Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder - Ep. 45 | 3 Murders With INSANE Plot Twists

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

In today's episode, we are diving into people who got murdered by the most unsuspecting people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Start selling on Deepop, where Taste recognizes taste. Think about the person that you trust most, the person that knows all of your secrets, who sees you when you're vulnerable and comforts and smiles. Now picture them sitting quietly across from you, nodding and laughing, while secretly deciding how they're going to end your life. No break-ins, no warning, just betrayal. All wrapped up in a familiar face. Because sometimes the last thing you see isn't the danger coming toward you.

It's the person you thought would know. ever hurt you. And once you realize the truth, well, it's already too late. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder, all things that I love to consume, and I know you do too, you sick intellectually twisted, beautiful-minded freak. And today we're getting into some M-night Shama-Lama ding-dong, true crime, twisted stories. So without further ado, let's unbuckle our seatbelts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes, and bust through this windshield into the these twisted true crime cases together. David Castor lived a life that most people would consider quite ordinary.

He was born in Syracuse, New York in 1957, and David just had this overall steady presence. And he built his entire world around him with good old hard work. He owned his own heating and air conditioning business and was pretty successful with it. And he would fill his free time with outdoor activities like boating, snowmobiling, and anything to feel the cold wind come across his face.

So all was well with David, but he was missing something in his life, and that was Stacey. And when he met Stacey, everything just felt right and whole. And like David's life already, being with Stacey just felt comfortable and practical, because Stacey was really organized and reliable. David had a really regimented life, and she fit perfectly into that. So Stacey basically had everything that seemed to complement the life David had already built for himself. So they would get hitched and marry in August of 2003. Now, Stacey had two daughters from a previous relationship.

So when they got hitched, he moved Stacey and her two daughters, Ashley and Brie, into his own life. Though it was not without friction. Because David had a life with no kids and not any sort of responsibility in that way. and now he had two teenagers that were, well, teenagers. So David's relationship with the girls was rocky to say the least. And like I said, David had a very regimented life, so when he became a new stepfather, he was pretty strict demanding that they follow all of his rules

without any sort of question. And as we know with teenagers, they don't really respond to that very well. It's like me when I was a kid with my stepdad, I would just be like, you're not my dad! That was me slamming the door. Jay put in a door slam. But still, from the outside looking in, this family seemed pretty stable.

You have a hardworking man like David and a very supportive wife like Stacey and just this big blended family just trying to figure things out. But beneath the surface, a darker reality was starting to take shape. Because on August 22nd, 2005, two years after David and Stacey got married,

Stacey would place a very frantic 911 call. And David, she said, had locked himself in their bedroom after an argument and he wasn't answering. And when the police arrived, Sergeant Robert Willoughby knocked on the bedroom door. But nobody would answer so he would bang louder and louder, but there was no response from David. So with nobody answering and him being worried that something's wrong with David, he would force himself in opening the door. And what he would find would look like David, had just taken his own life.

Because when he busted through the door and into the bedroom, he would find David just laying across the bed sprawled out completely naked and deceased. And on the nightstand sat a glass of bright green liquid. Alongside a bottle of apricot brandy, cranberry juice, and on the floor, an open container of antifreeze. And it was just lying there almost like too casually.

And after the sergeant broke in and examined, the area, obviously Stacey came into the room and would see David's body sprawled across the bed. And Stacey would just be beside herself and collapse into hysterics. I mean, her brand new husband was now dead. So she would just be screaming and sobbing, just unable to control her emotions and telling the officers that she didn't understand what happened, but she did say that he was very depressed and had been drinking very heavily recently. And the scene told the same story that Stacey was putting forth.

There was no sign of any sort of struggle in the room, no bruises, no wounds, just a manned and a drink. So an investigative team would be called and they would start combing through the bedroom. But as they were combing through the bedroom, they would start finding tiny inconsistencies. Naturally, they would test for fingerprints on the anti-freeze glass, given that that's how they assumed he took his own life. But they couldn't find his fingerprints

on the glass. And they also found that there weren't any of David's fingerprints on the anti-freeze either. And the only fingerprints that they could find were Stacy's fingerprints, but it was her room. So they weren't thinking much of it yet. But then they found the turkey baster, yes, the turkey baster. So while investigators were searching the rooms and the rest of the house, they would start digging through the kitchen's garbage. And investigators would find a turkey baster. And on the inside, they would see a substance, and they would find out that it was just sticky with antifreeze. And the tip was covered in David's DNA. And this just painted a horrifying picture. Someone had clearly taken this turkey baster and forced it into David's mouth, just force feeding him poison until he passed.

