Mike Hanson (6:00)

It's really my privilege to help you on your mission, or at least give you my two cents about what I've reviewed as you continue on your mission. I believe that somebody connected us and. Or maybe you reached out to me after seeing some content or somebody messaging you. But I, you know, was new to the TikTok scene. I know that much because I haven't been on it very long and I was attracting some attention. And so I know you reached out and there's a lot of people that were reaching out over time, and there's just not enough hours in the day to look at everything and form an opinion or engage with everybody. But for some reason, your message and information caught my attention, and I was willing to receive the documents that you had in your possession. I think that's one of the things that was probably more unique with your request is I'm not going to form opinions based on hearsay or nothing. And you actually had government records that I could review and formulate some sense of an opinion that would be evidence based. Right. And so that was worth the effort initially. And I think there was also a sense of perhaps endearment to your cause, because who doesn't want to help somebody who lost their mother? Domestic violence is something that I've dealt with as both a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney. And I know that it's complicated, and I know it wasn't the way that it is now back at the time that your mother's life was possibly taken or lost. We can say that I might dance around with the way that I phrase things because there are legal implications to making accusations. But regardless, I think that there was this feeling of, well, I can at least look at these documents and let Nikki know what I think. Right. If nothing else, it gives her another opinion. And I think the more that I looked at the documents, the more I was a bit shocked that you're even in this position. And so that's where we're at. Right. I created some content that had to do with just my viewpoint of these transcripts and other pieces of evidence. And I know that transcripts only tell a part of the story. There is a lot of value in actually being able to hear audio. There's a flow of conversation. There are people that can be cut off. There's direction, there are tones. There's a lot of things that you can discern through actually having even just the actual audio instead of transcripts, which unfortunately, you've never, as far as I know, been given outside the 911 call access to any of the real recordings. So we're depending on a translation of an audio and. And we're. And we're really trusting that it's accurate, which is also not always the case. I can tell you that I've re reviewed many a special, especially the child advocacy portion of transcripts because I was a juvenile prosecutor, so a lot of my cases involved child interviews. And I can tell you the synopsis provided by law enforcement oftentimes is not always verbatim, you know, accurate. And there's so many things that even can change, you know, the nature of a conversation. There's something left out, something overlooked, somebody talked over. You can hear sometimes narratives being sculpted and perhaps agendas can be in between. The lines can be ascertained when you actually have the audio. And so anyways, I was able to review those documents and.

Nikki Wassolishan (10:15)

Wait, I don't want you to go on yet because. Are you ready for a bombshell? Because I. I do have all of the interviews. I do have the audios. I was able to obtain that in the last six months.

Mike Hanson (10:25)

Wow.

Nikki Wassolishan (10:25)

They are on the show.

Mike Hanson (10:26)

That is a bit of a bombshell.

Nikki Wassolishan (10:27)

Oh, they are on the podcast. That's why I laughed when you said that, because that was a dead giveaway. You haven't listened yet. Because starting in episode.

Mike Hanson (10:34)

No, I haven't listened to the podcast. I mean, truth be told, I was like, I know the. So I have read the evidence. I spent hours reading through everything.

Nikki Wassolishan (10:43)

I have all of his interrogations, all three. And then the walkthrough with the Sedona pd. Yeah, and then I also found a conversation with my sister from 2023 with her talking to the Sedona PD. Yeah, I have a lot. And you are now gonna head episode 12. So.

Mike Hanson (11:00)

Yeah, it's been a tough time. I have to go back and listen. Yeah, you'll have to listen to the actual conversations at play.

Nikki Wassolishan (11:07)

You're gonna have to tell me what you think after you hear his words? Cause I've gotten a lot of comments about how he's basically hung himself in those interrogations. But I'll let you tell me your thoughts, but continue on. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I thought you'd like to know that.

Mike Hanson (11:20)

No, no, I. And lead me whichever way you'd like. But I think the bottom line was you start with a 911 call. That is pretty telling. And I say that because, as a former prosecutor, your 911 call is typically your best piece of evidence. It just is. And that's because oftentimes those 911 calls are going to be considered pretty reliable, reliable pieces of evidence. That's why a lot of times the 911 call, because it's coming after an emergency, is considered an excited utterance, or it could be a exception to hearsay, and that it's showing the mental state of the individual that called. Sometimes there's actual, you know, in this case, admissions by a party, opponent, and those are all things that the law looks at and says we should have an exception to hearsay. This should be allowed into evidence because these things tend to be reliable. We don't want unreliable or not credible pieces of evidence making their way and confusing a jury. But 9111 calls typically tend to be something that is pretty, you know, pretty reliable piece of evidence to at least take into consideration. And when you have the individual who would be accused that's making the 911 call what appears to be moments after, and you can hear a child and the chatter in the background, all of that, to me, was very telling. And then we move on. And, you know, I'm looking at the strategy of the investigators as they made scene, what they did do, what they didn't do. And one of the things that struck me about this case was it wasn't necessarily perhaps what they did and didn't do right when they got to the scene. I think they did pretty standard police procedure with interviews and, you know, gathering information, making sure everybody was safe. But it was what was happening very shortly after. When I say very shortly after, we're talking about 24 hours within somebody's life being lost. And it was all these individuals who continued to. On apparently what would appear to be on their own accord, show up or call in and provide opinions about your mother. And when I saw that that was the most odd thing for a murder investigation, for all these people to be inserting themself into the equation with what really is nothing more than Improper character evidence against a person who's. Who's gone. Has lost their life on behalf of an individual who's been accused. And that's where I started to think there's something that went on in this case that will not be found on a piece of paper. There was something at play. There was somebody poking and prodding these people to meddle. And there were power dynamics, perhaps, behind all of this. And so I tried to look at what these. I guess your stepfather, Right?

