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Foreign. I'm back. Hi, my name is Nikki. I'm the daughter of a murdered woman. And welcome back to another episode of Poppy Killed Mommy. Before we get started, you know, this episode contains discussion of domestic violence. The man you know is innocent, blah, blah, blah, until proven guilty in a court of law. But seriously, let's get to the good stuff. How I have missed you. I have so missed you. I can't even tell you how I've missed you. You have no idea how therapeutic it is to talk to you. It's been about two months since I released an episode and I'm feeling it. I was kind of lost, coming back in the studio and getting realigned and setting everything up. Like, you can totally tell I'm trying to find my swimming legs again. But, yeah, I didn't plan. This is the episode I didn't plan. I figured maybe, maybe I'd come back with an episode 13 someday if there was a massive update, like an arrest or some, you know, accountability. But that hasn't happened. So if you. If you listen to my bonus episode that I released a week after what I thought was the end of this season, episode 12, I released an episode a week later. It's called Unraveling. And you heard me in real time, like, massive crash out. I did not take the end of the podcast very well. You heard me sort through all of this. I was trying to compartmentalize the podcast, the outcome and the way it made me feel in this 30 minute bonus episode. That was the last thing I've recorded in this little room was like a total Crash out episode. Because at the time of that recording of unraveling, on November 3rd of 2025, I felt like I had let my mom down. And not just my mom, but everyone who's listened and everyone who's believed this story deserves answers. And after six weeks of sitting with it and adjusting and pulling myself back together, I don't feel like I've lost her so much anymore. But I still do feel like I failed. And that's the hard thing to admit out loud. What I know is this, though, I will never stop fighting. And as long as I'm fighting, I owe it to you and honestly, for my own sanity to keep you updated and, you know, to keep with my therapy, because this is my therapy. So instead of trying to wrap this story up in a nice, neat little bow, I'm keeping the podcast alive from here on out. Let's just keep it alive so that I don't go nuts. I'll be releasing Updates as they happen. I mean, you've walked this road with me for eight hours, essentially going through 30 years of my life. Let's just. Just keep walking it with me. Just keep coming back for, you know, like, weekly vlogs. We're gonna make this like an audio vlog. I can't let you or my mom go. Please stay with me. So let's rewind. I do have a little bit of an update from what's been happening since I've talked to you last on November 3rd. The last big moment, though, of the podcast. Let's rewind just for context. The last big moment of the podcast happened for me on August 28th of 2025, right before CrimeCon. If you remember, I received an email from the Yavapai County's Attorney's office telling me that they had requested an additional investigation by the Sedona Police Department. This was huge for me. I went into CrimeCon riding that high. I told everyone. I said it out loud at my table, over and over again. I told strangers, listeners, other creators, anyone who stopped on by. I was proud. I truly believe my little podcast had made an impact, that it had forced some kind of movement, that something was finally happening. And while I was busy celebrating that moment at my little booth at CrimeCon, someone else was listening. A reporter from the sun overheard me telling a couple walking by about the email. He stopped and he asked questions. And he took my information. He also gave me his. And he told me that he was going to pitch my mom's story to his editor. And then, nothing. So fast forward a couple of months. It's now mid November. And the same reporter reached back out to me. He asked me the question I asked myself every single day, what's the newest update? And I was honest. I told him I didn't know that I hadn't heard from the Yavapai county attorney or the Sedona police since early September. I told him, why don't you reach out to them directly? And I passed along the contact information. And bless him, he did. Within 24 hours, he received a response from the Yavapai County's Attorney's office. And the response was simple. We cannot comment on this matter. And because of the lack of comment, the editors of the sun decided not to run a story on my mother after all. So that's it. No quote, no article, no follow up, no accountability. Again, how frustrating is that? And I even argued with him a little. I told him, there's still a story here. There's a story behind the story, there's the fact that the eldest daughter had to grow up and had to live with this and had to start a podcast, had to build an apple true crime chart topping show just to get someone to pay attention to her mother's case. And he agreed with me. But he kept coming back to the same thing. He could not run a story without a quote from the Yavapai County Attorney. And so that was that. Another media outlet turning me down once again. I remember sitting back at my desk that day and staring at my computer thinking, okay, what's the next approach? This is clearly not working. And naturally my brain goes straight to reaching back out to the Yavapai County Attorney's