Case #19: The Murder of Timothy O'Bryan

Starting Note: 

Before I move into the case, I just wanted to say I'm sorry that I was pretty radio silent for the month of September. Ok, here we go. 

Halloween Night:

Timothy O'Bryan

For this case, we are going back to 1974. It was Halloween Night in Deer Park, TX. Ronald Clark O'Bryan was watching over his two kids, eight-year-old Timothy and five year-old Elizabeth. He was with them while they were trick or treating. They were also joined by O'Bryan's neighbor Jim Bates and his son. 

Before long, they had come upon a house with no lights on. The kids went up to the house and knocked on the door anyways, but nobody answered. The kids ran on to the next house, and Bates followed. Ronald was temporarily left alone.

Ronald caught back up with them a short while later, with some pixy stix. Ronald handed some out to each of the three kids trick or treating as well as another boy Ronald recognized from church, and some for Jim Bates' other child. 

As the night unwound, the trick or treaters went home. It might be worth noting that it had started to rain. Timothy had been allowed one piece of candy before going to bed. He chose his pixy stix tube. At first, Timothy was having trouble. So, Ronald helped him get it open. Timothy complained that the taste was bitter. Ronald got some kool-aid for Timothy to wash the taste out. Timothy died less than an hour later. 

The Investigation:

This is roughly where Mike Hinton comes into the picture. Hinton said that he had been called by the Pasadena Police department informing him of the death of an eight-year-old boy. Hinton had almost immediately called Dr. Joesph A. Jachimczyk, the chief medical examiner from the nearby Harris County. Jachimczyk had asked Hinton what Timothy's breath smelled like. 

Hinton called the morgue. They had told Hinton that Timothy smelled of almonds. Jachimczyk made the guess that Timothy had died from cyanide poisoning. This was something Timothy's autopsy proved. Furthermore, it was discovered that Timothy O'Bryan had consumed enough cyanide to kill two people. 

Fortunately, police officers managed to confiscate the pixy stix before any of the other kids had opened theirs. During the investigation, it was also noted that whoever poisoned the pixy stix had stapled them shut. 

Ronald went back through the neighborhood with the police in an effort to direct them to the house where he had picked the pixy stix up. 

Here's where problems began to emerge. Ronald just couldn't seem to find the house. He said that someone just emerged from the doorway and handed him the pixy stix, but he couldn't see their face. 

The police took O'Bryan out through the neighborhood again a couple of days later. This time, he was able to point them to a house, but the homeowner wasn't home. Naturally, investigators went to his place of work, Houston's William Hobby P. Airport. They arrested him in front of his co-workers. 

There's just one little wrinkle in this arrest. The man, named Courtney Melvin, had an alibi. See, he'd been doing this thing all night called working. His wife and daughter were home though. They had turned out their lights early because they had run out of candy. 

Ronald Clark O'Bryan's Behavior:

Something they had heard through their investigation was that Ronald was allegedly angry with his relatives for not staying up the night of Timothy's funeral. To elaborate a little further, Ronald had apparently wrote a song about his son being with Jesus in Heaven. He had grown agitated when the family wouldn't stay up late to watch a televised broadcast of this performance. 

Oh, if Ronald didn't look suspicious enough, he had taken out life insurance policies on both of his children. He then called at 9AM on November 1st, inquiring about the payout from his son's death. See, Ronald was over $100,000 in debt. 

The police were granted a warrant, and they found scissors with plastic residue attached to them. The plastic residue was similar to what was found on the cyanide-laced candy.

At this time, Ronald was attending community college, asking questions about how lethal cyanide was. A man who worked for a chemical company in Houston remembered a man coming in to buy cyanide. He left after being told the smallest amount he could buy was 5 lbs. 

Before I move on, I should say that prior to his son's death, Ronald was considered an upstanding citizen. O'Bryan was an optician in town, as well as the deacon at his local church. 

The Trial and Aftermath:

Ronald Clark O'Bryan and his attorney after the guilty verdict was passed down

He was eventually arrested, and placed a not guilty plea. O'Bryan and his defense team pointed the finger at an untraceable boogeyman out to harm kids. I don't think he was expecting friends and family to testify against him. Ronald Clark O'Bryan had earned the nickname "the Candyman." On June 3, 1975, the jury deliberated for 45 minutes. They returned with a verdict of guilty. He was charged with one count of capital murder and four counts of attempted murder. An hour later, he was sentenced to death. 

Ronald Clark O'Bryan spent nearly a decade trying to appeal his death sentence. But, on March 31st, 1984, Ronald Clark O'Bryan was executed via lethal injection. 

Final Thoughts: 

So that's the story of a father who handed out poisoned pixy stix in an effort to pay off his looming debt. This man is horrible. Not only was his goal to kill his two children, but was willing to let three other kids die as collateral damage. Part of me is thankful that the other four children were saved. But, I can't let the fact that he did successfully kill one of his children. To me, this is a case where the death penalty was absolutely warranted.          

Sources:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/candyman-killer-who-murdered-son-20700453

https://www.vice.com/en/article/8ge87v/halloween-killer-ronald-clark-o-bryan-candy-man