[Unsolved] Stephanie Wasilishin: Murdered on an Arizona Trail

A Beautiful Day Turned Tragic

June 10, 2003, started as a normal day in Prescott, Arizona. Stephanie Wasilishin, a vibrant 28-year-old woman, decided to go for a run on one of the local trails she loved.

She left her home that morning and never came back.

The Discovery

On June 11, 2003, Stephanie's body was discovered on a remote section of the trail. She had been sexually assaulted and murdered.

The crime scene indicated a violent, brutal attack. Investigators immediately began processing evidence and canvassing the area for witnesses.

DNA evidence was collected from the scene—evidence that should have led to an arrest.

But more than 20 years later, Stephanie's case remains unsolved.

The Investigation

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office worked extensively on Stephanie's case. They:

•Collected DNA evidence from the crime scene

•Interviewed potential witnesses and persons of interest

•Followed up on numerous tips and leads over the years

•Submitted DNA to national databases for comparison

Despite these efforts, no arrests have been made.

Investigators believe someone out there knows what happened to Stephanie. Whether it's the killer himself, or someone who has information they've been too afraid to share—someone holds the key to solving this case.

Who Was Stephanie?

Stephanie Wasilishin was a beloved daughter, sister, and friend. She was active, outdoorsy, and loved running on the trails near her home in Prescott.

She was 28 years old when her life was violently taken from her.

Her family has spent more than two decades grieving her loss and fighting for justice. They have never given up hope that one day, her killer will be identified and held accountable.

Why Hasn't This Case Been Solved?

Despite having DNA evidence, Stephanie's case has not been solved. Possible reasons include:

•No match in the database - The killer's DNA may not be in CODIS or other databases

•Limited witnesses - The remote location meant few people saw anything suspicious

•Time - As years pass, memories fade and witnesses become harder to locate

However, advances in forensic genealogy and DNA technology offer new hope. Cases that were cold for decades are now being solved using genetic genealogy techniques.

Stephanie's family continues to hope that these new methods will finally bring them the answers they deserve.

The Search for Justice Continues

Stephanie Wasilishin's murder remains unsolved. Her killer has never been caught. Her family has never received justice.

But they have not given up. And neither have investigators.

If you have any information about the murder of Stephanie Wasilishin on June 10, 2003, in Prescott, Arizona, please contact the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office at (928) 771-3260.

Stephanie deserves justice. Her family deserves answers.

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] On July 9th, 1993, just after 1:40 AM Russell Peterson of Sedona, Arizona called 9 1 1 and reported that there had been a very bad accident. During an argument with his wife Stephanie, when he was asked to elaborate, Russell said that his wife had been shot and she was hurt very badly, though he couldn't give a straight answer when it came to exactly who shot her, but he did suggest that she may have shot herself.

Suspicions arose later when the couple's 4-year-old daughter told investigators that it was her dad who had fired the fatal shot. Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa. Hi, Mandy. How are you? I am doing well.

Spring has sprung and we're feeling great. Spring is springing. Yes. The bumblebees are flying and buzzing and the flowers are blooming and the pollen is everywhere. Oh, yeah, the pollen. So much pollen. I saw mosquitoes yesterday, so I'm already like, [00:01:00] okay. I, I remember now I remember. You don't, my arts, you don't have a zero tolerance.

You're like, as soon as it gets, as soon as the humidity gets a little too high and you see one mosquito, you're like, Nope. Nevermind. Forget it. I don't want summer. No, absolutely not. Yeah, I, I'm, I've been team winter quite a bit this year and it's mostly because of the mosquitoes, but we are going to conquer and make it through and it will be a great year, I think.

I don't know. Let's be positive. You're always positive. I'm trying it. It's a great year. We're in March. Wow, okay. It's, you can't just say it's gonna be a great year. You, it has to be a great year right now. It's a great year already. You have to like feel it in your stomach. Okay. It's gonna be a great year.

Speaking of great things, we actually did our first mailbag episode last week, and you and I were both kind of nervous about how it would go and we didn't get too many stories, so we were a little anxious. You know what? If people were even interested in doing it. It went so well, Mandy, we got so, it was so fun.

So yeah, it was so much [00:02:00] fun. We got so much great feedback and we've gotten so many stories since then. I cannot wait to do it again. Yeah, it was so fun. I made my husband listen to it. I was like, tell me what you think about this. You know, it did this, uh, did this work and did it sound good or whatever.

Yeah. And uh, yeah, he agreed. He said it sounded great. So, which of course he could just be lying and being nice to me. I have no idea. I know, I hope that he would not lie to me. About that. Want my husband to lie to me about just about everything. I'm like, don't tell me what I need to hear. Tell me what you wanna hear.

