Crime Time
Episode 200
The Staging of Suicide Murder Scenes in the Cases of Stacey Castor & Wesley Earnest
Staging suicides is far from perfect to get away with murder, as we discuss fake suicides that were successfully debunked to convict the murderers responsible. The case of Stacey Castor, who poisoned her husbands and daughter with fake suicide notes, and Wesley Earnest, who murdered his wife and staged the scene of the crime to look like a suicide during their divorce, are discussed with retired FBI forensic linguist James Fitzgerald. The fake clues and tell tale signs of foul play are examined in this Crime Time episode, hosted by Allison Hope Weiner.
Episode Breakdown
00:01 Welcome Jim Fitzgerald as we discuss: Stacey Castor’s “black widow” deaths, Jocelyn Earnest and the discipline of forensic linguistics.
01:15 Stacey Castor & suicide evidence.
05:35 What was found at the scene of Ashley Castor’s “suicide.”
07:35 Suicide Note & Suicide Note Analysis.
10:24 Detective who interviewed Stacey Castor: “Anti-free” spelling.
11:00 The “Tells” of alteration in the suicide notes.
13:47 The 3 main tells of Ashley Castor’s suicide note: “I Love You”, “Mommy” & “It Did It.”
20:29 Profiling domestic homicides.
23:40 The death of Jocelyn Earnest .
24:33 Autopsy results & Suicide note of Jocelyn Earnest.
25:35 The evidence: the suicide note and journal entries vs Marcy Shepards’ writing.
30:01 The husbands writing vs Jocelyn’s .
33:12 Judge excludes journal entry evidence.
36:08 Wesley Earnest writing style.
37:50 Conviction of Wesley Earnest.
Guest Bio
James R. Fitzgerald was the Program Manager of Threat Assessment/Forensic Linguistics at the Behavioral Analysis Unit 1 of the FBI. Fitzgerald knew little about profiling or linguistics when he joined the FBI in 1987. But, while assigned to the field office in New York City, he worked cases involving stalking or threatening letters sent to Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel, Don Imus, Donald Trump, and Rush Limbaugh, among others.
In 1995, Fitzgerald became a profiler at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Va. As part of Fitzgerald’s profiler training, he learned about analyzing communications. He later obtained a Master’s degree in linguistics from Georgetown University. (This was his second MS. His first was in Organizational Psychology at Villanova University.) As he has at his present company, The Academy Group, Fitzgerald created a linguistic-oriented database of threatening and/or suspicious letters, similar to one the Secret Service maintains.Fitzgerald now works for the Academy Group in Manassas, Va., which provides profiling services for private industry as well as a university instructor, author, and technical advisor for television programs (Criminal Minds) involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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