Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - DVA Month Bonus - The Murder Diaries Presents - Stephanie Wasilishin

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

This week, we have a special presentation from The Murder Diaries Podcast. For more than 5 years, Natalie and Paige have been producing the podcast with the goal of always keeping the victim’s light and name alive as they cover missing, unsolved, and suspicious death cases. Their podcast is victim-centric and honors the memories of those lost and provides hope to their loved ones. You can find out more at themurderdiariespodcast.com or on their Instagram at themurderdiariespod. All the links will be in the show notes.For this episode, they worked closely with the victim’s sister, Nikki, and we appreciate Nikki also allowing us to share Stephanie’s story. you can find the show notes at https://sinspod.co/StephanieDomestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a monthApple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_smsDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

To listen ad-free, visit Zinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show! Welcome to the first of our What Happens Here, Happens Everywhere, Domestic Violence Awareness Month bonus episodes. I'm Sean, and with me as always is the one and only John. I am the only John in the room.

This week, we have a special presentation from the Murder Diaries podcast. For more than five years, Natalie and Paige have been producing their podcast with the goal of always keeping the victim's light and name alive as they cover missing, unsolved, and suspicious death cases. Their podcast is victim-centric and honors the memories of those lost and provides hope to their loved ones. You can find out more at themurderdiariespodcast.com or on their Instagram at themurderdiariespod. All links will be in our show notes. For this episode, they work closely with the victim's daughter, Nikki, and we appreciate

Nikki also allowing us to share Stephanie's story. And now, a special presentation of The Murder Diaries. Nikki, and we appreciate Nikki also allowing us to share Stephanie's story. And now, a special presentation of The Murder Diaries. Welcome to The Murder Diaries. I'm Natalie. And I'm Paige. On July 9, 1993, Stephanie Wasilishan's eldest daughter Nikki was awoken from a deep sleep. The 10-year-old had gone to bed around 11 p.m., and by 2 a.m., her world had turned upside down as she was shaken awake by police officers. The officers told her to get up, get dressed, and get out of the house with them. There had been an altercation, they said. Her mom and boyfriend had gotten into a fight. The officers escorted her from the house and tried to shield

Nikki, but she saw more than any child should ever have to. For this episode, we were so honored when Nikki Wassilishan agreed to sit down with us to help us understand the events of July 8th and 9th, 1993. The events that led to her mother's untimely death and to share her understanding of the investigation. This is Stephanie Wassilishan's story, as told by her daughter. You still think it's in my head, but I'm walking with the dead. During my conversation with Nikki, she started by sharing some details about her mom's upbringing. Before we get into that, though, it's important to note that those who were close to Stephanie

called her Stacy. But for this episode, we'll be calling her Stephanie because it's her legal name, and we want to make it easy for anyone looking for the case to find it. So just keep that in mind. When you hear clips of my conversation with Nikki, she refers to her mom as Stacy. But Stephanie, Stacy, they're the same person. Stephanie and her twin brother, Stephen, were born in 1961 near Chicago. Tragically, though, Stephen died before his first birthday.

She was a twin and her twin brother will die seven months after birth from the measles. And that will prompt my family to move from the Chicago area, which is where my mother was born in 1961 to the Phoenix area. Don't know what drove them to Phoenix in the sixties, but it was the immediate distaste of the police because they didn't want to transport little baby Steven because of the measles because of the sixts. It was a big epidemic. So that is essentially why he died. So my family has never trusted the police starting from there. Measles is a highly contagious disease and a vaccine wasn't developed until 1963. As per the World Health Organization, before the vaccine was developed, the measles caused approximately 2.6 million

deaths worldwide each year, and complications were most common in children under the age of five. According to a letter written by the Wasilishan family that was published in Berwyn, Illinois newspaper, The Life, on February 11, 1962, an ambulance was called to transport a very sick baby, Stephen, to the hospital. While the family was told that help was only minutes away, in reality, it took so much longer. Two police officers eventually arrived, but no ambulance. And the officers refused to help get the sick baby to the hospital. Instead, they suggested calling a taxi and not disclosing that the baby had the measles. The Wasilishan family didn't want to do that,

so they asked if the police would at least give them an escort to the hospital in a family member's car. But this was also denied. An investigation later revealed that the ambulance wasn't allowed to attend the call due to the contagious nature of measles. And it was the fire chief who made the call to stop the ambulance team from going, even though it was found in the investigation that it would have been safe for them to attend the call and help the baby. So by the time Stephen was taken to the hospital in his uncle's car,

it was too late and he died that night. The family left Chicago after Stephen's death. They headed west, planning routes in Phoenix, Arizona. Because Stephanie was just a baby when the move happened, Phoenix was her real hometown, the place that she connected to. And not long after their arrival, the family welcomed the last Wasilician baby, Wendy. Now, Stephanie and Wendy were not only close in age, but they were close, full stop. In fact, Nikki calls them a package deal and says that her Aunt Wendy was a big part of her upbringing. Kathy's the eldest, very eldest and my godmother.