No, but tell me if I am. Tell me if I'm just embarrassing myself, please. Oh, that's true. Yeah, that's true. Don't lie to me. Don't let your kid listen. That's the thing. If you let them, then it's over. Um, yeah, so it was a lot of fun. So thank you guys for sending in stories. Keep sending in stories. You can send it to moms and mysteries@gmail.com.

Just put mailbag and we'll have a new one in April and I cannot wait to take that on. Awesome. All right, so we're gonna get into the story of Stephanie Sian this week. And this is a story where Hailey actually had the opportunity to work with a family member [00:03:00] of Stephanie's. She was able to work with her daughter Nikki, and we'll talk about Nikki quite a lot in this episode as we get into it.

Stephanie Marie Wassan, who often went by Stacey, was a woman whose life had been shaped by both joy and tragedy. Born on June 1st, 1961 in Chicago. Stephanie was one of seven children in a large and lively family. She had a twin brother named Steven, and although they entered the world together at just three pound, one ounce each, their stories were heartbreakingly different.

When Steven was seven months old, he contracted measles, and at that time there was no vaccine for measles, and so his condition quickly worsened. Their parents, Harry and Bernice called the Wyn Police for an ambulance because Steven had a high fever and was very sick, but help was actually really slow to arrive, and when two officers did arrive, they refused to go into their house or take them to the hospital in their patrol car.

The police allegedly suggested calling a cab and [00:04:00] just not mentioning that the baby had measles. I imagine at this time when there is no vaccine for measles. Yeah, that's one of those things like you don't want to go out announcing that. Sure, somebody is infected with measles, but this is so sad that it was like this, that they weren't able to get care for their baby because people were scared of getting measles.

Yeah, but also scary that the cops would say, please call a cab an unsuspecting cab and just go for it. Right. What did the cab cab do? I know. Yeah, that's horrible. Um, so the family allegedly asked for the police to actually escort them in their own car, you know, just give them a police escort, but they wouldn't even do that.

And baby Steven, Stephanie's twin ultimately passed away later that night. The loss of her twin was something that Stephanie carried with her for the rest of her life. But despite this early loss, she grew up with a reputation for being really full of life herself. Stephanie's sister, Wendy said that she was just funny and she liked to joke around a lot.

After her twin brother's death, the family relocated to Arizona in hopes [00:05:00] of having a fresh start. But tragedy struck again in 1975 when Stephanie's father passed away at just 45 years old. Stephanie was still in high school at the time, but she worked hard through her grief and graduated in 1979. Not long after finishing high school, Stephanie got married to a man named Craig and they had a daughter together named Nikki.

Their relationship unfortunately didn't work out, but they remained in contact and they co-parented their daughter. Stephanie eventually found her passion in the culinary world and she became a pastry chef at a restaurant in Sedona, and that is where she met Russell Bennett Peterson sometime around 1987.

And they began dating. Things progressed and this couple moved in on coffee pot drive together, and they soon welcomed a daughter of their own who they named Christina. In the summer of 1993, Russell had plans to go to New York to attend a cooking class at Cornell. He was supposed to leave on July 10th, but this was [00:06:00] a trip that he would ultimately never take.

It was just after 1:40 AM on July 9th when a nine one one dispatcher answered a call that would set off a chain of events that no one could have predicted. Russell struggled to find the right words, but he said he needed help and that there had been a very bad accident. During an argument with his wife, the operator of course asked for more details and Russell said she's been shot.

The dispatcher asked who shot her, and Russell responded, I don't know who I might have. She might have shot herself. Emergency responders rushed to the scene as Russell followed instructions on performing CPR. Minutes later, Sedona police arrived and entered the home through the front door, which was unlocked.

They announced their presence and called out for anyone inside to come out. Russell emerged from the hallway just outside the primary bedroom with a cordless phone pressed up to his ear. His right hand was covered in blood. Russell led the officers to the bedroom where Stephanie was lying [00:07:00] on the floor near the closet.

She was wearing her night clothes and the fabric was torn at the upper front button area. There was a large gunshot wound on the left side of Stephanie's throat, and she had blood pulling near the right side of her head. When the police arrived, Stephanie had no pulse As first responders worked to get control of the situation, they realized that 4-year-old Christina was sitting on the bed in the room.

She was saying, that's my mommy. An officer quickly carried her out of the room while another officer found Nikki. Stephanie's older daughter, still asleep on the other side of the house. Nikki was woken up and soon she and her little sister along with Russell were transported to the police station. At the station, officers told Brussel that Stephanie had been pronounced dead.

They asked him to explain exactly what happened that night. Russell said that he had worked late the night before and that he didn't arrive home until after 12:30 AM when he got home. He [00:08:00] found that Stephanie had been drinking and she was on a long phone call with her ex-husband, Nikki's father, a man named Craig.

