Stacey Castor

Stacey Ruth Castor (née Daniels, formerly Wallace; July 24, 1967 – June 11, 2016) was an American woman convicted murderer from Weedsport, New York.

Stacey Castor was born Stacey Daniels in Clay, New York, on July 24, 1967.

Her parents were Jerry Daniels and Judie Eaton.

Castor met her first husband, Michael Wallace, in 1985 when she was 17.

The couple married and had their first daughter, Ashley, in 1988.

A second daughter, Bree, was born in 1991.

Castor was employed by an ambulance dispatch company, while Wallace worked nights as a mechanic, but the family had little money.

According to Castor, Wallace was very close to Bree, showing a favoritism that Castor made up for by becoming "best friends" with elder daughter Ashley.

Despite their closeness with their children, the couple grew apart, and it was rumored that each was having extramarital affairs.

In late 1999, Wallace began feeling intermittently ill.

Family members variously remember him as acting unsteady, coughing and seeming swollen.

In addition, she was suspected of having murdered her first husband, Michael Wallace, in 2000; his grave lay next to David's until the latter's remains were disinterred and buried elsewhere in 2016.

The story made national news, and Castor was subsequently named the "Black Widow" by media outlets.

As his inexplicable sickness persisted over the holiday season, his family encouraged him to seek medical care, but he died in early 2000 before he could do so.

Physicians told Castor that her husband had died of a heart attack.

Although Wallace's sister was skeptical and requested an autopsy, Castor refused, saying she believed the doctors were correct.

In 2003, Stacey married David Castor, whose surname she used from that point forward.

David was the owner of an air conditioning installation and repair company, and she served as his office manager.

One afternoon in August 2005, Castor called the Onondaga County sheriff's office to tell them that her husband had locked himself in their bedroom following an argument and had not been seen or heard from for the past day, claiming he was depressed.

Upon visiting the house for a wellness check, Sergeant Robert Willoughby kicked in the door of the bedroom and found David dead.

Among the items near his body were a container of antifreeze and a half-full glass of bright green liquid.

Willoughby says he remembers that Castor screamed, "He's not dead, he's not dead."

The coroner reported that David had committed suicide through a self-administered lethal dose of antifreeze, but when police found Castor's fingerprints on the antifreeze glass and located a turkey baster that had David's DNA on the tip, they began to suspect she had engineered his death.

They believed Castor had used the turkey baster to force-feed David once he became too physically weak.

Investigators secured audio and visual surveillance on Castor's house and the gravesites of her husbands, who had been buried side by side at her request.

Detectives reasoned that if Castor were truly genuine about her love for her late husbands, then she would eventually visit their graves.

Castor, however, never visited.

Investigators soon felt the only way to prove she was responsible for both homicides was to have Wallace's body exhumed.

A toxicology screen ruled that Wallace had also been killed through antifreeze poisoning.

In September 2007, Castor panicked as suspicion mounted over the deaths of her husbands.

After learning that police had exhumed Wallace's body and found traces of antifreeze in his system, she was believed to have devised a plan to set up her daughter Ashley for the murders.

On Ashley's first day of college, investigators came to her school to question her about Wallace's death and to inform her that he had been poisoned.

An upset Ashley called Castor.

Soon after, Ashley said, Castor invited her to the family home in Liverpool to have a drink together.

Ashley agreed because Castor was not only her mother but her "best friend".

The following day, Castor invited Ashley to drink at home again, offering a "nasty-tasting" drink that she initially refused.

Seventeen hours later, Ashley was found comatose in bed by her younger sister Bree.

Bree demanded that help be sought, and Castor made the 911 call.

Ashley's sister left her side for a moment and when she returned, she found a suicide note next to Ashley that contained a supposed confession to the murders of her father and stepfather.

In 2009, she was found guilty of murdering her then-husband David Castor with antifreeze in 2005 and attempting to murder her daughter, Ashley Wallace, by spiking her drinks with pills in 2007.