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148: Alone in the Farmhouse: A True Depression-Era Murder Mystery in Decorah, IA · Common Mystics

• 0:10
  Speaker A: On this episode of Common Mystics, we explore the heartbreaking death of a 14 year old girl and the shocking accusations that followed as suspicion turned toward the very people meant to protect her. Her parents. Jennifer. I'm Jennifer James.
• 0:27
  Speaker B: I'm Jill Stanley.
• 0:29
  Speaker A: We're psychics.
• 0:30
  Speaker B: We're sisters.
• 0:31
  Speaker A: We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story takes us to Decorah, Iowa.
• 0:40
  Speaker B: That's right, Jennifer. Hi.
• 0:44
  Speaker A: Hi.
• 0:45
  Speaker B: Hi. Oh, my gosh. It's like we've never done this before. Okay, where were we? What were we doing? Tell me everything.
• 0:55
  Speaker A: We were driving around the area between northwestern Illinois and Wisconsin and Iowa. Am I wrong?
• 1:06
  Speaker B: No, you're not wrong.
• 1:08
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:08
  Speaker B: And we were with our friend Jenny B.
• 1:10
  Speaker A: We were.
• 1:11
  Speaker B: Who is the best? Jenny B. And we set our intention. Can you remind everyone what our intention is?
• 1:16
  Speaker A: Why, I'd love to. Our intention was, as it always is, to ask the spirits to lead us to a verifiable story previously unknown to us that allows us to give voice to the voiceless.
• 1:29
  Speaker B: That's right. And so we're driving around and we are getting hits in the car like a mofo. And you're writing them down. Let's go over our hits.
• 1:37
  Speaker A: Well, we were definitely pulled towards northeastern Iowa. That area for sure was calling us.
• 1:45
  Speaker B: Yeah, we were. And it's a surprising beautiful area. My goodness. Okay, we noticed signs that said driftless signage on the road. What is that all about?
• 1:56
  Speaker A: Yeah, driftless. Driftless. I think we're gonna talk about that. We were so confused. But I wrote it down because it seems significant.
• 2:03
  Speaker B: And what else seems significant to you that you noted?
• 2:07
  Speaker A: Well, I was picking up on the story of a young girl who was murdered and there seemed to be a connection to her family.
• 2:16
  Speaker B: Why are you stupid psychic?
• 2:17
  Speaker A: I don't know. I'm even surprised by this.
• 2:22
  Speaker B: Jenny was feeling Native American burials and feeling of mounds among the bluffs, which I think speaks to the special area that we were in for sure.
• 2:33
  Speaker A: What else were you feeling?
• 2:35
  Speaker B: I was feeling pioneer and fur trades and trails, for sure.
• 2:40
  Speaker A: And so where did we end up, Jill?
• 2:43
  Speaker B: In Decorah, Iowa.
• 2:45
  Speaker A: Sure did.
• 2:46
  Speaker B: And I knew that our story was from there. I just felt it. And I had the feeling of a time frame between like the late 1920s, 1930ish era.
• 2:58
  Speaker A: I remember you saying that.
• 2:59
  Speaker B: And it felt like when we were in town it was like transposed, like in like over the town. Like I was seeing it in an old fashioned kind of way. Oh, yeah.
• 3:11
  Speaker A: Again, I was feeling family farm murder and that it was still haunted and also a German connection to the story. Like immigrants. Like German immigrants.
• 3:25
  Speaker B: Okay, so we stopped at the local library. I went in first. You and Jenny were intrigued by the courthouse across the street. Street.
• 3:34
  Speaker A: Correct.
• 3:35
  Speaker B: So I. You guys, I don't know what you were doing there. Fill me in.
• 3:39
  Speaker A: We were just checking out the corn. Not the corn house. The courthouse.
• 3:44
  Speaker B: Not the cornhouse.
• 3:45
  Speaker A: Not the cornhouse. It was the courthouse and seemed very charged. And it also seemed significant to the story, for sure.
• 3:54
  Speaker B: Okay, so bring me to this area of Iowa and tell me a little bit about the Driftless area.
• 4:04
  Speaker A: This is so fascinating. And I can't believe before driving through, I never knew about this.
• 4:10
  Speaker B: Dude, never have I heard this. Like, I don't understand how uneducated we are. Like, I thought we had a good education, but obviously, no, not. Not so much.
• 4:22
  Speaker A: Well, as it turns out, Jill, the Driftless area is one of the most fascinating and unique regions of the American Midwest. It covers northeastern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin, and northwestern Illinois. So it's a pretty large expanse of area. And the landscape there looks completely different from the surrounding farm, flat prairie land.
• 4:54
  Speaker B: When you think Midwest, you think of, like, the flatlands, the farming, but that is not what we're talking about.
• 5:02
  Speaker A: I think boring. I think boring. And miles and miles of corn. Miles and miles of corn.
• 5:08
  Speaker B: You're not wrong.
• 5:11
  Speaker A: Right. But this. This area, the Driftless area, is super different. And its history is also super distinctive.
• 5:23
  Speaker B: Okay, why is it called Driftless? Which is a cool name, by the way.
• 5:27
  Speaker A: Cool but confusing.
• 5:29
  Speaker B: Right, right.
• 5:30
  Speaker A: So during the last ice age, massive glaciers covered most of the Midwest. We know this.
• 5:37
  Speaker B: We know this.
• 5:37
  Speaker A: We know this.
• 5:38
  Speaker B: That's why it's flat as fuck. Right?
