Morbid - Episode 292: The Antifreeze Murders

Episode Date: January 20, 2022

Stacey Castor is most often referred to as a Black Widow, but that name barely does justice when it comes to all of the pain Stacey inflicted on those around her. Both of her husbands turned ...up dead, one of a heart attack and the other of suicide and then years later her daughter was rushed to the hospital, mere minutes away from death herself. When the puzzle pieces started to fit together they showed an image of a deranged murderer who would stop at next to nothing to be painted as a grieving wife and mother, just down on her luck. Mommy Deadliest by Michael Benson HelloFresh: Get sixteen free meals, plus three gifts, with code morbid16 at HELLO FRESH.com/morbid16 PrettyLitter: Go to PrettyLitter.com and use promo code morbid for 20% off your first order WarbyParker: Try 5 pairs of glasses at home for free at warbyparker.com/morbid. Thrive Market: Join today to get 40% off your first order AND a FREE gift! Embark: Go to Embarkvet.com to get free shipping and save $50 with promo code MORBID Article: Go to Article.com/morbid to get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:01:23 of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGI.com. Hey weirdos, I'm Alena. I'm Ash and this is morbid. Hi. Hello. We are here. So are you. Oh my god, I was literally just going to say it. we are here. And so are you. Oh my god, I was literally just gonna say it.
Starting point is 00:02:07 And you are too. And you are too. There you go. We're all here together. Oh my god. It's, you know, I'm tired. It's been, my littlest one is still not sleeping and, you know. Yeah, she just, she's not gonna.
Starting point is 00:02:20 I think she needs a sleep study. She truly does. She genuinely does. She's just like not a real thing. Her career up to those monitors, man. Figure out what the hell's going on. Help. But other than that, I think something really sad happened.
Starting point is 00:02:34 Andre Leon Talley died. I know. I feel like every episode lately is like, and this person died. Yeah. It just keeps people, like I woke up to that this morning. It was like, are you kidding me? He was a huge, huge figure in fashion. And I'm not like a huge like fashion like vogue and everything.
Starting point is 00:02:49 Like I like fashion. Ashes definitely more like fashion. I love fashion. But I definitely was a fan of Andre Leon Talley just for who he was as a person. Yeah. And I mean, in case you don't know who he is, he was the creative director at Vogue for a while. He rose up the ranks like crazy. He was the editor at large for a long time. He was like six foot six.
Starting point is 00:03:12 I think it is our six foot six. Yeah, he was like tall. He was like tall force and he wore the best shit. Oh yeah. He was like fearless with fashion. He just was awesome. And he also just like had a way about him. I was gonna say, he just like emitted the best vibe.
Starting point is 00:03:28 Just yeah, like positivity. And he just seemed like he encouraged people a lot which is nice. Which seems like a very happy person. And like someone you wanna be around. It's just like a real bummer. Like thanks a lot 2022, like Jesus. Yeah, she's being a real bitch.
Starting point is 00:03:41 She really is. And like, maybe she's mad that nobody claimed her? I don't know, maybe she's that. Should somebody have claimed her? I don't know, I don't know real bitch. She really is. And like nobody maybe she's is she mad that nobody claimed her I don't know maybe somebody have claimed her. I don't know. I don't know if we want to like everybody claimed the last couple But like then 2022 is like I'm so unwanted like so let me be with you guys Yeah, really sucks. I don't know man, but Andre Leon Talley. It's a sad sad death rest in fashion, baby Yeah, for real because Because you know what? The other thing that he was a huge proponent for encouraging fashion designers to put more people of color and especially more black models on the runway.
Starting point is 00:04:14 So he was instrumental in pushing that. And he also, he had a quote that I loved and I'm not going to be able to quote it completely. But it was something about he said, you don't have to be born aristocratic to become an aristocrat, like to carry yourself, like he was totally like carry yourself, like your fabulous and royal. Like that's all that matter.
Starting point is 00:04:37 I just love him. I'm loving his great. So that's a really sad loss to a huge community, so sad So sad. But very sad. But Rest in Peace, Andre, thanks for what you did. I was just trying to find a way. We don't have a sitcom song for you, but we're getting vogue, yes. I suggested that, but then I was like, you know, people will probably get us to listen and just sing at them every time. So yeah, we had two
Starting point is 00:05:02 sitcom songs that we sang and that we're done. Don't worry. We can't come after Madonna. Yeah we really can't know. Because you know, oh no I have it like stuck in my head. I know I do too. I have the like that like part where yeah exactly. Yeah. So yeah here we are. It's Ash's case today and I'm excited to hear what it is because she has been chomping at the bit to tell me this. Yes, I have. I've been working on this for quite some time now and then we had a couple of like delays here and there. Some delays. Some delays.
Starting point is 00:05:33 So we are going to be talking about Stacey Kaster today. I don't know if you know her. She's often referred to as the black widow, but a lot of female murderers are. So I was going to say, so I was gonna say. So it doesn't necessarily narrow it down. Yeah, it's one of those like, like there's like a million freeway killers. Yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 00:05:51 Just pop that name on people. Yeah, I feel like if you're a woman and you kill like at least two people, you're a black widow. You're a spider. Yeah, or you're like, what, my girl, but you used to call my aunt, because she dated a lot of people in high school.
Starting point is 00:06:01 There you go. Yeah, not me, though. No, I don't refer to you as my aunt. Definitely not. You always see this you go. Not me, though. No, I don't refer to you as my aunt. Definitely not. You always see her. You're with me, sir. But so I started this off with a little bit different,
Starting point is 00:06:10 because you know, I love to try to tell it a little differently. Like, I want to kind of like stir you up a little and be like, oh my god, I haven't heard that. And then you're like, oh, wait, I have heard that. Yes. Or maybe you haven't. So we're going to start somewhere toward the end. And we're going to start on the morning of September 14th, 2007.
Starting point is 00:06:25 Okay. Bri Wallace walks into her sister Ashley's room and finds her laying there with her eyes wide open, non-responsive, and barely breathing. So Bri screams for her mother Stacy to please come and help, and Stacy immediately dials 911. Now while she's on the phone, she's like looking around her daughter's room for any indication of what could have happened here. And that's when she notices an empty bottle of absolute vodka and what looks like a note lying next to Ashley's head. So she tells the 911 operator what she sees before her and she explains that she thinks Ashley drank this whole bottle of
Starting point is 00:07:03 vodka and mixed it with Ambien. She said she must have taken Ambien and mixed it with it. And she starts reading the note. And clearly this is a suicide note. But this is not your typical suicide note because in this note, Ashley has confessed to two murders. Oh, yes. The murder of her own father, Michael, who died when she was just 12 years old. And the murder of her step father, Michael, who died when she was just 12 years old, and the murder of her stepfather, who had died about two years before this. What? So Stacy is an absolute shock, and she just keeps referencing this note on the phone.
Starting point is 00:07:37 Like, oh my god, this is a suicide note. Oh my god, like this is what it says. Oh my god, like it just keeps harping on this note, and the 911 operator is like, listen, I understand that you've got that note in front of you, but I need to know what's going on with the person in front of you so that's the appropriate help. Yeah. So Stacy is just in a complete haze, but she looks around her 20 year old daughter's room. She comments on how messy it is to the 911 one operator. And she's like, you just need to get here fast because at this point, Ashley's throwing up. So she sees this note. She's like, the room is a mess just so you know, now she's throwing up.
Starting point is 00:08:10 This is what happened. She took these pills and she took, she drank a whole bottle of vodka. So the 911 operator is like, okay, there is a lot going on. Wow. Like what should we focus on first? So when the first responders arrived, they quickly got Ashley into an ambulance and they sped off to SUNY upstate medical hospital. Stacey and Bri made their way to the hospital as well, but when Stacey got there, she was not allowed in the room right away and she was pissed about that because that's her daughter. Yeah, of course. So even though the note she had just read meant that her daughter was possibly a murderer, she was putting that aside for the moment and she was just desperate to be by Ashley's side. By that point, Ashley was convulsing,
Starting point is 00:08:51 and both Bri and Stacey heard the doctor say something about her heart beating out of control. So Bri stayed with Stacey in the waiting room while the doctors got Ashley into a stable condition. And the police arrived on scene quickly, not only because of the nature of this whole incident, but because this family, they'd actually been involved with the police for quite some time, like going on years at this point. Because when Ashley's stepfather David Castor had died, there were some unanswered questions, and they were actually focusing in on stacey, not Ashley. But now that all this was going on, they needed to talk to Ashley because by the sounds of it, she had just confessed to killing her
Starting point is 00:09:31 stepfather. Yeah. A big deal. So when Ashley wasn't good enough condition for them to talk to her, they went into the room and they asked her about this quote-unquote suicide note that she had written. It was almost 750 words long. Geez. Very long one. Usually they're not that long. No. She looks at them and she's like, you're insane.
