Spooky Opener And Sweater Weather

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey Jesse. Hello, Lindsay. What if all of the paganistic holiday stuff that we've done on All Hallows Eve has actually scared away all the demons and monsters and things? That's why we see less and less of it.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

You know what? That could be a very good theory.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Other than people are still the real monsters.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Well, people are definitely still the real monsters. And uh I think we're just gonna keep scaring them away the best that we can. So let's do that, right? Absolutely. And happy Friday, everybody! Yay!

SPEAKER_03 1:04

Oh my

Drinks Of The Day

SPEAKER_03 1:05

god, it is it's we're back on sweater weather. You know, Florida, we get it in spurts, and I have on a sweater. Yeah. And it is so soft and delicious. And hello, everyone, and welcome to the Drink About Something podcast, where we talk about true crime, we have a couple of drinks, and then at the end of the episode, Jesse plugs a band. And Jesse, what are you having a drink today?

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Well, I'm starting off with a little bit of retro vibe because I want to get geeked up, right? That retro vibes doing ourselves. So reving on that. And then I bought some Florida Crown Club. It's like a seven-year-aged small batch, 80-proof. Has no flavor at all. Don't waste your time.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

That is so weird.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Yeah. It does not. And it has a little little color to it. And I was like, this is gonna be cool. Like I think it's gonna be like a good. It is stupid smooth to the point where I don't taste anything. And I don't have COVID or nothing. Right.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

When you first said that last night, I was like, oh my god, but you were tasting everything else.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

But that yeah, I can taste that it has alcohol in it, but it doesn't have any flavor. It's weird. It's like it's like a vodka in a seven-year-aged bourbon type situation, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

That is weird.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Super strange. Never been there before. Even the bourbon that I've made myself, you know, I've I've made my own, and it's way better, way, way better than it's this. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

Well, trial and error.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yeah. What are you drinking there?

SPEAKER_03 2:29

So in my big cup, I've got grape white claw with grape rush Celsius that I've been sipping on for a while now. But for the show, uh, because Walmart didn't have my variety pack of white claws this week. So I got truly unruly's.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Oh, the 8%, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Yes. So I'm gonna have one of those, and it is berry smash.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Smashing.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Berry smashing.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Yay. Dude, I'm not ready. You said this is gonna be something,

What Made Us Feel Old

SPEAKER_02 3:05

right?

SPEAKER_03 3:05

Yeah, but before we get into that, what made you feel old this week?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Me? First of all, from Dust Till Dawn.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Oh yeah. That's recent discovery today. 30. 30 years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Oh my goodness, Lindsay.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Yeah, so we were watching, he put on Dust Till Dawn like right before it was time to get showers and get this shit started because we've just been cow trotting the first half of the day. Grandbabies came, worse out, left. We needed a nap.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

We have to fucking recoup, dude. It is something, I'm telling you. Four of them? And they're running a muck-amuck-a-k.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

And another.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

So we had to cow trot.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Yeah. And and and I'm not to interrupt there. No, go ahead. Um, the other is teaching our son the mechanics and stuff. I bought him a book, and so we're doing like, you know, vocational things or whatever. I'm just trying to teach him extra things while he's here.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Extracurricular acting like that.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Come here, dude. Let's do it. And he's so excited about it. I started learning that exact content and like all of that material, like mechanics and simple engines and just all the all the stuff. Because that's that's what I do. It's my profession or whatever. And I started doing that 30 years ago too, Lindsay.

unknown 4:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

But yeah, so Jesse starts from Dust Till Dawn, and I'm like, man, George Clooney and Quentin Taratino really look really young. Like Harvey Kaytel looked old, but they made him look older because he was bad. But Juliet Lewis is still a baby. So I was like, when the fuck did this movie come out? And 1996. So yeah, 30 years old this year.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

So 30-30. That's where we're at. The dirty 30. Which seems like it seems like because the refrigerator the fridge guy came and did some repairs and stuff. They're in their 30s. And I'm like, those kids out back, you know, they're gonna get our fridge fixed and whatever. I was like, wait a minute, them guys are like 30.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

They're babies. They're babies. Well, that's also what made us feel old is for calling 30-year-old year olds babies. Yes. Dang them. So I was scrolling through TikTok, and what made me feel old was there was like one of those things where it said, How old were you when tonight by new kids on the block came out in 1990? And I was eight years old. I was eight years old in 1990. That made me feel really ancient.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

We're gonna start a fund for our burial now.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

No, we're not because we're so young and kicking it. Yeah.

