Who would have thought that your mother will attempt to murder you? That's what happened to Ashley Wallace, the daughter who was set up to cover up the crimes and poisoned by her mother Stacey Castor.
This is the continuation of the first article about the life of Stacey Castor. If you haven't read the first part yet, check it here:
https://read.cash/@Jeaneth/the-black-widow-the-stacey-castor-story-58cad6e4
: Arrest and Trial
It took 2 years for the investigators to collect strong pieces of evidence against Stacey Castor. In 2007, she was arrested for second-degree murder in David Castor's death and for attempting to murder her daughter, Ashley Wallace.
She framed her daughter by poisoning Ashley and staged it as a suicide attempt with a suicide note confessing her murders to her father and stepfather.
The suicide note was computer-generated written by Stacey Castor. When Ashley was brought on the stand, she testified that she did not kill either her father or her stepfather. She also added that she did not write a suicide note. All she remembers was when she had a couple of drinks with her mother.
The authorities also suggested that David Castor's "suicide" never made sense as there was a lack of evidence such as fingerprints on the glass containing ethylene glycol, a substance found in antifreeze. Also, the turkey baster found in the garbage can in the kitchen where his fingerprints were barely found.
This led to the suspicion of the authorities that he has force-fed with antifreeze. Upon the investigation, they concluded that Stacey Castor fed David for four days with antifreeze through the turkey baster to make it look like a suicide. Stacey told the authorities that David got the idea of killing himself with antifreeze when they were both watching a news report about Lynn Turner, who killed her past lovers by using the poison.
The prosecutors presented evidence showing how lethal poisoning of antifreeze can be as calcium oxalate crystals grow in the kidneys, which were evident in the examination of Michael Wallace and David Castor's as well.
Furthermore, they noted that money is one of the main reasons Stacey murdered her husbands. She had murdered her husbands to collect on their life insurances and estates. She also managed to change and exclude David's son from the will he has left in the family.
Upon collecting shreds of evidence, they found several drafts of the suicide note Ashley has "made" in Stacey Castor's computer. Searching through the details, forensic investigators found that based on the timestamps, the drafts were written while Ashley was in school which strongly proves that she was not the author.
They firmly believed that the "suicide attempt" has actually been a planned-out murder attempt by Stacey Castor to Ashley. On the stand, Ashley retold how her mother convinced her to drink nights before she almost died. Having said that, she implied that the drinks were nasty-tasting but still chose to drink them as she trusted her mother fully.
: Castor's defense team
Atty. Charles Keller and Atty. Todd Smith appealed for reasonable doubt in the jury's minds about Castor having committed the murders. They wanted to look into the deeper details and prove that Ashley could be capable of murder at 11. They noted that Ashley's father (Michael) shown favoritism to her younger sister, Bree which gave Ashley a strong motive to murder her father.
As for her stepfather, they noted the rough and violent relationship she had as they did not get along with each other that much. Even Ashley's grandmother (Stacey's mother) believed that Ashley is guilty of the murders.
: Upon trial
Prosecutor Fitzpatrick claimed that Stacey's behavior during David and Ashley's illnesses made no sense as if she had not worked for a paramedics company for years. She seemed to not care at all with no signs of genuine concern while her family was in a difficult situation. The prosecution was based on the behavioral patterns of Stacey which triggered Stacey's defense attorney Charles Keller to frequently object and request a mistrial.
More damaging pieces of evidence were brought up as the prosecutors cited that during a phone call which was wiretapped recorded, they heard "typing sounds" while Castor was on the phone talking to a friend. Although Stacey maintained her innocence and denied using a computer that day.
Discussions arise when the prosecutors argued the "typing sounds" were those of one of the several drafts Castor had written of the suicide note. Ashley also testified that she saw her mother working on a computer on something she had hidden to prevent Ashley from seeing it.
Prosecutor Fitzpatrick also claimed that this was the day Stacey wrote the note, which had her fingerprints seen and not Ashley's. The note had the word written as "anti-free" four times within the note which Stacey has also said during an interview.
: Verdict and Sentencing
Stacey Castor was found guilty of second-degree murder in poisoning David Castor and attempted second-degree murder for overdosing her daughter Ashley Wallace with drugs and vodka, on February 5, 2009.
The courtroom was full of people to witness the verdict of Stacey Castor. As the verdict was announced, Stacey had her eyes closed. Her defense attorney also announced that they will appeal the verdict in particular for challenging the inclusion of evidence regarding the death of Michael Wallace, for which she was not charged.
A month after Stacey Castor's verdict, she was sentenced to the maximum consecutive sentences because of the brutality of David's death.
Judge Fahey sentenced her to 25 years to life imprisonment for the murder of David Castor, and another 25 years for the attempted murder of Ashley Wallace. Also, she was given a sentence to serve 1 and 1/3 to 4 years in prison for forging David's will.
: Stacey Castor's Death
However, on June 11, 2016, Stacey was found dead in her cell around 8 am. It was not immediately determined what caused her death but there were no signs of suicide or foul play. Later, the D.A.'s office declared that she died of a heart attack.
Salamat sa upvote Lloydie @JohnCruz ❤