Her dad, uncle and aunt died 40 years ago after taking poisoned Tylenol. Now she’s sharing her story for the first time
Three members of Kasia Janus’ family were killed in a notorious string of poisonings 40 years ago. She’s trying to learn more about their lives as the anniversary nears.Her dad, aunt and uncle died 40 years ago after taking poisoned Tylenol. Now she’s sharing her story for the first timePublished September 24, 2022
For decades, Kasia avoided telling it. She kept her own feelings and memories about what happened boxed up like these newspaper clippings. It’s been nearly 40 years since September 29, 1982, the day authorities documented the first victims’ deaths. No one has been charged in the killings. Police say they’re hoping advances in DNA technology may help them uncover new evidence, but there’s been no public sign of any leads in the investigation for years.
Her interviews with CNN, conducted on the phone and in person over the last several months, are Kasia’s first time ever speaking to a reporter about the case.“It is something that altered the life of every person in the world. ... And I want people to know that, yeah, this was my family,” Kasia says, “and it has changed all of us.”
Kasia paused to point out a travel-sized bottle of mouthwash. She loved how it fit in her hand so easily.They headed home together. She didn’t know then it would be the last time.Kasia remembers hearing her mom scream for help when he wouldn’t wake up. And she’ll never forget how she stood beside the bed while they waited for the paramedics to come and whispered in her dad’s ear.For years, Kasia blamed herself.
His younger brother, Stanley Janus, came to the house to mourn with his new bride, Theresa Tarasewicz Janus. They’d recently gotten married and went to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Stanley told Adam’s wife they’d do anything they could to help her. “They were so grief-stricken that they had a headache,” Kasia recalls. “They needed something to calm themselves down.”Her uncle collapsed on the kitchen floor of Kasia’s home. Her aunt collapsed in the living room soon afterward.
She asked not to be photographed but told CNN she was open to sharing some recollections because she wanted to be supportive of her daughter’s efforts to open up and tell her story.Kasia’s husband, Jason, has been encouraging her to share her story more ever since he first heard her tell it. “Investigators have ‘principal suspects’ in cyanide manhunt,” the front page of The Daily Herald proclaimed on October 5, 1982.As the 40th anniversary looms, the case has gone on for so long that many of the detectives who worked on it have since retired. A state law enforcement agency that investigated in the early days now no longer exists. Task forces have disbanded. And possible breaks in the case have come and gone without any visible results.
Kasia keeps framed photographs of her uncle Stanley Janus, left, and her father, Adam Janus, in her home office. She’s hoping to document more details of their lives in a book about her family. Over the years, some victims’ families have questioned authorities’ conclusions in the case. Others have said living with the specter of an unsolved murder only deepens the tragedy their families are facing.There was a time in her life when she says rage over what happened to her family consumed her.
“What you see is a little girl who has no idea what’s going on. I’m curious. I’m lost. I’m scared. All these emotions are wrapped up in this photo. … My face just says, ‘Our lives are all about to change. We’ve lost our innocence.’” One day in elementary school, she remembers a classmate told her to “get over it.” In high school, another classmate told her “nobody wants to hear your story” when Kasia wrote a poem about feeling lost as she dealt with her grief.She didn’t mention it in 2014, when she went on her first date with Jason Iverson, the man who would eventually become her second husband.“It was September,” Jason recalls.“Here’s why Septembers are hard,” Kasia told him.
Kasia’s dad bought a bouquet of gladiolus for her mom the same day he bought the bottle of tainted Tylenol. This year Kasia grew the flowers in her garden. She says they symbolize the strength of her parents’ love.“You haven’t been the last couple years,” Jason interjects. “Because you own it. It’s yours now.”
She’s invited dozens of family members, former neighbors and others who knew her loved ones to attend and share memories about their lives. Adam Janus worked as a mail carrier and supervisor at the Arlington Heights Post Office. Kasia hopes to connect with former coworkers who remember him. The three-bedroom house where the Janus family lived is on a tidy suburban street only a few miles from the post office.
The neighbors who enveloped her family with love and support at a time when their world was spinning.She lights up when she sees a former neighbor walk out her front door.Patti Netzel, 64, tears up as soon as she sees Kasia — who went by Kathy when she was a kid growing up in Arlington Heights. “The next day the detective came to my door,” Patti recalls. “I asked him, ‘Do you know what happened? Do I need to move? Do I need to turn off my water?’”
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