Oct. 3, 2024

DV Month Bonus: The Murder Diaries Presents - Stephanie Wasilishin

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

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...

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Season 2True CrimeDomestic Violence

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/Stephanie

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WEBVTT

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To listen ad free visit simspod dot com slash subscribe

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starting at two ninety nine a month. You'll also get

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Welcome to the first of our what Happens Here, Happens

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Everywhere Domestic Violence Awareness Month bonus episodes. I'm Sean and

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with me as always is the one and only John.

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I am the only John in the room.

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This week, we have a special presentation from the Murder

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Diaries Podcast. For more than five years, Natalie and Page

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have been producing the podcast with the goal of always

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keeping the victims light and name alive as they cover missing, unsolved,

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and suspicious death cases.

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Their podcast is victim centric and honors the memories of

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those lost and provides hope to their loved ones. You

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can find out more at the Murderdiaries podcast dot com

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or on their Instagram at the Murderdiaries Pod. All the

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links will be in the show notes for this episode.

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They work closely with the victy sister, Nicki, and we

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also truly appreciate Nicki also allowing us to share Stephanie's story.

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And now a special presentation of the Murder Diaries.

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Welcome to the Murder Diaries. I'm Natalie and I'm Paige.

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On July ninth, nineteen ninety three, Stephanie wa Solisi's eldest daughter, Nicki,

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was awoken from a deep sleep. The ten year old

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had gone to bed around eleven PM, and by two AM,

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her world had turned upside down as she was shaken

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awake by police officers. The officers told her to get up,

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get dressed, and get out of the house with them.

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There had been an altercation. They said her mom and

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boyfriend had gotten into a fight. The officers escorted her

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from the house and tried to shield Nicki, but she

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saw more than any child should ever have to for

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this episode, we were so honored when Nicki was solition

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agreed to sit down with us to help us understand

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the events of July eighth and ninth, nineteen ninety three,

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the events that led to her mother's untimely death, and

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to share her understanding of the investigation. This is Stephanie

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was Salishan's story, as told by her daughter. You used

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to think it I'm walking with the day. During my

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conversation with Nicki. She started by sharing some details about

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her mom's upbringing. Before we get into that, though, it's

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important to note that those who were close to Stephanie

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called her Stacy, but for this episode, we'll be calling

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her Stephanie because it's her legal name and we want

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to make it easy for anyone looking for the case

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to find it. So just keep that in mind. When

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you hear clips of my conversation with Nicki, she refers

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to her mom as Stacy, but Stephanie Stacy, They're the

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same person. Stephanie and her twin brother, Stephen, were born

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in nineteen sixty one near Chicago. Tragically, though Stephen died

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before his first birthday.

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She was a twin and her twin brother will die

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seven months after birth from the measles, and that will

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prompt my family to move from the Chicago area, which

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is where my mother was born in nineteen sixty one,

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to the Phoenix area. Don't know what drove them to

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Phoenix in the sixties, but it was the immediate distaste

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of the police because they didn't want to transport little

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baby Stephen because of the measles. Because of the sixties,

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it was a big epidemic, so that is essentially why

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he died, so my family has never trusted the police

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starting from there.

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Measles is a highly contagious disease and a vaccine wasn't

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developed until nineteen sixty three, as per the World Health Organization.

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Before the vaccine was developed, the measles caused approximately two

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point six million deaths worldwide each year, and complications were

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most common in children under the age of five.

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According to a letter written by the Wasclisian family that

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was published in Berwin, Illinois newspaper The Life. On February eleventh,

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nineteen sixty two, an ambulance was called to transport a

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very sick baby, Stephen, to the hospital. While the family

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was told that help was only minutes away, in reality

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it took so much longer. Two police officers eventually arrived,

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but no ambulance, and the officers refused to help get

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the sick baby to the hospital. Instead, they suggested calling

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a taxi and not disclosing that the baby had the measles.

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The wah Solution family didn't want to do that, so

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they asked if the police would at least give them

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an escort to the hospital in a family member's car,

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but this was also denied. An investigation later revealed that

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the ambulance wasn't allowed to attend the call due to

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the contagious nature of measles, and it was the fire

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chief who made the call to stop the ambulance team

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from going, even though it was found in the investigation

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that it would have been safe for them to attend

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the call and help the baby. So by the time

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Stephen was taken to the hospital in his uncle's car,

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it was too late and he died that night. The

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family left Chicago after Stephen's death, they headed west, planning

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roots in Phoenix, Arizona. Because Stephanie was just a baby

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when the move happened, Phoenix was her real hometown, the

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place that she connected to, and not long after their arrival,

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the family welcomed the last wascilition baby, Wendy. Now, Stephanie

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and Wendy were not only close in age, but they

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were close full stop. In fact, Nikki calls them a

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packaged deal and says that her Aunt Wendy was a

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big part of her upbringing.

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Kathy's the eldest, very eldest, and my godmother. There's Aunt Kathy,

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then there's Aunt Patty, Uncle Michael Uncle Lance, my mom,

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and baby Stephen, and then Wendy. So she's a family

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of five and Aunt Kathy's the eldest sister, so my

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mom would always confide in Aunt Kathy, and Wendy was

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the youngest sister and closest to my mom, So my

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mom and Wendy grew together. So if you're going to

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ask what siblings were the closest, it was definitely Kathy

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and Wendy.

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Despite a close relationship with her sisters, Stephanie's relationship with

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her mother was tough.

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Stephanie wanted to break that cycle and become a mom,

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but not just any mom, the best mom. She married

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and had a baby with a man named Craig. That

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baby was Nicky. Craig and Stephanie's marriage unfortunately didn't work out,

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and they eventually divorced when Nicki was young. Stephanie then

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started a relationship with Russell Peterson. Stephanie and Russell also

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had a daughter named Christina, and the foursome that's Stephanie, Russell, Nicky,

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and Christina moved into a two bedroom house on Coffee

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Pot Drive in Sedona, Arizona. The house was surrounded by

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trees and those iconic Sidona Red Rocks. Stephanie worked as

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a pastry chef at Pietro's Restaurant, which wasn't far from

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her home. Russell worked there as well as a chef.

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In retrospect, my mom never wanted to be a latle,

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a doctor. She never wanted to go and be a business.

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All she wanted to do was have babies at young,

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very young age because she didn't have a really great

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lifestyle with her mom. I mean, essentially, Grandma was really

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mad that mom survived and baby Stephen died, and she

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was really mean to my mom growing up. So she

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wanted to give what she never had, and she gave

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that to me, and for ten years she was able

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to have that little perfect life before she was taken.

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So to take away this and to stop rambling. Who

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my mom was was a homemaker. She loved a bake,

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she loved a garden, She loved to make herself beautiful.

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She was very proud of herself, and she really just

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wanted children.

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Sadly, Nikki told us that she didn't see her sister

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very often after her mother's death, due to them being

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raised by their respective fathers.

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I got to grow up with my sister for three

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years until my mother's murder. After my mother was murdered,

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she went with her dad. I went with mine, and

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we live separate lives. To be honest with you, she's

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kind of a stranger. We hardly know each other.

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Because Nikki lost her mom at such a young age,

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she has trouble putting her memories of her mom into words,

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but she tried her best for her interview, and for

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that we're so grateful. Here's what she had to say.

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I don't know so much about my mom because I

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lost her at ten years old, So I'll tell you

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what I know of her. I know that she always

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wanted kids and had two abortions before me, and at

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nineteen she finally had me, and she wanted a family

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so bad. And I was her little baby Dolly, and

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she was always dressing me up and baking. She loved

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to bake, and always baking great things and giving me

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the beaters. And she was a clean freak. This is

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something I always neglect to mention in podcasts, but she

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was obsessively clean. Even my dad will bring up the

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fact that he couldn't drop his underwear on the ground

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and they couldn't be there more than twenty minutes before

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my mom was over there obsessively scooping it up and

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then at him about keeping stuff clean, and you'll always

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bring that up. And then I always fondly remember, God,

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I hated the fact that she made me used to

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scrub the walls as a kid because she was ocd clean.

