01x08 - Poison In The Plot

[bunniefuu]

- Female narrator: Two men
are buried side by side

In this quiet cemetery.

Alive, they were strangers.

But in death, they
share a shocking secret.

A classic love story--

- For the first time in a
long time, my mom was happy.

- Bree: She had her fairy tale.

- Narrator: --That ends
in a trail of tragedy.

- ♪

- Antifreeze is a
horrible way to die.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- Joleene: Not just
one husband, but two.

It's devastating.

- Narrator: But is
everything as it seems?

- There was something
nagging at me.

Was this really a suicide?

- Bill: We looked for
evidence of a suicide note.

Found none.

- Joleene: That alerted
the investigators

Something is off here.

- Narrator:
The answer to the mystery

Can only be found in one place.

- Bill: Sometimes the truth
can lie buried in the ground.

- I did not k*ll my father.

I did not k*ll my stepdad.

And I did not
try to k*ll myself.

- ♪

♪♪

- ♪

- Narrator: August 22, 2005.

In a sleepy, working-class
suburb of syracuse, new york,

A panicked woman calls 911.

- [phone rings]

- Back then, I was, uh, running
one of the major crime units

Here in onondaga county.

This woman reported

That she had not heard from
her husband in several hours.

- He had been locked
in the bedroom.

And he was unresponsive
for some period of time.

- Narrator: Police
rush out to the house,

Where they find her
waiting anxiously.

- She was frantic.
She was upset.

She was concerned.

- The officer went
down the hallway--

- [floor creaking]

- Bill: --To the
master bedroom,

And was able to open
the door, ah, by a shove.

- ♪

- Bill: Inside,
ah, he found a body.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- Bill: Ah, he was naked.

Obviously deceased.

- ♪

- Narrator: It's a
shocking discovery.

The man, 48-year-old
david castor,

Is identified by his
grief-stricken wife, stacey.

She is devastated, screaming
and begging the paramedics

To revive david.

- ♪

- Narrator: But he's gone.

- I was designated as
the case detective.

I enter the bedroom.

There was a lot of vomit
on the bed, on the floor.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- It's just terrible.

- On the night side
table were some short glasses.

And one of those short glasses
was filled with a green liquid.

- Bill: There was a large
gallon jug of antifreeze

Partially under the bed.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- Michael: It appears to be
a simple suicide

By antifreeze poisoning.

Whether the deaths look like a
suicide, a homicide, or natural,

We treat them all the same way

Until we figure out
what the cause of death is.

- ♪

- Bill: The evidence technicians

Looked for evidence
of a suicide note.

Found none.

- Narrator: Hoping to better
understand the circumstances...

Detectives interview
his wife, stacey.

- She was very distraught.

- Dominick: Stacey
was quite upset

Over what she had witnessed.

It's very hard
to interview someone

As a loved one has just died.

You try not to push too hard.

But yet, we still
need information.

- Narrator: Police ask stacey
to give them an idea

Of david castor's background.

She tells them that david

Ran his own heating and
air conditioning business.

In fact, the couple
met when, in 2001,

David hired stacey
to work in his office.

- He installed furnaces
and air conditioners

Into people's homes.

And my mom was his secretary.

- Narrator: They
quickly fell in love.

Stacey says david
was an easygoing,

Likeable man who
loved the outdoors.

- Bill: David castor was the
kind of guy that you want to

Play cards with, you want to
go out and have a beer with.

He was very well respected.

David really enjoyed life.

He had a lot of
what we call his toys.

You know, he had a
jet ski, he had a motorbike.

- Narrator: For both,
it was a second chance.

They'd both been married before.

And stacey had two
daughters, bree and ashley,

From her previous marriage.

In 2003, david and
stacey tied the knot.

- She had her, like,
dream wedding, you know?

She had her fairy tale.

- Narrator: Things in the newly
blended family had gotten off

To a rocky start.

- At first, me and my sister
didn't like him at all.

He made it clear that he
didn't want to be our father.

- Narrator: But then things
took a turn for the better.

- Ashley: But after a while,
something inside of him changed.

He started wanting
to be in our lives.

And he started to
want to be our friend.

And we started getting close.

- He did his best to be
there for her children.

- Narrator: David, stacey, and
her two daughters had finally

Become a solid family unit.

- Bree: We got to the point
where we were all getting along,

Things were working.

- For the first time in a
long time, my mom was happy.

