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This is Jessica Knoll, host of the new series Back in Crime. If you're a follower of true crime, you're probably familiar with some of the most shocking stories from our history. Horrific tragedies like the Columbine Massacre. He turned the gun straight at us and shot. Oh my God, the window went out. And the kid standing there with me, I think he got hit. Okay. Oh God. And notorious criminals like cult leader Charles Manson.
In a scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religious rite, five persons, including actress Sharon Tate, were found dead at the home of Miss Tate and her husband, screen director Roman Poliansky. But what if we were to turn back the hands of time and relive these events as they unfolded? Follow along each week as we take a fresh look at crimes from the past. Back in Crime is available now.
My name is Sarah Turney, and this is Voices for Justice.
Today I'm discussing the case of Stephanie Wassilishan. At about 2:00 AM on July 9th, 1993, 10-year-old Nikki Wassilishan is deep asleep under the covers of her bed when she's woken up by a flashlight in her face. It's an officer from the Sedona, Arizona Police Department. He tells her that her parents have gotten into an altercation and she needs to come with him.
As she's escorted out of her room and through the front door, she sees her mother's boyfriend, Russell Peterson, on the couch. He's rocking back and forth and his hands are covered in blood. When the officer finally gets Nikki in the police car, she's met by her three-year-old little sister, who is repeating the same thing over and over again. Poppy killed mommy. Poppy killed mommy. This is the case of Stephanie Wassilishan.
Sedona, Arizona has been coined one of the most beautiful cities in the world. People from all over the globe travel there to see the breathtaking red rocks that surround the small city center, to visit one of its world-famous vortexes, or just to get away for a while. So when Stephanie Wassilishan and her boyfriend Russell Peterson are offered an opportunity to move from Phoenix to Sedona, they jump.
They were each offered positions to help open a new Italian restaurant. Russell would work as the executive chef and Stephanie as the pastry chef. Soon, the couple would find an adorable home on Coffee Pot Drive for their young family of four. Ten-year-old Nikki was the result of Stephanie's previous relationship with a man named Craig. And together, Stephanie and Russell also had a three-year-old daughter.
At this point, Stephanie's 32 and is so proud of making this move. Sedona is not a cheap city to live in. Basically, the couple had made it. For this episode, my team and I reviewed about 200 pages of case file. I also spoke to Stephanie's daughter Nikki and one of her closest childhood best friends, Lori.
Lori explained to me that Stephanie had a rather rough upbringing that was at times abusive. So going to Sedona wasn't only a huge step up for her, but a fresh start in a new city. Stephanie spends a lot of time decorating their new home meticulously. Nikki told me that her mom made sure to position the couch not only to see the TV, but also the gorgeous red rocks of Sedona out their large living room windows.
Nikki told me that her mom was that mom. She always made sure Nikki's hair was perfect and her outfit was on trend before sending her out for the day. There was always something yummy baking in the oven, and at this time she was saving all the extra cash she could to take the kids on their first trip to Disneyland. But despite this seemingly picture-perfect setting, the fresh start wasn't working out as planned, and things were deteriorating between Stephanie and Russell.
It seemed that living together and working together was too much for the young couple. According to statements from those who worked with Stephanie and Russell, Stephanie was growing increasingly upset with how much Russell was working, saying he needed to pay more attention to her and the kids.
But it seems that things really escalated when Russell was accepted to attend a 10-day cooking school at Cornell University in New York. He was scheduled to leave on July 10th. To help pay for the trip, Russell had to dip into their Disneyland fund. And Stephanie was not happy about that. And before that day could come, things came to a head in the relationship. On July 8th, 1993, two days before Russell is set to leave for this big trip, both he and Stephanie work a shift at the restaurant.
One of Stephanie's co-workers, Catherine, reports that Stephanie was not having a good day. It was pretty clear to everyone that she was really irritated that Russell decided to go on this trip. But Stephanie makes it through the workday and leaves for home just after 5 p.m. Russell gets a ride home from a co-worker who reports that he was in great spirits and really excited about going on his trip to New York. He gets home closer to 11 p.m.,
Now, that night before Russell gets home, Stephanie makes a few phone calls. First to her sister Wendy just after 7pm. Here, she expresses more frustration with Russell. Not being attentive, taking the Disneyland money, everything I've explained previously. She also starts drinking.