• 5:39
  Speaker A: Exactly. Because the glaciers are heavy, apparently, and they kind of scraped the land flat and left behind a glacial drift. The rocks, the sand, the clay, the flat terrain typical of most of the. Of Illinois and central Iowa and so many other places that look like this. The flat, flattened terrain. But in the Driftless area, it was a mystery that, and still is a mystery that the glaciers skipped this area.
• 6:13
  Speaker B: They missed it.
• 6:14
  Speaker A: They missed it. So the glaciers never bulldozed the land flat. And so the terrain there remains rugged and ancient. It is old. It is prehistoric. And there are deep river valleys and there are limestone bluffs, and there's a type of geology called karst geology, K A R, S T. And it's a type of landscape that's formed when rocks dissolve, leaving behind caves and sinkholes and springs.
• 6:47
  Speaker B: Damn.
• 6:48
  Speaker A: So this area is so lively and colorful and old and unique. And I never even knew it was there just a few hours away.
• 6:58
  Speaker B: No, I didn't know it either. And I. I'm. It really is breathtaking.
• 7:02
  Speaker A: It is.
• 7:03
  Speaker B: Seriously.
• 7:04
  Speaker A: And it's like, where am I? You know? You almost drive right into a different world.
• 7:09
  Speaker B: I know.
• 7:10
  Speaker A: And the energy feels different.
• 7:13
  Speaker B: The energy feels sacred, I would say.
• 7:16
  Speaker A: And ancient. And ancient because the land is literally prehistoric. So.
• 7:22
  Speaker B: So.
• 7:22
  Speaker A: And so. Long before European settlers arrived, the Driftless area was, of course, home to indigenous nations, including the Ho Chunk, the Fox people, the Sauk, the Dakotas. And the region's rivers and bluffs and springs were spiritually significant to these peoples. In fact, one of the most powerful archaeological sites in all of North America lies in the Driftless area.
• 7:50
  Speaker B: Who knew that? No one knew that.
• 7:53
  Speaker A: No one in the history of the world ever knew this.
• 7:57
  Speaker B: You all are learning something new today, folks.
• 8:00
  Speaker A: And, in fact, the area has effigy mounds that have been left behind. Mounds shaped like birds and bears and other animals that are indicators of the vibrant past that these peoples left behind. And they were built between 500 and 1200 CE. So that's the common area era, right?
• 8:22
  Speaker B: Common. They're old. That's old.
• 8:23
  Speaker A: They're old.
• 8:24
  Speaker B: She old.
• 8:25
  Speaker A: And they were used for ceremony, burial, and cosmological symbolism. Ooh, I like that.
• 8:34
  Speaker B: Stop it. Oh, my God. Get out of my head.
• 8:39
  Speaker A: And the mounds reflect a worldview where landforms were alive. Think about that for a minute. These were. These were created at a time when the people who created them believed that they were alive.
• 8:53
  Speaker B: It's beautiful.
• 8:54
  Speaker A: Alive with meaning and with spirit. A theme that you can still feel strongly there today.
• 9:00
  Speaker B: You're not lying.
• 9:01
  Speaker A: The land feels alive for sure.
• 9:04
  Speaker B: So tell me about the early exploration and the fur trade.
• 9:08
  Speaker A: I won't. But I'll tell you about the early exploration and what I say.
• 9:12
  Speaker B: What'd I say?
• 9:13
  Speaker A: Expiration.
• 9:14
  Speaker B: You know what I meant.
• 9:17
  Speaker A: In the 1600s and 1700s, French explorers and traders traveled the Mississippi river and its tributaries. We know this.
• 9:25
  Speaker B: I knew that.
• 9:26
  Speaker A: And this Driftless area became a major fur trade corridor, a cultural meeting ground between the Europeans and the indigenous nations. And a network of river routes and shaped early settlements. Rivers like the Upper Iowa river, the Yellow river, and the Turkey river were essential highways. And so people traveled the rivers, and they started to establish settlements, and they started farming the hills. And unlike flat prairies that you will find in other areas, the Driftless farming was more challenging because it wasn't flat. And so farmers had to create terrace and hillsides do you know what that means?
• 10:10
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think.
• 10:11
  Speaker A: You want to try to explain it?
• 10:13
  Speaker B: No. No, I do not.
• 10:16
  Speaker A: So they would have to take the extra step of making stairs along the slopes. Right. Because of course, the slope would just let all the. All the soil wash away. So they would create stairs to reshape the hillsides into these flat steps and. And then turn it into steps of farmland. They would also raise livestock. If they weren't into creating steps along. Along the slopes, I think I would probably.
• 10:43
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. Stop it right now, Jill. Stop it right now. I was going to say that first you interrupted me and then you took it out of my brain and said it. You need to stop. I would do the livestock. I was going to say it first. You can do the steps now.
• 11:02
  Speaker A: Well, there's another option. There are also small valley farms. So you would just make your farm in the valleys so you didn't have to worry about the slopes. Yeah, I don't know. I think livestock is the way to go. Just. And I say that because if you're gonna farm in a valley, I think there's gonna be a lot of drainage coming. You know, I think you're gonna get flooded a lot. Plus.
• 11:23
  Speaker B: I can see that.
• 11:24
  Speaker A: Plus, what's the light gonna be like in the valley? Can't be good.
• 11:27
  Speaker B: Well, the thing is, is that farming is really hard work anyway, period.
• 11:31
  Speaker A: Yeah. So go with the livestock.
• 11:32
  Speaker B: Livestock all the way. All the way.
