bum. He depended on social security and Cheryl’s income to survive.
His degree in industrial chemistry from Hatfield Polytechnic, now the
University of Hertfordshire, seems to have been a waste except for his access
to cyanide and to upkeep his interesting hobby of collecting butterflies and
preserving them. Next thing you know, he’ll be skinning his victims and making
clothes out of them! Cheryl avoided such agony, thank goodness. In fact, Cheryl
lucked out with just a nice evening drink. Gin and tonic, on the…cyanide!
Vacationing near Luxor, Egypt, the two stayed in the New Winter Palace Hotel.
Cheryl and John enjoyed a lovely dinner together, and soon after, Cheryl
decided to shower. While she was indisposed, John spiked her gin and tonic with
cyanide. Almost as soon as the drink hit her lips, the effects of the poison
took action. The pain Cheryl was suffering was unbearable, and within minutes,
she was sweating as if it was 110 degrees outside and her pulse was almost
undetectable. Her skin was tinted blue, and she was foaming at the mouth while
a curious odor was streaming from it, filling the room. Death followed shortly,
and Cheryl’s death certificate read as heart failure and acute coronary
thrombosis. After her body was brought home, and an autopsy was done. The
pathologist found no trace of disease in Cheryl’s body that would cause such
sudden death, but he did find an inflamed stomach. However, there was no
analogous inflammation in her mouth or gullet, which would suggest that she
consumed a drink laced with cyanide. Unfortunately, cyanide disappears from the
tissue after death, and the fact that she had been embalmed before she was
flown back home did not help the case either. The amount of smoking that Cheryl
did also was an indicator that there would be more than a usual amount of
cyanide in the body. There really was no other evidence to prove that she had
been poisoned, except the shady findings of the investigation of John Allan.
About
a decade before the death of Cheryl Lewis took place, an unimaginable event
took place in the United States. People were dropping like flies, right after
they consumed Extra Strength Tylenol. The manufacturers really added extra strength,
didn’t they?! People were being labeled as have suffering a massive stroke or heart
attack. Coincidentally, these victims had all consumed the drug shortly before
his or her death, but it was not coincidental in the fact that an unknown
person had bought several bottles of Extra Strength Tylenol, replaced the
contents with about sixty milligrams of potassium cyanide, and put them back on
the shelf. After a suggestion that these symptoms that the victims suffered may
have been from cyanide poisoning, and don’t you know, he was right. The
contents of the Tylenol bottles that the victims used before their deaths had
all contained between and ten poisoned pills. The pharmaceutical company
recalled 31 million bottles, thinking that it was their blunder, when in fact,
it was a random occurrence of purposeful poisoning.
Cyanide
is actually the quickest acting of all the poisons. Allan could have been more
considerate in choosing his poison for Cheryl though, at least let her enjoy
her time in Luxor if she’s going to die anyway, amiright? At least she and
those who thought Tylenol was safe did not suffer a long time. This highly
poisonous chemical begins as a carbon atom and a nitrogen atom bonded together
by a triple bond, compromising three electron pairs (Emsley, 2008, p.156). It
is a highly reactive group and can form stable organic compounds, called
nitriles (Emsley, 2008, p.156). Out of the different forms of cyanide that can
be formed, hydrogen cyanide (HCN), is the deadliest as just a small amount
inhaled can kill (Emsley, 2008, p.156). It is, in fact, a weak acid when
dissolved in water, which is where its original name, prussic acid, was derived
(Emsley, 2008, p.156). Cyanides are natural chemicals since the body does
indeed need a slight trace of them to function because cyanide is a component
of vitamin B12 as well as a component of [NiFe]-hydrogenase enzyme which
catalyzes the oxidation of hydrogen (Emsley, 2008, p.157). A cobalt atom is at
the center of the B12 atom to which the cyanide bonds for it forms a strong
bond with metals because of its negative charge and its ability to form
pi-bonds (Emsley, 2008, p.157). All of these are an important part of the B12
vitamin to which the body needs because without, the body will suffer from
anemia, and synthesis of nucleic acids in DNA and of the amino acids in
proteins will falter, creating more serious problems (Emsley, 2008, p.157).
