Murder: True Crime Stories - SPECIAL: Halloween Murders 1

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

Join us for the first of two episodes about terrifying murders from Halloween. In the late 1950s, the “Trick or Treat Murder” of Peter Fabiano became notorious after he was killed by a costumed stranger. And in 1974, the “Candyman Murder” of young Timothy O’Bryan frightened parents for years to come, and changed how we think of Halloween forever. Murder: True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original. For more, follow us on Tiktok and Instagram @crimehouse To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Crime House. Halloween is supposed to be spooky in a fun, kid-friendly way. Whether you're out trick-or-treating or watching a horror movie marathon, getting scared on Halloween is fun because we're not actually in any danger. We get the thrill of a little fear without the consequences. But I have to warn you, if you keep listening to our special two-part Halloween series, you might never look at Halloween the same way again. Because over the decades, some very real murders have taken place on this holiday.

These crimes prove that even though Halloween is supposed to be all fun and games, there are actual monsters behind the costumes and masks. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories, a Crime House original. Every Tuesday, I'll explore the story of a notorious murder or murders.

I'll be bringing awareness to stories that need to be heard with a focus on those who were impacted. At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. And for ad-free and early access to Murder True Crime Stories, plus exciting bonus content, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. This is the first of two special episodes covering real-life murders that happened on Halloween night. Today, in part one, I'll take you through the 1957 trick-or-treat murder of Peter Fabiano, who was killed by his wife's jealous friend.

After that, I'll discuss another Halloween murder that took place in 1974, known as the Candyman Murder, in which a young boy was killed by a weapon many parents fear, poisoned candy. In next week's part two, I'll tell you about a Halloween murder scarily similar to a well-known slasher movie and a teen bludgeoned to death during her town's mischief night festivities. All that and more coming up. If you are enjoying Murder True Crime Stories, I would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review us on Apple and Spotify. Your valuable feedback helps us improve and expand our reach so other true crime fans can find us too. Your support means everything.

Like many men of the greatest generation, Peter Fabiano was a hard-working, salt-of-the-earth type. Born in 1922 in Michigan, he moved to the Los Angeles area in the late 1930s, served as a U.S. Marine in World War II, then worked as a bartender. Perhaps that's how, in the early 1950s, he first met Betty. Four years older than Peter, Betty was already divorced with two children. But it's easy to see why she turned Peter's head. Judging from photographs, her features were stunning. With high cheekbones and carefully coiffed hair, she looked a little bit like a mix between Scarlett Johansson and Veronica Lake. Betty was intrigued by Peter too. She liked his diligence and the warmth he showed towards her children. And in 1955, they got married.

We don't know who Betty's ex-husband was, although we do know that her children had the last name Solomon. But it seems their custody arrangements didn't prevent Betty from taking the kids with her to the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles, where the Fabianos settled in 1956. Their new home on Community Street wasn't much to look at. It had vinyl siding on the left-hand side of the house and a little brick facade next to the front door. But the front yard was spacious enough for hedges on both sides of the sidewalk, and they planted roses in front of the house. It might not have been luxurious, but it was homey, and the weather was practically perfect. Peter was 34 and Betty 38 when they settled in Sun Valley. but it was homey and the weather was practically perfect. Peter was 34 and Betty 38 when they settled in Sun Valley.

Not too late for a career change, by any means. Instead of looking for another bartending gig, Peter teamed up with his wife to open a pair of beauty salons. It's not clear where Peter learned to do hair, but in the few photos we have, his own locks are coiffed to perfection. He looks like he could have been a Kennedy, with a widow's peak leading into a swept-back pompadour. So, clearly, he knew something about personal grooming. The salons quickly found success.

But it put a strain on the Fabianos' relationship. It couldn't have been long after opening their salons, sometime in 1956 or 1957, that Betty and Peter started having marital problems. It's not exactly clear what they were fighting about, but eventually Betty took a dramatic step. She moved out. This was unusual at the time, even for couples going through a separation. Typically, in families with children, the wife and mother would remain in the house, and the husband would find somewhere else to stay.