Starting point is 00:09:52 Like what? I didn't write a note. I didn't take any pills. Like what is going on here? Oh boy. And two murders? Absolutely not. She's like, I was 12 when my dad died
Starting point is 00:10:02 and he died of a heart attack. Oh boy. Yeah. And as far as she knew, her stepfather had actually committed suicide and that was after he had lost his own father. So she's like, what the fuck is going on? Yeah, like this is not adding up. She said the last thing that she remembered before ending up in the hospital was having a drink with her mother and then realizing that she didn't feel so good and going to lay down. And she said the next thing she knew, she was being rushed to the hospital and everything was blurry from there.
Starting point is 00:10:32 So they wanted to know more about the drink that she had with her mother. They were very interested about that drink, which I first see. She was like, what, like, we had a drink together, like, what do you mean? Yeah, I'd be like, some shit went down after that drink. So, but she would quickly realize that she wasn't the only person who felt strange after drinking something that Stacey Kaster had prepared. Uh-oh. There were two people before her who experienced the exact same thing.
Starting point is 00:10:58 Oh my goodness. How, sorry, if you already said this, how old is the daughter? Twenty. Twenty, okay. So, Stacey Kaster, Ashley's mother, let's talk a little bit about her. Yeah. What? Let's talk about her.
Starting point is 00:11:08 What's she? She had been born on July 24th, 1967, in upstate New York, so not far from us in New England. Ooh, her parents were Jerry Daniels and Judy Eaton. Her mother said that growing up, she wanted to be involved with law somehow, like wanted to be a lawyer or a paralegal. She did pretty well
Starting point is 00:11:25 in school and her mom said she definitely would have been able to follow that path, but instead during the end of her senior year, she met this guy who was a little bit older than her, and his name was Michael Mike Wallace. So Stacey was 17 when they met, and he was 23, but she said the second she met him, she knew he was going gonna be the man that she would get married to. She knew it, she said five minutes after she met him. Wow. Yeah, magic. Magic. It was a love at first sight kind of thing. And Stacey said her mic was the life of the party
Starting point is 00:11:57 and he was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off of his back. He was a mic. Always there for her, she said kind of. Oh, I was gonna say, I was like, we all need a mic. Who does love a mic? Yeah, so. Mike was there for her in the beginning of things, but he was very much still living the life of a bachelor.
Starting point is 00:12:13 He had actually already been married once before. Strangely enough to Stacey's third cousin. Oh, yeah. All right, we're going down a path. Going down a path. Here we go. And I take it back Stacy's third cousin and Mike actually had a child together. Oh So he already has a child and their marriage was not a great marriage the one to his to Stacey's cousin
Starting point is 00:12:35 He had actually gone to jail a couple of times specifically for drinking and driving during that marriage and His ex-wife Nancy said that he had been physically abusive toward Oh, no more than one occasion. Oh, man. You don't want this version of Mike. No that marriage and his ex-wife Nancy said that he had been physically abusive toward her. Oh no. On more than one occasion. Oh man. And you don't want this version of Mike. No.
Starting point is 00:12:51 At all. And she said that this was the reason they ended up divorcing. Okay. But in a strange way, she said she always felt like he was a good guy to some degree. Okay. Yes. So Stacey didn't see that side of Mike when they first started dating like the yucky side But it slowly started to reveal itself as it usually does It wasn't physical in the beginning of the relationship and that wasn't that broke them up because they didn't up breaking up over Mike's
Starting point is 00:13:15 Partying and the fact that he would always pick out or pick going out and having like a wild time overstaying with Stacy and like hanging out with her Oh, man. Oh my. So they argued a lot and they ended up breaking up right before Stacy found out that she was pregnant with their daughter Ashley. Uh. And that was something that made her and Ashley's bond even stronger because it was just the two of them together. Yeah. You got to stick together. They were all each other really had. And Stacy said Ashley was her whole reason for being on this Earth. Taking care of Ashley was her main priority and everything else came second.
Starting point is 00:13:50 As it should. Of course. Hey there, fellow podcast listener. It's Elena. And Ash. We're taking you back to the days before streaming services. Whoa.
Starting point is 00:14:02 You know when you would come home from high school and it was only a few hours until that TV show, everyone was watching was about to come on. Well, in 1999, that show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In our podcast with Wondery, the re-watcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we take it back to 1999. So get out your knee high boots
Starting point is 00:14:21 and paste that poster of Angel on the Wall. It's time to enter the Buffy verse. Some of you avid morbid listeners already know what we've gotten store. Hey, my nose. Join us as we sway our way through Buffy's drama, action and romance. Episode by episodes. Slay see, follow the rewatcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app.
Starting point is 00:14:49 What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill or are they made to kill? I'm Candace DeLong and on my podcast Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse,
Starting point is 00:15:17 FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Valow, aka Mommy Doomstays Motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey, prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. So a few months after having Ashley, Stacey and Mike figured things out, they got back together.
Starting point is 00:16:00 And in April of 1990, they got married at Stacey's childhood home. Okay. Cute little wedding. All right, so things are, you know, turning around. Yeah, the puzzle pieces are starting to get put back together. Yeah. So everybody remembered how happy Stacy was, and even though Mike still had his partying ways about him, Stacy was kind of like the person in his life who kept him more on track.
Starting point is 00:16:20 Okay. When Stacy was around, he was stable. Yes, some people need that like anchor person that just makes them want to be a better person. Right. And a lot of people said it was Stacey who not only was that person, but also wore the pants of the relationship. Oh, he always looked that like I know I hate that phrase so much. He just want to like kick someone in the teeth. I'm like, I wear pants too. We all wear pants. Yeah. I wear the leggings in the relationship. When Chip put either way. Whenever somebody says that,
Starting point is 00:16:46 like, who wears the pants in the relationship, I'm like, well, we both do most of the time. We both put on pants pretty much every day. I'm almost always wearing pants. I mean, most of the time I'm wearing pants. Yeah, most of the time. It's a very dumb piece. Sometimes neither of us are wearing the pants.
Starting point is 00:17:00 Yeah, sometimes pants are just wearing a red underwear. It happens. That's the best. That's how you have a great marriage. It's a chance you are just running here. You're out of nowhere, it happens. That's the best. That's how you have a great marriage. And chance you're out of here. Pants? Yeah, but she wore the pants.
Starting point is 00:17:10 That's how people can't trust it. That's how people can't trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it.
Starting point is 00:17:19 Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah, that's how people can trust it. Yeah stole Mike's heart, and it became clear rather quickly that Bre was his favorite child. You should not necessarily pick a favorite. And if you do, you should definitely not make it known.
Starting point is 00:17:33 Don't make it clear. Ashley said when she was older that she didn't really remember it, but other people were like, oh no, it was very evident that he would pick Bre out and do things with her and leave Ashley to the side. Which is sad. That's sad. It is because it's like you have two daughters.
Starting point is 00:17:50 You have an entirely different relationship with both of them. Well, that's the thing. It's not favorites. It's just you have a different relationship with them. They're two different people. Right. But people on the outside, they're like,
Starting point is 00:18:01 they're very different relationships in the way where you clearly favor one over the other. That's a bummer. But Ashley said she had fond memories with her dad, but it was like her mom was more of her best friend. Okay. So as the years passed, things between Stacey and Mike were not always so great. Nobody remembers him being physically abusive toward her, but the couple definitely had their fair share of fights. And most of the time it was over things like money, or Mike's drug use mix with his love for alcohol. And it also
Starting point is 00:18:30 didn't help that they worked entirely opposite schedules. So it's like, basically the makings of a fucking disaster. Yeah, of course. Because by day, Stacy was working as an ambulance dispatcher, actually, ironically. And Mike was a mechanic by night. Okay. So Stacy would tell people all the time during like the later years of like the marriage that she was getting ready to divorce Mike. She wanted to leave him. She wanted to move on.
