Boise’s “Unknown Wanderer” is identified after 43 years. Could he be linked to Chicago Tylenol murders?

Updated on: September 23, 2026 / 1:36 PM CDT / CBS Chicago

Police in Boise, Idaho, announced Wednesday they had identified the "Unknown Wanderer," a man found dead in a church in 1982, and revealed a surprising possible connection to the still-unsolved Chicago Tylenol murders.

Investigators with the Ada County Sheriff's Office said they cannot place the man in the Chicago area during the final week of September 1982, when the poisonings happened, and they are not naming him as a suspect.

But they laid out a trail of evidence that includes a hand-drawn map of Chicago, photos of him in the Chicago area and a bottle of homemade cyanide. They have shared that evidence with Chicago police.

On Dec. 4, 1982, a man was found dead in Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Boise. He had no name and no identification. His wallet was empty, but sweat marks showed where cards had once been placed. He had an ink marker, a lighter, a Seiko wristwatch, a leather belt with a distinctive buckle, wore a bolo tie made with turquoise and silver, had two keyrings with nearly 30 keys between them and an envelope with $1,900 in $100 bills.

He also…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/