Nikki Wassolishan (14:54)

Yeah. They were never married, so it was just my mom's boyfriend. Yeah.

Mike Hanson (14:58)

So the. I'll call him the accused in this matter or the suspect. I tried to look at, really, what he may have meant to this company, having gone to this, had this perhaps fancy school paid for, whatever it was, chef stuff, all these things, because it seemed like these people that were working around both him and your mother tend to favor him and insert themselves into the equation. And I'm trying to understand exactly. Well, or at least I'm thinking about it. I'm like, what influence could the people that were involved with the suspect have on both the police as well as the district attorney's office? Because ultimately, I thought the investigator, for his time did a really good job at doing what he could based on the evidence that they had. I mean, you got a good 911 call. You got a story that changes. You got a medical examiner's report that says this is homicide. You got. You know, I want to say that recreation that they. They tried to do, right. They tried to kind of look at the physics behind it all based on the story they were being sold. And I think his ultimate conclusion was like, this is not reasonable. This is not probable. And then he sends it off to the district attorney's office. And I'm thinking, if I'm a prosecutor and I have all of this, well, at the very least, I have probable cause. Right. You know, we don't hunt cows. When you're a prosecutor, you're seeking justice, and you will try tough cases, and, you know, they might have some defenses, but when somebody's lost their mother, when there's a life been lost, when the accusation is murder. Prosecutors try tough cases all the time. We got gang violence where everybody's dealing drugs or a convicted felon, and everybody might be lying, and everybody has something at play and an incentive oftentimes to testify or lie. You know, we have all sorts of fact patterns. And so trying tough murder cases, including those that people have set up to make it appear as if it was suicide, is nothing. New for a district attorney's office. In fact, even where I used to work at the Fort Bend County District Attorney's office, I specifically recall a domestic violence case where somebody tried to set up their deceased spouse in a state that made it look like she had committed suicide. And the investigators did something very similar. And in that case, they were able to show that it was not physically possible, that the story that he was trying to sell was, in fact, the truth. And I think he later pled. But my point is that it made me think that there's something that I will not be able to discern from these records that had to have been taking place because it is not normal for people to, without solicitation, involve themself in the manner that I was reading. People were doing that on your mother's case. Nonetheless, the detective sent a case packet over to the DA's office. You know, we're not privy to the work product. That would be conversations perhaps that the district attorney or the prosecutors under the district attorney and that investigator would have had as it was sitting on intake. But that would be very important nowadays, in particular for a crime victim to have communicated to them. And even after the fact, I think that it would be within most states, at least in Texas, there's a crime victims bill of rights. And so if you, nikki, asked the DA's office to explain why the case was rejected, I would have a hard time believing that outside of, yes, they could say the grant, you know, hey, the grand jury chose to no, bill this. We can't talk about it. It's all secret under law. But I would have a hard time believing that a prosecutor wouldn't then sit down and just say, but here are some of the issues that we knew we would be fighting if this actually went to trial and give you that decency and that conversation to help you understand exactly where they were at from an evidentiary standpoint and why they believed that maybe the case couldn't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Even if there was probable cause to indict someone again, it never made it to the indictment phase. A lot of times you get the indictment, and if the case isn't perfect, there's a plea deal worked out in between trial day and that indictment. And it might be a lesser offense, it might be something that nobody likes, but at least there's some justice instead of just not even indicting the case at all. And so those are things that I noticed with the case, Nikki, and. And those are still questions that I have until this day. You know, what was going on in that local society? How did all these relationships perhaps impact the decision making? And why did a prosecutor feel like they didn't have probable cause to proceed with an indictment on this case? Given the documents that I reviewed, I still scratch my head on that. And I'll mention one other thing. I know that I believe you sent me a press news recording of a different detective at a later point in time who said they were going to look into it. And I think that news article that was associated with this even had some verbiage like it never set well with them that nothing came out of this. I thought there was some sort of commentary that seemed somewhat favorable to they were going to reopen this and it possible wrong, right or wrong. Right, right or wrong. But then it just fell flat. And I don't know that you were ever given any reasons for that other than without. I think it was like without a confession, they weren't going to move forward.

Nikki Wassolishan (21:50)

Correct. That is still where they sit to this day.

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Nikki Wassolishan (22:21)

