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On July 24th, 1967, an innocent baby girl was born in Clay, New York to Jerry Daniels and Judie Eaton.
Her name was Stacey Ruth Daniels.
No one could have predicted that this child would grow up to become one of America's most notorious female killers.
Her actions would later shock even the most seasoned criminal justice professionals.
Stacey Castor grew up in upstate New York and she appeared to be just another teenager.
In 1985, 17-year-old Stacey met Michael Wallace, who was six years older than her.
Despite his challenges with alcohol and multiple DUI offenses that led to prison time, the young couple fell in love and married.
The Wallaces started their family quickly, and in 1988, they welcomed their first daughter, Ashley.
Three years later, in 1991, their second daughter, Bree, completed the family unit.
Following his release from prison, Michael turned his life around, securing a steady job at an air conditioner manufacturing company.
Meanwhile, Stacey found work in the billing department of an EMT service.
Their daughters later recalled these early years as happy ones, despite the family's modest means.
The household operated on a tight budget, but they had each other, and for a time, that seemed to be enough.
However, beneath the surface of this seemingly ordinary family life, tensions were brewing.
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| Michael Wallace and Stacey Castor |
The First Death: Michael Wallace's Mysterious End
Tragedy struck on January 11, 2000, when 12-year-old Ashley returned home from school to find her father unconscious.
Her father was unresponsive, prompting the family to urgently call 911.
When emergency responders arrived, they did all they could, but Michael Wallace was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Initially, doctors attributed his death to a heart attack, a conclusion Stacey accepted without question.
When Micheal Wallace's sister requested an autopsy, expressing skepticism about the sudden death of her relatively young brother, Stacey firmly refused.
She insisted that the doctors' report was enough.
After Michael's death, Stacey, now a single mother, worked longer hours to support her daughters.
"My mom was never really around," said her daughter Ashley on Oxygen's "Snapped" program.
This period marked the beginning of a new chapter in their lives, one that would eventually lead to more tragedy.
Stacey Castor and her daughters
The Second Marriage: Enter David Castor
By late 2001, Stacey had begun dating again.
She met David Castor, a recent divorcee who seemed to represent everything Michael Wallace had not been.
David was a successful businessman who had built a profitable heating and air conditioning installation company with his father.
David's ex-wife, Janice Poissant, described him as "responsible," emphasizing that "he wasn't a drinker and didn’t go out at night."
The relationship moved quickly, and in 2003, Stacey and David married.
Following their wedding, Stacey took an active role in David's business, managing the books and working as a secretary.
The merger of their lives seemed perfect on paper as David brought financial stability and security to the Wallace women's lives.
However, cracks in the façade soon began to appear.
David's relationship with his stepdaughters was strained from the beginning.
"David made it very clear that he didn't really like me and my sister,"Bree Wallace later revealed.
The tension was further heightened by David's spending habits.
With the business running smoothly, he began indulging in expensive toys.
He purchased motorcycles, snowmobiles, and jet skis, which resulted in frequent arguments with Stacey about finances.
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| The Castor family |
The Second Death: David Castor's Suspicious "Suicide"
On August 22, 2005, Stacey Castor made a concerning call to the local sheriff's office.
With evident concern in her voice, she reported that her husband had locked himself in their bedroom for more than a day and hadn’t shown up for work.
When deputies arrived, they forced their way into the bedroom where they found a grotesque scene: David Castor lay naked, face down in his own vomit.
He had a bottle of liquor and antifreeze nearby, along with two glasses.
Stacey's explanation seemed plausible at first.
She told investigators about a heated argument over their upcoming two-year anniversary celebrations.
She claimed David had begun drinking heavily before locking himself away.
The scene appeared to suggest suicide, but experienced investigators noticed several red flags.
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| Stacey Castor |
The Investigation Deepens
The method of death itself raised immediate suspicions among investigators.
As Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick would later explain, "Antifreeze could take as much as 72 hours to kill you. It's a horrific way to die."
The autopsy confirmed death by ethylene glycol poisoning - the primary ingredient in antifreeze.
However, it was the forensic evidence that would later prove crucial.
Three fingerprints found on the glass containing antifreeze belonged to Stacey Castor.
In a move that would later be seen as brazenly confident or foolishly arrogant, Stacey had David buried directly next to her first husband, Michael Wallace.
This decision prompted Michael Wallace's brother-in-law, Jonathon Corbett, to make a darkly prescient observation.
