Ashley Wallace was away from home on September 11 and 12, 2007, when a computer recorded drafts of a note written in her name. The note blamed her for the deaths of her father, Michael Wallace, and her stepfather, David Castor. It surfaced on September 14, after Ashley’s younger sister found her unresponsive. Ashley survived and told investigators she had never written it. [1]
John Marino from Pittsburgh · Image source · CC BY 2.0 · This photograph provides setting or historical context. It is not an authentic crime exhibit.
Two deaths, seven years apart
David had been found dead on August 22, 2005. Investigators initially considered his death a suicide by antifreeze poisoning. When police sought fingerprints that September, his wife, Stacey Castor, spoke with a lawyer who had been retained in connection with David’s estate. Years later, the lawyer would testify that he understood the death to be a suicide at the time. [1] [2]
Michael had died in 2000, when Ashley was twelve. An autopsy after his exhumation found that he, too, had died from antifreeze poisoning. The computer examiner dated the first draft of the note to four days after Castor learned that Michael’s body had been exhumed. [1]
Joegrimes at English Wikipedia · Image source · Public domain · This photograph provides setting or historical context. It is not an authentic crime exhibit.
September 13
Ashley testified that her mother made her an alcoholic drink that afternoon. She remembered the unpleasant taste and feeling ill afterward. She went to bed and said she stayed there until medical personnel took her to the hospital the following morning. The medical emergency involved prescription medication and alcohol. Ashley denied taking the drugs deliberately. [1]
During the emergency response, Castor asked an officer to take the note from her younger daughter. That detail later mattered in a challenge to the search of the house. Police already had the note before officers obtained the warrant under which they seized other evidence. [1]
The jury heard evidence about Michael’s death under a limiting instruction. The trial judge permitted it in part because of the similarities between the poisonings and because it helped explain why the note mentioned both men. The murder count concerned David. The jury convicted Castor of his murder and of trying to kill Ashley. The March 2009 judgment also included a conviction for offering a false instrument for filing. [1]
Kenneth C. Zirkel · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0 · This photograph provides setting or historical context. It is not an authentic crime exhibit.
The estate lawyer’s testimony
The appeals court affirmed the judgment in October 2012. It also sent a separate motion back for a hearing. Castor argued that the estate lawyer had entered the criminal investigation on her behalf in 2005, making a statement she gave police in 2007 inadmissible without him present. [1]
The lawyer testified at the hearing that he represented Castor in her capacity as the estate’s personal representative and had been unaware she was a suspect. The county court denied the motion in 2013, and the appeals court affirmed in May 2015. Castor died in prison in June 2016, according to the Associated Press. [2] [3]
The note gave one person’s account of two deaths and a third poisoning. Ashley could speak to the night it was supposed to explain. The computer kept a record of the two days before it. [1]
Case brief
Clay, New York · 2005–2007
- Recorded outcome
- Stacey Castor convicted of David Castor’s murder, attempted murder of her daughter and offering a false instrument; 2009 judgment affirmed in 2012; further motion denial affirmed in 2015.
Key moments
People in this case
- David Castor
Murder victim
Photo at source · ABC News · photograph courtesy of David Castor Jr. - Stacey Castor
Convicted of murdering David Castor and attempting to murder Ashley Wallace
Photo at source · ABC News · courtroom photograph
Look closer · 9 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. Photographs, historical reproductions and original illustrations are individually labeled. Open the notes for each image’s source, credit, and limitations; setting photographs do not depict crime scenes.
Who could have written the note?
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The computer timeline challenged the note’s claim to be Ashley’s confession.
A timeline diagram, not the original note or a forensic screenshot.
Two poisoning investigations
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
David’s murder conviction and the admitted evidence about Michael must remain legally distinct.
No second murder conviction is claimed.
The daughter who survived
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
Ashley’s testimony and survival supplied evidence that the supposed confession could not answer.
No reenactment of a poisoning or invented drink recipe.
A note handed to police
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The opinion explains why the note was already in police possession before the disputed search.
The image does not reproduce signatures or authentic wording.
Two rulings in one appeal
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The 2012 opinion preserved the convictions while requiring a separate hearing.
A remand of one motion is not an acquittal.
Estate counsel and criminal counsel
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The later opinion found that the estate lawyer had not entered the criminal investigation.
Case-specific ruling; not general legal advice.
Syracuse and Onondaga Lake from above
Geographic context photograph — not a crime-scene image.
Read the evidence notes
Syracuse and Onondaga Lake from above. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene image or evidence of an event shown on the map.
This photograph provides setting or historical context. It is not an authentic crime exhibit. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
John Marino from Pittsburgh · Image source · CC BY 2.0
Onondaga Lake Park in 2005
Geographic context photograph — not a crime-scene image.
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Onondaga Lake Park in 2005. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene image or evidence of an event shown on the map.
This photograph provides setting or historical context. It is not an authentic crime exhibit. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Joegrimes at English Wikipedia · Image source · Public domain
The former Hotel Syracuse in downtown Syracuse
Geographic context photograph — not a crime-scene image.
Read the evidence notes
The former Hotel Syracuse in downtown Syracuse. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene image or evidence of an event shown on the map.
This photograph provides setting or historical context. It is not an authentic crime exhibit. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Kenneth C. Zirkel · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
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Put the story on the map.
Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- People v. Castor, 99 AD3d 1177 — New York Appellate DivisionCharged crimes, daughter’s testimony, note drafts, uncharged-act ruling, direct affirmance and motion remand.
- People v. Castor, 128 AD3d 1357 — New York Appellate DivisionEstate attorney hearing, 2013 motion denial and affirmance.
- Woman who poisoned husband with antifreeze dies in prison — CBS/APDated death report only; fewer than 25 derived words. Its inconsistent poisoning year is not used.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 489 words