K.com hearing a former prosecutor say out loud what we've known for years was both validation and heartbreak. He reminded me that the 911 call matters. Confessions aren't required, that there was probable cause and domestic violence. Context changes everything. Mike took hours out of his life, completely pro bono, to go through my mom's entire 200 page case file. He didn't just review it, he made content about it. He broke it down piece by piece, explaining what should have been done, what could have been done, and what never was. And even after that, he stayed in touch for a year. Now Mike's checked in, offered advice and even shared tips on how to navigate a system that wasn't built for people like me. People who don't have deep pockets or legal connections, just perseverance and pain. I'll link his socials below at the Texas Dad Lawyer so that you can follow along and maybe even watch his miniseries on my mom's case. And while I'm talking about lawyers, I want to make a personal plea. If you are an attorney or if you know one who practices in Arizona and you handle civil cases or anything that could help move this case towards justice. Please reach out. My email is poppykilledmommymail.com Mike Hansen was the first attorney to give me hope. The first person who made me believe that there might actually be a path forward legally. But I know that there are others who could help me push this case over the finish line. The truth is, there is no justice for the poor. Everything comes down to money, which I sure don't have. And that's why I'm here, putting my trauma out in public. Because maybe, just maybe, someone out there who's listening can help. Is it you? My Christmas break wasn't spent relaxing or taking a vacation. It was spent with my dad tearing apart what used to be the old entertainment room. We gutted it from top to bottom and rebuilt it side by side into a functioning recording studio. For a full week, we worked straight through. Dust everywhere, drywall, mud on our hands, trips to Home Depot that turned into full days. But by the end of January, the construction was done and I had documented the whole thing in a miniseries on my TikTok channel. Watching that transformation happen felt more than just remodeling a room. It felt like building something for her. Plus, the bonding experience of remodeling something with my dad was kind of priceless. But then came the next hurdle. When the studio was finally complete, Sarah came over to check it out and show me the ropes. That's when I realized my old laptop. Well, technically my dad's old laptop, wasn't going to cut it. I needed something faster, something stronger. My first setback, it gave me a panic attack and I was in tears, thinking that this will put me back weeks, totally behind schedule. But luckily, that same day, Dustin gave me the money and I was able to order a brand new laptop online. He's so amazing. It felt like my first big investment in this project. But it also meant I was stuck waiting. The laptop took a week to arrive, and when it finally did, I packed it up along with what I thought was a professional grade microphone, and I drove to Sarah's house for our first sound check. She gave me a crash course in everything. Riverside audacity, how to use my own computer. And within minutes, I realized the microphone I had wasn't even close to what I needed. Sarah broke the news gently. I needed a new mic, an interface cables, and a few other things I didn't even know existed. I left her house that day absolutely defeated. I had no idea how I was going to come up with $800 worth of equipment. And it felt like this Dream had just been shoved right back out of reach again. But I did something. I made an Amazon wish list. I added every single thing Sarah had recommended, and I figured it would just sit there for a while. But before the end of that very same day, everything I needed was purchased. A donor, someone named Stacy, had bought every single item on the list. And maybe it's a coincidence, but I don't believe in those. I always said my mom finds her way back to me in moments like that. And the fact that this woman's name is Stacy. It felt like she had just been sent directly for my mom to help me. February turned into March, and now that I had all the right tools, I was learning how to actually use them. I was kind of learning how to use them. Every day on my lunch break at school, I was writing scripts and sending them to Sarah, and every time, she sent them back with the same message. Start over. I didn't know how to write a podcast. I was just pouring everything out, all the pain, all the anger, all the memories, into the first episode. And she told me, if you tell the whole story now, what are you going to say next week? So I started over again and again. And thank God for Sarah and her template, or I would have never gotten past the first episode. March and April became riding marathons. Twelve episodes, all mapped out between recess and nap breaks. I was outlining, editing, rewriting. I was determined to get this right. And while I was doing that, I started a GoFundMe to get myself to CrimeCon, a trip meant to launch a podcast that didn't even exist yet. But somehow, people believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. That trip was booked and paid for before the first episode was even recorded. The community support has been astronomical. By May, the studio was done, the scripts were ready, the equipment was here, and I was terrified. Every time I sat down to record, I froze. I cried in this little studio more than I recorded in it in the first couple weeks. I called Sarah in tears, convinced I'd never figure it out. I sobbed on TikTok, begging for help. I posted on Facebook, and I even got desperate enough to put an ad on Craigslist. Yeah, for real. And by some miracle, though, someone responded to my Facebook post. A mutual friend introduced me to Amanda, host of True Creeps, True Crime. She lives in Arizona as well, and she offered to drive all the way to my house, which was an hour drive for her, and spend the day teaching me. Amanda stayed for five hours that day, five fucking hours, walking me through everything. Step by step, she showed me Descript, the editing software that completely changed how I worked. I even filmed the steps as she did them so I wouldn't forget. And by the time she left, I had created my very first trailer. She was the last final thing I needed to push the podcast over the finish line. She's a fucking Godsend. June came and I finally had some momentum. I spent every night learning, editing and recording. On June 1, 2025, my mom's birthday, I recorded my very first draft episode. The entire month of June is a blur of trial and error. I released bonus episodes, read letters from my mom's friends, built trailers, tested new edits. I was learning in real time. And then July, the launch month. That moment was everything. And nine days before launch, I completely rewrote and re recorded episode one because I knew the first version wasn't good enough. The audio was rough, the editing was messy, it was real. But I knew I could do better. So I rewrote, rerecorded, re edited, and thank God I did, because just days before the official launch, Morbid played a 4 minute promo for my podcast on their show. Because of that, Poppy Killed Mommy charted on Apple podcasts before it even officially launched. It was July 8, 11pm, the same exact time I said goodnight to my mom 32 years earlier when I hit publish. Poppy Killed Mommy went live. I'll never forget refreshing the charts and seeing it climb top 20, true crime top 50 all podcast charting as high as 14 on Apple's top series. All from my little studio, built by hand with my dad. All through July, I was in this room every single day, recording, editing, creating the momentum. That charting it gave me something I hadn't felt in years. Confidence. For the first time since my mom's case went cold, I felt like I had something to stand on, something that mattered. People were listening. The world was finally paying attention. So I decided to use that momentum. At the end of July 2025, I sat down and I wrote to the Yavapai County Attorney's Office, the same office that had once declined to prosecute my mother's case. I never got a response. So on August 28, I wrote another email. It wasn't a short message either. It was detailed, carefully written, and outlining my thoughts. Let me read the letter here in its entirety. Dear County Attorney McGrain, I am writing respectfully to follow up on my email of July 31st regarding the 1993 murder of my mother, Stacey Wasolishan, which was declined for prosecution on the basis of insufficient evidence. In that message, I requested that your office re review the case and provide clarification on the decision not to prosecute. Since sending my request, I have not yet received an acknowledgment or a response. I understand your office has many pressing responsibilities, but given the significance of this matter, I am seeking confirmation that my request is being reviewed. As I have noted previously, I have taken my mother's story public through my podcast, Poppy Killed Mommy. The response has only continued to grow. To date, the show has been downloaded more than 200,000 times, reaching listeners in 102 countries and 5,665 cities worldwide. On Apple podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music, it continues to chart across multiple categories. This extraordinary response shows that people not only care deeply about what happened to my mother, but they also believe in the importance to revisit why this case was never prosecuted. What has become clear through the thousands of conversations I have received is that the public expects accountability and transparency from the justice system. Many have expressed disbelief that a case with this level of evidence was never brought before a jury. As her daughter, I share that disbelief and I am determined to pursue answers both for my family and for my community that has rallied behind us. Next week I will be attending CrimeCon 2025 where I will be speaking with some of the most influential voices in true crime media. I want to be able to tell them that my mother's case is finally being given the consideration it deserves by the Yavapai County Attorney's Office. I am once again respectfully requesting a formal acknowledgment of my request and a commitment that your office will re review all available records and evidence from the original investigation. With renewed public attention, I believe this case warrants another look. Thank you for your time and for giving this matter the serious attention it deserves. Sincerely, Nikki Wassolichen Daughter of Stacey Wassolichen Two days later, they replied Good morning, Ms. Wassalishian. Thank you for contacting us. Investigators and prosecutors from this office have reviewed the case file and have met with the Sedona Police detectives about the case. Additional investigation has been requested. At this time, we cannot share any further information. Sincerely, Christy Parks this email gave me so much hope. I'm not going to lie. For the first time, I felt like there was evidence of movement, like something was finally happening and it was a lifeline. Just recently, when talking to Mike Hansen, I wanted to know what his thoughts were about this email. So before I go any further, this is what he had to say. So the Yavapai county attorney saying that they requested an additional investigation, but now Sedona PD is saying it's an annual review when I email them. So what do you think about that? Thoughts?

