Megan Hutchinson
Staff Reporter
On August 22, 2005, Stacy Castor called 911 panicking and explaining that her husband had locked himself in his room and feared he had hurt himself. He was later found dead by police, next to a glass of antifreeze. Later, the authorities had questioned Castor’s entire story after finding strange clues. Investigators took note that her first husband had died young.
Stacy Castor was born on July 24, 1967, in Clay, New York. Castor had met her first husband Michael Wallace at 17-years- old. Castor said it was love at first sight and abandoned her dreams of committing to the law field. Castor said, “I knew five minutes after I met him that I was gonna marry him.” On April 17, 1990, her dreams came true. She had married Michael Wallace. Following the couple’s marriage, she gave birth to two daughters, Ashley and Bree. As the marriage continued Castor repeatedly complained of Wallace’s excessive drinking and how he had no money. In the winter of 1999, Wallace had fallen extremely ill. Ashley, their daughter, recalled, “He was having a hard time walking, and he was having a hard time talking.” Wallace expressed to his doctors his constant feeling of being “drunk” without having anything to drink. On January 11, 2000, Wallace died at 38- years old. Doctors had attributed his death to a heart attack. While his family wanted an autopsy, Castor refused. After her husband’s death, people remembered how strange Castor had been acting after the loss of “the love of her life”. Castor had quietly moved on and was very unemotional about Wallace’s death. Additionally, she collected $50,000 from his life insurance policy.
That following year, Stacy Castor had met David Castor and they would marry in 2003.
On August 22, 2005, Stacy Castor would call 911 again in a similar panic telling the operator her husband had locked himself in his room and would not respond. When responders arrived he was found naked and dead in his bed. Investigators noted the green liquid in a glass next to his bed and a bottle of antifreeze next to his bed on the floor. Sergeant Michael Norton of Onondaga County’s Sheriff’s Office said, “It appears to be simple suicide by antifreeze poisoning,”
According to healthline, antifreeze is a liquid that prevents engines from overheating in extreme temperatures. Antifreeze is water-based but contains chemicals such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and methanol. When ingested the body slowly absorbs and metabolizes. Eventually, those chemicals are converted into substances including acetone, formaldehyde, glycolic acid, etc. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, grogginess, and severe headaches. However, as it continues to break down it can interfere with kidneys, lungs, the brain, and the nervous system. With ingesting antifreeze you can possibly lose consciousness or fall into a coma if you avoid delayed death.
Castor had claimed her husband had been severely depressed after the loss of his father. However, his ex-wife swore he would never kill himself. At the scene, investigators found a turkey baster in the trashcan containing David Castor and Stacy Castor’s DNA along with traces of antifreeze. Additionally, Stacy Castor’s fingerprints were found at the bottom of the glass next to her deceased husband. Detective Dominic Spinelli, “The fingerprints were in such a way that it was as if someone held the glass from the bottom.”
Detective Spinelli decided to have her first husband exhumed in September of 2007. Wallace’s body also showed traces of antifreeze. Detectives had an odd feeling that Castor’s feeling of being “drunk” all made sense.
Another detective, Valerie Brogan, on Stacy Castor’s initial interview stated, “She seemed nervous, she was pacing and she just was surprised that we were there.” When Detective Spinelli asked which glass Castor had poured cranberry juice in, she responded with, “When I poured the anti-free- I mean, cranberry juice.” After that incident, she stopped the interview and accused the police of framing her.
A few days later, Stacy Castor had made her daughter, Ashley, a drink. After Ashley had drunk her drink she claimed she felt tired, went to sleep, and the next day her mother wanted to do it again; she agreed. Much like the night before, she felt tired, went to her room to lie down, and the next morning she did not wake up. Her sister Bree tried to wake her but she was unresponsive. The next thing she knew she woke up in the hospital to detectives. The detectives were explaining how the EMTs had found a typed suicide note confessing to the murders of Michael Wallace (her father) and David Castor (her stepfather). Detectives had noted that the way “anti-free” was spelled was exactly the way Stacy Castor had said it during her interview. That same day, police arrested Stacy Castor in February of 2009. A jury had convicted her of 2nd-degree murder of David Castor, attempted murder of her daughter, and forging David Castor’s will. Stacy died without ever admitting to her crimes. In 2016, Stacy had a heart attack in jail and died at the age of 48-years-old. She never saw either of her daughters after her trial.
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