There's Aunt Kathy, then there's Aunt Patty, Uncle Michael, Uncle Lance, my mom and baby Steven, and then Wendy. So she's a family of five. And Aunt Kathy's the eldest sister, so my mom would always confide in Aunt Kathy. And Wendy was the youngest sister and closest to my mom. So my mom and Wendy grew up together. So if you're going to ask what siblings were the closest, it was definitely Kathy and Wendy. Despite a close relationship with her sisters, Stephanie's relationship with her mother was tough. Stephanie wanted to break that cycle and become a mom. But not just any mom.

The best mom. She married and had a baby with a man named Craig. That baby was Nikki. Craig and Stephanie's marriage unfortunately didn't work out, and they eventually divorced when Nikki was young. Stephanie then started a relationship with Russell Peterson. Stephanie and Russell also had a daughter named Christina. And the foursome, that's Stephanie, Russell, Nikki, and Christina, moved into a two-bedroom house on Coffee Pot Drive in Sedona, Arizona.

The house was surrounded by trees and those iconic Sedona red rocks. Stephanie worked as a pastry chef at Pietro's restaurant, which wasn't far from her home. Russell worked there as well as a chef. In retrospect, my mom never wanted to be a lawyer, a doctor. She never wanted to go and be a business. All she wanted to do was have babies at young,

very young age, because she didn't have a really great lifestyle with her mom. I mean, essentially, grandma was really mad that mom survived and baby Steven died. And she was really mean to my mom growing up. So she wanted to give what she never had. And she gave that to me. And for 10 years, she was able to have that little perfect life before she was taken. So to take away this and to stop rambling, who my mom was, was a homemaker. She loved to bake. She loved to garden. She loved to make herself beautiful. She was very proud of herself. And she really just wanted children. Sadly, Nikki told us that she didn't see her sister very often after her mother's death due to them being raised by their respective fathers.

I got to grow up with my sister for three years until my mother's murder, after my mother's death, due to them being raised by their respective fathers. I got to grow up with my sister for three years until my mother's murder. After my mother was murdered, she went with her dad. I went with mine, and we lived separate lives. To be honest with you, she's kind of a stranger. We hardly know each other. Because Nikki lost her mom at such a young age, she has trouble putting her memories of her mom into words.

But she tried her best for her interview. And for that, we're so grateful. Here's what she had to say. I don't know much about my mom because I lost her at 10 years old. So I'll tell you what I know of her. I know that she always wanted kids and had two abortions before me. And at 19, she finally had me and she wanted a family so bad. And I was her little baby Dolly and she was always dressing me up and baking. She loved to bake and always baked great things and giving me the beaters and she was a clean freak. This is something I always neglect to mention in podcasts, but she was obsessively clean. Even my dad will bring up the fact that he couldn't drop his underwear on

the ground and they couldn't be there more than 20 minutes before my mom was over there obsessively scooping it up and then at him about keeping stuff clean. And he'll always bring that up. And then I always fondly remember, God, I hated the fact when she made me, we used to scrub the walls as a kid because she was OCD clean. Nikki does clearly remember her mom fostering her love of reading, always making sure Nikki had the latest Goosebumps book to devour. Okay, so my mom was that cool mom in her late 20s and early 30s. And when R.L. Stine was popping off, she made sure that her daughter

had the newest one that was fresh off of the release, you know, on the release stand every month, because those are coming out every two, three months at that point. And I always had the newest edition. I would come home and it would be on my bed or something. She encouraged me to read and she was proud of the fact that I like to read. Stephanie also ensured Nikki was dressed in trendy clothing, emulating 90s TV wardrobes. Though they didn't always see eye to eye on hairstyles, and it was a source of contention between them, something that Nikki now looks back on and laughs at. I was always very proud of the fact that my mom would get me the coolest s***.

Plus, my mom was so hip and I was kind of a nerd. Like, I'm still kind of a nerd, but she understood trending before trending was a thing. And in the 90s, like Melissa Joan Hart and Sabrina Teenage Witch, like that aired like in real time when I was nine, 10 years old. And my mom made me watch Nick Galodian and made me watch that because she knew that was cool. And she would dress me like Melissa Joan Hart. She made sure that I went to school like the little Dolly and I would get so mad that she

would spend so much time on my hair. And I hated yanking on my hair and the brushes and the curls. And I get really resentful. And I would go like days without brushing it myself as I got older. And as punishment, she did this twice to me. She would take me to the barbershop and cut it off like a boy and tell me if I didn't want to look like a girl and treat myself like a girl, that I could look like a boy. And I remember being so devastated. And if you see pictures of me in 1993, right before and right after her murder,

you'll notice that Nikki had short hair. When I asked Nikki to speak about the events leading up to her mom's death, she told me she's an open book. Because she knows the more she talks, the more listeners will hear her mom's story and maybe she'll finally get answers from the police and from a court. So Nikki recounted for us the summer's day that would be her mom's last. And despite it being the middle of summer in Arizona, she recalls the weather is pleasant and not too hot. And as with all 90s kids on a nice day, she was told to go outside and play with her sister. Kids entertained themselves for hours outside back then, and Nikki and her sister were no exception.

