Stephanie Wasilishin Part 2
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Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

Today I'm bringing you part two of the case of Stephanie Wassilishan. Last week, I outlined Stephanie's living situation in Sedona, Arizona, and we learned a bit about her relationship with her boyfriend, Russell Peterson. We heard from Stephanie's daughter, Nikki, who was there the night her mom died. And I left you in August 1993, with Stephanie's death being ruled a homicide by the medical examiner.

So, let's dive right back into it. Here's what the medical examiner found. They pointed out that while Stephanie was right-handed, there was no gun residue found on that hand. It was only found on the left. The residue was found on the palm and webbing. Now, this led the medical examiner to believe that Stephanie may have been in a defensive posture when she was shot. Almost like she was pushing the gun away with her left hand when she was shot.

It seemed that they had their answer about what happened that night. It was declared a homicide. And of course, after this autopsy was complete, detectives spoke with Russell again. As we've seen before, some elements of Russell's story stay the same, and some change. They ask him to go over the events of July 8th again, starting with before he got home from work. Russell tells detectives that Stephanie called him three times while he was at work, which he thought was odd.

He said he could understand her calling once to ask when he was coming home, but he didn't understand why she made the other two calls. He speculates to police that maybe something happened during her conversation with Craig. He goes on to say that Stephanie called Craig back at 11.20pm, which is about the same time Russell got home. He says he wasn't sure why Stephanie called Craig back, and said there was really no reason for her to do so, and according to Nikki, Craig doesn't remember that last phone call at all.

But Russell goes on to say that after he got home, Stephanie told him that he stunk from being at the restaurant all day. Despite this, he was excited for that night because they were supposed to have sex. He even brought home a bottle of wine to celebrate his trip. So Russell says he took a shower, then they sat on the couch and talked for a while while having a few glasses of wine. Then he says the next thing he knew, Stephanie got up and went to the bedroom. For some reason, 10 seconds later, she comes back out with the gun.

She stands about eight feet away from him and says, Russell, I'm going to kill you. Russell says he looked at her, put his hands up, and said, Wait, Stephanie, what's going on? She shot the gun, and he fell back into the couch thinking he'd been shot. He heard the gun cock, then Stephanie walked back to their bedroom.

Now, it's noted in the case file that at this point during the interview, Russell pauses his recollection of events. He stops to tell detectives that he can't forgive Stephanie for wanting to kill him. And he adds that he thinks the shooting was premeditated, because he kept his gun on the second shelf of the closet underneath clothes and behind something else. In his interview, he just describes it as a thing.

But he does stop to make this point that he feels basically like Stephanie was trying to kill him and that it was premeditated. Then he continues. He says that 30 seconds after Stephanie fired the gun, he got off the couch and walked to the bedroom. When he got to the door, it was three-fourths of the way closed. He opened the door and stepped in. Russell then tells detectives, quote, I don't think there was a struggle. The struggle was my own struggle.

And detectives push. They ask why he didn't think that he put his hands on Stephanie. And he replies, End quote.

He went on to explain that he watched as she went limp, saying that the life was gone from her. Then he adds something new to the story that we haven't heard up to this point. He explains that as Stephanie is falling, she hit her head on the TV knobs, then the table the TV was on, before finally landing on her back. Russell explains to detectives that he knew Stephanie was dead, but he didn't want to accept it.

Detectives ask Russell where the gun holster had been during the shooting. He says he never touched it. They then ask where his younger daughter was. And he said he saw her in the hallway after he turned to get the phone to call 911. At this point, Russell's story has changed quite a bit. During his call to 911, he says he may have shot Stephanie. Now he's saying he was in the doorway when he saw her drop. And he's adding new details like the TV turning on as Stephanie's head hits the knobs.

So detectives bring this up to Russell. They want to know why there's so many inconsistencies in his stories. They also tell him that they tested out his claim that Stephanie shot herself and it just wasn't making sense. They explain that someone with Stephanie's build wouldn't be able to squeeze the trigger and shoot herself in the exact place the gunshot was located. And that the medical examiner believes Stephanie may have been in a defensive posture when she was shot. That she likely pushed the gun with her left hand.

They asked Russell to explain how that happened, but Russell said he couldn't. And detectives push even further. They say it appeared that there had been a struggle in the bedroom. They told Russell that they wanted the truth of what really happened on July 8th, but Russell said that he'd told them the truth, that he'd been more than willing to speak with them.