They speak for about 45 minutes. After this, Stephanie speaks with her ex, Nikki's dad, Craig. Nikki told me that her dad remembers this conversation 30 years later. While normally they would speak for about 10 to 15 minutes just trying to arrange things for Nikki, this conversation was much different. The pair speaks for close to an hour and a half. Stephanie is upset about Russell. She says he's drinking too much. Again, the same complaints I've discussed.
Now, while Craig had been in a long-term relationship previously, he and his partner had recently broken up. So eventually, Craig offers for Stephanie and both girls to move back to Phoenix and into his home, which, according to Craig, was the plan. Craig and Stephanie eventually hang up, and Stephanie calls her sister Wendy again.
Wendy would later tell the police that she didn't know why, but during this call, Stephanie was much happier for some reason. She would later find out the plan Stephanie had with Craig, and assumes her sister didn't tell her because she just wasn't Craig's biggest fan. During this second call, they speak for about 35 minutes, until around 11pm when Russell gets home.
What we know next is really from Russell's point of view. At around 1.40 a.m. on what was now July 9th, Russell calls 911 and tells the operator, quote, Uh, I need help. When asked what he needed help with, Russell replied, quote, Uh, there's been a very bad accident. Uh, me and my wife, we were in an argument. And, uh, she's hurt. She's hurt very bad. I need help.
The operator asks what happened, and Russell said that she'd been shot. When asked who shot her, he replied, quote, I don't know who. I might have. She might have shot herself. The operator then asks where she'd been shot, and Russell said, quote, It looks like she's been shot in the neck or the chest. The 911 operator then dispatches police to the house, while the fire department gives Russell directions on how to perform CPR.
When police arrive, they enter through the front door and announce themselves. While standing in the living room, officers said that anyone inside the house needed to reveal themselves.
Russell begins walking towards the living room. He still had the phone in his hand on the line with the 911 operator. From there, he led officers to his and Stephanie's bedroom. There, officers saw Stephanie. She was lying on her back on the floor near the closet and the TV stand. She had a gunshot wound to her throat. They check for a pulse, but Stephanie is gone.
Officers also noted that Russell and Stephanie's three-year-old daughter was in the bedroom. She was on the bed saying, that's my mommy. Both she and Russell were taken to the living room while the other officers secured the rest of the house. In the lower level garage that had been converted into a bedroom at the opposite end of the house from Stephanie and Russell's bedroom, officers find 10-year-old Nikki who is still asleep. Here's Nikki to tell you what happened next. What I remember is,
And the cops waking me up at 2 a.m. and then hustling me so fast within minutes from my room to the cop car. And that'll be the last time I'm ever in that house. But when they're hustling me by, I see Russell in the same spot where my mother was hours earlier on the couch.
He's rocking. He's rocking. And there's cops standing all over him. And now I know what they were doing. They were interrogating him. As a little child, I had no idea what was going on. There's cops there. I thought the cops were taking me away. I thought I did something wrong. I didn't know why I was being put into a cop car. I was asking where my mom was. They kept telling me that my mom and Russell got into a fight. And my mom was at my aunt's house.
I believed it. They put me in the cop car with my little sister where my four-year-old, three four-year-old sisters repeating, Poppy killed mommy. Poppy killed mommy. Poppy killed mommy because she's four and she doesn't understand what she just saw. So she's saying it like she's a Disneyland character. And like, here I am, I'm 10. And I'm like, what's, there's cops here. I know there's something wrong. My sister's telling me that my, her dad killed her mom. And I just see, I remember cherries and blueberries just
Blue and red off the garage of my home for I felt like we were in that cop car for hours before they finally got him and they put him in the same cop car.
And they drive us away from my home. And that was last time. And as they're driving us away, he's sitting in between me and my sister and he's hugging and squeezing on me. And he's whispering in my ear, I want to keep the family together. And I love you and stuff like that. Like just the mere fact that he was involved in a domestic homicide, they put him in the same car as the children and then let him touch me. It like blows my mind.
blows my mind. So that's what I remember from the night and the summer of my mother's murder. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Quince. I can't believe that we are rolling into fall, but we are, which means it's time to refresh your wardrobe. And luckily, Quince offers timeless and high-quality pieces that will not blow your budget.