If the wife did leave, she typically moved back in with her parents. Quote, I'm going home to mother, was a common way for wives to jokingly threaten they were leaving their husbands. The line even made its way into Archie Comics, Mad Magazine, and most of the sitcoms of the period. But unlike many married women, Betty had someone outside her family who was happy to take her in. Joan Rabel, an employee at the Fabiano Salons. Like Betty, Joan had previously been married and divorced, but that's pretty much where their similarities ended. Betty had children, Joan didn't. Joan was a freelance photographer and amateur writer who spent a lot of time traveling back and forth between LA and

Hawaii. She spent some of her time there taking writing classes at the University of Honolulu. Betty was hardly ever free to travel or pursue hobbies between her marriage, teenage kids, and two businesses. The two made an odd pair visually, too. In mid-thirties, Betty still looked like a silent film star. By contrast, Joan appeared much older than her 40 years. In the black and white pictures of her that appeared in newspapers at the time, she looks deeply haunted. Whether that's just her resting expression, or a result of what happened between her and the Fabianos, is anybody's guess. Despite their differences, Joan and Betty had grown very close. So close that Peter was enormously jealous of their relationship.

Although everything about this story suggests a romance, the news media of the mid-1950s wasn't prepared to write about romantic love between women. Calling someone a lesbian in print was seen as something between slander and pornography. So, we don't have any first-hand confirmation that Betty and Joan were more than friends, but for the purposes of our story, we'll just say it's clear that Peter felt threatened by Joan. Because when Betty agreed to come home and work on their marriage, Peter demanded that she cut off all contact with Joan. For the sake of her family, Betty agreed. This, of course, also meant Joan lost her job at the salon, although it's not clear if she was fired or she quit. Betty and Peter must have known Joan well enough to know she'd resent getting cut out of their lives, but it doesn't seem like they thought she'd actually harm them. And when Halloween night of

1957 rolled around, they were happy to answer the door for a steady stream of candy-seeking little ghouls and goblins. Betty's children were too old for trick-or-treating at this point, but it must have still been fun to see all the neighborhood kids in their costumes. The thought that real danger might be lurking under a Halloween mask probably never crossed either Betty or Peter's mind. After the wave of trick-or-treaters finally receded, they snuggled up in bed together and started making plans for their future. With their marital crisis now firmly in the past, they drifted off to sleep talking about their goals and dreams.

past, they drifted off to sleep talking about their goals and dreams. A little after 11pm, the doorbell rang. Peter climbed out of bed, assuming it was a rude trick-or-treater still trying to get candy long after the rest of the neighborhood kids had gone to bed. Probably a teenager. As he opened the door, he said, It's a little late for this, isn't it? The person standing on the doorstep simply said, No. But the stranger wasn't a trick-or-treater, even though they were wearing something like a costume. A jacket, jeans, red gloves, elaborate cosmetics,

and a simple black mask that covered the area around the eyes. And the paper bag they were carrying wasn't for Halloween candy. There was a revolver inside. The stranger raised the gun, squeezed the trigger, and shot Peter in the chest at point-blank range. Not even waiting to make sure he was dead, the shooter ran to a getaway vehicle waiting at the curb. When Betty heard the shot, she flew out of bed and raced down the stairs. Her husband was already unresponsive, with a bloody bullet hole visible just under his heart. She screamed for her 14-year-old daughter, Judy, to run to a policeman neighbor for help.

A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived to transport Peter to the hospital, but he died before doctors could save him. In the hours following the murder, Betty gave her statement to the police. She wasn't quite sure what she'd heard when Peter went to the door, but she thought there'd been two voices outside. One was a man, and the other seemed like a man trying to sound like a woman. That sent the police on something of a wild goose chase. Betty said Peter didn't know any men who would want to kill him. Peter didn't know any men who would want to kill him. So the police briefly thought perhaps Peter had a secret double life where he was involved with a criminal underworld.

