Unseen - The Antifreeze Murders | The Case of Ashley Wallace and the Black Widow | UNSEEN

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

“You’re not just a danger to the public, you’re a danger to those who love you” On September 14, 2007, 19yo Ashley Wallace wakes up in a hospital bed, surrounded by police officers accusing her of being a serial killer, after her sister, Bree, found a note in which Ashley confesses to the murders of her father and stepfather; the problem is, Ashley did not write this letter. What happened to her that night would uncover one of the most disturbing serial killers the state of New York has ever seen, the last person Ashley would ever think would want to harm her, or her family. External footage from: The Devil You Know: Poisonous Love (Make Believe Media), Forensic Files: Freeze Framed (Medstar Television), 20/20 Black Widow (ABC), Solved: Poisoned by Love (Discovery+), Archive Footage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the next thing you remember? Waking up in the hospital, was a detective asking me what I did. The voice you've just heard is Ashley Wallace. The audio was recorded on January 14th, 2009. One year earlier, Ashley lived a happy life with her sister, Bree, and her mother, Stacy, who's also her best friend. On August 13, 2007,

19-year-old Ashley was at home, headed for bed, after a fun night drinking with her mom. with her mom. That night, Ashley's life took a disturbing turn for the worse. September 14th, the following morning, Ashley Wallace is found lying in her bed, unresponsive, next to an empty bottle of alcohol, prescription pills, and a letter. In the letter, Ashley confesses in detail to two murders, one of David Castor, the other of Michael Wallace, Ashley's own father. The problem is, Ashley didn't write that letter. In 2007, the quiet community of Clay is forever shaken,

and what happened to Ashley that night will uncover one of the most disturbing serial killers the state of New York has ever seen. I need an ambulance. My daughter, I believe, has taken some bills. Is that her? Oh, she's so much. She's not.

She's not. What? Let's a note. Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. Oh, my God. This is not happening. The year is 1999. In the small town of Weed Sport, New York,

11-year-old Ashley Wallace lives with her family, her father Michael, her mother, Stacey, and her little sister, Bree. Although she loves spending time with her mechanic father, Ashley shares a much closer bond with Stacey, her mother. She was my best friend. Me and her could just sit out and have hour-long conversations, you know, about anything, everything and anything.

November 1999, Ashley is unaware that the relationship between her parents has deteriorated. Stacey is considering a divorce. Stacy came to me right after Thanksgiving time and she said, Kim, I really want to leave Mike, what do I do? And I gave her the name of my attorney. But Stacey responds that, with the holidays coming up, the timing isn't right. She says she'll consider divorcing after the new year instead. But Ashley notices that her mother is starting to become more irritable and aggressive.

and aggressive. More of the discipline came from Stacey than my dad. I mean, the more affection came from him and the punishing came from her. December 1999, Michael Wallace falls suddenly ill, complaining of dizziness and spending most of his time in bed. He visits a doctor, explaining how he feels drunk, even if he hasn't been drinking. The doctor treats him for an ear infection and sends him home. But the truth is, Michael is being poisoned.

December 24th, Christmas Eve, Michael attends a holiday dinner at his mom's, but looks worse than ever. The first time that I noticed my brother, he was like bloated. His face was bloated, his hands were bloated. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, I haven't been feeling, well, I got cold, you know, that kind of stuff. Okay. As the days pass, his condition continues to deteriorate. January 11, 2000, Ashley Wallace, his life takes a disturbing turn for the worse. After coming home from school, Ashley finds her father asleep on the couch as he has been most of the time for the last few weeks. I came home and I called my mom to tell her that I was home and he was laying on the couch. I got off the phone with her and I turned the TV on. I remember him making this funny

noise. He put his arm up, then he put his arm back down and that was the last time that he moved. I left to go get my sister and I got home. And when I got home, Stacey had just got home too because she was going to take my dad to the doctors. I remember I was standing right behind her and when I looked in, my dad's feet were this purple color. Michael is rushed to the hospital. While the doctors do everything they can, it's already too late.

Michael has died from what seems to be a heart attack. There's a reason I trust my shopping list with Shipped. Shoppers with Shipped know that no order is ordinary and come through adding care to my cart. They double check labels, wouldn't confuse mozzarella for Monterey Jack, and they know what's right. With

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with him by myself, not knowing that if I had known what I So now he wouldn't be, I could have helped him. When Stacey Wallace is asked if she wants to have an autopsy done on her husband, her answer is no. Stacey, are you going to have an autopsy? She looked at me and she says, Rosie, you know, he didn't like being cut up in surgery and everything like that. She says, no. She said Michael would want us to kick back, pop a beer, have a good time, you know, that type of thing, not cry over him.