Mike Hanson (34:14)

I don't have a lot of thoughts about that. It sounds like some. It could be some semantics to appease you. I'm not sure, Nikki. I mean, either the investigation's ongoing and they're working it, or it's a closed case. Because, Grant, they didn't present it to the grand jury. The grand jury didn't indict it. I can't remember exactly what the scenario is, but, I mean, if the Sedona Police Department already publicly stated that without a confession they're not moving forward, then I don't know why they're making it seem like they're continuing to investigate. Because there's really no additional evidence that can be recovered in this. It's really a case that's based on everything that was present from the beginning. I would think, though, that what we've seen over time and what we know over time about domestic violence, about how we know when typically when a woman, or I should say a spouse, even though most of the criminal offenses occur against women, but when an intimate partner is about to leave their partner, that the rate of murder goes up astronomically. Those were things that were not as well known back at the time that this was investigated. And, you know, what we used to do, and they still do, to help explain all these things to juries is you bring in domestic violence experts to help explain some of the dynamics at play. When it's something where you have to believe one of his. The accused version of events. Either he shot her or it sounds like, you know, the second version of events was this was more of something where she shot herself. Okay. An expert might help explain. A domestic violence expert might help explain some of those things that are really important for a jury to understand, including that, well, if you have to believe between one of his stories and there's facts to support that she was going to leave him, and after some drinks and after some conversation with your father, those facts are known. If your father was to go and testify that she was. She was at that point that, you know, if the accused was going to go off to this school, then she was done. That's very important. And those are things that domestic violence experts on this, Dan, can help juries understand. I don't know, Nikki. I don't know exactly what all that means, all that verbiage that they sent you. I just think that from the beginning, the case likely could have been filed. And if we're given everything. And the information that you've been given and that I've reviewed is the evidence. It kind of is. It's just a head scratcher why a prosecutor wouldn't swing away at this one. So I don't. I don't know as far as their investigation language, what they're trying to investigate further. If they said, they've already said they're not moving the case forward without a confession. And I will say this. That was really, really, really odd to see a public statement. I think that was a statement in the newspaper, right?

Nikki Wassolishan (37:55)

Correct. The local Red Rock news. Yeah.

Mike Hanson (37:58)

So when ever does a detective need a confession to move forward on a case? How many cases did every single day get filed across America where somebody invokes their Fifth Amendment right and never gives a confession? Where the forensic data speaks the words that they wouldn't, where you utilize their words and their inconsistent statements against them, it cuts against that individual, the accused's credibility, and, you know, just the fact that you have these statements that are so incriminatory. Closer in time to the incident, and then the more time the accused had to think about it, he starts changing the narrative. And one of the things that will always stand out to me about it is there were certain questions by the. The investigator where it was almost like he was trying to lead the accused to a better version. He's like, do you really want to go with that version? It was. That's not the exact language used, but if you look back over the transcript, there were certain times where it was almost like they were like, are you sure? Like, that's the version you want to go with? As if maybe the other version, he would have had a better legal defense. Or maybe I'm not able because I haven't listened to the audio like you have, Nikki. Maybe I'm reading too much into that. Maybe it's one of those where they're. They're just questioning him in that fashion because he's changing his story. I don't know. But to me, that was just one of those things that stood out. And so I don't get it. It's one man's opinion. And I will tell you this to be fair to everybody who's a public servant on all this. You can get a bunch of attorneys in a room, and they'll all think differently about a case, about the strength of a case. They'll all think differently about whether they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. You Got people who will try very, very tough cases. And that's just the cut of cloth that they come from. And you got people that are perhaps more conservative with what they want to bring forward and try. And so I tell you, I ran this fact pattern by several defense attorneys that used to be prosecutors. And the folks that I've spoken with said to them it was no brainer that, yeah, that's something that you would try. And I wanted to make sure that I was not biased, in my opinion, having actually had a conversation with you. And I didn't lay out a persuasive fact pattern. I laid it out as a bullet point, sort of, here are the facts, right? These are the facts that would be uncontested coming into evidence. And everybody I've spoken with at the very least would say that's something in the district attorney's office that I practice in that we would be filing. And it may have some worms, it may be tough, but we're definitely indicting that. And so there may be things that we don't know about the case that they haven't turned over that could change the way that I view it. But based on what I've seen and the discussions I've had, that has been the common sentiment. I'm still baffled by the confession comment. I just don't think that that's standard practice with law enforcement or in any DA's office across America. We don't need confessions. If that was the standard, a bunch of people, a bunch of murderers would be going free right now. And so I don't know what to say about all that. Nikki.