Starting point is 00:18:55 But that would never happen. Because it was like there was always something that made her stay. Even though they were having such like intense issues, the love that she felt for him never seemed to go away. I was gonna say that's like we talked about that, I think in like a recent Listener Tales episode, people were sending us messages,
Starting point is 00:19:13 being like, you know, sometimes, I think it was one like that. There was like an affair that happened and people in the person was saying, you can't really judge, you care about someone it's hard, and it's like these kind of things, there had to have been something.
Starting point is 00:19:28 Right, because something brings you together. So it doesn't just die out. I mean, sometimes it does, but it's like oftentimes it doesn't. Right, sometimes it's hard to see that those really bad things for what they are. Definitely, and as we know Mike Pastaway, I said in the beginning of the story,
Starting point is 00:19:43 and even after Mike Pastaway, Stacy still talked about how much love she had for him. So it was about 10 years into their marriage when Mike started feeling really, really shitty. It was during the winter of 1999. And Ashley remembered that there were times where he just couldn't talk. He couldn't walk straight. He couldn't remember things. Oh, that's really sad.
Starting point is 00:20:03 And on one occasion, she remembers him sitting up, projectile vomiting, and then just falling right back to sleep afterward. Like, something was very much going on. Yeah. So because he did struggle with his use of alcohol, the adults in his life probably thought that his condition had something to do with that,
Starting point is 00:20:22 but Mike knew that there was something going on with him. So he went to see his doctor that winter, and he told the doctor about all of his symptoms. He said he would feel drunk when he literally hadn't touched alcohol, how he couldn't walk straight, no matter how hard he tried. And the doctor said, you know, this kind of sounds like an inner ear issue because there's crystals within the inner ear that can sometimes shift to places where they shouldn't be. And when that happens, a person might feel dizzy or like they can't see straight. I mean, go vertigo situation. I was just going to say if you've ever experienced vertigo, you know, exactly what I'm talking about. And a lot of times that's the cause for vertigo is the
Starting point is 00:20:57 shift of the crystals within the ear. But that was not the case for Mike Wallace because while he was waiting on a follow-up appointment, he was still feeling terrible at experiencing the same symptoms. And on January 11, 2000, he laid down just to relax on the couch, probably just looking for some kind of reprieve from this constant disney, disiness and nausea that he was feeling, but he would never get back off that couch. Ashley got home from school first that day before Bri. And when she got home, she didn't think her dad looked good. And she said that his behavior was just more confusing to her than anything else.
Starting point is 00:21:31 He was making weird faces. And at one point, she saw his arm jerk into the air and then fall down. And she thought it was strange, but she's also 12 years old. And she's only 12. She's like, maybe he was sleeping, having a weird dream. Like, I don't know. Yeah, what do you, I wouldn't know now. I don't know what you're doing. So she wasn't sure. And she had to go pick her sister up from school because she would go walk
Starting point is 00:21:52 and get brief from school. So while Ashley was walking to pick her sister up that day, Stacy got home in the meantime and saw that Mike was clearly in distress. And because she was an adult when she saw his movements that Ashley just thought as strange behavior, Stacey was like, oh no, I think he's having a heart attack. Like, that's what that looks like. So she called an ambulance, but it was too late to save Mike's life. He died before they even got to the hospital and he was just 38 years old.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Oh my goodness. Like, so young. Jeez. So they didn't need to have an autopsy because it was pretty clear what had happened here. And Mike wasn't exactly the poster child for like health and wellness, so it didn't raise a lot of eyebrows
Starting point is 00:22:33 that he died pretty young. Being his wife, Stacey was the beneficiary of his life insurance policy, and she got a payout of $55,000. So she used part of that money to buy a cemetery plot where she had Mike buried and some of it to take the girls to Disney World. Okay.
Starting point is 00:22:50 So some people in Mike's life did have questions. His sister specifically was like, I don't know, something just doesn't feel right about this. But she kept kind of getting like pushed to the side. Yeah. Which often happens. Often happens. And one of the things that people did
Starting point is 00:23:06 think was strange, some people, they said that Stacey just didn't really show much emotion about her husband of 10 years suddenly passing away. And there is something to that. Of course. You know, you can't judge, we always say it. You can't judge completely someone how they grieve, but like, if there's no sign of emotion, after at least 10-year marriage, it'll at least raise some eyebrows. Right, so it raised some eyebrows, but other people thought, you know, maybe she's just trying to be strong for her kids.
Starting point is 00:23:32 Like she can't work down constantly and lose herself in grief. But nobody saw Stacy grieving at all. It was just like, it wasn't just putting on a strong face, it was just kind of strange. It was like, okay, like this, that's what it is. And now we have to move on. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:47 And she also did move on pretty quickly as far as some people were concerned romantically. Because people were like, okay, the end of her marriage to Mike was rocky and she'd been out of it for a long time. So she deserves to move on. But other people were like, no, no, no, that's too fast. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:01 Now Ashley and Bri were not stoked when their mom decided to move on because for a long time it was just the three of them and they would go on like shopping trips, they had got a Disney, there was a lot of bonding going on and they had just lost their father. But all of that was going to change when Stacey met a man named David Caster. So Davey met Davey, oh my God, Stacey met David through her boss in 2001, just one year after Mike passed away.
Starting point is 00:24:29 And David was 10 years older than Stacey. But she was used to being with somebody older because Mike was also a little bit older. And she kind of found comfort in David. So he himself had been married before to a woman named Janice. They were high school sweethearts, they got married, they had a son, they had like a whole life together before divorcing in August of 2001.
Starting point is 00:24:49 Now after meeting the two of them, Stacey went to go work for David at his Heating and Cooling company that he'd owned for the past some odd years. And Janice remembered that it was pretty typical for David to hire the women that he was dating. They would work for him as like secretaries making different appointments. She actually had worked for the company herself for a long time before their marriage ended. And David had actually asked some of those previous girlfriends to marry him as well, but they had all said no. Oh, when he asked Stacey, she was the one who said yes.
Starting point is 00:25:23 And to Janice, it kind of seemed like Stacey was more saying yes to a life of security than marrying David for love. Yes. Not only did David have his own business, he also owned a beautiful home that Stacey and her daughters would move into. He also had a lot of nice things. He had like snowmobiles, four wheelers, people called them his toys. They would go on like vacations.
Starting point is 00:25:46 It was a nice lifestyle that she was about to marry into. Absolutely. So they did get married in August of 2003, but things were not hunky-dory at Kathy Hilton. Ashley and Bri really weren't into the idea of getting a new stepdad and uprooting their whole entire lives to move in with him. No, of course not.
Starting point is 00:26:03 They've been through a lot. They've been through a lot. They've been through a lot. And David wasn't really a warm fuzzy stepdad either. He had his own son, but his son was grown by this point. Yeah. And he was like, oh great, like two kids come along with this. Like, well, that's what you're walking into, buddy. Yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 00:26:17 He told Stacey on multiple occasions that he just really didn't want a lot to do with the girls. But also, at the same time, wanted to be a disciplinarian in their life. No, no, no, no. You cannot have the whole place. No, no, no, no. You cannot do that.
Starting point is 00:26:30 No, no, no, no. You can't really get out. You cannot do it. No. You cannot do that. You get both, and you get nothing. But he, according to many people, was the guy who expected people to do as they were told.
Starting point is 00:26:41 He was the one dealing out the orders. And Stacey said, if he wanted the girls to listen to, excuse me, Stacey said he wanted the girls to listen to him and not ask questions. But she was like, they're my kids, they're going to ask questions. Of course they are. That's what kids do, man. Of course. Of course they're not supposed to question basic things that you're telling them they have to do. But because they're old enough, that it's not like a five year old being like, why them they have to do. Like, but because they're old enough, that it's not like a five year old being like,
Starting point is 00:27:06 why do I have to brush my teeth? And you're like, let me explain why. It's like, but they're gonna have questions. You're not, you know, you're new. And you're not there to hide. They're new. You're not there to hide. So, you're not my dad.
