The Case of Ronald Clark O’Brien: The Candy Man and the Halloween Candy Craze That Followed
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The Night of Halloween 1974
On the spooky night of Halloween 1974 in Deer Park Texas, Ronald Clark O’Brien had just finished up a dinner with some friends. Still dressed up in his Optician’s lab coat and work attire, Ronald stood at home debating to take his kids out in the rain. But Ronald was extra excited for Halloween this year and he decided to take his two children out to trick or treat, knock on neighbors’ doors and get some innocent goodies. Ronald had a son, an eight-year-old named Timothy O’Bryan, and a five-year-old daughter named Elizabeth. Ronald and his kids were accompanied by his neighbor and friend Jim Bates along with his young son. Jim Bates also had a daughter at home as well, but I think she was sick or didn’t want to go out in the rain. The group traveled a short distance to a larger community in their town so they could maybe snag some of the full-sized candy bars. They had visited a few homes when the group approached an ominous house, every single one of the lights had been switched off. It appeared as if no one was home but the children of course banged on the door hoping for a reply along with some delicious candy. Sadly, no reply came, and the group of children trudged onward in search of more houses. After following with the children Ronald decided he was going to go check the house one more time to see if he could get a response. The kids were some distance away when Ronald knocked on the door again. He then saw the door creak open, and a long hairy arm reached out from the dark crack holding Pixie Stix. The stranger never showed his face and Ronald rushed off and hurriedly caught up to the rest of the children and showed them the 21-inch-long Pixie Stix. Ronald had told the group about the hand coming from the dark ominous home and they carried on. After filling their bags with candy, the O’Briens, Jim Bates and his son went back to the Bates household. Ronald gave the two Bates child each a Pixie Stix and gave his own children each one as well. Ronald had one last pixie stick and a boy knocked on the Bates door. “Trick or Treat?!” Ronald recognized the boy from their church, and he graciously handed over his final Pixie Stix.
“Happy Halloween.”
Later that night in Deer Park, a town of excitement and joy, would turn into a fear-stricken nightmare. After the family got home and settled in for the night, Ronald had told Timothy and Elizabeth that they could only eat one piece of candy since it was close to bedtime and then the next day, they could go all out.
The Candy Culprit
Timothy supposedly decided to eat the Pixie Stix but Timothy couldn’t open the candy and needed help from his father. Ronald said later, 'I took the Pixy Stix in my hand and rolled it in my hand, broke up the clumps, and helped pour it down my son's throat.” After eating a mouth full Timothy had complained that it had tasted bad. Ronald then gave him Kool-Aid to wash the candy down. The child almost immediately went to the bathroom and started to convulse and vomit profusely. The vomiting seeming to never end. The police were called and at one point Timothy’s body went limp and Ronald had to hold his son up. A four-month rookie patrolman was the first on the scene. He stated, “The feeling of helplessness was overwhelming, seeing this boy, young boy with dry heaves." Timothy was taken into an ambulance and taken to the hospital but sadly, eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan was pronounced dead, less than an hour after consuming the candy.
The Investigation Begins
After being pronounced dead prosecuting attorney Mike Hinton was called by the Pasadena police department “They told me an eight-year-old boy had died. He was rushed to hospital, but he’d already passed.” After hearing the news of a child passing, he immediately went to start his investigation. Hinton called the chief medical examiner of nearby Harris County, Dr Joseph A. Jachimczyk. Hinton said, “I told him the situation and he asked what the young man’s breath smelled like.” He then called the morgue only to reveal there was a scent of almonds coming from Timothy O’Bryan’s mouth. “It’s cyanide,” said Dr Jachimczyk. The autopsy of the child had proved the medical examiner’s theory.
A pathologist said Timothy had consumed enough cyanide in it STILL to kill two grown men. Tests later found that the top two inches of the Pixy Stix had been packed with the cyanide poison and the other Pixie were said to have had enough cyanide to kill 3-4 grown men. Police officers managed to retrieve the remaining sweets from the other future victims before the children had a chance to consume the deadly substance. The police also noted the perpetrator had used staples to seal the Pixy Stix after tampering with them. “That’s what saved another boy’s life that night,” Attorney Hinton recalled. The church boy who got the last Pixie Stix decided he wanted to eat the Pixie Stix also, but he was found later that night sleeping with the candy still in his hand.
Where is the Mystery House?!
The police took Ronald back to the neighborhood where he, his neighbor, and the three children had been trick-or-treating. The police wanted Ronald to show them the house where he had been given the Pixie Stix. But Ronald could not remember where the house was or even which house it had been that he had been given the Pixie Stix. – he had been confused, maybe forgot, simply just could not remember anything about the location other than all the lights had been turned off and no one seemed to be home. Ronald also told the police about how he had never even seen the actual man, only ever seeing his hairy hand and arm reaching out of the house to hand him the candy. This is when the investigators started to become suspicious. The two family only had walked two streets because of the rain. How could he not remember?
The police had taken Ronald out twice already with no luck and Hinton stated, “A few days went by, and it was incredibly frustrating, so they took O’Bryan out again and were pretty firm with him.”
