Transcript
Nikki Wasolichen (0:12)
Hi, my name is Nikki, and I'm the daughter of a murdered woman. Welcome back to Poppy Killed Mommy. We're going to start with the Trigger Warning. This podcast contains discussions of domestic violence, homicide, and other potentially distressing topics. The individual mentioned in this episode is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Listener discretion is advised. Over the last several weeks, I've taken you into my life to tell you my mother's story. Together, we've walked through the events leading up to her death, the aftermath, and the police interviews that followed. And now We've reached Sunday, July 11th. The day they told me. The day my life changed forever. That day is, and always will be the worst day of my life. I remember being driven to the Sedona Police Department by my foster family. They escorted us into a small room with a circle of silver folding chairs. In the center of this circle were toys and blocks, and my little sister immediately ran over, sat down, and started playing. I sat frozen in a chair, facing people I didn't recognize and people I didn't trust. The only familiar face in that room was my mother's boyfriend, my little sister's father, Russell Peterson. Not one member of my family was there to comfort me. And it was Russell who told me what my sister had been telling me for days. That our mother was dead. My sister kept playing with her toys and blocks as if nothing had happened. But for me, it felt like my chair collapsed beneath me. The world just fell out from under me. I don't remember much after that, only that Russell was there and that he kept saying it was an accident and he was the only person comforting me. That entire day is a blur, but one of my memories stands out. The pink Jeep trail ride after Russell told me that my mom was gone. He signed both me and my sister out of CPS custody that afternoon. And what did he do next? He took us on a family outing. Just hours after telling me my mother was dead, he took us on a pink Jeep tour through Sedona, a fun, scenic ride. I remember sitting in the back of that Jeep, stunned not just by what had just happened, but by how strange it felt that Russell was suddenly wanting to play family. He had never taken us on an outing before. And now, on the worst day of my life, he was acting like the three of us were some little happy family. But that day wasn't about the Jeep ride. It was about manipulation. Russell spent that afternoon working hard to convince me I should want to live with him. He kept repeating things like, you want to stay with your Sister, Right? You don't want to be separated from your sister, do you? He knew my little sister was my weakness. I loved her dearly. He used her as a bargaining chip to push me towards saying what he wanted, that I wanted to stay with him. But I never said what he wanted me to say to anybody other than him. Thankfully, three family members stepped up for custody of me, my grandmother, my godmother and my father. And days later, my father was awarded custody. What he didn't know and what no one told him was that I had been released to Russell Peterson that day. No one ever called my father to ask or to inform. And I won't share that piece of information for 30 years until I start investigating my mother's death. July 11, 1993, was the last day I ever saw Russell Peterson. Our final memory together is that pink Jeep ride just hours after he told me my mother was dead from an accident. Last episode I told you there was one more interview and I would be giving it to you in this episode, which is true and not true. There is one more interrogation, but what I forgot to mention was the walkthrough. Later that same day, after dropping my sister and me back off at the foster home, Russell called investigators at 2pm he asked Sedona PD to meet him at the house on Coffee Pot Drive. He said he wanted to go over the events again, this time inside the house itself. What followed wasn't an interrogation. It was more like a performance. This is that conversation once again. It's not the best audio and there's a couple times where it cuts out and you can't understand what they say. So I have to cut it out. I'm including all of these interviews with the police to hear his words in total and his complete and utter indifference to my mother.