Starting point is 00:27:17 You're not my dad. So, obviously this led to a lot of tension in the household and a lot of arguments between not only the girls in David, but Stacy and David too. Of course. So one of the biggest fights happened when Stacy and David were actually trying to figure out what they should do for their second wedding anniversary. By this point into their marriage, it was not going great. I think Stacy was actually seeing somebody on the side.
Starting point is 00:27:41 Not good. And they were just... I would say that's not growing great. Say that's actually the opposite of going great. Yeah, I would say that's going poorly. Yeah, so David was like, I want to go somewhere for a weekend. We can kind of like reconnect,
Starting point is 00:27:55 we can figure out what's going on here. Let's just go away together. And Stacey was like, I don't want to go because Ashley was old enough to stay home by herself. She was about 17 or 18 at that point, but Bri was only about 14 or 15, and Stacy was like, I don't really want her to be home by herself.
Starting point is 00:28:10 For the same way. An extended period of time. Yeah. So David was like, you know what, fuck this. Like, I'm trying to figure out this marriage. I'm trying to make this work with you. Yeah. And I think to him also, this had happened before.
Starting point is 00:28:22 She was picking her daughters over him, and wasn't cool with him. Yeah, he Was pissed and according to her he started drinking a lot that weekend And he screamed at her to get the fuck out of his house and to take her kids with her. Geez So it was a very bad weekend. This is not a great weekend. He had also just lost his father His dad died of mesothelioma mesothelioma, I can never say that. Thank you mesothelioma. Mesothelioma, I can never say that. It's a heart.
Starting point is 00:28:47 Mesothelioma. There you go. Just a month before all of this. Okay. He was going through a lot and then their marriage was going through a lot. It was a really shitty time. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you definitely shouldn't lash out on people.
Starting point is 00:28:58 No, that shit is going down. No, I know you're not saying that. I'm just saying like, yeah, like, you know, that's not cool when you're mad. Exactly. But Stacy was like, you know, he's not cool. Yeah, when you're mad. Exactly. But Stacy was like, you know, he's been depressed. Now we're fighting. Our marriage is on the rocks. Like, I'm just gonna fucking leave him alone
Starting point is 00:29:10 if that's what he wants. Yeah. So the weekend that he screamed at her to get the fuck out of his house, she did as she was told. And she spent most of that weekend avoiding him, she said. But she would go back, check on him every now and again. Because according to her,
Starting point is 00:29:23 he was in a full blownblown drinking bench by that point, and had basically kind of sequestered himself into their bedroom. So over the weekend, she was able to get into the bedroom from time to time. Sometimes the door was locked, sometimes it wasn't. At one point, she came in and she found him passed out on the floor, she said, completely naked. So she put some underwear on him and she actually had to call one of their friends to help get him back into bed. That friend was Mike
Starting point is 00:29:51 Coleman and he said that he and David had been friends for years so he came over the second that Stacy called. He's like, yeah, of course I'll help you out. And he said when he got there, David was so out of it that he didn't even recognize him. Like he didn't know who Mike was. Oh boy. So he helped Stacy get him into bed and he left. Then on August 22, 2005, things took a turn for the worst. Stacy called 911, telling the operator that she wasn't even able to get into her bedroom and that her husband was locked in there.
Starting point is 00:30:20 She said that she hadn't talked to him since the day before really early in the morning and that he screamed at her to leave him alone. And then that he had gotten a bottle of Southern comfort and locked himself in that room. So she said she was checking in from time to time. She would lean her ear against the door and she said he snored like a Mac truck. So she heard him and all the sudden she didn't hear anything and she was really concerned. So she calls 911. Officers get there and they have to break the door down.
Starting point is 00:30:49 And when they break the door down, they find 48-year-old David Kaster face down in a pool of his own vomit. Oh, dead. So there is an empty bottle of antifreeze on the floor below him. And what looked like a glass of antifreeze on the table, I should say antifreeze, I don't know what I'm saying, antifreeze. And antifreeze in a glass next to his bedside table, next to a bottle of alcohol, and then another glass with like kind of like a sticky substance in it that maybe it was like cranberry
Starting point is 00:31:22 juice or something. Like it's like an old drink. It was yucky. And just a glass of antifreeze? Yes. Oh. Yep. So David, they rushed him to the hospital, but he's dead. He apparently died of kidney failure from drinking antifreeze. Wow. And his death was ultimately ruled a suicide based on the
Starting point is 00:31:43 information that Stacey gave. What a way. And his death was ultimately ruled a suicide based on the information that Stacey gave. What a way. So, we're going to get into like a little bit of what happens when somebody ingests antifreeze. Yes, I will. For somebody to use antifreeze as a means of suicide is not very common. No. Specifically because it is a very slow and painful death.
Starting point is 00:32:02 I was going to say this, that's an agonizing death. Agonizing, because when a person ingest antifreeze, their body starts to metabolize the chemicals, which is why it takes a while for the poisoning to take effect. And all this following information I run on medical today. Medical today. So apparently antifreeze poisoning is about three stages. So in stage one, this occurs 30 minutes to 12 hours after ingesting antifreeze poisoning is about three stages. So in stage one, this occurs 30 minutes to 12 hours after ingesting antifreeze.
Starting point is 00:32:28 The ethylene glycol will affect the central nervous system, and it gives you kind of like similar effects to being drunk. You might have loss of coordination, slurred speech, fatigue, dizziness, headache, euphoria, I guess. How about fun stuff? You could get nauseous, you could throw up, you could also have a seizure and go into a coma. If it's real bad.
Starting point is 00:32:49 Stage two, two. Two. Stage two. Stage two. Stage two. Happens about 12 to 24 hours after consumption. This is when your body starts to metabolize those chemicals, and it turns them into toxic acids, which then lowers your blood's pH.
Starting point is 00:33:08 And that causes a condition called metabolic acidosis. And that can occur when the kidneys are unable to get rid of extra acids. So it's metabolizing in your kidneys. Fun. When this happens, your kidneys, your brain, your lungs, and liver will start to experience different symptoms, which can include shallow breathing, irregular heartbeat. And that's because the acids will lead to a large level of potassium in the blood, also
Starting point is 00:33:34 known as hyperkalemia, which can lead to cardiac arrest. Ah, hmm. Also changes in the blood pressure can happen, fatigue, confusion, dehydration, and again, you can also go into a coma at this point. Wow. And by stage two, aggressive treatment could be very necessary. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:54 Stage three happens 24 to 72 hours after ingesting. And at this point, a buildup of calcium oxalate crystals will potentially lead to the kidneys failing, which is exactly what happened in David's case. Man. So his kidney stills. That is a tough death. A very tough death.
Starting point is 00:34:16 A long and agonizing death. The grueling. And I just, I can't imagine experiencing all of that. Yeah. So something about David's death while they were walking around this house obviously didn't really seem like cut and dry to investigators who arrived on scene. Nope, it doesn't to me.
Starting point is 00:34:33 They were like, we don't necessarily walk into a suicide like this every time. No. So one detective in particular, Dominic Spinelli, was like, there is something very wrong with this whole scenario. Yeah. Why would this guy have used antifreeze as a means to go when he literally had a gun under his bed
Starting point is 00:34:51 that he used for hunting? Okay, thank you. I was just gonna ask that. I was like, was there a gun in this house? Not that I'm saying like, you know, no way to die is a great way to die. Of course. But it's like to pick antifreeze over that is,
Starting point is 00:35:03 woo, it's just not. And a lot of times. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. Men aren't poisoners usually. I was also thinking that, but it doesn't go along with any of the, right, the typical. Exactly, you would find it a case of it.
Starting point is 00:35:17 And obviously there are times where like it will happen. Of course, people go against it all the time. It's not often that they see this. And they're like, there's a gun literally like next to the anti-freeze, like a little bit under the bed that's confusing. And Janice, David's ex-wife, who had been with him for about 25 years, was like, I don't think he would have killed himself. Like, I just, I don't see that.