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Nicki does clearly remember her mom fostering her love of reading,

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always making sure Niki had the latest Goosebumps book to devour.

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Okay, so my mom was that cool mom in her

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late twenties and early thirties, and when Ralstein was popping off,

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she made sure that her daughter had the newest one

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that was fresh off of the release, you know, on

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the release stand every month, because those are coming out

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every two three months at that point, and I always

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had the newest edition. I would come home and it

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would be on my bed or something she encouraged me

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to read, and she was proud of the fact that

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I liked to read.

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Stephanie also ensured Nicki was dressed in trendy clothing, emulating

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nineties TV wardrobes, though they didn't always see eye to

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eye on hairstyles, and it was a source of contention

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between them, something that NICKI now looks back on and

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laughs at.

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I was always very proud of the fact that my

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mom would get me the coolest. Plus, my mom was

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so hip, and I was kind of a nerd, like

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I'm still kind of a nerd. But she understood trending

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before trending was a thing, and in the nineties like

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Melissa Joan Hart and Sabrina Teenage Witch like that aired

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like in real time. When I was nine ten years old,

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and my mom made me watch Nick Kelodeon and made

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me watch that because she knew that was cool, and

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she would dress me like Melissa Joan Hart. She made

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sure that I went to school like the Little Dolly,

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and I would get so mad that she would spend

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so much time on my hair. And I hated yanking

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on my hair and the brushes and the curls, and

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I get really resentful and I would go like days

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without brushing at myself as I got older, and as punishment,

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she did this twice to me. She would take me

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to the barber shop and cut it off like a

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boy and tell me if I didn't want to look

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like a girl and treat myself like a girl that

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I could look like a boy, and I remember being

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so devastated. And if you see pictures of me in

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nineteen ninety three, right before and right after her murder,

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you'll notice that Nikki had short hair.

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When I asked Nikki to speak about the events leading

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up to her mom's death, she told me she's an

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open book because she knows the more she talks, the

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more listeners will hear her mom's story, and maybe she'll

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finally get answers from the police and from a court.

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So Nicki recounted for us the summer's day that would

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be her mom's last, and despite it being the middle

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of summer in Arizona, she recalls the weather as pleasant

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and not too hot, and as with all nineties kids,

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on a nice day, she was told to go outside

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and play with her sister. Kids entertained themselves for hours

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outside back then, and Nicki and her sister were no exception.

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It was actually July eighth, nineteen ninety three, was the

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middle of summer Incidona, Arizona, so it wasn't that hot,

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so we were playing inside.

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Outside Nicki remembers that her mom came home from work,

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started drinking and then called her sister.

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My mom got off at you know, five, six o'clock.

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I don't remember the day that day, but I'll never

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forget the night. So I remember my mom was on

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the phone. She was really pissy that day. She started

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having some beers. I'm ten, my little sister's three. We're coloring,

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We're playing hide and seek, We're running around. I've got

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a dog cat. We're doing a little kids do. We've

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got the attention span of a squirrel. So I don't

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know what we were doing. We were all over the house,

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but I know that we were making enough noise that

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my mom kept yelling at us to go to our room,

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go outside, be quiet. You know, it was all night

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long because we were bugging her because she was making

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big plans. I didn't know this at the time, but

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she will come home from work. She'll start cracking beers

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and call my aunt at I don't know, seven o'clock

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or something. I have the time, I have the phone

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bill with the timestamp. But she will to my aunt

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about why she's unhappy. Russell's going out of town that weekend.

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He's taking some of our Disneyland money for that summer

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to buy the plane ticket. And you know he's he's

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not giving her what she wanted. She was supposed to

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have a babysitter that night, and so her sexy plans

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fell through for that night. So she's on the phone

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to her sister about it, just angry.

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Stephanie's phone called her sister wasn't the only one she

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made that evening. She called Nicki's father, her ex husband, Craig.

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Nicki explained to me that her mom and dad had

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wanted to get back together, but the time he never

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worked out.

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Once she's done to my aunt Wendy, she calls my

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dad and it was just this is at eight oh

256
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six on July eighth, nineteen ninety three, and this is

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the turning point. This is where my mom's fate is

258
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sealed because she calls my dad and on this night,

259
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my dad has said that once my mom left my

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dad for Russell, it didn't take very long for her

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to want to come back with My dad had had

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a new girlfriend, and he had told me that she

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kept trying to come back Nicki, but I always had

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a new girlfriend. But on this night, July eighth, nineteen

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ninety three, my dad had a big empty house and

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when my mom called him to my dad was like, hey, Stacy,

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my house is empty. Betty left, bring the girls back.

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I got all these empty bedrooms. And that's when the

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plans started to go in motion. So this went from

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like a little twenty minute session, you know, to asking

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about money or whatever it was that my mom and

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dad talked about, to like full on like making plans.

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And then my dad is attested for thirty years that

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there was dirty talk, like my mom was extra super

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vulgar on the phone while making these plans, and it

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was done by ten thirty. She's calling my aunt back,

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and in the case file, my aunt is even quoted

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as saying on the second phone called Stacy's happy. Don't

279
00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.399
know why Stacy's happy, because Wendy and Stacy don't talk

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about it, because Wendy and my dad don't get along.

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So my mom never told Wendy that she was making

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these plans. She's just happy.

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00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:39.919
Around eleven pm, Nicki walked up behind her mom as

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she sat on the couch, the TV on and a

285
00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.200
candle flickering in an otherwise dark room. She remembers telling

286
00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:48.360
her mom she had walked the dog and brushed her teeth,

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00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:52.000
which she hadn't you know those little white lies kids

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00:14:52.039 --> 00:14:55.600
tell their parents to test the boundaries. Nicki then wished

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00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.399
her mom good night, not knowing it was the last

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00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.399
time she would ever give her mam a hug kiss.

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And I went to bed at eleven, and I remember

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00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:07.399
hearing Russell come home between eleven fifteen eleven thirty. That's

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the last thing I remember as a ten year old.

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Next thing I know as a ten year old, it's

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three hours later. I don't know what has happened, but

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there's cops in my room and they're waking me up

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with a flashlight and there they're like, get dressed. Your

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mom and Russell got into a fight. They're telling me

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that there was an altercation.

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This is the part of the story that Nikki can't

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00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:29.279
help us to understand because she was asleep, she said.

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She gets asked this all the time, how she didn't

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wake up, and that's due to the layout of the house,

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with her bedroom being separated from the other sleeping and

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00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:38.840
living areas.

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This is a question I get all the time. How

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00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:44.759
were you able to sleep through two gunshots? At altercation

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00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:48.960
and two gunshots? The Sedonah home is a two bedroom home,

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00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.480
so my mom and Russell got the master, and then

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00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:54.039
they gave my little sister, three year old Christina, her

311
00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:57.000
own bedroom across from theirs. And then that means that

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00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.919
they converted the garage on the other side of the home,

313
00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:03.360
which was down three steps, so it was actually basement level,

314
00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.919
so the cops had to come downstairs to come find me.

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00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:09.559
There was two bedroom doors shut when the cops bomb me,

316
00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:12.679
they had to open two bedroom doors. So I heard nothing,

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00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.039
and I was ten. I was a hard sleeper, so

318
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:17.240
that is why I was on the other side of

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00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.360
the house and knew nothing.

