General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums40 Years Ago Today
Murdered at the hands of his own father to collect insurance money.
http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Houstons-Candyman-a-real-life-Halloween-nightmare-5858890.php#photo-4840024
8-year-old Timothy O'Bryan was one of five children who were passed the poisoned candy but he was the only one who ingested it.
Houston's Candyman a real-life Halloween nightmare
By Heather Alexander | October 30, 2014 | Updated: October 30, 2014 4:38pm
Forty years ago this Halloween, the Houston area saw perhaps the worst Halloween crime ever to hit the U.S. Pasadena father-of-two Ronald O'Bryan laced candy with poisonous cyanide and handed it to five children including his own 5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. The optician had taken out a life insurance policy on the children; prosecutors later argued he was trying to kill them simply to claim the $40,000 payout.
Only his son, Timothy, ate the candy, hidden in old style Pixy Stix which O'Bryan had opened and then re-sealed with staples. Timothy was killed in a crime that shocked and stunned the nation, changing Halloween for Pasadena forever. One other child was found holding the candy while he slept. He had been unable to remove the staples.
In his subsequent trial and ultimate death sentence, O'Bryan became known as the Candyman. He was executed in 1984 after a judge refused his pleas for a final stay of execution.
...
After that tragedy, halloween wasn't the same but as years past, the traditional trick-or-treating got back to normal (the candy companies made sure of that ). We're just more careful.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Even if this sociopath wasn't caught or suspected, would that policy have ever paid out?
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)A little girl disappeared while Trick or Treating. Her body was found in a corn field. Her neighbor killed her. Because of this, Trick or Treating was switched from evening to afternoon in Wisconsin.
I remember the tainted Pixy Stix created national fear. It was scary.