Stacey Castor’s story is a chilling account of how extreme greed and ambition can lead to a series of cold-blooded crimes. Born in 1967 in New York, she was initially seen as an intelligent and likable woman, though those close to her noted a growing obsession with wealth and status.
Her first marriage was to Michael Wallace in 1988. The couple had two daughters, Ashley and Brie. Although Michael was a hardworking mechanic, the family faced financial difficulties, which reportedly frustrated Stacey. In late 1999, Michael’s health began to mysteriously decline. He suffered from persistent flu-like symptoms and periods of confusion. In January 2000, he was found dead on the family couch. Despite the suspicions of Michael’s sister, who requested an autopsy, Stacey used her legal standing as his wife to block any further medical investigation. His death was officially attributed to a heart attack, and Stacey collected his life insurance.
By late 2001, Stacey had moved on to David Castor, a wealthy owner of a heating and cooling company. They married in 2003, and Stacey took over the bookkeeping for the family business. However, the marriage was far from perfect. David’s children from a previous relationship were largely sidelined, and tensions grew over David’s spending habits on "big boy toys" like jet skis and cars.
In August 2005, following a heated argument about a planned anniversary trip, David was found dead in their locked bedroom. Next to his body was a glass half-filled with antifreeze. Stacey claimed that David had fallen into a deep depression and committed suicide. Investigators, however, were skeptical. They found Stacey’s fingerprints on the glass, but no fingerprints at all on the antifreeze bottle found under the bed—an impossibility if David had poured it himself. Furthermore, a turkey baster found in the kitchen trash contained traces of antifreeze, suggesting the poison had been administered forcefully while David was incapacitated.
Suspicion deepened when authorities discovered that David’s will had been forged. The new document left everything to Stacey and her daughters, completely disinheriting David’s biological son. This prompted the police to exhume the body of Stacey's first husband, Michael Wallace. Forensic testing revealed that Michael’s organs contained the same tell-tale crystals indicative of antifreeze poisoning.
Realizing that she was the primary suspect in two murder investigations, Stacey attempted a final, desperate act of manipulation. In September 2007, she invited her eldest daughter, Ashley, to have a drink and "relax." The drink was laced with a lethal amount of crushed painkillers. The following day, Ashley was found unconscious with a typed suicide note nearby. In the note, "Ashley" confessed to murdering both Michael and David because of resentment and family jealousy.
Fortunately, Ashley survived the poisoning. When she regained consciousness in the hospital, she was horrified to learn about the note and denied any involvement in the murders or the writing of the confession. Experts later determined that the linguistic style of the note matched Stacey’s writing patterns rather than Ashley’s.
In 2009, Stacey Castor was convicted of the second-degree murder of David Castor and the attempted murder of her daughter, Ashley. She was sentenced to 51 years in prison. The "Black Widow," as she came to be known, died in her prison cell in 2016. Ironically, her cause of death was determined to be a heart attack—the same natural cause she had originally used to cover up the murder of her first husband.


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