320
00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:21.679
Nikki was kind enough to share the autopsy and police

321
00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:24.279
report with us, so we were able to use those

322
00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.440
to fill in the gaps now. According to the official

323
00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:31.120
autopsy report, Stephanie and Russell had an argument that night

324
00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:36.759
and gunfire was exchanged, resulting in Stephanie being hit receiving

325
00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.240
a fatal shot to her neck from a Ruger Redhawk

326
00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:43.559
forty four magnum revolver. Police arrived after Russell called nine

327
00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:45.720
to one one and reported that he and his wife

328
00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:48.759
had an argument and his wife had been quote hurt

329
00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.879
very bad. As a quick aside to our listeners, Russell

330
00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:55.720
and Stephanie weren't legally married, but they occasionally referred to

331
00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:58.679
each other as husband and wife. This is where things

332
00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:02.799
start to get fishy. According to Fox ten Phoenix. This

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00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.039
nine to one to one call was placed at one

334
00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:08.839
forty am, nearly thirty minutes after the fight took place.

335
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.119
When the operator asked him to elaborate, Russell said that

336
00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.680
Stephanie had been shot, but he didn't know who shot her,

337
00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:18.720
saying that maybe he fired the gun or maybe she

338
00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:23.000
shot herself. The dispatcher then gave Russell CPR guidance. While

339
00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:27.200
police and ems were dispatched. Officers arrived at the Coffee

340
00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.079
Pot drive home at one forty three am and entered

341
00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:33.200
through the unlocked front door. They called out and announced

342
00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:37.559
their arrival. When Russell exited the bedroom, the officer noted

343
00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:40.160
his hands were covered in blood and he was still

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00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:43.559
holding the cordless phone to his ear. Listening to the dispatcher,

345
00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:48.000
Russell led the police into the bedroom, where they saw Stephanie,

346
00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.039
wearing a green night shirt, sprawled on the bedroom floor

347
00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:55.200
and surrounded by blood. To the officer's surprise, three year

348
00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:58.039
old Christina was on the bed, telling the officers, that's

349
00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.400
my Mommy. She was quickly whisked out of the room,

350
00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:04.000
although clearly not before she had seen the worst thing

351
00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:05.960
a child could ever witness.

352
00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:09.119
She was very close the altercation. The fighting is what

353
00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:11.559
woke her up, so by the time my mom fell

354
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:14.039
to the floor like she was already standing by the

355
00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:17.480
end of the hall. It is debated on whether she

356
00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.759
actually saw him kill her or whether she just saw

357
00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:23.759
her fall to the ground. Regardless, in her interrogation, which

358
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:26.680
you have in the case file, she'll tell the investigators

359
00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:28.839
at least thirteen times that Poppy killed Mommy.

360
00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:33.119
Police couldn't find a pulse, and when the paramedics arrived,

361
00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:36.359
they said that there was nothing they could do. Stephanie

362
00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.799
was just thirty two years old.

363
00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:43.039
The officers continued to survey the room, noting a large

364
00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:46.079
caliber gun on top of the leather holster near Stephanie's

365
00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:49.039
body by her right shoulder. There was blood on the

366
00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.039
edge of a corner table, and just above that was

367
00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:54.160
where the bullet had lodged into the wall and was

368
00:18:54.200 --> 00:18:58.039
still visible. One of the investigators wrote in the police report,

369
00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:02.200
upon further examination the scene, I noticed a gold colored

370
00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:05.200
neck chain under Stephanie's right arm. Her left arm bent

371
00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:08.359
and partially under her body, and a much smaller piece

372
00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.839
of a similar gold chain near the doorway to the bedroom.

373
00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:14.519
Russell was informed that Stephanie was dead around two am,

374
00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:19.480
and police took an initial statement immediately. In his statement,

375
00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:22.720
Russell says that he was at work until around eleven PM,

376
00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.880
and when he got home, Stephanie was on the phone

377
00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:29.519
to Nicki's father. Russell included in his statement that he

378
00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:32.480
had been accepted to a cooking school at Cornell University

379
00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:36.680
and Stephanie was upset that he had bought the plane ticket. Thankfully,

380
00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:39.640
in her conversation with Nicki, she was able to elaborate

381
00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:42.680
further on this. It turns out that the family was

382
00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.839
saving for a trip to Disneyland, and Russell had taken

383
00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:48.359
some of that money set aside for the trip to

384
00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:51.640
pay for his plane ticket to the cooking school, which

385
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:55.279
explains why Stephanie was so upset. In his statement, he

386
00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:58.119
continued saying that Stephanie was the one who had got

387
00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.880
the gun out during the fight and shot at him first,

388
00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:02.880
saying she was going to blow his head off or

389
00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:07.079
words that were similar. Russell said that after the bullet

390
00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:09.799
missed and went into the living room wall, he got up,

391
00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:11.960
and somehow the pair got from the hallway where she

392
00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:14.960
was standing into the bedroom, which is where Stephanie was

393
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.319
eventually shot. As mentioned earlier in the episode, Nikki was

394
00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:22.680
awoken by the police and she recalls the events of

395
00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.319
those early morning hours. She told us that, despite the

396
00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:28.440
officer's attempt to get her out of the house quickly,

397
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:33.000
she saw Russell sitting on the couch covered in blood,

398
00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:35.759
before being walked out to a waiting police car.

399
00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:39.240
I don't argue. They escort me from my home, and

400
00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.559
the cop that's escorting me is trying to block me

401
00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:44.079
from like what I'm seeing. But I'm like ten, and

402
00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:46.160
I'm like wondering. So I'm looking all over the place

403
00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:49.759
and there's lights on everywhere. It's not dark anymore like

404
00:20:49.799 --> 00:20:51.759
it was when I went to sleep, and right where

405
00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:53.480
I said good night to my mom, in the same

406
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.000
spot on the couch. My Mom's not there anymore, but

407
00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:58.920
there's Russell, and I'll never forget it because this is

408
00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:02.119
the last time I was in my house too. There

409
00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.319
was blood on his hands, dude, I specifically remember blood

410
00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:08.160
on his hands, and he was rocking like and talking

411
00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:11.279
real fast, and there was cops standing all around him,

412
00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:14.839
and that took probably about fifteen seconds to get me

413
00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:18.200
from my bedroom door out the front door and me

414
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:19.880
seeing that, and then they put me in the cop

415
00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.599
car where I'll find my three year old, almost to

416
00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:24.880
be four year old little sister and she's saying, to

417
00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:28.440
be killed, Mommy, Popy killed mommy, Popy killed mommy, and

418
00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:31.359
like she's excited, and like, I'm just getting in the

419
00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:33.839
cop car. That's not what the cops told me. I'm ten,

420
00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:37.400
like I'm a reader, I'm logical, I'm gonna believe my authorities.

421
00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:39.359
And I tell my sister, that's not what happened. Like

422
00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.759
I remember reasoning with her or attempting to like, that's

423
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.519
not what happened. And I don't know how long I

424
00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:49.480
attempted to reason with my sister before they finally bring

425
00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:52.440
out Russell Bett at Peterson. And I remember while I

426
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:54.200
was in the cop car with my little sister, and

427
00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:56.640
I just saw as a little kid, cherries and blueberries,

428
00:21:56.680 --> 00:21:58.680
and that means the cop lights and I could see

429
00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:02.000
them everywhere. I know there was more cop cars.

430
00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:06.200
As an adult, Nikki is in disbelief about what happened next.

431
00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:10.039
Why when they brought the suspect out for murder. It's

432
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:13.119
a domestic violence altercation. They treated him more like a

433
00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.319
victim than the perpetrator and put him in the car

434
00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:18.359
with the little children, like first of all, he either

435
00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.160
had my mom's blood on him still or they had

436
00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:23.400
him wash his hands and wash off evidence in the

437
00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:27.200
same Either way, is that proper police procedure. I'm forever

438
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:30.000
traumatized because of that, and that in a nutshell, it

439
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.000
is July eighth, nineteen ninety three, going into July ninth,

440
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:36.160
because I'll go to bed at July eleven pm on

441
00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:40.000
July eighth, and by two am they're pronouncing her dead

442
00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:42.119
and escorting me from my home three hours later on

443
00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:46.000
July ninth, So it's a two day event for me kind.

