American Dread

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HALLOWEEN NIGHT, 1992 — DECATUR, ILLINOIS

Do you remember the murder of Penny Timmons?

34 years ago tonight, a young Decatur woman found herself caught in a nightmare that would become one of the city's most disturbing murder cases.

Penny Timmons was just 20 years old when she disappeared on Halloween night in 1992. Before she vanished, a desperate message was reportedly left inside a local gas station restroom.

"He has a gun in his pants! HELP! This isn't a joke!"

Her car was later discovered abandoned near Kmart Plaza. For more than a year, her family waited for answers. Then, in December 1993, Penny's remains were discovered buried in a backyard in Decatur.

The investigation would eventually lead to a conviction and a 60-year prison sentence.

Today marks the 34th anniversary of Penny Timmons' disappearance. We wanted to revisit her story and remember a young woman whose life was tragically cut short.

This was one of the first cases we covered on American Dread, shortly after launching our podcast over a year ago.

Link for this episode - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5R5B2BWeBvgoiTLsXF29Gu?si=b43108b3b91741d6

Do you remember when this crime happened? Were you living in Decatur at the time? We'd love to hear what you remember.

--- American Dread

Check out this scary story from 1974. 'The Halloween Pixie Stix Murder'.

THE HALLOWEEN PIXIE STIX MURDER

When you were growing up, how many times did you hear stories that we now recognize as cautionary tales? Were you ever told never to talk to a sketchy-looking man that your mother pointed out on the street? Or to never accept a ride in a car with someone you didn’t know? Or to never accept candy from strangers - even at Halloween.

It was at Halloween when every horror story that your mother could ever imagine came to life. Never knock on a door of a house without a porch light on. Never accept treats that were not professionally packaged. Never bite into an apple that your parents hadn’t carefully checked - they were filled with needles and razor blades, don’t you know?

It all boiled down to never take candy from strangers.

But that was crazy, wasn’t it? It was Halloween, for pete’s sake. Who’s evil enough to stick razor blades into apples or put poison into candy bars? Those are just stories, aren’t they? Those kinds of things never really happen.

Well, as it turns out, even though MOST of those urban legends weren’t true, it turns out some stories like this often get started for a reason. And sometimes, the monster is not a stranger after all.

On Halloween night, 1974, Timothy O’Bryan and his sister, Elizabeth, had anxiously waited for their father, Ronald, to get home from work so that they could go trick or treating. The family, which included their mother, Daynene, lived in the suburb of Deer Park, Texas. Ronald was an optician at Texas State Optical in Houston, was a deacon at the Second Baptist Church, where he also sang in the choir and oversaw the local bus program, and was, as far as everyone who knew him was concerned, a wonderful, loving father.

When he finally walked through the door of the family home, the children rushed to him, hurrying him back out to the street. Still wearing his white optician’s lab coat, Ronald took Timothy and Elizabeth out to celebrate Halloween. They met some friends and went to the first house of the night.

Timothy rang the doorbell. There was no answer. If anyone was home, they were taking far too long to answer the door. The children impatiently ran to the next house on the block, leaving Ronald to catch up. When he did, he had five Giant Pixy Sticks in his hand - tubes of pure sugary goodness that the kids couldn’t wait to consume. But Ronald promised he would distribute the candy among the children when they got back to the house.

It was late when they returned home. Ronald got the children ready for bed, but before he fell asleep, Timothy asked for just one treat from the night’s bounty of sweets. He chose a 22-inch Giant Pixie Stix. The sugar had hardened in the tube, so his father helpfully rolled the candy between his hands to loosen the contents. Timothy poured the confection into his mouth, but his face wrinkled in disgust. It tasted terrible. Ronald quickly ran to get some Kool-Aid for his son to wash the bad taste away.

Timothy never had the chance to drink it. Within moments, he began to choke, vomit, and then convulse. Something was terribly wrong. When paramedics arrived, they found Ronald cradling Timothy in his arms as the little boy gagged and foamed at the mouth. He was pronounced dead at the hospital less than an hour later.

An autopsy later revealed that the eight-year-old had died from a fatal dose of cyanide. Where had it come from? The top two inches of the Giant Pixy Stix that Timothy had been so excited about contained enough poison to kill two grown adults. The little boy never had a chance.