Things were already tense because Stephanie was upset about how Russell had been accepted into this prestigious cooking school at Cornell, and that he'd already purchased his plane ticket there, but Stephanie really didn't want him to go, and this was later confirmed by multiple people. So as their argument escalated, Stephanie allegedly stormed into the bedroom and retrieved a gun.

It was a 44 Magnum that belonged to Russell. It was given to him as a gift from his father, and it was tucked away in a holster on the top shelf of their closet, hidden under various other items. According to Russell, she returned to the living room with a gun in her hands, pointed at him and said she was going to blow his head off before firing a single shot.

Ms. Russell, a struggle that ensued and Russell said they met in the hallway between the living room and the bedroom where a second shot ran out this time hitting Stephanie in the neck [00:09:00] and ending her life. At around 4:40 AM investigators arrived at the station and learned that 4-year-old Christina was actually awake and talking.

She told the officers that she had been asleep when she heard a single gunshot, and she jolted awake and saw her father standing over her mom with a gun. Christina said that she didn't see the actual shooting, but when she stepped into her parents' bedroom, she saw her mom lying face down on the floor and she was bleeding.

Her father Russell was sitting on the bed crying. The little girl said that her dad told her he fired the gun and that it was hopeless. Nikki told the police that she was asleep during the shooting as well, and that she hadn't seen or heard anything at all until she was woken up and escorted out of her home.

As they sat in the back of the patrol car, Christina kept repeating, poppy killed mommy, and Nikki tried to reason with her sister, but the tragic news was confirmed when Russell himself told Nikki that Stephanie was dead. [00:10:00] On the way to the police station, Russell said to Nikki, I'm sorry, I love you and I wanna keep the family together.

At the station officers arranged for the girls to be placed in temporary foster care in Cottonwood, Arizona so that they would be able to get some sleep while the police talked to Russell at 5:40 AM They sat down with him to hear his full version of the events. Russell said that July 8th had started like any other day with him and Stephanie waking up at around 1130, having their morning coffee and then going into work.

Stephanie left work around 5:30 PM while Russell stayed later that night and didn't get home until after midnight. When he first got home, everything was fine and seemed normal. He said that he kissed Stephanie and then he went to take a shower. It wasn't until after he got out of the shower that things really took a turn.

Russell explained that Stephanie told him. She spoke with her ex Craig on the phone for two hours that day. And at some point Russell [00:11:00] brought up his upcoming trip to New York and Stephanie got upset, but Russell wasn't too concerned about it because they had had arguments just like this in the past.

But then Russell said that Stephanie got up and went to the bedroom and came back with a gun. She allegedly stated that she was going to shoot him as he sat on the couch and then she raised the gun and fired a shot, but the bullet missed him. Russell said he jumped up from the couch and followed Stephanie down the hall trying to talk to her and just calm her down.

But when they got into the bedroom, she cocked the gun again and told Russell that she was going to kill him. We have so much more to get into after a quick break to hear a word from this week's sponsors. And now back to the episode. So before the break, we were talking about the heartbreaking events that led to Stephanie Ian's death.

Brussels said he lunched for Stephanie's wrist in an effort to pry the gun away from her, and they struggled for 10 to 15 seconds before the gun went off again, and Stephanie collapsed face down. Russell said he stood there in shock. He was unsure of what to do [00:12:00] and unable to believe what had just happened.

He bent down and rolled Stephanie's head towards him slightly to look at her, and then he put the gun back in the holster and set it on the shelf. But then several moments later, he thought maybe he shouldn't have moved the gun, so he took it out of the holster and laid it back on the floor. He said, I didn't wanna be accused of murder, but it happened.

There's nothing you can do about it at this point. Russell said that he noticed his young daughter, Christina, was standing down the hallway as he went into the en suite bathroom when he came outta the bathroom and saw that Stephanie was still on the ground. He called 9 1 1 and asked for help.

Investigators asked Russell to describe his relationship with Stephanie, and he said that they loved each other, but their relationship had the typical ups and downs. After the interview, Russell signed a consent form for the police to search his house, and he went back there with them. He was asked to change clothes and to give the clothes he was wearing When the shooting occurred to the [00:13:00] police, he was later taken back to the station while officers started to process the scene.

Russell asked the officers if a guy named Peter could come pick him up, and they said yes. At this point, they don't have any reason to hold him in custody, so Russell stayed with Peter until a friend got him a hotel room. Peter actually owned the restaurant that both Russell and Stephanie worked at. He later told police that Stephanie had been distraught recently, and that on the day before her death, several employees noticed that she was upset about something and they believed that Russell's upcoming 10 day long trip to New York had something to do with it.

Peter also told police that while he didn't wanna speak poorly about Stephanie, it was his observation that the relationship between her and Russell was always argumentative and that Stephanie was always the one who. Cause a problem that was a direct quote. Peter said that he felt like it made more sense for Stephanie to have taken her own life than it did for Russell to have murdered her.

