![]() It took the jury 71 minutes to sentence O’Bryan to death.Ī former Pasadena police officer, Bill Lanier, investigated O’Bryan after his son’s death. The chilling evidence was compelling enough for the jury to find him guilty in less than an hour. The investigation rapidly developed when a chemical salesman who was also a Texas State Optical customer testified that O’Bryan had asked him about poisons and where to buy cyanide. His family home was also under foreclosure. O’Bryan’s car was about to be repossessed, and he had defaulted on several bank loans. At the time of his arrest, he was suspected of theft at his employer,Texas State Optical and was close to being fired. Investigators then learned that O’Bryan was over $100,000 in debt and had a history of being unable to hold a job. READ ALSO: Haunted houses, demons and flickering lights: Houston ghost hunters tell all Detectives also discovered that there was special clause in the policy that would give him $40,000 if Timothy died. Only a few days after his Timothy was buried, an insurance agent found that O’Bryan had put a $20,000 insurance policy on Timothy only 30 days before Halloween. The story of Timothy’s death sparked fear throughout Pasadena and Deer Park communities. ![]() ![]() Timothy died while en route to the hospital less than an hour after he consumed it. “It just shivers down your spine,” Hinton said. O’Bryan then gave his son Kool-Aid to wash away the taste. After tasting the candy, Timothy complained that the candy tasted bitter. O’Bryan had reportedly urged his son to eat the Pixy Stix that he collected. The chilling details of his son’s murder were revealed during the trial. Hinton had worked to secure a guilty verdict which sent O’Bryan to death row. “He’s the man that ruined Halloween for the whole world,” former Harris County Assistant District Attorney Mike Hinton said in Chronicle interview in 2004. Dubbed the "Candy Man" by fellow prisoners, O’Bryan executed by lethal injection in 1984. O’Bryan’s wife Daynene testified for the prosecution, and O’Bryan was then sentenced to death. Timothy’s father was later accused of giving his son the poisoned candy, as a part of an elaborate scheme to collect a $20,000 insurance policy. THC, CYANIDE, RAZOR BLADES: How sketchy urban myths taught parents to fear Halloween candy Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post, Getty Images Show More Show Less Read more: Man convicted in Texas City girl's 1996 slaying Kevin Edison Smith was accused of burying one victim in the area, Krystal Baker. Status: Edward Harold Bell claimed to be killer, but prosecutors have not found evidence backing this claim. Source: Crime Library, Encyclopedia of ArkansasĬurt Youngblood/Associated Press Show More Show Less 26 of33 Killer:Ĭrime: Since the '70s, law enforcement has uncovered around 30 bodies in an area of land inside Texas City that has since been dubbed "The Killing Fields." Most of the victims were young girls and women, ages 12 to 23. A local newspaper dubbed the series of attacks and murders the "Texarkana Moonlight Murders." Larry Evans/Houston Chronicle Show More Show LessĬrime: Between February and May of 1946, an unknown person murdered five people and wounded three others in the Texarkana area, usually late at night. (Buster Dean / Chronicle) Buster Dean/Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 11 of33 Timothy O'Bryan was one of five children who were given candy laced with cyanide, but he was the only one to ingest it and die. On the wall behind is a recruiting poster for the Pasadena Police Dept. Bill La Nier was the lead detective with the Pasadena PD at the time. Sunday is the 30th anniversary of the "Candy Man" incident in which Ronald Clark O'Bryan laced his son's Pixy Stix with cyanide. La Nier poses in the Harris County Sheriff's office, 10/26/04.
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