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Russell was questioned away from the kids. He said he worked at the restaurant until around 11 p.m. When he got home, he found out that Stephanie had been drinking and that she'd been on an extended phone call with her ex, Craig.
Russell said that he and Stephanie talked for quite some time in the living room, but then their conversation turned into an argument. Russell explained how he'd been accepted into the cooking school, and how to get to Cornell, Russell had to buy a plane ticket to New York. He says Stephanie was upset about this, and that's what started the argument. Russell tells officers that while he and Stephanie were arguing in the living room, Stephanie got up and grabbed Russell's handgun from their bedroom closet.
Russell confirmed that the gun was loaded in a holster on the top shelf under some belongings. He says he was sitting on the couch, and then after Stephanie grabbed the gun, she came back to the living room and pointed it at him. She said she was going to, quote, blow his head off or words to that extent. From here, she fires a single round at Russell, but the bullet misses him. He then gets up off the couch and meets Stephanie near the hallway between their bedroom and the living room.
Now, Russell's statements about what happened next are vague. He only said that the fatal shot to Stephanie was fired in their bedroom. He would provide more detail in future interviews with detectives, which we will talk about in just a minute.
But following his short interview with officers, Russell and both girls are transported to the police station. At the station, investigators interview both girls. When they ask Stephanie's three-year-old what happened, she said she heard one shot, woke up, and saw her dad kill her mother, quote, with a gun, and then she bleeded. Now, we have to remember that she's three.
But upon further questioning, she said that she didn't witness the actual shooting because she'd been in her room sleeping. She said that after she heard one shot, she walked to her parents' bedroom. There, she saw Stephanie on the floor bleeding, face down, while Russell was sitting on the bed. She said that Russell told her he shot the gun, and that it's, quote, hopeless. Then he cried. She said she then saw Russell take the gun out of the closet.
When detectives speak to 10-year-old Nikki, she says that she was asleep during the shooting and didn't witness anything. After the kids are interviewed, detectives go to Russell and ask if it's okay if the kids are temporarily placed in a foster home. He agrees, and that's where the girls go for the night. And now this is when they finally get to speak with Russell in depth about the shooting. They asked him to walk them through everything that happened, starting on the morning of July 8th all the way up to the shooting.
He said it was a pretty normal morning. He and Stephanie woke up around 11.30 a.m. and had some coffee. At around noon, they went to work at the restaurant. He says there were no incidents at work that day. Stephanie leaves around 5.30 and he leaves closer to 11. He says once he got home, he gave Stephanie a kiss, then took a shower. After the shower, he began talking to Stephanie in the living room. Here, she tells him about the two-hour telephone conversation she had with her ex Craig that evening.
But he says that this wasn't where they began to fight. It was only when Russell began talking about going to New York that their conversation started to heat up. But Russell does tell detectives that he wasn't really concerned about this argument because it wasn't uncommon for Stephanie to become upset. But then, Stephanie got up, walked to their bedroom, and came back with a gun in her hands. Russell reiterates that he was sitting on the couch at this point. He says Stephanie said, quote, "'Russell, I'm going to shoot you.'"
Then she cocked the hammer back. Stephanie shot the gun and missed Russell. The bullet went above him. He then got up and followed her down the hall into their bedroom, while talking to her the whole time. Once they were in the bedroom, Stephanie stood in front of the closet, cocked the gun back again, and said, quote, Russell, I'm going to kill you. He says he then grabbed Stephanie's wrist and they struggled as he tried to get the gun out of her hand.
When investigators push and ask him what happened during this struggle, Russell says that he can't really give specific details because it all happened so fast. He says the struggle maybe lasted 15 to 20 seconds, but he tells detectives that the struggle ended when the gun went off and Stephanie dropped to the floor face down. He couldn't believe what happened and he panicked. He rolled Stephanie's head to look at her, then he picked up the gun and put it back in the holster which was on the floor.
