Halloween Poisoning Charge Denied by Victim s Father PASADENA, Tex. (AP) - A father charged with murder in the Halloween trick-or-treat (Masoning of his own son stoutly claimed innocence Tuesday and neighbors and friends were stunned “with shock and dis- l>elief” at his arrest. Ronald Clark O’Bryan, a 30- year-old optician from neighboring Deer Park, was charged early Tuesday with the cyanide poisoning of his 8-year-old son Timothy. The boy died Halloween night after eating a trick-or- treat candy which had been laced with cyanide. The elder O’Bryan, jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond, was described by the pastor of his church as “very torn up and puzzled.” “He doesn’t have any idea of why the police charged him,” said the Rev. Jimmie Jones, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, after visiting O’Bryan in jail. “He reemphasized his innocence.” According to a source, O’Bryan was charged after he took a polygraph test Monday and after officers discovered he recently took out a $20,000 to $38,000 life insurance policy on his son. O'Bryan was very active in the Second Baptist Church and friends described him as “a good, Christian man—an above average father.” “We’re a very close church,” said the Rev. Mr. Jones. “The members have reacted shock and disbelief." with ROBERT C. O'BRYAN Charged With Murder TIMOTHY C. O’BRYAN Ate Poison Candy W. C. Gill, a friend who lived next door to the O’Bryans for four years, said he couldn’t understand the charge. “Until 1 hear his own statement that he did it,” said Gill, (See FATHER, Page 3A)