Jeff Bridges (41:49)

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Dana (41:51)

Jeff Bridges. Why are you still living above our garage?

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Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

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Nikki Wassolishan (42:19)

Work nice.

Dana (42:20)

Jeffrey, you heard them.

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Nikki Wassolishan (42:23)

Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on.

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Dana (42:30)

Dude, my work here is done.

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Nikki Wassolishan (43:20)

Are they really reinvestigating? Are they really doing anything about it? Or is this just an attempt to pacify me? I honestly don't know. As I sit here recording this episode today, I don't know. After I got word from Kristi that the investigation was supposedly being looked into or at least requested to be reviewed, however you want to phrase it, I reached out to the Sedona Police Department myself and as usual, I got the runaround. They told me it was a part of their annual review, which if you've ever dealt with this kind of thing, you know that usually means that nothing is actually happening. So I did what any of us would do when something doesn't sit right. I followed up again. I emailed Christy asking for clarification. That email went out on September 2nd and it reads as such, I am following up regarding the 1993 homicide of my mother, Stacey Wassolichin. I recently received a response from the Sedona Police Department confirming that they met with your office and that my concerns and questions were shared with them. They also indicated that the case is part of their current annual review. Given the significance of this matter, I would like to respectfully request clarification on the following Number one what specific role is the Yavapai County Attorney's Office playing in this review process? Number two, has your office requested or received any material from the Sedona Police Department during this review? Number three, is there any anticipated timeline for the completion of this review and will your office provide me with those findings or updates? As you know, this case has remained unsolved for more than three decades. My family and I are seeking transparency and accountability, and I would deeply appreciate a clear understanding of where things currently stand. Thank you for your time and your attention. I look forward to your reply. Sincerely, Nikki Wasolishan September 9th I got this response. Good morning this office and Sedona PD continue to work leads that arise from the ongoing investigation. We do not have a timeline for when the investigation or review will be completed, since it will depend on what new information, if any, is uncovered. So later that same day, I emailed her back because that's all I got. Good morning, Kristy. Thank you for your response. For clarity, can you please confirm whether my mother's case is currently classified as an open homicide investigation? The language in your emails and in communication with the Sedona PD references ongoing investigation and working leads, but I would greatly appreciate a clear confirmation of its official status. Thank you again for your time and attention. Sincerely, Nikki Wasolation. And that's the last word I ever got. No clarity, no clarification, no classification. Just bureaucracy in a polite font. By the time I got the email from the Yavapai County Attorney's Office, I was already on my way back from Denver, coming down from one of the most incredible weekends of my life. When I started Poppy Killed Mommy at the beginning of the summer, I launched a go fund with the wild dream of making it to CrimeCon to promote it. I had no idea I'd actually pull it off, but somehow I did. And I didn't do it alone. Three women made that possible. Sarah Turney, who believed in me from the very beginning. Cheryl Lynn Dale, whose guidance and friendship keeps me grounded. And Elise, the CrimeCon coordinator herself, an absolute angel who answered every frantic email I sent with patience and kindness. And I don't even know her last name, but I love her. Five days before that last email from the Yavapai County's Attorney's office was sent, Melissa and I had packed up a rental car and we hit the road 13 hours to Denver. It was a trip we'd been planning for six months, and finally it was happening. We left around 11am in the morning on that Thursday, September 4th, I drove the first stretch to Flagstaff, gripping the wheel so tight my hands hurt. Melissa could feel my anxiety. So she took over after that. And thank God she did, because 25 miles outside of Gallup. This is Gallup, New Mexico. Everything came to a stop. A major accident had shut down i40 completely, and we were forced off the highway, rerouted onto a narrow reservation road that wound through the open desert for what felt like forever. 100 miles of, like, the kind of landscape that makes you feel small and vulnerable. Yeah, it felt like the scene right out of the horror movie. No gas stations, no lights, no service. Just the two of us. A fat old chihuahua A car full of merch and the determination to make it to Denver no matter what. It was midnight and we had already been on the road for 12 hours, exhausted, rerouted through the mountain passes. And then of course, it started to rain. And then the fog. Oh my God, fog. We don't get fog in Phoenix. Unless it's like a dust storm pretending to be weather. This was that horror movie mist that sits across the road like it knows something you don't. Eerie, heavy, alive. I remember being so grateful Melissa was driving because I would have simply accepted death at that point. When we were high in the mountains, rain was hitting the windshield, fog was swallowing the headlights. When the deer started appearing, like actual deer materializing out of the mist. At one point, a huge buck was one step away from ending the entire trip before we even made it to Denver. I swear on my life. Our combined screaming must have scared the hell out of him because instead of jumping in front of our car, he froze and stared at us like we were the problem. Meanwhile, the screaming scared the absolute shit out of Dickie Birdie, who escaped his car seat and climbed onto my lap like it was the only safe place left in America. Once we realized we weren't dead, we just sat there laughing and crying at the same time. That fucking deer. It was the jump scare we didn't know we needed to survive the last stretch. 