It was actually July 8, 1993. It was the middle of summer in Sedona, Arizona, so it wasn't that hot. So we were playing inside, outside. Nikki remembers that her mom came home from work, started drinking, and then called her sister. My mom got off at, you know, five, six o'clock. I don't remember the day, that day, but I'll never forget the night.

So I remember my mom was on the phone. She was really pissy that day. She started having some beers. I'm 10. My little sister's three. We're coloring. We're playing hide and seek. We're running around.

I've got a dog, a cat. We're doing what little kids do. We've got the attention span of a squirrel. So I don't know what we were doing. We were all over the house, but I know that we were making enough noise that my mom kept yelling at us to go to our room, go outside, be quiet. You know, it was all night long because we were bugging her because she was making big plans. I didn't know this at the time, but she will come home from work. She'll start cracking beers and call my aunt at, I don't know, seven o'clock or something. I have the time. I have the phone bill with the timestamp, but she will to my aunt about why she's unhappy. Russell's going out of town that weekend. He's taking some of our Disneyland money for that summer to buy the plane ticket. And you know, you know, he's not giving her what she wanted.

She was supposed to have a babysitter that night. And so her sexy plans fell through for that night. So she's on the phone to her sister about it, just angry. Stephanie's phone call to her sister wasn't the only one she made that evening. She called Nikki's father, her ex-husband, Craig. Nikki explained to me that her mom and dad had wanted to get back together,

but the timing never worked out. Once she's done to my Aunt Wendy, she calls my dad. And it was just, this is at 8.06 on July 8th, 1993. And this is the turning point. This is where my mom's fate is sealed because she calls my dad. And on this night, my dad has said

that once my mom left my dad. And on this night, my dad has said that once my mom left my dad for Russell, it didn't take very long for her to want to come back. But my dad had had a new girlfriend and he had told me that she kept trying to come back, Nikki, but I always had a new girlfriend. But on this night, July 8th, 1993, my dad had a big empty house. And when my mom called him to my dad was like, Hey, Stacy, my house is empty. Betty left, bring the girls back. I got all these empty bedrooms. And that's when the plan started to go in motion. So this went from like a little 20 minute session, you know, to asking about money or whatever it was that my mom and dad talked about to like full

on, like making plans. And then my dad has attested for 30 years that there was dirty talk. Like my mom was extra super vulgar on the phone while making these plans. And it was done by 1030. She's calling my aunt back. And in the case file, my aunt is even quoted as saying on the second phone call, Stacy's happy. Don't know why Stacy's happy because Wendy and Stacy don't talk about it because Wendy and my dad don't get along. So my mom never told Wendy that she was making these plans.

She's just happy. Around 11 p.m., Nikki walked up behind her mom as she sat on the couch, the TV on, and a candle flickering in an otherwise dark room. She remembers telling her mom

she had walked the dog and brushed her teeth, which she hadn't. You know, those little white lies kids tell their parents to test the boundaries. Nikki then wished her mom goodnight, not knowing it was the last time she would ever give her mom a hug and a kiss.

And I went to bed at 11 and I remember hearing Russell come home between 11.15, 11.30. That's the last thing I remember as a 10-year-old. Next thing I know as a 10-year-old, it's three hours later. I don't know what has happened, but there's cops in my room and they're waking me up with a flashlight. And they're like, get dressed. Your mom and Russell got into a fight.

They're telling me that there was an altercation. This is the part of the story that Nikki can't help us to understand because she was asleep. She said she gets asked this all the time, how she didn't wake up. And that's due to the layout of the house with her bedroom being separated from the other sleeping and living areas. This is a question I get all the time. How were you able to sleep through two gunshots, an altercation and two gunshots? The Sedona home is a two-bedroom home. So my mom and Russell got the master and then they gave my little sister, three-year-old Christina, her own bedroom across from theirs. And then that means that they converted the garage

on the other side of the home, which was down three steps. So it was actually basement level. So the cops had to come downstairs to come find me. There was two bedroom doors shut when the cops found me. They had to open two bedroom doors. So I heard nothing. And I was 10. I was a hard sleeper. So that is why I was on the other side of the house and knew nothing. Nikki was kind enough to share the autopsy and police reports with us. So we were able to use those to fill in the gaps. Now, according to the official autopsy report, Stephanie and Russell had an argument that night and gunfire was exchanged,

resulting in Stephanie being hit, receiving a fatal shot to her neck from a Ruger Redhawk 44 Magnum revolver. Police arrived after Russell called 911 and reported that he and his wife had an argument and his wife had been, quote, hurt very bad. As a quick aside to our listeners, Russell and Stephanie weren't legally married, but they occasionally refer to each other as husband and wife. This is where things start to

get fishy. According to Fox 10 Phoenix, this 911 call was placed at 1.40 a.m., nearly 30 minutes after the fight took place. When the operator asked him to elaborate, Russell said that Stephanie had been shot, but he didn't know who shot her, saying that maybe he fired the gun or maybe she shot herself. The dispatcher then gave Russell CPR guidance while police and EMS were dispatched.

