Overview
- Eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan died after ingesting a Pixy Stix laced with potassium cyanide on Halloween in Pasadena, Texas.
- Investigators recovered four of five Pixy Stix handed out that night, and testing found enough cyanide in each to kill multiple adults.
- Ronald Clark O'Bryan gave the candies to his two children and two neighbors, later pointing to a "dark" house that police linked to homeowner Courtney Melvin, who had a corroborated work alibi.
- Prosecutors described heavy debt and recent life insurance policies on the children as O'Bryan's financial motive.
- O'Bryan was arrested on November 5, 1974, convicted by a Harris County jury on June 3, 1975, and executed on March 31, 1984.