The shooting certainly seemed like professional work. One shot, one kill, and the murderer got away without being seen. But Peter was practically a Boy Scout. Once he got in trouble for taking illegal bets back in New York in 1948, but that was the closest he'd ever come to the wrong side of the law. Betty was able to give the cops another lead, though. She told them the only person who might have had a reason to harm Peter was a woman named Joan Rabel, her former co-worker and friend. But that seemed a little bit ridiculous, even to Betty. Sure, Joan was jealous after Peter

convinced Betty to move home and go no contact with her. But murder? Joan was an artist, not a cold-blooded killer. Or so she thought. Hey there, Carter Roy here. If you're enjoying the chilling tales of murder true crime stories, then you'll love the Crime House original, Mind of a Serial Killer. What sets Mind of a Serial Killer apart is its focus on the twisted psychology of the world's most notorious serial killers. Names like Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, the Night Stalker, featuring expert

psychological analysis from licensed clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Tristan Engels. Mind of a Serial Killer will take you into their stories like never before. So get ready to uncover what drives someone to commit the unimaginable. Mind of a Serial Killer is a Crime House original. New episodes drop every Monday. Just search Mind of a Serial Killer and follow wherever you listen to podcasts. podcasts. If you're fascinated by the darker sides of humanity, join us every week on our podcast, Serial Killers, where we go deep into notorious true crime cases. With significant research and careful analysis, we examine the psyche of a killer, their motives and targets, and law enforcement's pursuit to stop their spree. Follow Serial Killers wherever you get your podcasts and get new episodes every Monday.

In early November 1957, the police started questioning 40-year-old Joan Rabel about the so-called trick-or-treat murder of Peter Fabiano. She swore she had nothing to do with it, and she claimed she had an alibi. Joan's neighbors could confirm her car was parked outside her house all night, but that didn't prove Joan was at home. Especially because investigators quickly learned she'd borrowed a car from a friend on Halloween night. Joan said it was just to get groceries, but she had no good explanation for why she put 37 miles on the odometer before returning the car, or why she didn't just take her own vehicle to the grocery store. Even with these holes in her story, Joan continued to deny she'd shot her former employer. In fact, she told detectives that she still considered the

Fabianos to be good friends, even after what had happened between them. The investigators knew enough not to believe her. By this time, Betty had already filled them in on how she'd moved in with Joan when her marriage was on the rocks. Then, when she decided to give Peter another chance, she cut Joan off completely, leaving Joan bitter and resentful. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough evidence to charge Joan without a confession. Although detectives were convinced Joan was Peter's killer, they had to cut her loose. They kept looking, and pretty soon, they got an anonymous tip that led them in a surprising direction. The tipster told the police to look in a locker at a local department store. A revolver was inside, And sure enough, police determined it was the

murder weapon. But the gun didn't belong to Joan. It was registered to someone who had never been on the detective's radar at all. Goldeen Pitzer, a 42-year-old widow who worked as a clerk at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Goldeen wasn't a hardened criminal, and she definitely wasn't the professional killer the LAPD initially thought they were looking for. Once the police confronted Goldeen with the fact that the murder weapon was registered in her name, she confessed almost immediately. Which meant Joan was telling the truth when she said she didn't kill Peter. In a way, at least. Because she got Goldeen to do it for her.

Apparently, Joan could be quite charming when she wanted to be. Some of the local newspapers later called her a Svengali, shorthand for someone who is a very bad influence. And she knew just what buttons to push to exert that influence over Goldeen. Goldeen told the police that over a period of months, Joan had convinced her to hate Peter Fabiano. According to Joan, Peter treated Betty very badly. There are rumors she told Goldeen that Peter was an abusive husband and a vicious, brutal stepfather to Betty's two children. And according to Joan, Peter was dealing drugs. But the police had little reason to believe what Joan said was true.