Officers arrived at the Coffee Pot Drive home at 1.43 a.m. and entered through the unlocked front door. They called out and announced their arrival. When Russell exited the bedroom, the officer noted his hands were covered in blood and he was still holding the cordless phone to his ear, listening to the dispatcher. Russell led the police into the bedroom

where they saw Stephanie, wearing a green nightshirt sprawled on the bedroom floor and surrounded by blood. To the officer's surprise, three-year-old Christina was on the bed telling the officers, that's my mommy. She was quickly whisked out of the room, although clearly not before she had seen the worst thing a child could ever witness. She was very close. The altercation, the fighting is what woke her up. So by the time my mom fell to the floor, like she was already standing by the end of the hall. It is debated on whether she actually saw him kill her or whether she just saw her fall to the ground. Regardless in her interrogation, which you have in the case

file, she'll tell the investigators at least 13 times that Poppy killed Mommy. Police couldn't find a pulse, and when the paramedics arrived, they said that there was nothing they could do. Stephanie was just 32 years old. The officers continued to survey the room, noting a large caliber gun on top of a leather holster near Stephanie's body by her right shoulder. There was blood on the edge of a corner holster near Stephanie's body by her right shoulder. There was blood on the edge of a corner table, and just above that was where the bullet had lodged into the wall and was still visible. One of the investigators wrote in the police report, upon further examination of the scene, I noticed a gold-colored neck chain under Stephanie's right arm, her left arm bent and partially under her body, and a much smaller

piece of a similar gold chain near the doorway to the bedroom. Russell was informed that Stephanie was dead around 2 a.m., and police took an initial statement immediately. In his statement, Russell says that he was at work until around 11 p.m., and when he got home, Stephanie was on the phone to Nikki's father. Russell included in his statement that he had been accepted to a cooking school at Cornell University, and Stephanie was upset that he had bought the plane ticket. Thankfully, in her conversation with Nikki,

she was able to elaborate further on this. It turns out that the family was saving for a trip to Disneyland, and Russell had taken some of that money set aside for the trip to pay for his Russell had taken some of that money set aside for the trip to pay for his plane ticket to the cooking school, which explains why Stephanie was so upset. In his statement, he continues saying

that Stephanie was the one who had got the gun out during the fight and shot at him first, saying she was gonna blow his head off or words that were similar. Russell said that after the bullet missed and went into the living room wall, he got up and somehow the pair got from the hallway where she was standing into the bedroom,

which is where Stephanie was eventually shot. As mentioned earlier in the episode, Nikki was awoken by the police and she recalls the events of those early morning hours. She told us that despite the officer's attempt to get her out of the house quickly, she saw Russell sitting on the couch covered in blood before being walked out to a waiting police car. I don't argue. They escort me from my home and the cop that's escorting me is

trying to block me from like what I'm seeing, but I'm like 10 and I'm like wondering, so I'm looking all over the place. And there's lights on everywhere. It's not dark anymore. Like it was when I went to sleep and right where I said goodnight to my mom in the same spot on the couch, my mom's not there anymore, but there's Russell and I'll never forget it because this is the last time I was in my house too. Uh, there was blood on his hands, dude. Like I specifically remember blood on his hands and he was rocking like, and talking real fast. And there was cops standing all around him. And that took probably about 15 seconds to get me from my bedroom door out the front door and me seeing that. And then they put me in the cop car

where I'll find my three-year-old almost to be four-year-old little sister. And she's saying, poppy killed mommy, poppy killed mommy, poppy mommy! Poppy killed mommy! Poppy killed mommy! And like, she's excited. And like, I'm just getting in the cop car. That's not what the cops told me. I'm 10. Like, I'm a reader. I'm logical. I'm going to believe my authorities. And I tell my sister, that's not what happened. Like, I remember reasoning

with her or attempting to. Like, that's not what happened. And I don't know how long I attempted to reason with my sister before they finally bring out Russell Bennett Peterson. And I don't know how long I attempted to reason with my sister before they finally bring out Russell Bennett Peterson. And I remember while I was in the cop car with my little sister and I just saw as a little kid, cherries and blueberries. And that means the cop lights and I could see them everywhere. I know there was more cop cars. As an adult, Nikki is in disbelief about what happened next. Why, when they brought the suspect out for

murder, it's a domestic violence altercation, they treated him more like a victim than the perpetrator and put him in the car with the little children. Like, first of all, he either had my mom's blood on him still, or they had him wash his hands and wash off evidence in the sink. Either way, is that proper police procedure? I'm forever traumatized because of that. And that in a nutshell is July 8th, 1993, going into July 9th, because I'll go to bed at July 11 PM on July 8th. And by 2 AM, they're pronouncing her dead and escorting me from my home three hours later on July 9th. So it's a two day event for me, kind of. Russell was read as Miranda Wright's just after 3 a.m.,

