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The deaths of five children were initially blamed on stranger poisoning. A key quality of the poisoned candy myths is that the poisoner is a stranger who is indiscriminately murdering children, rather than dying from an unrelated medical condition or being poisoned by a family member. All of these claims were proven false upon investigation; none of them were poisonings by strangers.
* [[Accidental death]]: In 1970, Kevin Toston, a five-year-old boy from the [[Detroit]] area, died after finding and eating his uncle's [[heroin]]. The family attempted to protect the uncle by claiming the drug had been sprinkled in the child's Halloween candy.<ref>Carroll, Aaron & Rachel Vreeman (2009). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QWkiGcX0E0kC&q=Detroit+heroin+Halloween+1970 Don't Swallow Your Gum!: Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies about Your Body and Health]''. Macmillan. p. 146. {{ISBN|978-0-312-53387-8}}.</ref>
* [[Filicide|Murdered by father]]: In a 1974 case, an 8-year-old boy in [[Deer Park, Texas]], died after eating a [[cyanide]]-laced package of [[Pixy Stix]] that his father had planted in
* [[Natural death]] unrelated to candy: In 1978, Patrick Wiederhold, a two-year-old boy from [[Flint, Michigan]] died after eating Halloween candy. However, toxicology tests found no evidence of poison, and his death was determined to be due to [[natural causes]].<ref name=":3">{{cite web|title = Halloween Sadism: The Evidence|url = http://www.udel.edu/soc/faculty/best/site/halloween.html#article|website = University of Delaware Faculty Pages|access-date = October 27, 2014|last = Best|first = Joel}} Revised 2008 and 2011.</ref>
* Natural death due to [[pre-existing medical condition]]: In 1990, Ariel Katz, a seven-year-old girl in [[Santa Monica, California]], died while trick-or-treating. Early press reports blamed poisoned candy, despite her parents telling the police that she had previously been diagnosed with a serious medical condition, an [[enlarged heart]], which was the actual cause of death.<ref name=":3" />
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