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Optician Turned Killer: The Chilling Tale of the "Candy Man" Murderer
1 Nov
Summary
- Father killed 8-year-old son for $31,000 life insurance payout
- Poisoned Pixy Stix candy to make son's death look accidental
- Convicted and executed for capital murder in 1984
In October 1974, Ronald Clark O'Bryan, an optician living near Houston, Texas, hatched a sinister plot to kill his 8-year-old son Timothy. Facing financial troubles, including over $100,000 in debt, O'Bryan had secretly taken out life insurance policies on his two children.
On Halloween night, O'Bryan took his son and daughter trick-or-treating, but along the way, he secretly laced a few Pixy Stix with potassium cyanide. After returning home, Timothy consumed the poisoned candy and died within an hour. The other children who received the tampered treats were spared, as the staples O'Bryan used to reseal the Pixy Stix prevented them from opening the candy.
Authorities quickly grew suspicious of O'Bryan, and when they discovered his recent life insurance policies on his children, they arrested him for capital murder. Despite his claims of innocence, O'Bryan was convicted in 1975 and sentenced to death. After several stays of execution, he was finally put to lethal injection in 1984, known forever as the "Candy Man Killer."