I just never understood why she didn't cry. I always thought it was because she didn't want me and my sister to see her upset. The secret of Michael's death will be buried with him. Stacey Wallace, now widowed mother of two little girls, inherits her late husband's $55,000 life insurance. After renovating the house with the money, Stacey takes the girls to Disney World and goes back to being that fun mom Ashley knew, her best friend.

But something is different. She started talking on the internet to people and she started like disconnecting from being a mom. 2001, one year later, in the small town of Liverpool, New York, David Castor is living a prosperous life, owner of a thriving heating company. After a recent divorce, he enjoys a comfortable lifestyle, one he quickly begins to share with Stacey Wallace, who in his eyes is a loving mother of two little girls. Right away, Ashley and Bree dislike David. and don't want to see their father replaced so quickly.

At first, we really didn't like him. He said he didn't want to be our father and he didn't want any part of being a father. He already had his kids and he didn't want more. August 16, 2003, less than two years after the couple met, David and Stacy get married. The wedding takes everyone by surprise, especially since no one from David's side of the family is invited,

not even his own son, David Jr. They had gotten married and did not tell anybody. I had no idea he was getting him. was getting married. Stacey Wallace becomes Stacey Castor. Right away, she and her two daughters move in with David, in his home in Liverpool, an upgrade in lifestyle for the single mother. While the couple couldn't be happier, Ashley and Bree do not approve of David as their stepfather. The rising tension between them makes life at home a living nightmare. David was miserable. My mom acted miserable. The only time they were happy is when they

weren't around me and my sister. As the months pass, David and the girls begin to bond. As Ashley is getting ready to graduate, she doesn't know yet just how proud of her her stepfather really is. If you could see the smile on his face at my graduation party, it's just like he's like a proud father. But as Ashley and David's relationship improves, the new couple's love is deteriorating. Stacey and David fight constantly. August 22, 2005, two years after the couple got married, the county sheriff's office in Syracuse, New York, receives this disturbing 911 call. Please communication.

I'm going to help you. My name is Stacey Castor. My husband has locked himself in our bedroom for the last day. I'm just getting a little concerned because I haven't talked to him since 5 o'clock in the morning on Sunday when he locked me out of the bedroom. Stacey explains to the operator that she and David got into an argument the night before that lasted seven hours. According to her story, David got drunk, took the bottle of Southern Comfort,

then locked himself in the bedroom, refusing to come out. Has he ever mentioned hurting himself or harming himself or... Friday night when we were arguing, he told me to get out, take my sister's and get out, I could leave, and then five minutes later he said if I left, he would make me sorry. I would be sorry if I ever left him. Right away, the operator dispatches police to the castor home. Okay, don't cry. We're going to check on him. Make sure he's okay.

Maybe he's the press. Are you going through something right now? Well, his father died a month ago and he's been kind of weird to act in the last month. When the sheriff's deputies arrive on sight, they break into David's room to find him lying face down, naked on the bed. On the nightstand next to the bed was a short glass, half full of a green liquid. Police find on the floor next to the bed an open bottle of antifreeze laying on its side. Emergency medical personnel pronounced David, dead at the scene. The scene makes it look as though David took his own life after locking himself in by drinking a lethal dose of antifreeze.

My gut was telling me that there was something more going on with this. It just wasn't right. One deputy discovers in the kitchen trash can, a turkey baster with green fluid inside. If this has got antifreeze in it, what's it doing in the kitchen trash when he's locked himself in the bedroom? As the body is brought in for an autopsy, Stacey is taken to the sheriff's office for further questioning. She calls Ashley to tell her the news. Stacey gets on the phone and she had sound like she was upset and everything. So I was like, what, what is it?

She's like, David passed away. How does this happen again? Like, how do you lose someone that's such a big part of your life again? Ashley is distraught, losing a second father figure, but she still has no idea of just how dangerous her mother is. A wife who kills her husbands is often referred to as a black widow, after the infamous spider known for killing its partners, but Stacey Castor will eventually take it to a whole other level.

While the investigation of David's death awaits further forensic results, Stacey walks free. As David's will is read, it says he leaves everything to Stacey, his company, his house, all his vehicles, and nothing to his own son, David Jr. I don't even believe my name was mentioned in it. My first feelings on that were my father really did not like me. I thought he was just pissed at me, like, wanted nothing to do with me and never wanted anything to do with me again. Stacey started taking me and my sister on trips. Now she was actually spending time with us and spending money on us and wanting to be our friend again.