- Narrator: There was
one sticking point:

Stacey didn't like
how david spent money.

- And they did fight because

My mom did pay a
majority of the bills and...

David just paid for his toys.

- Joleene: There were
some rough spots.

But on the outside,
here is a average,

Middle-class woman married to
an average, middle-class man.

- Narrator: Outside her home,
stacey tells police that lately

David hadn't been himself.

- Stacey said that david
had been depressed about

The death of his father
several months earlier.

For much of, ah, Friday,
she and david argued...

About their
financial situation.

- ♪

- Joleene: According
to stacey castor,

David castor had gone
into his bedroom,

Locked himself in, and drank.

- ♪

- She claimed that
he was intoxicated

And just stayed in
his bedroom all weekend.

- Stacey said that he
had taken his own life.

- Narrator: Stacey castor breaks
the news to her two daughters

That their stepfather is gone.

- I didn't know that
he was hurting her, like--

Or anything.

I mean...I had no idea
that he was upset like that.

I never thought for a second

That he would
actually k*ll himself.

- Narrator: As the
family mourns...

David's body is
taken for autopsy,

Where the medical examiner
finds evidence corroborating

That david died from
antifreeze poisoning.

- ♪

- Dominick: The medical
examiner's office

Makes their ruling that...

Ah, david's death was a suicide.

- Narrator: Ordinarily, that
would be the end of the story.

But onondaga county detectives
can't shake the feeling that

Something about david castor's
death simply doesn't add up.

- Dominick: There
was no suicide note.

There was nothing indicating
why he would've done this.

There was something
nagging at me.

Was this really a suicide?

- ♪

- Narrator: The first thing that
stands out to investigators:

David was a hunter

And often spent time
camping in the woods.

- One of the things we found
under david's bed during the,

Ah, search was a shotgun.

- Here's a guy who was
an avid outdoorsman.

I gotta believe
that this guy, uh,

Would have probably
pulled the trigger on a shotgun

Before he drank some antifreeze.

Antifreeze is a
horrible way to die.

Somebody would have
to be very disturbed

To k*ll themself that way.

This guy just didn't
appear to be that way.

It didn't fit the narrative.

- It just didn't seem right.

- I don't think this is a simple
suicide by antifreeze poisoning.

We need to look into this more.

Once it's ruled a suicide,
we have no business trying

To investigate a homicide.

But I got into police work

Because I like
finding out the truth.

- ♪

- Narrator: Detectives decide
to look into david castor's

Background to see who
might have wanted him dead.

In the meantime,
his widow, stacey,

Lays her husband to rest.

- Her family and
friends are there.

They're grieving with her.

It's devastating.

- Narrator: Then detective
spinelli notices something

At the cemetery...

A second grave on the same plot.

He learns something startling:

This is not the first time

Stacey castor has
buried a husband.

- ♪

- Narrator: Michael wallace,
stacey's first husband

And the father
of her two daughters,

Died of heart failure
five years prior.

- ♪

- It's just unfathomable
that this poor lady

Lost these two husbands.

- You're talking about
incredibly bad luck.

But I think you would present
that to just about anybody,

Probably raise
their eyebrows and say,

"hmm, that's a little weird."

- ♪

- Narrator: Detectives look at

The grieving widow
with fresh eyes.

Is stacey castor the victim
of incredibly bad luck?

Or could the truth be more
horrible than anyone imagined?

Coming up: Clue by clue,

Investigators uncover
a horrifying truth.

- Ashley: We got
to the hospital.

And my mom goes, "I
have to tell you...

That daddy didn't make it."

- On the outside,
it's so normal.

But there's always the secret.

- Bill: I'm all in.

This is now a full-blown
homicide investigation.

- Narrator: And the case
takes an unimaginable turn.

- Joleene: Investigators
realized they would have to

Exhume the body.

- ♪

- [bird chirping]

- Narrator: Detectives are
investigating the alleged

Suicide of david castor.

Could someone in his life--
an employee or a neighbor--

Have wanted to hurt him?

- You don't know the
people around you.

You don't know who they are.

- Narrator: Or could
his wife, stacey,

Had something to
do with his death?

Detective spinelli pores over
the evidence photos from scenes

Of the suicide, looking for
anything out of the ordinary,

And he spots something.

- At the scene, one
of the investigators ended up

Looking in the garbage.

And he sees a turkey baster.

It's curious to him.

He pulls the baster out.