• 11:35
  Speaker A: Because we're ignorant. We don't know how hard that probably is too, but let's just keep going. So in this way, the Driftless farming communities preserved the old rural traditions, the tight knit community, and a slower pace of life. So it was entirely different culture of people who lived there because of the terrain and how special it was and the history.
• 11:57
  Speaker B: And it's still special today.
• 12:00
  Speaker A: Shall we talk about Decorah, Iowa?
• 12:02
  Speaker B: I want to talk about Decorah, Iowa. I want to talk about it right now.
• 12:07
  Speaker A: Okay. Well, Decorah is located in the northeastern part of Iowa, right in the heart of the Driftless region. And it is the largest city in Winnesheek county and serves as the county seat. That's pretty important.
• 12:22
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 12:22
  Speaker A: And According to the 2020 United States census, the city had a population of just about seven and a half thousand residents. Okay.
• 12:32
  Speaker B: Not too much, not too little.
• 12:34
  Speaker A: Now, like many Midwestern towns, Decorah's founding reflects the broader 19th century pattern of native displacement followed by Euro American settlement. No surprise, right?
• 12:48
  Speaker B: You see it time and time again.
• 12:50
  Speaker A: And long before the Europeans arrived, Decorah was an Area that was the home to the Ho Chunk people. And they lived all along the Upper Iowa River. And in fact, Jill, the town was named after Wakandakora, a Ho Chunk leader. Oh, cool. Yeah, he was a leader who allied with the United States forces during the Black hawk War of 1832.
• 13:15
  Speaker B: Tell me a little bit about the founding and the early settlement.
• 13:20
  Speaker A: The day family from Virginia arrived in 1849, becoming the first permanent European American settlers to Decorah. Again, it became the county seat in 1851. And this just encouraged rapid growth in the city.
• 13:37
  Speaker B: I can see that.
• 13:38
  Speaker A: And early settlers built mills and dams using the water power from the local springs and streams. And water powered industry helped transform Decorah from a frontier settlement into a regional center.
• 13:54
  Speaker B: So tell me about the expansion and the immigration to the area.
• 13:58
  Speaker A: Several developments boosted Decorah's growth, including a railroad. It's always the railroad.
• 14:03
  Speaker B: Always a railroad.
• 14:04
  Speaker A: It came by in 1869 and connected the town to wider markets. So that was important. Also, a US General Land Office that was developed in 1855 brought people there who were seeking land and also speculating. So they were coming there for the US General Land Office.
• 14:23
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 14:25
  Speaker A: But there was also a large group of Europeans that settled there together. And. And this was the Norwegian population. People from Norway were. Were just coming over and settle there. I know, right. Apparently that's a thing called chain immigration where like one Norwegian family comes and then they tell their friends in Norway and then more of their friend. Right. And they tell their. Their friends and they tell their friends and so on and so on.
• 14:51
  Speaker B: That's cute.
• 14:53
  Speaker A: So Decora became one of the most important Norwegian American communities in the whole United States.
• 14:59
  Speaker B: Who would have thought?
• 15:00
  Speaker A: Not me. Large numbers of Norwegian farmers settled in the fertile valley beginning in the 1850s. And then they founded a really important institution, Luther College, in 1861. And this strengthened the town's identity as a cultural center. And there was even a Norwegian language newspaper, the Decora Posten, that spread the town's reputation internationally as a. A American Norwegian base.
• 15:28
  Speaker B: Very good. Now.
• 15:30
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 15:31
  Speaker B: Let's talk research.
• 15:32
  Speaker A: Do it. Because you took the lead on this research, dude.
• 15:35
  Speaker B: Okay, well, this is the thing. Since I was picking up on like 1920s, 1930s, and you were picking up on a farmhouse in your vision and a young girl's murder. That's where we started the research. And let me tell you, it led us to the incident that we found in the local papers. Can you tell me about it?
• 15:55
  Speaker A: I can. And I will also say I'm really impressed with the Both of us. Like, that's why we need to do this together, because I got some of these important hits, and you got the other ones. You know what I mean? Like 1920s, 30s. That is crazy. That's exactly what we're talking about.
• 16:09
  Speaker B: Stop it. We are a good team. I do think so.
• 16:13
  Speaker A: Okay. Well, it was late November of 1929. 1929. And the girl's name was Romelda Caston, and she was just 14 years old. Now, Remelda was a farm girl. And like many farm girls at the time, she knew hard work early. Feeding animals before sunrise, hauling water, mending clothes, helping in the kitchen, etc. Neighbors would later say that she was a quiet girl, but helpful. She was a child who did not complain.
• 16:52
  Speaker B: Everyone wants a child that does not complain, right?
• 16:55
  Speaker A: And her parents treated her kindly. But, Jill. But there were clues that the Castan family might have been starting to crack under certain stressors.
• 17:07
  Speaker B: Tell me.
• 17:08
  Speaker A: Well, in November 1929, where our incident takes place, this was just one month after the infamous stock market crash of October 1929. You remember that, right?
• 17:21
  Speaker B: Yeah. That's the one thing I know about the story before I started researching.
• 17:25
  Speaker A: Major. Major Iowa farmers, however, were already in serious economic trouble by that time. In fact, historians say that the Midwestern farmers, for them, the depression didn't begin in October of 1929. It had already been underway for nearly a decade before the crash.
• 17:46
  Speaker B: Didn't know that. Didn't know that.