444
00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:49.920
Of Russell was read, as Miranda writes, just after three am,

445
00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:52.720
but was allowed to stay sitting with the children until

446
00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:58.880
he was questioned again. You already know that that's the

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463
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466
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at shopify dot com slash Murder Diaries all lowercase. Go

467
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to shopify dot com slash Murder Diaries to take your

468
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retail business to the next level today shopify dot com

469
00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:24.359
slash Murder Diaries. While the initial investigation was getting underway,

470
00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.920
behind the scenes, authorities were discussing the best course of

471
00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:32.039
action for keeping the girls safe both physically and emotionally

472
00:24:32.359 --> 00:24:36.200
after such a traumatic event. It was advised that the

473
00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:39.480
girls be placed into the custody of dies and taken

474
00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:41.640
to a foster home so that they could get some

475
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:45.279
sleep and be cared for until more permanent decisions could

476
00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:49.759
be made. But Russell was looped in on this as

477
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.960
he hadn't been charged with anything, he was still allowed

478
00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:56.640
to make decisions for the care of the children. At first,

479
00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:59.440
he agreed to accept the recommendation and the girls were

480
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:04.240
placed in a foster home. However, an hour later, the

481
00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:06.440
owner of the restaurant that he and Stephanie worked at,

482
00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:11.480
Peter Corn, arrived at the station. According to Peter, Russell

483
00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:13.559
had called him and asked him to come and collect

484
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:15.920
the girls and that he take custody of them for

485
00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:19.640
the time being. As a part of the investigation, Peter

486
00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:22.359
and others who worked with Stephanie and Russell were questioned.

487
00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:26.920
According to conversations with Peter, he felt that Stephanie had

488
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:30.799
been very distraught lately, and other employees felt that she

489
00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:33.640
was very upset the last day she worked, just a

490
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:38.519
few hours before the shooting. The employees understood that Stephanie

491
00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:42.240
was upset about Russell's trip to New York. Peter said that,

492
00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:45.599
without wanting to bad mouth Stephanie, it seemed like the

493
00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:49.279
relationship between the pair was argumentative and from his perspective,

494
00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:53.720
Stephanie was the instigator. In his eyes, it seemed as

495
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.039
if Stephanie was unhappy about the high priority Russell's work took,

496
00:25:57.799 --> 00:26:01.559
and since they worked together, she took her frustrations out

497
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:04.599
on him at work in front of the other employees.

498
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:08.599
According to a police report, Russell said that he couldn't

499
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:11.799
imagine Russell shooting Stephanie, but he could believe that she

500
00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:16.039
would take her own life. Russell Peterson was officially questioned

501
00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:19.160
a few hours later, where he repeated a similar story

502
00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.119
to the one he told to the officer he spoke

503
00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:25.279
to at the house, but in this new interview, he

504
00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:27.759
said that he and Stephanie shared a bottle of wine

505
00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:31.880
on the couch before the pair started to argue, first

506
00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:34.640
about the lengthy conversation she had with her ex and

507
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:37.359
then about the two week trip Russell was about to

508
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:40.319
take to New York. He said that he was sitting

509
00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:43.559
in the middle of the couch when Stephanie shot at him.

510
00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:46.880
A detective's report points out wood splinters on the walkway

511
00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:48.960
in front of the home, a hole in the living

512
00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.480
room wall and a hole in the curtain. Russell then

513
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.200
said he followed Stephanie into the bedroom and she said

514
00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:57.519
that she was going to kill him before a struggle

515
00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:01.000
for the gun ensued. Said the gun went off and

516
00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:05.200
Stephanie fell to the floor. Russell said he panicked, took

517
00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:06.920
the gun from where it was laying and put it

518
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:09.240
back into the holster and then back onto the shelf

519
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:13.240
where it lived. He said fifteen to twenty seconds later,

520
00:27:13.319 --> 00:27:15.839
he rethought his action and placed the gun back on

521
00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:19.079
the floor. He then went into the bathroom for a while,

522
00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:23.519
even after seeing Christina standing in the hallway, and when

523
00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:26.279
he went back to the bedroom, he said, Stephanie was

524
00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:28.240
still on the floor where she fell, so he called

525
00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:31.319
nine one one at that point to get help. Russell

526
00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:35.160
wasn't the only person interviewed that night. Little Christina, at

527
00:27:35.240 --> 00:27:38.960
just three years old, was interviewed about what she saw.

528
00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:42.440
Holding the stuffed dog toy officers had given her as

529
00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:46.599
a comfort, she recounted what she saw that night. According

530
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.279
to a police report, Christina had told the police that

531
00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:51.880
she was asleep, then woke up and saw her father

532
00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:55.920
kill her mother. More questions were asked, and Christina said

533
00:27:55.960 --> 00:27:58.839
she didn't exactly see the shooting, but she saw her

534
00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:02.480
mom on the floor bleeding, presumably just after she was shot.

535
00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:05.519
She saw Russell take a gun out of the closet

536
00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:08.759
after her mother was already on the floor. Christina said

537
00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:12.359
she just heard one gun shot. After the police interview,

538
00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:16.960
Russell was let go, Christina was placed back in Russell's custody,

539
00:28:17.319 --> 00:28:20.359
and Nicki went to live with her dad. The sisters

540
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:23.279
would see each other that next Christmas and then not

541
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:26.880
for a while after that. Nicki said she never got

542
00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:29.000
a follow up with her sister about what she said

543
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.160
in the back of that police car that Poppy killed Mommy.

544
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:36.799
The official investigation was still ongoing and the medical examiner's

545
00:28:36.839 --> 00:28:39.519
report would provide a lot of information that could have

546
00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:44.559
assisted with bringing charges. According to the medical examiner, Philip E. King,

547
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:49.359
Stephanie died instantly as the bullet severed her windpipe and spine,

548
00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:53.279
a small mercy to know she didn't suffer. The gun

549
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:56.079
was pressed to her neck, as indicated by the contact wound.

550
00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:59.440
There was an exit wound, which was to be expected,

551
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:03.000
as the bullet found lodged in a wall. The autopsy

552
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:05.839
also revealed that there was a small fracture inside the

553
00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:09.359
right portion of Stephanie's skull and a contusion to her

554
00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:12.799
right arm that was recent but not necessarily from the

555
00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:16.279
night of her death. As for her blood alcohol that

556
00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:19.039
was zero point one seven percent, which is just twice

557
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:22.480
over the legal limit. There was gunpowder residue on her

558
00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:25.599
left hand and none on her right. But here's the thing.

559
00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:30.359
Stephanie was right handed and did everything with her dominant hand,

560
00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:34.039
and her hands were bagged the scene to preserve the evidence.

561
00:29:35.079 --> 00:29:38.519
All of this physical evidence led the medical examiner to

562
00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:42.480
conclude that Stephanie's death was a homicide, and the report

563
00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:45.240
says the character of the wound is such that it

564
00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:48.000
is a contact to him, and the presence of gunpowder

565
00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:51.640
residue on the left hand is more consistent with deposition

566
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:55.279
in a defensive posture than with any self inflicted injury,

567
00:29:55.279 --> 00:30:00.000
whether intentional or otherwise. So, with the medical examiner report

568
00:30:00.200 --> 00:30:03.200
saying that Stephanie was murdered and the only person in

569
00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:06.000
the house awake at the time of her death being Russell,

570
00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:11.119
it seemed logical that charges would follow, right but they didn't.

571
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:15.440
The Yavapai County Attorney's office said that they didn't have

572
00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:18.799
enough evidence to prove that Stephanie was murdered, so they

573
00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:21.680
wouldn't be pressing charges or taking the case to trial.