Betty herself would later testify that Joan had turned cruel and cold after Betty took Peter back. And Goldeen described Joan as a controlling, manipulative figure. That's how Goldeen ended up being convinced that she should kill Peter. She wasn't the violent type, but she was willing to do this for Joan, to free her from this abuser and stalker. They talked about stabbing or poisoning Peter, but ultimately decided the best option was a gun. Goldeen took a male friend with her to a gun shop in Pasadena, where she told the clerk she needed a revolver for home defense. It was a perfectly normal thing for a woman living alone to buy.

The shopkeeper didn't even think it was strange that Goldeen only wanted two shells for her new gun. He reasoned that most women hoped they'd never have to actually use their firearms. He sold Goldeen the revolver without a second thought. With the murder weapon in hand, Joan's next step was to familiarize her pupil with the target. She drove Goldeen to one of Peter's beauty shops so she could get a look at him. Presumably, Joan stayed outside, considering she was unwelcome on the premises. When Halloween rolled around, Joan decided it was the perfect time for Goldeen to strike. Joan bought Goldeen clothes, did her makeup, and put the mask on her.

Then she used a borrowed car to drive her to the little house on Community Street. When Goldeen confronted Peter, she was so terrified she was shaking. She had to use both hands to steady the gun, but at close range, it only took one squeeze of the trigger to kill the man she believed was a complete monster. As Peter collapsed, Goldeen ran back into the idling car. The women drove away, burned their clothes, and said goodbye. They knew they couldn't see each other again, but to Goldeen, it was worth it.

Even if she couldn't be around Joan anymore, she could rest easy knowing they'd gotten away with it. Joan and Goldeen figured they were safe from police scrutiny as long as nobody realized they knew each other. The police might find Joan through Betty, but Joan could truthfully say she didn't kill Peter and the gun wasn't in her name. Apparently, one of them wasn't terribly discreet

about their supposedly perfect crime, considering the anonymous tip that led police to Goldeen's gun. After the murder, Joan's spell on Goldeen seemed to evaporate and she quickly came back to her senses. It's even possible Goldeen gave the tip herself in a fit of guilt. It's even possible Goldeen gave the tip herself in a fit of guilt. After being arrested on December 5th, 1957, she was happy to tell detectives everything. Later that day, Joan Rabel was also arrested on suspicion of murder. As the trial approached, the two women took different approaches to their defense.

Joan pleaded not guilty and planned to face the charges head on. Meanwhile, Goldeen also entered a plea of not guilty, but not because of the evidence. It was by reason of insanity. She had a solid argument for it. A psychiatrist who examined the two defendants said in a sworn statement that at the time of the murder, Goldeen honestly believed she was saving a friend from an evil person. Once she was no longer under Joan's influence, she came back to her senses. But there was one issue.

She waited until the police tracked her down to confess. Although there was no longer any question about who shot Peter, pre-trial hearings dragged on for months. The prosecutors were concerned that Goldeen was so sympathetic, a jury wouldn't want to convict her, even though she'd confessed to murder. Joan might have ended up as the only person convicted in Peter's death, even though she didn't pull the trigger. If they'd gone to trial, that is. At the last minute, on March 12, 1958, both women accepted a plea deal. To avoid the possibility of execution, they pled guilty to a lesser

charge of second-degree murder, which carried a potential sentence of five years to life. The sentencing hearing was probably the last time the three women ever saw each other. Betty moved on with her life as best she could and stayed out of the public eye. It's not clear if she ever married again, and obituary shows that she made it to 81, dying in 1999 in the Palm Desert area. The specifics of Joan and Goldeen's sentencing have been lost to history. Some sources claim they spent the rest of their lives in prison, but we know that's not entirely true. Goldeen definitely got out and in time to rebuild her career. By 1971, she may have been serving as an officer in a local professional women's club.