The year is 2006, one year after the death of David Castor, Detective Spinelli receives the forensic evidence from the case. Results show the turkey baser contained antifreeze inside and David's DNA at the tip. And the glass it was filled with antifreeze had three fingerprints on it, all of them belonging to Stacey's. At that singular point right there, my thought processes go from probable suicide to almost certainly a homicide. Blood tests also show inconsistencies with what Stacy had told the 911 operator. She claimed David had gotten drunk that weekend. Friday night, he got heavily intoxicated, flexed today on Saturday.

The results show no trace of alcohol in his blood. District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, along with Detective Spinelli, are now convinced that David Castor was murdered by Stacey. But in order to be sure, they need more than a few prints. Absent a confession or an eyewitness, it's a massive process. I mean, we literally have to interview hundreds and hundreds of people. The ideal scenario would be to interview Stacy's first husband, Ashley and Bree's father, Michael Wallace. It turns out we can't talk to him because he's dad. And that's when the trouble for Stacey Castor really starts. September 7, 2007, Two years after David Castor's death, Stacey Castor is asked to go to the sheriff's office

to meet Detective Spinelli for a second interview. I told her that we needed to close the case out one way or the other, and I need to ask some questions to answer. She seemed nervous. She was pacing. That's when she learns that the detectives, along with the district attorney, have exhumed her first husband's body. They tell her that they found antifreeze in his body, just like in David Castor, her second husband's body. Then, Detective Spinelli asks her a question that will trigger a dangerous chain of events. And I said, Stacy, there's two glasses on here.

Can you tell me which glass it was that you were called bringing into the room when you came from cranberry juice? And she looked at it and said, well, when I poured the ante free, and then she stopped and said, I mean the cranberry juice. Those of us that were watching the interview went,

oh my God, that was a Freudian slip that she couldn't control. And she said, I don't like this. You're trying to frame me. You're trying to pin this on me. I'm done and she stopped the interview. It was apparent that Stacey was extremely nervous. We decided the next step would be to obtain wire attack on Stacey's phones.

Stacey is now cornered. She knows the cops are going to charge her for both murders, unless she can outsmart them. Time is running out for Stacey. But what the investigators have not anticipated is just how far Stacey Caster is willing to go to hide her crimes. September 14th, One week after Stacey Caster was interviewed for the second time,

the detectives listening to the phone taps in Stacey Caster's house are faced with a disturbing scene. The investigators who are listening on the wiretap hear a 911 call from Stacey Caster. I'm in an ambulance. My daughter, I believe, has taken some pills. She's caught you? Yes, she's knowing. I'm leaning over her.

Actually, she's having trouble, I think. It just sounds like there's something in her throat. Ashley, Ashley. God, oh my God, oh my God. Oh, my God, this is not happening. Right away, police are dispatched at the Castor House on Wetzel Road. While Ashley barely clings to life, her mother explains that next to her bed is an empty bottle of vodka and prescription pills.

Is that her? Oh, she's so much. Turn my letter. She left the letter. What? She left the letter. Let them know. 16-year-old Brie Wallace, Stacy's second daughter, is in the room with her.

She hands her a note left by Ashley's side. Mommy, remember that I love you more than anything, and I did it for you and for us. I couldn't let Daddy be mean to you and me anymore. Please forgive me, Mommy. Please don't hate me. In the letter, Ashley confesses to the murders of David Castor and Michael Wallace, her own father, giving intricate details as to how she went about poisoning them. but something is off about the letter.

750 words long, typewritten. Even the name Ashley is typed at the bottom. The truth is, Ashley never wrote that letter. When emergency personnel arrive at the Castor House, Ashley is unresponsive. She wasn't talking. She looked petrified. Her eyes are wide open, but she's not seeing anything.

She's rushed to the hospital, barely holding on to life. If she dies, no one will know what really happened. She was in intensive care. and you weren't sure she was going to live. I can tell you that that is one of the lowest moments of my life. I would have accepted partial responsibility for the death of Ashley Wallace. But while the letter left at Ashley's side tells in detail how Michael Wallace was murdered, Ashley was only 11 years old at the time.

Could a child formulate such an elaborate scheme? The carefully laid plan by Stacey Castor nearly has investigators convinced, but regardless of what the officers think, Because they have a confession in hand, unless Ashley wakes up, she will be accused of the murder of both her fathers. And Stacey Castor will walk free after killing her own daughter and framing her for murder. My biggest fear was that Ashley was going to die. Detectives are at the hospital around the clock, surveilling Ashley's room, waiting for her to wake up. It was several hours for Ashley to work through whatever she had ingested and start to come out of it.