Word spread about Timothy’s death, naturally starting a panic in the community. Numerous parents in Deer Park and the surrounding area took the candy their children had collected from trick or treating to the police, terrified that it was laced with poison. None of it was, but the authorities could understand the fear that Timothy’s death had caused. They had already started their investigation into the boy’s murder.

Thankfully, the other four laced Pixy Stix - which Ronald O’Bryan claimed that he received from the first house on the trick-or-treating route after the kids had run ahead -- had not been eaten. When questioned by detectives, Ronald sobbed as he suggested that an unidentified monster must have handed out poisoned candy to trick-or-treaters. He told police that he vaguely remembered where the candy had come from - but he never got a good look at the owner. All he saw was a shadowy hand clutching the Pixy Stix from behind a door.

The police went to the address and questioned the owner of the house, Courtney Melvin, who worked as an air traffic controller at Hobby Airport. But the police were confounded when they learned that he had not left work until 10:30 p.m. on Halloween night. His wife had stopped answering the door when she ran out of candy, around 6:45. That was before Ronald O’Bryan claimed that he was there. In addition, Mrs. Melvin had not given out any Pixy Stix that night. Detectives interrogated the entire neighborhood and still couldn’t find the source of the deadly candy.

Ronald O’Bryan was grief-stricken by his son’s death. He was already having a terrible year, and Timothy’s death seemed to have pushed him over the edge with grief. Ronald was eight months behind in car payments and was being threatened with repossession. He had defaulted on several bank loans and was suspected of theft at Texas State Optical and was close to being fired. He had held 21 different jobs over the last decade and was more than $100,000 in debt. He further strained his family’s finances by taking out a $10,000 life insurance policy on his children earlier in the year, which his wife protested as an unnecessary expense. She also probably would have objected to the additional pair of $20,000 life insurance policies Ronald took out on Timothy and Elizabeth on October 3, if she had known about them.

And she definitely would’ve been horrified to find out that, mere hours after Timothy’s death, her husband called to collect on the policies.

The police didn’t know about the life insurance policies - not yet, anyway - but they did discover that Ronald had visited a chemical supply store in Houston to buy cyanide just a week before Halloween. He left without purchasing anything after the smallest amount available to purchase was five pounds. When they found out about the life insurance policies, they were convinced they had their man. Detectives theorized that he had laced the candy with poison so that he could kill his own children for the life insurance money. Poisoning their friends with the extra Pixy Stix would help cover up his crime. Luckily, none of the other candy was ever eaten.

Investigators repeatedly questioned Ronald, but he maintained his innocence. He blamed the whole thing on some “mad poisoner,” just like in the stories, who handed out Halloween candy laced with poison or needles and candy apples with razor blades inside. Surely the police had heard those stories, hadn’t they?

O’Bryan was arrested and brought to trial. On June 3, 1975, a jury took just 46 minutes to find the dedicated father and devout member of the Second Baptist Church guilty of capital murder and four counts of attempted murder.

Ronald was sent to Death Row in Huntsville, Texas. He was so hated by the other inmates that they reportedly petitioned to hold an organized demonstration on his ex*****on date. They had to wait a while for that date. His first ex*****on date was set for August 8, 1980, but his attorneys managed to drag things out until March 31, 1984. Shortly before midnight, he was executed by lethal injection. Outside of the prison, a crowd of about 300 demonstrators cheered while others yelled, “Trick or treat!”

Ronald O’Bryan didn’t just kill his son - and try to kill four other children -- on October 31, 1974, he also killed the idea of “Halloween” for several generations of kids that hadn’t even been born yet. Ronald, who was known as the “Candyman” by his fellow death row inmates, successfully perpetuated the legend that there are strangers out there, intent on killing children with poisoned Halloween candy.

The truth was, there had never been a case of a stranger handing out poisoned candy to kids on Halloween. That really had been just an urban legend. In 1974, there finally was such a case - but he was no stranger.

Ronald O’Bryan was a monster in human form, and a nightmare brought to life.