And again, detectives push back, saying that's not true. They remind him that after the first few interviews, Russell had canceled several appointments. They further pointed out that they had bent over backwards to try to prove this claim that Stephanie's death was an accident. But again, the evidence was just not fitting that claim.

According to reporting by Justin Lum for Fox 10 Phoenix, Russell did not speak to detectives again following this interview. He never took a polygraph or participated in any official reenactment. In mid-October, Russell contacted detectives and gave them his current phone number.

Now, I can't tell you why the Sedona PD didn't request this directly from the phone company. But at this point, they ask Russell to bring in his July phone statement. They want the call log. And to Russell's credit, he does bring it in the next day. And they find something alarming, another inconsistency with Russell's story. It appears that someone made a call from Russell and Stephanie's home at 1.36am. This

This call was made to a phone number in Glendale, Arizona and lasted for about one minute. Four minutes later, at 1.40, Russell called 911. Someone called someone four minutes before 911 was called. Just keep that in your back pocket because I will get back to this later when we have more information.

But not long after this, in late October, more than three months after Stephanie's death, detectives meet with the Yavapai County Attorney's Office to discuss preparing charges against Russell. At this time, the attorney's office tells these detectives that they need to do maybe a little bit more work. They suggest consulting a psychologist to have them look over Russell's statements, then give an expert opinion. Then, once that opinion was formed, the county attorney would look over everything and consider charges.

But there's no note about whether or not this was ever completed in Stephanie's case file. There was a request that the gun that killed Stephanie be tested, but that request was also withdrawn in November 1993, and no explanation is provided in the report. It's also worth noting that when Nikki would later request her mom's case file, this page was left out of the report, and only later obtained by her Aunt Wendy.

By the end of 1993, the county attorney's office officially declined to take the case to a grand jury, citing insufficient evidence. The office said Russell's confusion over the facts could be a result of trauma or wishful thinking. The attorney's office was approached for a second time, but they again declined to take it any further.

After Stephanie's death, both of her girls were placed in a foster home temporarily. Then eventually, Nikki was sent to live with her father, Craig, and her younger sister stayed with Russell. They grew up completely apart, though Nikki does remember that about a year after her mother's death, they finally got to take that trip to Disneyland with their aunt.

After reuniting with her sister, Nikki still had those words, Poppy killed Mommy, Poppy killed Mommy, burned in her brain from the night their mother died. But now her sister was saying something very different. Mommy killed herself. Nikki told me that Russell kept her sister away from her mom's side of the family. And they unfortunately didn't have a relationship with each other while growing up. And they still don't.

From here, Stephanie's case just sits for about 25 years, until the Sedona Police Department gets a call from her sister Wendy. 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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In 2020, detectives from the Sedona Police Department met with Stephanie's sister, Wendy. She told them that she strongly believes Russell is responsible for Stephanie's death.

Basically, this is her formal request that they keep investigating. And they do. Stephanie's case is reinvestigated for the first time since the 90s. And for the first time ever, Stephanie's case began getting some media coverage. One detective spoke with Sedona Red Rock News. He said that after reviewing 400 plus pages of police files, he can't say with 100% certainty whether or not Stephanie was murdered. But

but he adds that he can tell that the full story of what happened to Stephanie is not in the police file that he has. Something has been left out. From here, a much larger media outlet, our local Phoenix Fox News station, picks up the case. And Sergeant Laura Leon from the Sedona PD tells reporter Justin Lum that she would like to speak with Russell, but she says he's refused to talk to them.

Now, Nikki says that at this point, she really thought that this reinvestigation and Fox 10 News featuring her mom would be enough to eventually close this case. That surely had just been forgotten after all these years. But that's not what happened. The relationship with the Sona Police Department has been a little bit tumultuous. It's been up and down, um...

And when at first I emailed them so excited that somebody was actually looking at it, I like, gosh, thank you so much. And oh my gosh, and blah, blah, blah. And I sent that email out only to be met with

Your mom's case is really old. It's been reassigned. So already it's been reassigned. I'm talking to a second investigator. He gives me that investigator's contact info. I send out the same. I'm still excited. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I just found out you have my mom's case. This is around Thanksgiving of 2021. And right after Thanksgiving, I get like this kind of a message. It's like a half a paragraph. Hi, Nikki. I've been meaning to reach out to you.