• 17:48
  Speaker A: Right. Like, we learned that the depression started after the crash, that the crash happened, and therefore, the depression of the 1930s began. But now we're learning the crash was just a symptom of the economic strains that had already been felt by these Midwestern farmers for a decade. This is news to me, and honestly, it blows my mind.
• 18:12
  Speaker B: True, true that.
• 18:14
  Speaker A: So by the mid-1920s, Iowa farmers were already exposed, experiencing extremely low crop prices. That's gonna hurt.
• 18:23
  Speaker B: That's gonna hurt hard.
• 18:25
  Speaker A: Also, falling land values, and not only that, credit was getting harder and harder to come by. So things are getting hard by the mid-1920s.
• 18:36
  Speaker B: So the thing is, is that when the market drops, you're doing the same amount of work for less money. And then your. Your ownership in land is decreasing, too. So you're getting double screwed. Right.
• 18:49
  Speaker A: And then you get less help because credit isn't available anymore.
• 18:53
  Speaker B: Right.
• 18:55
  Speaker A: So By November of 1929, many farm families were already living in a long economic downturn. And for these farm families, the psychological climate was one that was marked by fear and shame.
• 19:11
  Speaker B: I can see that yeah.
• 19:15
  Speaker A: So then there was the matter of the life insurance policy.
• 19:20
  Speaker B: What life insurance policy?
• 19:22
  Speaker A: Well, it was taken out on Rumalda on June 12, 1929. It was for $5,000. And in 1929, that wasn't just like pocket money. This could have been debt relief. This could have been land money. This could have been a second chance.
• 19:42
  Speaker B: How much money would it be in today?
• 19:44
  Speaker A: It would be about $100,000 today. About.
• 19:49
  Speaker B: Okay. Damn.
• 19:52
  Speaker A: So on Saturday, November 23, 1929, Romelda's parents, Walter and Adelia, left Romelda alone at the farm. And that's when tragedy occurred. And here's why they left her alone. Jill, it's like this whole thing. Let me tell you. Are you ready?
• 20:11
  Speaker B: Tell me. Tell me everything.
• 20:13
  Speaker A: Okay. And the following information comes from the Post ville Herald from November 28, 1929. The Castins were farmers.
• 20:24
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 20:25
  Speaker A: But they had recently rented their farm near the rural community of Locust, Iowa. And they were in the process of moving into the town of Decorah. They had already rented their farm, and they had already bought a new house in town in Decorah. And they were moving. The reason they were moving is so that 14 year old Rumelda could have the advantage of the better schools that were in town. In fact, at the time of the incident, most of their belongings had already been moved to their new home in Decorah.
• 20:59
  Speaker B: Hmm.
• 21:00
  Speaker A: And so, on the morning of Saturday, November 23, 1929, Mr. And Mrs. Caston left home. They left their. Their farm home near locust. And Mrs. Caston would be stopping at their new home in Decor to get it ready.
• 21:16
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 21:17
  Speaker A: And Walter would go on to Post Ville to visit his parents and to attend to some business matters there. And Ms. Remelda? 14 year old Romelda remained at the old farm, home alone. Now, she was 14. So that's.
• 21:31
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's nothing.
• 21:32
  Speaker A: I mean, I was babysitting when I was 14, so. Yeah, that's not too old. That's not too young, I should say, to be left home alone. No, that's.
• 21:39
  Speaker B: That's a legit. Yeah, I was smoking and drinking coffee when I was 14.
• 21:43
  Speaker A: Exactly. So when Walter and Azalea left home, Romelda was mixing batter for a cake that she was making. And before leaving, her parents were like, okay, don't burn the house down. Make your cake. But we need you to let the cattle out of the barn during the day before we get home. The cattle needs to be let out.
• 22:04
  Speaker B: Who let the cattle out? It's more like moo, moo, moo, moo, okay.
• 22:12
  Speaker A: You ready?
• 22:12
  Speaker B: Mm.
• 22:13
  Speaker A: Okay. When Walter and Adelia returned home around 4:00pm so they had been gone all day because they left in the morning. The first thing, they noticed that it was strange that Romelda didn't run out to meet them, as she usually did when they had left the house. And then Mr. Caston went onto the barn and he found the cattle were still in their stalls. And they had asked. They had asked her. Romelda let the cattle out of the stalls.
• 22:44
  Speaker B: But, I mean, teenagers be teenagers. You know what I'm saying?
• 22:48
  Speaker A: And so Mrs. Caston then went into the home, and she called to Remelda, but nobody replied. Hastening to the kitchen, she found her daughter lying on the floor, cold in death. The kitchen fire had gone out, and the frosting for her cake had been all mixed in a bowl. It appeared that Romelda had been stricken with death just shortly after they left that morning, since she was already cold and still making the cake. Now, the story that first spread through Decorah was simple. Romelda had had some sudden illness, and it was a tragic loss for the family. But nobody thought another thought about it. Her death was initially attributed to a hemorrhage of the brain. And Romelda was buried following Funeral services at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Postville. However, after this, suspicions began to arise.
• 23:50
  Speaker B: Why?
• 23:51
  Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you. People were asking questions about how she died and specifically the insurance policy, but we'll get to that in a second.
• 24:02
  Speaker B: How did people know? Maybe the police doing an investigation.
• 24:06
  Speaker A: Well, authorities. After. After they started asking some questions. The authorities ordered her body to be exhumed.
• 24:13
  Speaker B: Oh, that's rough.
• 24:14
  Speaker A: And then they did laboratory analysis, and chemists at the State University of Iowa revealed that she had strychnine in her system.
• 24:25
  Speaker B: That's no good.