Starting point is 00:35:38 Yeah, she's just like, I do have some sense. And especially not this way. So they obviously had to search the house and they did some sims. And especially not this way. No. So they obviously had to search the house and they did some forensic testing. And Dominic felt like his gut feeling was proving to be more than just a feeling. Because in searching the house, they found a turkey baster in the garbage.
Starting point is 00:35:55 Oh! The turkey baster had remnants of antifreeze inside of it. Stop. Along with David's DNA, a turkey baster? So inside of the turkey baster,'s DNA. A turkey-based. So inside of the turkey-based, or, and a little bit on the outside, was antifreeze and traces of David's DNA.
Starting point is 00:36:12 And I'm kind of picturing the one with the black top. So then picture the black top area, that has Stacey's fingerprints on it. Oh, come on, come on. But like, this is her house. That's her turkey-based. Yeah, you think the face like this is her house. That's her turkey baster. Yeah, you use it to face her.
Starting point is 00:36:25 That's why her finger prints are on it. The glass on the bedside table filled with anti-freeze also showed Stacey's fingerprints. I also just looked up the picture in that glass of anti-freeze is the most ominous scary thing I've ever seen. Just a glass full of glue. Just a glass that you see in your driveway if you have a leak.
Starting point is 00:36:42 It looks like an alien liquid. It's so scary. It's so freaky. With the turkey basses there. And then the fact that there, I mean, again, it's her house. Right. So both of these things, yeah. Of course they're my house.
Starting point is 00:36:52 I touch these things all the time. Right. It's the weird thing about the glass is that the fingerprints were on the bottom of the glass. Almost like she had held it up to somebody's mouth for them to drink. Oh. Hmm. Oh my god, this is horrific. So the detectives were like, hey, you think that we should invite Stacey to come talk to us at the station for a minute? Maybe. And almost immediately, she explained
Starting point is 00:37:17 to them why she thought David would have used antifreeze as a means of suicide. Oh, I'm glad she has a logical explanation for this. She told the detectives that the two of them had been watching 48 hours recently. That show that we all know and love. And she said that the show they had watched feature to woman Lynn Turner, who had killed her husband and then later her boyfriend by mixing antifreeze into green jello.
Starting point is 00:37:41 OK. Like, that's a case. That really happened. Lynn even got away with it for some time then. So this is not making her look better. No, it's me. No, not at all. I'd be like, go on. Go on. And she was like, well, that's how he got inspired. Obviously. It's like, no, I think that's how you got inspired to do this. Precisely. You and Detective Spinelli found it rather strange.
Starting point is 00:38:02 So Stacy just offered up that information when she herself had also lost two husbands and one of them died by the same means as Lenturner's two partners. Yeah. And he started to wonder, did Mike Wallace have a heart attack? Oh boy. Where was there more to this story? Oh boy.
Starting point is 00:38:19 So he asked a couple of questions about Mike while they were down there, too. And Stacy said Mike had a myriad of health issues and it was really no surprise that he died when he did. And looking into his medical files, Detective Spinelli found the exact opposite. Mike's only health issues came at the very end of his life just about one year before he died. And he thought, you know, I wonder what would happen if we got permission to exume Mike's body? What would we find? Get the fuck out. So he also, because the other
Starting point is 00:38:52 reason that he wanted to do that was because Mike's body had not been autopsy. Because they thought that he just died of a heart attack. It was a clear cut, clear cut, right? No foul play. None. So it took about a year to get permission from the county where Mike was buried to get his body examined. It takes a while. And when they did, detective Spinaly's suspicions were confirmed.
Starting point is 00:39:14 Mike Wallace's kidneys were riddled with antifreeze crystals. Oh, God. And then riddled. What? So if he had just had an autopsy, boom, bang, shaboon, boom, wow, foul play. Wow.
Starting point is 00:39:28 What were the odds that somebody's husband, excuse me, what were the odds that both of somebody's husbands die this exact same way? There are no odds. That's not a thing. Not even slim to none, just no odds. So not only did they find Antifreeze crystals as proof of poisoning, but Mike's body also showed traces of rat poison. Oh, Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:39:50 He was doubly poisoned. And the detectives decided to keep that information about the rat poison close to the chest, knowing full well that they would use it against Stacy later on. Absolutely. And just thinking about how that, like, explain some of that bizarre behavior, like the stuff that must have been going on inside of his body He was just slowly shutting down nightmarried to think about. Yeah, I mean literally every single Like symptom that I explained before that I got from medical today Medical today. He was experiencing. Yeah, like the fatigue the like drunkenness when you're not drunk.
Starting point is 00:40:25 No, you're vomiting, like feelings of like being drunk. Cardiac arrest. Cardiac definitely did have a heart attack. Absolutely. A random heart attack. But it was not a natural heart attack. It was happened. Rap poison and antifreeze induced. Oh, heart attack. That is truly something. So with that, they decided to head out and see Stacy again. Yeah, you should probably talk to her. Check in, ask a couple questions. Just, you know, we're just checking in.
Starting point is 00:40:49 We just want to chat. Yeah, and this time they were like, we really, we want to talk about David, of course. Yeah. So during that interview, Stacy did not just lie about how many times she had called the host to check in on David that weekend, that he had supposedly told her to get her kids
Starting point is 00:41:03 and get out of there. She said that she called every 30 to 45 minutes because she was like, you know, I was checking in on him. Like, I was really worried. Cell phone records and home phone records showed that she called one time. Dude, how, why? Why do people lie about this?
Starting point is 00:41:20 One time. You know that they can figure that out. How do you not know at this point? That's one of the easiest ways they can find shit out. Like line culverizing. Line culverizing. Fis- Fis-
Starting point is 00:41:31 Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis-
Starting point is 00:41:39 Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- Fis- That would even be like stupid because you're like you call wants to she said I You're like a cold every 30 to 45 set like seconds You might as well serious at that point come on like hey, you can't back away from that no That's the biggest lie. It's huge big lie huge huge just lie big mistake huge
Starting point is 00:42:00 So not only that you think that's a big mistake huge, not only did she lie about that, she made a very interesting slip up during this, uh, uh, full of the scushy scush. The detective asked her about the glasses on the bedside table and they were like, remind us which one you poured the, uh, the cranberry juice into. And so she said, well, I poured the anti-free, I mean, the cranberry juice into this class. Oh my God! What? What a Freudian slip, sister.
Starting point is 00:42:35 That? Well, I poured the anti-free, I mean, the cranberry juice. That's not a Freudian slip, that's a jack-the-ripper slip. Like, that's a murderous slip you have there. Holy shit. Can you imagine sitting there? These are those detectives and you're just like, oh yeah, okay. Yeah, no.
Starting point is 00:42:52 Yeah, no. That was something. No. I poured the anti-free, I mean, that's like a parody of a investigation. That's an SNL skit. That literally is. Yeah. Holy shit.
Starting point is 00:43:04 So noting that slip up, they were like right down. They were like, OK, so if you poured the anti-free, I mean cranberry juice into this glass, why are your fingerprints on this other glass with the anti-freeze in it? And they were like, so they ask for that, and she starts losing it. She's like, I know what you're trying to do here.
Starting point is 00:43:24 You're trying to pin this on me. Like, Farik's the fuck out. It's like, your interview is over. The few fits. And as she's walking out, they have pictures on the table and she sees a picture of the turkey-based her and she's like, what's that?
Starting point is 00:43:38 And detective Spinelli looked at her and goes, you concluded the interview, I can't talk to you anymore. Oh, the sass. Boom, done. The spice. you anymore. Oh, the sad. Boom, the spice. I love it. She's like, that's it, I'm out of here. You're trying to frame me for murder.
Starting point is 00:43:51 Wow. Little did she know. At that point, they had also tapped her phones and we're listening into every phone conversation that she was having. Oh man, the sloppiest. Yeah, and they were about to visit her daughter at school because this is so sad that this part of it is really sad
Starting point is 00:44:06 To involve like this is really sad and I wish that this part didn't have to go down like this because Ashley had just started college that week at Bryant and Stratton Business Institute She had hopes of becoming an accountant someday So the detective show up at school on her first week and they pull her out of class as she's literally signing into class. And she's like, great. And she has no idea what's going on. And they were like, listen, you need to know something. Your dad did not die of a heart attack.
