Since the January 7 fatal shooting of left-wing agitator Renee Good by an ICE officer, Minneapolis has been gripped by riots, lawlessness, and escalating tensions between activists and federal law enforcement. Meanwhile, left-wing broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC have spent more than two hours of airtime blaming the chaos on immigration officials.  MRC analysts pored through every report about the situation in Minneapolis which aired on ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News, from January 7 through January 17, 2026. We found a total of 121 minutes and 26 seconds of coverage devoted to the topic, of which a whopping 93 percent was negative toward federal immigration officials.   SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ABC, CBS, and NBC’s flagship evening newscasts all hammered ICE with more than 90% negative coverage (91% negative on ABC and NBC, 96% negative on CBS). Just 1.6% of of the Minneapolis-related coverage included any mention of the crimes committed by the illegal aliens whom ICE agents were there to apprehend to begin with. CBS never explicitly admitted that Nicole Good hit agent Jonathan Ross with her car moments before he fired at her. ABC and NBC did so only once each.    NETWORKS FOUND ICE AGENT ROSS GUILTY OF 'MURDER' To determine the skew of the coverage, analysts examined the selection of sound bites about the situation in Minneapolis that each network chose to air. On CBS, 26 of the 27 sound bites were critical of (or, more often, outright hostile toward) ICE. Both ABC and NBC aired 21 such sound bites, versus only two that were positive.  For example on January 14, ABC eagerly highlighted prolific podcaster Joe Rogan’s criticism of the federal government: “Are we really gonna be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” One of the few quotes that favored ICE actually came from the father of Renee Good’s ex-husband on January 13’s NBC Nightly News, when he said of her fatal encounter with officer Ross: “The car did hit him.” But not even the 93-percent hostility toward federal immigration officials tells the full story of just how stilted the coverage was on the evening newscasts. On January 12, for example, CBS correspondent Nicole Sganga accused ICE agent Jonathan Ross of murdering Nicole Good: DHS this weekend released a video showing the minutes leading up to the murder of Renee Good. She and others are heard honking car horns. Trump administration officials claim she intended to ram ICE agents before she was shot. CBS’s framing of Renee Good’s death was particularly mendacious. While the network repeatedly played the footage from officer Ross’s phone which indisputably showed Good hitting him with her car, not one journalist ever stated as fact that Good’s vehicle had indeed struck Ross. Even anchor Tony Dokoupil only ever framed it as something the Trump administration was claiming. All three networks did mention that Ross reportedly had been sent to the hospital for internal bleeding after the incident. However, each did so only once.   ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIME WAS VIRTUALLY ABSENT FROM COVERAGE Despite the melee in Minneapolis having resulted from a dispute over immigration enforcement, the crimes committed by the detained illegal aliens barely ever came up in the broadcast coverage.  ABC spent a mere 12 seconds on the illegal aliens’ malfeasance, which amounted to just half a percent of their 2290 seconds of coverage.  The situation was virtually identical on CBS: just 16 seconds, or 0.6 percent of their 2633 seconds spent covering Minneapolis. NBC paid the topic the most attention by far: 89 seconds (4% of their 2363-second total), spread across seven different mentions. NBC was also the only network to actually run a graphic detailing some of the alleged crimes perpetrated by the illegal aliens ICE agents had apprehended. On January 12, correspondent Maggie Vespa reported: “DHS touting the work of federal officers in Minneapolis the last few days, saying they’ve arrested criminal suspects in the U.S. illegally, including with convictions for sexual assault of a child, rape of a child, homicide, and manslaughter.” Vespa’s report that evening also included a sound bite of White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt further detailing the rap sheets of several detainees.

