SYRACUSE - A woman already charged with killing one of her husbands and suspected of killing another was accused Thursday of trying to kill her 20-year-old daughter with a toxic cocktail laced with drugs.
After giving her daughter the tainted drink, Stacey Castor then typed out a note to make the poisoning look like a suicide, a note that included a purported confession by her daughter to the murder of the two men, said Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick said the daughter, Ashley Wallace, has been completely cooperative with his office and denied having any connection with the poisonings.
Castor, 40, of Liverpool, has been held without bail since her arrest Sept. 14 for the murder of David Castor, 48, in August 2005. Police said David Castor was poisoned with ethylene glycol, a toxic chemical found in antifreeze.
She is also a suspect in the death of her first husband, 38-year-old Michael Wallace of Weedsport. Wallace's death in January 2000 was originally attributed to natural causes. But his body recently was exhumed after David Castor died and Wallace's death was ruled a homicide due to ingesting ethylene glycol.
On Thursday, she was arraigned in Clay Town Court on a charge of second-degree attempted murder in the case of Ashley Wallace.
Ashley Wallace told the
Syracuse Post-Standard that on the afternoon of Sept. 13, her mother gave her a mixed drink with vodka, orange juice and Sprite and kept urging her to finish the drink. Right after she finished consuming the drink, Wallace said she passed out and did not regain consciousness until the next day in the hospital.
Sheriff's detectives arrested Castor after she called the local 911 Center and told authorities that Ashley Wallace had tried to commit suicide. Wallace was hospitalized but recovered and was released after a few days.
Detectives said it appeared Castor spiked the drink with Ambien, a prescription sedative used to treat insomnia, and Ritalin, a prescription stimulant used to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD) and narcolepsy.
Prosecutor Christine Garvey said preliminary tests at the hospital revealed traces of opiates, codeine, morphine and hydrocodone in Ashley Wallace's system.
Wallace said she thinks her mother was “looking for an easy way out” by trying to pin the murders on her.
Castor's defense attorney, Charles Keller, said in Onondaga County Court last Friday that Castor's defense will be that Ashley Wallace killed her father and stepfather. Keller also asserted Wallace tried to kill herself. Keller was in court Thursday and not immediately available to comment about the new charge.
In a nine-page statement to police, Stacey Castor said David Castor had been guzzling whiskey and vomiting for three days before he was found dead in their Liverpool home. She said her husband had been acting strangely for more than a month and locked himself in a bedroom for the last four days of his life.
During his final days, David Castor expressed fear that he would die from high blood pressure, predicted he would not live to age 65, and said he was worried that they would lose their house and all of their assets if he was confined for a long time in a hospital, she said in the statement.
AP-ES-09-27-07 1638EDT
Fitzpatrick said the daughter, Ashley Wallace, has been completely cooperative with his office and denied having any connection with the poisonings.
Castor, 40, of Liverpool, has been held without bail since her arrest Sept. 14 for the murder of David Castor, 48, in August 2005. Police said David Castor was poisoned with ethylene glycol, a toxic chemical found in antifreeze.
She is also a suspect in the death of her first husband, 38-year-old Michael Wallace of Weedsport. Wallace's death in January 2000 was originally attributed to natural causes. But his body recently was exhumed after David Castor died and Wallace's death was ruled a homicide due to ingesting ethylene glycol.
On Thursday, she was arraigned in Clay Town Court on a charge of second-degree attempted murder in the case of Ashley Wallace.
Ashley Wallace told the
Syracuse Post-Standard that on the afternoon of Sept. 13, her mother gave her a mixed drink with vodka, orange juice and Sprite and kept urging her to finish the drink. Right after she finished consuming the drink, Wallace said she passed out and did not regain consciousness until the next day in the hospital.
Sheriff's detectives arrested Castor after she called the local 911 Center and told authorities that Ashley Wallace had tried to commit suicide. Wallace was hospitalized but recovered and was released after a few days.
Detectives said it appeared Castor spiked the drink with Ambien, a prescription sedative used to treat insomnia, and Ritalin, a prescription stimulant used to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD) and narcolepsy.
Prosecutor Christine Garvey said preliminary tests at the hospital revealed traces of opiates, codeine, morphine and hydrocodone in Ashley Wallace's system.
Wallace said she thinks her mother was “looking for an easy way out” by trying to pin the murders on her.
Castor's defense attorney, Charles Keller, said in Onondaga County Court last Friday that Castor's defense will be that Ashley Wallace killed her father and stepfather. Keller also asserted Wallace tried to kill herself. Keller was in court Thursday and not immediately available to comment about the new charge.
In a nine-page statement to police, Stacey Castor said David Castor had been guzzling whiskey and vomiting for three days before he was found dead in their Liverpool home. She said her husband had been acting strangely for more than a month and locked himself in a bedroom for the last four days of his life.
During his final days, David Castor expressed fear that he would die from high blood pressure, predicted he would not live to age 65, and said he was worried that they would lose their house and all of their assets if he was confined for a long time in a hospital, she said in the statement.
AP-ES-09-27-07 1638EDT
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