The Candy Poisoning Fear Begins

SPEAKER_03 5:38

But I got a really, really bad story for you guys today. I'm so sorry. Uh, but it needs to be talked about because there's been a lot of legends throughout Halloween every year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

I mean, well, happy Halloween. Let's let's let's get that out. We're finally here. It's wonderful. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

The most wonderful time of the year.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Start with a positive, Lindsay. Damn it.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Yes. But um, you know, there's been a lot of legends. Like we grew up with the fear of people poisoning our candy as we trick-or-treat. I wasn't allowed to trick-or-treat. I had to go to church and we had Hallelujah night. We bobbed for apples and did the cakewalk and the and the greasy pig thing. And you know what that is? Yeah. Okay. I've been there. Listeners, if our global listeners, if you don't know what the greasy pig thing is, it's where you get in a pen with a pig and it's greased up and you gotta chase it. And if you catch it, you win a prize. And that was weird. I don't think I ever actually did it. I don't remember actually ever doing it. I did the cakewalk, I did the bobbin for apples, um, you know, the the fall things that we were allowed to do. But yeah, I don't remember greasing. I watched other people do it, but I don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

They rub that thing down with gris Crisco and going after it.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

And then support things, just a running and a squealing and a e. And it was always a little baby pig that was a touch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

They're like animal abuse for five dollars.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

For real. So yeah, like I said, the normal people that didn't have to go to church for Halloween, they grew up with the fear, especially in our time period, of their candy being poisoned. Parents had to check it. And as the years have gone on now, it's a little bit more lenient because we've realized that there's not uh there's really not people out there doing that. But today we're gonna talk about the guy that started that whole debacle. Oh the whole reason why we as a country double check your candy.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Hand it over here. Let me look. Yeah, make sure there's no razor blades in it. Yeah, we've all heard it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

I just had a real quick thought. So I would we had just moved here from Lakeland, and I found a Hershey Kiss still, you know, completely wrapped up, safe on the ground. And I was a little kid, and I just grabbed it and ate it, and my parents freaked the fuck out because that was 1989. So, you know, the fear was still rampant about what we're gonna talk about today. And uh, I mean, I definitely shouldn't have ate it at all, but I just remembered the fear in their eyes just from me eating a little Hershey kiss I found on the ground, completely wrapped, untouched. Somebody probably just dropped it out of you know how you could buy them singly at the gas station, and I just picked it up and ate it. You were like a little really wonka, like I wanted some chocolate.

Meet Ronald Clark O’Brien

SPEAKER_03 8:34

But anyway, so today we're drinking about Ronald Clark O'Brien. And he was born October 19th in 1944, and uh he grew up in Houston, Texas. Now I couldn't really find anything about his childhood, but he did, as he got older, he became an optician and moved to a town, uh to a townhouse in Deer Park, Texas. He married a woman named Danine, and they had one daughter named Elizabeth and one son named Timothy. From the outside, he seemed to be a great family man. Uh, he was a deacon at the Second Baptist Church. He sang in the choir. He actually sang solos. So, you know, they were asking him. He was he was the guy. He had the voice, the voice of an angel.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Yeah, spiritual entertainer.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Yes. He also coordinated the pickup and drop-offs for the church bus. Well, a couple of weeks before Halloween in 1974, Ronald came home with costumes for his kids. And then about a week before Halloween, he made plans to hang out with his friend Jimmy Bates in Pasadena on Halloween. Like they had dinner, and then after dinner, they took the kids out. And it was it was a nice trick-or-treating, you know, trick-or-treating evening. So it was just gonna be the dads and their kids on this adventure. And Timothy was eight and Elizabeth was five at this time. Now, this was probably super exciting for Timothy and Elizabeth because they had never done this before. They were also kids who didn't celebrate Halloween and only did church functions. So, yeah, this was actually their first time even celebrating Halloween.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Dude, I would have been super excited.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

And Halloween was on a Thursday that year, and it was a little rainy outside, and one of Jimmy's kids decided he was gonna stay home. But the dads got umbrellas for the other kids and they set out on their trick-or-treating adventure. So Ronald he would knock on the doors and Jimmy would stay on the sidewalk with the kids. And Ronald went up to 411 Donerail Street, and no lights were on, and no one answered the door at first. So the kids and Jimmy started walking on down to the next house. And Ronald caught up with them and said, Hey guys, that house did end up answering the door, and look what they gave you guys. And Ronald was holding five extra

Trick Or Treat Night Setup

SPEAKER_03 10:55

large pixie sticks, like jackpot. Like he was like, You guys have rich neighbors.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Like the three foot ones?