Minnesota citizens and local officials outside Minneapolis say they don’t want the crime and chaos taking place in Minneapolis and that they do support the law enforcement work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. “We don’t want to be like Minneapolis,” St. Cloud City Council Member Scott Brodeen declared last week in comments supporting ICE, The Minnesota Star-Tribune reported Sunday: “I don’t want bad stuff to happen here in St. Cloud that could be avoided.” …. “Just let [ICE] do their jobs and we’ll remain safe as a community.” “Leaders and residents from southwest Minnesota up to the Iron Range have shared similar thoughts about letting ICE complete its job,” The Star-Tribune reports, noting that the opinions expressed by Minnesotans “in small-town bars, cafes and other gathering spots across the state” reject those voiced by anti-ICE residents in metropolitan areas of the state. Indeed, the mayor of Cold Spring, Dave Heinen, says he’d welcome ICE raids of a local poultry processing plant, if they targeting violent criminals, because he wants his friends and relatives who work there to be safe. Likewise, St. Louis County Commissioner Keith Nelson says it’s important to enforce the law and maintain the nation’s borders. What’s more, he says, the people in his community “trust the system” and – unlike Minnesotans in anti-ICE areas of the state – comply with law enforcement officers. “I get the sense that, in other communities, that’s not how it’s working right now and that’s disturbing,” the commissioner observed. “When an officer of any kind, or an ICE agent, walks up to you and tells you to do something, you’re supposed to listen,” a business owner in Sturgeon Lake agreed in comments to the Star-Tribune, characterizing Minnesota’s anti-ICE protesters as “agitators” who are interfering with legitimate law enforcement efforts.

With the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, now in full swing, leaders from around the world are clamoring for the spotlight. And the Democratic governor of California is no exception. In a video he shared on Tuesday morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom went on an unhinged rant against President Donald Trump, who is expected to give an address on Wednesday. 'Diplomacy with Donald Trump? He's a T. rex. You mate with him or he devours you.'The video, a composite of several edited soundbites in a loud hallway, features Newsom railing against Trump in a myriad of attacks, including with some novel comparisons.RELATED: Trump pulls US out of 'racist' UN forum pushing 'global reparations agendas' Photo by Lian Yi/Xinhua via Getty ImagesNewsom demanded that European leaders "stop being complicit": "I can't take this complicity. People rolling over. I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders." Newsom called the world leaders' handling of Trump's dealings on the global stage "embarrassing," adding strangely, "Diplomacy with Donald Trump? He's a T. rex. You mate with him or he devours you. One or the other." The California governor then threw the Trump derangement syndrome kitchen sink at his crowd of listeners: "This guy is a wrecking ball. ... It's code red. And you guys are still playing by an old set of rules. ... He's unmoored. It's the law of the jungle. It's the rule of Don. And I hope it's dawning on the world what we're up against. I mean, this is serious. This guy, he's not mad; he's very intentional. But he's unmoored, and he's unhinged."Mustering all of his bravado, Newsom demanded of world leaders: "Have some spine. Have some goddamn balls." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

An actress known for black exploitation movies said that she remembers seeing lynchings when she was a child in Ohio — but her claims were contradicted by history as well as math.Pam Grier made the claims during her guest appearance on "The View," and the co-hosts did not push back on the bizarre story.'At least make up a story that's halfway believable.'"You faced a lot of racism growing up in Columbus, Ohio. How did that shape you?" Sunny Hostin asked."Phew! Well, the military wouldn't allow black families to live on the base, so you had to live in an apartment. And you couldn't take a bus. You couldn't afford a car. You walked. Your dads walked to the base," Grier said."And sometimes we would go from tree shade to shade to get back to the apartment, my brother and I and my mom with bags," she added. "And my mom would go, 'Don't look, don't look, don't look,' and she would pull us away because there's someone hanging from a tree."Grier appeared emotional, and the audience gasped at her story."And they have a memorial for it now where you can see where people were and left," she continued. "And it triggers me today to see that a voice can be silenced and if a white family supported a black, they're going to get burned down or killed or lynched as well."While Ohio does have a horrible history of racial lynchings, the last record of such an incident was from 1911, which makes it impossible for Grier's story to be accurate.Many critics lashed out at her online after video of the tale was posted to social media."I am 78. I grew up in Columbus Ohio. Bulls**t story," one X user responded."It is amazing that she can lie so boldly without no push back. ... You know who believes this slop? Middle aged single leftist white women who will believe 'lived truths' over facts," another detractor replied."It's important to learn history so that when you lie, you can at least make up a story that's halfway believable," another critic said.RELATED: Jasmine Crockett melts down on 'The View' over 'racist' jab from JD Vance — and claims Republicans are disturbed by her A community note attached to the video pointed out that Grier was born in 1949, nearly four decades after the last lynching in the state. And while there is a plaque in Columbus to remember two victims of lynching in the downtown of the city, those incidents were from 1896.Grier is best known for her roles in "blaxploitation" movies in the 1970s, including "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown." She is celebrated as one of the first female action stars.