Stacey Castor is a convicted murderer. She was found guilty of poisoning her second husband, David Castor, with antifreeze and is suspected of having murdered her first husband, Michael Wallace, too. Hence, the moniker the Black Widow. When Stacey Castor learned police had exhumed Wallace’s body (he was thought to have died from a heart attack), she devised a plan to set up her daughter Ashley Wallace for both murders. The plan was to murder Ashley with a concoction of crushed pills mixed with vodka, orange juice and Sprite, and leave a suicide note in which she confesses to killing her father and stepfather. (Ashley was 11 at the time of her father Wallace’s death.) But Ashley got to the hospital in time and she was revived.
Castor was sentenced to the maximum of 25 years to life for the murder of David Castor, and to another 25 years for the attempt to kill Ashley. At the trial, Ashley told the judge, “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.” Stacey Castor is serving her sentences at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York. Her earliest possible release date is June 15, 2055, when she turns 88 years old. Part 1 of a 20/20 on OWN special about Black Widow Stacey Castor will air on March 12, at 9pm.
Update: Castor was found dead in her cell on June 11, 2016. The D.A.’s office reported that she died of a heart attack.
