A suburban police detective climbs the steps of the main Cook County criminal courthouse in hopes of ending a 40-year-old mystery.
The Tylenol murders, as they are commonly known, have been his investigation since he assumed responsibility for the cold case more than 15 years ago.
Now, he and several other law enforcement officials believe they have solved the killings.
They just need prosecutors to agree with them, to take the risky step of indicting a 76-year-old man in a case built almost entirely on circumstantial evidence. The detective knows the odds are steep as he heads into the January 2022 meeting with top criminal investigators from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
He makes his best pitch anyway.