Peter had never heard Russell speak a mean [00:14:00] word or complain about his wife, but Stephanie had said some harsh things about the time Russell spent at work. Peter further alluded to what he thought were threats that Stephanie had made. Not necessarily life-threatening comments, but she was very annoyed and distraught because Russell had been so wrapped up in work.

She taunted him often when they worked together, and she spoke openly to coworkers about her miserable life and all the problems that she had at home. Stephanie came across as being jealous of Russell's success, and she was constantly antagonizing him. Another employee named Katherine. Told police that she worked with Stephanie on July 8th and that they had talked in the parking lot before Stephanie left work around five 30.

Katherine said that Stephanie was upset and told her that she just wasn't having a good day, and she actually asked Katherine if she would speak to Russell about his upcoming trip. According to Katherine, Stephanie had confided in her about her rough childhood and how she'd been abused by her mother and stepfather as well as her first husband.

Craig. [00:15:00] Katherine also noticed that Stephanie would push Russell's buttons on purpose. He always did his best to ignore her and to not respond, and Katherine said she never saw any physical violence between the couple. Another fellow employee named Susie said that she and her boyfriend had actually given Russell a ride home from work that day, and he was in good spirits and was really excited for his trip to New York.

Susie had also spoken with Stephanie multiple times that day, and she was not in good spirits at all. She was actually upset because Russell was working so much and she felt like he wasn't leaving enough time for her and the kids, and she was really stressed about money and about this long trip that Russell was about to go on.

Susie said that she had actually seen Stephanie get upset with her kids before in the past, but she had never heard her threaten Russell. And likewise, she'd never seen Russell get upset with Stephanie or threaten her either. Susie said that Stephanie was just someone who had a very strong personality and she was very blunt and would just cut straight to the point sometimes in a way [00:16:00] that could come across as offensive to others.

Another coworker named Louis said that Russell was a good person and Stephanie was the one constantly putting people down and trying to dig at Russell. Louis once asked Stephanie himself why she was always so mean to her husband, and she said, it hurts to be nice. Investigators combed through the couple's house in search of anything that could shed some light on what actually happened The night Stephanie was shot.

They found multiple wood splinters scattered across the walkway outside and inside. There was a bullet hole piercing the wall between the front window and the door. The jacket of the bullet was still embedded deep within the door. A curtain had a hole in it from where the bullet had torn through the fabric.

On the table next to the couch, there was a partially full glass of beer, and on the coffee table there was an empty glass of red wine and a single beer bottle. In the bedroom, they found a 44 magnum revolver laying on the floor on top of a brown leather holster near [00:17:00] Stephanie's right shoulder. Four bullets were found to be still inside the cylinder of the revolver.

Blood was found on the corner of a table near Stephanie's head, as well as splattered on the TV stand and streaked across the ceiling and wall next to her. There was a bullet embedded above the table with strands of hair attached to it. The handgun and the holster were examined for prints, but the results weren't suitable for finding a match.

Under Stephanie's right arm was a gold colored neck chain, and her left arm was bent partially under her body. A smaller piece of a similar gold chain was found near the doorway to the bedroom. Stephanie's hair had a pair of glasses entangled in it, along with three yellow chains and a lock it attached to it.

Stephanie's hands were bagged so they could be tested for gunshot residue, and her body was taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. The autopsy was completed on July 9th and showed that the muzzle of the gun was pressed against her skin when it was fired. She dy instantly because the [00:18:00] bullet severed her windpipe and spinal cord before passing through the left part of her neck and exiting on the right rear part of her neck around her hairline.

There was a bruise under her chin and a small fracture inside the right portion of her skull, and under her brain gunpowder. Residue was found on Stephanie's left hand, but even though she was right-handed, there was none actually found on her right hand. A toxicology test showed that Stephanie had a blood alcohol content of 0.17, which is just over twice the legal driving limit.

Due to these findings, the medical examiner decided to wait for further investigation before making a determination on Stephanie's cause of death. Neighbors told the police that Stephanie and Russell had always been pretty quiet, but for about the last year and a half, they heard the couple fighting at night a lot more, though nobody said they ever saw anything violent taking place.

There were also no reports of domestic violence in the police records. Russell's parents, Ken and Phyllis stood behind their son [00:19:00] and said that he was a very passive person who had been pursuing his life goal to become a chef, and he was very talented and looking forward to attending the program at Cornell.

On the other hand, they described Stephanie as being someone who had come from a rough life and who both spoke and acted very tough. They described Stephanie as being a very tormented young lady who had come from an abusive background as her mother had always resented her since the death of her twin brother.

The Petersons were adamant that Russell was not an aggressive man, and that it was hard for them to believe that he would purposely have hurt his wife. Police spoke with Stephanie's mom, Bernice, who said that Stephanie and Russell's relationship was not smooth, and that Russell was both physically and emotionally abusive towards her.

