Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
Dark Down East is proudly sponsored by Amica Insurance. The unexpected can happen at any moment, and Amica knows how important it is to be prepared. Whether it's auto, home, or life insurance, Amica has you covered. Their dedicated and knowledgeable representatives will work with you to make sure you have the right coverage in place to protect what matters most. You can feel confident that Amica is there for you. Visit amica.com to get started.
At Leidos, a brilliant mind is smart, but a brilliant team is smarter. A ship that finds enemy subs is smart, but an autonomous fleet, that's smarter. Defending against cyber attacks? Smart. Stopping attacks before they start? Smarter. And using AI tools is smart, but integrating trusted mission AI into your technology is smarter. We're not just making technology solutions and national security and health. We're making smart, smarter. Leidos.
As a busy mom, do you struggle to find time to shop for clothes? Try Daily Look, the number one highest rated premium clothing subscription service for women like you. Get personalized outfits curated by your very own stylist and delivered right to your door. Keep what you love, return the rest. Shipping is free both ways. For a limited time, get 50% off your first styling fee with code TRUECRIME at dailylook.com. That's dailylook.com, code TRUECRIME.
Elevate your style with Daily Look today. She smiled and twirled in front of the cameras, flowing through poses and alternating a serious gaze with a bright and beaming smile. She was wearing her signature black dress with a draped neckline and white piping, her second outfit of the shoot. Between flashes, she adjusted her hat and the buddy poppy pinned on her chest, a symbol for the sacrifice of the World War veterans just like her husband.
Though she said little in response to the photographer's eager questions, it was clear Jesse Costello loved the attention. A woman shouted from the window above, "They've had enough, Jesse, come on!" But Jesse operated on her own terms. She let the camera shutters continue to click a while longer until finally she announced to the lot, "You've had more than enough."
Jesse sashayed back towards the steps, scowling at the harsh gray stone walls that served as the backdrop for the impromptu photoshoot. She had asked to go somewhere with flowers and trees, some nature to fill up the frame behind her. But Jesse's request was shot down. Because Jesse Costello wasn't a model or a starlet on the set of a photoshoot. Jesse Costello was an accused killer awaiting trial.
facing the death penalty for the murder of her own husband. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the story of William Costello and his wife, Jessie Costello, on Dark Down East. Jessie Fife was born in Yonkers, New York in 1902, and moved to Peabody, Massachusetts with her family when she was a little girl.
She was a rebellious and strong-willed child and teenager, and didn't care much for school or authority. Her father, Andrew Fife, was known to be a strict disciplinarian, and though her older brother and mother cowered to his household rule, Jessie challenged him without fear. Though school didn't seem to be her forte, Jessie was a hard worker in other respects.
A 1937 article in The New Yorker notes that her first job was at a bakery and she liked to, quote, give as good as she got, end quote. Customers at the shop knew Jessie to be a clever girl with a sense of humor. Not much got past Jessie. Jessie moved up the ranks of her career from bakery shopkeeper to a sales girl at a corset shop, earning more money along the way.
She was also an activist and fundraiser for the American Legion, and in 1919, barely a year after World War I, Jessie sold poppies on the street to raise money for the disabled veterans returning from war. That's how she met William J. Costello. When he wasn't praying, William Costello preferred to sit quietly and read with his feet pressed against the warmth of the radiator.
He himself was a veteran of World War I, and quiet solace was his wish when he returned. Jesse brought exuberance and energy to his life, a real opposites attract scenario. Jesse and William were married in 1923, and they had four children in rapid succession.
William became the fire captain at Peabody Fire Department as Jessie's life, once full of dances and movies and fundraising events, shifted to the life of a stay-at-home mother. Around 10.30 in the morning of February 17, 1933, a woman rapped on the door of 21 Fay Avenue in Peabody, Massachusetts.
Nellie Ayers was a door-to-door fudge saleswoman, and she had a fresh batch ready to peddle at the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Costello. Nellie could tell this was a home filled with children, and children loved fudge. An easy sale. Mrs. Jessie Costello came to the door and invited Nellie inside. Jessie agreed to buy one pound of the fresh fudge, and turned on her heels to find her purse as Nellie waited near the front door.
But before Mrs. Costello returned, she screamed. Jesse rushed back into the front room where the fudge saleswoman stood eyes wide, confused and a bit frightened. Mrs. Costello was shooing her away. This wasn't a time to think about fudge. Mr. Costello was laying on the bathroom floor. He wasn't moving.