• 24:27
  Speaker A: And soon, this quiet farming community found itself at the center of a murder investigation. Within days, the unimaginable happened. A grand jury indicted Romelda's own parents, Walter and Adelia Caston, for murder.
• 24:46
  Speaker B: The motive.
• 24:47
  Speaker A: The motive? Collecting the money on the life insurance policy that had been taken out on Romelda the previous June.
• 24:57
  Speaker B: So insurance fraud, that's a thing that was like a real thing happening even back then?
• 25:03
  Speaker A: Yeah, in 1929? Yes, ma'. Am. Life insurance fraud was a real concern in the. From the late 1800s and early 1900s, including. Yeah, including in 1929. And in some cases, people were murdered so that other people could collect the insurance money on them. Now, by the early 20th century, life insurance policies had become widely available and affordable. So why Not. Right. Why not take them out? And you have industrialization happening that created financial instability and poverty. And also, many families depended on insurance payouts for survival. Like, yeah, like, that was an actual economic strategy to, like, do insurance fraud to, like, make ends meet. And regulations and investigative methods were still developing, so you had a good chance of pulling it off. Now, I will tell you something about insurance murders.
• 26:02
  Speaker B: Tell me.
• 26:03
  Speaker A: They usually involved a spouse or family member as the beneficiary or a lover or accomplice. And also poisoning, staged accidents or shootings.
• 26:16
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's literally like any ID investigation story.
• 26:20
  Speaker A: Exactly. And so if you look at Romelda, knowing what they knew about these insurance murders, you have family involved as the beneficiary, and you have potential poisoning.
• 26:32
  Speaker B: Right. Mm.
• 26:34
  Speaker A: So let me tell you about a famous case that happened in 1927.
• 26:38
  Speaker B: I wish you would.
• 26:40
  Speaker A: It was a Ruth Snyder case. Ruth Snyder and her lover, Judd Gray, murdered Ruth's husband, and they staged the scene to look like a robbery, hoping to collect a large life insurance policy. But the crime was discovered. Wah. Wah. And both of them were executed.
• 27:02
  Speaker B: Crime doesn't pay.
• 27:03
  Speaker A: But the case became national news, and it shaped public fear about insurance murders. And this famous trial just happened two years before Romelda's death. And it would have been well known by the people in the area and certainly by the people of Decorah as well.
• 27:19
  Speaker B: Okay, so tell me about the trials. Who went up first?
• 27:23
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 27:23
  Speaker B: What's the deeds?
• 27:24
  Speaker A: Okay, so both parents were tried. The first one to be tried was Walter. Walter Romelda's dad. Walter Kasten was tried in May of 1930, and his case drew significant regional attention, as you can imagine.
• 27:42
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 27:43
  Speaker A: The newspapers covered the courtroom testimony in detail. And during the trial, prosecutors presented evidence called concerning. There was a purchase of strychnine, and it was in the possession of Walter. Including purchase of strychnine made in 1929, purportedly to address a gopher infestation and another one to address a squirrel infestation.
• 28:13
  Speaker B: I mean.
• 28:14
  Speaker A: I mean, if you have to be infested with something, squirrels and gophers are the cutest things. True. I mean, I can't think. Can you think of anything cuter? Puppies. Puppy infestation.
• 28:26
  Speaker B: You can't have a puppy infestation.
• 28:28
  Speaker A: That would be the best infestation. Puppy infestation.
• 28:31
  Speaker B: But how would puppies infest you? You can't get a puffy infestation. It doesn't even make sense.
• 28:38
  Speaker A: It would be wonderful.
• 28:40
  Speaker B: You'd have to bring the puppies yourself. You would be a puppy hoarder. You would be a puppy hoarder.
• 28:46
  Speaker A: Yeah, it gets bad now. You made it dirty. I had this beautif situation, and now I can't even enjoy it because you use the words puppy hoarder. Thank you, Jill. Anyway, so June 1929, that's when the strychnine was bought. And that's around the same time that the life insurance policy on Romelda was taken out. So that looks suspicious. Sus as, especially because the medical findings indicate that she was poisoned by the strict nine. So Walter Caston's defense, they were good. And they challenged the strength of the evidence. They're like, yeah, this is all circumstantial, okay? And there is no proof that links Walter Caston to the administration of any poison whatsoever. So just because he bought it, just because it was in the house, that doesn't mean that Walter poisoned his daughter. I mean, it sounds like a flimsy case.
• 29:43
  Speaker B: I mean, it does, but it still sounds suspicious. Af I think they. Well, in my opinion, they did the right thing bringing it up.
• 29:52
  Speaker A: Well, the defense also called Walter's wife and several of his neighbors to testify on his behalf. And they talked about how he was an upstanding character, that he was kind to his daughter. And apparently some of the neighbors were like, well, he would reprimand his daughter, but it wasn't, like, overboard. It was just like a normal sort of, she's a teenager, you know, type of situation, but not abusive at all. Okay. And so after hearing all of the testimony and all of the arguments, what was the verdict? Jill?
• 30:28
  Speaker B: He was acquitted.
• 30:29
  Speaker A: He was acquitted not guilty. Walter Caston was acquainted, but there was still the trial of his wife, Adelia Caston. So her trial was next. Following her husband's acquittal, proceedings continued against Adelia Caston. And like her husband, her case also drew significant media attention, and her trial occurred some months later in September of 1930. Prosecutors alleged that Adelia had actually fed the strychnine to Romelda, possibly in her food, in order to obtain the insurance money. The defense again argued that the evidence was insufficient, and they could not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. And no direct witness or conclusive proof existed to show how the poison had been administered. So after deliberation, Jill, what happened?