She died in 1998 at the age of 83, seemingly a free woman. As for Joan, she seems to have vanished into thin air. Nobody has been able to figure out when or if she ever left prison. However, someone by the same name was buried at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Los Angeles in 2012. If that's our killer Joan, she'd have been 95 years old when she died. That's 60 more years than Peter Fabiano got to live. But without more information

on what happened to her after the murder, we don't know if Joan's long life was an incredibly unfair treat or a terrible cosmic trick. Coming up, another Halloween murder, one that was so shocking, it ignited a fear that parents still have over 50 years later. If your spouse being shot by someone posing as a trick-or-treater seems scary, imagine losing a child to what seems like a harmless piece of candy.

It's a fear that generations of Americans have grown up with. Many people's memories of trick-or-treating include the agonizing wait while parents check that all the candy is sealed and safe to eat. But the truth is, in the past 50 years, only one child has actually died after eating poisoned Halloween candy. And it wasn't a stranger who gave it to him. On Halloween night in 1974, Timothy O'Brien was eight years old. He had blonde hair, brown eyes, a gap-toothed grin, and the bronze skin you'd expect to see on an active little boy from Deer Park, Texas, just outside of Houston. That Halloween night, Timothy was out trick-or-treating with a friend, but at some point it started

raining. Timothy wasn't ready to call it quits, though. His father, 30-year-old Ronald Clark O'Brien, was on the same page. Ronald gathered Timothy and his five-year-old sister Elizabeth, and they headed to a nearby town where they met up with a family friend and one other kid. But trick-or-treating in the rain sounded more fun than it actually was. The neighborhood was quiet, and at one house, nobody came to the door at all. Ronald waited at the door for a moment while the group moved on. He said it was just in case someone did show up. A few minutes later, he caught up with the trick-or-treaters and excitedly reported that

someone had finally answered. Not only that, they were giving out giant pixie sticks, which were basically huge straws filled with sweet and sour sugar. Ronald had grabbed enough to share with the group, including a boy from church who was walking by. And with that, the trick-or-treating was pretty much over. The group knocked on a couple more doors, then parted ways. After taking his kids home, Ronald announced they could each have one piece of candy before bed. He encouraged Timothy to choose the pixie sticks, but when Timothy ate it,

he immediately complained that the flavored sugar was disgustingly bitter. Ronald poured his son a glass of Kool-Aid to get the awful taste out of his mouth. But the candy didn't just taste bad. It was bad. Moments later, Timothy became violently ill and started vomiting profusely. When the hurling didn't stop, Ronald called an ambulance, but it was too late. Timothy died within an hour of arriving at the hospital. Ronald told the doctors how Timothy collapsed right after eating the pixie sticks. The doctors knew that meant the candy must have been tampered with,

but they still didn't know in what way exactly. After the medical examiner took a look at Timothy's body, it became clear the pixie stick was full of cyanide. And this seemingly freak accident was now a full-blown murder investigation. Police officers rushed to recover the rest of the tampered pixie sticks. They started with the four other children who'd gotten the tainted treats from Ronald, including his own daughter, Elizabeth. Miraculously, none of the other children had eaten their candy.

One had asked his mother if he could open the pixie sticks, but she told him he had to wait until after school the next day. Another actually tried to eat his, but he couldn't figure out how to remove a staple at the top of the straw. The killer had stapled the top closed after replacing the top two inches of flavored sugar with cyanide granules. The boy fell asleep clutching the unopened pixie sticks in his hand. But what about other trick-or-treaters who went to the same house?

And what if the tampering happened at the store and the poison candy was sold to multiple people? Investigators announced that any pixie sticks received in the area where the O'Briens had trick-or-treated should be turned in for inspection. People started panicking. To the dismay of children around the area, some parents brought all of their children's Halloween candy to the cops. Many swore they'd never let their kids trick-or-treat again. But nobody else had a stapled-up pixie sticks with two inches of cyanide at the top. The poison was only found in those five candies Ronald collected, from the house where nobody entered the door.