Jessie sent for Dr. John Walsh to come see her husband, but even before the doctor and the medical examiner arrived, it was clear Captain William J. Costello was dead. Reporting by the Fitchburg Sentinel on February 20th, 1933, announced that medical examiner S. Chase Tucker found no indication that Captain Costello died of anything other than natural causes. Heart disease, he assumed.
It was common knowledge that William battled chronic indigestion and was always complaining about his stomach. Perhaps his health was deteriorating in other ways too. Two days after his wife found him on the bathroom floor, William Costello was buried with military honors at St. Mary's Cemetery following a funeral at the Costello home. No sooner was the last flower laid at his tomb did the rumors begin to swirl.
It seemed no one believed the fire captain died of anything natural, not even close. William was just 40 years old, hardly an old enough age even then to be considered timely for a natural death. The stories about town were enough for the medical examiner to order Captain Costello's body exhumed for further examination. William Costello's organs were sent to a Harvard pathologist for testing.
Meanwhile, police began their investigation into the death of the fire captain, starting with questioning those closest to William. Jessie was firm in her opinion of her husband's death, telling the press who had started poking around the story that she believed he died of heart disease, and even said that William suffered what she thought was a heart attack the day before his death. But that story was in contrast to what William's friends had to say.
Investigators learned that William planned to attend the funeral of a close friend, scheduled for the day after he died, and was even planning to be a pallbearer at that service. Friends who saw him at the wake the night before his death said that William appeared to be in fine health, not the health of someone who possibly suffered a heart attack.
On February 26, 1933, the results of the Harvard pathologist's examination came back to reveal a shocking piece of evidence. William Costello's vital organs were riddled with cyanide of potassium, a highly toxic substance that inhibits the body's ability to use oxygen.
Potassium cyanide looks like sugar or salt, small white granules that are odorless to most people. However, a genetic trait in some individuals allows them to smell the bitter almond scent of the poison.
What was strange about the further autopsy results of William Costello was that although his organs showed signs of cyanide poisoning, the other signs of death by poisoning usually present in victims of cyanide were missing. According to reporting by the Boston Globe, William Costello had no burns on his tongue or in his mouth, which would have been the case for someone who consumed cyanide in the raw.
This left investigators to hypothesize that he ingested the poison in capsule form, allowing the toxic substance to hit his stomach and cause almost instantaneous death as soon as the capsules dissolved.
A natural death caused by heart disease was clearly off the table, but the discovery of potassium cyanide poisoning led to three competing theories for the police force investigating William's death.
The Boston Globe published all three. Quote,
2. That the poison, if administered by the trickery of an enemy, might have been inserted in a capsule which Captain Costello was induced to take. Or 3. That someone might have substituted the cyanide for some medical remedy in capsule form, which the fire captain was accustomed to take for relief of indigestion."
His friends vigorously doubted the theory that Mr. Costello would have taken his own life. He loved his children and was a devoted father and a man of God. Though he was emotionally impacted by the death of his friend and had attended that friend's wake the night before he died, staying up until 2:00 a.m. chatting with friends after the service, no one remembered William to be in a concerning state of mental health.
The other two theories pointed to homicide, intentional poisoning with encapsulated cyanide. So who among the captain's close circle had access to the chemical substance? Well, Mrs. Jessie Costello certainly did. She told the police herself. They first asked Jessie if she had any poison in the home, but she said she didn't.
Police then produced a receipt for her purchase of cyanide of potassium at Curtis Drugstore in Peabody Square the exact night before her husband died of a fatal dosage. Mrs. Costello shrugged it off. She didn't regard it as poison. She told them, quote, I had it for cleaning purposes, end quote.
Cyanide potassium, when mixed with another chemical, forms a paste for cleaning, and she had used it to scrub the surfaces of a copper boiler in their home. Suspicious of that claim, state detectives tested the copper boiler in question. The Boston Globe reported that it did, in fact, have traces of the toxic substance still on it. Once firm in her view that her husband died of heart disease and other health ailments,
Jesse Costello's opinion changed with the new information. Either William chose to end his own life, she thought, or he ingested the substance accidentally. It just didn't make sense to investigators. Without a single outward sign of cyanide poisoning, no burns or marks on the mouth and lips, it would have been impossible for the powder to be mixed into coffee or water and ingested without leaving a trace.
If consumed in capsule form, investigators believed it would have taken advanced medical knowledge to know exactly how to carry out the fatal plan. Handling of poison in that way was evidence of a skilled and educated hand. State detectives did not feel that Captain Costello possessed this advanced knowledge despite his first aid training for the fire department.