• 31:33
  Speaker B: Adelia was found not guilty, and she was acquitted of the charge of murdering her daughter.
• 31:39
  Speaker A: Correct. So now what?
• 31:43
  Speaker B: Well,
• 31:45
  Speaker A: both parents were acquitted in separate jury trials, and so the criminal case effectively ended, and no one. No one was convicted in the connection with Romelda. Castan's death, death, they stopped searching and it was over. So the long term consequences for the family, including questions about the insurance policy and their later lives, weren't widely reported in surviving regional newspaper coverage. So, Jill, do we know what happened to the family at all?
• 32:17
  Speaker B: No, we really don't. And as a matter of fact, I reached out to the Historical Society, and they have not even heard of Rumalda's murder. So they were like, wow, now I'm intrigued. And I was like, well, that's been a big help.
• 32:31
  Speaker A: Wow. So they basically. So because the trial ended and there were no other leads, legally, there was nothing else for the newspapers to report. And so therefore, what happened next is a complete mystery.
• 32:43
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 32:45
  Speaker A: So the case remains an example of an early 20th century rural homicide investigation that produced strong suspicion, but no legal conviction, leaving aspects of the tragedy completely unresolved and in historical memory.
• 33:00
  Speaker B: Do you think the insurance paid out?
• 33:02
  Speaker A: Now, I want to ask you that question because you did the research. What do you. What do you know about that?
• 33:11
  Speaker B: So here's how it worked. In the 1930s, the US generally followed a principle often called the Slayer Rule.
• 33:19
  Speaker A: What does that mean?
• 33:20
  Speaker B: I'm going to tell you.
• 33:21
  Speaker A: Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt.
• 33:24
  Speaker B: I was like, seriously on a roll right then.
• 33:26
  Speaker A: Okay, keep going. You're doing great. By the way, I like your reading.
• 33:29
  Speaker B: Good reading skills.
• 33:30
  Speaker A: You're welcome.
• 33:31
  Speaker B: Okay. Little too much.
• 33:33
  Speaker A: Sorry.
• 33:34
  Speaker B: Tone it down.
• 33:35
  Speaker A: Is that better?
• 33:36
  Speaker B: That's better. That feels right. That feels right.
• 33:38
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 33:39
  Speaker B: A person cannot benefit financially from a death that they caused. That was the Slayer rule.
• 33:44
  Speaker A: I think that's a good rule.
• 33:45
  Speaker B: I like that rule.
• 33:47
  Speaker A: I think I stand by that rule.
• 33:48
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's the rule.
• 33:50
  Speaker A: Although it does sound like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer rule, which would be really cool.
• 33:55
  Speaker B: Which would be really cool. But she's not benefiting from the deaths of the vampire she slays. At least financially.
• 34:01
  Speaker A: Okay. All right, keep going.
• 34:02
  Speaker B: Okay. If a beneficiary was charged or suspected, the insurance company would often delay the payment, file legal actions, or wait for the trial outcome. Okay, so in Ramalda's case, likely scenarios would have probably been the payment was freezed during the investigation. If the charges were dropped, the insurer might have contested the payment in civil court. We're not sure. So, because no widely circulated newspapers reported on the payout, history suspects that the insurance was never paid out to Walter and Adelia Kastin. That's right. Okay, now we just suspect that, Right?
• 34:44
  Speaker A: There's no evidence.
• 34:45
  Speaker B: There's no evidence.
• 34:45
  Speaker A: There's no evidence that it was ever paid out or not. But can I just say that if you were this girl's parents and you didn't do it, that would really suck. This whole situation would really suck.
• 35:00
  Speaker B: I mean, if they did it, that would really suck, too. Just the fact that their daughter, like, died in such a tragic way, especially baking.
• 35:10
  Speaker A: All right, so tell me, who do you think the voiceless is? Because I don't know that we agree on this.
• 35:15
  Speaker B: We don't. Okay, So I think Romelda.
• 35:20
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 35:21
  Speaker B: Is the voiceless. She was suddenly, tragically, prematurely died due to poisoning.
• 35:28
  Speaker A: Okay. And. All right, so talk to me, Jill.
• 35:31
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 35:31
  Speaker A: Do you. Your intuitive. Your intuitive feels. Do you believe that Walter. I'll start with Walter. Do you think Walter had something to do with.
• 35:45
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 35:46
  Speaker A: Really?
• 35:48
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 35:49
  Speaker A: Do you think his wife Adelia had something to do with it?
• 35:54
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 35:56
  Speaker A: Wow. So you think they murdered their daughter.
• 35:59
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 36:00
  Speaker A: While they were moving to a different location for her.
• 36:07
  Speaker B: You don't know. You suspect. Expecting that they're moving for her? They could be moving because they're downsizing, because the farm isn't doing well. So I take issue with the question.
• 36:21
  Speaker A: So they were renting. They started renting their farm out, and
• 36:25
  Speaker B: they were moving to a smaller location.
• 36:28
  Speaker A: So you're saying that the records that indicate they're moving for Romelda could be false
• 36:35
  Speaker B: to say that they. We knew the intent behind their move.
• 36:38
  Speaker A: That's what was reported.
• 36:40
  Speaker B: Yeah, I. But, I mean, the newspapers at the time weren't as good as Facebook even. You know what I mean?
• 36:46
  Speaker A: Like, I do. Yeah. They weren't great fact checkers. But you're saying that that detail could be wrong.
