A man who said he could stop the 1982 murders caused by tampered Tylenol capsules if he was paid $1 million has died.

James Lewis, now 76, was found dead in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home after first responders received a call about an unresponsive person around 4 p.m. on Sunday, police said in a statement.

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

Lewis was once considered a suspect in the 1982 Tylenol murders that killed seven people, but DNA tests ultimately cleared him.

He gained police focus after he sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson saying the murders would stop if the company paid him $1 million. Lewis was arrested and convicted of extortion and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Years after his release, he provided DNA to authorities, which did not match the DNA pulled from the tainted bottles distributed in the Chicago area.

Police still do not know who placed the potassium cyanide in the bottles more than four decades ago.

The murders began on September 29, 1982, with 12-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago. Kellerman woke up with a sore throat and a runny nose. Not the most concerning symptoms, but Mary told her parents, and they gave her a single Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule.

Within seconds of taking the capsule, Mary’s father heard her coughing and then the sound of something hitting the floor, the Chicago Tribune reported. He called Mary’s name but received no response, so he went to the bathroom door and found her lying on the floor. Her eyes were fixed and dilated, her breathing was shallow, and she seemed to be suffocating.

Paramedics failed to help her, so she was rushed to Alexian Brothers Medical Center. By the time they arrived, Mary was in full cardiac arrest. Doctors installed a pacemaker and called a priest.

Shortly before 10 a.m., Mary died.

About an hour after Mary died, in Arlington Heights, some seven miles from Elk Grove, 27-year-old postal worker Adam Janus walked out of his bathroom clutching his chest in pain after taking Tylenol. His wife, Teresa, followed her husband into their bedroom, noticing his eyes were fixed and dilated and his breathing was shallow. Adam was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m.

His wife and brother, Stanley, would also take Tylenol that day and die.

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That same day, 27-year-old Mary Reiner, United flight attendant Paula Prince, and single mother Mary McFarland each took Tylenol and ended up dying.

Authorities quickly determined that the Tylenol could have been the cause since each person became violently ill after taking the capsules. Testing determined that the capsules contained potassium cyanide, a deadly poison.

A multi-agency investigation was launched, with investigators noticing that the bottles of Tylenol in the Kellerman and Janus cases were from the same lot. Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Tylenol, recalled the entire lot. But bottles from McFarland were traced to other lots, so Johnson & Johnson recalled those as well. The company warned hospitals and distributors, halted production, and stopped advertising. On October 5, 1982, the company issued a nationwide recall for an estimated 31 million bottles worth $100 million ($315 million in 2023 dollars).

A watchdog group on Monday filed a complaint against President Joe Biden’s nominee for Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman over his previous comments on diversity.

The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) filed a complaint against Air Force General C.Q. Brown over his promotion of “race based hiring” ahead of a Senate hearing on Tuesday to consider his nomination, referencing previous comments Brown made about hiring “for diversity” and referring to the military as a “white boys club.” 

Brown “has made a number of statements about hiring on the basis of race as well as monitoring the private beliefs of employees or potential employees with the intention of censoring those beliefs. If implemented, the statements and views of General Brown on what should be official hiring policy of the U.S. Air Force present a significant likelihood of violating the civil and constitutional rights of military personnel, in addition to violating existing code of conduct for Air Force personnel,” the complaint says. 

The complaint against Brown was sent to Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice. Brown, who was chosen by Biden to replace current Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, will appear before the Senate Armed Forces Committee on Tuesday.

The AAF previously drew attention to a list of comments Brown has made in interviews where he discussed his goal to diversify the military. 

🧵1/ BREAKING: Biden's pick to be the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is so obsessed with race he explicitly says he wants to "tweak the screening process" to favor diverse candidates for promotion.

Here is a thread of his SHOCKING statements

1/ "I hire for diversity" pic.twitter.com/knYacawIbk

— American Accountability Foundation (@ExposingBiden) June 27, 2023

“You can’t let it just be happenstance that brings in the diversity whether it be race, gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, socio-economic background. You really have to spend some time thinking about it because you may miss an opportunity looking at the slate of candidates and then asking some hard questions,” Brown said. “As we’re looking at some key positions, who are diverse candidates and are we making sure we are grooming them so they have the opportunity?”

The complaint says that Brown’s comments likely violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

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“As the Supreme Court of the United States of America just made clear, racist ‘diversity’ policies at universities are unconstitutional and illegal. Yet Biden’s nominee to be our nation’s top military leader wants to implement those racist policies in the military,” AAF President Tom Jones told The Daily Wire in a statement. “Gen. Brown’s race-obsessed world view is an insult to our brave men and women of all colors. When a young private is sent into battle he needs to know the man commanding him was put there because he’s the most capable warrior, not because of the color of his skin. Especially at a time of increased military competition with China, we cannot afford to fall behind by making racial ‘diversity’ a priory at the cost of military excellence.”

Brown could also face an uphill battle for confirmation as Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has been placing a “hold” on general and flag officer promotions due to the Pentagon’s policy of allowing female service members expense-paid travel and up to three weeks leave for elective abortions.