But Jessie, on the other hand, showed a more advanced understanding of the substances under questioning. She gave her statement once and then was questioned a second time, remaining solid in her story about the poison, its purpose, and the opinion that it was either intentional death by suicide or a fatal accident that claimed the life of her husband. Suspicion was building.
But evidence in support of a homicide classification was circumstantial at best. If someone killed Captain William Costello with a fatal dose of cyanide, who and why? As detectives prepared to question Mrs. Jessie Costello for a third time, she crumbled under the intense pressure. Jessie suffered what the press called a nervous breakdown.
and her doctor ordered police to stay away while she recovered. It seemed Jessie dodged further questioning, at least for a little while. With Mrs. Costello's condition preventing further questioning, detectives moved on to check other potential evidence in the case as they prepared to present their findings to a grand jury.
They gathered statements from friends and neighbors, even spoke to the two Costello children who were home at the time of their father's death. Investigators also believed they'd find clues in the grave of William and Jesse's son, who died three years earlier. According to the Boston Globe, William Costello Jr. died on February 3, 1930, when he was just 16 months old.
He was found unresponsive in his crib and attempts to revive him did not succeed. Dr. S. Chase Tucker examined the toddler's body and found that he had an enlarged thymus gland. The cause of death on William Jr.'s certificate lists strangulation. As part of the investigation into his father's death, the body of William Jr. was exhumed. Authorities wondered if perhaps the cause of death was inaccurate.
Is it possible that Junior and Senior died by the same method? But there was nothing more to learn from the exhumed body. William Jr. hadn't been involved, and so further testing was impossible.
Although her doctor had signed off on her condition, each time her attorney came to collect Jessie for questioning at the district attorney's office, she would fall into a state of nervousness and agitation, unable to collect herself.
Mrs. Costello wasn't under arrest for any crime and so she did not have to appear for questioning. And the district attorney didn't have to have her additional testimony to present their case to the grand jury. Meanwhile, in early March of 1933, the district attorney told the press that the case could see significant developments soon. They planned to present the case to the grand jury the following week.
In mid-March of 1933, the Essex County Grand Jury heard evidence from the District Attorney concerning the death of Captain William J. Costello. On Friday, March 17th, 1933, the Grand Jury handed down one indictment. Mrs. Jessie Costello was charged with the murder of her husband.
She was arrested at her home just 15 minutes later, and with a smile on her face, was transferred to the hospital section at the Salem County Jail. The community of Peabody was beyond stunned that the whispers of Mrs. Costello's role in her husband's death seemed to have an ounce of truth, at least enough for an arrest and a murder trial. But why?
Why would she kill the quiet and calm man, the devoted father? The prosecution hinted that they had a solid motive locked down for the case, but declined to reveal what that motive was before trial. For a woman who had around-the-clock medical care for her mental health state prior to arrest, Jessie was calm and unbothered in jail.
Women were permitted full movement around the cell block of the Salem jail, and Jessie often requested newspapers so she could keep up to date with the reporting on her husband's death. Despite her apparently improved condition, Mrs. Costello was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation, but the defense had no plans to argue that Jessie was not of sound mind.
A woman in jail for murder, a mother of four accused of killing the father of her children, was not a common occurrence in the 1930s. Jessie's face began appearing in more and more newspaper articles. She was almost always described as beautiful, attractive. The ample press coverage of every minute development as she awaited her day in court began to build Jessie into a bit of a celebrity.
Jesse Costello received love letters from admiring men and a bouquet of lilies from an unknown supporter. Church and community groups rallied to collect money for her defense fund. The evidence presented to the grand jury was sealed, and so no one really knew what the state had against her in order to secure an arrest. But that didn't seem to matter to the general public.
To those following the story, Jesse Costello was a beautiful woman. Certainly, a beautiful woman couldn't be guilty of such a senseless crime. About one week before her trial date, reporters from area newspapers asked to take new photos of Jesse Costello. The sheriff agreed to allow photographers from the Boston Globe to capture new images of the accused killer inside the jail. But Jesse had a request.
She thought she would photograph better outside of the jailhouse walls, maybe with trees and flowers as the backdrop. Sheriff Frank Raymond denied the request. Though she couldn't direct the photoshoot location, Mrs. Costello had two different outfits and posed against the stark jailhouse walls with a gleeful smile on her face.