She said there had been at least 50 different occasions that Stephanie had told her about Russell's abuse and that after Stephanie's death, Russell called her and told her that Stephanie had shot herself, but he didn't mention that they had been wrestling over the [00:20:00] gun. Stephanie's sister, Wendy, who was Stephanie's best friend, had talked to her around seven 15 on the night of her death, and she told investigators that Stephanie wasn't in a good mood that evening.

She explained that she had been having these problems with Russell and they hadn't slept together in seven months, but she told her sister that she had actually arranged for the kids to be gone, and she had plans to spend some alone time with Russell that night. Stephanie and her sister talked for about 45 minutes, and then Stephanie called Wendy back again around 10:30 PM and they talked for another 35 minutes.

During that second call, Stephanie was much happier. According to Wendy, Stephanie loved her life and she was afraid of death, and so Wendy didn't believe that Stephanie would've ever taken her own life. Stephanie's mom and sister both told investigators that Russell was abusive towards her and that he would often drink too much.

Stephanie's brother Lance echoed what her other family members said and confirmed that his sister was not [00:21:00] suicidal and said that she actually tried to make things work with Russell, but they were having issues. The couple wasn't having sex anymore, and Russell was allegedly physically abusive, which Lance had seen himself in the past.

He said that he was at their apartment when Russell started screaming and shoving Stephanie Lance stepped in and nothing else happened. Stephanie's daughter, Nikki, who was 10 at the time, told police that her mom may have had a couple beers on the night of her death. Nikki recalled that her mom kept yelling for Nikki to go to her room because she was trying to talk on the phone.

She was talking to Nikki's father Craig and making arrangements for Nikki to visit him. Nikki told police that her mom and Russell got along great. She said they were the best of friends and they liked each other a lot, and they didn't fight very often. She said that she had never seen Russell hit her mom or be mean to her or her little sister.

She had never seen her mom hit Russell either. Nikki said that the couple would argue about not spending enough time together as a family, but [00:22:00] she also said that Russell was a nice guy. According to Nikki, her mom was upset that Russell was spending money to go to this cooking school. Investigators asked Nikki about Russell's drinking habits, and she said that she didn't think he drank a lot, but when he drank too much at home, he would bump into things.

On the night of July 8th, Nikki, her sister Christina, and Stephanie were all watching TV and playing hide and seek. But then Stephanie got mad at the girls and sent them to their rooms. Nikki wrote some letters and then told Stephanie she was going to sleep. She kissed her mom goodnight, and she went to bed around 11:00 PM She said she thought 15 minutes had passed when she heard Russell get home, but then she drifted off his sleep.

Stephanie's ex-husband Craig was interviewed and he explained that he and Stephanie had broken up after five years together because they just didn't see eye to eye. But their relationship in the recent days had been a lot more friendly. Stephanie had called Craig on the night of the eighth, and they talked about the problems that Stephanie [00:23:00] and Russell were having and about plans for Craig to visit with Nikki.

Then they started reminiscing about old times. Craig said that Stephanie had told him about Russell's drinking habits before, and she hinted around that he had roughed her up in the past. Craig was asked if he owned any guns and whether Stephanie had ever shot any of them during their relationship together.

He said that he did have a gun, but he didn't think Stephanie had ever shot it, but he ended up changing his mind and saying that she may actually have shot his gun a couple of times. He just couldn't be a hundred percent sure. According to Craig, Stephanie had an average temper and she would often say extreme things like, I'm gonna kill you, but it was always in a joking manner.

He said that Stephanie had never talked to him about suicide. He further said that she was a very strong-willed woman. A friend of the couple named Kay told authorities she felt that Stephanie was a little resentful and jealous of Russell's success, and she was upset because he seemed like he was married to his work more [00:24:00] than he was to her.

But according to Kay Russell was a good hearted person who really never complained about anything. Another longtime friend of Stephanie said that he didn't feel she would've shot anyone or even have handled a gun in any way. Stephanie's oldest sister, Kathleen also spoke with the police and she said that her sister was quote a little slow with no career goals other than being a mother.

But her sister, Kathleen, did say that Stephanie was considering leaving Russell, even though she was hesitant to do so because of the daughter they had together. Stephanie had also told Kathleen about Russell's alleged abusive behavior, and Kathleen offered to help Stephanie get outta the relationship.

But she said she never personally witnessed any signs of abuse. She just knew that Stephanie was feeling unsure and growing more and more unhappy over the previous six months or so. The police talked with Russell again on the 10th and asked him to explain what happened and to describe what type of person Stephanie was.

He said that on July 8th, [00:25:00] he had one drink at work before his coworker drove him home. When he arrived, Stephanie had been drinking and he went to take a shower. After his shower, he and Stephanie shared a bottle of wine and Stephanie told Russell that she had talked to Craig for two and a half hours earlier that day and that he, meaning Craig had invited her to go and stay with him to see if they could patch things up.