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Uh 21 inches, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Oh, that's a little less than the almost two foot ones. Okay, yeah. But those that would have been a score for sure.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Score. Like I said, these were between 18 and 21 inches long. And I don't know about you, Jesse. But as a kid, you know, we loved pixie sticks. You know, the regular ones are in that shitty ass straw paper.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Yeah, it kind of stinks. And you kind of bite it and it's all wet and but what literally though, why the fuck were we eating that shit?

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Like it's literally just sugar down the hatch. Yeah. And now you got 20, 18 to 21 inch ones, which is a, you know, those had better straw, they had the actual like straw material where the little ones were like straw paper and the big ones were straw material. So they're a little bit better.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

But that would have been like scoring a whole candy bar though.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Yeah. Yeah. You remember that neighbor that we had in the next neighborhood over?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

I was gonna bring that up because like I was like, dude, this isn't right. They're handing out whole candy bars. Like, let's double check that. And I I did. I was like, let's check this.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

Well, the neighbor yeah, the neighborhood next to ours is like just a step above our housing structures. Like, we got nice houses here, but theirs are just a little bit bigger. And we found one at the very back of the last street in the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, there is true crime on Jaguar Street, by the way, Randy.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

But um, yeah, they were handing out full, full-size candy bars, and we're like, I've never seen this before, ever.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Their yard was done up really cool. In their yard was really cool. Beautiful. Like, okay, I guess. They had the singing pumpkins, yeah. Money, whatever, let's do it, you know. And I was still like, this isn't right. This is something's not right. Let's just stop.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

My naive, never trick-or-treat and ass only until I became an adult was like, fuck yeah, my kid's getting a full-size candy bar, but everything was fine. So Ronald handed out the pixie sticks to each one of the kids, but then took them back and was like, you know what, I'll hold on to these until we're all done. So when they get back to Jimmy's,

The Giant Pixy Stix Handout

SPEAKER_03 13:00

he passes them out again. And the one kid of Jimmy's that didn't go trick-or-treating was like, yay, I got a treat. And then a boy from their church came over to uh Jimmy's and Ronald gave him the last one. They get back home to Deer Park, and Danine, she went to a friend's nearby for a little while. And Ronald, he gets the kids ready for bed, tells them to brush their teeth, and they ask him if they can have one piece of candy for bed. Now, for some reason, Elizabeth didn't eat any, but Timothy wanted that giant pixie stick. But he had a hard time opening it. So Ronald helps him out, and then he couldn't get the sugar candy out of the tube. It was like clumped up. So Ronald like rolled it in his hands and he helped him out with that too. Then when he once he gets the candy in his mouth, you know how the sugar usually just like melts away. Timothy was like, this doesn't really taste very good.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Something's not right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

So Ron Ronald runs and gets him a glass of Kool-Aid to get the funny taste out of his mouth. And then the worst thing you can imagine happens. You need Kool-Aid.

unknown 14:10

Oh God.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Baby, I got Kool-Aid. Timothy gets sick immediately and ran to the bathroom to throw up. But then it gets worse. Timothy began convulsing.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

For fuck's sake, somebody spiked the fucking pixie stick.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Well, Ronald, he called 911 immediately and Timothy got to the hospital. And then Ronald said that he was also feeling sick as well. But then little Timothy passed away after an hour of being at the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Lindsay. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

So now police are on the scene. And Ronald tells them that this happened immediately after Timothy ate the pixie stick. So they're like, well, who else has one of these? So they called Jimmy Bates and the parents of the church kid to get those pixie sticks and get them all back immediately. And they were unopened. But the little church boy had actually tried to open his, but was unsuccessful and fell asleep with it in his hands. Could you imagine the horror knowing Death is right? Death is in a pixie stick. Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Oh my god, that's horrible.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Well, everyone who had one except Timothy was now safe. And the medical examiner, they tell police that they smelled almonds on Timothy.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Arsenic?

SPEAKER_03 15:36

And that means cyanide.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Cyanide, that's it, yeah. Damn.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

And that had been what was in all the pixie sticks. And it was the amount enough to kill three grown adults.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

This is horrible, dude. I'm so horrified, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:54

I mean, exactly. So you can see why there was panic for a long time. Yeah. So now the police are wanting to know who the fuck these had come from. What house? Who was it? Because word of

Timothy’s Death And Cyanide Discovery

SPEAKER_03 16:07

Timothy's death spread quickly, and now there is absolute panic in the area where this happened. And it even made the nightly news. And the rest of these pixie sticks, the other four, did, like I said, in fact, contain cyanide as well. They had all been stapled shut after being contaminated, where they are usually hot sealed on both ends. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Still not. I'm not sure. I know. Oh man. Your children.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

