Murder by Milkshake: An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and A Charismatic Killer
Set in middle-class Kerrisdale, the green duplex at 2092 West 42nd Avenue is such an ordinary place it’s hard to imagine it was the stage for one of the most sensational murders in Vancouver’s history.
Esther Castellani, 40, died in 1965 from slow and painful arsenic poisoning by her husband of 19 years. A manager at a children’s clothing store, Esther had a 11-year-old daughter Jeannine.
Esther’s husband Rene worked for CKNW. He was known as the “Dizzy Dialler” as well as for his outrageous stunts. Once he played a maharaja who wanted to buy British Columbia. He stayed at the Westin Bayshore and rode around in limousines with bodyguards and an entourage of dancing girls. So effective was the campaign that outraged locals made up signs shouting “Keep BC British.” Shortly before his wife’s death, Rene climbed into a car perched on top of the 20-metre BowMac sign on West Broadway and vowed to stay there until every last car on the lot sold. It took nine days.
Esther knew about the affair. She’d received anonymous late night phone calls from a woman who asked: “Do you know your husband is going around with someone else?” She found a love letter in Rene’s pocket from Lolly.
Shortly after Esther confronted Rene about his affair she started to get stomach and lower back pain severe enough to keep her off work. Over the next couple of months she had bouts of nausea and diarrhea which quickly turned into intense pain and vomiting. Her fingers and toes went numb and she couldn’t walk or use her hands. Various diagnoses had the cause as sodium retention or gall bladder problems brought on by Esther’s poor diet. Esther saw several specialists, spent seven weeks in hospital, and went through more than 120 different tests. No one thought of arsenic poisoning and an autopsy failed to provide cause of death.
If not for the doggedness of Dr. Bernard Moscovich, Rene would have got away with murder. Moscovich had Esther’s body exhumed and tested for arsenic. The second autopsy revealed that she had ingested arsenic for more than six months before her death, including the time that she was in hospital and her arsenic levels were 1,500 times the normal arsenic content of the body.
Rene wasn’t arrested until months later when police discovered his affair with the radio station’s receptionist and stumbled over a box of arsenic laden Triox weed killer under his kitchen sink. Rene had been adding the weed killer to Esther’s food and the milkshakes he thoughtfully brought home to her and later fed her in the hospital.
New forensic technology was able to roughly chart the amount of arsenic she received and when, using her nails and strands of her hair. What helped to convict Rene was that for the nine days he was sitting up on the BowMac sign, there wasn’t any sign of poison in her hair growth and she became violently ill the evening Rene came down from the sign.
The day after Esther’s funeral, Rene packed up Lolly and their two children and went on holiday to Disneyland. When they returned they moved in together. CKNW fired Rene and soon after, police arrested him—two days after he and Lolly applied for a marriage license. He was convicted of capital murder.
For many years Jeannine clung to her father’s innocence, even committing perjury during his trial that took place in the 1960s–a period that saw such a seismic shift in politics, culture and the law. And, while Murder by Milkshake documents one of the most sensational murders of the 20th century, it is also very much Jeannine’s story–her life after her father murdered her mother and what happened to all of the parties involved.
Murder by Milkshake: an astonishing story of adultery, arsenic, and a charismatic killer
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.
I went to school with the daughter from grade 1 to that time . I remember her as as a very nice friend ,very kind and smiling. I remember that time when all this happened to her. very sorry
I’ve known her for 45 years. She still is a beautiful friendly funny person with 2 wonderful daughters.
I was good friends with her , we worked together , back in the day , we have lost contact over the years, I tried to get in touch with her , but not sure, where she is now . I remember her telling me this story , I was saddened about the whole thing , that she had to endure, as a young child . I was at her wedding , she was a beautiful person inside and out .. I remember her first daughter when she was born ..
My father went to school with Rene Castallani at Vancouver College. He told me this story when I was young. I have a prophetic picture from their school yearbook where Rene plays a murderer literally holding a smoking gun I could send you
I have know Jeannine for years. I still keep in touch with her now. She is one beautiful woman inside and out and has had a rough life but is one of the strongest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I’m so sorry she had to endure this tragic life.
I met her when she came to school in North Vancouver. Lots of fun and laughs. We were good friends. I’d love to connect with her again. I’ve often thought about her.
When I was going to High School in Burnaby in the early/mid-1960s, we lived in the 3800-block of Kincaid Street in Burnaby. I will always remember when I would leave home and walk down the back lane behind the 3800 & 3900 blocks of Kincaid, I would on most mornings on my way to Moscrop Secondary School, see a panel van with the call letters of radio station CKNW, parked in the lane itself behind one of the houses fronting on Kincaid Street. It always intrigued me why it was only there in the morning. At that time, I thought there was some CKNW Promotion going on in the neighbourhood, as that type of thing wasn’t uncommon in those days in order to encourage listeners to tune in to particular stations. Of course, after quite a period of time with seeing the CKNW vehicle in the lane, I reckoned that someone living around there must’ve been working for CKNW. As it eventually turned out, my Mum knew one of the neighbours to where the occupant of this vehicle was stopping and she asked me if I had noticed it, recognising that such a vehicle may have been parked there – on my way to School. I told her that I saw the CKNW van all the time. She told us that it was Rene Castellani visiting his girlfriend there. Of course, I/we didn’t think too much about it until the news pertaining to the affair itself and Mrs Castellani’s death and Rene Castellani’s arrest and trial became headline news.
Jeanne is my cousin I am so proud of her courage to tell her story of her mother .My Aunt Esther and I share something in common I am also a store manager of a chidrens store called Janie and Jack . I have beautiful memories of my Aunt Esther visiting her with my Mother which is her sister at her store., I will hold in my heart ❤️ Forever and always . Kim Foxgord was maiden name .
Remember that story. Knew Kim re Cypress.
My mom would tell me stories about this poor family my whole life. She babysat for Jeanne and what happened just broke her heart.
Very interesting story!
What happened to Lolly Miller?Is she still alive?
Was she ever prosecuted for obstructing justice by her lies?
This is my exact question !
What happened to the mistress.
I understand her own husband died of drowning.
Hmmm
what happened?
I wonder.