Russell said that Stephanie wasn't threatening to leave and go back to Craig. She was just telling him what happened on this phone call. Russell said that he was uncomfortable with what Stephanie was saying, but it didn't really bother him all that much because Craig was Nikki's father. He really didn't have a problem with Stephanie talking to Craig, but he said he was surprised to hear they were talking for so long that night, as normally they were only talking for about 10 to 15 minutes over money or things that had happened.

It wasn't normal for them to talk for two and a half hours. After having the bottle of wine, Russell said that he may have been slightly impaired, but he doesn't [00:26:00] remember any big heated conversation or confrontation before Stephanie just got up and came back with a gun and threatened to shoot him.

Russell said he put his hands up and asked Stephanie if she was crazy. That's when she fired one shot, narrowly missing Russell. Then she cocked the gun and walked back into the bedroom. While Russell said he just sat there for a second or two trying to process and absorb everything that was happening.

Then he went into the bedroom. Russell claimed the gun was never in his hand and said there may or may not have been a scuffle before. The gut actually went off and Stephanie fell to the floor. At that moment, he looked down the hall and saw Christina, and she looked right at him and said, quote, you killed mommy.

Mommy's dead. He told her that he didn't kill mommy and to go back to her room, but then he said he got very nervous. He said, quote, I mean, people who've never been put in this situation cannot explain the anxiety, what's going through everything. So he said he mindlessly [00:27:00] picked up the gun, put it in the holster and put it away, but then he put it back.

They also asked Russell what he thought happened that night, and he said that he believes that after Stephanie pointed the gun at him and fired a shot, she had no hesitation in going straight into the bedroom and shooting herself. Russell said he believed that Stephanie had died by suicide. When they confronted him about the arguments over his trip to New York, he said maybe this was her way of getting back at me in a sick manner, that this was the one and only way.

Russell claimed to have only shot a gun twice in his life and said that it was his understanding that Stephanie had actually been exposed to guns when she was married to Craig and maybe had a little more experience with them, but he didn't know how many times she had actually fired a gun before.

Russell describes Stephanie as being a loving person who loved and cared for her children and for Russell too. He said that she had stuff in her past that hadn't really been discussed between them, and he [00:28:00] wondered if maybe she was too embarrassed to talk about the situation she had been in before with the abuse and everything else.

Russell said that he took her out of an abusive environment with her ex Craig. Russell said that Stephanie had never been physically aggressive or violent, but she would always try to verbally manipulate him or use their daughter, Christina, as a pawn and threaten to take her and keep her away from Russell to get him to do what she wanted.

Investigators told Russell that they heard Stephanie would also make threats to do things like stick a knife in his back or poke his eyes out. And Russell really didn't deny that Stephanie had said things like that. He said that she would always say these off the wall things when she was mad, but he never actually felt like they were credible threats.

He never actually felt like she was a danger to him. He told the police that their sex life was kind of up and down, but they did have their good moments. On July 11th, Russell contacted investigators and asked that they meet with him at the house as soon as possible to go over the events [00:29:00] again. During this meeting, Russell said he did not think that he had ever wrestled Stephanie for the gun.

Now he was remembering what happened more clearly, and he said that Stephanie had most certainly shot herself. He remembers seeing her fall over, hit her head on the table and fall to the ground. He said that if he did try to get the gun from Stephanie, he definitely would've tried to point it either up, down, or away from either one of them.

Weeks later on July 30th, Stephanie's sister, Wendy called the investigators because Russell actually contacted her and during their conversation he told her that the police didn't need to do any official reenactment of the scene or give him a polygraph or anything like that because they already had enough evidence and information.

He did say that he would have been willing to do anything the police asked. They just didn't need him to. And the officers noted in their report when, you know, they get this phone call inquiring about this, that they did not ever tell [00:30:00] Russell any of those things. They never told him that they didn't need to do a reenactment or that he didn't need to do any further, uh, things.

And we have more to get into after one last break to hear a word from this week's sponsors. Now back to the episode. So before the break, we were discussing Russell's account of the tragic night that Stephanie was shot. He claims there was a struggle over the gun, which discharged leading to her death, but his story became increasingly inconsistent with his behavior and statements raising suspicions as investigators uncovered more details.

Investigators reenacted the scene based on Russell's story on August 3rd, Russell was not involved with the reenactment, but they had a woman named Nancy there who had the same arm and hand measurements as Stephanie's. They used a handgun of the same size and model and tried to simulate Stephanie's firing the weapon without their being any struggle they weren't able to have.

Nancy pulled the trigger when they attempted to recreate the same angle of injury. Nancy had trouble pulling the [00:31:00] trigger in that position, but when an investigator struggled with her over the gun, she was able to discharge it. On August 11th, the medical examiner's office officially ruled Stephanie's death, a homicide.