And you answered some of the questions I had for you. Mind you, she's meaning to reach out to me for five months. Nothing. I had to find her stuff and she's meaning to ask me questions. OK, so but you already answered them. You were asleep and you know nothing. So essentially, I sat back and I was like, that was my first communication with the active investigator on my mom's case. And she's telling me that she's got no interest in talking to me.

None. Then I realized she didn't want to do nothing. And then I was like, okay, bring it on. I want the case file, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. My mom did not kill herself. You need to look further. I have information. Like I spewed out everything that I knew in that second email. And it's like, she didn't care. Didn't care. She knew that I had relevant information in 2021. Didn't care. So that's when I requested the case file. I started talking to County records. They told me it was going to take several weeks to redact. And yeah,

That's when it sat in my email for nine months before I was ready to open it, like ready to tag in. But my point is, is that they wanted no communication with me. They wanted to not interview me, even though I had relevant information about my father, about, you know, her. It's just it's frustrating because they did not want to talk to me.

But eventually, Nikki did open that case file. And before long, like a lot of families, she took the burden to get attention for her mother's case on herself. And she began making YouTube videos. But YouTube is a hard platform to break into, and she didn't see a lot of traction. Then, our former co-worker Brett reached out to her and told her to try TikTok. He

He said that he'd seen me have a lot of success trying to get the word out about my sister, and she should reach out to me too. So Nikki and I reconnected after nearly a decade after we'd last seen each other.

I know, it's a twist. I know Nikki and I have for quite some time. I didn't want to tell you that in part one because I just wanted to present the facts. But now that we're getting into Nikki's journey, it feels more appropriate to talk about it. And the thing is, we didn't know about each other's struggles until just recently.

See, Nikki, Brett, and I all worked at a little restaurant chain called TGI Fridays in the mid-2000s. But Nikki and I never knew each other's stories. At that time, we were both running from the harsh reality that our loved ones were gone. I ran. I ran for a long time from this. And you probably the same way. You probably didn't want to face it head on until you were ready. And I really wasn't ready until I got the phone call that they were reinvestigating it.

after 28 years and then they did nothing with it and that's when I realized after 28 and a half years they were going to do nothing and I had to face it

So it was like full stop. Like, and then that's when I found out through a friend of ours, Brett told, not only did I have reporters mention your name and they brought up Sarah Turney and TikTok. And I was like, as soon as they mentioned TikTok, I was like too good for it. But it wasn't until Brett Packard was like, you need to talk to Sarah Turney. And that's what he told me what you had done since we saw each other last. I sat on YouTube and Googled you and spent like an hour down the rabbit hole with you and Alyssa's story. And I couldn't believe it. And I was like, I want to cry.

After this, Nikki started a TikTok account to advocate for her mom and spread the word. She also documented her investigation into the case by posting nearly every single day. She's gone pretty viral. You might know her videos because they start with, Hi, I'm the daughter of a murdered woman. Now, Nikki found out a lot while looking into her mom's case. She discovers that her maternal grandmother and her Aunt Wendy had their suspicions of Russell from the beginning.

and they kept every official document they could about the case and kept notes. She also realized that while the Sedona Red Rock News obtained around 400 pages of her mother's case file, her grandmother and aunt had closer to 200, and when she requested the file, she got even less.

While the Sedona PD never released the phone records from that night to her, they were in her family's older file. And this is when she sees it, that Russell had made another phone call that night before he called 911. And through comparing phone numbers in the case file, she realizes that Russell called his father. Now, unfortunately, this is not addressed in the case file I have for Stephanie. There's no interview with Russell's father to clarify what was discussed in this call, if anything.

Nikki also realizes that while the handgun and holster were examined for latent prints, the lab wasn't able to make an identification to anyone. Not Russell or Stephanie. And here is one of the most frustrating things about this case in my opinion. While her mother's hands were tested for the gunshot residue, Russell's never were.