574
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:26.839
It comes down to his side of the story. He

575
00:30:27.400 --> 00:30:30.720
states that my mom shot at him first, making him

576
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:35.359
a victim. So they've essentially treated Russell Peterson as the victim,

577
00:30:35.559 --> 00:30:38.160
not a perpetrator, even though in the eyes of the

578
00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:42.400
medical examiner, it is a homicide. And I'm pretty sure

579
00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:45.359
that in the hierarchy of things, the medical examiner outweighs

580
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.640
the police. So I can't really answer that question. But

581
00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:52.200
what they've told me is that there's insufficient evidence to

582
00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:56.359
prosecute him. Now, I don't know. I'm just an average

583
00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:59.599
ex server that works with pets. Now, so help me

584
00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:02.640
make it makes sense? Because I've got the medical examer

585
00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:07.200
report saying homicide. So you're gonna go against the medical

586
00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:10.799
examiner's opinion and go with the suspects version. Have you

587
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:14.319
ever heard of that? I don't know, insufficient evidence make

588
00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:17.000
it make sense. They just didn't investigate enough in ninety

589
00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:18.599
three and now they just want me to go away.

590
00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:19.920
In twenty twenty.

591
00:31:19.640 --> 00:31:24.279
Four, during our interview, we clarified that since Russell claims

592
00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:26.839
he was shot at first, he was a victim, and

593
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:29.440
therefore if he did shoot Stephanie, it would be in

594
00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:34.759
self defense, at least from investigator's perspective, and Nicki confirmed

595
00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:38.400
that this was her understanding as well, as she had

596
00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:40.680
been told that there are two sides to every story

597
00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:43.880
and that investigators are going with Russell's version of events

598
00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:48.279
because they don't have evidence that proves otherwise. Now that

599
00:31:48.359 --> 00:31:52.200
technology is so much better in twenty twenty four, Nicki

600
00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:56.440
wants evidence retested, but the police department hasn't made any

601
00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:01.359
sign of cooperating with this request. And Christina finally took

602
00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:04.519
that Disneyland trip that Stephanie was saving for around a

603
00:32:04.599 --> 00:32:07.680
year after their mother's homicide, thanks to their aunt, Wendy.

604
00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:11.720
Nikki can't remember the exact day, but she remembers a

605
00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:13.920
strange interaction with her sister on the trip.

606
00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:17.200
And then there's the Disneyland trip that we were supposed

607
00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:19.519
to go on with my mom in the summer of

608
00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:21.720
ninety three, but she was murdered and RUSSELLI taken some

609
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:23.880
of our Disneyland money, so my aunt made sure that

610
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:26.799
we went to Disneyland in ninety three or ninety four,

611
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:29.960
and we'll get my little sister. And now she's almost five,

612
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:33.559
and she's got this cute, little short hair. And on

613
00:32:33.640 --> 00:32:35.920
the night of my mom's murder, she's telling me, Poppy

614
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.440
killed mommy. And now a year later, I remember her

615
00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:44.759
telling me, Mommy killed herself. And I'll just be like,

616
00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:48.960
I'll be stunned. I'll have her repeat it. I'll be like, what,

617
00:32:50.039 --> 00:32:51.920
and she'll repeat it a whole bunch, just like on

618
00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:54.599
the night of the murder, Poppy killed mommy. But now

619
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:57.880
she's repeating, Mommy killed herself. Yeah, mommy killed herself. Mommy

620
00:32:57.960 --> 00:32:58.599
killed herself.

621
00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:01.079
You may remember when we told you about the nine

622
00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:04.759
one one call. Russell was unable to say how Stephanie

623
00:33:04.839 --> 00:33:08.079
was wounded, but he suggested it was either an accident

624
00:33:08.279 --> 00:33:12.160
or self inflicted. However, neither was an option given by

625
00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:14.480
the medical examiner in the report.

626
00:33:14.680 --> 00:33:17.960
And it was just the most horrifying experience. Because now

627
00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:20.480
I'm like twelve thirteen, still a reader, but I'm into

628
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:23.079
VC Andrews, like I'm into like the Sex books now

629
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:26.519
because I'm a young adult. So I fully know that

630
00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:28.759
mommy did not kill herself. And I go and I

631
00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:31.440
tell my aunt what happened, and it became such a

632
00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:34.599
ruckus that Russell will end up keeping Christina away from

633
00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:38.359
us for like another ten years because he's actively brainwashing her.

634
00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:39.720
She'll run away from him.

635
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:43.400
At the age of fourteen, Nicki did reconnect with her sister,

636
00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:46.799
which we'll share more about that reunion later in the episode.

637
00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:50.799
But at the time the sisters reconnected, Nicki recalls a

638
00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:54.039
conversation with the woman Russell married about a year after

639
00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:57.119
Stephanie was killed. Here's what she had to say about it.

640
00:33:57.920 --> 00:34:00.759
I honestly don't remember talking to her as a fourteen

641
00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:02.640
year old about her mother's murder. But I will talk

642
00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:05.720
to her stepmother, Diane, who had married Russell a year

643
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:08.760
later and had a son with him, and she will

644
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:11.320
tell me that in the year that she was married

645
00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.280
to Russell, he will confess his crimes to her, that

646
00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:17.719
he will start laundry, he will take a shower, make

647
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:20.519
those phone calls before he calls nine one one. I've

648
00:34:20.519 --> 00:34:23.440
told the Sodna police department about her It's hearsay.

649
00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:26.880
Apparently, Nicki shared that she thinks her mother's case was

650
00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:30.800
mishandled from the get go, and an inexperienced department is

651
00:34:30.840 --> 00:34:31.719
partially to blame.

652
00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:34.920
This is something my aunt told me and all her investigations.

653
00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:38.119
The Sedona Aria was policed by the Verde Valley Police

654
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:40.840
up until nineteen eighty nine, So that means in ninete

655
00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:43.199
eighty nine, the Stona Police de Army is formed. They

656
00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:45.840
build their building, they hire their force, they train their people.

657
00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:48.119
Do you do the math. Four years later, my mom

658
00:34:48.199 --> 00:34:50.920
is murdered. So my mom's homicide was probably one of

659
00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:54.280
the first ones that the Sedona Police Department actually investigated.

660
00:34:54.440 --> 00:34:57.199
They dropped the ball from start to finish. That's why

661
00:34:57.239 --> 00:34:58.199
they're covering up now.

662
00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:01.280
Nikki has struggled for the past few years to find

663
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:05.679
answers and to have her mom's case reinvestigated. Before Nicki,

664
00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:09.280
her grandma and aunt Stephanie's mom and sister were digging

665
00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:12.800
into the case. Nicki knew her aunt continued to search

666
00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:17.320
for answers, but her grandmother's involvement was a surprise to Nicki.

667
00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:20.039
When I hooked back up with my aunt after decades

668
00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:22.400
of not talking to her, and I sat down with

669
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:25.199
all my aunt's paperwork and we got into my grandma's

670
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:28.039
original ninety three case style and my Grandma's been passed

671
00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:30.599
for you know, six seven years now, and I saw

672
00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:34.320
her looped cursive that signed my birthday card every year,

673
00:35:34.920 --> 00:35:37.840
and I saw her writing her questions at her theories

674
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:40.440
on the side. I don't have any copies of those.

675
00:35:40.440 --> 00:35:42.599
I wish i'd taken pictures of my grandma's writing. My

676
00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:45.760
aunt has all that, but I about lost it when

677
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.800
I saw how dedicated my grandma was, but never showed

678
00:35:49.239 --> 00:35:53.199
us grandkids what she was doing. I didn't know. I

679
00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:55.880
always thought that this was my aunt's obsession. I didn't

680
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:57.840
know my grandma was that invested.

681
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:01.599
And NICKI told us how time and time again she

682
00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:03.039
was shut out of the investigation.

683
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:06.400
I started when I realized that they weren't going to

684
00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:08.880
investigate further. So in July of twenty twenty, when I

685
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:10.840
found out they were investigating, they only wanted to talk

686
00:36:10.880 --> 00:36:13.840
to my sister. I was a static, but they never

687
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:16.480
called me for comment or quote. So five months will

688
00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:18.840
go by. I'll try to track down the Sadona Police

689
00:36:18.840 --> 00:36:22.320
Department investigator. He will get back to me within a

690
00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:24.840
couple days letting you know that he was transferred. This

691
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:28.880
is the new contact information. I send another blanky email

692
00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:32.360
about what I remember, Please help me to the new investigator.