In order for Russell's story to be true, Stephanie would've had to hold the gun in her left hand to create the angle and location of the entry and exit wounds, and Stephanie was right-handed and there was no gun residue on her right hand. There was some on the webbing of her left hand though. The medical examiner believed that this indicated that Stephanie was in a defensive position when she was shot, but investigators would later say there was no way of knowing whether this residue was from the first shot that Stephanie allegedly fired in the living room or from the shot that killed her.

By September 3rd, they were ready to talk to Russell again. They wanted him to go over the events of July 8th, starting with before he got home from work. Russell said that Stephanie had called him three times that day, which he thought was strange. [00:32:00] Usually she might call once to see when he was coming home, but the other two calls were odd.

He believed that something happened during her conversation with Craig. Stephanie called Craig back at 11:20 PM which was not long before Russell came home. Russell said he didn't really think there was any reason for Stephanie to have called him back. Russell told the investigators that he thought Stephanie had planned on killing him that night.

After he got home from work, Stephanie started telling him that he smelled after being at the restaurant all day, but this was normal for Stephanie, who Russell said was kind of hardcore. Straightforward, but Russell really didn't mind. He was excited to spend some alone time with Stephanie that night, and he had even bought a bottle of wine for them to celebrate his upcoming trip.

After Stephanie complained about the way he smelled, Russell took a shower and the couple sat down on the couch having wine together. Russell said that the next thing he knew, she got up and went to the bedroom and came back with a gun, and that's when she threatened to kill him. [00:33:00] He went on to describe what happened in the bedroom, and when they asked why Russell didn't believe he ever put his hands on Stephanie, he said that he knows he didn't touch her because after the fatal shot was fired, he remembered watching Stephanie fall from a distance the moment he saw Stephanie fall.

Russell said he knew he was dead, but he just didn't wanna accept it. When he saw all the blood and the gun sitting next to her, he freaked out and instinctively picked up the gun and put it away. But then he thought to himself that maybe that wasn't such a great idea, and so he put it back. At some point, Russell touched Stephanie's head and face to see if she was alive.

When Russell finished retelling the events this time, the investigators confronted him about how many inconsistencies there actually were in his story. They told him that they had tested his theory about Stephanie shooting herself, and it just wasn't possible for it to have happened that way someone with Stephanie's build wouldn't be able to pull the trigger in the alleged position.

Instead, the medical examiner believed that the evidence [00:34:00] showed a defensive position with her left hand, meaning there was reason to believe that she was using her left hand to push the gun away while it was being fired. They were also able to confirm that this was a possibility with a reenactment.

They asked Russell to explain why Stephanie was in a defensive posture, but he said that he couldn't explain that they oppressed him further and said it appeared that there was a struggle and Russell should tell them the real truth about what actually happened. But Russell stood firm and insisted that the story he told was the truth, and he pointed out that he had been nothing but cooperative with the police throughout this entire investigation.

However, the police reminded him that actually no, he had not been entirely cooperative. He did participate in the first few interviews, but after that he apparently had canceled numerous appointments, including one for a polygraph, a reenactment, and several appointments that he canceled for follow-up interviews.

In this time, Russell also moved and got a new phone number. Investigators [00:35:00] told Russell that they had done everything possible and had really bent over backwards trying to prove that Stephanie had shot herself, but they just had not been able to come to that conclusion. Before the end of the interview, Russell was asked whether he had ever hit Stephanie, and he said, I never in six years ever raised a hand.

Russell never spoke to the investigators again after this meeting, and the polygraph and official reenactment never took place. At some point it was learned that someone made a call from Russell and Stephanie's home at 1:36 AM This call was to a place in Glendale and it only lasted about one minute at one 40, so that's just four minutes later.

Russell called 9 1 1. On October 20th, 1993, investigators met with a Yavapai County attorney's office and it was suggested that police have a psychologist review Russell's statements and then give their opinion. Once that was done, the DA would look over everything and then consider charges.

[00:36:00] Unfortunately, though there are no follow-up details as to what happened with this anywhere in the research. However, a couple months later, in December of that same year, the county attorney's office declined to take the case to a grand jury. Due to insufficient evidence, they acknowledged that Russell had been inconsistent with his story, but also said that trauma could cause confusion or wishful thinking as well.

They later declined to take the case a second time. In 1999, Stephanie's sister, Wendy went to the Sedona Police with information about potential witnesses that she believed should be interviewed in her sister's case. The first person was a guy named Bradley, who Wendy believed Stephanie was having an affair with.

This was corroborated through an interview with Russell back in 1993. It was believed that Stephanie met this Bradley person when she was in need of having her carpet cleaned, and he worked for some sort of carpet cleaning business. The second potential witness Wendy wanted them to look into was a man named Chuck Cash, and [00:37:00] this guy knew Russell and had gone to Vegas with him in March of 1993.