Russell then placed the gun and the holster on the closet shelf. 15-20 seconds later, he realized that he shouldn't have moved the gun, so he took the gun out of the holster and laid it back on the floor. Russell said that's when he noticed their 3-year-old daughter was in the hallway. He says he didn't go to her. Instead, he went to the bathroom. And when he came out, he noticed that Stephanie was still on the ground. This is when he calls 911 and asks for help.
After telling investigators what he remembers about that night, they ask him about their relationship as a whole, and Russell says, quote, I mean, we love each other. I mean, you can talk to people. You can do whatever you want to do. We have a very, we had, whatever, a good and semi-bad relationship. That's just how relationships go.
Following the interview, Russell signed a consent form for police to search his house. That night, Russell is also taken back to the house with detectives. He's asked to change and hand over his clothes. He's then taken back to the station, and this is what investigators find in the house.
In the living room, they find a bullet hole in the wall between the window and the front door. On the end table next to the couch, investigators find a partially full glass of beer. On the coffee table, there was an empty glass of red wine. In the trash, they find a wine bottle and a beer bottle.
Investigators also looked over Russell and Stephanie's bedroom, where Stephanie's body was still lying. Above Stephanie's right shoulder, they recover a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum revolver, which was partially on top of a brown leather holster. There were four bullets still remaining in the gun. There was a bullet in the bedroom wall, and bullet fragments on top of the TV and on the floor area.
Investigators took note of Stephanie's body and the way it was positioned in the room. She was wearing a nightshirt, which was torn in the upper front button area. A pair of red eyeglasses, three yellow chains, and a locket were partially entangled in the right side of Stephanie's hair. A gold-colored chain was under Stephanie's right arm, and a much smaller piece of a similar gold chain was found near the doorway to the bedroom.
When investigators were done examining the bedroom, Stephanie's body was then taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy, which was completed that same day. The autopsy concluded that a single bullet entered the upper portion of the left side of Stephanie's throat. The muzzle of the gun had been in contact with her neck when the shot was fired. The bullet passed through the left part of Stephanie's neck and exited below her skull on the right rear portion of her neck, at about the bottom of her hairline.
Gunpowder residue tests were conducted on Stephanie's hands. It was determined that she only had residue on her left hand. There was none on her right hand. Stephanie was right-handed, so this meant that if she did pull the trigger, she did so with her non-dominant hand. Stephanie's blood alcohol content came in at .17, just over double the legal driving limit.
At this point, the medical examiner waits to make an official determination about Stephanie's manner of death pending further investigation. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Ibotta. Are you planning your dream vacation but dreading the cost?
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While waiting on the final autopsy reports, detectives interview as many people as they can, just trying to figure out what exactly happened here. They speak with Stephanie and Russell's neighbors. One couple says that for the most part, they were quiet. In the last year and a half, they had heard Russell and Stephanie arguing a couple of times at night, but they'd never seen any violence. Detectives also looked for prior police reports of domestic violence, but there were none there.
As I discussed earlier, they also extensively interviewed the crew at the restaurant that both of them worked at. Catherine, the one who was speaking to Stephanie in the parking lot before she left, was asked what Stephanie and Russell were like at work. She said Stephanie was always pushing Russell's buttons, but he wouldn't respond to her threats, he just ignored them. She says she never saw any acts of physical violence between the couple.
They speak to another co-worker named Susie. She says she has seen Stephanie get pretty angry with her kids, but she never heard her threaten Russell. She also says she never saw Russell get upset with Stephanie or threaten her. They talk to the restaurant owner, Peter. He says he never heard Russell say any mean words or complain about Stephanie. On the other hand, he said he had heard Stephanie, quote, "'speak quite badly in a detrimental manner "'about the time Russell spends at his occupation.'"
Now, Peter says that after all this happened, he kind of rallied up all of his employees and spoke to them about what they saw on the 8th. And the consensus seems to be that Stephanie was very upset that day, and they all felt like the thing she was upset about was Russell's 10-day trip to New York. Detectives, of course, also speak to Russell's parents. They describe their son as a very passive person, who was busy pursuing his life goal as a chef.