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While the initial investigation was getting underway, behind the scenes, authorities were discussing the best course of action for keeping the girls safe, both physically and emotionally, after such a traumatic event. It was advised that the girls be placed into the custody of DES and taken to a foster home so that they could get some sleep and be cared for until more permanent decisions could be made. But Russell was looped in on this. As he hadn't been charged with anything, he was still allowed to make decisions for the care of the children. At first, he agreed to accept the recommendation and the girls were placed in a foster home. However, an hour later, the owner of the restaurant that he and Stephanie worked at, Peter Korn, arrived at the

station. According to Peter, Russell had called him and asked him to come and collect the girls and that he take custody of them for the time being. As a part of the investigation, Peter and others who worked with Stephanie and Russell were questioned. According to conversations with Peter, he felt that Stephanie had been very distraught lately, and other employees felt that she was very upset the last day she worked, just a few hours before the shooting. The employees understood that Stephanie was upset about Russell's trip to New York. Peter said that, without wanting to badmouth Stephanie, it seemed like the relationship between the pair was argumentative, and from his perspective, Stephanie was the instigator. In his eyes, it seemed as if Stephanie was unhappy about the high priority Russell's work took. And since they worked together, she took her frustrations out on him at work, in front of the other employees. According to a police report, Russell said that he couldn't imagine

Russell shooting Stephanie, but he could believe that she would take her own life. Russell Peterson was officially questioned a few hours later, where he repeated a similar story to the one he told to the officer he spoke to at the house. But in this new interview, he said that he and Stephanie

shared a bottle of wine on the couch before the pair started to argue. First about the lengthy conversation she had with her ex, and then about the two-week trip Russell was about to take to New York. He said that he was sitting in the middle of the couch when Stephanie shot at him. A detective's report points out wood splinters on the walkway in front of the home, a hole in the living room wall, and a hole in the curtain. Russell then said he followed Stephanie into the bedroom and she said that she was going to kill him before a struggle for the gun ensued. He said the gun went off and Stephanie fell to the floor. Russell said he panicked, took the gun from where it was laying and put it back into the holster and then back onto the shelf where it lived.

He said 15 to 20 seconds later, he rethought his action and placed the gun back on the floor. He then went into the bathroom for a while, even after seeing Christina standing in the hallway. And when he went back to the bedroom, he said Stephanie was still on the floor where she fell, so he called 911 at that point to get help.

Russell wasn't the only person interviewed that night. Little Christina, at just three years old, was interviewed about what she saw. Holding the stuffed dog toy officers had given her as a comfort, she recounted what she saw that night. According to a police report, Christina told the police that she was asleep, then woke up and saw her father kill her mother. More questions were

asked and Christina said she didn't exactly see the shooting but she saw her mom on the floor bleeding presumably just after she was shot. She saw Russell take a gun out of the closet after her mother was already on the floor. Christina said she just heard one gunshot. After the police interview, Russell was let go. Christina was placed back in Russell's custody and Nikki went to live with her dad. The sisters would see each other that next Christmas and then not for a while after that.

Nikki said she never got a follow-up with her sister about what she said in the back of that police car, that Poppy killed Mommy. The official investigation was still ongoing, and the medical examiner's report would provide a lot of information that could have assisted with bringing charges. According to the medical examiner, Philip E. Keem, Stephanie died instantly as the bullet severed her windpipe and spine.

A small mercy to know she didn't suffer. The gun was pressed to her neck as indicated by the contact wound. There was an exit wound, which was to be expected as the bullet was found lodged in a wall. The autopsy also revealed that there was a small fracture

inside the right portion of Stephanie's skull and a contusion to her right arm that was recent but not necessarily from the night of her death. As for her blood alcohol, that was 0.17%, which is just twice over the legal limit. There was gunpowder residue on her left hand and none on her right. But here's the thing. Stephanie was right-handed and did everything with her dominant hand. And her hands were bagged at the scene to preserve the evidence. All of this physical evidence led the medical examiner to conclude that Stephanie's death was a homicide.

And the report says, the character of the wound is such that it is a contact wound, and the presence of gunpowder residue on the left hand is more consistent with deposition in a defensive posture than with any self-inflicted injury, whether intentional or otherwise. So with the medical examiner report saying that Stephanie was murdered and the only person in the house awake

at the time of her death being Russell, it seemed logical that charges would follow, right? But they didn't. The Yavapai County Attorney's Office said that they didn't have enough evidence to prove that Stephanie was murdered, so they wouldn't be pressing charges or taking the case to trial. It comes down to his side of the story. He states that my mom shot at him first, making him a victim. So they've essentially treated Russell Peterson as the victim, not a perpetrator, even though in the eyes of the medical examiner, it is a homicide. And I'm pretty sure that in the hierarchy of things, the medical examiner outweighs the police. So I can't really answer that question.

But what they've told me is that there's insufficient evidence to prosecute him. Now, I don't know. I'm just an average ex-server that works with pets now. So help me make it make sense because I've got the medical examiner's report saying homicide. So you're going to go against the medical examiner's opinion and go with the suspect's version? Have you ever heard of that? I don't know. Insufficient evidence, make it make sense. They just didn't investigate enough in 93 and now they just want me to go away in 2024. During our interview, we clarified that since Russell claims he was shot at first,

he was a victim and therefore if he did shoot Stephanie, it would be in self-defense, at least from investigators' perspective. And Nikki confirmed that this was her understanding as well. As she had been told that there are two sides to every story and that investigators are going with Russell's version of events because they don't have evidence that proves otherwise. Now that technology is so much better in 2024, Nikki wants evidence retested.