And investigators' suspicions would deepen when they looked into Stacey's past and found another husband. And her previous husband would be Michael Wallace. And he actually died five years previous under mysterious circumstances. But his death was just written off as a heart attack at the time. And an autopsy was requested, but Stacey would deny it. Hmm, strange. And she would just say that she was satisfied with the doctor's heart attack diagnosis. I bet you were. In 2007, Stacey actually invited her oldest daughter, Ashley, to join her for drinks. And this would be an early celebration for her 21st birthday. So Stacy and her eldest daughter sat together, just laughing and relaxing and talking, and then Ashley, naturally trusting her mother, drank what she was given. But 17 hours later,

Ashley was found unconscious in her bed, and she would be discovered by her sister Bree. And beside Ashley would be a sluer slide note. And on the note, it would be just a long, rambling confession taking blame for the murders of both Michael Wallace and David Castor. And Stacey would make another frantic call to the police. And she was scared of Agha, Ashley. Oh, she's thrown up. She left the letter. She left the letter.

Let's a no. Oh, my God, this is not happening. And she was scared that her daughter had died, but her daughter hadn't actually died. Ashley, luckily, survived. And unluckily, for Stacey. So when Ashley woke up in the hospital confused and terrified, she swore she had no memory of writing any such note.

And forensic analysis later proved that that note had been typed up at the time when Ashley had been sitting in class, miles away from the family computer. And the note also included mispronunciation for antifree's as anti-free, which was noted earlier in the police interview. Girls just giving herself up. So the truth was now unmistakable. Stacey Castor had poisoned her own daughter, trying to stage a sluer slide, and forged an entire confession, all to frame her eldest daughter for her other crimes. So given all this information, investigators would exhume Michael's body, Stacey's previously deceased husband.

And forensic testing would uncover crystals of ethylene glycol, which is the chemical found in, let's all say it together, anti-freeze. Yeah, anti-freeze. And it was preserved in his tissues. So two husbands, same woman, same poison. Needless to say, it wasn't a coincidence. It was an M-O. So detectives set up surveillance on Stacey,

tapped her phones and watched her every move. And during a police interview, Stacey made a critical slip. She started to say she poured her husband the antif- I mean, cranberry juice. How could you fuck that up? You dumb bitch? I mean, I'm glad you did, but...

So it was a simple stumble, but in a murder investigation, it was like a gunshot. And they made note of this interesting mispronunciation. And in September of 2007, Stacey would be arrested. And at her trial in 2009, Stacey would actually stand in her own defense. And she would even claim innocence, just spinning stories, trying to sow doubt. But the evidence was just stacked against her. from the fingerprints to the turkey baster to the toxicology reports to the forged note. And it would take the jury less than two days to find her guilty.

Thank you. And Stacey Castor would be sentenced to 51 years to life in prison. But this wouldn't be a sentence that she would ever complete. Because in 2016, while serving her time at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, Stacey would die of a heart attack. And she would never confess. And she'd never apologized. She just slipped away.

The same way her husband's had, and the same way she almost claimed her own daughter. So the woman that everyone once saw as the perfect wife had been hiding in plain sight. A predator, a manipulator, a killer. And I say, good riddance. Bye-bye. Waste of oxygen. And with that, let's move on to the next story. Travis Victor Alexander didn't have the type of childhood you'd expect from someone who would grow up to inspire people.

He was born in 1977 in Riverside, California. And let's just say Travis's early life was rough. The kind you survive and not live, because his parents both struggled with severe addiction. So his home life was just utter chaos all the time. So by 11 years old, Travis just had enough. And he would move in with his paternal grandparents. And throughout his childhood,

he would just search for something his birth home just couldn't give him, which was stability. So it was in that new home under the story, strict but loving care of his grandmother that Travis found two things that would define him. Ambition and faith. So eventually he would become a very devoted member to the Church of the Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. And from there, he would just start to dream big. And he would succeed at most things that he did. And by his early 20s, he was a rising star at the prepaid legal services. So he was a part-time salesman and he was also a part-time motivational speaker.

Just pulling people left and right into his orbit with his sheer charisma. And people would say Travis was funny, ambitious, and charming, and that he always just wanted to make something of himself. So he would become very successful in his job. And one day, he would have to go to a conference in Las Vegas. And this was in 2006. And at this conference, he would meet Jody Arias. And that's when his whole life turned upside down and everything changed. And Travis's close friends say that their chemistry was instant.