693
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:35.159
She gets back to me after November of twenty twenty,

694
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:39.000
and it's this is what set me on fire. It

695
00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:40.960
was this email and it said, Hi, Nikki, I've been

696
00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:43.920
meaning to reach out to you, and I did have

697
00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:46.880
some questions pertaining to that night, but you already answered them.

698
00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:50.280
You were sleeping, you don't remember. And I just remember

699
00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:53.239
sitting back in my chair realizing that they weren't investigating.

700
00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:54.800
They didn't want to talk to me. I had relevant

701
00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:57.639
information about what my dad knew. My dad's had the

702
00:36:57.679 --> 00:36:59.920
same story for thirty years. I was just blown away.

703
00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:03.360
Had I really watched that much true crime where they

704
00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:05.960
don't want to interrogate everybody involved.

705
00:37:06.760 --> 00:37:09.119
Nikki had a firelt under her from that moment on,

706
00:37:10.039 --> 00:37:11.719
and she vowed to be like a dog with a

707
00:37:11.719 --> 00:37:15.480
bone until someone finally listened to her. She managed to

708
00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:17.760
get a hold of the case file, but it was

709
00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:20.199
a lot smaller than the case file her grandmother and

710
00:37:20.280 --> 00:37:23.679
aunt had. But here's the thing. She didn't know if

711
00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:26.360
the version she was given had pages missing because they

712
00:37:26.400 --> 00:37:29.840
had been lost over the years, or if information had

713
00:37:29.880 --> 00:37:31.360
been purposefully redacted.

714
00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:35.079
And I was so stunned that it was in November

715
00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:37.320
of twenty twenty when I wrote her back that I

716
00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:39.400
wanted the case file. So she was like, if that's

717
00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:42.159
what you need for closure, by all means, here you go.

718
00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:45.320
She actually told me that she gave me the email

719
00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:47.719
to the Sedona County Records and then here we go.

720
00:37:47.800 --> 00:37:50.320
Put your seatbelt on, let's go for a ride. That's

721
00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:54.199
like now lasted two years. I will get the redacted

722
00:37:54.280 --> 00:37:57.400
case file three weeks later, and what you will have

723
00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:00.800
what I have, which is one hundred and seventy six page. Well,

724
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:04.039
the Red Rock News has reported that my mom's case

725
00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:07.039
file is four hundred pages. My aunt has two hundred

726
00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:11.119
and fifty pages. So where's my other seventy five? At least,

727
00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:14.159
if not two hundred and twenty five pages, they have

728
00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:16.880
still not given me a complete case file. In the

729
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:20.159
case file that you have and which your copy of

730
00:38:20.199 --> 00:38:22.880
the autopsy report will be six pages, that is not

731
00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:25.800
a complete autopsy report. They left out page six. I

732
00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:29.079
don't know if it was on purpose or not intentional

733
00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:31.280
why they left out page six the final summary of

734
00:38:31.320 --> 00:38:35.039
my mom's autopsy report, which clearly states that it was

735
00:38:35.079 --> 00:38:37.280
a homicide and her hands were up in defense. The

736
00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:40.639
explanation of the gunpowder residue present on my mom's left

737
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:44.239
hand is deposition in a defensive posture than with any

738
00:38:44.239 --> 00:38:47.480
self inflicted injury, whether intentional or otherwise. It remains the

739
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:50.519
opinion of the pathologists that the manner of death is homicide.

740
00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:53.360
They left that out. I had to find that out

741
00:38:53.360 --> 00:38:55.599
by going and tracking down my aunt because I'm the

742
00:38:55.679 --> 00:38:59.800
third generation wacilition woman in my family to investigate my

743
00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:03.559
mom murder in three decades. It has been a horrible,

744
00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:07.599
horrible journey, and the only way I've gotten somewhere is

745
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:08.960
by talking to people like you.

746
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:12.440
Something that was notably missing from Nicki's case file was

747
00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:15.400
the phone records from the night of the shooting. Now,

748
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.519
according to the phone records, Russell called nine one one

749
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:22.800
at one forty am. However, another call was placed at

750
00:39:22.840 --> 00:39:27.400
one thirty six am, four minutes before. So who would

751
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:29.320
Russell call before calling nine one one?

752
00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:33.199
And why my mom's nine one one call is at

753
00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:35.360
one forty Well, he will stay on with the nine

754
00:39:35.400 --> 00:39:37.320
to one operator until about one forty eight, and they're

755
00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:39.760
pronouncing my mom dead by one fifty one fifty five.

756
00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:43.360
But he is calling somebody else at one thirty six.

757
00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:45.800
It's on the evidence in the phone bill, which you

758
00:39:45.840 --> 00:39:48.079
didn't get because it wasn't in my case file. I

759
00:39:48.079 --> 00:39:49.679
had to go to my aunt's house go through all

760
00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:53.599
her paperwork, and from that night. The phone bill from

761
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:56.719
that night clearly states that he somebody from my home

762
00:39:56.800 --> 00:40:00.639
is calling Glendale, Arizona. And we've matched up the number

763
00:40:00.679 --> 00:40:04.199
he called his father, Kenneth Peterson at one thirty six,

764
00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:07.360
four minutes before he calls ninety one one, so I

765
00:40:07.400 --> 00:40:09.079
know that he had at least three minutes to stage

766
00:40:09.159 --> 00:40:09.719
the crime scene.

767
00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:14.840
Vatic I prove the police never subpoenaed the phone records. Instead,

768
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:18.679
in a bizarre move, investigators asked Russell to bring the

769
00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:22.360
phone bill into the station just whenever he could get

770
00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:25.800
it there, So three months later he took it in

771
00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:30.119
to NICKI. The phone call at one thirty six am

772
00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:32.000
is proof that Russell was up to something.

773
00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:36.360
They're getting hard evidence from the suspect himself that he's

774
00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:39.199
doing weird stuff. Three minutes before he's calling nine one

775
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:42.480
one for assistance, and then three weeks after that in

776
00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:45.880
November of nineteen ninety three. By then, the county attorney

777
00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:49.039
is saying we don't have enough evidence to prosecute. We

778
00:40:49.079 --> 00:40:51.239
need more evidence, So we're gonna go ahead and say

779
00:40:51.280 --> 00:40:54.599
there's insufficient. We're going to decline prosecution. Three weeks after

780
00:40:54.679 --> 00:40:57.719
they've got hard evidence in their hand that he's doing shady,

781
00:40:58.239 --> 00:41:00.400
they're saying that they don't have evidence at So I

782
00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:01.559
just want you to know about that.

783
00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:05.519
And what of the relationship with her sister, Christina, whom

784
00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:08.960
she wasn't allowed to see grow up. The pair reconnected

785
00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:11.800
when Christina was a teen and Nicki was a young adult,

786
00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:15.360
but it wasn't a made for movie reunion. There was

787
00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:17.159
tension between the sisters.

788
00:41:17.559 --> 00:41:19.840
My sister will be about sixteen, so I'll kind of

789
00:41:19.880 --> 00:41:21.599
be chumming with her for about two years. When I'm

790
00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:24.719
in my twenties. She's in her teens. And when she's sixteen,

791
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:28.440
she gets pregnant, and as a older sister, what do

792
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:31.280
I say, you know, don't do it? I tell her

793
00:41:31.320 --> 00:41:33.559
to have an abortion. She does not like hearing that.

794
00:41:33.679 --> 00:41:35.000
She follows through with the pregnancy.

