Poisoned Love: The Stacey Castor Story: 3 crazy things that actually happened in real life

Lifetime’s Ripped from the Headline films continued with Poisoned Love: The Stacey Castor Story. Find out which moments really happened.

For Lifetime’s new film, Poisoned Love: The Stacey Castor Story, they tackled the infamous 2009 homicide case. Castor was sentenced to prison for the attempted murder of her daughter, and the death of her second husband, David Castor. She was also suspected of having poisoned her first husband, Michael Wallace, and forging his will to get more money from his estate.

Nia Vardalos played the lead role of Castor, which was a great casting decision on Lifetime’s part. A big part of the Castor case was her consistent lies and how casually she weaponized her white privilege and expressive eyes to manipulate people into believing her innocence. Vardalos’s soft features and introspective spirit made her the perfect choice.

So how much of the movie was factual? A lot, actually. The following list details some of the most shocking moments from Poisoned Love that genuinely happened in real life. You can also read more about the “Black Widow” on the Oprah magazine website.

3. Castor was found guilty of trying to kill her daughter, Ashley Wallace.

When the investigation of Castor began to heat up, she devised a plan to pin her husbands’ murders on her elder daughter, Ashley. In the film, we see a heartbroken Ashley realize that her mother attempted to kill her and frame her for the murders of her biological father and stepfather.

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Castor invited Ashley to share a vodka with her so they could destress. Detectives believe she used the drinks as an opportunity to trick Ashley into consuming painkillers, but she didn’t use enough. Ashley’s sister, Bree Wallace, found her and discovered the fake suicide note that confessed to the deaths of Michael and David.

2. Her mispronunciation of “antifreeze” was a vital factor in the prosecution’s case.

In the movie, Castor repeatedly mispronounces “antifreeze” by calling it “antifree.” That might seem like a Lifetime slip-up to give the prosecution a fast way to suspect her, but it was a genuine aspect of the real case.

One of the reasons this mistake was so pivotal is because she wrote the word “antifree” four different times in her daughter’s fake suicide note. Additional facts in the case were her fingerprints, found on the bottle of antifreeze and the turkey baster used to administer the poison.

1. She really did maintain her innocence until the very end.

Despite being convicted of murdering her second husband and attempting to kill her daughter, and forging her late husband’s will, Castor maintained her innocence until her death. She refused to say that she was guilty, even after she received her sentencing of 51 years in prison.

After seven years in prison, Castor was discovered dead in her cell at the age of 48.  According to a 2009 article from Syracuse, she died of a heart attack. The district attorney issued a statement saying no foul play was suspected.

Castor never made amends with her daughters, and allegedly, they cut ties with her after the trial, although the accused stated that her mother and a  few other relatives continued to support her.

Lifetime’s Ripped from the Headlines line-up continues next Saturday with The Neighbor in the Window at 8 p.m. Eastern.