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Christian organizations spent nearly a decade fighting New York's requirement that they pay for abortions. They came out victorious on Friday, thanks in part to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June.In January 2017, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the Empire State would require employers to not only pay for contraceptive drugs and devices but for "all medically necessary abortion services."Cuomo, a Catholic, said that the mandate was one of a number of regulatory actions that would "help ensure that whatever happens at the federal level, women in our state will have cost-free access to reproductive health care."'The state has given up its disgraceful campaign.'While there was a religious exemption built into the mandate, it was extremely narrow.As satisfaction of the mandate would violate their deeply held religious beliefs, a coalition of Christian groups ineligible for the exemption — including the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, the Anglican Sisterhood of St. Mary, Our Savior's Lutheran Church, and First Bible Baptist Church — sued the State of New York, claiming it violated the First Amendment's free exercise clause and both religion clauses.After years of legal setbacks, the Christian plaintiffs' fight was renewed in late 2021 when the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a mandate-affirming ruling by the state appellate court and ordered it to reconsider the case in light of its 2021 decision in Fulton v. Philadelphia. In Fulton, the SCOTUS ruled that the City of Philadelphia had violated Catholic Social Services' free exercise of religion by requiring the foster care agency to endorse homosexual couples as foster parents.RELATED: Biden's faith attacks backfire: Support for religious liberties soars to record high under Trump, new report shows Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images Again, the state appellate court considered the case, and again it ruled against the plaintiffs and in favor of the abortion mandate.The Supreme Court took up the Christian groups' subsequent appeal, and in June 2025, it ordered the Court of Appeals of New York to reconsider the case in light of its June 5 ruling in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor. In that particular case, the high court unanimously held that by denying the Catholic Charities Bureau a tax exemption that is available for religious entities, Wisconsin had violated the First Amendment.Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in the opinion for the court, "When the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision of services, it imposes a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny."That Supreme Court ruling boded poorly for New York, whose abortion mandate had a similarly narrow and problematic religious exemption.On Friday, New York agreed to surrender its effort to coerce the Christian plaintiffs into funding abortions."For nearly a decade, New York bureaucrats tried to strong-arm nuns into paying for abortions because they serve all those in need," said Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket and attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement. "At long last, the state has given up its disgraceful campaign. This victory confirms that the government cannot punish religious ministries for living out their faith by serving everyone.""The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that religious groups shouldn't be bullied for staying true to their faith," Windham added.Per the terms of the settlement with self-identified Catholic Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration, the following entities will now be recognized as religious employers, thereby securing exemptions from the mandate: the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg and the Catholic Charities thereof; St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church Society of Amherst; First Bible Baptist Church; Our Savior's Lutheran Church of Albany; Teresian House Nursing Home Company, Inc.; Teresian House Housing Corporation; and Depaul Housing Management Corporation.The Sisterhood of Mary and the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Brooklyn have dropped their free exercise claims against the state.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Journalist Savanah Hernandez is shedding light on one abhorrent story out of New York City — where a man who used his weapon to protect himself was sent to prison for four years.“I just attended the sentencing for Charles Foehner, a 67-year-old retiree who was just sentenced to four years in prison after defending himself from a 15-time career criminal here in New York City,” Hernandez reported.“Now, if you’re not familiar with the story of Charles, basically, back in 2023, a 15-time career criminal with a history of mental illness ended up threatening him and lunging at him. Charles, who had a handgun in his pocket, which he had, by the way, because of his fears of rising crime throughout the city, ended up pulling out his weapon, telling this man to stop,” she continued.“He did not heed the warning. He continued to lunge at Charles. Charles opened fire and ended up killing him,” she said.While even the DA of Queens, Melinda Katz, did not bring homicide or manslaughter charges because she agreed that it was clearly self-defense, she did go after Charles for criminal possession of a weapon.The cops then searched his home and found what they called an “arsenal of unlicensed weapons.”