Office. It had been a few weeks since I'd last emailed the assistant. I feel like we were BFFs and old pen pals at this point. It was time to email again. So I sat down and I wrote an email. Now, I'm not going to read you that email because if I did, we would be here all day listening to me read correspondence after correspondence with the Yavapai County's Attorney's Office. But I do want to stress this, that I wrote a very professional email. Thoughtful, direct, respectful. I used ChatGPT to make sure it was clean and unemotional. And I sent it. No response. I waited another day, I sent another one. Still no response. By the third day, I remember it was a Thursday. I woke up angry and I sent two emails. The first one not so professional. I was frustrated, I was exhausted, and I said exactly how I felt. And you know what? I stood on that for about 30 minutes. And then I did what I always do. I paused, I had some coffee, I let myself cool off. And I wrote a second email. That one was an apology. I explained my frustration. I explained that no one from the Yavapai County Attorney's Office had ever reached out to me directly. And I asked very plainly for a meeting. I asked for someone, anyone, to break down what had happened to my mom's case then and what's happening now. Still nothing. But I continued writing every day or every other day for 10 days. 10 days of emails, 10 days of waiting, 10 days of silence. Until finally I changed one thing in my approach here. I stopped emailing from my personal address and I emailed from the Poppy killed Mommy email. And that. That's when I finally got a response from the Yavapai County Attorney. It was on November 25, 2025. Good morning, Ms. Wasolition. The prosecutor will be meeting with detectives from Sedona in the next few weeks to receive an update about the investigation. After that meeting, I will reach out to you to schedule a meeting with you. Thank you. And that was it. No details and no explanation. Just we'll talk later. I responded the same day also November 25th, and I want to be clear about the tone of my response, because that matters here. I wrote thank you for the update. I appreciate you letting me know that the meeting with the detectives is being scheduled. With the holidays approaching, I am happy to give your office the space and time needed to complete the meeting and review whatever information is provided. I will plan to step back through the end of the year. However, if I have not heard from you by the start of the new year, I will resume calling and writing for an update. This case has been unresolved for 32 years and I remain committed to staying engaged until I understand the direction of this investigation. Thank you again for keeping me informed. I look forward to hearing from you once that meeting has taken place. Best Nicky Wah Solution so I wasn't aggressive and I wasn't emotional. I feel like I was respectful, I was patient, and I was very clear. I gave them space, I gave them time, and I made it known that I am not going away. Because here's the thing. This isn't a new case. This isn't breaking news. This is a homicide that has been unresolved for 32 years. And asking for transparency isn't harassment. It's accountability. So that's where things stood as of November 25th. A promised meeting, a promise to follow up, and once again, silence. But like, let's give them the benefit of the doubt because, you know, it's still only December 20th as of today. But before we skip ahead, meanwhile, before all of this email exchange was happening on November 25, just one day earlier on November 24, something huge happened in my world. And this is kind of the reason why I'm releasing this episode. Because this is huge for me. The local Cave Creek Carefree Independent published an article about my mom and about this podcast on November 24, 2025, and I want to pause on that for a second. This is the first piece of mainstream printed media about my mother's case since Fox 10 released their article and news segment back in, what was it, May of 2022. That's years, literal years of silence. Years of pitching, of emailing, following up and explaining the same story over and over again, just hoping someone would listen. Finally, somebody did. My local paper heard me and they read my email and they called me back and they interviewed me and they took the time to actually understand what this podcast is, why it exists, and why my mom's story still matters. So I want to say a huge thank you genuinely to the writer Maya McFall. Thank you for listening and thank you for following my TikTok. Thank you for asking the right questions and thank you for telling this story with integrity. I'm beyond grateful. And honestly, if this is the kind of media coverage that continues, I mean, if more outlets are willing to listen the way my local paper did, then 2026 could be huge for this case. I mean, I truly believe that. So next I'm gonna read the article in full because it deserves to be heard. But every time I read this, I get a little weepy, so I'm gonna do my best. It's really hard to read about yourself like this, so just bear with me. Nikki Wassilishin's life changed forever when her mother was murdered more than 32 years ago. Now the Cave Creek resident, a Cactus Shadows High School graduate who teaches Pre K at Quality Interactive Montessori, has a podcast and social media account that delves into her mother's death to find who killed her. Nikki isn't alone in the search