Starting point is 00:44:33 He was poisoned. Have a good day at school. Have a great day. Yeah. So she's in complete shock and she tells the police, no, there's some kind of a stake like, absolutely not. He died of a heart attack. I basically saw it happen and didn't realize it
Starting point is 00:44:46 because I was a bigness. And it's like, you don't want to believe. No. You obviously, nothing is great about dying, but you don't want to believe somebody poisoned your father. Of course not. So the police wrap up with her and she calls her mom crying and she's like, they just showed up at my school.
Starting point is 00:45:00 They're telling me that daddy was poisoned, like no, he wasn't, like he could have been, and Stacy had already called Ashley directly after that interview, like a couple days before. And her phones are tapped at this point. Her phones are tapped. They hear, they're hearing all of this. And she's saying the police are trying to frame me. So now Ashley's calling her and being like, I, you know, they're saying daddy was poisoned. Like, they are trying to frame you.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Like, oh my god, like, she's freaking out. So Stacy's's like you know what I'm gonna come and get you and bad bitch Ashley is like no I have to finish my classes. Oh my goodness. She finished her classes that day. Wow. Wow. Finished her classes and then Stacey picked her up from school. Geez. So when she gets in the car, Stacey looks at her and she's like you know we have both been going through so much, especially today. It's been such a hard day.
Starting point is 00:45:46 Let's go get a few drinks. You know, let's cope by getting drunk. Which it's like, okay, there's been a lot of sadness revolving alcohol in your family. Like maybe don't use that as a coping mechanism, especially with your child. Maybe, maybe figure out a loving way to cope. Why don't we watch our favorite movie? Why don't we sit down, watch your mac and magazine, eat some ooey gooey mac and she's. That sounds great. And just have a moment together.
Starting point is 00:46:11 Yeah. I'll paint your toenails. No, let's go get drunk. Like, okay. Not good. That doesn't work. And Ashley was like, oh, whoa, okay. Because she wasn't even 21 yet. At this point, she's 20. So she was like, my mom is not the kind of mom that would just suggest day drinking. Yeah. But she also said, what kind of teenager wouldn't think that was awesome?
Starting point is 00:46:31 A period just gave you permission to drink? Sweet. So I drank with her. Of course you did. Of course. She's 20. That would have done the exact same thing. Makes it 100%.
Starting point is 00:46:42 I sense that she was like, yes, let's do that. Right. From the mom's point of view, it's like, no. No, bad choice. Your response, yeah. From the child's point. You're a child. You're 20 years old.
Starting point is 00:46:53 Your mom's like, let's have a couple drinks. You're probably like, great. Go off, cool. Let's do that. So the first drink that Ashley had was one that Stacy poured for her into a tall glass. And then the rest of the drinks that she had, she drank directly from the bottle. I think she said that they were drinking
Starting point is 00:47:05 smeared off watermelon flavor, which sends me back to being iced and gives me PTSD. That makes my stomach hurt. Have you ever been iced? No, oh, yeah, yeah, I haven't been personally, but yeah, horrific experience. So after a while, she said that she was starting to feel nauseous, and Stacy said,
Starting point is 00:47:21 you know, go lay down, take this pill, you'll sleep it off. So she gives her a pill. I'm assuming it was ambient. I'm still like, this is the worst parenting I've ever seen in my life. On planet Earth. So actually takes the pill and she does it off to sleep. And she wakes up the next day, feeling like absolute dog shit. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:42 She's like, I was like, this is what a hangover is, like, oh my. It's one of the, I've never drinking again, kind of hangover. Absolutely. So she's like, who? Bad bitch goes to school. Man, that's, that's,
Starting point is 00:47:55 dedication. Incredibly responsible. Like so incredibly responsible. She goes to school, she finishes her classes. I think she must have had morning classes that day because she got home like before noon. And Stacey was there waiting for her and she was like, you know what? Last night was fun. Like, let's do that again. Oh no. And Ashley's like, isn't it like a little early to start drinking again? And she was like, oh my gosh, no, like by the time we get every that like whatever we need to get done and start,
Starting point is 00:48:22 it's going to be noon. It will be fine. Yeah, absolutely. And she was like, you know, my mom was going through a lot of stress. She was going through a lot of stress, and this is her mom, like she trusts her mom. So what's the big deal? Yeah, this is by no means like the child's fault. No. So Stacy runs to the liquor store, and she comes back with some vodka,
Starting point is 00:48:39 telling Ashley, I'm gonna mix up some screwdriver. Have you ever had a screwdriver? And Ashley's like, no, I haven't. And she's like, okay, I'm gonna mix these up screwdrivers. Have you ever had a screwdriver? And Ashley's like, no, I haven't. And she's like, okay, I'm gonna mix these up. You run down to the laundry and just, or excuse me, run down to the basement and switch to the laundry. And Ashley's like, cool, sounds good.
Starting point is 00:48:52 Like, make me my drink. I'll help you out too. So Ashley comes back upstairs and the drinks are mixed. And her mom hands her a glass with the vodka and orange juice mixture. But as Ashley looks down at the glass, she sees these little floating specks in her drink. And she's like,
Starting point is 00:49:08 oh, mom, like they're shit in my glass. And she's like, oh, no, no, no, that's just the spice I mixed in. Oh, yeah, the screwdriver spice. Have you, okay, I was like, do people put spice in a screwdriver? I'm not a big drinker, and I never really have been.
Starting point is 00:49:22 I've had screwdriver in my life. Same. I have never, ever heard of spice being put in a screwdriver. I've had screwdrivers in my life. Same. I have never, ever heard of spice being put in a screwdriver. I don't even know what spice you would put in there. But I don't think that is a thing. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, like, tweet me if you put spice in your screwdriver. Yeah, I'm interested to know.
Starting point is 00:49:35 Because like, what the, I don't even know what would go with that. It's orange juice. And to like, it's like, not my, I feel like that'd be gross. But even that would be weird. Like, cinnamon, I feel like, no. no, nothing works. That's what I feel Because in my head I was like okay, so what goes with orders? I think she was playing off of have you ever had a screwdriver before? Yes, no, I've never had one. Oh, this is how you make it. This is the
Starting point is 00:49:56 Just don't know you're you're 20 right never had one. You just told me you have an ad one exactly how you make it Exactly. Yeah, like easy to try. Exactly. Easy. Easy to train. How, this is getting more and more horrific as it goes because I was like, this is your child. This is your whole ass baby. This is your whole ass child. This is your first born child who you said was like your entire world.
Starting point is 00:50:15 Yeah, this is like really, really horrific. Yeah. So she is like, okay, I guess there's spice in a screwdriver. I don't even know. How do you even know? She takes a sip and she's like, she's like, this is disgusting. Like's spice in a screwdriver. Actually, you know. Takes a sip and she's like, oh, she's like, this is disgusting. Like, I don't wanna drink this.
Starting point is 00:50:29 And her mom was like, ash, it's a screwdriver. And she puts a straw in the glass. And she says, put this straw to the back of your throat and you won't taste it. You won't taste the screwdriver and we can still have fun. This is horrible. She's like, this is a party trick I learned
Starting point is 00:50:44 when I was younger. Are you kidding me, Stacey? No, she's not kidding you. Holy shit. So Ashley does this. She's told she's like, okay, like my mom's teaching me party tricks on drinking. Like cool.
Starting point is 00:50:55 I was the same thing. Like we're going with it. We're going through a lot right now. She's vibing, I guess. Yeah. So Ashley sucks the drink down, but this day was much different than the day before. She had one drink and started to feel exactly how she felt the day before after like three
Starting point is 00:51:11 or four to five drinks. So she's like, I have to go lay down, but this time a lot longer than the day before. So that night her boyfriend kept calling her phone, her cell phone, and he thought that he had left his wallet in her room, but she wasn't answering. So he drives over to the house and he parks outside and he calls one last time, going to be like, hey, like I'm outside, is my wallet there. And this time, Stacey answers Ashley's cell phone. And she says, Ashley sleeping, want to call me back on the home phone, which is hilarious
Starting point is 00:51:43 because that is tapped and Ashley's cell phone is not. That's amazing. It's just like a great twist of fate, really. So he's like, okay, so he calls the house and he's like, hey, I think my wallet is inside Ashley's room. Would you mind checking for me because she said Ashley was asleep.