• 36:51
  Speaker B: Right? That could have been planted by the defense.
• 36:54
  Speaker A: Interesting. I actually think it was an accident.
• 36:58
  Speaker B: I know you do.
• 36:59
  Speaker A: I think it was an accident. Also, they weren't even home when she died.
• 37:04
  Speaker B: Yeah, but the thing is, is that they could have put the strychnine in the flower. We've seen that before. They could have.
• 37:11
  Speaker A: They could have, but I don't think they did. I think Romelda is the voiceless. And here's where I disagree with you. I think she's the voiceless, but I think she's coming out because she feels bad for her parents, that her parents went through this. I think she was baking and she had some cross contamination. Like she wasn't. Like she.
• 37:33
  Speaker B: We know that that is a possibility.
• 37:34
  Speaker A: I feel like it was an accident. That's. That's how I feel. I don't feel. Let me put it this way. When I think of Romelda, I don't feel like she has any anger or vitriol towards her parents. It feels like she has compassion towards her parents. Do you know what I mean?
• 37:52
  Speaker B: I don't think that those things are mutually exclusive. I think she can still feel compassion towards her parents. Even if her parents had something to do with her death.
• 38:03
  Speaker A: Well, I still think that she accidentally poisoned herself. I do think that it was an accident. I don't. And you think her parents intentionally murdered her with the poison?
• 38:14
  Speaker B: I think her parents either intentionally put the strychnine in the kitchen or in something that they knew that she would be using.
• 38:23
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 38:24
  Speaker B: So I don't think they fed it to her, but I think that they. Like, she has a sweet tooth. It's probably not the first time she was making a cake. So they don't eat cake. They're not gonna be out. So. Here you go, honey. Here's. We'll put the supplies on the counter. Have fun.
• 38:39
  Speaker A: So if you're right, this is a terrible tragedy that these two people murdered their daughter and got away with it. I hope you're wrong. Cause that really sucks. That's a dark story, Jill.
• 38:51
  Speaker B: Oh, well, I'm sorry, Jennifer. History's dark, yo. Anyway, even if it was an accident, it's still a dark story because they didn't get the money. They probably didn't get the payout, and they lost their daughter.
• 39:04
  Speaker A: I know.
• 39:04
  Speaker B: So either way, this is still a sad, sad turn of events for Ronaldo.
• 39:09
  Speaker A: Was she their only daughter? Because I didn't. I didn't find any evidence of any other children.
• 39:15
  Speaker B: Based on no evidence of other children, I am making the assumption that she was the only child.
• 39:19
  Speaker A: Wow. And then they just disappear from history completely. Did you look on Ancestry.com too?
• 39:25
  Speaker B: I did. So much so that the historical society doesn't even know what happened.
• 39:30
  Speaker A: So this.
• 39:30
  Speaker B: This sensational story was just a blurp in the history.
• 39:35
  Speaker A: A blurp?
• 39:36
  Speaker B: A blurp.
• 39:37
  Speaker A: Is it like a burp and a blip?
• 39:39
  Speaker B: It's a blurp. Okay.
• 39:41
  Speaker A: It's a blip.
• 39:42
  Speaker B: It's a blurp.
• 39:43
  Speaker A: Okay, Jill. Wow. This is insane.
• 39:47
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 39:48
  Speaker A: Well, I. I don't agree with you. I do think it was an accident, but we're not gonna argue about it.
• 39:54
  Speaker B: Well, your spidey senses agree with me because you were feeling. A young girl was murdered, and there seems to be a family connection.
• 40:00
  Speaker A: Okay, you know what?
• 40:01
  Speaker B: If. If that's yo Spidey's.
• 40:03
  Speaker A: If I didn't.
• 40:04
  Speaker B: Yo Spidey senses coming through.
• 40:06
  Speaker A: But if that didn't Come through to me, we wouldn't have found her. Right?
• 40:10
  Speaker B: I'm not arguing that.
• 40:11
  Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
• 40:11
  Speaker B: I'm not arguing that.
• 40:13
  Speaker A: Okay, so the driftless area. What do you think. What do you think the significance is of the driftless area on the story?
• 40:23
  Speaker B: Well, it was definitely the stage in which this situation happened. It was harder to farm in the area, and it was us being pulled to the driftless area gave us the area in which the story was discovered.
• 40:37
  Speaker A: I agree with you 100%, and I
• 40:39
  Speaker B: think that that's what Jenny's hits were getting to, like the significance of the native lands and the Barri burials and the sacred lands that were so well preserved.
• 40:48
  Speaker A: It's almost like this whole driftless area is energetically glowing. Oh, don't you feel like that? It is. It definitely attracted us.
• 40:59
  Speaker B: It is a very extraordinary area that we just didn't. I literally am shocked to know that something like that and that kind of terrain exists in the Midwest. So close to me, for sure.
• 41:11
  Speaker A: And Jenny was right about the burial mounds along the bluffs and the pioneers and the fur trade that you were picking up on was correct too. Right.
• 41:21
  Speaker B: And then the Decorah ending up in Decorah, and our story being in the late 1920s, 1930s, like, literally 1929, and
• 41:30
  Speaker A: the trial in 1930. Jill, like, you nailed that. That is really. That's really impressive.
• 41:37
  Speaker B: What about you feeling a family murder and a farm being haunted? What about that psychic face?