They said he was very talented and looking forward to going to the program at Cornell. They reiterate that he's a very non-aggressive person. They could never believe that he would purposely hurt Stephanie. They added that there were times that Stephanie would get nasty with Russell. They described Stephanie as someone who was tormented, who came from an alcoholic and abusive background.
Investigators also speak with Stephanie's family, who paint a very different picture of that relationship. Stephanie's mother, Bernice, described their relationship as, quote, not smooth. She added that Stephanie told her on more than 50 occasions that Russell was abusive, both physically and emotionally.
Before the interview was over, Bernice told detectives that Russell called her and told her about what happened the night that Stephanie died. He said Stephanie shot herself, not that they had been wrestling over the gun and the gun went off. Obviously, things just aren't adding up. From here, detectives speak with Stephanie's sister, Wendy. She tells them that her sister loved life and was afraid of death. She doesn't believe she would have ever completed suicide.
She also tells detectives that Stephanie told her that Russell was abusive, and that he would get drunk and urinate all over the residence.
She confirms that yes, they spoke on the phone multiple times that night. The first was around 7.15pm. Stephanie called and was not in a good mood. She explains that Stephanie told her that her and Russell hadn't had sex in seven months, but she had arranged for the kids to be gone so she and Russell could be alone. Wendy says that when they spoke again at around 10.30pm, Stephanie was happy.
Detectives also speak with Stephanie's oldest sister, Kathleen. She said in the six months before her death, Stephanie had been unsure and increasingly unhappy. Stephanie told Kathleen that Russell was physically abusive toward her. She said that she was thinking about leaving Russell, but was hesitant because of their daughter. Kathleen told detectives that she even offered to help Stephanie leave Russell.
Before the interview was over, detectives asked Kathleen if she had witnessed any abuse, and she said no. The last sibling of Stephanie's that detectives interviewed was her brother Lance. He told detectives that Stephanie was not suicidal. When asked about Stephanie and Russell's relationship, he said Stephanie had tried to make the relationship work, but they didn't have sex, and Russell was physically abusive.
Now, unlike Kathleen and Wendy, Lance says that he witnessed this firsthand. This was a few years prior when Russell and Stephanie lived in Phoenix. Lance says that he was at their apartment when he saw Russell shove and scream at Stephanie. Lance stepped in and nothing further happened.
And of course, they want to speak to Craig. They want to talk to the guy that was on the phone with her for almost two hours that night. Craig says that Stephanie had an average temper. She would say things like, I'm going to kill you, but he knew that she was just joking. He describes Stephanie as a, quote, very strong-willed girl, and says that she never talked about suicide. When asked if he owned any guns, Craig said yes. Detectives asked if Stephanie ever shot them, and Craig said he didn't think so.
But then he did change his mind and say maybe she did a couple of times. Detectives, of course, also ask Craig about Stephanie and Russell's relationship. He explains that Stephanie had confided in him that Russell drank a lot, and she hinted that he maybe roughed her up.
Before the interview was over, detectives asked Craig about the call he had with Stephanie on the night of the 8th. He says that they talked about a variety of things. Russell and Stephanie's problems, when Craig was going to pick up Nikki next, and the old times.
Detectives also interview Stephanie's 10-year-old daughter, Nikki, again. Now, I will say that now that Nikki is older and an adult and able to reflect back a little bit differently on the situation, her opinion has changed. But at 10 years old, this is what she says. During the interview, she's asked about Stephanie and Russell's relationship.
She says that they got along fine and that they were best friends. When asked if Russell ever hit Stephanie, Nikki replied, no way. She told detectives that her mom, quote, always said Russell was so nice to her that he would never hit her.
Nikki reiterated that Russell wasn't mean to her or her sister and was a nice guy. Nikki also said that she thought her mom would have told her if Russell had hit her because they were friends. They ask Nikki if her mom ever hit Russell, and she says yes, she had seen her mother hitting Russell. They seem to argue about him working too much, that he wasn't spending enough time with the family. Nikki said that her mom was a little upset that Russell was spending money to go to the cooking school.
When detectives asked if Russell drank a lot, she said she didn't think so, but he might have at work. She wasn't too sure. Nikki added that when Russell drank too much, he would bump into things.