Your children. Children. So now parents of Deer Park and Pasadena, they took all their kids' candy to the police station. Like, give me every fucking piece you got. We're taking this to the police station so it could be, you know, tested. And because this poor eight-year-old kid just died a horrible death. You know, we know what a cyanide death does. We taught had a three-parter on a fucker named Timothy, Jimothy, not Timothy, Jimothy Jones.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Oh, and I was just singing Kool-Aid.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

I know. Oh man, fucking. I thought that was so, even though it was flavor aid. But I mean, the legend is don't drink the Kool-Aid. Shit. But I mean, how sad is that? You're just out trick-or-treating and you die from eating a goddamn pixie stick.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Innocent children, just no fucking reason. Random. Act of the devil. Ever. So yes, we need more Halloween. I think we need two Halloweens a year to stop this shit.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

So Ronald takes the police to the house at 4112 or 4112 Donorail Street after their third trip around Jimmy's neighborhood trying to find the house. He said that at this house, the man just opened the door slightly and handed him the pixie stick so he didn't get a good look at him, just that his arm was hairy. So the man who lived there's name was Courtney Melvin, and he said, Yeah, there were no lights on because my wife had run out of candy at 645, and we did not have large pixie sticks. And I was at work. And this was not a lie. Courtney Melvin worked for the airport as an air traffic controller, and 200 people could verify his alibi. So the police asked others or other people in the neighborhood about the pixie sticks, and none of them had handed out this particular candy as well. Like nobody was handing out extra large pixie sticks in this neighborhood where they were trick-or-treating.

The Alibi Falls Apart

SPEAKER_03 18:33

Then the police get a call after Timothy's funeral. This call was from Ronald's life insurance agent.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Oh no, you're no, you're not. Lindsay, come on.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

The life insurance agent told police that Ronald had called him around 9 a.m. the morning following Timothy's death. So November 1st. And Ronald asked how he could collect on the policy he had taken out on Timothy. So this was a huge red flag for the police, and they decided they need to dig more into Ronald Clark O'Brien.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Yeah, so his fucking ass walked up there. Nobody answered the door, but he came back with whatever he had when he walked up to the door. And he's like, Oh yeah, no, they gave me something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

So come to find out, Ronald had also called the bank immediately after talking to the life insurance agent and asked how he could collect on another policy that he had also taken out on both kids. You know, but Timothy was the one that passed away. So he's like, How can I collect on this other life insurance policy? Which equaled about $10,000, which in the 70s was a fucking lot of money. I'm so fucking pissed. The one through the life insurance agency was 20. The one through the bank was 10, okay? So he had told the funeral director after that call that he needed several copies of Timothy's death certificate. Six to be exact. Because he had to have one for each policy that he had taken out. Now he had gotten the policy through the bank in January of 1974 on both of his children. This policy came out of their bank's uh bank account, you know, a little bit every month. Like we get that offerings, we get that shit in the mail like every month. You're offering us. We ain't done it yet because we both have life insurance through our work and we don't need all these astronomical fucking life insurance policies. You know what I mean? And Danine didn't want to pay for them. She was like, no, we're on a tight budget because they were swimming in debt. Debt that equaled a hundred thousand dollars in 1974 money. Ronald. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 20:52

What the fuck, y'all?

SPEAKER_03 20:53

Well, Ronald, like I said, and he got those policies, and then in September, he got another $20,000 policy through that agency that called the police. Danine, she did not know about any of this at all. And one thing that bothered Danine, like right away, after Timothy's death, Ronald talked about taking a quote, nice vacation. He had also talked about that with his brother and sister-in-law. So he's just like, at the funeral, a few days later, talk about taking a fucking vacation.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Look at me.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Look at me.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

I told you this one was horrible.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Oh, this is stupid fucking bad. Dude, in home, I'm just gonna live it up. Oh, I can just get rid of a kid. Fuck it. Damn.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

How many pixie sticks did he pass out though?

SPEAKER_02 21:45

All of them. It could have been five. He wanted to be a five. Could have been five. Oh my God.

Money Motive And Cyanide Trail

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Damn. So upon further invas investigation, police find out about Ronald's job history, and it was also a huge red flag. Now he had also been in the insurance gig before. Uh he worked at Arco Chemical Company. And before he got the job at Texas State Optical, he had been through 21 other jobs, having been fired from all of them. And he was also on the verge of being fired from Texas State Optical because they suspected him of stealing.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Fucking garbage human being.