Jody was beautiful and magnetic. and Travis was just hooked from the start. So right after that conference, they would start a long-distance relationship, stretching between Mesa, Arizona, and Palm Desert, California. But eventually, they didn't want to do long distance anymore, so she would move to Mesa to be closer to him. And Jody would even go so far as to convert to Mormonism,

and Travis himself would even baptize her. So they were in love and happy, but that wouldn't last forever, and cracks would begin to show. Friends of Travis would notice how Jody just clung to, Travis all the time. She's very codependent. And not only was she codependent, she was also very jealous and very possessive of Travis. And Sky Hughes, one of Travis's closest friends, last remembered warning him, quote unquote, I'm afraid we're going to find you chopped up in her freezer.

Ooh, that's not good. And it was just a joke at the time. But unfortunately, it wasn't a joke for too long. So their relationship would get a little rocky and they would kind of be off and on through the years. But they would never really sever ties even when they broke up. They would continuously keep talking and sleeping together. So it's almost like a friends with benefit situation when they weren't actually together. But it was at some point during this weird friends with benefit relationship thing that Jody's behavior kind of went off the rails. She kept popping up uninvited and reading his emails and quite literally stalking him. And Travis's friends were terrified because Travis was telling them what was happening and they're like,

run! What the fuck are you doing? So Travis was just in the middle here, caught between guilt and affection, especially because Mormonism forbid premarital sex, but it couldn't seem to pull him away from Jody. But no one, not even Travis, could have guessed just how far things would go. So on June 9th, 2008, after days of unanswered calls and missed meetings, Travis's friends broke into his home because I didn't know where he was. And the The scene inside the home was their friend's worst nightmare. They would get into the house and they would see a blood trail that led to the master bedroom. So they would follow the blood trail into the master bedroom and that's where they would find Travis slumped in a very awkward position in a pool of blood inside of his own shower.

And at this point, he had been dead for days. So naturally the friends would call the police. And when the police arrived, even seasoned investigators were shocked at the sheer violence. of the whole scene because Travis had endured 27 stab wounds, a throat so deeply cut, it was nearly severed, and a bullet wound to the head. Just overkill, beyond overkill. So whoever had done this wasn't just trying to kill Travis. They were trying to destroy him. And friends were obviously very quick to point fingers at Jody. So they would tell police about Jody's obsessive behavior, the break-ins, and the pure jealousy that was just called.

constant in their relationship. But at the time, it just sounded too obvious, because wasn't it always just the crazy X? So police would tread carefully and open up an investigation carefully. So they would go on and examine the house and they would actually find a damaged camera in Travis's washing machine. And they were actually able to recover photos from the camera. And the images that they would see from this camera were so disturbing because the images would show Travis in the shower alive. And not just alive, but right before he was murdered in the shower. And through searching the house, DNA evidence would pop up as well. They would actually find a bloody palm print on the wall, and it would contain two DNA profiles. One was Travis's, and the others was, you guessed it,

Jody's. And this would obviously be enough to bring her in. So investigators would bring Jody in, and they would interview her. And when questioned, Jody just played it cool as a cucumber. First, she denied ever being there at all. And then when pressed even further, Jody came out with the truth. She told them that masked intruders had actually broke into the house while she and Travis were there

and killed Travis, but that ended up letting her go. And police were curious about this, but they were hesitant on buying it completely, because the evidence was starting to stack up. So without any proof that intruders actually came into the house, because they couldn't find footprints or other DNA evidence, they would charge,

Jody with first-degree murder. And only after her arrest, did the truth actually come out. And this is what actually happened, June 4th, 2008. So Travis was in his house, and Jody would show up unannounced and uninvited. But Travis would let her in nonetheless. And after talking for a bit, they would slip into old habits, having intercourse, laughing, and taking some photographs. And at around 5.22 p.m., Jody would pick up Travis's

brand new camera and start taking pictures of him in the shower. And this would be that last photo that we would ever see of him alive. And something at this point had shifted. Maybe Travis said something that she didn't like, or maybe he told her that this was really the end of their relationship. But whatever it was, Jody completely snapped. And in a sudden explosion of violence, she attacked Travis with everything she had in her, stabbing him repeatedly. And Travis would naturally fight back, trying to get away, and he would leave those bloody handprints on the wall in the process. But she was relentless and animalistic. And she would go on to slash his throat so deeply he was nearly decapitated. Then after he was almost dead, she would shoot him in the head as well.