795
00:41:35.960 --> 00:41:39.280
The disagreement over the pregnancy sees their relationship take another

796
00:41:39.400 --> 00:41:44.559
decade long hiatus, the second in their short and turbulent lives,

797
00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:48.679
when they once again reconnect. NICKI uses the courage provide

798
00:41:48.679 --> 00:41:51.119
it by a stiff drink to ask her sister the

799
00:41:51.199 --> 00:41:55.320
question she desperately wants the answer to what really happened

800
00:41:55.320 --> 00:41:55.840
to their mom.

801
00:41:56.840 --> 00:42:00.239
She doesn't talk to me for ten more years. I

802
00:42:00.280 --> 00:42:05.199
don't hear from the woman until twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen,

803
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:08.360
where we briefly reconnect for about a year. And in

804
00:42:08.440 --> 00:42:10.719
that year, I have a boyfriend and we're actually at

805
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:12.400
the house right now because I'm outside of my boyfriends house.

806
00:42:12.440 --> 00:42:13.880
I had to get off work and come and do this,

807
00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:16.760
and I'm out in the car anyway. So we're at

808
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:19.360
this house. I'm reconnecting with my sister. We're at the

809
00:42:19.400 --> 00:42:21.599
coffee table in there, and I remember we were drinking

810
00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:24.639
and I finally have the balls too after all these years,

811
00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:26.679
and she's sitting right there with me and we're kind

812
00:42:26.679 --> 00:42:30.079
of like tipsy, and I asked her about it. I

813
00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:32.320
remember she did not want to engage in the conversation.

814
00:42:32.440 --> 00:42:35.559
She looked down, she started shuffling her hands. She wouldn't

815
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:38.559
give me straight answers, so I let it go. So

816
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:43.440
I have never actually pushed it until July of twenty twenty,

817
00:42:43.480 --> 00:42:46.280
when she calls me out of the blue and tells

818
00:42:46.280 --> 00:42:48.840
me that they're investigating our mom's murder and they want

819
00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:49.360
her help.

820
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:54.280
Then, in twenty twenty, Sadona Police Department Sergeant Michael Domingus

821
00:42:54.679 --> 00:42:57.920
agreed to take another look at the case. According to

822
00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:00.519
an article published that same year by The Red R News,

823
00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:03.760
his first order of business was to see if he

824
00:43:03.760 --> 00:43:07.360
could prove that a murder had occurred. Sergeant Dominguez told

825
00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:11.079
the publication, based on the evidence, I see there's more

826
00:43:11.119 --> 00:43:13.920
to the story than that of a suicide. But he

827
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:17.039
continued saying that he couldn't say with one hundred percent

828
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:20.599
certainty that it was a homicide either. He went on

829
00:43:20.639 --> 00:43:23.119
to say that he felt the family was placing too

830
00:43:23.159 --> 00:43:26.119
much stock on there being no gunpowder residue on Stephanie's

831
00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:29.920
dominant hand. He explained that he does lots of things

832
00:43:29.960 --> 00:43:32.719
with his non dominant hand, so maybe it was possible

833
00:43:32.719 --> 00:43:35.800
that Stephanie shot the gun with her left hand. But

834
00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:39.159
when that article was published, it upset Nicki's aunts so

835
00:43:39.320 --> 00:43:43.639
much that she called the Sedona Police Department, and Sergeant

836
00:43:43.639 --> 00:43:46.960
Dominguez was eventually removed from the case since his comments

837
00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:49.280
showed that he was giving up on investigating it thoroughly.

838
00:43:50.119 --> 00:43:52.719
We asked Nikki to clarify her understanding of the current

839
00:43:52.760 --> 00:43:55.880
status of her mother's case. She's under the assumption that

840
00:43:55.960 --> 00:43:59.079
the case is still active. Her dad was finally interviewed

841
00:43:59.079 --> 00:44:01.320
in January of twenty twenty three to share what he

842
00:44:01.440 --> 00:44:03.960
knew and what he was told by Stephanie on the

843
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:06.880
phone the night she was killed. But she hasn't had

844
00:44:06.920 --> 00:44:09.480
any contact from the police an over a years, so

845
00:44:10.039 --> 00:44:14.039
she really couldn't say. Two years ago. In twenty twenty two,

846
00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:17.039
there was fresh hope as the FBI appeared to be

847
00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:21.599
getting involved in Stephanie's case. However, the Sedona police declined

848
00:44:21.639 --> 00:44:25.199
the assistance of the FBI, which left the family back

849
00:44:25.239 --> 00:44:29.440
where they started with no answers and a lot of frustration.

850
00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:32.840
When I got to my aunt's house two springs ago

851
00:44:32.920 --> 00:44:35.199
and I had all this paperwork, we did a whole

852
00:44:35.199 --> 00:44:38.000
big packet of our evidence and we sent it twenty

853
00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:40.880
five pages to the Yamabay County's Attorney's office, to the

854
00:44:40.880 --> 00:44:43.719
three Because the Arizona Attorney General has three offices here

855
00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:46.119
in Arizona, we sent a packet to all three of them.

856
00:44:46.519 --> 00:44:49.719
We got a response back from the Arizona Attorney General, saying,

857
00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:53.400
our complaint is best suited to the DOJ. I sent

858
00:44:53.440 --> 00:44:57.079
the same packet to the DOJ. The DOJ sent an

859
00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:00.920
FBI agent, Agent Craps, to my aunt's house. He said, hey,

860
00:45:01.519 --> 00:45:04.719
we got your packet. What can I do to help you?

861
00:45:04.760 --> 00:45:07.000
And my aunt invited him in. I was at work

862
00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:11.000
this day. I totally missed this little sit down, and

863
00:45:10.440 --> 00:45:13.119
the FBI agent said, how can we help you? What

864
00:45:13.159 --> 00:45:14.760
do you want from us? And my aunt said, we

865
00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:16.440
want someone to listen. We want someone to go to

866
00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:18.840
the Stona Police Department find out what's going on. The

867
00:45:19.079 --> 00:45:22.159
FBI agent listen. We literally had an FBI agent roll

868
00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:24.639
up to Sedona and say, hey, I'm here representing the

869
00:45:24.840 --> 00:45:27.000
Solution family. They want to know what's going on. How

870
00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:29.400
can I help you? How can the federal government help

871
00:45:29.440 --> 00:45:31.440
you on the Wash Solution case? And guess what, the

872
00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:34.800
Sadona Police Department rejected any assistance from the federal government.

873
00:45:34.840 --> 00:45:37.880
They said we don't need any sayonara, and because they

874
00:45:37.880 --> 00:45:40.719
are federal. That was the hardest call I've ever had

875
00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:42.559
to take. Was Agent Craps tell you, NEI, there's nothing

876
00:45:42.559 --> 00:45:45.679
I can do. Miss. I'm a federal agency. I just

877
00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:47.639
can't walk in there and take your mom's case. Have

878
00:45:47.760 --> 00:45:52.199
you tried sitting down with that investigator. I was blown away,

879
00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:56.320
I threw I was just I had gone through months

880
00:45:56.320 --> 00:45:59.519
of paperwork and writing to these agencies just to be

881
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:02.039
back at the beginning of talking to the Sadona Police

882
00:46:02.039 --> 00:46:06.039
Department again. So yes, it's frustrating. If you want to

883
00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:07.440
know frustration, that's frustration.

884
00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:11.400
More recently, Nikki has turned to social media as a

885
00:46:11.400 --> 00:46:13.559
way of getting the word out about her mom's murder

886
00:46:13.960 --> 00:46:16.119
and as a way to put pressure on the police department.

887
00:46:16.880 --> 00:46:19.480
Social media is the only thing that gets the Sadona

888
00:46:19.519 --> 00:46:22.480
Police Department to release anything to me. The nine one

889
00:46:22.559 --> 00:46:25.000
one call, we didn't get that for twenty nine years.