I actually woke up in the hospital and I had no idea what day it was. was. They had no idea where I was. Before she can regain full consciousness, Stacey Castor fights her way through the guard, demanding to see her daughter. The next thing I remember is Stacey coming in and touching my hair. And I look

up and I remember seeing a police officer standing right next to her. Choice Hotels get you more of what you value. Here's a little tune to help you remember. Same drive, different day. Don't you wish you were getting away? Pack your beds and come

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For the first time, investigators finally get to hear how Stacey Castor attempted to frame Ashley for her own crimes. Ashley's story begins on September 12th, two days earlier. I'm really nervous because it's my first day of school. I get to my class and a lady comes in and says that I needed to go down to the office. The one detective was from Cougar County and he goes, I don't know if you've heard, but we have exhumed your father's body and we found

antifreeze in his system. What the detectives don't know is that Stacey already warned Ashley. making sure her daughter was on her side, manipulating her so she would be angry at the police instead. Hello? Mommy, they came to my freaking school. Are you okay? I'm going to be okay, but I'm really sticking out right now. Oh my God.

That bastard came to your school. Do you want me to come and get you? No, I have to be here. All right, calm down and go back to class, all right? I love you. I love you, too. At around 5 p.m., Stacey makes a suggestion to Ashley to drink their troubles away. We've had a rough week, let's just get drunk.

I was like, cool, you know? What kind of teenager wouldn't think that was awesome? Parents just gave you permission to drink. It was weird, like, how tired I actually got from finishing that drink. And so I told her I was going to go lay down because I was about to pass out. Like, that's how drunk I felt off of one drink. September 13th. The next morning, Ashley wakes up with a horrible hangover.

She goes to school, comes back, and again, Stacey suggests for them to drink. This time, she says, let's get really drunk. I could taste the vodka, and it was very strong, and it made me cringe. And I asked her if she could take it back and put either more orange juice in or more sprayed in it. Stacey goes into the kitchen and brings her a straw. She tells her to put the straw into the back of her throat and to just drink it. Ashley does as her mother says and passes out. Later that evening, Brie comes back to find out her sister has been sleeping all day.

I opened the door a little bit and my mom came out of like nowhere and closed the door, she's fine. I'm like, really? And like to me that was weird. Right that and there, I was like, are you sure she's okay? Mom's like, she's sleeping and I hope she sleeps through the entire night. The next morning, Brie hears a strange noise coming from Ashley's room. She was making that noise when she was breathing out, and her eyes were all glassed over, and she had thrown up, and I called her name, and she didn't answer me, and I shook her, and she didn't wake up. Even though she wasn't, like, responding, and I think she looked scared. Did you think that you were losing her?

I did. If it weren't for her sister Bree, Ashley would have died in her bed 10 minutes later. When Ashley wakes up in the hospital, both her and her sister Bree come face to face with a shocking new reality. Their mother just attempted to kill Ashley. When I woke up and saw that police officer standing there, I absolutely knew that I didn't do it. And she was the only one there, so it had to have been her. Upon hearing Ashley's story, District Attorney Fitzpatrick gives the order to immediately put Stacey Castor under arrest.

We made the conscious decision to arrest her right there on the property of the hospital. What a Liverpool woman tonight is charged with the order. Tonight is charged with killing her husband and investigators say it appears this is not the first time. What shocked the community was the idea that a mother would attempt to murder her own daughter to save her own skin to blame her for the murders of her two husbands. What could be more basic than a mother's love for her child? January 13, 2009, Stacey Castor's trial begins. One year after her mother tried to kill her and frame her for murder,

Ashley shows up in court. The prosecutor is District Attorney William Fitzpatrick. He's been preparing Ashley for this moment, but she's faced with an incredible challenge. Come face to face with her mother in court, the woman she trusted all her life and, who betrayed her. There were other parts of me that are still the little kid and were afraid of that mom look she was going to give me,

like, I am so disappointed in you that you're up there testifying against me. The worst part is, Stacey Castor's only defense is to convince is to convince the jury that Ashley killed both her fathers. All Stacey needs is reasonable doubt from one jury, and she walks free. Fitzpatrick makes the bold move of calling Ashley to the witness stand as the first witness. I want to ask you about the day your dad died. I saw him take and lift his arm up, and then he made a breath, and then he didn't move again after that.