And afterward, in a panic, she would try to clean up the scene, deleting the photos and throwing the camera in the washing machine. And then she would get in her car and drive off to Utah for a work conference. And she would even go so far as to meet another man in Utah and take pictures smiling next to him just days later. And later, during interviews and in court, Jody would lie again and again, just changing her story constantly. And she would eventually change her story to self-defense. But the evidence told a completely different story. It was basically chalked up to cold-blooded, calculated revenge from a woman who couldn't let go. And she would eventually break down in court as the prosecutor recounted the details of the stabbing and slashing. And in 2013, after a sensational trial

that gripped the nation, Jody Areas was found guilty of first degree murdered. They and she was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2015. And Jody continues to serve her sentence to this day. But despite the verdict, people still love her for some fucked up reason. And she's even selling some artwork from behind bars. Let's take a look at that. This is so weird. all of this. I hate it. Mostly because she murdered a, you know, person. So I won't be buying, won't be purchasing. She would also appeal in October of 2019, but the original conviction was upheld. And in the end, Travis Alexander escaped his broken childhood, only to be caught in a nightmare he never saw coming. And the person he once hoped to share his future with became the architect for his own

violent end. Though there are many that maintain Travis was not as innocent as many versions of the story tried to paint him. In a Reddit post, somebody actually claims that Travis wasn't who he claimed to be, essentially. And you can read the post here if you want to, but either way, killing is wrong and I don't think it's ever justified unless it really is in self-defense. Just a sad, horrible situation all around. But with that, let's move on to our last case. Betsy Faria was the kind of person you just don't forget.

She was born on March 24th, 1969, and she was warm, bubbly, and a little scatterbrained, but who is? You know? She was a bit short on cash, but she was rich in laughter and in friendships. Betsy actually worked at a local gas station, which gave her the time to pursue her passions. Because Betsy actually ran her own DJ business called Party Starters, which is very fitting for a woman who could just light up any room with her smile. And Betsy also had a ton of hobbies. She loved to spend time outdoors.

She loved to play tennis. She loved to go camping. And she also loved cards and board games. And to top it off, she met somebody that she fell in love with. And in 2000, she would marry Russ Sforia. And together, they would raise their two beautiful daughters. And he would even utilize his computer expertise to help with her business. And he would actually create a computerized DJ playlist for Betsy.

So they were able to live together, work together. And it was just a harmonious relationship. Life wasn't necessarily perfect, when is it? But it was good. But a decade would go by and things would start to change because Betsy would be diagnosed with breast cancer. And Betsy being Betsy didn't want to waste the time that she had left because she already lived life to the fullest. So she was going to do that when she was given the diagnosis. So she made plans for a celebration of life crews with Russ, their daughters, and their friends.

And in late 2011, before they took their cruise, the news actually got. because her cancer had spread to her liver and the doctors told her the clock was ticking. So Betsy chose to take advantage of the time where the effects of treatment were minimal. Because once you start treatment for cancer, you just feel sick most of the time. So they would go on this cruise. And she would laugh and have fun with her loved ones and she would focus on memories and not endings. And there was one friend in particular who stepped up during Betsy's battle and her name was Pam Hupp. And the two had actually met years earlier at a State Farm Office. And they would just kind of hit it off and become friends. And after Betsy's

diagnosis, Pam started driving her to her chemotherapy sessions. And Betsy was so grateful. Pam was just helping out whenever she could and was just a very comforting presence and was just a loyal, steady friend. And obviously she had help from her husband and her daughters as well. So December 27, the 2011 felt ordinary enough. That morning, Betsy went to Sightman Cancer Center for her chemotherapy. And later that afternoon, Betsy would text Russ to say she didn't need a ride home because her friend Pam had offered to give her a ride in his stead. And at around 7 p.m., Pam had dropped Betsy off at her house in Troy, Missouri. And Russ, meanwhile, was at his usual Tuesday night game night with his friends, just laughing and snacking and watching movies. So Russ would finish up with his friends and that he would get into his car and head home.

And supposedly, he grabbed some fast food before arriving. And it was at around 9.40 p.m. that Russ would walk into the front of the front of him. door and his world would be shattered because Betsy was lying on the living room floor covered in blood a knife still protruding from her neck and Russ being completely frantic and horrified would dial 911 just sobbing telling the dispatcher it looked like his wife had killed herself because she had been depressed about her cancer after all so he didn't know why she would but it was definitely a possibility because who else would do this to her but when the police arrived it was very clear to them that this wasn't a sluerslide.

