Ronald Clark O’Bryan

Ronald Clark O'Bryan

Ronald Clark O’Bryan was executed by lethal injection in March 1984. He was convicted of killing his eight-year-old son on Halloween 1974 with a potassium cyanide-laced Pixy Stix that was ostensibly collected during a trick or treat outing. He poisoned his son in order to claim life insurance money to ease his own financial troubles, as he was USD 100,000 in debt.

About Ronald Clark O’Bryan in brief

Summary Ronald Clark O'BryanRonald Clark O’Bryan was executed by lethal injection in March 1984. He was convicted of killing his eight-year-old son on Halloween 1974 with a potassium cyanide-laced Pixy Stix that was ostensibly collected during a trick or treat outing. He poisoned his son in order to claim life insurance money to ease his own financial troubles, as he was USD 100,000 in debt. He also distributed poisoned candy to his daughter and three other children in an attempt to cover up his crime; however, neither his daughter nor the other children ate the poisoned candy. Timothy’s death from poisoned Halloween candy prompted fear in the community. Numerous parents in Deer Park and the surrounding area returned candy their children acquired from trick or treating to police fearing it was laced with poison. The candy consumed by Timothy contained enough cyanide to kill two adults while the other four candies contained dosages that could kill three to four adults. The parents of the fifth child became hysterical when they could not locate the candy upon police calling their house to inform them. The boy’s parents rushed upstairs to find their son asleep, holding the unconsumed poisoned candy, and he died en route to the hospital less than an hour after consuming the candy.

The man was a deacon at the Second Baptist Church where he also sang in the choir and was in charge of the local bus program. He later claimed he held Timothy while he was vomiting and the child went limp in his arms. Timothy’s autopsy revealed that the PixY Stix he consumed was laced. with a fatal dose of potassium cyanides. O’Bryan lived with his wife Daynene and their two children, son Timothy and daughter Elizabeth. O‘Bryan worked as an optician at Texas State Optical in Sharpstown, Houston. He and his neighbor took their children trick-or-treating in a Pasadena, Texas, neighborhood on October 31, 1974. He would later claim he was given five 21-inch Pixy. Stix which he would later say he had been given from the occupant of the house that had not answered the door. Four of the five PixyStix O’bryan claimed to receive were recovered by authorities from the other kids, none of whom had consumed the Candy.