Mary Kellerman, 12, of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, near Chicago, Illinois, awoke in the early morning hours of September 29, 1982 with a sore neck and a running nose. Mary reported her symptoms to her parents, who gave her one Extra-Strength tylenol.
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. She had suffocated. Her breathing was shallow and her eyes were fixed.
She was taken to Alexian Brother Medical Center after paramedics failed to save her. Mary was in a full-blown cardiac arrest by the time they reached her. Doctors fitted a pacemaker to Mary and called the priest.
Mary died shortly before 10 am.
“I remember just a very happy-go-lucky person. I remember her crooked teeth because she was always smiling,” Mary’s childhood friend Sharon Hogg told the Tribune. “She was just a very warm and loving person. I was certainly drawn to her because, I think, as kids we kind of have a radar for good people.”
Phil Cappitelli: a firefighter.