The tactic had worked this time, Ronald’s memory seemed to have repaired itself. He remembered which house it had been and where it was located. Ronald had taken the police to a street and then he pointed towards a house.
The man’s name was Courtney Melvin who occupied the home. He had not answered the door. Police then went to the man’s place of work at the Houston’s William Hobby P. Airport and police placed him under arrested in front of colleagues and customers. The horrible Halloween nightmare was over. The Candy Man was caught. No more psycho Halloween Killer running loose.
The Wrong Suspect
Courtney Melvin had an alibi. A solid one too. His wife and daughter had been home, and they were the ones who had turned off all the lights in the home... Right after they had run alllll out of candy. Courtney Melvin had been at work until 11 pm the night of Halloween. The police also ruled Melvin out as a suspect when over 200 people had confirmed him working Halloween night also. The time sheets were there to clearly prove he was at work. It was confirmed Melvin was not their supsect. But this raised police suspicions towards Ronald even more. “This only magnified my suspicions,” said Hinton “I’d also heard O’Bryan was angry at his relatives for not staying up the night of Timothy’s funeral, which was odd.” Ronald had written a song about Jesus and Timothy joining the Lord in heaven, and had grown agitated when his grieving family wouldn’t stay up late to watch a recording of the performance being broadcast on television. Hinton confirmed “Something strange was going on.”
Who is Ronald O’Brien?
Now who exactly is Ronald because police are clearly suspicious. Well Ronald Clark O’Brien was born October 19th, 1944 and he was an optician at Texas State Optical in Sharpstown, Houston. And an optician is the person who helps fit you with glasses or contact lenses, basically an eye care professional. Ronald was a deacon at the Second Baptist Church and he sand in the choir and ran a local bus program. Ronald was also someone who could never hold down a job. In the past decade before Timothy’s death, Ronald had 21 different places of work. This was always his fault, either he never was on time or stopped showing up or he was committing fraudulent activities to steal money and was fired. At the time of Timothy’s dead, Ronald was suspected of stealing money from Texas State Optical and was about to be fired. As the investigation progressed, police learned that Ronald O'Bryan was over $100,000 in debt. This is equivalent to about 676,611 in 2024. Ronald’s car was about to be repossessed, he was defaulting on several big bank loans and the O’Brien household was already foreclosed on
The Evidence
Police then discovered that Ronald had taken out life insurance policies on his children in the months preceding Timothy's death. Of course... In January 1974, he had taken out $10,000 life insurance policies on both of his children (equivalent to $67,661 in 2024). One month before Timothy's death, Ronald tried to up the claims to $20,000 for both children (equivalent to about $135,322 in 2024). Ronald’s insurance company had objected to his doing of this so in the days preceding Timothy's death, O'Bryan had taken out yet another $20,000 policy on each child. The various policies totaled approximately $60,000 (equivalent to about $405,967 in 2024).
Ronald’s wife Daynene swore she never knew about the policies. But yes, Ronald did have a wife but there is no information on her almost anywhere so this is all there really is about her but she also gave a statement to the police that Timothy didn’t actually pick the Pixie Stix to eat that night and Ronald almost forced him to eat it. Which is so sad honestly. Like let him pick the Reese Cup or something. Also leave a comment what your favorite Halloween candy. I’ll be responding to all of you.
Ronald called the insurance company at 9am on November 1st, around 12 hours after his son’s death to see when he could claim the life insurance money. After they found this, police came to Attorney Mike Hinton’s class while he was teaching at the Pasadena Police Academy to talk about the new details in the case. The police presented the children’s life insurance policies to the attorney. They presented Ronald’s debt, then stated how Ronald had asked about the insurance payout the morning after Tomothy’s death. Mike Hinton had enough evidence to gather a search warrant of the O’Bryan home.
Granted a warrant, a search of the O’Bryan house offered up a pair of scissors with plastic and powdery residue attached, which was similar to that found on the cyanide-laced Pixie Stix. But in my opinion, this wasn’t the strongest evidence, that could’ve been from him cutting open the Pixie Stix after someone else poisoned them for example, if that’s what actually happened. But we know what happened and O’Bryan was then arrested and taken in for questioning.
As the investigation continued the evidence started to stack up against Ronald. Prosecuting attorney Hinton “It turned out O’Bryan was going to community college and in class would ask his professor questions like, ‘What is more lethal: cyanide or another type of poison?’, Why would someone ask that?”
Another witness, who worked for a chemical company in Houston, told police a man had come in to buy some cyanide, but left after being told the smallest amount he could buy was 5lbs.
CYANIDE!