Detectives ask Nikki to walk them through what happened on the 8th. Nikki recalls her mom yelling at her and her sister to go to their rooms because she was talking to Craig, making arrangements for Nikki to see him. Nikki tells detectives that her mom may have had a couple beers during this time. She says later that night, she, her mom, and her three-year-old sister all watched TV and played hide-and-seek together.
Later, Stephanie sent the girls to their rooms. At around 11pm, Nikki kissed Stephanie goodnight, then went to bed. She says that she heard Russell get home that night about 15 minutes later, but then she went to sleep and didn't witness the shooting or hear anything. At this point, it really seems like detectives are just trying to get a gauge on this relationship, and really figure out if Stephanie may have completed suicide.
Now, I just want to say that I know this is a hot topic, and it feels absolutely worth mentioning and really only ethical to mention that we know that people do complete suicide without showing any signs beforehand. That being said, detectives can only work with what they have, and this is the reality of how this case transpired.
I think one of the hardest parts about covering this case is that the only people in the house that survived that night were Russell and two children, who, as honest as they may be, just aren't the most reliable witnesses. Really, it's basically Russell's word versus witness statements and evidence found at the scene.
So after completing all these interviews, they go back to Russell again. And this time, he changes a major part of his story. Now he says maybe there was no fight over the gun.
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Hear the story on Where's Dear? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. During another in-depth interview with investigators, Russell says that he had a drink at work before he got driven home. He says when he got inside the house, he found out that Stephanie had been drinking. After he took a shower, they shared a bottle of wine. Russell tells detectives that he might have gotten, quote, slightly impaired.
And now Russell starts to go a little bit more in-depth about what happened between Stephanie and Craig on the phone that night. He says Stephanie told him that she and Craig talked for two and a half hours. Craig invited her to go stay with him and see if they could patch things up. But Russell tries to clarify with detectives that Stephanie was not threatening to go back to Craig or anything like that. She was just filling him in on the call.
Of course, detectives ask Russell how he feels about this conversation. He admits that it did make him uncomfortable, but says that because Craig is the father of Nikki, it didn't really bother him. Russell further says that he didn't really have a problem with Stephanie talking to Craig, but he was surprised with how long they talked that night. He says it wasn't normal for them to talk for two and a half hours. Normally, they'd spend less than 15 minutes on the phone going over money and other things related to Nikki.
Then he goes into what happened next. He says, quote,
Russell says that Stephanie didn't say anything when she got up. She just goes into the bedroom and comes back out with a gun, then saying, quote, Russell, I'm going to shoot you. Russell says at this point, he puts his hands up and says, quote, Steph, what are you, crazy? No, no, no.
Russell tells detectives that while he was looking at Stephanie, she shot the gun off once. Then she turned around, re-cocked the gun, and walked to the bedroom. Russell says he sat on the couch for a moment or two, just trying to absorb everything that happened. Then he went to the bedroom where Stephanie was with the gun. Russell told detectives that he didn't think Stephanie said anything to him when he got in there. Russell says the gun was never in his hand.
There may or may not have been a scuffle. He thought they may have scuffled a little bit. Then the gun went off and Stephanie dropped to the floor. Russell said the gun fell to the ground. Then he looked to the hallway and saw their three-year-old daughter. She looked right at him and said, quote, You killed Mommy. Mommy's dead. Russell says he tells her daughter that he didn't kill Mommy and that she needed to go back to her room.
Russell says from here he picks up the gun and puts it in the holster, which he says was already in the closet or it could have been on the bed. He wasn't sure. Detectives write in their report that at this point in the interview, Russell, quote, got very nervous.
Now that Russell was done telling his version of events, detectives asked him outright if he was the one who shot Stephanie. Here we get another conflicting version of events. Russell said he didn't think so. All he remembered after Stephanie shot the gun off in the living room was walking down the hallway. Russell said that as he went through the bedroom door, he heard another shot and Stephanie dropped. He said he picked up Stephanie's head and set it back down. Then he noticed their daughter in the hallway.
Russell told detectives again that he never had possession of the gun. He said the only time he touched the gun was after Stephanie was already on the ground. Russell said that he got very nervous and didn't know what to do, so he picked up the gun. He told detectives, quote, I put it in the closet. I put it in the holster. No, I put it in the closet. The holster, it does not make sense. I put it back down and I called 911. I said there had been a very bad accident.