Her attorney watched over the photoshoot, warning his client, quote, They made you seem cold-blooded when you smiled at the time you were arrested. Don't smile now, unquote. She was wearing the very same outfit that she wore on the day she was arrested. Before the sheriff put a stop to the impromptu photoshoot,
Jesse told the reporters that she knew she was innocent. Quote, Why should I worry? The trial will prove me innocent and show that I've been painted as a murderer by a lot of gossipers and liars. End quote. And the gossip was just beginning to ramp up because it seemed that the motive that the state wanted to protect before trial was going to reveal itself anyway.
That motive showed up in the form of a police officer named Edward J. McMahon. A tissue of lies. That's what Jesse Costello had to say about the statement made to police by one of their own, Officer Edward J. McMahon. McMahon wove a tale of an illicit affair and meetings with Mrs. Costello while her husband was on duty at the firehouse. His story was salacious.
Edward spoke of Jesse Costello's wishes to run away with him. She asked him to leave his wife and children behind so they could start a new life together outside of Peabody. McMahon also claimed, incredibly, that Jesse tried to get him to agree to a suicide pact before her arrest for William's murder. He alleged that Jesse reached for her purse, claiming that she had enough to do away with them both. Enough of what, though? Edward wasn't certain.
Edward's story heightened the gossip around the trial. He was expected to testify for the prosecution, setting up the lurid affair as enough motive for Jessie to poison and kill her own husband. After several delays, the murder trial of Mrs. Jessie Costello finally opened on Monday, June 26, 1933.
The story had served as one of the biggest headlines in the New England area for months, and people wanted a piece of the action in court. As reported by the Boston Globe, a woman phoned the office of the district attorney. On the afternoon the trial was set to begin, the caller hoped to reserve two seats in the courtroom.
The DA told his clerk to inform the woman on the phone, quote, this is not a box office, and that the trial of Mrs. Costello will in no sense be a theatrical production, end quote. Unfortunately for the court, and for the justice Captain William Costello deserved, that's exactly what it turned out to be.
An all-male jury was selected to hear the case of Mrs. Costello, who had by then become known as the Smiling Widow. Each day when she arrived at the courthouse, she lingered as long as the bailiff would allow, posing for photos and waving to the growing crowds of onlookers. Much of the crowd was women, though plenty of male admirers came out for the show, too.
But the admiration didn't stop with the men and women outside of the courtroom. As the trial began and continued for nearly five weeks, the male jurors seemed to develop a sort of crush on the defendant. Four of the jurors formed a quartet and crooned, "'Let me call you sweetheart' and "'Sweet Adeline' during the court's recess."
The bailiff was rumored to have given Mrs. Costello roses on more than one occasion, and another juror asked if he could send Jesse a box of chocolates. Why these men weren't dismissed from their duties for their clearly inappropriate attention towards a woman on trial for murder, that's beyond me. Jesse Costello was on trial for murder.
In 1933, the death penalty was a possible sentence for convicted killers. Yet no one really seemed to care. Not the press, and not the men tasked with determining her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But the prosecution trudged forward, and they presented a compelling case, including a surprise piece of evidence that seemed like the only evidence they needed to secure a guilty verdict for Mrs. Costello.
Gelatin capsules. A clerk at a drugstore testified that he sold Mrs. Costello a dozen gelatin capsules about six months before William Costello died. The capsules would have been large enough to hold a fatal dose of potassium cyanide. What's more, capsules of the same type were found in William Costello's stomach.
This bolstered the earlier theories that the poison had to have been administered in such a way to avoid leaving burns and sores on the inside of Mr. Costello's mouth. The state called dozens of other witnesses to the stand, including Edward McMahon, who became known as the Kissintel cop, who gave his earlier statement regarding his alleged affair with the accused.
Edward's testimony on the stand was considerably more graphic than anything he reported before the trial. According to a piece by the New England Historical Society, McMahon's testimony was so graphic, so obscene, that even the gossip-obsessed papers refused to print it.
However, one publication chose to print the 48 pages of testimony in a little red booklet, and they sold it outside the courthouse. It was an instant sellout. Very few original copies of it exist today. However, the New York Public Library has a copy on microfiche, and the Cornell University Library has a physical copy too, if you're curious.
But as the prosecution rested their case, opening the floor to the defense, Mrs. Costello's attorney attempted to direct the suspicion away from Jesse Costello and back to William himself. He pointed to the discovery of a revolver and five cartridges in Captain Costello's desk at the firehouse, along with a book with information about cyanide. Despite friends and colleagues who refuted the theory,
The defense was steadfast in their view of the case. This was death by suicide, not homicide. The defense attorney addressed the court, quote, If you talk about this defendant's exclusive opportunity to administer the poison, let us also talk about Bill Costello's exclusive opportunity to take it, unquote.