“Charles’ attorney stated that Charles has been shooting guns since he was a kid. Charles has no criminal history, and he has been around guns his entire life. However, because he was in New York and these were unlicensed, the DA decided to bring forward these charges,” Hernandez reported.“It’s incredible that this is happening in the United States of America. So he ended up — this 67-year-old retiree ended up losing his home because of the legal fees and him being cut off from his Social Security benefits while he’s in prison. You can’t get that when you’re in prison,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”“It’s really incredible that there is such a thing as unlicensed firearms in this country. It’s like, says who? That is completely unconstitutional, because I have a Second Amendment right to protect myself however I see fit,” she says.“This man would not be alive if it weren’t for the weapon that he carried. And the fact that doing that — protecting his own life — now causes him to be in prison because then they can go and raid your home and say, ‘Oh, actually, you have an arsenal here. You’re not allowed to do that,’ is so very chilling,” she adds.Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The Trump administration officials are pushing California to return over $1 billion in federal taxpayer funds that may have been used to cover the health care costs of illegal aliens.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in May that it was increasing oversight on states that illegally used Medicaid funding to provide illegal immigrants with health care services, noting that Medicaid funding is generally available to illegal aliens only for emergency medical services. 'We are teaming up to combat healthcare fraud so the money can be used for American citizens who need it!'As part of the announcement, the CMS declared that states could be forced to reimburse the federal government for funds spent on noncitizens. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz revealed in October that the agency found more than $1 billion of federal taxpayer funds were spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. “And my team is getting it back,” he remarked.Oz called CMS’ findings “shocking.”“In a preliminary review of six states, we found those states improperly using federal tax dollars for their allegedly state-funded program and providing coverage to individuals, including some with criminal records of murder and assault,” he stated.Those findings included $1.3 billion in California, $2.1 million in Washington, D.C., $30 million in Illinois, $2.4 million in Washington, $1.5 million in Colorado, and $5.4 million in Oregon. RELATED: Dr. Oz exposes the nonprofit lie at the heart of US health care Mehmet Oz, Bill Essayli. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty ImagesOz explained that the states had been notified and that “many” had begun issuing refunds to CMS. However the administrator provided an update on Wednesday, stating that additional uncovered data revealed the total had reached $1.8 billion across eight states. He announced that the CMS is withholding nearly $300 million from California, which Oz labeled “the worst offender,” until the state’s leadership proves “they’re spending the money properly.”Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, stated, “California must return more than $1 billion to the federal government after an audit by @DrOzCMS and his team uncovered federal dollars being spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants. We are teaming up to combat healthcare fraud so the money can be used for American citizens who need it!”California officials have rejected claims that the federal funds were misused.The California Department of Health Care Services previously told the New York Times, “Claims that California improperly used federal Medicaid dollars to provide health care to undocumented immigrants are flatly false and misrepresent both federal law and standard administrative practice.”Gov. Gavin Newsom's office did not respond to a request for comment.RELATED: Illegal-alien patients drain Texas hospitals, racking up billion-dollar bill — in less than a year Gavin Newsom. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C., has agreed to pay back over $650,000 to CMS by mid-November.An Illinois Medicaid spokesperson previously told PolitiFact, “Once again, the Trump administration is spreading misinformation about standard uses of Medicaid dollars.”“This is not a reality show, and there is no conspiracy to circumvent federal law and provide ineligible individuals with Medicaid coverage. Dr. Oz should stop pushing conspiracy theories and focus on improving health care for the American people,” the spokesperson added.A Washington State Health Care Authority also pushed back on CMS’ claims, calling the estimates shared by Oz “inaccurate.”“We were very surprised to see Dr. Oz’s post, especially considering we continue to work with CMS in good faith to answer their questions and clear up any confusion,” the spokesperson said. Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy & Financing also insisted the state did not break the law. “Our payments for coverage of undocumented individuals are in accordance with state and federal laws,” a spokesperson told PolitiFact. "The $1.5 million number referenced by federal leaders today is based on an incorrect preliminary finding, and has been refuted with supporting data by our Department experts."Oregon Health Authority previously told KOIN that CMS’ claim was “false and mischaracterizes not just this essential part of our nation’s emergency care infrastructure, but also an ongoing, routine audit process.