- A brand-new
turkey baster.

Why would you throw that out?

- And he notices something
on the tip of that baster.

And he puts it into evidence.

- Narrator: The turkey baster
and the glass of antifreeze

Are sent to the lab.

And when the results come
back, the police are shocked.

- There was only one set of
fingerprints on the glass.

And they belonged to stacey.

Not david.

So you would think to yourself,
"if the guy drank this stuff,

Wouldn't his fingerprints
be all over that glass?"

- ♪

- Dominick: The lab
found ethyl glycol

In the turkey baster.

- Narrator: This is the active
ingredient in antifreeze.

- Dominick: And on the tip
of that turkey baster...

Was david castor's dna.

- ♪

- We couldn't believe it.

- Joleene: If I'm going to
k*ll myself with antifreeze,

I'm going to pick up a glass.

I'm not gonna go into the
kitchen, find a turkey baster,

Put antifreeze in it, and
inject it down my throat.

That alerted the investigators
something is off here.

- The much more likely scenario
is that the more distressed

He got as a result
of the antifreeze,

The more difficult
it was for his k*ller

To take a cup up
to his lips and pour it.

It became much more easy to
inject him with the antifreeze

By way of turkey baster.

- ♪

- Somebody was
responsible for his death,

And it wasn't david castor.

- Bill: I'm all in.

This is now going to be treated

As a full-blown
homicide investigation.

- Joleene: And investigators
began to realize:

Was it stacey castor
who was responsible

For k*lling her husband?

- ♪

- Bill: Everybody in this case
was sensitive to the fact that

We may be dealing here
with just a tragic,

Hard-luck woman who has
legitimately lost two husbands.

- Narrator: For investigators,
there's a single,

Unthinkable question
just rising to the surface...

About stacey castor's
first husband.

- Bill: In the back of
my mind, I'm thinking,

"well, how did
michael wallace die?"

You know, what are the odds?

- Narrator: Investigators decide
to take a deeper look at

The first husband
stacey castor lost.

Twenty years before
michael wallace was found dead,

Stacey castor was a


With red hair
and a bubbly personality.

One night, friends introduced
her to michael wallace.

Stacey tells friends that
she knew after five minutes

That she had met
the love of her life.

And the feeling was mutual.

- My dad said to his friend

That he was going to
take my mom home that night.

And after that,
they were together.

They didn't get married until I
was three, but they got married.

And they had my sister
shortly after that.

Everything was good.

- Bill: Michael, he absolutely
adored ashley and bree.

He appeared to
have adored stacey.

- Joleene: Michael wallace
was a bit of a wild child.

But they got along great.

They got married.
They had a lot of fun.

- Narrator: The couple didn't
see that much of each other.

Stacey had a job during the
day at an ambulance company.

Michael worked as a
mechanic on the night shift.

- He worked nights so he'd be
home during the day with us.

We'd just do fun
things together.

Just--they're happy.

- Narrator: But as
the years went on,

The once-smitten couple's
relationship was unraveling.

There were rumors that
both stacey and michael

Were having affairs.

Then, on January 11, 2000,
tragedy struck.

Thirty-eight-year-old
michael wallace

Had been sick for several days.

- Bree: We are getting
home from school.

My mom walked in first.

And then, well,
she didn't let us in.

We had to go to the
next door neighbor's house.

- [siren wailing]
- [police radio chatter]

- Ashley: Next thing you
hear are the ambulances.

We got to the hospital.

And my mom--she had looked
like she had been crying.

And she goes,
"I have to tell you"--

- [heart monitor beeping]

- --"that daddy
didn't make it."

- [heart monitor flatlines]

- Narrator: Michael wallace,
stacey told her daughters,

Had died suddenly.

- This is a slightly overweight,
but otherwise healthy adult male

In the prime of life.

- Her and the doctor both said
that he had a heart attack.

So that's what I believed.

- Narrator: As the family

Struggled to cope
with michael's death,

Stacey became
more and more absent

From her children's lives.

- Bree: We argued.

There's a bunch of girls
living in a house, you know?

We all got on each
other's nerves at times.

- Narrator: Stacey seemed more
interested in her own love life

Than in taking care
of her daughters.

- There was a time my mom
went to california for a week

And left me and my sister home.

It was almost exactly a
year after my dad died.

And she was off
meeting somebody new.

It's like, really?

- Joleene: Stacey had her path,

And she knew which way
she wanted to go.