But the police department hasn't made any sign of cooperating with this request. Nikki and Christina finally took that Disneyland trip that Stephanie was saving for around a year after their mother's homicide, thanks to their Aunt Wendy. Nikki can't remember the exact day, but she remembers a strange interaction with her sister on the trip. And then there's the Disneyland trip that we were supposed to go on with my mom in the summer of 93, but she was murdered

and Russell had taken some of our Disneyland money. So my aunt made sure that we went to Disneyland in 93 or 94 and we'll get my little sister. And now she's almost five and she's got this cute little short hair. And on the night of my mom's murder, she's telling me Poppy killed mommy. And now a year later, I remember her telling me mommy killed herself. And I'll just be like, I'll be stunned. I'll have her repeat it. I'll be like,

what? And she'll repeat it a whole bunch, just like on the night of the murder. Poppy killed mommy, but now she's repeating, mommy killed herself. Yeah, mommy killed herself. Mommy killed herself. You may remember when we told you about the 911 call, Russell was unable to say how Stephanie was wounded, but he suggested it was either an accident or self-inflicted. However, neither was an option given by the medical examiner in the report. And it was just the most horrifying experience because now I'm like 12, 13, still a reader, but I'm into V.C. Andrews. Like I'm into like the sex books now because I'm a young adult. So I fully know that mommy did not kill herself. And I go and I

tell my aunt what happened. And it became such a ruckus that Russell will end up keeping Christina away from us for like another 10 years because he's actively brainwashing her. She'll run away from him at the age of 14. Nikki did reconnect with her sister, which we'll share more about that reunion later in the episode. But at the time the sisters reconnected, Nikki recalls a conversation with the woman Russell married about a year after Stephanie was killed. Here's what she had to say about it. I honestly don't remember talking to her as a 14-year-old about her mother's murder, but I will talk to her stepmother, Diane, who had married Russell a year later and had a son with him. And she will

tell me that in the year that she was married to Russell, he will confess his crimes to her, that he will start laundry. He will take a shower, make those phone calls before he calls 911. I've told the Sedona Police Department about her. It's hearsay, apparently. Nikki shared that she thinks her mother's case was mishandled from the get-go, and an inexperienced department is partially to blame. This is something my aunt told me in all her investigations. The Sedona area was policed by the Verde Valley Police

up until 1989. So that means in 1989, the Sedona Police Department is formed. They build their building, they hire their force, they train their people. Do you do the math? Four years later, my mom is murdered. So my mom's homicide was probably one of the first ones

that the Sedona Police Department actually investigated. They dropped the ball from start to finish. That's what they're covering up now. Nikki has struggled for the past few years to find answers and to have her mom's case reinvestigated before Nikki, her grandma, and Aunt Stephanie's mom and sister were digging into the case. Nikki knew her aunt continued to search for answers, but her grandmother's involvement was a surprise to Nikki. When I hooked back up with my aunt after

decades of not talking to her, and I sat down with all my aunt's paperwork, and we got into my grandma's original 93 case file, and my grandma's been passed for, you know, six, seven years now. And I saw her, her looped cursive that signed my birthday card every year. And I saw her writing her questions and her theories on the side. I don't have any copies of those. I wish I'd taken pictures of my grandma's writing. My aunt has all that, but I about lost it when I saw how dedicated my grandma was, but never showed us grandkids what she was doing. I didn't know. I always thought that this was my aunt's obsession. I didn't know my grandma was that invested. And Nikki told us how time and time again, she was shut out of the investigation. I started when I realized that they weren't

going to investigate further. So in July of 2020, when I found out they were investigating, they only wanted to talk to my sister. I was ecstatic, but they never called me for comment or quote. So five months will go by. I'll try to track down the Sedona Police Department investigator. He will get back to me within a couple days, letting me know that he was transferred. This is the new contact information. I send another lengthy email about what I remember. Please help me to the new investigator. She gets back to me after November of 2020.

And this is what set my ass on fire. It was this email and it said, hi, Nikki, I've been meaning to reach out to you. And I did have some questions pertaining to that night, but you already answered them. You were sleeping. You don't remember. And I just remember sitting questions pertaining to that night, but you already answered them. You were sleeping. You don't remember. And I just remember sitting back in my chair, realizing that they weren't investigating.

They didn't want to talk to me. I had relevant information about what my dad knew. My dad's had the same story for 30 years. I was just blown away. Had I really watched that much true crime where they don't want to interrogate everybody involved? Nikki had a fire lit under her from that moment on. And she vowed to be like a dog with a bone until someone finally listened to her.

She managed to get a hold of the case file, but it was a lot smaller than the case file her grandmother and aunt had. But here's the thing. She didn't know if the version she was given had pages missing because they had been lost over the years or if information had been lost over the years, or if information had been purposefully redacted.