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Try explaining this one: President Donald Trump’s relaxed — almost insouciant — response to news that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged allegiance to a China-centered “new world order."Why did Trump appear to shrug off Carney’s insistence that Canada’s future lies more with China than with the United States?Carney’s favorable assessment of China’s role in climate and green finance is not an isolated remark.Perhaps it has something to do with Greenland and Canada being viewed as components of Trump’s broader Western Hemisphere security plan.Cue the black helicoptersNot long ago, “new world order” belonged firmly in the vocabulary of conspiracy theorists. But in Beijing last week, Carney elevated the phrase into an official Liberal talking point.So what did Carney say? Plenty.Mine is the first visit of a Canadian prime minister to China in nearly a decade. The world has changed much since that last visit, and I believe the progress that we have made in the partnership sets us up well for the new world order.Trump did not respond immediately. Instead, he waited until the end of the news day last Friday before offering his reaction.“That’s what he should be doing, and it’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that,” Trump said.Not the response many expected from a president who has urged countries in the Western Hemisphere to distance themselves from Beijing.World order word saladPressed on what he meant by a “new world order,” Carney responded with his characteristic blend of abstraction and deflection.So the question is, what gets built in that place? How much of a patchwork is it? How much is it just on a bilateral basis? Or where do like-minded countries in certain areas? So like-minded countries, just to be clear, doesn't mean you agree on everything. So aspects, for example, on digital trade or agricultural trade, climate finance as another area to move into areas of geo-strategy, geo-security, you will have different coalitions that are formed. So what this partnership does is in areas, for example, of clean energy, conventional energy, agriculture, as we were just talking about, and financial services, which we have talked less about, but the evolution of the global financial system.Trump’s nonchalance was not shared by conservative commentators, who sharply criticized Carney’s remarks.Alex Jones, for one, described Carney as “a Klaus Schwab acolyte” and warned: “You are about to see the globalist prime minister of Canada pledge allegiance to the communist dictator in China, Xi Jinping."RELATED: What does Trump see in Canada's pro-China prime minister? Chip Somodevilla/Dave Chan/Getty ImagesChina guySo far, Carney’s new world order with China has produced a trade agreement allowing up to 49,000 electric vehicles to be imported into Canada annually at a reduced tariff of 6.1%. In return, China is expected to lower tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports — most notably canola oil, a key cash crop for Canadian farmers — to roughly 15%.But there is nothing new about Carney’s deference to China.After leaving the Bank of England in 2020, Carney became vice chairman of the board of Bloomberg L.P., the privately held financial data and media company founded by Michael Bloomberg. During the same period, he also served as co-chair of the U.N.-backed Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, working alongside Bloomberg in his separate capacity as the United Nations’ Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions.In that capacity, Carney consistently praised the alleged environmental stewardship of China, somehow locating a deep commitment to fighting climate change in a country that continues to power its economy with coal-fired plants.Take Carney’s March 2024 visit to China, during which he told a reporter for the Chinese business outlet 21st Century Business Herald (English translation via Google Translate):China has made a huge contribution to the fight against climate change, not only in terms of its massive investment in clean technologies and exporting them to other countries, but also in actively developing the financial system needed for the green transition.Yuan to grow onCarney’s favorable assessment of China’s role in climate and green finance is not an isolated remark. It aligns with a broader argument he has advanced in recent years: that global economic leadership should become more multipolar, with China playing a larger role alongside — rather than beneath — U.S. dominance.That worldview extends to currency and finance. At the 2019 Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, Carney argued that the world should reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar by exploring a new “synthetic hegemonic currency,” a framework designed to dilute the dominance of any single national currency.Carney did not explicitly call for the Chinese yuan to replace the U.S. dollar outright. But his proposal would, by design, weaken the centrality of the dollar and expand the influence of non-U.S. currencies and financial systems.Trump, for his part, has twice endorsed Carney during Canadian federal elections. Their relationship — particularly during Oval Office meetings — has been described as friendly, though it may be better understood as Trump indulging a leader he views as temporary.Why does Trump consistently give Carney a pass?Perhaps because Trump sees Carney less as a lasting architect of global order than as a passing phenomenon — unlikely to impede the president’s broader aim of reinforcing American economic primacy, regardless of how warmly Carney speaks of China’s place in the world.