Detectives couldn't understand why someone who wanted to poison kids on Halloween would only give poison to one person, and to a parent who might have noticed the tampering. The investigators needed to speak to whoever handed Ronald the poison pixie sticks. They asked Ronald for a description, but he said he never saw a face. The person just stuck their arm out, holding the candy. He claimed he couldn't even be sure which house it was, despite having only gone down two streets. Ronald's fuzzy memory was understandable. He was busy mourning his son, in private and in public. The day after Timothy's death, November 1st, 1974,

Ronald sang a hymn at the Second Baptist Church, where he was a deacon and a frequent soloist with the choir. On this occasion, he chose to sing a hymn called Blessed Assurance. To honor his son, Ronald changed the hymn's chorus to This is Tim's Story, This is Tim's Song. Newspaper reports said, quote, There wasn't a dry eye in the church. The song's final verse is written from the perspective of a soul experiencing peace and bliss in heaven. Ronald told his fellow parishioners he found great comfort in those words because Timothy had been a believer and was now with Jesus. A recording of Ronald's song was scheduled to air on TV that night, but his family didn't stay up to watch it, and Ronald wasn't happy about it.

Word about Ronald's odd behavior made its way to the detectives working Timothy's case. They decided to up the pressure on Ronald to tell them where he got the pixie sticks. Police officers drove Ronald back to the neighborhood where he took the kids trick-or-treating and walked up and down each street, urging him to look at each house. Eventually, he pointed to one. Detectives rushed to pick up the homeowner and interrogate him, thinking they might have a would-be serial killer in their grasp. And then they heard his alibi. His name was Courtney Melvin, and he worked in air traffic control. His porch light was off on Halloween night because he was

working at Hobby Airport in Houston. As for alibi witnesses, he had about 200, including all the pilots who took off and landed safely that night. Some of the cops were already suspicious of Ronald, but this confirmed it. There was no way he'd pointed them to the right house. And they could think of only one reason he was being so dramatically unhelpful with their investigation. He was the killer. Once Ronald Clark O'Brien became a suspect in the death of his eight-year-old son, Timothy, damning details quickly surfaced. By November 4th, 1974, they learned he'd purchased $20,000 life insurance policies on each of his children right before Halloween. The kids already had life insurance. These new policies were additional, and Ronald didn't tell his wife, Dainene, about them. He did, however, attempt to collect.

The morning after Timothy's death, he called the insurer to get his payout started. Deneen told the police that the family was in desperate need of money. Ronald couldn't hold down a job. He had been fired 21 times in the past 10 years for negligence or fraudulent behavior. The couple were behind on several loans, with a car in imminent danger of repossession. Their total debt was over $100,000. Detectives got a warrant to search Ronald's house. They discovered that he'd used an adding machine to count the total he would collect on his children's life insurance policies. And it was almost exactly the same amount as he owed to creditors. They also found a pair of

scissors with plastic residue on them, which could have been from cutting open the pixie sticks to add the cyanide. Ronald also failed a polygraph, which helped support their suspicions. That was enough evidence to arrest and charge Ronald the next day, November 5th. He was charged with one count of murder for Timothy and four counts of attempted murder for the other children who received cyanide-laced pixie sticks. Once news broke that Ronald had been charged, the response from the community was dramatic. Many people came forward to say Ronald had shown an unusual interest in poisons, especially cyanide. A chemical salesman told police that a man in a green smock came into his store looking for cyanide, but didn't buy any after being told

he couldn't get a smaller quantity than five pounds. The salesman didn't remember the man's face well, but a green smock just happened to be Ronald's uniform for his current job as an optician. Even with all this evidence, prosecutors took their time preparing their case against Ronald. They had plenty of witnesses, but they knew they couldn't take a conviction for granted. They hadn't found cyanide in the family home, or even proof that Ronald actually bought cyanide. And he was still doing interviews with the press, making himself out to be an innocent, bereaved father. So the prosecution had to make sure the evidence they did have was enough to destroy any sympathy the jury might feel for Ronald. By the time Ronald's trial began on May 5th,