SPEAKER_03 22:27

Now, before they rented their townhouse in Deer Park, he had actually been a homeowner but had to sell it before it was foreclosed on. And he was eight months behind on his car payment and it was about to be repossessed. He had several different loans taken out in his name, and most of his income was going to repaying all those loans. And he would often borrow money from friends. Now, this dumb, stupid motherfucker, he also told a couple people at work that he was going to be quitting work soon because he was coming into money. Then he started asking about cyanide and how it was used in optics. And he asked his manager how he could purchase some. He told his manager that it was going to be for cleaning gold frames. And that part is actually legit. It can take the car the tarnish off of gold, off of gold frames, like cyanide. Like who would have thought? Who would who, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 23:29

Oh, we had no idea, but still, dude.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

This fucking dude.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

This fucking dude, dude.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

This fucking dude. In September, Ronald called up a guy that he had worked at Arco Chemical with. This guy's name was Bobby Terry. And Ronald told Bobby that he was actually taking a chemistry class, like on the side, and he didn't think that the instructor really had uh very good knowledge on different types of cyanide. And Robbie asked Bobby where he could purchase some, you know, to clean those gold frames. So Bobby, not thinking anything terrible, he gave him the name of a few chemical companies. But the lowest amount that you could buy was five pounds. That was the lowest amount you could buy. And he was like, Well, yeah, I really don't need that much. So on Halloween, he went to Curtin Matheson Scientific to try and buy some cyanide. But like I said, the amount was too big. But I I don't know. So where he purchased this is not completely clear. How the fuck do they sell this shit?

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Either way.

SPEAKER_03 24:37

Fuck. You know, how do you sell it? How do you do this, man? Well, I mean, he had an optics license, and it is, yeah, if he's like, hey, I just need this to clean gold frames, I don't know. I don't know what else cyanide is used for other than death.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Yeah, I'm just gonna go down and you know, I got a license to be, you know, Dr. Emmett Brown. Let me just go down here and get some plutonium. No, he had to rob it from the fucking the Syrians or whatever. Remember, this this should not have access to this shit. Either way.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

This place where the scientific place was in a plaza. And I guess the one of the employees at Curtin Matheson said that later on he saw Ronald with a stapler in a bag. Now I don't know how he saw that. I really don't know. But later on he'll be a witness that will testify against Ronald. Now, Ronald had even talked to one of his customers at the optics place that same day on how much it would take to kill someone with cyanide. Oh, and he also told his bank on October 23rd that he was expecting a large amount of money before the end of the year. And he had talked to Jimmy Bates about buying a house. He told Jimmy not to tell Danine.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

To hatch this fucking plan.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Donald, you're just he's fucking vile. And just set it all up.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Talking about it everywhere. And to be fucking giddy about it and happy, making plans to go on fucking holiday. Fucking bastard, man. Oh, damn, dude.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

His own fucking kids and wanted to take them all out. All of them. Now, investigators would also find a knife and a pair of scissors in his house that looked like it had remnants of pixie stick sugar on them. But that could never be determined. But what they did find was an an uh uh itemized ledger of all the debt he was in. I mean, yeah, they they found what we call now the receipts, yeah. Like everything.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

But he wasn't even planning on paying off all the debt or anything with it. There was no no no way to justify none of this fucking how fuck. He was gonna go on fucking holiday after killing his kids. That part.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

And the police, they're like, you know what? We don't even need a confession from this guy. We have enough. He's been talking about money coming in, and uh he's been talking about poisoning with cyanide w with way too many people.

Arrest And Charges

SPEAKER_03 27:10

And they arrested him on November 4th, 1974.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Yeah, what are you gonna do when you decimate your whole family?

SPEAKER_03 27:16

I'm going to Disneyland!

SPEAKER_02 27:18

This son of a bitch should have been shot on spot.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

On spot. And I have to say that that's impressive because Timothy died on October 31st and they arrest him on November 4th. I mean, we see investigations go on for years sometimes. But they got that shit together pretty quickly. And we are fucking glad of that part. Absolutely, because Ronald is charged with one count of capital murder and four counts of attempted murder. And you know what? I mean, I we were I I've heard this from a few other people that cover this. Could you imagine if all the other kids had eaten those pixie

Trial Testimony And Guilty Verdict

SPEAKER_03 28:01

sticks? The trial was held in Houston and started in May of 1975. And this man is pleading not fucking guilty.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Yes, son of a bitch. I figured that was fucking common, Lindsay.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

Now, all the people that I mentioned earlier that he talked to about the cyanide and about the coming into money and all the things, they all testified against him. And even his wife was allowed to testify against him because of the circumstances.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

She had to be fucking completely fucking done with all his bullshit and money problems.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

He killed her child for money and tried to kill Boston.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

I mean, who wouldn't be? I would have been done way before that. So hey, red flags all day long. Like, how many fucking jobs did you have?