Clearly a huge missed opportunity for this case that definitely could have cleared up at least whether or not there was a struggle for the gun that night, which seems to be the biggest point of contention in this case. Now, of course, in addition to reviewing official documents, Nikki began just talking to people.

asking around about what they remembered after all this time. And she was eventually connected to one of Russell's ex-wives, who had a lot to say. For her privacy, I have redacted her name. So immediately after my mom's demise, he'll get hooked up with another woman. Her name is

The end will get married. This lady will become my sister's stepmom and will become a very important part of my sister's life for the next 10 years. So that important phone call 10 years, you know, when my sister wanted to find me, she was at house. So that's where I drove down to go see my sister for the first time in 10 years was at her house. This lady let her reach out to her mother's family. So as I'm like reconnecting with my sister over that, you know, a couple months, I'm also building a relationship with

I'm talking about my mom and what happened. She's letting me know how horrible Russell was. He was a drunk. They got divorced. And she's also telling me that Russell will admit what he did to her. He will tell that he takes a shower before he calls 911, starts laundry before he calls 911. There's something else that he did. He did like three things before he calls 911.

Of course, Nikki went to the Sedona PD with this information, but they eventually said it's just hearsay and nothing that they can really use. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Ibotta. Are you planning your dream vacation but dreading the cost?

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One thing that really stuck out to me in this case was something Stephanie's childhood best friend, Lori, told me. Now, for context, Lori knew Stephanie very, very well. She told me about a lot of Stephanie's struggles growing up. Life wasn't easy for Stephanie. She and Lori first met in their early teens and were inseparable. A few years later, Stephanie got pregnant. She wanted to keep the baby, but ultimately was sent to Chicago where the baby was put up for adoption.

Lori told me that this was just devastating for Stephanie, and she often talked about the type of mom she wanted to be, the life she wanted to give her children. I spoke with Lori for over an hour. She told me stories about Stephanie standing up for her friends. In high school, her friend had accepted a class ring from a guy who ended up, in Lori's words, getting too handsy with her. This friend asked Stephanie to give back the ring for her.

And Stephanie did. She threw the ring back at him, punched him in the stomach, and then kicked him in the privates before screaming that he should pick on someone his own size next time.

In Stephanie's case file, there's a lot of talk about how aggressive she was, raunchy in the way that she spoke. So getting this context was really helpful for me. We grew up in the same areas, albeit about 30 years apart, but I really feel like this helped me to better understand her. Really, she felt a lot like me, like my sister, growing up way too fast in the not-best parts of Phoenix, cruising the streets with friends and being tough as it was necessary.

People who know me intimately know that when I'm feeling very upset or aggressive, I call it my West Phoenix coming out. Growing up here, largely without parental supervision, just toughens you up in a way that's hard to describe. You really have to know how to hold your own in situations, and it seems like Stephanie certainly did.

And anyone who grows up in Phoenix can also tell you that there are a lot of guns here. It's an open carry state, so really, they're everywhere. Seeing someone with multiple guns on their hip in the grocery store isn't uncommon. And it seems that like many people in this state, myself included, growing up with guns touted like some new accessory instead of a machine designed to kill, she had a strong respect for guns that made her want to stay away.

In short, when you know what a gun can do, you respect it. Lori told me that she, her husband, and Craig would sometimes go out shooting, but Stephanie would never tag along. In fact, she didn't want to be anywhere near guns, especially while her kids were around. Please note that Lori calls Stephanie by her nickname of Stacy. Um, one time, my, uh,

My husband borrowed a shotgun, and I think it was like a Desert Eagle .357 of Craig's. He was going hunting, and he had gotten back from a trip. Stacey had come over one night, and I said, Hey, take these things. Get them out of my house. They're unloaded. Can I put them in your truck? She was in the driveway getting ready to pull out. She goes, I didn't put those freaking things in my car. I got my kid. I don't want anything to do with those guys.

I'm like, they're not loaded. She goes, he can bring them back. He borrowed them. I said, okay, peace. And oh, she just does not, did not like guns. Lori told me that while she had a great relationship with Craig, not many of their friends supported her relationship with Russell. She and Stephanie spoke about her getting away from him and out of Sedona. She also expressed concerns that she'd heard rumors that Russell was recording Stephanie's phone calls.

But over the years, and especially after the move, they just fell out of touch. I asked Lori what she thought happened that night.

