The Vending Machine Murder

12 people were murdered and 35 were poisoned in 1985, in a rare and strange spate of indiscriminate poisonings taking place in Japanese vending machines.

Police were unable to gather sufficient evidence into the murder and the case remains unsolved.

The tainted drinks that the twelve victims consumed were predominately poisoned with paraquat (with one possible copycat case using a different substance).

Paraquat is a harmful herbicide and weed killer. It is extremely potent and harmful. The substance was banned in the UK in 2007 and it is an extremely controversial compound. There is no antidote to the substance. It will cause serious damage to the human body.

The first victim was 52-year-old Haruo Otsu from Hiroshima — on 11th September 1985. On the way to a fishing trip, Otsu bought two bottles of Oronamin C. He died the following day, getting sick after consuming two bottles of the drink.

There were 35 poisonings after this one and another 12 deaths.

For some unknown reason, one of the main drinks targeted was Oronamin C. This is a marketed health drink in the Japanese market. Before the 80s and the murders, Oronamin had a screw cap top.

The following day, 180 kilometres away from Otsu, a college student in Matsusaka bought a Real Gold drink from the machine. This young man died two days later. An additional…