On August 22, 2005, Stacey Castor called 911. Seemingly distraught, she said that her husband had locked himself in his room and that she feared he’d hurt himself. Indeed, police found Castor’s husband David dead in their bedroom — next to a glass of antifreeze. YouTubeStacey Castor and her first husband, Michael Wallace. But in the subsequent weeks, authorities began to doubt Castor’s story. They’d found a number of strange clues at the Castor home. And when investigators realized that Castor’s first husband, Michael Wallace, had also died young, they knew that both deaths needed a second look. What they found would shock Stacey Castor’s community of Syracuse, New York — especially when Castor showed how far she was willing to go to stay out of jail. Who Was Stacey Castor? Born Stacey Daniels, Castor was born on July 24, 1967 to Jerry Daniels and Judie Eaton in Clay, New York. Little is known about her early life — her later infamy overshadowed her youth — but Castor’s mother says that her daughter once envisioned great things for herself. “Stacey was very intelligent,” her mother, Judie Eaton, said. “She always wanted to be a paralegal or a lawyer.” But although Castor had started taking relevant classes in high school, she abandoned her dreams when she met Michael Wallace at the age of 17. In Castor’s telling, it was love at first sight. YouTubeStacey Castor’s first husband, Michael Wallace. “Michael’s the love of my life,” Castor said, years after his death. “I knew five minutes after I met him that I was gonna marry him.” And on April 7, 1990, Castor’s prediction came true: she married Michael Wallace. To outsiders, it looked like they had a strong marriage. Eaton recalled that her daughter was “as happy as she had ever been,” following her wedding. Castor and Wallace had two daughters, Ashley and Bree, and Castor seemed well-suited for motherhood. “I knew from [the minute Ashley was born], my whole reason for being here was to take care of her,” Castor said. But all was not well beneath the surface. Castor later complained that Wallace drank too much. And they had no money — despite both working full-time jobs with opposite schedules. Then, in the winter of 1999, things seemed to get even worse. Michael Wallace got sick. “He was having a hard time walking, and he was having a hard time talking,” Ashley Wallace remembered. “And one time, he sat up, and he just vomited across the coffee table and laid back down went back to sleep like nothing ever happened.” Wallace told doctors that he felt drunk, but that he hadn’t had anything to drink. They were stumped — nothing seemed to help. And, on Jan. 11, 2000, Wallace died. He was 38 years old. Following his death, doctors attributed his early demise to a heart attack. But his family wasn’t sure — they wanted an autopsy. Castor refused. “When the doctors told me that they believed he’d died of a heart attack, I believed that,” she later said. “There was no reason for me to question that.” Instead, Stacey Castor quietly moved on. She collected Wallace’s $55,000 life insurance policy. And, the next year, she met her second husband: David Castor. David Castor ‘Commits Suicide’ YouTubeStacey Castor and David Castor’s wedding. After meeting David Castor in 2001, Stacey Castor married him in 2003. At first, her second marriage seemed as strong as her first. “David was very conscientious, very work-driven,” Castor later said. “David was support and strength and security to me.” But on August 22, 2005, terrible luck seemed to strike Stacey Castor again. She called 911 in a panic, telling the operator that her husband had locked himself in their room and wouldn’t respond to her. “My husband just locked himself in the bedroom for the last day … I’m really scared, you know?” she said. When the police arrived, they found David Castor naked and dead in bed. Investigators noted green liquid in a glass next to the bed, and a bottle of antifreeze nearby. Onondaga Prosecutor’s OfficeA crime scene photo showing a glass full of antifreeze. “It appears to be a simple suicide by antifreeze poisoning,” Sgt. Michael Norton of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office later said. But a couple of things struck investigators as odd. Castor claimed that her husband had been depressed following the death of his father — but his ex-wife swore he would never kill himself. And David Castor had left his entire $300,000 estate to his wife — cutting out his son. Plus, detectives had discovered an unsettling clue in the Castor home: a turkey baster in a trash can. The turkey baster had traces of antifreeze as well as David Castor’s DNA. Investigators had also found Stacey Castor’s fingerprints on the bottom of the glass in the bedroom. “The fingerprints [were] in such a way that it was as if someone held the glass from the bottom,” lead investigator Detective Dominick Spinelli later explained. He knew that the placement of her fingerprints could have a logical explanation. But it could also suggest something sinister. “Stacey may have held the glass up to his mouth.” The Investigation Into Stacey Castor YouTubeThe exhumation of Mike Wallace, who was buried next to David Castor. Suspicious of Stacey Castor’s story, investigators decided they needed to get a better sense