She was planning on leaving Russell. She was going back to Nikki Lee's dad, Craig, Craig Head. And I think somehow either they came home, they got in a fight. And I would bet that they got in a fight over the fact that he was going to take her money that she saved to take her daughters to Disneyland. And I bet it escalated from there and she just probably told him, Paul,

possibly that, you know, I'm done, I'm leaving, and the fact that, you know, if she did say that I'm leaving or the fact that he was recording her calls, I don't know what really happened. But I know for a fact that Stacey would not reach in a closet and grab a gun and fire off a couple of caps in the house with her kids sleeping.

you know, I think he got the gun out and waved it around, tried to scare her. And there was an altercation in the doorway. Her shirt got ripped, necklace got broke. And I think she was trying to get away from him. And, and I wonder, Russell, did she tell you what an asshole you were? Is that why you, you know, did she tell Russell you were an asshole? I could hear her telling him he was an asshole. You know, that, you know, he wasn't taking her money. She was taking her kids. And I could,

Stacy would never grab a gun. Never grab a gun. She was done. D-O-N-E. Done with this man. She was leaving him. And he didn't like it because it was for Craig. He never liked Craig. Never wanted to hear anything about Craig. Yeah.

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I reached out to Sergeant Laura Leone of the Sedona Police Department for this episode. She confirmed that Stephanie's case is still open, and being reviewed yearly unless new information is developed. I guess technically it's considered inactive.

As expected with an ongoing case, her answers were brief, and she didn't give a ton of information. But I did get an answer to at least one major question in this case. I had to ask about the recommendation from the Yavapai County Attorney's Office that the Sedona PD should contact a psychologist to look over Russell's statements before moving forward with charges. I mean, this seems to be a critical misstep. I had to ask if this was ever completed.

And she told me, quote, This was delegated to the county attorney's office. In Detective Spoke's report, he noted that the Yavapai County Deputy Attorney, Chick Hastings, suggested this to his investigator. There is no follow-up report indicating if this was completed or if Russell refused. End quote. So no, it appears that this probably was not completed. Why that is, I don't know.

In these cases, I often talk about themes. I can't help but notice patterns in these cases. And the theme of this case seems to be the unknown. What happened that night? What happened with this investigation? Why was Russell Peterson put in the back of the cop car with these two small children if he wasn't cleared as a suspect? How could they miss something as huge as testing Russell's hands for gunpowder residue?

How did this case just sit for decades despite these very large discrepancies in Russell's story? And really, how the hell does no one follow up with the Yavapai County Attorney's suggestion? How were there so many missteps in this case?

Of course, I don't think anyone but those original officers on the case could tell us for sure. But I do think that there's some context to discuss that could shed some light on this. One, Russell was a very prominent member of this community. Over the years, he's been featured in the news about his work as a chef. And in Sedona, that's a really big deal. If you've ever visited Sedona, you know that the largest attractions are visiting the gorgeous landscape, Cathedral Rock, Vorpals,

Vortexes, psychics, and eating. A lot of eating. It's a small community, and tourism is its main moneymaker.

According to a report from the Forest Service describing the impact visitors had on the natural environment of Sedona in 1995, just the outdoor areas of Sedona—the parks, the forests, and natural water systems—saw just under 1.5 million visitors. That doesn't even include the city's center of Sedona, where these fabulous restaurants, such as the one that Russell and Stephanie worked at, are mostly located.

And as of 2023, tourism in Sedona alone is a $1 billion industry. That's billion with a B. They host about 3 million tourists annually. The LA Times even has an article about how to visit Sedona without being a jerk.

Like I said in part one of my coverage, people visit Sedona from all over the world. They of course come to see the natural beauty, but they also come to experience the world-renowned cuisine. So the news that one of its most prominent chefs, a man who was relocated from Phoenix to Sedona to be the head chef, the man who was just accepted into this prestigious cooking school in New York, possibly shooting and killing his girlfriend, really isn't good for business.

Now, I am not saying that there is some large cover-up with the powers that be in the Sedona tourism business. I'm just saying someone like Russell was very likely considered to be a pretty big deal here. And it's not just Russell's status in this small but prominent community that had me wondering how there were so many missteps in this case, but also the history of the Sedona Police Department.

See, Arizona is a relatively young state, being admitted into the Union in 1912. Until 1960, Sedona only had a volunteer fire department, and it wasn't until they were officially incorporated in 1988 that they had their own police department. So by the time Stephanie Wassilishan's case comes around, this department's only about five years old.