Now hold up. FIVE POUNDS OF CYANIDE!! I had this look this up. But I’m now for sure on some kind of FBI radar. So you’re welcome. But here’s what I found on Chemsee.com
“For example, the probability that a person who weighs 160 lbs, (72.64 Kg), who ingests 0.3632 grams potassium cyanide will die within three days is 50 %, and if he ingests 0.55 grams, the probability is over 90 %. To put these numbers in prospective, a teaspoon of salt contains 7.2 grams and a tablespoon contains 23.7 grams. Thus, 90 percent of 13 people, about 12, who weigh 160 lbs can be killed using a SINGLE teaspoon of potassium cyanide. A single tablespoon of potassium cyanide will kill 90 % of 43 people, i. e. about 39. In reality, death due to cyanide poisoning will occur in much shorter time than three days, more likely in 2-6 hours.”
MURDER MATH
So, let’s have some fun. So, in my last episode about Kenneth Smith and John Parker I did the segment “Saving for Murder” but I've been thinking on it and I don’t like the sound of it. So, what I’m going to change it to simply MURDER MATH! Let’s go! Let’s do some murder math!
So, 5 pounds of Potassium Cyanide. Based on the article I read above a person who weighs 160lbs who ingests .55 grams of cyanide will have a 90% chance of death. One pound. ONE. Is equal to about 453.6 grams SO 5 pounds would equal about 2268 grams. Now if it only takes .55 grams of cyanide to kill someone who weighs 160 pounds with a 90% probability that means we would have to take 2268, divide that by .55 and multiply that by .9 to get the 90%. Holy shit... So, 5 pounds of Potassium Cyanide can kill about…..
Did you sickos think I was going to tell you how many people 5 pounds of cyanide kills....What is wrong with you?!
But I hid the number somewhere in the Podcast Episode so the first person to find the correct number and send it to be on social media will get a free Halloween hoodie. Good luck!
The Investigation Continues
“The man from the store said he couldn’t identify O’Bryan, but he remembered that his customer was wearing a beige or blue smock, like a doctor,” says Hinton. “O’Bryan was an optician – that was exactly the uniform he wore to work.”
Ronald would be arrested on November 5th, 1974, just days after his son’s deadly poisoning. Timothy’s 30-year-old father, Ronald Clark O'Bryan, would be charged with his murder. Ronald had poisoned his own son with cyanide-laced tampered Pixy Stix, all to collect on an insurance policy to get out of debt.
Still, this was years before DNA testing, and police couldn’t put the Pixy Stix in Ronald’s hands or prove he’d bought any cyanide. So, the 30-year-old optician maintained his innocence.
Hinton remembers the case vividly; in the decades that have passed, his memories have remained sharp. “O’Bryan adored the attention,” he says. “I think he even loved it during his trial.
The Trial
Ronald entered a not guilty plea, with his defense blaming the tainted candy on some untraceable boogieman – a sick individual using the cover of Halloween to poison unsuspecting children. But friends, family and co-workers all testified against the man the press was now calling the “Candy Man”, and on the 3rd of June, 1975 it took just 46 minutes for a jury to return a guilty verdict for one charge of capital murder and four counts of attempted murder. An hour later, it was decided that Ronald would be executed by electric chair.
Ronald Clark O’Bryan’s appeal avenues were explored and turned down for nearly a decade after his guilty verdict, so it wasn’t until the 31st of March, 1984, ten years later when all routes to survival had been exhausted, that he was finally about to be put to death for his crime. By this point, the US Supreme Court had ruled the electric chair a cruel and unusual punishment, so his life would end taken instead by the deadly drug cocktail of lethal injection.
Execution Day
That day Ronald Clark O’Brien ate his last meal consisting of a T-Bone Steak (medium to well done), French Fries with ketchup, whole kernel corn, sweet peas, a lettuce and tomato salad with egg and French dressing, ice tea, sweetener, saltines Boston creme pie and rolls. Outside the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, a crowd of around 300 people gathered to hear if the Candy Man had met his end, shouting “Trick or treat” and throwing candy at anti-death penalty protesters.
At 12:48AM, when Ronald was pronounced dead, Mike Hinton was in his childhood home in Amarillo, an eight-hour drive from Huntsville. That evening, he’d gone to his favorite lake, fishing rod in hand, and drank a beer in celebration as he drifted out into the darkness.
Aftermath
Before and since the Deer Park poisoning, rumors of dodgy sweets being handed out have always surfaced around Halloween. But whether the fear is that the candies contain broken glass and razor blades, or that they’re actually esctasy pills, there’s not much evidence to suggest parents actually have anything to worry about.
In 2000, a man in Minneapolis was charged with putting needles in Snickers bars he’d handed out to trick-or-treaters – but the only victim he claimed was a teenager who got a slight prick from the hidden sharp object. Since Timothy O’Bryan, there hasn’t been a single case where a child has actually died after consuming contaminated Halloween treats.
The Candy Craze
The case of Ronald Clark O’Brien is believed to be the case that started to entire Halloween candy craze. The tradition of trunk or treat was actually a method to quell these fears in parents and have a save group of people to get candy from. Which doesn’t make any sense to me to be honest. Someone could poison their candy there too!
WANT MORE Candy Stories?!?!
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And that concludes the case of Ronald Clark O’Brien, the Candy Man, and with all of that, his sentence, is served...
Learn How to Cook Ronald Clark O’Brien’s Last Meal Here