Sure, Jesse Costello bought the cyanide, but she made no effort to conceal her purchase. The defense made it known that Mr. Costello was even in the vehicle and had driven Jesse to the drugstore when she made the purchase. Surely, someone with nefarious intentions wouldn't be so public about it, right? The defense called out the testimony of Edward McMahon, too, quote,
Although McMahon went far to place the scarlet letter on Jesse Costello's brow, there has been nothing said throughout all of his testimony or any of the other testimony in this case to indicate murder, and that, Your Honor, is what she is being tried for. End quote. The trial continued on for weeks before finally closing statements were made and the fate of Mrs. Jesse Costello was handed over to the jury.
Months of press coverage, of crowds waiting in line for a seat in the courthouse, of smiles flashed to admirers as the accused murderer scampered inside for the day's proceedings, all of it made Jessie a bizarre version of a celebrity. Before the verdict was even read, she received offers for theater contracts and requests to perform in burlesque shows for generous pay.
The jury of 12 men deliberated only 90 minutes before returning to read their verdict. Jesse Costello stood to address the jury before their decision was announced. She told them, quote, "'Gentlemen, send me back to my children,' end quote. And they did. Jesse Costello, not guilty."
The crowd erupted into cheers. Jessie, typically composed and stoic at the defendant's table, danced with glee at the news. She wasted no time leaving the courthouse and returning to her cottage to see her children. As she escaped the boisterous crowd, she swatted away cameras and requests for autographs. Because Jessie Costello wasn't doing anything for free anymore.
Jessie rode the fame train following her acquittal. Accepting a lucrative appearance contract for a theater in New York City, she sold the rights to her life story for $2,400. And when the burlesque troops came knocking again with a $20,000 contract to perform in their show, she scoffed at the offer. Burlesque was beneath her. She had her eye on the big screen. She spent the money as if it would never stop coming.
Jessie splurged on gifts for her children and friends and treated herself to fine lingerie and other luxuries. According to the New England Historical Society, she granted interviews with Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivan as Hollywood arranged for screen tests. But Jessie's fame would be a flash in the pan as the New England public snapped out of the inexplicable hold the smiling widow seemed to have on them. As quickly as they popped up,
End quote.
Finally, someone said it. The allure of a woman on trial for murder distracted the jury. The press couldn't resist publishing her photo with titles like "Buxom Prima Donna" and "Glamorous Siren." Crime historian Edmund Pearson theorized that the jury was swayed by the ancient belief that a woman couldn't do such a thing.
I haven't encountered another case quite like this in all my research of New England crimes. Most often, and most terribly, the appearance of a defendant impacts their case negatively. Unconscious and conscious bias of jurors impacts their assessment of the accused. Impartiality isn't always a reality.
Race, size, clothing, tattoos, and other physical traits can impact the individual's task with considering evidence presented at trial. For Jessie, being a beautiful white woman was a card she knew how to play. Whether you agree with the verdict or not, it's plain to see how her appearance impacted the outcome of her trial. A juror sending a box of chocolates to the accused is all the proof I need.
Jesse Costello may have been acquitted and found not guilty in the eyes of the law, but let's not forget that the life of a man, a father, a veteran was cut short. Children lost their dad. As far as I can tell, no other suspects were investigated in William Costello's murder. Very little information exists about the man William Costello was.
beyond the love he had for his children, his service to our country, and his appreciation for the quiet solitude of a book and a warm radiator under his feet. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Source material for this case and others, including incredible reporting by the Boston Globe, is listed at darkdowneast.com.
Now through the end of 2021, I'll be sharing information about missing and unidentified persons in New England. It is my goal to bring attention to these cases in hopes of bringing these humans home to the people who love and miss them. Mitchell Ivichel was last seen on March 2020 with a man and his younger daughter, believed to be 6 to 8 years old. The father and daughter communicated using sign language.
Mitchell was believed to be experiencing homelessness at the time of her disappearance, and her family reported her missing in March of 2021 when they hadn't heard from her for over 12 months. She is 43 years old, a black woman, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, and 135 pounds. She was known to spend time in Central Square before she went missing.
Anyone with information should contact the Cambridge Police Department at 617-349-3300. Go to darkdowneast.com slash missing for more information and photos. Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and murder cases.
I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.