Cyanides
are actually found in unexpected places, as they are used to manufacture a
variety of products, such as cosmetics, nylon, Plexiglas, animal/poultry feed
and a number of pharmacuticals including Celexa, Tagamet and Isoptin (Emsley,
2008, p.158). The only way that these products can include a form of a cyanide
in their makeup is due to the fact that when bonded with a carbon atom in a
larger molecule, cyanide loses its toxicity (Emsley, 2008, p.158). Another fun
fact here is that cyanides are also found in very common foods, produced by plants,
such as almonds and spinach, and seeds in the fruits of apples, cherries,
apricots and peaches (Emsley, 2008, p.158). Because early ancient diets
included mostly foods made up mostly by glycosides (cyanide-containing group in
its molecular structure), the body evolved to fit rhodanese, an enzyme that
instantly detoxifies the cyanide radical by changing it to a thiocyanate
group (-SCN) which is significantly less toxic (Emsley, 2008, p.159) The
rhodanese enzyme is part of every human mitochondria so that adults can
detoxify up to 1 gram of cyanide over a twenty-four hour period (Emsley, 2008,
p.159).
But
what happens if the amount of cyanide consumed is greater than the rate at
which the body can detoxify it? Serious problems occur, obviously. Hydrogen
cyanide, if taken orally, will be absorbed across the gastrointestinal mucosa,
which will then stimulate hyperventilation from an immediate response from the
central nervous system (Hung et al., 2009). It can also lead to
unconsciousness, if the dose is strong enough (Hung et al., 2009). Findings
from a case report in which victims consume apricot seeds showed that victims suffered
headache, vomiting, irritability, abdominal pain, dyspnoea, flushing,
hypotension, hyptertension, hypoventilation, bright venous blood, and the smell
of almonds on one’s breath (Akyildiz et al., 2009). The most severe side effect
of cyanide poisoning is to go into a coma, if not death (Akylidiz et al.,
2009). After ingestion of cyanide, the chemical is absorbed and circulated
throughout the body, while it causes anoxia of the tissues by blocking
cytochrome oxidase which can be seen in the heart, kidney and lungs (Akylidiz
et al., 2009). Then anerobic metabolism occurs due to hypoxia, producing lactic
acid (Akyildiz et al., 2009). What does all this mean, you ask? Simply, when
the enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, can no longer function due to the blockage of
cyanide, it becomes inactive, so the last transfer of electrons from that
enzyme to the oxygen is blocked, and the chemical reactions that contribute the
energy for imperative processes cannot progress which means you will die;
cyanide is an irreversible enzyme inhibitor (Emsley, 2008, p.161). This means
that the oxygen transported from the lungs can’t be utilized, which gives
understanding as to why the blood turns a brighter color (Emsley, 2008, p.161).
This color was probably the same color John Allan’s face turned when he was
charged for the murder of Cheryl Lewis.
On
February 5, 1999, John Allan was arrested after an investigation of Cheryl’s
death. Police found that Cheryl’s will was forged by John himself, as well as
claims of thievery concerning Cheryl’s jewelry. In March of 2000, he was
convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. As for the Tylenol mystery, the
crime was never solved, though there were those who followed in the footsteps,
and tried to repeat the incident, but were caught sometime after. The original
scoundrel was never found. Here lies yet another unsolved mystery. For every
mystery, there is somewhere, somewhere, who knows the truth. Perhaps that
someone is watching. Perhaps... it's you. Next time on Molecules of Murder...
Sources
Akyildiz, B. N., Kurtoğlu, S. S., Kondolot, M. M., & Tunç, A. A.
(2010). Cyanide poisoning caused by ingestion of apricot seeds. Annals Of Tropical Paediatrics, 30(1), 39-43.
Emsley, J. (2008). Molecules of murder: Criminal molecules and classic cases. The Royal Society of Publishing: U.K.
Hung, D., Tsan, Y., Yu, Y., & Hsu, C. (2009). Cyanide poisoning in taiwan. The Lancet, 374(9696), 1212-1212.
Ending quote courtesy of Robert Stack:
http://mayclaire.res-alian.com/memoriam/rstack/movquotes.html
Image Courtesy of:
http://www.realmagick.com/hydrogen-cyanide/
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