Wendy believed that at the time of Stephanie's death. Chuck Cash lived at the Arizona Biltmore Resort while Wendy was there requesting that they interview these two people. She also asked that the bullet fragments that were embedded in the wall above the couch in the living room be analyzed and tested for blood or tissue.

The suspicion was that Stephanie was killed before the shot to the wall in the living room was even made. And if that were proven, it would essentially destroy Russell's entire story. It's unclear though whether the police did anything that Wendy requested. Years later, in June of 2020, investigators met with Wendy again.

She told them that she strongly believed that Russell was responsible for Stephanie's death and asked that they keep looking into it. On July 21st, investigators met with a medical examiner to look over the original autopsy. This new medical examiner who was looking at the case was not able to make a determination [00:38:00] regarding the manner of death, specifically whether it was a homicide or a suicide.

Sedona Police Sergeant Laura Leone told Fox 10 Phoenix that Russell was referred to as a suspect and sometimes referred to as an investigative lead in the police files. She said that she would like to speak to Russell herself and acknowledge just how difficult it was only having his side of the story.

Outside of getting a confession out of him. Sergeant Leon didn't really see any other leads. Wendy told Fox 10 that Stephanie loved her kids and that she was a perfect mom who spent a lot of time with her girls. She also said that at the time of her death, Stephanie was planning on leaving Russell for good because of his abusive ways.

Wendy said that their mom had even offered for Stephanie to live with her. Nikki, who's Stephanie's daughter, and at this point is now an adult, told Fox 10 that she knows her mom would've never touched a gun while she and her little sister were in the house, and that the idea that her mom completed suicide [00:39:00] is a complete lie.

In July of 2022, Sergeant Michael Dominguez, who was also investigating the case, told the media that after looking at over 400 plus pages of police files, he can't say with certainty whether Stephanie's death was the result of a suicide or a homicide. He said he did feel like the full story wasn't all there in the files and that something had been left out.

He said, if you're solely focused that this was a right-handed individual and they could only have used their right hand, which to me is not practical, then having that trajectory to Stephanie's neck would've been difficult. Is it impossible? No. However, if you take that pistol and put it in the person's left hand and you move the gun up, it's exactly at that location of the entry wound.

And then he added, the family has over-focused on the fact that she was right-handed and that she could have only done this with her right hand. He added that the theory that Stephanie could have only used her right [00:40:00] hand should be taken with a grain of salt because many people are right hand dominant and still use their left hand for certain other things.

Additionally, the contact wound suggested that the gunshot was self-inflicted because in homicide shootings, you typically don't see that the gun is pressed directly up against the victim. Dominguez talked about the variations in Russell's story and said that in his opinion, some variation is actually expected.

As people remember more things about a traumatic event. It's the ones who repeat the exact same story with the exact same details for years on end that are probably lying in the end. He said that at this time, from a legal sense, they cannot prove that any crime had actually occurred. In February of 2023, Nikki posted an update to the change.org petition she created that was designed to get the police to reinvestigate her mother's death.

In the update, Nikki shares that she emailed every member of the Sedona City Council about her mother's case. She ended up having an interview between herself, her Aunt Sedonas, [00:41:00] vice Mayor. An investigator as a result of this interview. Nikki's Father Craig, who was the last person other than Russell to speak to Stephanie that night was interviewed.

Nikki's been successful in sharing her mom's story with the world as dozens of podcasts have covered Stephanie's case. As of today, no one has been charged in Stephanie's case. If you have information, please contact the Sedona Police Department at 9 2 8 2 8 2 3100. This is so sad. I can't imagine being a kid and your mom dying in this way and then just never.

Having all the answers, never having, not feeling like you have closure in any way. Right? Because there are people that believe two different things. So it's not like there's, you know, a trial and somebody's been convicted and all of this stuff. It very much is like, there's just not enough information.

Sorry, we can't really do anything. Um, I did find it very interesting, the idea about the bullet. In the [00:42:00] wall and how if that had tissue, obviously that's what would happen. Makes, makes total sense. So I wish we had more information on what actually happened there, but it does seem like in this story, like not everything is either documented or I don't know, or looked into.

I don't know. Um, and I'm sure there's reasons for everything that's done, but um, but I know that would be really, really hard. So it's great. That really frustrating. Yeah. Stephanie has an advocate in her daughter, Nikki. Yeah, and Nikki has a TikTok that she shares a lot of different things from her perspective and just shares a lot more information about her mom and kind of the journey that she's been on.

So if you're interested in that, we'll have of course all of that linked in the show notes. So that is the episode for this week. Thank you everybody for listening. We will be back next week, same time, same place. New story. Have a great week. Bye.