either. She now has more than 221,000 followers on TikTok, and her podcast Poppy Killed Mommy has been downloaded more than 240,000 times. It was in the top 20 podcast charts for true crime and has been played in more than 106 countries and 6,000 cities worldwide. Poppy Killed Mommy, with 23 episodes, has a 4.8 star rating with 190 reviews. The response has been overwhelming. To be honest with you, I didn't expect it to get this big, nikki said. The weight of that single night in Sedona has followed her remaining in the background of her life. Nikki remembers giving her mother a kiss and seeing her talk on the phone and then going to bed. The next thing I know, the police are waking me up and there's a flashlight in my face and they're telling me to get up and get dressed. Stephanie Wasolishin was shot in her Sedona home on Coffee pot Drive on July 9, 1993. Who did it remains unsolved. Sedona police discovered her body in the bedroom of the home she shared with her boyfriend, Russell Peterson, according to the 1993 case file. When questioned by police, Peterson claimed he came home from work at 11pm Took a shower, then sat on the couch and talked with Stephanie Peterson said that the conversation then became a little confrontational when discussing his upcoming two week trip to a culinary school at Cornell University. We're talking, we're talking, it becomes a little heated, but nothing that a relationship hasn't had happen in the past, peterson told police. So I didn't think anything of it. Then, peterson said, Stephanie got up, went to the bedroom and came back out with his Ruger Redhawk.44 Magnum. She allegedly fired the gun once and shot the wall behind Peterson. Stephanie then returned to the bedroom and Peterson said he followed her where he met her in the bedroom, Peterson told police. I grabbed her hand and we struggled a little bit and the next thing I know it went off and she dropped. When Sedona police questioned how long the struggle lasted, Peterson replied it couldn't have been more than 15 to 20 seconds. In the days following, Sedona police interviewed Peterson multiple times. When asked a day later to repeat what occurred after Stephanie went into the bedroom, Peterson changed his story, according to the police report and recordings of the interview. I think she committed suicide, peterson said. I might be contradicting the fact, but I might have saw her shoot herself. Peterson then agreed to undergo hypnosis and a polygraph test while repeating that he might have seen Stephanie commit suicide. The last time Sedona police interviewed Peterson was September 9, 1993. This time, Peterson told police he did not remember what happened in the bedroom on the night of Stephanie's death. I don't think there was a struggle. The struggle was my own struggle, peterson said. I never, I don't think I ever put my hands on her. When lead detective Walter Spokes questioned why he believed there was no struggle, Peterson replied it was because he saw Stephanie fall from a distance. Stephanie's death was ruled a homicide by Maricopa County Medical examiner Philip Keene, according to the autopsy report. Keene's reason for the homicide ruling was due to gunpowder residue on Stephanie's non dominant left hand, suggesting a defensive posture at the time of her death. No suspect was ever charged with Stephanie's murder. The Cave Creek independent was unable to reach Peterson for comment. Nikki said she remembers climbing into the back of the police car with her three year old half sister. Poppy killed Mommy, her sister repeated to her over and over and to police, according to the case file. I'll remember that all my life. Nikki, 32 years later reflects for many years Nikki's lived with the unanswered question who killed her mother? But through much of it she thought there was little she could do. That changed in 2020 when her sister called Nikki and said their mother's cold case was being reinvestigated. Hopeful, Nikki awaited a call from the Sedona police, and after five months of silence, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Nikki requested her mother's case file from the Sedona police, and nine months later, she finally decided to read it. Unsure of where to start, she took the advice of an old friend she used to waitress with Sarah Turney and started a TikTok at Nicole Wassolician. Turney herself had created a podcast, Voices for justice, and a TikTok account in 2020 that talked about her sister's 2001 disappearance. The podcast led to the arrest of her father, Michael Turney, in August of 2020. He was charged with the second degree murder of her sister Alyssa, but all charges were dismissed when the court did not find enough substantial evidence for a conviction. Following Turney's advice, though, Nikki created a podcast in July of 2025 on the anniversary of her mother's death. In the podcast, Poppy Killed Mommy, nikki goes through the case and reveals interviews with Peterson, the 911 call made that night, and conducts interviews with her family members. Nikki never imagined how much support she would gain from her listeners. Nikki went to CrimeCon, an event for true crime podcasters and fans, and she was able to share her story there. And she was surprised to meet her supporters face to face. They're just as mad as I am, which is overwhelming, you know, to have strangers care just as much as you do, nikki said. Although she has had success with her podcast, chasing justice for her mom has been