Guy in the Sky

SIGN HERE, MURDERER TOO 1154 W. Broadway Though almost obscured by the Toys 'R' Us banner stapled on as part of a recent heritage compromise, the BowMac sign was once a wonder to behold. Erected in 1959 on the site of the Bowell Maclean car lot, the red and blue sign stood 10 stories tall and could be seen from Burnaby, several miles away. It was, in fact, the world's largest free-standing electrical sign - and the only one ever to harbour a murderer. In July 1965, a radio promotions manager named Rene Castellani climbed onto a small platform atop the sign and vowed to stay there until all the cars on the lot were sold. But while Castellani was attracting national attention with his sales gimmick, he was also killing his wife: poisoning her so slowly that no one - not the cops, not her family, not the strawberry blonde switchboard girl he planned to marry after his wife was safely in the ground - would suspect a thing. Everyday the doting husband had been making his wife her favourite treat: a vanilla milkshake, spiked with arsenic. As her health failed and she was hospitalized, her doting hubby kept bringing in that daily dose of vanilla. By August, she was dead. Unfortunately for Castellani, a puzzled intern ordered some post-mortem tests, which turned up the arsenic. A search of Castellani's home revealed the poison stashed beneath the sink. Suspicions were confirmed by a lab analysis of the dead woman's hair. Lengths that had grown during the seven days husband Rene was up selling cars atop the BowMac sign were remarkably free of arsenic. Castellani was convicted and sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison. Article credited to VanMag.