890
00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:27.519
We got that one week before Fox News sat down

891
00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:30.000
with Sadona Police Department, who had been pressuring Sedona Police

892
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:33.000
Department for at least two months for that interview. A

893
00:46:33.039 --> 00:46:35.000
week before. Here we get the zip drive with the

894
00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:38.159
interrogations that nine when one call. Were like blown away

895
00:46:38.679 --> 00:46:41.480
because there's hard evidence on there. He admits it. I

896
00:46:41.639 --> 00:46:44.639
might have she might have shot herself. How has this

897
00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:46.519
man gotten away with it? I don't know. Make it

898
00:46:46.559 --> 00:46:48.880
make sense For me, I'm blown away that this is

899
00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:50.880
my life and as an adult woman, I had to

900
00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:53.519
read it at thirty eight years old and going like

901
00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:56.119
mind blowing that this is like he got away with it.

902
00:46:56.519 --> 00:46:59.519
When I started really getting into TikTok, I started having

903
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:01.599
some viral videos and getting a little bit of success,

904
00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:03.519
and I think that started to scare them a little.

905
00:47:03.840 --> 00:47:05.800
I had just moved back to Phoenix, I was actually

906
00:47:05.800 --> 00:47:07.480
staying in my aunt's house, so I had all this

907
00:47:07.639 --> 00:47:10.239
fresh content. I had the new case files finding out

908
00:47:10.199 --> 00:47:12.519
all this information. So I think they really got scared.

909
00:47:12.800 --> 00:47:15.000
And if you see the date for that, I think

910
00:47:15.039 --> 00:47:17.719
I believe it's March of twenty twenty two that we

911
00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:20.239
got that letter saying that my mom's case was inactive

912
00:47:20.320 --> 00:47:23.000
as of spring of twenty twenty two, saying that there

913
00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:26.800
many people had investigated it over the thirty years. They've

914
00:47:26.800 --> 00:47:29.400
tried to track down the suspect and he has not

915
00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:32.280
been able to have been tracked down for common or quote.

916
00:47:32.280 --> 00:47:34.400
It's been thirty years, so they can't make him talk.

917
00:47:34.719 --> 00:47:37.440
The fourth paragraph addressed the fact that my aunt and

918
00:47:37.440 --> 00:47:39.679
I were harassing us on a police department by our

919
00:47:39.719 --> 00:47:43.519
constant demands for a full case file, and our calls

920
00:47:43.639 --> 00:47:47.559
and my social media account was harassment. And the fifth

921
00:47:47.599 --> 00:47:50.199
paragraph addressed the fact that we have not gotten a

922
00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:53.920
complete case file and they are working with old technology

923
00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:57.079
and working diligently to get a complete case file. And

924
00:47:57.119 --> 00:48:00.360
that was dated for spring of twenty twenty two. We're

925
00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:02.400
coming up on spring of twenty twenty four, and hey,

926
00:48:02.400 --> 00:48:04.599
guess what, NICKI still doesn't have a full case file.

927
00:48:05.360 --> 00:48:08.760
The relationship between Nicki and Christina has been further strained

928
00:48:08.800 --> 00:48:12.239
by Nicky's appearances on social media and on podcasts.

929
00:48:12.800 --> 00:48:14.119
I don't want to get on the horn with her

930
00:48:14.199 --> 00:48:16.880
because she's essentially asking for my help because she's scared.

931
00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:20.119
I'm stubborn, don't get on the horn. And the woman

932
00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:22.400
hasn't called me back since that was July of twenty twenty,

933
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:24.599
so we're going on almost four years. Because now I've

934
00:48:24.599 --> 00:48:26.880
taken this to the world and she doesn't want have

935
00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:30.440
anything to do with this. That's our relationship in a nutshell.

936
00:48:31.159 --> 00:48:33.760
And let's not forget about the only witness and suspect.

937
00:48:34.679 --> 00:48:36.920
Why hasn't he been brought in for more questioning.

938
00:48:37.719 --> 00:48:40.239
He's dodging the stone of police department. In Fox News,

939
00:48:40.320 --> 00:48:42.920
I mean he was at his mom's house. We have

940
00:48:43.039 --> 00:48:45.559
done background searches. It's he's not hard to find and

941
00:48:45.599 --> 00:48:48.679
he's just he's dodging. I know that the Stone Police

942
00:48:48.679 --> 00:48:51.719
apartment came down here in like, did a stakeout of

943
00:48:51.760 --> 00:48:53.639
his mom's house. They weren't able to track him down.

944
00:48:53.920 --> 00:48:56.320
They just I mean, he's findable. He is not like

945
00:48:56.920 --> 00:48:58.920
he is not dB Cooper. The man is not missing.

946
00:48:58.920 --> 00:49:01.199
He is in the Greater Phoenix area. They could find him,

947
00:49:01.239 --> 00:49:03.559
but there's no reason to because I can't. They can't

948
00:49:03.559 --> 00:49:05.679
compel him to speak. So I guess you could just

949
00:49:05.760 --> 00:49:07.920
murder women and if you wait long enough, guess what,

950
00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:09.639
you're in the clear. But as far as I know,

951
00:49:09.840 --> 00:49:13.119
there's no statute limitations on murder in Arizona.

952
00:49:13.280 --> 00:49:17.039
Nicki wants justice for her mom, plain and simple. She

953
00:49:17.119 --> 00:49:19.719
wants the case heard before a grand jury so all

954
00:49:19.760 --> 00:49:23.440
the facts can be heard and hopefully charges can be brought.

955
00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:26.480
In the meantime, you can show your support for Nicki

956
00:49:26.519 --> 00:49:30.039
by following her on social media and sharing Stephanie's story.

957
00:49:30.840 --> 00:49:33.000
And this certainly won't be the last time you hear

958
00:49:33.039 --> 00:49:36.440
from Nicki, because she won't be silenced and she isn't

959
00:49:36.440 --> 00:49:36.960
giving up.

960
00:49:37.679 --> 00:49:40.360
So first of all, follow me on TikTok, Nicole Whah

961
00:49:40.440 --> 00:49:42.920
Solution at seven two six, because that's where you're gonna

962
00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:45.400
get daily updates. Oh my god, so much is going on.

963
00:49:45.440 --> 00:49:49.039
There's been like twenty five podcasts the one you're listening

964
00:49:49.079 --> 00:49:51.239
to now, they've covered my mom's case. We've been on

965
00:49:51.320 --> 00:49:52.000
Fox News.

966
00:49:53.119 --> 00:49:55.920
Make sure to follow us on all of our socials

967
00:49:55.960 --> 00:50:00.480
at the Murder Diaries pod, and remember stay safe by bye.

968
00:50:04.079 --> 00:50:08.239
Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod dot co, slash subscribe for

969
00:50:08.360 --> 00:50:12.559
exclusive bonus content and to listen ad free. Remember to

970
00:50:12.760 --> 00:50:16.440
like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and threads

971
00:50:16.519 --> 00:50:20.119
at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please

972
00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:23.000
leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice.

973
00:50:23.119 --> 00:50:27.239
You can contact us at questions at sinsinsurvivors dot com.

974
00:50:27.400 --> 00:50:29.639
If you are someone you know as affected by domestic

975
00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:33.039
violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources

976
00:50:33.119 --> 00:50:36.039
or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources

977
00:50:36.079 --> 00:50:40.679
is available on our website Sinsensurvivors dot com. Sins and Survivors,

978
00:50:40.719 --> 00:50:43.559
a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research, written and

979
00:50:43.599 --> 00:50:46.960
produced by your hosts. Sean and John. The information shared

980
00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:49.239
in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording.

981
00:50:49.679 --> 00:50:52.679
If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us.

982
00:50:52.760 --> 00:50:55.159
Links to source material for this episode can be found

983
00:50:55.199 --> 00:50:58.880
on our website sinsensurvivors dot com.

984
00:50:59.039 --> 00:51:02.000
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely

985
00:51:02.119 --> 00:51:06.400
those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All

986
00:51:06.400 --> 00:51:10.360
individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not

987
00:51:10.480 --> 00:51:14.559
constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal

988
00:51:14.599 --> 00:51:15.719
professionals for guidance.