of Castor herself. They decided to speak to her ex-husband, Michael Wallace. Of course, they found that he, too, had died under mysterious circumstances. So Spinelli decided to exhume Wallace’s body in September 2007. “The last thing I want to do is disturb someone that’s at peace, especially if nothing showed up in his system,” Spinelli recalled. However, Spinelli’s hunch paid off. Wallace’s body showed traces of antifreeze poisoning. Suddenly, one of his strange symptoms — feeling drunk when he wasn’t — made sense. “That’s a classic symptom of antifreeze poisoning,” explained District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick. With a good idea of what might have happened to Michael Wallace and David Castor, investigators decided to ask Stacey Castor some pointed questions. “She seemed nervous,” Valerie Brogan, another detective on the case, recalled. “She was pacing, and she just was surprised that we were there.” The detectives went through a number of questions with Castor. Then, Spinelli tossed out a seemingly harmless one: Of the two glasses on David Castor’s bedside table, he asked, which glass had Castor poured cranberry juice in? “Well,” Castor responded. “When I poured the anti-free — I mean, cranberry juice.” At that point, she stopped the interview and accused the detectives of trying to frame her. But although investigators thought they were getting close to an arrest, Stacey Castor had one more trick up her sleeve. The Attempted Murder Of Ashley Wallace YouTubeAshley Wallace speaking to ABC News. A few days after Stacey Castor’s slip-of-the-tongue, detectives informed her 20-year-old daughter, Ashley, that her father Michael had been poisoned. Ashley called her mother for comfort. As detectives listened over a wire-tap, Castor invited Ashley over for a drink because they’d “had a hard day.” “I was like, ‘Cool!’ You know, what kind of teenager wouldn’t think that was awesome?” Ashley later recalled. “Your parents just gave you permission to drink. Sweet!” But after her mother made her a drink, Ashley felt tired. She went to sleep. The next day, Castor suggested they do it again. So, again, Ashley drank something that her mother gave her. She later recalled that it didn’t taste good, so her mother gave her a straw. Castor instructed Ashley to put the straw at the back of her throat. Just like the night before, the cocktail made Ashley tired. She went to her room to lie down. But this time, Ashley didn’t get up. When her sister Bree tried to wake her the next morning, Ashley was unresponsive. The next thing Ashley knew, she was in the hospital. A grim-faced detective was sitting before her. He told her that the EMTs had found her with a typed suicide note that confessed to the murders of Michael Wallace and David Castor. “I’m like, ‘What are they talking about?'” Ashley Wallace remembered in 2009. “‘I didn’t do any of these things that you’re saying that I did.'” The note, which rambled on for 750 words without punctuation, included lines like: “none was ever supposed to know but now they do and thay think you did it but you didn’t it was me.” But to detectives, one thing in the note stood out in particular: the spelling of antifreeze. The writer had spelled it “antifree” — the same way that Stacey Castor had pronounced the word during her interrogation. The Trial And Conviction Of ‘Black Widow’ Stacey Castor YouTubeStacey Castor maintained her innocence until her death in 2016. That same day, police arrested Stacey Castor. In February 2009, a jury convicted her of second-degree murder of David Castor, attempted murder of her daughter, and forging David Castor’s will. Prosecutors had plenty of evidence. They had Castor’s fingerprints on the glass of antifreeze in David Castor’s bedroom, the turkey baster with traces of antifreeze in the trash can, and proof that she had written various drafts of Ashley’s “suicide note” on her home computer. Not to mention that both her husbands had died of antifreeze poisoning. But as the media clamored around the sensational trial — calling Castor the “Black Widow” — at least one person refused to believe that Stacey Castor had killed her husbands. Castor’s mother believes that Ashley Wallace is the true killer. “Ashley had ample time,” Eaton said, although Ashley Wallace was just 11 when her father died. “Ample opportunity.” Stacey Castor, too, maintained her innocence. “I did not kill Michael Wallace, I did not kill David Castor, and I did not try to kill my daughter, period,” she said in 2009. “And I will never say that I did, ever.” Stacey Castor died without ever admitting to killing either of her husbands. In 2016, she had a heart attack in jail. “She was my best friend, too,” Ashley Wallace said of her mom. “She was. And then she took that all away.” “I would have done anything for her, but she decided she wanted to kill me instead.” After reading about Stacey Castor, discover the stories of two other women accused of murdering their husbands. Belle Gunness killed two of her husbands as well as dozens of suitors. And Nannie Doss, the “Giggling Granny,” spent decades murdering husbands and relatives. The post The Twisted Case Of Stacey Castor, The ‘Black Widow’ Whose Weapon Of Choice Was Antifreeze appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Public