3am, we finally roll into Denver and naturally we check into the wrong hotel first. When we finally locate the correct one, we dragged everything to our second floor room, fought with the key card like it personally offended us, and collapsed into bed. At 4am the first night, a blur. Then 9am, the alarm goes off. No time to process anything. We get up and we head straight to Crimecon to set up. We got there with about 30 minutes to spare before the doors opened and I'll be honest, I was stressing. Melissa, Dickey, Birdie and I were speed walking through the rows of booths trying to find ours, when the first person I recognized appeared. Sherrilyn Dale. And that hug. Oh, girl. It took me out. A woman who had not only covered my mom's case, but who donated to help me get to Crimecon was standing right in front of me. I broke down in her arms, full tears. She reassured me, walked me straight to my booth, and by complete chance it ended up being around the corner to hers. Melissa and I got Dicky Birdie settled and we started setting up. By noon we were ready and we were seated next to some of the biggest true crime podcasts out there. The Prosecutors were literally our neighbors. I had no idea who they were, but Melissa was borderline starstruck. That first day was another blur. Melissa kept trying to get me to step away and go visit other booths, but I was terrified of missing anyone who might walk up. I met so many incredible people, took pictures, signed autographs, and every time I recognized a booth that had covered my mother, I made sure to stop over and thank them face to face. Sarah told me that the after parties, though, was where the connections really happened and I wanted to go. I really did. But by 5pm Melissa and I were done. We crawled back to our hotel room, and instead of going anywhere, we laid in bed and watched Back to the Future. It was perfect. The next morning we slept through the John Ramsey lecture we wanted to attend, but we made it back to the booth by 11. I met more people, took more photos, and talked to anyone who might help get my mom's case in front of another audience. I talked with a producer from Nancy Grace's team, never heard back. A Sun reporter said that he'd pitch it to the editor. Still waiting on that response. And a rep from Libsyn stopped by to talk about monetization. And actually, I did take him up on that later and moved the show over. We packed up again that night, fully intending to going out, and ended up in the hotel room watching Clueless instead. That's just who we are. Sunday came. We were there from 10 to noon. I hugged people, said thank you, absorbed everything I could, and we left on an incredible high. On the road by 12:30, home by Monday, back to regular life. And two weeks after CrimeCon, the next big thing happened. Morbid released my mom's episode. I had been waiting a year and nine months for that one. They took a deep dive into her case and they even read a letter that I wrote to them. And because of that episode, Poppy Killed Mommy charted on Apple podcasts for a second time, definitely giving me the momentum I needed to finish writing and recording the final episodes of this season. And now it's five weeks later and I have not heard back about the Sedona Police Department's annual review. No update on the county attorney's investigation. I'm waiting again, in limbo again. When I first launched this podcast, I promised you that I would present every document, every tape, and every contradiction I could find, and then let you decide whether there was enough evidence to press charges in 1993. It's time to lay it all out clearly, calmly and completely. My mom, Stephanie Stacy Marie, wasolishin Was found shot dead inside her sedona home on July 9th, 1993. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide. A contact wound to the left side of her neck, gunshot residue on her left palm and evidence she was in a defensive posture. The weapon, a.44 Magnum revolver, double action, heavy trigger pull. Nearly impossible to fire one handed with a non dominant hand. Still, the Yavapai county attorney declined to prosecute Russell Bennett Peterson twice calling it insufficient evidence. And that was that. For 32 years the word insufficient has been their answer for everything. So going back to the night of the murder. 11:00pm Russell comes home from work. He showers, opens a bottle of wine and argues with my mom about two things. His upcoming two week trip to New York and a phone call she had just had with my father Craig. By 1:00am my mom is dead. At 1:36 Russell's phone bill shows a one minute call to Glendale. At 1:40 he finally dials 911. 911, what's your emergency? Russell, there's been a very bad accident. Minutes later officers found my mother on the bedroom floor. My little sister, just three years old, sitting on the bed just feet away. And she kept saying the same thing over and over. Poppy killed mommy. Russell gave three different versions of what happened that night. First he said my mom pointed the gun at him. Then he said it just went off during the struggle. Later, that there may not have been a struggle at all. Only an internal struggle. Whatever the fuck that means. He admits he picked up the gun, put it in a holster and then set it in the closet. Then moved it back again before calling for help. A reenactment proved that a woman of my mother's size could could not have fired the weapon one handed at that angle. It required two people. The medical examiner, Dr. Philip Keene confirmed the trajectory and the residue patterns supported homicide, not suicide. Still, By December of 1993 the County Attorney's office sent a letter saying that inconsistencies in Russell's story may be due to trauma or wishful thinking and the case was shelved. Six years later the Yavapai County Attorney, Jim Landis wrote to the Sedona Police Department asking for four things. Number one, test bullet fragments from the wall for blood or tissue. Number two, locate a man named Bradley who may have been having an affair with my mom. Number three, locate Chuck Cash who traveled with her to Las Vegas. Number four, provide any reconstruction results. It was a clear specific roadmap for a follow up. And there is no record that any of this was Ever done. If you strip away the excuses and focus only on the facts, here's what. Trajectory and residue homicide not self inflicted Gun mechanics double action heavy trigger pull needs two hands or two people. Timeline unaccounted delay before 911 call gun moved scene manipulated call placed to Glendale first my mom was leaving him going back to my dad. Plans made that night pattern More than 50 reports of abuse told to relatives Child statement immediate and consistent. Poppy killed mommy over and over again. Inconsistencies 4 versions of events Contradictions in distance, angle and intent. Mist leads the 1999 investigative requests that are ignored. Current posture still labeled inactive. That's not an absence of evidence. That's evidence ignored. Every time this case went cold, it wasn't because the trail disappeared. It was because somebody stopped looking. They stopped in 1993 when they said insufficient. They stopped again in 1999 when they left Jim Landis letter unanswered. They stopped again in 2020 when the police publicly floated suicide while the autopsy still said homicide. But we didn't stop. Media pressure does work. When Fox 10 Phoenix aired Insufficient in 2022, Sedona PD finally sent my family the long withheld 911 call. And Russell's interviews when sipping on some crime covered my mom's story. Her best friend Lori found me after 30 years when this podcast launched. You listening right now forced the local media to respond to questions that they had been ignoring for decades. And that's the power of coverage. That's public pressure doing what institutions refuse to do. So now I'm asking you the same question a grand jury never heard based on the evidence, the trajectory, the residue, the delay, the manipulation, the medical examiner's ruling, the child's statements, the motive, the lies. Was there enough in 1993 to present charges against Russell Bennett Peterson for the murder of Stephanie Wasolishin? If your answer is yes, don't just think about it, say it. Ask for accountability. Because silence is how cases die and pressure is how they come back to life.