October 30, 1982 — The Unsolved Murder of Marvin Brandland

On the evening of October 30, 1982, 69-year-old Marvin Brandland and his wife, Ethel, were at their home in Fort Dodge, Iowa, handing out candy to neighborhood trick-or-treaters. It was the kind of ordinary Halloween weekend evening countless families were having across the country.

Then another person came to the door.

The visitor was wearing a pillowcase over his head with holes cut out for his eyes. At first, Marvin and Ethel believed it was someone they knew playing a Halloween prank. Their granddaughter had only recently left the house, and nothing about the strange costume immediately suggested they were in danger.

That changed when the masked person produced a gun and demanded money.

The intruder followed Ethel into the house and ordered the couple toward the basement, where they kept a safe. That detail immediately raised a troubling question: How did this person know the safe was there? According to accounts of the investigation, very few people knew about it.

Marvin apparently still believed there was a chance the whole thing was an elaborate prank. When he attempted to grab the gun, the intruder fired.

Marvin was critically wounded. He was first taken to a Fort Dodge hospital and later transferred to Des Moines, where he died during surgery in the early morning hours of October 31.

The masked killer escaped.

Investigators were left with a disturbing possibility that has followed the case for more than four decades. If the person knew about the safe, was this truly a random robbery? Or was the man behind the pillowcase someone familiar with Marvin, Ethel, or their home?

Despite years of investigation, no one has ever been charged with Marvin Brandland’s murder.

What began as an evening of handing out Halloween candy ended with a husband dead, a family devastated, and an unidentified killer disappearing behind one of the simplest disguises imaginable.

More than 40 years later, the question remains: who was behind the mask?

Had you ever heard of the murder of Marvin Brandland before today? Do you think the killer’s knowledge of the safe suggests this was someone who knew the family?

Share your thoughts below, and follow American Dread for more forgotten crimes, cold cases, and true crime stories that deserve to be remembered.

— American Dread

October 29, 2019 — The Unsolved Murder of Scott Reese

Long before his name appeared in a homicide file, Scott Reese had spent much of his life proving that being legally blind wasn’t going to stop him from doing the things he loved.

Scott was born with optic nerve hypoplasia and had been legally blind since childhood. He graduated from Griffith High School in northwest Indiana, where he even served as a placekicker on the football team, earning recognition for his courage as an athlete. He later graduated from Purdue Calumet with a degree in communications, eventually moved to Indianapolis, found work and built an independent life for himself.

He was also a huge Indianapolis Colts fan. In 2017, Scott received national attention when special electronic glasses allowed him to actually see the Colts play for the first time. He was invited onto the field at Lucas Oil Stadium and finally experienced something he had spent years mostly following through radio broadcasts.

Less than three years later, his life was taken.

On the night of October 29, 2019, police were called to an apartment complex on Bordeaux Court on Indianapolis’ northeast side. Scott, 42, had been stabbed multiple times during a violent encounter. Evidence indicates he managed to get out of his apartment and make his way toward a neighbor’s door before collapsing. Scott died from his injuries.

Investigators searched for the person responsible, but no arrest followed. Seven years later, his murder remains unsolved.

Scott’s sister, Cathy Peters, has continued fighting for answers and pushing for investigators to take another look at evidence from the case. Even in 2026, his family is still asking the same question they have carried since that October night: Who killed Scott Reese?

Scott spent his life overcoming obstacles. He worked, lived independently, loved sports, cared deeply about his family and refused to allow his limited eyesight to define what he could accomplish. His life deserves to be remembered for all of that — not simply for how it ended.

Had you ever heard of Scott Reese’s case before today? Share your thoughts below, and follow American Dread for more forgotten crimes, cold cases, and true crime stories that deserve to be remembered.

— American Dread

October 29, 1966 — The Unsolved Murder of Anita Eileen Taylor

In the early morning hours of October 29, 1966, 21-year-old Larry Taylor returned from his second-shift job to the small home he shared with his wife and their 18-month-old son in Springfield, Ohio. When his wife, 20-year-old Anita Eileen Taylor, failed to answer the door, he became concerned and forced his way inside.

What he found would follow the family for the rest of their lives.

Anita was lying on the bedroom floor, severely beaten and barely alive. Investigators believed she had also been sexually assaulted. In another bedroom, the couple’s 18-month-old son, Aaron, was found injured inside his crib. His leg had been broken and his small body was covered with bruises.