Betsy had been stabbed 55 times. So whoever had done this had been furious. So naturally, the investigators would zero in on Russ immediately. It was Betsy's husband, she had cancer, there was insurance money involved, it just made sense. But despite the fact that he had an airtight alibi, because he had witnesses because he was at that game night that night. And he also had a time stamped Arby's receipt from a stop on his way home, police would barely look beyond him and Russ would be detained just days later. They essentially just ignored the witness statements that he was with his friends the entire

evening and ignored the alibi receipts. So Russ would go to trial and there would be numerous witnesses, one of which was Betsy's best friend, Pam, and she would testify against Russ, painting a picture of an angry husband who wanted Betsy's life insurance money. And naturally, the jury bought it. And in 2013, Russ Faria was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Case closed, or so it seemed. Because two years later, cracks in the case started to show. New attorneys picked up Russ's appeal and uncovered staggering problems

because they found evidence suggesting Betsy's life insurance had been changed just four days before her death. And the name of the sole new beneficiary, Pam Hupp. And allegedly, they were just worried about how Russ would handle the funds. but they would find proof that Pam kept the entire $150,000 payout, despite promising it would go to Betsy's daughters. And there were records of Pam showing that she was giving inconsistent stories about where she was that night.

First claiming she never went inside Betsy's house at all, and then admitting that she had. But it all pointed to one chilling direction, and that was Pam Hup, not Russ, who was currently in jail. So in 2015, Russ was granted a new trial, and at this time, The truth unraveled very quickly. And without Pam's extremely misleading testimony,

and with clear evidence that he could never have been at the scene, Russ was thankfully acquitted. And he would walk out of prison a free man. But for Pam Hop, the walls were slowly closing in. And in 2016, Pam would make another move. One even more bizarre and horrifying. Pam would go on to lure a man named Louie Gumpenberger into her home.

And Louis would have mental and physical disability, from a car crash. But she would bring him in nonetheless under the pretense of being a Dateline producer offering money for a reenactment, which is ironic given this whole case, I believe was actually on Dateline, but I digress. But as we know, Pam was not a Dateline producer, and she would just shoot Louie in the head.

And then she would claim self-defense. But police, thankfully, would quickly realize it was all bullshit and it was staged. And they would also find a hastily written note on his body, and it was clear that this was an attempt to create a fake kidnapping tied to Russ Faria. So Pam would naturally be arrested. And when the arrest occurred, Pam would request to use the restroom. This woman has plan A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I swear to the Lord.

Oh my God. So she would go to the restroom and then she would proceed to stab herself with a ballpoint pen in the neck and the wrists. In an act described as consciousness of guilt, so glad you realize that you're a piece of shit in trying to take the easy way out. And after all that, she was still alive. She would even go on to get her mug shots

with the bandages around her neck and wrists. And moving on to trial, prosecutors would seek the death penalty for her. And she would initially plead not guilty, which like, how? And later, at her trial in June 2019, she entered a Elford plea. And this is where one pleads guilty

to accept a plea bargain. But maintains, that they're actually in fact innocent. Just the piece of shit plea, basically. Because people only do this because they see the evidence stacked against them, and they know that they would be fucked, basically. So she would take the plea, but she would be sentenced to life in prison.

They... So the L-Ford plea basically just allowed her to avoid the death penalty. And in July of 2021, nearly a decade after Betsy's murder took place, Pam was officially charged of the first-degree murder of Betsy. While she was already serving the sentence for the murder of Louis. And Pam's story garnered so much attention

that it inspired a true crime drama called The Thing About Pam, which was an NBC limited series starring Renee Zellwiger. That cover is crazy. I can't get over that cover, oh my God. That is so scary. So Betsy spent her last day surrounded by friends she thought she could trust. And the person she trusted most,

the one who drove her home that night, the one she believed was helping her this whole time just turned out to be the one who betrayed her in the most brutal and unimaginable way. Pam Hop wasn't just a friend. She was a killer in plain sight. So that concludes our three true crime stories. I'm just glad justice was served in all of these. They're all absolutely terrible, but I mean, the most common thing is the people that are closest to you, so watch out. My heart goes out to the families involved, and I'm glad all these people, are rotting in jail, hopefully thinking about what they've done every single day of their lives, and I hope it ruins them and haunts them constantly every second of the day. But anyway, I appreciate you all. If you have any other cases you want me to check out, let me know down in the comments below. I always read your comments. I very much appreciate it. And be safe out there. All right,

I will see you in the next one. Bye.