exhausting, Nikki said. When I finished the podcast, I thought that I would be relieved, excited. It was everything that I didn't think I was going to feel. I felt like she died again. I couldn't believe it was over, said Nikki. However, Nikki is determined to keep sharing her mother's story. Anybody out there listening to the podcast could be the key to justice. So I'll keep talking, you know, even if one person listens or a million, she said. And although season one of Nikki's podcast is over, she is planning season two, which will explore true crime stories similar to her own. It's not just a mission for my mom anymore, she said. It's going to be a lifelong obsession to figure out where the breakdown is. With domestic violence in Arizona, her message to victims family members is this. You are your loved one's own best advocate. And that's the end of the article. And that quote right there, that is something Sarah Turney told me one of the first times I talked to her about all of this. She told me, no one is going to fight for your loved ones like you will. And it's just a full circle moment to have that quote thrown back out at me in this article and to end the article. And it wasn't planned that way. It just, it feels like it's it. The universe is showing me that I'm on the right path, I'm going the right way. And this is just my mom, you know, showing me that. And I once again cannot thank Sarah Attorney enough for everything she has done for me and my mom's case. But let's get down to my post breakdown. Whenever I read an article, I like to break down like my post, you know, article thoughts. What stood out to me most in this piece centered the impact, not just the crime. It didn't sensationalize my mom's death, and it didn't reduce her to a headline or a soundbite. And best of all, it didn't frame me as obsessed or unhinged or refusing to let go, which is something that happens more often than people realize when victims families speak out. Instead, it treated the case like what it actually is, an unresolved homicide with a very real ripple effect. And something else that really matters is that this article didn't pretend certainty where there isn't any. It didn't declare guilt. It laid out documented facts, contradictions in statements, and official rulings. And it allowed the listener, or I should say, the reader, to sit with that discomfort. That's responsible reporting. It also meant a lot to see my work framed accurately. The podcast wasn't described as a hobby or a trauma dump or a small podcast notwithstanding, it was described as investigative and intentional and as something that has reached people far beyond my own circle. That validation matters not for ego, but because it confirms that this story resonates for a reason. And finally, what may matter most to me personally, this article shows what happens when media actually listens. No stonewalling, no no comment, no silence. Just a journalist doing the work, reading, calling, interviewing, verifying and treating a family with dignity. That is what accountability looks like in media. So when I talk about frustration with other outlets or with institutions that won't speak, I want to be clear. This is the standard. This article shows that it can be done and it can be done well. And if more coverage looks like this, then yes, I truly believe that next year could change everything. But winding down to where we are today, today as in December 20th, five days before Christmas. That means in five days, it'll be the 32nd Christmas without my mom. I can barely even remember what Christmases were like with her anymore. But I do remember what Christmas Eve was. That big shindig. Christmas Eve was everything. My mom would dress us up and load up the presents and we would all go to Grandma B's house where the entire family gathered there. There were trees everywhere Grandma loved to decorate. Trees in the grandkids rooms, trees in the adults rooms. Everybody had their own tree. And we would all sit around them, oldest to youngest, watching presents get opened. Those nights were huge in my childhood. I can barely remember Christmas Day because it was never really about Christmas Day. It was always about Christmas Eve night. Last year I had some old VHS footage, digitally remastered footage I had completely forgotten about. It was of a Christmas, I believe it's Christmas 1989. And on it was found six minutes of footage. Six minutes of my mom. Six minutes that feel priceless. You've probably actually seen pieces of it on my TikTok. The most famous one that I use often is when my Uncle Michael tells my mom, hey, Stace, you look great on the silver screen. And she looks up and she says, oh, well, thank you. And she does that laugh, you know, that big unmistakable laugh. The laugh that everybody remembers, my laugh. Those stolen moments are everything to me. And they remind me how wonderful she was and how larger than life she really is and how much she made Christmas feel like magic. And here we are heading into another Christmas without her. And Even though it's 32 years later, three decades of Christmases without her, I still miss her just as much as I miss her as the first one. The pain that comes around the holidays, you know, it's especially hurtful, but it also helps to keep me focused. And recently I met with a marketing manager who gave me a lot to think about. Some of it was what you'd expect. Post more and stay consistent and lean into content creation and consider