SPEAKER_03 28:45

How much fucking debt did you just get us in? The part that really gets me, other than the crime itself, is that he was just so callous and trying to collect that money so soon and planning a goddamn vacation.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

Yeah. Super preemptive. He's just like, I'm setting all this up and I'm happy. I'm finna go to Disneyland.

unknown 29:05

Fuck you.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Bastard. Fuck him. Fuck Ronald. Fuck him.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Now it did not take long at all for the jury to deliberate 46 minutes to be exact. They definitely found him guilty on June 3rd, 1975. And Ronald was sentenced to death. Thank you. Because it was a crime over money. Like there, there, uh, this was one of the stipulations of death penalty in Texas. Like they had like a few things. And a crime over money.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

It's not about killing your kids. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

It was because that he killed a person over money. That's a stipulation for the death penalty.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Yeah. I think just killing your kids alone is just like, you need to be taken the fuck out, dude.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Now he was hated in prison and he was nicknamed the candy man. And he has also been called the man who killed Halloween and the pixie stick killer.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

That goes back to my Willy Wonka thing with you, Lindsay.

SPEAKER_03 30:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Son of a bitch. Why are we going in circles here?

SPEAKER_03 30:12

I don't know. So he was 30 years old when he was convicted. And I want to show you a picture of this man. This is a rough motherfucking 30.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

Holy shit, he looks 57.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

I know. Make sure you guys follow our Instagram drink about something for pictures and stories.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

Yeah, we're still going in circles because 30. We just talked about that, too.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

That's a rough fucking 30, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Dude.

Execution Day And Last Words

SPEAKER_03 30:40

And he was set to be, he was sentenced to death, or he was set to be executed on August 8th, 1980. Then it was set for Halloween 1982.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Which would have been cool. Which would have been really fucking cool. Like, I don't know why y'all kept it.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

His lawyer kept getting stays for like fucking Krista. What's her name? Was it Krista? The one that just uh in Tennessee got away with the fish. I've got yeah, I've got her on my list, but I can't even think of her name right now.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

No, like, okay, damn it. Either way, why in the fuck do they keep pushing this bullshit back?

SPEAKER_03 31:17

But then he was finally executed by lethal injection on March 31st when he was 39. And I'm gonna show you a picture of what he looked like at 39, and that's an even rougher 39. That looks like a 65-year-old man, not a day younger. That's Ronald Clocker O'Brien, right before he dies.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

He looks like he was finna just clock out here in a couple years after that picture there. What's 30 in his late 30s? He looks like he's 90.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

So this was in 1984, and like I said, he was 39 years old. His last meal was a T-bone with fries, corn, sweet peas, lettuce and tomato salad with egg, French dressing, iced tea with sweetener, and a side of cyanide. Saltines, rolls, and Boston cream pie. And just like you, in my opinion, he should have been given a cyanide laced pixie stick, the same fate that his poor son faced because his dad was shitty with fucking money.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

That's it. Selfish piece of shit.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

That little eight-year-old precious boy died because his dad made horrible financial decisions.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

I'm gonna call this one Septic Tank. That's what he is. He's like the fifth day at Rockville. Port-a-potty. That's what he is.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

No, you know what? They've been stepping their game up on that shit. So you can't even call it now Jacksonville. We'll call it Jacksonville Porta potties. Rockville. When it was still in Jacksonville. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Riverside Porta-potties at Rockville.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

I don't even think they were cleaning them daily.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

They could make a horror movie about that.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

They literally could.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah. That's why we got VIP, period. We had our own cheddar. And we got to hang out with Avatar. That was cool. Yeah. Fuck.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

The day that he was executed, a crowd of around 300 people gathered outside the prison, mostly against Ronald. But he did have some supporters. Now, it wasn't really supporters of him, but it was more anti-death penalty. So the ones that were not protesting, they're there cheering that shit on. They handed the one the anti-le uh death penalty protesters, they handed them some candy. And they were throwing it at him, chanting trick-or-treat.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Oh. This is so cringe. That part is all that.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

It's just yeah, I mean it's Cynthia Chills. Like I said, Ronald, you know, he never, ever, ever, ever admitted to this. You know, most of the time later on in prison. They might break down and finally admit the truth, but he stood by his innocence up until the day he died. And I am going to turd that wouldn't flood. Read his last words.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

Right here, okay. Ronald Clark O'Brien's last words were What is about to transpire in a few moments is wrong. However, we as human beings do make mistakes and errors. This execution is one of those wrongs, yet doesn't mean our whole system of justice is wrong. Therefore, I would forgive all those who have taken part in any way in my death. Also, to anyone I have offended in any way during my 39 years. I pray and ask your forgiveness, just as I forgive anyone who offended me in any way. And I pray and ask God's forgiveness for all of us, respectively, as human beings. To my loved ones, I extend my undying love. To those close to me, know in your hearts I love you one and all. God bless you all, and may God's best blessings be always yours. Ronald C. O'Brien.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Yeah, I'm not gonna take accountability, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

