Jeannine Castellani

Murder by Milkshake Part 2

by Eve Lazarus on October 1, 2021

In 1965, Rene Castellani, a 40-year-old radio personality decided to murder his wife Esther with arsenic-laced milkshakes so could marry Lolly, CKNW’s 25-year-old receptionist. The couple had an 11-year-old daughter called Jeannine, who became the collateral damage in one of the most sensational murder cases of the 20th century.

This podcast episode is based on my book Murder by Milkshake: an astonishing true story of adultery, arsenic and a charismatic killer

Rene Castellani:

Rene Castellani was known for his outrageous stunts. Shortly before his wife’s death, he had climbed to the top of the BowMac sign on West Broadway and vowed to stay there until every last car on the lot sold. It took nine days.

Clowning around at Joyce Dayton’s children boutique with Esther and Jeannine, ca.1963. Courtesy Jeannine Castellani

While Rene was selling cars for a CKNW promotion, his wife Esther was in hospital. She had been ill for several months. At first she had stomach and lower back pain severe enough to keep her off work at the Kerrisdale children’s boutique, and then she had bouts of nausea and diarrhea which quickly turned into intense pain and vomiting. Her fingers and toes went numb. Esther saw several specialists, spent seven weeks in hospital, and went through more than 120 different tests before she died.

Mabel Luond (Esther’s mother), Esther and Jeannine on Granville Street, ca.1960

Disneyland:

The day after Esther’s funeral, Rene took Jeannine, Lolly and Don to Disneyland and soon the couple moved in together. In Vancouver, Esther’s doctor was still looking into the cause of her death. He went back over everything and realized that arsenic could have caused the symptoms. Dr. Moscovich had Esther’s body exhumed and the autopsy revealed that her arsenic levels were 1,500 times the normal arsenic content of the body.

Rene in handcuffs after his trial. Vancouver Sun, November 12, 1966

Arrested:

Rene was eventually arrested several months later when he and Lolly applied for a marriage license. While the case against Rene was all based on circumstantial evidence, there was a lot of it, including a box of arsenic-laden ortho triox weed killer found under his kitchen sink.

The Vancouver Police Department Homicide Squad in 1967. Bill Porteous second from right first row; Alex Reid top row left; Archie McKay top row, second from left. Courtesy Mike Porteous

New forensic technology was able to chart the amount of arsenic Esther had received through her nails and strands of her hair. What helped to convict Rene though, was that for the nine days he was sitting up on the BowMac sign there wasn’t any sign of poison and she became violently ill the evening Rene came down.

Roy Peterson’s depiction of Rene Castellani’s murder trial. Vancouver Sun, October 9, 1967

For many years Jeannine clung to her father’s innocence, even committing perjury during his trial. Rene was convicted of capital murder, but the death penalty was commuted to life in prison two weeks before he was scheduled to hang.

Within a few years, he was out on day parole, often visiting Jeannine with a different woman in tow. Within 12 years he had full parole, remarried and became Rene the Roadrunner for an Abbotsford radio station.

Jeannine and Rene out on Parole, ca.1976. Courtesy Jeannine Castellani

My new book: Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck is coming out in April 2025

Show Notes:

Music: Andreas Schuld ‘Waiting for You’

Intro : Mark Dunn

Interviews: Jeannine Castellani; Mike Porteous (retired) superintendent Major Crimes Vancouver Police Department; George Garrett (retired) CKNW investigative reporter

Buy me a coffee promo: McBride Communications and Media

Promo: Blood, Sweat and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance

Sources:

Lazarus, Eve. Murder by Milkshake: an astonishing true story of adultery, arsenic, and a charismatic killer, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018
Vancouver Police Museum and Archives
CKNW Owl Prowl tapes courtesy Colleen Hardwick

Murder by Milkshake Part 1 https://evelazarus.com/s2-e22-murder-by-milkshake-part-1/

Guy in the Sky https://evelazarus.com/guy-in-the-sky-the-bowmac-sign/

The Maharaja https://evelazarus.com/the-maharajah-alleebaba/

Lolly, CFun and the brill bus https://evelazarus.com/lolly-cfun-and-the-brill-trolley-bus/

Tags BowMac, CKNW, Esther Castellani, Jeannine Castellani, murder by milkshake, Rene Castellani

Murder by Milkshake Part 1

by Eve Lazarus on September 24, 2021

This podcast episode is based on my book Murder by Milkshake: an astonishing true story of adultery, arsenic and a charismatic killer

Audio clips from CKNW’s Owl Prowl, 1961. Photo Rene Castellani and Jack Cullen (courtesy Colleen Hardwick).

Eve Lazarus · Owl Prowl DDT

Eve Lazarus · Owl Prowl

I’ve had a fascination with the Castellani murder case ever since I first saw the true-crime exhibit at the Vancouver Police Museum in the 1990s. This crime had all the ingredients for a movie of the week: an adulterous middle-aged celebrity husband, who, rather than fight for divorce and face the wrath of the Catholic Church, decided to poison his wife with arsenic so that he could marry Lolly Miller, the 25-year-old receptionist.

Esther and Rene Castellani married in 1946 they were both 21. Photo courtesy Jeannine Castellani

I’ve read various accounts of the murder over the years, even written about it myself in At Home with History, grounding the story in the house, or in this case, the duplex, where most of the poisoning took place. Occasionally, I’ve told the story on the radio, usually around Halloween, and then, in 2011, I wrote a post about it on my blog Every Place Has a Story.

2092 West 42nd, where Esther Castellani was slowly poisoned to death in 1965. Eve Lazarus photo, 2018

The blog post changed everything, because, fortunately for me, I had made a mistake.

Debbie Miller wrote to tell me that Lolly had a son called Don, not a daughter, as I had written. And her husband Don would very much like to find Jeannine Castellani, because he’d been searching for her for nearly 50 years. I wrote back and thanked Debbie and said I would also like to find Jeannine.

And then, in June 2017, Jeannine found me.

Jeannine and her daughter Ashley came to my book launch for Blood, Sweat, and Fear at the Vancouver Police Museum. The museum had put their true crime exhibits in the morgue which was next to the autopsy suite and where we had set up our cash bar, and where Esther’s body had once lain.

I told Jeannine that Don had been looking for her, and she got quite emotional. She had also been searching for Don for nearly half a century.

So why write a book about what is already one of the most sensational and well-known murders in Vancouver’s history?

Well, for several reasons. It took place in the 1960s—a decade of incredible change. On the one hand, you have conservative, small-town Vancouver and two juries that convicted Rene mostly because of his infidelity. On the other hand, you have free love and be-ins, hippies and the Beatles, and a seismic political, cultural, and legal shift happening all over North America.

It was the era of Mad Men, of gin breakfasts and martini lunches. It was a 19^th century-style murder solved by a 20^th century doctor and old-fashioned police work.

And it was a time when the death sentence was still on the table.

Esther and Jeannine ca.1964. Courtesy Jeannine Castellani

But, most of all, I wanted to write the book and now create this podcast to tell Jeannine’s story.

My new book: Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck is coming out in April 2025

SHOW NOTES

Sponsors: Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours and Erin Hakin Jewellery

Music: Andreas Schuld ‘Waiting for You’

Intro and voiceovers: Mark Dunn

Interviews: former CKNW staffers George Garrett and Norm Grohmann; Jeannine Castellani.