collaborations. And I'll be honest, I'm not a big collaboration person. Like, I like to do my own thing. I don't work well with people. Like, I freak out, you know, I have ptsd, anxiety, panic disorder, all the things. And like, I just, I shut down. So I'm big collab person. But like, I took her notes, I kept jotting down her notes, and I'm trying to apply what she's telling me, but what also feels authentic to me. And then she asked me a question that stopped me in my note writing track. She said, is this the book yet? And I said, no, should it be? And if you followed me from the beginning, you know that like, my whole intention, like, my purpose has always been to write a book. Like, there's always a. There's been a book here. I didn't. Didn't want to call it a biography. It's like a memoir. I always said I was going to write one. I just didn't know where to start or how to do it. Like, I'm not a writer. And to have her, like, ask me it just, like, flat out, is this a book yet? And I was like, no. And she said, you absolutely can make this a book. You already have it. I was like, huh? She told me that I could self publish through Amazon. And the idea honestly blew my mind. Because when I stepped back and I looked at it, she was actually right. I already had the backbone of a book. Like, right here, written like, you've listened to it. 12 full episode scripts. Well, now 13. If I take these scripts and I bring them together, that's a book, baby. That's a story that already exists. Boom. But the only problem is time. Like, I'm already working full time. I'm producing this podcast. I'm advocating, I'm emailing, I'm researching. Like, when do I have, like, a private life? Some days it genuinely feels like there just aren't enough hours. I joke that I need an assistant, but I'm not really joking. Like, I need an assistant, but, like, how can I afford an assistant when you're broke? Like, but that said, I'm on Christmas break right now and I have two full weeks off, so I plan on getting a lot done. Like, my goal is to get as much done as possible. Like, I'm working on the book. Yes, I want to do a couple chapters. I'm releasing this episode, episode 13. I've got another bonus episode I want to do, and I'm laying the foundation for season two. Like, I'm actively working on season two. So what else do I do? Where else do I take my mom's case? I don't know. At this point, I feel like I've taken it as far as I can through traditional media. Like, mainstream outlets struggle to cover my mom's case without official quotes. I mean, I get it. I. They don't want to be sued. I understand, but I mean, it's uber frustrating. But I also know that I have a limited amount of time left on my current studio contract. That clock is ticking. Like, I don't even know, like, 60 something days or something, which means that 2026 may be the year that I pivot to something new. Because everything I'm doing so far is not working. Maybe it's a documentary. I know that that's the next natural evolution step forward. Like, I need help making this into some kind of documentary. Or maybe it's civil litigation. Now, I've been told that the statute of limitations has expired on wrongful death, but that civil litigation may still be an option. So that's where my focus is shifting. Getting something written, approaching civil rights attorneys, and seeing if there's a path forward that forces accountability in a different way. You know what I mean? Because movement creates attention and attention creates pressure. So if I could get some kind of, I don't know, civil case going, maybe the media will pay attention, which will then cause them to, like, you know, I don't know, the cops to do their job. I don't know. It's all a crapshoot. I don't know what to do. I just know that I'm screaming out into the void and begging people to listen and hear the injustice in my mom's case. And if it takes a civil case, then I will do it. I will. I will figure out a way to do it. So in the meantime, I'm still waiting on the Yavapai county attorney to follow through on a meeting. When that happens, if it happens, Trust me, episode 14 will be out immediately. But until then, I'm not idle. Like I said, I am actively working on season two. I've gone back and forth between a few cases, but I am circling back to the first one that originally grabbed my attention, and that's the case of Amber Haynes. Her sister approached my booth at CrimeCon, and her story sounds hauntingly similar to my mom's. It's just. It's just gross how often this happens to women. And it's just an epidemic in America. But I have the 911 call. It's about two minutes long. And I think I'm going to open with that because sometimes the truth needs to be heard before it's explained. That's all I'm going to say. So I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a journalist. I'm just the daughter of a murdered woman with a microphone. And I'm going to keep talking. So if you have cases you'd like me to cover in 2026, especially cases involving domestic violence, please feel free to email me@poppykill killedmommymail.com p a p I killed mommymail.com. i honestly don't know what the next chapter looks like yet. I just know that this isn't the end. I have weeks left on this contract, and after that, the story keeps going, whether it's on a microphone or on a page or somewhere else entirely. What matters is that I'm still here. I'm still fighting. And I'm definitely not done yet. Thank you for listening.