And I was so stunned that it was in November of 2020 when I wrote her back that I wanted the case file. So she was like, if that's what you need for closure, by all means, here you go. She actually told me that. She gave me the email to the Sedona County records. And then here we go. Put your seatbelt on. Let's go for a ride. That's like now lasted two years. I will get the redacted case file three weeks later. And what you will have what I have, which is 176 pages. Well, the Red Rock News has reported that my mom's case file is 400 pages. My aunt has 250 pages. So where's, where's my other 75, at least if not 225 pages, they have still not given me a complete case file in the case file

that you have and which your copy of the autopsy report will be six pages. That is not a complete autopsy report. They left out page six. I don't know if it was on purpose or not intentional why they left out page six, the final summary of my mom's autopsy report, which clearly states that it was a homicide and her hands were up in defense. The explanation of the gunpowder residue present on my mom's left hand is deposition in a defensive posture than with any self-inflicted injury, whether intentional or otherwise. It remains the opinion of the pathologist that the manner of death is homicide. They left that out. I had to find that out by going and tracking down my aunt because I'm the third generation wassalician woman in my family to investigate my mom's murder in three decades. It has been a horrible, horrible

journey. And the only way I've gotten somewhere is by talking to people like you. Something that was notably missing from Nikki's case file was the phone records from the night of the shooting. Now, according to the phone records, Russell called 911 at 1.40 a.m. However, another call was placed at 1.36 a.m., four minutes before. So who would Russell call before calling 911, and why?

My mom's 911 call is at 1.40. Well, he will stay on with the 911 operator until about 1.48, and they're pronouncing my mom dead by 1.50, 1.55. But he is calling somebody else at 1.36. It's on the evidence in the phone bill, which you didn't get because it wasn't in my case file. I had to go to my aunt's house, go through all her paperwork. And from that night, the phone

bill from that night clearly states that somebody from my home is calling Glendale, Arizona, and we matched up the number. He called his father, Kenneth Peterson, at 136, four minutes before he calls 911. So I know that he had at least three minutes to stage the crime scene that I can prove. The police never subpoenaed the phone records. Instead, in a bizarre move, investigators asked Russell to bring the phone bill into the station,

just whenever he could get it there. So three months later, he took it in. To Nikki, the phone call at 1.36 a.m. is proof that Russell was up to something. They're getting hard evidence from the suspect himself that he's doing weird stuff three minutes before he's calling 911 for assistance. And then three weeks after that, in November of 1993,

by then the county attorney is saying, we don't have enough evidence to prosecute. We need more evidence. So we're going to go ahead and say there's insufficient. We're going to decline prosecution. Three weeks after they've got hard evidence in their hand that he's doing shady. They're saying that they don't have evidence at all. So I just want you to know about that. And what of the relationship with her sister, Christina, whom she wasn't allowed to see grow up. The pair reconnected when Christina was a teen and Nikki was a young adult, but it wasn't a made-for-movie reunion. There was tension between the sisters. My sister will be about 16, so I'll kind of be chummy with her for about two years. When I'm in

my 20s, she's in her teens. And when she's 16, she gets pregnant. And as an older sister, what do I say? Don't do it. I tell her to have an abortion. She does not like hearing that. She follows through with the pregnancy. The disagreement over the pregnancy sees their relationship take another decade-long hiatus, the second in their short and turbulent lives.

When they once again reconnect, Nikki uses the courage provided by a stiff drink to ask her sister the question she desperately wants the answer to. What really happened to their mom? She doesn't talk to me for 10 more years. I don't hear from the woman until 2016, 2017, where we briefly reconnect for about a year. And in that year, I have a boyfriend and

we're actually at the house right now. Cause I'm outside my boyfriend's house. I had to get off work and come and do this and I'm out in the car anyway. So we're at this house. I'm reconnecting with my sister. We're at the coffee table in there. And I remember we were drinking and I finally have the balls to after all these years. And she's sitting right there with me and we're kind of like tipsy. And I asked her about it. I remember she did not want to engage in the conversation. She looked down. She started shuffling her hands. She wouldn't give me straight answers. So I let it go. So I have never actually pushed it until July of 2020 when she calls me out of the blue and tells me that they're investigating our mom's murder

and they want her help. Then in 2020, Sedona Police Department Sergeant Michael Dominguez agreed to take another look at the case. According to an article published that same year by the Red Rock News, his first order of business was to see if he could prove that a murder had occurred. Sergeant Dominguez told the publication, based on the evidence I see, there's more to the story than that of a suicide. But he continued saying that he couldn't say with 100% certainty

that it was a homicide either. He went on to say that he felt the family was placing too much stock on there being no gunpowder residue on Stephanie's dominant hand. He explained that he does lots of things with his non-dominant hand, so maybe it was possible that Stephanie shot the gun with her left hand. But when that article was published, it upset Nikki's aunt so

much that she called the Sedona Police Department. And Sergeant Dominguez was eventually removed from the case since his comments showed that he was giving up on investigating it thoroughly. We asked Nikki to clarify her understanding of the current status of her mother's case. She's under the assumption that the case is still active. Her dad was finally interviewed in January of 2023 to share what he knew and what he was told by Stephanie on the phone the night she was killed. But she hasn't had any contact from the police in over a year, so she really couldn't say. Two years ago in 2022, there was fresh hope as the

FBI appeared to be getting involved in Stephanie's case. However, the Sedona police declined the assistance of the FBI, which left the family back where they started with no answers and a lot of frustration. When I got to my aunt's house two springs ago and I had all this paperwork, we did a whole big packet of our evidence and we sent it 25 pages to the Yavapai County's attorney's office to the three, because the Arizona attorney general has three offices here in Arizona. We sent a packet to all three of them. We got a response back from the Arizona Attorney General saying, our complaint is best suited to the DOJ. I sent the same packet to the DOJ.

