The Mystery of the “Unknown Wanderer”

The man was discovered lying between the pews by parishioners as they came for an evening service. Though he was dressed nicely, he had no identification and no one in the town recognized him. 

He came in, went to confession, and then quietly died. All he left behind was a note signed with the name William L. Toomey, 19 $100 bills, a Seiko watch, and a keychain with almost 30 keys attached.

The case was first reported on Unsolved Mysteries on March 21, 1990. Though the show brought in thousands of tips, none led to discovering the identity of the man. He was eventually buried in an unmarked grave, and his case went cold. 

The man was referred to as the Unknown Wanderer.

Detective Tim Cooper remembered hearing about the case when he saw the episode on Unsolved Mysteries as a child. When he relocated to Boise, Idaho, he was determined to find the identity of this man so that he could close the case that fascinated him in his youth. In 2019, the case was reopened.

One of the more interesting details of the case was that the man died by intentionally ingesting cyanide. By reexamining the evidence with more advanced technology, Detective Cooper was able to trace an engraving on one of the keys to a street in Florida. 

The only house on Mills Court that was unaccounted for was a property where the owner had disappeared in 1982 and was declared dead in 1989.

From there, police were able to track down property records that led to family. DNA tests proved that the Unknown Wanderer was Dr. Mathew Betkowski.

At the time of his death, though cyanide wasn’t a common cause of death, Boise was far enough away from Chicago that the cases weren’t connected. It was also several months after the crime had been committed, and authorities believed a man named James Lewis was responsible. 

Additionally, the type of cyanide used was different, further muddying any links that may have helped investigators link him to the murders. 

However, as Detective Cooper began learning about Dr. Betkowski’s life, the fact that he used cyanide and went to extreme lengths to hide who he was began to lead Cooper back to Chicago.

In September 1982, seven people died after ingesting over-the-counter Extra Strength Tylenol capsules. It was later discovered that several pills in the bottles the individuals purchased had been replaced with four times the lethal amount of cyanide. 

The bottles were tracked to two different manufacturing facilities, one in Pennsylvania and one in Texas, though both were cleared as being the cause of the tampering. 

Police initially believed Lewis was responsible because of a letter he sent to Johnson & Johnson threatening that more people would die if they did not pay him $1 million. He remained the primary suspect in the murders until his death in 2023.

As an organic chemist, Betkowski was not only familiar with cyanide but also had access to large amounts of it. He was seen as highly volatile before he had a traumatic brain injury in 1974, and his personality only became more erratic afterwards. 

One colleague in particular remembered that he talked about being able to commit the perfect crime using cyanide in over-the-counter capsules.

Detective Cooper also found a map of Chicago in Betkowski’s childhood bedroom along with a small bottle of sodium cyanide. Further investigation uncovered photos of Betkowski in Chicago in 1982 before the murders took place. 

Cooper also found a suspicious cyanide death in May of 1982 in a town Betkowski lived, just four months before the Chicago killings. Desi Wilson died after ingesting cyanide from an over-the-counter medication. In July 1982, another young man named Jay Mitchell in Big Horn, Wyoming, died of cyanide poisoning after taking an over-the-counter medication. 

Betkowski’s location at the time of his murder is unknown.

As of right now, investigators cannot place Betkowski in Chicago during the time of the murders. It’s also important to note that the type of cyanide used in Chicago was potassium cyanide, not sodium cyanide. 

However, Betkowski went missing on October 15, 1982, two weeks after the Chicago murders. Before then, he was known to disappear for periods of time and his movements before and after the killings are largely unaccounted for.

While authorities aren’t confirming whether he is a suspect, Detective Cooper is working with the Chicago Police Department to determine if the circumstantial evidence might reveal any new information or if DNA testing might be done to determine if he matches the evidence left behind on several bottles. 

Detective Cooper hopes that by identifying the Unknown Wanderer and raising these questions, the terrible crime committed in 1982 might finally get some answers.

The documentary, Unmasking the Tylenol Killer, is out now on The Roku Channel.

Feature Image: CNN