- ♪

- Narrator: Now, after
stacey's second husband

Has turned up dead,

Detectives try to get more
forensic information about

The death of
her first husband...

And run into a
suspicious road block.

- Dominick: No one called for
an autopsy on michael wallace.

Stacey did not want one done.

- Michael: That's just odd.

We subpoena his medical records.

And when we got them back, the
worst thing that the guy had was

A hernia operation
back in the day.

- Narrator: What's
even stranger,

Medical records show that
michael went to the doctor

Three months before he died.

- In the medical records,
michael had said to a doctor,

"I feel like I'm drunk,
but I haven't been drinking."

That's a classic description

Of someone suffering
from antifreeze poisoning.

- Narrator: Detectives
can hardly believe it.

But all the evidence seems to
be pointing in one direction:

Could stacey have poisoned

Her first husband,
michael wallace,

And then done the same to her
second husband, david castor?

- Dr. Maloney: Ethylene glycol
creates a crystal or a mineral

That can be found
in the body years later

And be easily detected.

- Narrator: If investigators
can prove

Michael wallace died
of antifreeze poisoning,

That means stacey castor
isn't a bereaved wife.

She's a calculating black widow
who likely k*lled two husbands.

- Dominick: Could there be
the crystallization

Still within michael's body?

- Michael: We knew we had to get
michael wallace's

Body out of the ground.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Months after
david castor is found dead,

Authorities are starting
to suspect that his wife,

Stacey castor, poisoned
him with antifreeze,

And that she may have
m*rder*d her first husband

Six years earlier the same way.

- And the more they looked,

The more the light began
to shine on stacey castor.

- Everything really
started pointing to her.

- Narrator: But it's possible

Someone else
could be responsible.

Investigators need hard evidence
to firm up their theory.

And there's really only
one place to find it.

- Joleene: Investigators
realized in order to see if

There was some sort of pattern,

They would have to exhume

The body of stacey's first
husband, michael wallace.

- Bill: A good prosecutor is
never afraid of the truth.

And sometimes the truth

Can lie buried in the ground
for many, many years.

And it is a good thing
to bring that up

And to expose the truth.

- Narrator: Investigators obtain
a sealed court order to exhume

Michael wallace's body.

No one, not even
michael wallace's daughters,

Bree and ashley,
can know about the exhumation.

- Dominick: We did not want
stacey alerted as to

What we were doing because
she could flee the area.

- Michael: We had a camera
on the outside of her house.

We had a camera
on the gravesite.

We knew where she was at
that point almost any time.

- Investigators were fantastic
about this entire process

In keeping it quiet.

Nobody knew what
they were doing.

- Narrator: September 5, 2007.

Investigators go
to the otherwise empty

Owasco rural cemetery
for the secretive exhumation.

- Dominick: It was very
quiet, not a lot of talking.

A backhoe began digging.

Part of me, for michael's sake,

Hopes that we don't find
any crystals in his system

And he did die a natural death.

And then part of
me was saying...

Boy, I hope michael's
saying right now,

"hey, it's about time!

Because she did this to me.
Thank you."

- Michael: It's surreal
to watch a casket

Be brought up out of the ground.

- ♪

- Narrator: Detectives get
their first look at the casket.

- The casket was
actually in great shape.

- [backhoe beeping]

- The whole time, we
got our fingers crossed that,

You know, we're gonna
get some results here.

- Hopefully, michael's body

Would be in
a good shape to help us.

- Narrator: Monitoring the
cameras outside stacey castor's

House to make sure she is
still unaware of the exhumation,

Detectives quickly
remove the coffin

With her first husband's body
from the cemetery.

- The casket went in the back of
the ambulance and transported to

The medical examiner's officer.

- Narrator: The medical examiner
unlocks the sturdy coffin.

- His body was in
very good shape.

He had been well embalmed
and well preserved...

And is almost in just as
good shape as he had been,

Uh, buried.

- Narrator: It's promising news.

The me immediately looks to
see if the telltale crystals

Indicating an antifreeze
overdose are present

In michael wallace's kidneys.

- Dr. Maloney: We
perform a full autopsy.

- ♪

- And those crystals
were seen in the kidneys,

Consistent with
ethylene glycol toxicity.

- ♪

- Mike wallace
was poisoned by antifreeze.

- Narrator:
The same cause of death

As stacey's second husband,
david castor.