So I thought he was just sleeping. As Ashley tells her story, she's visibly upset. I wanted to be sitting right next to her and holding her hand and helping her, and she shouldn't have had to go through that alone. As the hour passes, Fitzpatrick then leads her to talk about the night her mother tried to poison her. She came home and she was like, let's get drunk. Let's get just totally drunk. Now, I ask you, I want you to explain to the jury if the cup tasted bad and you didn't enjoy it. Why would you drink it? Because I trusted her.

What's the next thing you remember? Waking up in the hospital. Was a detective asking me what I did? What did you drink? What did you do? What did you take? What did you write in that note? But I didn't know what he was talking about, because I didn't write a note, and I didn't take anything. The trial lasts for three long weeks. The evidence against Stacey Castor is overwhelming.

Investigators collected forensic evidence from the home computer. It shows the letter was finished on September 12th at 2.27 p.m. Ashley couldn't have written that letter because she was at school. In fact, it was the same day she called her mom at home in a panic. Mommy, they came to my freaking school. They came to your school? The letter was written on Stacy's computer account, and she was the only one home at the time. I'd never seen anything like it before in my life.

It's got detail about the death of David Castor. It's got detail about why Ashley tried to take her own life. Whoever wrote that note killed Mike Wallace and killed David Castor. It wasn't a no. It was a confession. And it was Stacey Cassett that confessed in that note. Furthermore, a friend of Stacey admits she helped falsify David Castor's will after his death to make Stacey the sole beneficiary, evidence that comes as a relief to his son, David Castor Jr.

It made me feel a lot about her, like that he remembered good times, not just the bad time. When the defense attorney puts Stacey on the stand, it comes as a surprise. But Prosecutor Fitzpatrick is ready. Did Ashley poison him? I did not poison him. When did Ashley poison him? I can't answer that question. Through all of this, Stacey Castor is showing no emotion.

And then, Prosecutor Fitzpatrick explodes. My God, you lost two husbands to poisoning. Your daughter has just learned that her father was dug out of his grave. Stacey Castor remains cool, calm, collected. The case is now in the hands of the jury in the Stacey Castor murder trial. It's now up to them to determine if they have seen enough evidence. When the trial is over, it takes four emotional days for the verdict to come in. Ashley was standing in the hallway and someone had said we had a verdict and she just

dropped to her knees on the ground. The people of the state of New York versus Stacey R. Castor, the jury's reached a verdict. This is Euphoria Calvin Klein, the new elixir collection, featuring three perfume intense scents, inspired by a unique orchid accord paired with vanilla, each with its own distinct attitude, each with its own universe, bold elixir. Sensual, woody, addictive, magnetic elixir, sweet and romantic like a lingering touch. Solar elixir, a radiant expression of joy, ultra-concentrated for amplified impact and lasting power. Find your euphoria. Discover the euphoria elixir collection by Calvin Klein. As to count number one, murder in the second degree, what is the verdict?

Guilty. On count two, attempted murder in the second degree. What's the verdict? Guilty. Stacy Castor is found guilty on all counts. She was sentenced to 54 years in prison. All I could do was just cry because I was just so happy. You could just feel this huge weight just being lifted right off of you. You're not just a danger to the general public.

You're a danger to the people who love you and are closest to you. And I believe that the sentence I'm about to impose will remove that danger once and for all. Honestly, that was the best day of my life. Because I knew that people knew that I didn't do it. I'm just glad it's over. And I believe that my brother was there by their sides. After the trial, Ashley and Bree moved on with their lives, with the help of family and friends,

but not without their share of struggles. Because of Stacey, whom she refuses to call mother anymore, she misses out on so many memories with her father. She took away my dad. She even took away David. Who would have loved to walk me down the eyes? It's just heartbreaking. She says, as hard as it is to get up every day and put a smile on my face, I know that I have to, because if I don't, then Stacy won.

I graduated from college. I got my associate's degree in accounting. I work at a CPA firm and I'm a bookkeeper. I would have never done any of that stuff if I still was with Stacy. I wake up and I'm happy every day. I couldn't change a thing that I'm doing right now. now. William Fitzpatrick, who helped Ashley throughout the trial, has developed a close bond with her. He promised to walk her down the aisle, the day of her wedding. Although it was never proven, Stacey Castor is suspected to have killed her own father in 2002, the same way she killed David Castor and Michael Wallace. After walking free of consequence for her crimes for years, she died in prison in 2016. Stacey never expected that her downfall would come from her own daughters. Ashley and Bree's love for each other defeated a serial killer. And now, living a full life is their best revenge.

This student dormitory on 100th Street in Chicago holds the most disturbing secret. On July 14, 1966, a crime was committed here that would shake the city to its core. Eight student nurses were found murdered inside after neighbors heard screaming from the house.