DomainAqua Tofana was often disguised as “Manna of St Nicholas of Bari,” an ointment for blemishes. The deadly poison Aqua Tofana came in a pretty bottle. It was colorless, odorless, and tasteless. And for almost 20 years in 17th-century Italy, hundreds of women used it to stealthily kill their husbands. Their motivations may have differed, but the results were the same. The poison worked quickly and quietly and killed without leaving a trace. By the 1650s, it’s estimated that Aqua Tofana killed some 600 people. But the truth about this elusive poison can be hard to pin down. What Was Aqua Tofana? For women living in 17th-century Italy, marriage could be a cage. They had few options aside from finding a husband, and once they had one, it was nearly impossible to leave. But a woman named Giulia Tofana had a solution. Born in Palermo, Italy, around 1620, Tofana knew a thing or two about death. When she was just 13, a woman named Thofania d’Amado — likely her mother — was executed for killing what some sources have claimed was her own husband with poison. In the aftermath, Tofana carried on her mother’s legacy using her old recipe. She began selling Aqua Tofana, an odorless poison that she disguised as an ointment. Though the exact concoction has since been lost, Tofana likely made her poison with arsenic, lead, and belladonna. Tofana established quite the business in Rome, where she hired associates to operate a covert apothecary to quietly sell their deadly potion among actual cosmetic products. Soon, men began dying by the dozens as a result of women desperate to leave their unhappy marriages or collect the inheritance money and begin anew. Giulia Tofana’s Downfall Public DomainA 19th-century depiction of the poison ring that helped women to kill their husbands in the 1600s. For women who wanted to kill their husbands, Aqua Tofana was the perfect murder weapon. It came in a simple bottle that they could hide among their toiletries. And it was odorless and tasteless, which meant they could slip it into their husband’s food and drink without him noticing. What’s more, the effects of Aqua Tofana mirrored an actual illness. The first dose caused symptoms similar to a cold. The second triggered stomach aches, vomiting, and diarrhea. And the third or fourth dose dragged the victim to death’s door. For almost two decades, Giulia Tofana quietly sold her poison until one of her customers brought her downfall. As the story goes, one of Tofana’s clients decided to use Aqua Tofana to kill her husband. She put a few drops in his soup and brought it to their table. But when he brought the bowl to his lips, she had a change of heart. Begging him not to drink the soup, the wife eventually — perhaps after being beaten — admitted that she’d poisoned it. She then told her husband where she purchased it. Another version, however, suggests that women had started confessing murder to their priests. At the same time, people had started to notice that “young widows were unusually abundant.” Tofana was then possibly arrested, tortured, and put on trial after she admitted that her poison had killed some 600 people. She and her associates were executed, as were a number of her lower-class clients. Some of her more prominent clients were spared at the request of the Pope, however. According to one historian, though, Giulia Tofana might not have met such a gruesome fate after all. The Legacy Of Aqua Tofana Though a poison-ring trial in Rome did happen in 1658, it’s possible that Giulia Tofana missed it entirely. Historian Mike Dash of the University of Cambridge has suggested that Tofana died, probably peacefully, and possibly in 1651. He believes her associates and clients stood trial without her. Regardless, Aqua Tofana took on the specter of legend in the years that followed. As Dash writes, the poison became a sort of “catch-all” phrase “to describe a supposed class of subtle, precise, slow-acting poisons that were believed to be undetectable and invariably fatal.” Indeed, the legend of Aqua Tofana and the murderous wives of Rome grew with time. The basic facts of the story — hundreds of husbands dead, poison sold by a woman — spread across 17th-century Europe. Even the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart worried that he’d been poisoned with Aqua Tofana when he started suffering an unexplained illness in 1791 at the age of 35. “I am sure that I have been poisoned,” Mozart wrote. “I cannot rid myself of this idea … Someone has given me Aqua Tofana and calculated the precise time of my death.” Mozart did indeed die — mysteriously — though there’s no proof that this infamous poison is what did it. In the end, the story of Aqua Tofana is as slippery as the poison itself. The basic facts of Aqua Tofana are obscured by history, just as it once helped wives to obscure the truth of their husbands’ demise. After reading about Aqua Tofana and its maker Giulia Tofana, learn about the “Angel Makers” of Nagrev who poisoned their husbands and children. Or, discover the chilling story of Stacey Castor who killed her husbands with antifreeze. The post The Shocking History Of Aqua Tofana, The 17th-Century ‘Blemish Serum’ That Killed Hundreds Of Unwanted Husbands appeared first on All That's Interesting.