Detectives know
this is no coincidence.

- Michael: Wow.

It's crazy we had
another homicide.

- ♪

- We believe stacey had
now k*lled both guys.

- She k*lled not just
one husband, but two.

It was shocking news.

This is her daughters' father.

Just thinking about
it gives me chills.

- Narrator: One
question remains: Why?

Investigators
come up with a theory:

Both marriages had begun to sour

Just before both
michael and david died.

- It was just the easiest
way to get rid of someone.

She didn't have to go
through a messy divorce.

- If something got in
stacey's way, she removed it.

Her first husband
got in her way.

She removed it.

David castor got in the way.

She removed it.

- This is as
cold-blooded as it gets.

- Narrator: Police now
know they have two murders.

But there's one problem.

With no physical proof, they
can't arrest stacey castor

For k*lling her husbands.

- Bill: Thinking that we had
reached the height of depravity

On the part of stacey castor,

Little did we know
that a week later,

We were gonna
be in for something

Even more egregious from her.

- Narrator: Coming up:

Investigators
close in on the suspect.

- Dominick: She was worried.

She knew that we found something
that she thought we wouldn't.

- Narrator: Then the
unimaginable happens.

- My heart
leaps to my throat.

I'm thinking, "oh my god."

- ♪

- Narrator: Two years into david
castor's death investigation,

Police believe that his wife,
stacey castor, k*lled him...

And also her first
husband, michael wallace.

But there's one problem.

- Dominick: There
was no smoking g*n.

This is a very
circumstantial case.

The investigation
kicked up into high gear.

- Narrator: Investigators put
taps on stacey's phones and,

Hoping to catch her off guard,
bring her in for an interview.

- Dominick: I knew
that she did this.

And we needed to try and get
her to tell us what happened.

I began asking her about

The glass that
we found on the nightstand.

- Narrator: Stacey had
previously told investigators

That she had brought david
a glass of cranberry juice.

- Michael: She's describing how

She poured him
some cranberry juice.

He was very thirsty.

And she said, "I poured him the
antifree--I mean, uh, sorry,

Uh, cranberry juice."

And she quickly
corrected herself.

I thought, "did she just say
what I think she just said?"

Wow, if ever there was
a freudian slip,

That would be it.

- She said, "wh--you're
confusing me!"

And I said, "I asked
ya a simple question.

And you said, 'when I
poured the antifree'."

- Michael: I've never heard
anybody say "antifree"

Before in my life.

I thought she meant
to say antifreeze.

- Dominick: I opened my binder.

The top photo was
the turkey baster.

Stacey peered at it
and said, "what is that?

Why do you have a picture
of a turkey baster?"

She was very concerned
about seeing that baster.

She was worried.

She knew that we found something
that she thought we wouldn't.

At that point, she
terminated the interview.

I said okay.

And at that point,
we released her.

- Narrator: But detectives
have no intention of giving up.

- Dominick: We start
rattling the cages,

Talking to stacey's friends,
family--informing them that

We believe stacey k*lled
david and michael wallace.

- Michael: We were
tapping the phones,

So we were listening to
all the phone conversations.

- Dominick: If she didn't
confess to these homicides,

She would maybe give us a clue.

- Narrator: Investigators
also tell stacey's friends

That michael wallace
was exhumed.

- I'm hoping that she's gonna
say something damaging

To herself.

- Dominick: The phone
started burning up.

She was pretty upset.

She was telling a lot of
people she didn't do it,

She had nothing to do with it.

- Bree: I think my mom told me,
"they dug up your dad's body.

They did more tests on him."

You know what I mean?
She's my mom.

They're accusing my mom.

I just thought she had
a case of bad luck.

A really bad case of bad luck.

I just didn't think
it was possible.

- I never once
thought for a second

That she would ever
hurt anybody.

- Joleene: Whose child is going
to believe that story when their

Mother is showing up every
day, as loving as she can?

Even in her distant moments,
they still loved her.

They still believed in her.

No one knew who
stacey castor really was.

She walked around
with a mask on.

She fooled everybody.

- ♪

- Narrator: Then, one
week after the exhumation,

Stacey makes a call that
shakes the investigation.

- Michael: I was in the shower,
and my wife answers the phone.

And it is one of our detectives

That's listening
to stacey's phone.

I grabbed the phone and,
uh, he tells me that,

"you will never believe this,

But there's a suicide attempt
at their house."