He sang a fucking solo at his son's funeral, the son that he killed.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Oh my god, Lindsay.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

Now he has a PS in this. It says, During my time here, I have been treated well by all TDC personnel. Uh yeah, fuck you. And uh thank you for ruining Halloween for a couple of decades there,

The Urban Legend He Created

SPEAKER_03 35:40

buddy.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

You son of a bitch.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

Well, maybe even more than that. Like, uh, they were, I mean, I was still hearing about that when my older children were small to check their candy. Like, we really don't even think about that shit now. But Ronald Clark O'Brien literally created an urban legend. And I just want y'all to know that Halloween-related poisoning candy crimes are extremely rare. There's maybe been four in history. We'll talk about more in years to come.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Oh, there's more of this.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

Yes, but for now, that's the man right fucking there that ruin Halloween for us uh Gen X and Millennials.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Yeah, and you know, raise your hand if you'd never forgive him. I do not. I don't forgive him. I will never, ever. Thank you, Lindsay. Shit. You're a fucking bastard, dude. You're a fucking bastard. Could you imagine if he actually got away with it? Could you imagine?

SPEAKER_03 36:54

Well, that's what I'm saying. There's so many, like he he wanted to kill both of his children.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Yeah, trying to take a look at the children.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

But he wasn't successful in that. And it seems like that maybe he had changed his mind. Cause like I said, he initially passed out all those pixie sticks while they're still trick-or-treating, but then took them back and was like, let's wait till the end of the night. Yeah, he didn't want them fucking falling out now on the fucking street. Now I have heard in a few, a couple of different sources that little Timothy did not select that pixie stick initially that Ronald talked him into it. Like he picked a lollipop and Ronald talked him into the Pixie stick. Oh, you're gonna love this.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

You're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_03 37:38

Would you just look at it? And I'm wondering if, like, in his mind, he's like, well, maybe I can still afford all these debts with just taking out one kid because he didn't insist for his daughter to eat that pixie stick. And how callous are you to know that you have put other people's children, not only your own, but other people's children in danger as well. It's just insane to me. This is how shitty of a human being you can be to think like that. To think that your the death of your child is your way out of debt.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

Thoughts and reflection on this is fucking horrible in my head writing.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

I know.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

It really is.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

I just And you know what's crazy is I didn't garbage find this story through another podcaster. Like I have a lot of our cases. I found this by literally looking up why there was a urban legend existed years and years ago. Oh yeah. And then I so I resurfaced it, you know. I re um I looked it up again because I was like, I want to talk about that this Halloween. What the fuck was that guy's name? And I had written down Robert Clark O'Brien, but it was it's Ronald, yes. So I had on my list, I literally had Robert, and then they were like, no, girl, it's Ronald, and here's all the information on that. And then I looked up some YouTube shit. So there wasn't a book on this one that I listened to, but just uh YouTube research and Wikipedia helped me in the right direction on putting that one together.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Ronald the Septic Tank. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

Ronald the Septic Tank.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

Yeah, that's where we're at. I mean, I hate you, Lindsay, for telling me this because there's humans out here like this.

Taking Halloween Back

SPEAKER_02 39:23

Well, you know what?

SPEAKER_03 39:24

Tomorrow, we are gonna be people that pass out candy with absolute nothing but joy and able to give children that roam our neighborhood every year a wonderful night and delicious candy because we're not terrible people. And we're gonna have a great time. We're gonna have tacos and trick-or-treats. Yes. And it's gonna be on a Saturday, so we're gonna have tequila later.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Shoddy Bushhoddy. I mean, what piece of Americana or using that Celtic fucking tradition? And you it is so magical for children to be able to just walk around, you know, in a safe space and be able to get all of that. You tie up all the history behind it, it's it's it's a beautiful thing. Halloween is so beautiful, magic.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

It actually is, and it makes me really, really mad that I was raised thinking that it was the devil's holiday when it's actually the opposite of that. It's was made to ward off evil spirits.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

And it's rebirth. And it's rebirth, it's harvest. Yeah, it's harvest. You're you're changing over the seasons, you know? It's the solstice, it's you're you're changing into a good thing. It's all about good, good, good. And then the fucking septic tank shows up.

unknown 40:43

I know.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

You bastard.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

And of course, he had to be a religious person. So, Jesse, now that this horrible fucking story is done, what amazing band are you gonna play today to cleanse our palate?