"You've got Mike on the far right, David on the far left, and I said, 'What's she doing, starting a collection up there?'" asked Jonathan.
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The Plot Thickens: Financial Motives Emerge
After David Castor's death, Stacey swiftly took steps to secure her financial position.
David's will, which named her as executor and sole heir, came as a shocking surprise to his son, David Castor Jr., who was completely excluded.
"He didn't even mention my name. That Hurts" the younger Castor would later say.
Within a short time, Stacey sold the family business for nearly $200,000, adding to suspicions about her motives.
As investigators dug deeper, they made the crucial decision to exhume Michael Wallace's body.
The process took almost a year due to jurisdictional issues: but the results were shocking.
Wallace had also died from ethylene glycol poisoning, not a heart attack as originally claimed.
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| Ashley and Bree Wallace |
A Mother's Ultimate Betrayal
In September 2007, as the investigation intensified, Stacey Castor carried out what may have been her most shocking and desperate plan.
After learning that police had discovered antifreeze in Wallace's exhumed body, she attempted to frame her own daughter, Ashley, for both murders.
The plot started with what appeared to be a sincere maternal concern.
Stacey invited Ashley, who had just started college, to drink together at home
She claimed they needed to cope with the challenges of their difficult week.
Ashley later recalled the suspicious taste of the drinks her mother prepared.
"I told her that it tasted bad, and she's like, 'Well, just drink another sip" Ashley said.
Few hours later, Ashley was found unconscious, and Stacey made a dramatic 911 call.
"My daughter has taken some pills. It sounds like there's something in her throat. Ashley! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"
When investigators arrived at the scene, investigators found an empty vodka bottle, alongside several empty pill bottles.
They also found a typed suicide note in which "Ashley" confessed to murdering both her father and stepfather.
Thankfully, Ashley survived the poisoning attempt.
After she regained consciousness, she vehemently denied writing the suicide note or attempting to take her own life.
Computer forensics later proved that the "suicide note" had been written while Ashley was at school.
Aditionally, the investigation revealed Stacey's fingerprints on the document.
The Trial and Justice
The trial began on January 13, 2009, revealing the full extent of Stacey Castor's calculated crimes.
Prosecutors demonstrated how she had methodically poisoned both husbands and attempted to murder her own daughter to escape justice.
The evidence was overwhelming.
On February 5, 2009, the jury found Stacey Castor guilty of second-degree murder in David's death and the attempted murder of Ashley.
The sentencing hearing produced one of the most emotional moments of the entire case when Ashley addressed her mother:
"I never knew what hate was until now. Even though I do hate her, I still love her at the same time.
That bothers me, it is so confusing.
How can you hate someone and love them at the same time? I just wish that she would say sorry for everything she did, including all the lies.
As horrible as it makes me feel, this is goodbye mom. As hard as you tried, I survived and I will survive because now I'm surrounded by people that love me."
While delivering his sentence, Judge Joseph Fahey, made a statement that would become famous in the annals of true crime.
"In my 34 years in the criminal justice system as a lawyer and a judge, I have seen serial killers, contract killers, killers of every variety and stripe. But, I have to say Mrs. Castor, you are in a class all by yourself."
The Final Chapter
Stacey Castor was sentenced to 51 years in prison, effectively a life sentence.
She maintained her innocence until the end.
She even appeared in a two-hour ABC News 20/20 special where she continued to blame Ashley for the crimes.
Questions still lingered about the death of her father, Jerry Daniels, in 2002.
According to family members, Stacey had visited him in the hospital while he was recovering from respiratory problems, bringing him an open soda.
Though he had been improving, he died suddenly the next day.
However, because his body was cremated, these suspicions could never be proven.
On June 11, 2016, Stacey Castor was found dead in her cell at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women.
She was 48 years old.
The Onondaga County District Attorney's Office later confirmed she died of a heart attack.
Stacey Castor's case remains one of the most disturbing examples of maternal betrayal in criminal history.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. James Knoll, who studied the case, noted that Castor exhibited classic "black widow" characteristics rather than those of a typical serial killer.
He observed that such killers often demonstrate psychopathic traits and may view even their own children as objects to be used for their convenience.
Her daughters, Ashley and Bree, have moved forward with their lives, carrying the weight of their mother's betrayal.
However, they refuse to let it define them.
In the end, it's their strength and survival that remains the most powerful legacy of this tragic tale.
In another case, a nurse was sentenced to life after she poisoned 5 of her patients with bleach.
See details of the case here.
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