Starting point is 00:51:59 So she's like, yeah, sure, hang on a sec. And then she comes back to the phone a minute later and she's like, I just checked, it's not there. And he was like, okay, thanks. But he later was like, no light ever went on in Ashley's room. Like I was looking right up. Standing right up. Standing right there. And I could hear that she had people over. She had people over this night. So she has what I assume poisoned her child. Probably.
Starting point is 00:52:23 And had people over while her child lay dying in her room. Yes. What a fucking demon. Demon. Holy shit. Yup. Whoa. Yeah, okay.
Starting point is 00:52:36 And it was not like crazy for her to have people over, I mean, in this situation is absolutely fucking crazy. It was not unlike her to have people over because after David died, Stacey had people in and out of that house all the time. The neighbors not only remembered that, but they said pretty soon after David was gone, Stacey was doing all kinds of projects
Starting point is 00:52:54 outside the house, inside the house. She was changing the entire look of the place. And technically she had the right to because David had left everything in his will to her. Yeah, normally that wouldn't be like so weird if none of this other stuff was happening. Well, and it wouldn't be so weird that he left everything in his will to her if he didn't have a grown-up son and grandchildren. Oh, I forgot he had a grown son.
Starting point is 00:53:16 He has a grown son and two grandchildren. And some people were like, no, he would have left like at least something to his child. I tried to. He forgot he had a grown son. Thank you for reminding me. So they were like, what is going on? Yeah, she also has a full blown boyfriend at this point who's the same guy that she was seeing while she was still married to David.
Starting point is 00:53:34 Cool. And people were like, he was in and out of that house all the time. Geez. So now this is the point in the story where we rewinds all the way to the beginning. The morning of September 14th, when Bury finds her sister barely conscious in her room and rushes to the hospital. So Ashley wakes up, she's told that she took a bunch of pills, she drank a whole bunch of vodka, she left a suicide note, and she's like, no, no, no, no, no, something about
Starting point is 00:54:01 the situation is totally off. And the detectives did not write that. The detectives look at the note that she wrote. That Ashley wrote. And the hair on the back of their neck stands up. Because at four different points in this letter, the word antifree is used. Not antifreeze. In case you don't remember, during her interview,
Starting point is 00:54:26 Stacy referred to the word as antifree. In their minds, they thought she was just stopping short, realizing she had made a mistake. Oh, shit. She thought it was called antifree. Oh, wow. Wow. Y'all.
Starting point is 00:54:43 So she's- And they have this written in their notes. They wrote down literally like anti-free Wow So at this point still in the hospital Stacey Kaster is arrested on suspicion of murder for David Wallace and the attempted murder of her first born child and daughter Ashley Wallace who she was going to pin Everything on after murdering her she was going to pin everything on after murdering her. She was trying to say that a 12-year-old girl poisoned her own father and then a 17 or 18-year-old girl murdered her
Starting point is 00:55:17 stepfather in the same manner. And then killed herself with the anti-free. Killed her with anti-free. No, no, so there wasn't antifree in Ashley. She had dosed everything with pills. Oh, it was pills. And that's what the white specks were. That's what the specks were in her glass. She had put a bunch of pills. Because remember in the beginning, she had said
Starting point is 00:55:38 she took a bunch of pills. And she, I believe it was ambi. And she said that she had taken her system. Everything was in her system. Wow. Wow. Yep. That is shocking. So yeah, she gets arrested and throughout the lead up
Starting point is 00:55:52 to her trial and even during and after, she maintained that she was innocent and it was Ashley who must have committed these murders. God. She had left the note. It was her. Oh my God, what an evil son of a bitch. Police investigated that note and found out that Stacey's prints were the only fingerprints
Starting point is 00:56:10 on the note. Of course they were. And it had been written on the computer three different times. There were two rough drafts and then a final version. All written at times when Ashley was verified at school. Oh my god. Had signed in to classes. Her own mother. She's sitting in class and her own mother is writing a suicide note knowing she's gonna murder her and frame her for murder.
Starting point is 00:56:35 A 750, excuse me, word suicide note. Framing her child for murder. And just saying, like, I did it for you, mommy. Wow. Yeah, I'm gonna link a book that I read in the show notes. It's called Mommy Deadliest, and it was written by Michael Benson. And you can read basically the entire note. No, wow.
Starting point is 00:56:58 And it is so chilling. And there's no punctuation in the entire note. Oh, so it's just like hard to read. And a lot of things are spelled wrong, including in Tee-Pree. Yes. But even after the police investigated, found out that her friends are all over it,
Starting point is 00:57:17 realized that she's written this while Ashley is at school, there were still people who believed Stacey. Who, who most? They could not believe that this woman had gone through so much. And one of those people was her mother, Judy. Judy said, they were blaming Stacey for this. I kind of went hysterical. I could not believe Stacey has it in her to kill two men, especially men she's supposed to love. I do not believe Stacey did it. She would not frame Ashley. So Judy believed that her granddaughter had killed her father when she was 12 years old and then killed her stepfather too. And she said to support this, Ashley had always been jealous
Starting point is 00:58:00 of the relationship that her father had with Bree. and she knew that she wasn't the favorite. So she had all this built up resentment and jealousy over the years. And she also said, Bree and Ashley hated David. He didn't like them. They had like a super tumultuous relationship. They'd fight all the time. That does not mean that she killed them with anti-free. No, no, no anti-free. Or even. Judy was not the only person who believed that Ashley was guilty of it. There were like people in the neighborhood who said she had a dark side to her personality and she even had a temper.
Starting point is 00:58:32 Oh, she had a temper. Oh, walk her up. I don't really know how they looked past all the physical evidence. Yeah. Come on. And the fact that that's I know was literally written when she was verified at school, written verified at school. Fingerprints are all over it
Starting point is 00:58:45 Her ex-husbands or excuse me like old husband They wasn't even her ex-husband his body was exhumed and showed traces of rat poison and antifreeze crystals Like come on on real and this woman basically that to me It is so damning that she said antifree so It is so damning that she said anti-free so In the note that is so different times that is a that is a very clear pattern of speech that she has that she thought That's how you said it that's linguistics it is so stacey caster was indicted on it Nope, not you know, it all December. I don't know how I just looked on the truth the word December It's on some June
Starting point is 00:59:33 December she was in dating December 20th 2007 she faced three charges one count of second degree murder one count of second degree attempted murder and a plot to present a forged will Yes, it turned out that David son David Jr. had actually sued her in the past knowing full well that there was no way his father would have left every last thing to Stacy Stacy had done like Things that heart that his father never would have done. She sold the business which was a family business for like since its creation for $200,000. Oh my god. Yeah, she was changing the house completely. This stuff should tell you that something was going to rye. Absolutely. But two of Stacey's friends had come forward and said that they were witnesses to the change of the will.
Starting point is 01:00:13 And they said they saw both David and Stacey sign it the day after they got married. Oh, the new will. Yeah. Both parties signed affidavits in the original suit. But then when they realized what could happen, what charges could be brought against them, had they lied on an affidavit,
Starting point is 01:00:30 they withdrew their statements. Oh, yeah, you didn't know how that worked. Yeah, you can't lie. Yeah, there. So Lynn Poliski, I believe is how you say it, and her husband Paul, they signed the will after David had already died, thinking that they were
Starting point is 01:00:45 just doing Stacey a favor. Yeah. Lynn said, I figured that if I could help, if I could help make things go smoother for her, then why not? I never in my wildest imagination thought it would turn out to be what it was. Wow. And because they cooperated with the rest of the investigation, they didn't face any charges.
Starting point is 01:01:03 But they lied on the half of David. Good, yeah, good. Good. You just want to be like, do you have an explanation for that? Like, why you lied? Yeah, they just- Why did you change your story? I just thought I would make things go smoother for her.
Starting point is 01:01:15 Yeah, I just wanted to make it smooth. Cool, cool, cool. So during the trial, which took place in January of 2009, Ashley testified against her mother and were calling the whole lead-up of events to her near-death experience. She looked right at Stacey and told her, I never knew what hate was until now.