Band Plug Anti Rope

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Well, Lindsay, we're finishing off our Eclipse Records feature. Okay. So it's our fourth and final band from Eclipse Records. We may be reaching back out and doing another segment maybe next uh season. That would be great. Yeah. They have some amazing.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

Oh, yeah, we've had a great time with Eclipse Records.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Go to Eclipse Records if you just want to check out music that you haven't heard, discover some cool stuff, check their stuff out. We're gonna listen to Anti-Rope. This is a song that you already know. It's a cover song.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Yeah, you're gonna fucking love it, dude. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_03 41:29

And you said the band's name was Anti-Rope?

SPEAKER_02 41:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

All right.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

These guys are from Germany, Munich.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

Ooh. Exciting.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

Yes. You know this song. I'm not even gonna mention it.

SPEAKER_03 41:40

Okay. Hurry.

Halloween Plans And Safety Checks

SPEAKER_03 46:17

Yes. Well, that was an amazing redo of an absolute classic. And Anti Rope is a band from Munich with a new sound that makes the psychedelic cruel and the damned sound heavenly. That's what's in their bio on Instagram. It is very perfect. They just released their second album with Eclipse Records. And yeah, go follow those guys immediately. Add that song to your playlist.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

I think I want to add it to our sex playlist.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

You're revealing secrets here on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 46:53

I mean it's on Spotify. You can find it. It is Gen Z sex playlist. That's what we play sometimes. That's fine.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

But we want you guys to have an amazing Halloween. Uh so this is gonna be out on the Friday before. So hey, if you're local to Lake City, send us a message if you want to know a very nice local trick-or-treat spot. Hit us up, we'll send you the address. And you can stop by our place and have a taco. And say hi. And say hey. And get some great candy for your children or for yourself. If you're adult, we give we give candy to adults too. We do not discriminate whatsoever. No. We got a bucket full of that shit. All ages, all sizes. And um, yeah, and if you're cool enough, I'll give you one of my little mini Halloween ducks or ghosties.

SPEAKER_02 47:47

Aww.

SPEAKER_03 47:48

Yeah, we won't be giving those to the small children because they're a choking hazard, but I will give them to adults.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

I kind of want to do the adult cooler thing. Like where you have the cooler and it's like kids on one side, the adults on the other.

SPEAKER_03 47:58

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

But it's on a table and somebody actually pops out of the cooler instead of a beer being in there or something. That's me.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Well, hit us up. If you're local and you can come out, cousin it and uncle Fester. And yeah, because we're we got our own, we have a uh a theme for the Adams Family this year with some of our friends. Gonna be other cast members from that amazing family. The Addams family. Yes. But yeah, so we're gonna sign off here because we're gonna go have another drink and we're gonna grill some chicken and we're gonna be ready for Halloween. We hope you had a happy one. And make sure you don't let your kids have any fucking candy that has been stapled shut.

SPEAKER_02 48:41

Just check it anyhow. Check the seals. It's a good idea. Check the seals. It's a good fucking idea.

SPEAKER_03 48:45

It is a good idea. Make sure everything is factory.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

Fuck this one.

SPEAKER_03 48:50

And fuck Ronald Clark O'Brien for being part of the urban legend that tried to take out Halloween for us.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

It was a real thing. Did not know.

SPEAKER_03 48:59

Fuck you guy.

SPEAKER_02 49:00

Yeah. Glad you're dead.

SPEAKER_03 49:01

Glad you're dead.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

Fuck you guy.

Socials Merch And Sign Off

SPEAKER_03 49:05

And make sure you follow all of our socials. So on Instagram where Drink About Something, on uh TikTok where we do sporadic lives, or Drink About Something Pod underscore Lindsay. You can send us an email at drinkaboutsomethingpod at gmail.com. Where are we on that YouTube, Jess?

SPEAKER_02 49:22

Type in Gin Z. And uh you'll find us. Yeah. And if you type in Gen Z on Spotify, you might even find more stuff.

SPEAKER_03 49:31

You might find some other playlists. Yeah. And then uh our main website is drinkaboutsomething.site, where you can actually find all of those social media sites right there on drinkaboutsomething.site. We've got merch. Yes. We need you guys to keep on loving, keep on sharing, give us some feedback.

SPEAKER_02 49:51

And I got contest on some of those uh episodes.

SPEAKER_03 49:54

If you go back, you can win some merch. And we're looking, we're always looking for our next biggest fan where we can send you some free merch. So yeah, hit us up, follow, like, share, comment, rate, all the things. We love you.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

Dude, wait a minute. I wasn't ready.

SPEAKER_03 50:11

Are you already?

SPEAKER_02 50:12

I wasn't ready for the sunshine of your love. So much