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Nikki Wassolishan (58:53)

Can still see the candle flickering in that room. I can still hear my little sister's small Voice saying, poppy killed Mommy. And I still believe justice delayed doesn't have to be justice denied. And now that you have it all, what do you think? If you're listening on Spotify, you'll see the COVID art for this episode. The photo is of my mom and me. It was taken on June 1, 1993, her 32nd birthday. We were at my grandma's house in Phoenix, and I was just a kid, smiling without any idea of how fragile that moment really was. From that day to July 9, the night she was murdered, is 38 days. This picture is the last photo ever taken of the two of us together. And I think about it all the time, how you never know when an ordinary moment becomes the last one. I need to take a minute to thank the people who made Poppy killed Mommy possible. Stacy, our angel benefactor. You appeared in my life with my mother's name, and somehow that was enough to get my attention. You told me to accept help when I never do. And because of you, this show exists. You kept this story alive when I didn't think I could. Sarah Turney, my friend since our TGI Friday days, when life was a whole different kind of chaos. Back then, you used to ask me to take your tables because they made you nervous. Now I'm leaning on you, terrified to take on something bigger than myself. You've been my security blanket through this whole process. The voice that reminded me to keep pushing, the one who helped me steady my hands when everything felt too heavy. You've lived what I've lived, and you still made space to walk besides me. And I love you for it. And Amanda from True Creeps, True Crime. I don't even know how to thank you properly. You drove an hour to my house, spent hours here teaching me podcasting 101, and I was completely lost. So I know I wasn't an easy student. And never once did you make me feel stupid for asking a thousand questions. You sat with me, you calmed me down, and you helped me believe that I could actually do this. And you didn't take payment. But what you did for me isn't even the most incredible part of who you are. The real story that shows who Amanda is, the one that defines her heart, starts on a beach in Puerto Rico with a dog named Potato. Potato was a stray. He was attacked by other dogs, sick with heartworm and living off scraps besides a trash can where he begged for food every single day. Most people would have looked away, but not Amanda. She saw him. And when she did, she couldn't unsee Him. She made it her mission to save him. She found local rescuers. She got him into foster care while she figured out how to bring him home. And when no one could help her get him on a commercial flight, she somehow managed to get that dog on a private plane from Puerto Rico to New England by plane. And then all the way across the country on an epic road trip, Potato traveled thousands of miles to his forever home in Phoenix, Arizona. Amanda raised the money, coordinated the flights, the medical care, the transport, all of it out of her own pocket with donations from others. And out of pure love, before his trip to his new home, Amanda left a note nailed to that same trash can that he used to sit. Besides, it's laminated now and weathered by salt air and sun. The kind of thing you'd walk past if you didn't know the story behind it. I'm really going to try to read this without crying. I always cry whenever I read this. Next to a picture of Potato, it reads, gracias. Thank you, everyone who has gotten me this far. Thank you for the food, the love, and the belly rubs. I will miss all of you and my home on this lovely island. But with my heartwarmed treatment and my recent attacks by other dogs, it was time to move on. My loving new family is posting updates. Keep sharing the love to those remaining Asta. Potato. The first time I saw that picture, that little laminated note on the beach by the trash can, I cried like I'm weepy right now. And I've read the note so many times. Oh, my God, I'm so, like, sniffly. You can feel the love in it. You can feel how much Amanda fought for that dog's life. It's easy to overlook stories like this, especially when they happen in places like Puerto Rico, which people forget is still part of America. The stray population there is heartbreaking. Thousands of abandoned dogs who live and die on those beaches, unseen and unloved. But Amanda didn't look away. She didn't scroll past. She didn't say, someone else will handle it. She became that someone else. And that's why, as we close down season one, I'm introducing something new for season two. And I'm calling it the Good deed section. Every episode, we're going to end it with a story like this. A story that reminds us that good still exists, that saving one life, any life, still matters. For this closing episode, our good deed goes to Amanda and Potato. If you want to help them on their journey, here's how. Follow Potato's journey on Instagram Donate to the Venmo to help with Potato's heartworm treatment. Or you can send a gift through his Amazon wishlist. All these links will be in the show notes. Or you can also support the Puerto Rican rescue that helped get Potato out of danger. Again, the link will be in the show notes. Every donation, every share, every kind word makes a difference. Because these dogs, these souls, they deserve better. I've been rescuing animals for 15 years. I don't have kids. I have rescues. It's what I do. It's who I am. And now I want to use this platform to shine a light on the people out there quietly doing good. Because what Amanda did for Potato, that's justice, too. Not the kind you find in a courtroom, but the kind that saves something small and beautiful before it's too late. Amanda, thank you for reminding us that compassion is its own form of courage. And thank you for showing us all that saving one life, any life, still counts. You made the world a little softer. And that's how we change it, one good deed at a time. Moving on. I swear, it's like the episode that never ends because I don't want it to. This is so bittersweet, this last episode. But anyway, moving on with my scripted words, I keep referring to this as the end of season one. I want to be really clear. I don't see this as the end of the