Anita and Aaron were rushed to the hospital together. Aaron survived his injuries, but his mother did not.

Investigators found the back door of the home standing open, but there were no obvious signs of forced entry. Detectives began trying to determine who had entered the home and why a young mother and her baby had been attacked with such violence.

Anita had been married to her high school sweetheart and had recently taken a new job to help the young family save enough money to buy a home. At only 20 years old, she was building a life that was just beginning.

Instead, her son would grow up without her.

Forensic evidence preserved from the crime scene later excluded Larry Taylor as his wife’s killer, but it never produced the identity investigators were searching for. Larry died in a motorcycle accident in 1978, never knowing who had murdered his wife.

Aaron survived that night and has spent much of his adult life keeping his mother’s case alive, searching for information and hoping advances in forensic science may someday provide the answer his family has waited decades to receive.

Today marks 60 years since Anita Taylor was murdered inside her own home.

The Springfield Police Division and Ohio cold-case investigators still consider her homicide open. Evidence from that night still exists, and after six decades, there remains hope that modern technology—or someone finally coming forward—could identify the person responsible.

Had you ever heard of Anita Eileen Taylor’s case before today?

Share your thoughts below, and follow American Dread for more forgotten crimes, cold cases, and true crime stories that deserve to be remembered.

— American Dread

A quick message to all of our new followers and friends!

First, thank you for joining us and supporting American Dread! For those who may be new to the podcast, we typically release new episodes every other Wednesday. However, some cases require additional research and attention, which may occasionally cause us to adjust our release schedule.

With that said, we're on track to release our next episode Wednesday, November 4, featuring a case from the 1980s. It's another lesser-known story from the past that deserves to be told.

As American Dread continues to grow, we truly appreciate everyone who listens, follows, likes, and shares our episodes. Your support helps us reach new listeners and bring attention to stories that should never be forgotten.

Thank you for being part of American Dread!

American Dread
True Stories of Tragedy and Terror from the Dark Side of the American Heartland.

www.AmericanDread.com

A Small Fundraiser for American Dread. As American Dread continues to grow, we’ve been looking at a few ways to improve the show and build for the future.

We recently started a small GoFundMe fundraiser to help with things like equipment upgrades, a more mobile recording setup, research expenses, and professional materials for events.

There is absolutely no expectation to donate. We simply wanted to make it available because several people have asked how they could help support the podcast.

Listening, sharing our episodes, and following along already means a lot to us.

Thank you for continuing to support American Dread.

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For more than four decades, Ewald “Ed” Bandixen was a familiar face along U.S. Highway 67 near Folletts, Iowa. He owned and operated a small roadside service station, knew the people who stopped in, and had built a quiet life around a business he had run for 43 years.

On the morning of October 28, 1974, that routine came to a violent end.

A customer entered the station and found 70-year-old Ed lying behind the counter. He had been shot in the head, and investigators believed robbery may have been the motive. What should have been another ordinary day at a business Ed had spent most of his life running became the beginning of a murder investigation that would never be solved.

Ed had never married and was remembered by people in the area as a generous man. He was known for sharing vegetables from his garden with neighbors and for being part of the community in a simple, familiar way. He was not someone most people would have expected to become the victim of a violent crime.

Investigators followed leads, but no one was ever charged with killing him. More than 50 years later, the murder of Ewald “Ed” Bandixen remains unsolved.

Someone entered that small service station on an October morning, took Ed’s life, and walked away. Decades later, the reason may seem simple, but the identity of the person responsible is still unknown.

Had you ever heard of Ed Bandixen’s case before today? Do you believe a murder this old can still be solved after more than half a century?

Share your thoughts below, and follow American Dread for more forgotten crimes, cold cases, and true crime stories that deserve to be remembered.

— American Dread

Did you know American Dread is part of the American Hauntings Podcast Network?

That means even more incredible stories are just a click away! From chilling hauntings and notorious gangsters to unsolved mysteries, true crime, and much more, the network offers something for everyone.

With over 10 seasons and hundreds of episodes to explore, there’s no shortage of fascinating stories to keep you listening.

Discover more shows and start listening today at www.americanhauntingspodcast.com