Starting point is 01:01:30 As horrible as it makes me feel, this is goodbye, mom. As hard as you tried, I survived. Oh, that just gave me full chills. I know I actually have like actual goosebumps right now. And just to look at your mom, like as hard as this is to say goodbye. And as hard as you tried to survive. I survived.
Starting point is 01:01:49 To like to your mother. Like that's what that means as hard as you tried to kill me, I survived. Cause it's like I would never question something my mom handed me to drink. And it's like, and of course she wasn't. Of course. And it's like you just think, holy shit,
Starting point is 01:02:03 to think that she betrayed her trust that way and literally tried to kill her. Yeah. And then like, had people over while she knew her child was dying. Yeah. Or hoped she was. And not only like, tried to kill her daughter, but tried to kill her daughter
Starting point is 01:02:18 and make it seem like her daughter was a murderer. A double murderer. Yeah, exactly. Like completely tarnished her life forever. Wow. So the prosecutors were able to use the evidence, not only like all the evidence against her with the note in the computer and everything,
Starting point is 01:02:34 but they also were able to bring in the evidence that they found during the exclamation of Mike Wallace's body. Oh, I was waiting for that. They also had the evidence of that turkey baster with her fingerprints all over it. Yeah, they do. They also had the evidence of that turkey based her with her fingerprints all over her. Yeah, they do. And David's DNA inside of the turkey based her alongside antifreeze.
Starting point is 01:02:50 Yeah, which, hello. Hi. So they painted a picture for the jury telling them that Stacey Kaster had most likely used that turkey based her to pour more antifreeze down her already dying husband's throat. Oh, they explained that Stacey's fingerprints found on the bottom of the glass,
Starting point is 01:03:06 which had antifreeze inside, that reasoning for them being on the bottom of the glass was because she probably held it up to her husband's mouth and pouring even more antifreeze down his throat. Oh my God. Yep, this is so vicious. And then they presented the computer evidence. It showed that the suicide notes
Starting point is 01:03:27 had been written two days before Stacey drugged and killed her daughter. Wow. So she knew she was gonna do this for a while. Yeah, so clearly like the first set of drinks that they had were also spiked with drugs. Of course, that's why she felt like she is. So the next time she must have put
Starting point is 01:03:44 a pretty real scene in there. And it just to me seems like that, that whole like, have you ever had a screwdriver? No, she was like, well, I can really fuck with this one because she's never had it before. She doesn't know it. If it's like shitty or not. Right, and this is something that like, of course, I'm gonna have to make a glass and hand to her.
Starting point is 01:03:58 Why would she question that? Yeah, I gotta mix it. Right, like she'll question me pouring a smear and off ice into a glass, but she won't, but I'm making a cocktail. It's a mixed drink and it's got color mix it. Right. Like, she'll question me pouring a smear and off ice into a glass, but she won't. But I'm making a cocktail. It's a mixed drink, and it's got color in it, so it's gonna hide that any powder residue.
Starting point is 01:04:11 And then if she does see the fucking residue, I can tell her I spiced it. I put spice in it. Not spiked it. Oh my God. So the jury, they deliberated for four days actually. Wow. And when they came back, they found Stacey Kester guilty
Starting point is 01:04:23 on all charges. Yeah. She was sentenced to seeing me too. She was sentenced to 54 years in prison. And the judge Joseph Fahey told her, quote, in my 34 years in the criminal justice system as a lawyer and a judge, I've seen serial killers, contract killers, killers of every variety and stripe. But I have to say, Mrs. Kaster, you are in a class all by yourself. Yes. So that is a perfect way to describe it because she's not even, you couldn't
Starting point is 01:04:52 even call her a black widow. No. Because she tried to murder her own child and then blame the black widowness on her child. Right. Yeah. So the judge was like, you are, you're in another challenge to something, man. And would that she was sent to Bedford Hills Corrinell facility for women in New York to serve her time? Bye. But that's not the end of the story. If you tell me that she's out walking around right now,
Starting point is 01:05:16 I will leave this room. OK, I promise I won't tell you that. OK. So during the Stacey's trial, words started to spread about another man in her life who had passed away somewhat unexpectedly. Her father, Jerry Dings. Stop.
Starting point is 01:05:29 So in February of 2002, he was in the hospital being treated for like a lung-related issue. But by all means, he was doing well. And on February 25th, his doctor said he would be probably ready to head home the next day. He was about to be released. So his family who was there to hear the news, including Stacy, were so happy to hear that he was going to be okay.
Starting point is 01:05:52 Of course. So Stacy came back the next day to pick her dad up. And while they were waiting to be discharged, she brought him in a soda. Witnesses there that day, or remembered that that can of soda was already open when she handed it to her dad. Stop it. Jerry Daniels, who by all means was pretty much recovered, died the next day. I cannot. Yeah, and his death was attributed to natural causes. Sounds legit. Yeah. And Stacey was the executor of his will, of course. Wow. So she quickly arranged for him to be cremated and also inherited all of his money. Hmm.
Starting point is 01:06:29 Casual. Look at that. And the cremation. Yeah, cremation. But he was buried on the same plot that Stacy had Michael Wallace and David Castor buried. What? So they are later like all of the same area.
Starting point is 01:06:43 Is she doing like a potential murder garden? That's actually her brother-in-law literally called it quote-unquote stasis monument to murder. That's what it is. That's wild. Very much what it is. He said, 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?
Starting point is 01:07:02 Oh, that's awful. So the good thing is that David Castor's son, David Jr., he was actually able to move his father's remains from that plot in 2016. Oh good. And he had Stacy's name taken off the grave marker. Good. So it doesn't say like, loving life.
Starting point is 01:07:17 Oh, can you imagine having to see that? No, and especially knowing what he knows. Yeah. So the DA was looking into the death of Jerry Daniels, but because he's cremated, like there's really no way of finding out what happened. That took care of that. Right. And Stacey was never convicted of Michael Wallace's murder, because on June 11th, 2016, at 48 years old, she died in prison. Oh, 48 years old, she died in prison. Oh, died ironically of a heart attack.
Starting point is 01:07:47 Stop it. Like somewhat poetic justice. I feel. I feel. I feel. I feel. I feel. I feel.
Starting point is 01:07:55 It's a little poetic. Wow, that's young too. Yeah, 48. And it's the same age that David was when he died. Oh, wow. I didn't even think of that. Yep. Um, Mike was 38.
Starting point is 01:08:03 David was 48. Wow. And she never talked to her daughters ever again. After Ashley testified against her, she never saw her mother again and neither did Bri. Oh, those poor girls. Yeah. Ashley, basically, like looking back on it said, I hate my mother for ruining so many people's lives. What gave her the right to play God with people? I never knew what hate was until now. And even though I do hate her, I still love her at the same time. She was my best friend too, she was. And then she took all of that away.
Starting point is 01:08:30 I would have done anything for her, but she decided she wanted to kill me instead. Ooh. To say that about your mom like, yeah. She wanted to kill me. I would have done anything for her, but she wanted to kill me. To try to reconcile that is beyond, no it's- Beyond imagination. So sad.
Starting point is 01:08:46 Man. So that is a story of Stacey Kaster. She is. The quote unquote, black widow, but I feel like that does not even... No, do it. I really don't. And I just feel so bad for all the kids involved and all the family members, like all these men, the head kids, the back side of her too.
Starting point is 01:09:06 And families are really sad. And just like, I can't imagine, I mean, Ashley and Bri lost to their mom in every respect of the word. The betrayal, like lost her from betrayal, lost her because she died, lost her because she, she tried to kill Ashley, like, I can't, it's unreal. It really is.
Starting point is 01:09:24 Ooh, well thank you for that. You're welcome. It's unreal. It really is. Ooh. Well, thank you for that. You're welcome. And we hope that you keep listening. And we hope you keep it. Weird. But not so weird that you kill both your husband's and potentially your father and then you kill your daughter, or excuse me, try to kill your daughter and then you pin everything
Starting point is 01:09:37 on her. But guess what? She survives. She will always survive because you can't kill your daughter. That's absolutely terrible. And you're going to die in prison. So don't keep it that weird. Bye. Bye! Bye! Hey, Prime Members!
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