The DOJ sent an FBI agent, Agent Kraps, to my aunt's house. He said, hey, we got your packet. What can I do to help you? And my aunt invited him in. I was at work this day. I totally missed this little sit down. And the FBI agent said, how can we help you? What do you want from us? And my aunt said, we want someone to listen. We want somebody to go to the Sedona police department,

find out what's going on. The FBI agent listened. We literally had an FBI agent roll up to Sedona and say, Hey, I'm here representing the Wasillician family. They want to know what's going on. How can I help you? How can the federal government help you on the Wasilician case? And guess what? The Sedona Police Department rejected any assistance from the federal government. They said, we don't need any. Sayonara.

And because they are federal, that was the hardest call I've ever had to take was agent Kraps telling me there's nothing I can do, Ms. Wasilician. I'm a federal agency. I just can't walk in there and take your mom's case. Have you tried sitting down with that investigator? I was blown away. I had gone through months of paperwork and writing to these agencies just to be back at the beginning of talking to the Sedona Police Department again. So yes, it's frustrating. If you want to know frustration, that's frustration.

More recently, Nikki has turned to social media as a way of getting the word out about her mom's murder and as a way to put pressure on the police department. Social media is the only thing that gets the Sedona Police Department to release anything to me. The 911 call, we didn't get that for 29 years. We got that one week before Fox News sat down with Sedona Police Department, who had been pressuring Sedona Police Department for at least get that for 29 years. We got that one week before Fox News sat down with Sedona

Police Department, who had been pressuring Sedona Police Department for at least two months for that interview. A week before, here we get the zip drive with the interrogations, the 911 call. We're like blown away because there's hard evidence on there. He admits it. I might have. She might have shot herself. How has this man gotten away with it? I don't know. Make it make sense for me. I'm blown away that this is my life. And as an adult woman, I had to read it at 38 years old and going like mind blowing that this is like he got away with it. When I started really getting into TikTok, I started having some viral videos and getting a little bit of success. And I think that started to scare them a little. I just moved back to Phoenix. I was actually staying in my

aunt's house. So I had all this fresh content. I had the new case files, finding all this information. So I think they really got scared. And if you see the date for that, I think I believe it's March of 2022 that we got that letter saying that my mom's case was inactive as of spring of 2022, saying that there are many people had investigated it over the 30 years. They tried to track down the suspect, and he has not been able to have been tracked down for comment or quote. It's been 30 years, so they can't make him talk. The fourth paragraph addressed the fact that my aunt and I were harassing a Sonoma Police Department by our constant demands for a full case file, and our

calls and my social media account was harassment. And the fifth paragraph addressed the fact that we have not gotten a complete case file. And they are working with old technology and working diligently to get us a complete case file. And that was dated for spring of 2022. We're coming up on spring of 2024. And hey, guess what? Nikki still doesn't have a full case file. The relationship between Nikki and Christina has been further strained by Nikki's appearances

on social media and on podcasts. I don't want to get on the horn with her because she's essentially asking for my help because she's scared. I'm stubborn. Don't get on the horn. And the woman hasn't called me back since. That was July of 2020.

So we're going on almost four years because now I've taken this to the world and she doesn't want anything to do with this. That's our relationship in a nutshell. And let's not forget about the only witness and suspect. Why hasn't he been brought in for more questioning? He's dodging the Sedona Police Department and Fox News. I mean, he was at his mom's house.

We have done background searches. He's not hard to find. He's just he's dodging. I know that the Sonoma Police Department came down here and like did a stakeout of his mom's house. They weren't able to track him down. They just, I mean, he's findable.

He is not like, he is not DB Cooper. The man is not missing. He is in the greater Phoenix area. They could find him, but there's no reason to because they can't compel him to speak. So I guess you could just murder women. And if you wait long enough, guess what? You're in the clear.

But as far as I know, there's no statute of limitations on murder in Arizona. Nikki wants justice for her mom, plain and simple. She wants the case heard before a grand jury so all the facts can be heard and hopefully charges can be brought.

In the meantime, you can show your support for Nikki by following her on social media and sharing Stephanie's story. And this certainly won't be the last time you hear from Nikki because she won't be silenced and she isn't giving up.

So first of all, follow me on TikTok, Nicole Wasilishan at 726 because that's where you're going to get daily updates. Oh my God, so much is going on. There's been like 25 podcasts, including the one you're listening to now that covered my mom's case. We've been on Fox News.

Make sure to follow us on all of our socials at The Murder Diaries Pod. And remember, stay safe. Bye. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com.

Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.