by Sara McGinnis posted in Parenting

Do you know how many children have actually died from eating poisoned Halloween candy" The answer is only one. And it wasn't a random madman who gave the boy the tainted treat, it was his father.
Leading up to Halloween night in 1974, Ronald Clark O?Bryan took out a $40,000 insurance policy on his two children which would pay out in the event one of them died. He then researched cyanide, obtained some of the poison, and chose large Pixy Stix candies to taint. Ronald, the deacon at a local church and a father of two, was over $100,000 in debt.
While trick-or-treating with neighbors and their kids, he paused alone at a house where no one answered the door. Moments later he caught up to the group and produced five Pixy Stix, leading the others to believe they came from the homeowner who was slow to respond to their knock. Ronald gave one to his son, 8-year-old Timothy O?Bryan, one to Timothy's 5-year-old sister, one each to two other children in their group, and later the fifth candy to a child he recognized from church.
Before getting into bed that night Timothy asked to eat his Pixy Stix, which had been stapled shut at the top. When he was unable to get the powdered candy out of the straw his father helped him loosen the powder.
Upon tasting the candy Timothy complained that it was bitter, so his father gave him some Kool-Aid to wash away the taste. The boy immediately began to complain of stomach pain and ran to the bathroom wher...