This was a brand new department in one of the busiest tourism areas in the entire state. And at this time, 1993, the population of Sedona was just above 8,000 people.

Now, unfortunately, I wasn't able to find crime reports dating back to 1993 for Sedona. But according to a few reports that I've found, not a single murder has been reported in Sedona dating back to at least 2001. In fact, overall crime rates in Sedona are extremely low compared to the rest of the state and much of the country.

This is obviously a great thing, but like we see in a lot of these cases, with a lack of crime often comes a lack of experience for these police officers. And I think that may have been the case here. It was and is a small town, and they just never worked a case quite like this before. Coupling that with DNA technology and testing in general being a newer science for even large departments, it seems like a lot of opportunities to gather more evidence were just missed.

In short, the Sedona PD was likely much more accustomed to dealing with minor violations made by tourists than full-fledged death investigations. And really, likely probably still are. Which begs the question, why not bring in a higher authority? Well, Nikki and her family thought of this. She says they asked the FBI to step in and be involved. And they agreed. But Nikki says the Sedona Police Department declined.

And this is pretty much where Stephanie's case is today. The Sedona PD is accepting new leads and working them as they come in. But from the outside, as of recording this episode, not much progress has been made past what they did in 1993.

This family is asking for a full investigation, a full revisit of her case, for Russell's statements to be reviewed as was suggested by the county attorney's office. They just want answers. Which brings me right to our call to action.

Sign the petition. I did start a petition demanding a proper homicide investigation for my mother. The fact that people know my mom's name is astounding. So if you see a podcast and you see Stephanie Wassilish's name pop up, listen to it. That's the best you can do. Just be there. Follow my mom's story. And don't let my mom go back on a shelf, man. That petition will, of course, be linked in the episode description. Please sign and please share.

This incident, Stephanie and both of her daughters, Stephanie's family, deserve a full investigation into her death. As a reminder, Stephanie Wasilichan was shot and killed in the early morning hours of July 9th, 1993. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sedona Police Department at 928-282-3100. 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 on your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice. And for even more content or to just support the show, you can find us on Patreon at patreon.com slash voicesforjustice.

Welcome to the Secret After Show. The puppies are in, they are here supporting us, and let's get into the case. This episode took a long time to put together.

Because I know Nikki, I felt like I had even more of a duty to present this as fairly and impartially as possible. I really tried to collect as many angles and interviews as I could and just focus on the facts. That's why you don't hear really any speculation, any opinion until part two. But those opinions, by those who knew Stephanie, are really important.

I also put in a FOIA request and never heard back, so we just went ahead with the episode with Nikki's blessing. I also want to say that I did redact Stephanie's youngest daughter's name. There is a backstory behind that that's a little complicated, but it doesn't appear that she wants to be involved, and I have to respect that decision. I really can see, I think, both sides.

As someone from the outside, of course, you want to know what she thinks. As the sibling of a sibling of someone who was potentially murdered, who doesn't want to talk, I can sympathize with that. I think there are a million reasons, one, to not be forward-facing in the media, and I think those are pretty self-explanatory. But two, um...

I have to extend a lot of grace to someone who might, and I don't know, I can't make any assumptions about this, this girl, but, um, you know, I have to extend grace to someone who may possibly be going through this type of conflict of thinking, you know, was my dad possibly involved? Is that even possible? What are these facts? Why doesn't this make sense? So I just wanted to give her that privacy that it appears that she's seeking.

And if you are listening to this out there, I just send you so much love. And I really hope that this episode didn't and doesn't cause any further damage. It's a hard case. Because really, there's only one other outcome. And it only points to one other person. And that is a huge responsibility to take on for me. I consider that a huge responsibility. And I don't take that lightly. But there are enough questions here that, um...

I really think the Sedona PD needs to take another look, and I know that in some capacity they are. I just hope that they get more answers for this family, one way or the other.

