An optician and church deacon who poisoned his own son with a cyanide-laced Pixy Stix on Halloween has been sentenced to life in prison. Ronald Clark O'Bryan, known as 'The Man Who Killed Halloween', murdered eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan in Pasadena, Texas, on 31 October 1974.
O'Bryan took his two children, Timothy and Elizabeth, trick-or-treating with neighbours. He later handed out Pixy Stix to four children, claiming he received them from a dark house that did not answer the door. Timothy ate one of the sweets before bed, complained of a bitter taste, and died within an hour.
Police initially did not suspect O'Bryan, but an autopsy revealed the Pixy Stix contained enough potassium cyanide to kill two adults. Four of the five sweets were recovered, each containing lethal doses. Investigators found no house in the area had distributed Pixy Stix that night.
O'Bryan, who was over $100,000 in debt, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1975, later commuted to life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1984.