• 41:44
  Speaker A: Were they German? Because I was picking up on a German connection. Yes, they were German. They were Norwegian. Oh, my gosh. I thought for sure you made an error in this outline and you were
• 41:55
  Speaker B: gonna,
• 41:57
  Speaker A: wow, wow, wow, wow. And what about the courthouse?
• 42:02
  Speaker B: That's where they were tried. No way.
• 42:04
  Speaker A: In the actual where Jenny and I were. Yes.
• 42:07
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 42:08
  Speaker A: This is definitely our story. I don't know, Jill. I don't know.
• 42:11
  Speaker B: It's like we should have a podcast. Like, we drive around and we find, like, we use our psychic abilities and write down hits, and then we research them, and then we find a story.
• 42:21
  Speaker A: Shut up. All right, so what's your uplifting closing on this?
• 42:28
  Speaker B: I hope that I'm wrong, and I hope that Romelda is coming through to say, hey, my parents were good people. I hope that I'm wrong, but if I'm right, I think Romelda is coming through because she was lost to history, and her story was lost to history, and I'm proud to give her a voice.
• 42:47
  Speaker A: Aw, thank you. And I'll also say that even if she was murdered, she's still coming through as a loving sort of spirit. She still has love for her parents.
• 42:57
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 42:58
  Speaker A: And that's really. That's a powerful lesson as well, isn't it?
• 43:01
  Speaker B: It really is.
• 43:02
  Speaker A: It's kind of beautiful. But I hope they didn't murder you, Romelda, because that sucks.
• 43:06
  Speaker B: That would suck ass. Jennifer.
• 43:11
  Speaker A: Yes, Jill?
• 43:12
  Speaker B: Review time.
• 43:13
  Speaker A: We have another one. And by the way, we are at 225 ratings on Apple. You guys, thank you so much. I can't believe it. You guys just really want to cry. Like, why are people so nice to us?
• 43:27
  Speaker B: Please don't cry.
• 43:28
  Speaker A: People are so nice. Thank you for being so. Thank you for being so nice to us. Okay, so we have a new written review from Steamboat Jen.
• 43:39
  Speaker B: Steamboat Jen.
• 43:40
  Speaker A: And that is not me, by the way. That's not my alter ego.
• 43:44
  Speaker B: I can picture you being a Steamboat Jen. Would I get to wear a hat? You'd be rough. Rude.
• 43:51
  Speaker A: Okay. Steamboat Jen says, fascinating format for five stars.
• 43:56
  Speaker B: Yay.
• 43:57
  Speaker A: She says you two are very creative to come up with this format of driving around the upper Midwest, sensing energies, having psychic greetings and tying it to history. I live in the area and I am loving it. The history, the paranormal, and feeling connected to the stories. Keep going. A, thank you, Steve. A, that's awesome. You guys. We are trying to get to. What did we tell them? 250.
• 44:21
  Speaker B: 250. Yeah.
• 44:23
  Speaker A: Thank you for helping us.
• 44:24
  Speaker B: We can do that.
• 44:25
  Speaker A: We can do it. We can do it.
• 44:26
  Speaker B: We can do anything. I'm gonna make a vision board with 250 reviews and people saying nice stuff about us.
• 44:32
  Speaker A: Okay. What else is happening, Jill? Community announcements.
• 44:36
  Speaker B: So we are going to travel at the end of this week because you are on spring break. Yes.
• 44:45
  Speaker A: And we're leaving the Midwest. We are leaving the Midwest.
• 44:48
  Speaker B: We're not going to tell you where we're going.
• 44:50
  Speaker A: We're not.
• 44:51
  Speaker B: We're going to. We're going to take pictures and we're going to have them guess.
• 44:54
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 44:54
  Speaker B: All right. On our Insta, in our Facebook page,
• 44:57
  Speaker A: and our Patreon page, our patrons have made this possible. Our patrons have made this travel possible. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all of our listeners, and thank you to our friends on Patreon who are supporting us because we get to go back on the road because of you. Seriously, because without you, we would not be able to do this.
• 45:19
  Speaker B: They are supporting our little indie pod and supporting us giving voice to the voiceless spirit. So as many compliments as we get for doing this work, really, the Patreons are involved just as much as we are the patrons.
• 45:35
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 45:35
  Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. 100% yes.
• 45:38
  Speaker A: Okay. And if you are interested in a psychic development class for all levels. Every level, reach out. Every level, reach out to me@commonmysticsmail.com My next class is starting on April 27th, Monday nights.
• 45:52
  Speaker B: And Jennifer is doing one on one mentorship because she's the teacher with the mostest.
• 45:58
  Speaker A: And Jill is doing mediumship readings. And she wrote talk to your dead folks through Jill.
• 46:05
  Speaker B: I like your dead folks. I like coming in. I felt like such an asshole. I was giving a reading the other day and the. The client was crying and I was like, is it terrible that I'm taking this as a compliment? Like a real big compliment right now? And they didn't laugh and I was
• 46:18
  Speaker A: like, no, that's really inappropriate. Don't say that anymore.
• 46:21
  Speaker B: Well, I do though.
• 46:23
  Speaker A: Well, love you. Thanks for researching this story. Meet us on Patreon for more content
• 46:28
  Speaker B: detours behind the paywall at any level.
• 46:32
  Speaker A: Any level. Will do. We really appreciate you. Thank you for the reviews. Keep them coming. And thanks for your help on Patreon.
• 46:39
  Speaker B: We love you guys.
• 46:40
  Speaker A: Okay, talk to you later. Bye Bye.
• 46:43
  Speaker B: This has been a common Mystics Media Production editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.