On to what's going on with me. I finally have something I have watched that I can share with you. Now, this was actually suggested by Shaina from the Light the Way organization, which is fantastic. If you've not heard of them, please go look them up. They are a fantastic advocacy group that helps a lot with the Maura Murray case and all over the place. But Shaina texted me and said, oh my gosh, have you watched The Truth vs. Alex Jones? And I had not. And I was like,

You can find this on HBO. And if you're unaware of this situation, it's really close to my heart, to be totally honest with you. So essentially, Alex Jones is a... Alex Jones, not that he deserves his name being pronounced correctly, just to be totally honest. But he is a...

a conspiracy theorist media personality, if you will. But he's done a lot of harm, which is why I'm treating him with a slight amount of disrespect. Essentially, he created, I think, I think that's correct. Who knows if he was the first one to say this, but he really, I should say, amplified the conspiracy theories around the Sandy Hook shooting.

But he paid for it, which I think is like the sweetest justice of it all, of course. So essentially, you know, this documentary slays your heart by talking about the shooting, which is just so tragic. Of course, a bunch of children lost their lives. It was very, very tragic.

And Alex Jones hopped on this and decided to say things like the parents are not real people. The children didn't really pass away. You know, he suggests that they are crisis actors and all sorts of really damaging things. So I won't spoil it for you. But eventually, I mean, really, it all unfolded in the public landscape. So I don't think it's too much of a spoil. But, you know, eventually he does get sued over this. And

Of course, the reason I'm so interested is because it's sweet justice to see somebody talk about, you know, I mean, really, Sandy Hook is considered a true crime case, right? All these children were murdered. So it's sweet justice to see him have to pay for spreading lies online, for saying these horrible, extremely damaging things about families online.

without a second thought. And for him to be held accountable for that was awesome, because that doesn't always happen in true crime. I can tell you, actually, that rarely ever happens in true crime for a variety of reasons. But yeah, that's what I watched. The Truth vs. Alex Jones on HBO. So if you're interested in Alex Jones, Sandy Hook, or really just ethics in true crime, I 10 out of 10 recommend.

Also, you guys may have noticed that the final episode for Season 1 of Media Pressure has been released. That is my Q&A with Maura Murray's sister, Julie. I can't believe it's over. One, what a whirlwind these last ten weeks or whatever have been. And two, really, I just want to thank you, of course. Thank you for listening. It's so cool to see Julie tell this story in her own words and also...

You guys can hear popcorn barking in the back. Also, you know, I asked Julie during the Q&A, this was my question. We got like 200 questions and I had to ask some of my own. You know, if she felt like this really calmed things down, if her telling the story finally completely in her own words calmed the community around Maura down. And she said yes, which...

I'm thrilled for her. I'm thrilled for that family to finally get out from under that shadow, that dark, gross shadow that really loomed over that case for so long. It really does appear that some of that is clearing up.

So thank you for listening. Thank you for believing in this way of doing true crime. And I will say that, you know, media pressure doesn't stop at season one. Julie and I talk about that and really why I chose Mora to be the first season. That was for a variety of reasons. If you want to hear about that, go listen to the Q&A. But it doesn't stop with Mora. I have a lot more seasons already in progress for you with some amazing hosts. And some of these cases are downright notorious.

Some of these are relatively unknown, so I'm really excited for this feed and to see what it can do for all these families. Speaking of families, let's get on to our segment of hope. Now, this is brand new. Stacey Peterson's sister believes that she may have found her sister's skeletal remains in an Illinois canal.

Now, for a little backstory, Stacey Peterson is the fourth wife of convicted murderer Drew Peterson. She went missing in 2007. Drew Peterson is currently serving time for killing his third wife, Kathleen, in 2012 and trying to get that conviction overturned. But Stacey's sister, Cassandra, never stopped looking for her sister.

And she found what she believes are her sister's skeletal remains in a canal in Lockport. Now, this is apparently about 35 miles outside of Chicago. So of course she shares this information with authorities. But she says that they did a really bad job basically searching this area, and they said that it was cleared.

But she's sitting over here with a video of these remains. I guess it's basically an upside-down skull with the jawbone detached. And really, she's saying, like, even if this isn't her sister, it's obviously someone. And I guess the police just won't help her. So now she's raising funds to recover the remains herself. I mean, that is obviously a topic that needs to be discussed at length all on its own, but...

The reason this makes the segment of hope is because she didn't give up. This is also a possible solve, or at the very least, she found someone. Someone out there who has a family who is most likely wondering where they went. Either way, Cassandra's going to have a huge hand in either bringing some answers to her own family or another. So that's why she makes our segment of hope. Go Cassandra! We are here to support you 110% of the way.

But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.