1975, they had what they needed. Dainene testified against him, even though she could have theoretically gotten out of it by claiming spousal privilege. Other relatives also testified that Ronald had started talking about how to spend Timothy's life insurance money before his son was even buried. Through it all, Ronald maintained his innocence, blaming an anonymous candy tamperer. But the only poison Pixie Stix handed out on Halloween 1974 came from Ronald's hand. So the jury didn't buy his story.

On June 4th, 1975, they deliberated for less than an hour before returning a guilty verdict. It took another 71 minutes for them to sentence Ronald to death. As with most death penalty cases, multiple appeals followed. Ronald was able to postpone the execution a few times, but it was finally set for October 31st, 1982, Halloween, eight years later. But Ronald got yet another reprieve, this time from the U.S. Supreme Court who delayed the execution again. There would be no Halloween execution to match the Halloween murder. Eventually, in March 1984, Ronald ran out of appeals. He tried the Supreme Court again,

but this time they voted against him. On March 31st, 1984, Ronald Clark O'Brien died by lethal injection. Of course, killing Ronald didn't bring Timothy back. Nor did it bring Halloween back. For a generation of parents traumatized by the story of Timothy's murder. Even though Timothy was killed by his own father, his death ushered in the era of safer alternatives to a door-to-door candy hunt. Churches started holding trunk-or-treat events, where parents parked their cars in a decorated lot and kids walked car-to-car gathering candy. Further still, some parents decided to stop celebrating Halloween altogether.

Teaching children to run around in disguise at night and eat whatever their neighbors handed them no longer seemed like a good idea. But there were no other crazed killers out there murdering children with tampered candy. There was just one Ronald Clark O'Brien, with a horrifically mundane motive for murdering his own son, Coldheart Cash. There hasn't been a single death from poisoned Halloween candy in the half century since Timothy died. But that hasn't stopped protective parents from double-checking to make sure their kids are safe. It's an understandable fear. We're trained our whole lives not to trust strangers,

except for Halloween, apparently. All of a sudden, it's acceptable to not just go up to a stranger's house, but to take candy from them. But the most tragic thing about Timothy O'Brien's story is that it wasn't a stranger who killed him. It was the person who should have been protecting him. The children were the ones wearing costumes. But the father walking them door to door was the real monster.

Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories. Come back next week for the story of two more Halloween murders and all the people they affected. Murder True Crime Stories is a Crime House original. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media at Crime House on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And for ad-free and early access to Murder True Crime Stories, plus exciting bonus content, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple

Podcasts. We'll be back next Tuesday. Murder True Crime Stories, a Crime House original, is executive produced by Max Cutler. This episode of Murder True Crime Stories was produced and directed by Ron Shapiro, sound designed by Russell Nash, written by Yellen Awar, edited by Alex Benidon, fact-checked by Claire Cronin, and included production assistance from Sarah Carroll. Murder True Crime Stories is hosted by Carter Roy. You may know a serial killer's crimes. Now, uncover the psychology behind them. Mind of a Serial Killer is a Crime House original. New episodes drop every Monday. Just search Mind of a Serial Killer and a Crime House original. New episodes drop every Monday.

Just search Mind of a Serial Killer and follow wherever you listen to podcasts. If you're fascinated by the darker sides of humanity, join us every week on our podcast, Serial Killers, where we go deep into notorious true crime cases. With significant research and careful analysis, we examine the psyche of a killer, their motives and targets, and law enforcement's pursuit to stop their spree. Follow Serial Killers wherever you get your podcasts

and get new episodes every Monday.