- ♪

- Stacey castor's daughter
ashley tried to k*ll herself.

And the first thing I said
was--excuse my french--

"that's bullsh--.

Stacey tried to strike again."

- ♪

- My concern was...

Is this girl gonna die?

Did her mother
strike a third time?

- [siren wailing]

- ♪

- Narrator: Suspected black
widow stacey castor has just

Placed a startling 911 call.

- It appears to be ashley
tried to k*ll herself.

- Bill: My heart
leaps to my throat.

I'm thinking, "oh my god."

- [siren wailing]

- Narrator: Ems arrives
at the castor residence

And finds ashley unresponsive.

- Joleene: She was
rushed to the hospital.

They managed to revive her.

- [heart monitor beeping]

- I responded to the hospital.

- [heart monitor beeping]

- I was hoping
to speak with her.

I'm there worrying about
whether her mother poisoned her.

But she was in no
shape to be spoken to.

- [heart monitor beeping]

- Narrator: Ashley's family
is anxiously waiting

At the hospital
for any developments.

- Michael: Stacey kept
desperately attempting

To visit with ashley.

- Bree: My mom wasn't crying.

She had no emotion.

- I made sure that the hospital
personnel wouldn't let her

Anywhere near her.

My fear was that she would try
to k*ll her in the hospital.

- ♪

- They said she was still alive.

I just wanted ashley to be okay.

- Narrator: Detectives
interview bree

Who. Just hours prior,
had discovered

Her sister unconscious.

- Bree: I woke up,
went down the hallway.

And I heard this noise.

So I walk in, and my sister

Was laying at
the other end of her bed.

And there was pillows
over her head.

And that's when I realized that
that noise was coming from her.

She was making this noise
when she breathed out.

I grabbed the
pillows off her head.

She didn't look okay.

She was just staring
off into space.

I tried to shake her.

She didn't wake up.

And so I just
screamed for my mom.

- ♪

- I found a bottle of
vodka in her bed.

And there was a pill bottle
on the floor that was open.

- Narrator: And that's
not all bree discovers.

- I found a note, like a
piece of paper folded up

In my sister's bed.

I didn't really read more
than the first few lines.

- ♪

- And it said, "dear mommy."
and alls I saw was, "I'm sorry."

And it was typed.

How could she have done this?

It just is not possible.

It's not possible.

- ♪

- Narrator: At the hospital,
doctors run blood tests,

And find that ashley has
high levels of alcohol

And over-the-counter
drugs in her system,

A potentially
lethal combination.

- There was the real possibility

That ashley may have
tried to k*ll herself.

I didn't believe that, but you
have to do your due diligence.

- ♪

- I began reading
that suicide note.

And I just couldn't believe it.

Basically, she was confessing...

To k*lling david and
her father, michael.

- The author of the note
clearly has information about

How mike wallace
and david castor died.

- Narrator: The note details
how she slowly poisoned

Michael wallace by dosing
his drinks with antifreeze--

A detail that had never been
released to the news media.

- There's nobody who had
that inside information.

- Michael: Only the k*ller
would know

That he ingested antifreeze.

- Narrator: Investigators
need to find out whether

It was stacey or her daughter
ashley who k*lled two men.

- ♪

- Narrator: Investigators
are examining a suicide note

Allegedly penned by
stacey castor's daughter ashley

Confessing to murdering
her father and stepfather.

- Bill: Ashley was quite
young when her father died.

Doesn't mean not
capable of m*rder.

- Narrator: But when
they analyze the note,

They notice
something suspicious.

- ♪

- Bill: The author would refer
to antifreeze as "antifree"...

Without the z-e at the end.

- Joleene: That
word, "antifree"

Is in there four times.

- Once I saw
that, I about fell over.

- Narrator: "anti-free" is the
idiosyncratic pronunciation

Detectives heard from
none other than stacey castor.

- Dominick: "antifree".

And that--that word was
documented during the interview.

I said, "stacey's behind this.
Has to be."

- Michael: Stacey was gonna
try to pin david castor

And mike wallace's death
on ashley.

- Dominick:
I was...Beyond disgusted.

- ♪

- Narrator: Hours after
being rushed to the hospital,

Ashley wallace
starts to come to.

- Ashley: When I woke
up in the hospital,

I couldn't see anything.
It was all blurry.

- Michael: She was
out of the woods.

And I did ask her if she
had tried to k*ll herself

And if she had
left a suicide note.