story, though I'm hoping that one day I can come back with episode 13. Maybe that's because there are charges. Maybe it's because something finally shifted. Or maybe it's just because there's a new development that deserves to be heard. And even if nothing happens right away, I'll still be here. I'll still release bonus episodes whenever I can. And I'm always, always looking to interview people who knew my mom. One of the greatest joys in my life is learning new stories about her, hearing pieces of her I never knew. So if you knew her, if you loved her, if you have a memory, I'd be honored to talk to you. And I still have an open invitation for my Aunt Wendy and for any of my family, Aunt Patty, anyone who wants to share who she was. You don't have to travel to me now. You don't have to come into the studio. I can patch you in from home. This isn't just so listeners can learn who my mom was. It's so I can, too. After 140 days, we're closing out season one of Poppy Killed Mommy. And somehow, without planning it that way, we've Landed right in the middle of October, in the middle of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. That timing, it wasn't planned. It has to mean something, right? Because this isn't just a story about one woman. It's a story about what happens when silence is normalized and violence hides behind closed doors. And when a system decides that domestic abuse is a private matter, it's not. It never was. Domestic violence is an epidemic in this country. It's the quietest one we have, the one that lives in whispers, bruises, and excuses. And it's killing people every day. Every minute, nearly 20 people in the United States are physically abused by an intimate partner. That's more than 10 million people every year. One in four women, one in nine men. And yet, so many of those stories never make it past the front door. We tell victims to keep it quiet. We say, don't air your dirty laundry. We say, what happens in the house stays in the house. But those locked doors are where too many people die behind them, families are destroyed, children are traumatized, and justice becomes optional, depending on who's watching. And that's why this podcast exists. That's why Poppy Killed Mommy became more than just a name. It became a mission. I didn't plan to make a second season. Honestly, I thought I'd tell my mom's story, finally put it somewhere safe, and maybe just walk away. But how could I? How could I stop talking about it when it's still happening every single day in towns just like Sedona, in homes just like ours? So I made a decision. I decided not to lock the doors on the studio. After my mother's season ended. I decided to keep speaking, to keep telling stories that deserve to be told. And I won't be doing it alone for season two. I'm bringing on a co host, a colleague, a friend, a true crime junkie who shares this fire in her chest. Melissa Field, that same friend who road tripped with me to CrimeCon. Melissa and I are building on what I started here by taking it further. Together, we've invested in more equipment, more research tools, and a bigger vision. We'll even take on two cases per month. Writing, researching, and then sitting down in the studio together to bring those stories to life. Our goal. To take this platform that began as one woman's fight for her mother and turn it into a space that amplifies the stories of other families still waiting for justice. Season two will launch in early 2026, and our first case is one that found me at crimecon. A woman walked up to my booth, and she Told me about her sister, a young mother in Colorado Springs whose death was ruled a homicide. But the timeline has holes. The evidence doesn't line up. And it sounds so familiar to my mom's case, to so many cases. It's a case that hasn't been solved. And it deserves to be heard. Because I know what it feels like to beg people to care, to beg people to listen. And I refuse to let those voices be ignored. So this. This is what's next. If you've listened this far, if you shared my mother's story, if you've helped me keep her memory alive, thank you. You've helped me build something real. But to keep going, we need more. We need support, sponsorship, and funding to grow this into what it deserves to be. Yes, we've taken the first steps to monetize through the ads, but that's not enough to sustain a production that's trying to make a difference. So if you're a listener, a business owner, a brand who believes in what we're doing, please reach out to me. You can email me directly@poppykilledmommymail.com Help us keep telling the stories that would otherwise stay hidden. Help us give a voice to the women, the children, and the families whose lives were stolen by someone who claimed to love them. This isn't just entertainment. This is advocacy. This is awareness, and this is survival. Because when we talk about domestic violence, we break the silence that protects abusers. When we say their names, we give victims back to their humanity. And when we refuse to shut the door, that's when change begins. So as we close out the season, in the middle of domestic violence awareness month, I want to dedicate this moment to my mom, Stacey Marie Wassolichen, and to every person who didn't make it out. We see you, we remember you, and we'll keep fighting for you. This isn't the end of Poppy killed mommy. This is just the beginning of something bigger. Thank you for listening.

Jeff Bridges (71:14)

Morning, Zoe. Got donuts?

Dana (71:16)

Jeff Bridges. Why are you still living above our garage?

Jeff Bridges (71:19)

Well, I dig the mattress, and I want to be in a T mobile commercial. Commercial like you teach me. So, Dana.

Nikki Wassolishan (71:25)

Oh, no.

Dana (71:27)

I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mob. We'll get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

Mike Hanson (71:37)

Wow.

Jeff Bridges (71:38)

Impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

Nikki Wassolishan (71:45)

Nice.

Dana (71:45)

Jeffrey, you heard them.

Jeff Bridges (71:47)

T Mobile is the best place to.

Nikki Wassolishan (71:48)

Get get the new iPhone 17 Pro.

Jeff Bridges (71:50)

On us with eligible traded in any condition. So what are we having for launch?

Dana (71:55)

Dude, my work here is done.

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