So, detectives ask Russell what he thinks happened to Stephanie that night in the bedroom. He says that after taking some time to think about it, he believes that Stephanie completed suicide. Detectives then brought up how many people shared that Stephanie didn't want Russell to go to New York. In response, Russell said, "...maybe this was her way. I mean, in some, in a sick manner. This was the one and only way."
From here, they ask him about his and Stephanie's experience with guns. Russell says that he'd shot them twice in his life. He only owned a gun because his father had gifted it to him a few years prior. He again reiterates that Stephanie's ex, Craig, had a bunch of guns around, but he wasn't sure how many times Stephanie had shot them.
So, detectives ask Russell to tell them just about who Stephanie was as a person. He describes her as loving, saying that she loved Russell and their two children. Russell also says that he had taken Stephanie out of abusive environments with Craig. He also explains that Stephanie had confided in him about abuse from her family. But,
But he says that Stephanie was never physically aggressive, but she was verbally aggressive. Before the interview was over, Russell was asked about his sex life with Stephanie. He told detectives, quote,
The next day, Russell reaches out to detectives and asks them to meet him at his house. He wants to show them what happened during the shooting. And here, Russell goes over the events of what happened that night again. He explained that he was sitting on the couch in the living room when Stephanie came out of the bedroom with a gun and shot at him. He stayed on the couch for about a minute before he got up and followed Stephanie into the bedroom. Russell then told detectives that he did not think there was a struggle for the gun inside of the bedroom.
He says he knows this because he remembers seeing her fall, hit her head on the corner of a table near the closet, then come to rest under the table. Russell said that he was nervous and in another state of mind, so he put the gun back in the closet. Then he realized that was a mistake, so he took the gun out of the closet and put it back on the floor. Russell said that at some point in time, he realized that his daughter was in the hallway. He told her to go back to her room, then he called 911.
Before the interview was over, detectives asked Russell again if he wrestled with Stephanie for the gun, and he told investigators that he'd come to the conclusion that he did not wrestle with Stephanie. He said, quote,
If there was any kind of wrestling match, the first thing to do would be possibly make the gun point down, point up, point somewhere where it's out of harm's way, which would have then necessitated a second shot being fired into the ground or the wall or to somewhere else. He says that when that fatal shot was fired, he was in the door jam area. According to detectives, after this interview, Russell canceled numerous appointments for a polygraph, a reenactment, and more follow-up interviews with detectives.
Then, on July 30th, Stephanie's sister Wendy called detectives to say that she spoke with Russell four days prior. Russell said that Stephanie took a shot at him, then went into the other room. When he came around the corner, she was on the bed, dead. He'd never heard the shot. Wendy added that during this conversation, Russell told her that the police said they didn't need to do an official reenactment or polygraph, because they had enough evidence and information.
Wendy asked Russell if he would do both of those things, and he replied yes. Now, my team and I have over 150 pages of case file, and detectives note in their report that they never told Russell that he didn't need to do a reenactment or a polygraph. By early August, it's decided that they need to do this reenactment. They need to figure out exactly how this happened. Because at this point, Russell had given conflicting statements. Sometimes there was a struggle, other times there wasn't. They
Basically, in order to figure out if charges needed to be filed, detectives had to figure out if either scenario was possible. To do this, detectives used a handgun of the same model and size. They also had a woman with the same arm and hand measurement stand in as Stephanie. Russell did not help with the reenactment, so an officer stood in for him.
During the reenactment, both of Russell's statements were tested. They wanted to see if Stephanie's stand-in was able to pull the trigger of the gun with her left hand at the same angle as the bullet had entered Stephanie's throat. But when no one struggled with the stand-in, she was not able to pull the trigger in the same location. Only when an investigator struggled with the stand-in was she able to discharge the gun. They had their answer.
After the reenactment was over, detectives took those results to the medical examiner. Around a week later, the examiner ruled Stephanie's manner of death as a homicide. Join me next week for part two of Stephanie's story. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.
Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. This episode contains writing and research assistance by Haley Gray. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice.