And she looked at me with the
most amazed look on her face

Like, "what are you, nuts?

I--I--why are you asking
me these stupid questions?"

- She was completely confused.

What note? What drink?

- ♪

- Ashley: I have no idea
what he's talking about.

"I did not k*ll my father.

"I did not k*ll my stepdad.

"and I did not
try to k*ll myself.

"you need to ask my mom.

She's the one with the answers."

- Michael: It was very genuine.
And I knew at that point

That she had not
tried to k*ll herself.

- Narrator: She tells
investigators the last thing

She remembers
is having a drink...

With her mom.

- I know what alcohol is
supposed to taste like.

But--then I was like,
"this is gross."

My mom goes, "this
is a trick I learned.

"put the straw in
the back of your throat

And drink it as fast
as you can and count to ten."

So I did what she said.

- ♪

- I trusted her.

- ♪

- Narrator: Police now have
enough to arrest stacey castor

For david's m*rder and attempted
m*rder of her daughter ashley.

- Michael: We needed to
get stacey off the street.

- It's time to, uh, make
a move on this woman.

- Michael: I walked
up to her and I said,

"you're under arrest for
the k*lling of david castor."

She really didn't
show any emotion.

And she pretty
much went quietly.

- ♪

- Narrator: Investigators swarm
stacey castor's home looking for

Any additional evidence...

And hit the jackpot.

- Dominick: When stacey's
home computer was analyzed,

The detective found a suicide
note composed in the computer.

- It had to have been written
in the living room

Of the castor household.

- Narrator: The forensic expert
determines the date and time

That the note was edited.

- And it was the same exact
time ashley was up in college.

So it's an impossibility
that ashley did this.

There's--it's no way.

- ♪

- Narrator: That's
all police need.

They charge stacey castor

For the m*rder of her
second husband, david castor,

And attempted m*rder of
her daughter, ashley wallace.

They bring stacey into the
interview room, but she is calm.

She maintains her innocence
and refuses to talk.

- Joleene: How can
someone do this?

Why would she do this?

I'll tell you why:
Because she's a psychopath.

And she's a narcissist.

She wanted what she wanted.
People irritated her.

And she removed them as
she went so she could go on.

- Narrator: Stacey
is off the street.

But detectives now have to see

If a jury will
put her away forever.

Four years after
david castor was poisoned,


trial for her husband's m*rder.

She pleads not guilty.

Although stacey is suspected in
the m*rder of her first husband,

Michael wallace, his case is
in a different jurisdiction

And can't be linked.

- I--I don't know why
she did what she did.

She tried to k*ll me,
which to me--you know,

She deserves whatever
happens to her now.

You can't tell somebody
that you love them

And then try to k*ll them.

You just can't.

- ♪

- Joleene: When stacey castor
was up on that stand

And fitzpatrick was in her face,
she believed her story so much

She truly believed she
could get away with m*rder.

There was a period of time
after it went to the jury

Where I thought, "what if?

"what if they actually believe
that she didn't do this?

What if she gets
away with m*rder?"

- Narrator: But after
deliberating for three days,

The jury comes back
with a verdict.

- The forelady stood up and--

And she said, "guilty."

- ♪

- And all I could do was
just drop to my knees.

I felt--I don't even
know how to explain it.

I felt happy. I felt sad.

I felt sorry for stacey.

- ♪

- She just sat
there, no emotion.

I was relieved that she
can no longer hurt anybody.

That she--that she gets
what she deserves finally.

- Dominick: The exhumation
of michael wallace

Was the real crux in this.

- ♪

- Michael: We got to the truth.

We got a vicious woman
off the street

So that she couldn't do
any more harm.

Michael wallace rests
in peace with justice.

- Dominick: The press
labeled her the black widow.

A black widow spider kills the
male half after it mates.

But even the black widow
doesn't k*ll the babies.

- Narrator: In March 2009,


Is sentenced to 51 1/2
years to life in prison

With no possibility of parole,

Ensuring that she'd
never again be a free woman.

- Justice was absolutely served.

We got the k*ller.

But even more so...

I would tend to say
that michael wallace

Helped get the k*ller.

- Ashley: Me and my sister both,
sometimes we pretend like

None of this ever happened.

And then sometimes
it's inevitable

And you can't get around it.

I hope that we just
have happy families

And we live like we should,

And that we...

Never turn out like stacey.

- ♪

♪♪