There aren’t many unsolved cases — or cold cases as they are better known — sitting on the shelves of the Sedona Police Department. Especially not ones that were deemed a homicide.
In the early morning of July 9, 1993, Sedona police responded to a report of death from a home on Coffee Pot Drive. There, they found the body of 32-year-old Stephanie Marie Wasilishin. Home with Wasilishin at the time of the incident was her live-in boyfriend, 31-year-old Russell Peterson, and two children — a 4-year-old the couple had together and a 10-year-old from a prior relationship of Wasilishin’s.
According to an article in the Sedona Red Rock News just days after the incident, police received a 911 call from Peterson at 1:40 a.m.
Then-Police Chief Bob Irish said a domestic violence altercation between Wasilishin and Peterson had occurred around 1:15 a.m. Irish reported that one of the two had retrieved a pistol from the bedroom. Peterson reportedly told police that Wasilishin fired one shot at him and then went into the master bedroom. Peterson reportedly followed her and a struggle ensued for the weapon, which went off, striking Wasilishin in the neck, Irish said at the time.
No arrests were made at the time and none have been made since.
Now, 27 years later, SPD’s Sgt. Michael Dominguez is taking another look at the case at the request of Wasilishin’s family with the hope of obtaining some closure nearly three decades later.
“What was conveyed to us [police officers at that time] said. “There were no witnesses other than Russell and the deceased. The children were in bed sleeping in other rooms when the incident occurred. The autopsy report from the medical examiner at the time called it a homicide.”
The investigation was completed by the SPD but the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office did not feel as though there was enough evidence to prove a homicide had occurred, Dominguez said. Therefore, the case never proceeded past the investigative stage.
With time and advancements in investigative training and technology, Wasilishin’s family has asked SPD to reopen the investigation to see if homicide can be proven. Dominguez said the first thing he did when asked to take another look at the case was to immediately seek out the cause of death.
“They [Wasilishin’s family] want resolution because they firmly believe that this was a homicide and not a suicide,” Dominguez said.
With potential homicide cases, there is no statute of limitations, therefore an investigation can be reopened regardless of the amount of time that has passed. And, the case is still considered an open investigation because the medical examiner stated the cause of death was homicide, yet it never went to court.
“Based on the evidence I see, there’s more to the story than that of a suicide,” Dominguez said. “Can I tell you that it’s a homicide with 100% certainty? No.”
In the upcoming weeks Dominguez said he plans to meet with the prosecuting attorney’s office, the medical examiner’s office and conduct further interviews — including an attempt to talk with Peterson.
Dominguez said he’s read the case — which consists of more than 400 pages — more than once. When reviewing it, he attempts to look at it through the eyes of an investigator in 1993 but then uses his skills and training to fill in any blanks.
“Training for investigators was completely different then as opposed to now,” he said. “My job is to see if I can find something else or a different avenue or something that is a different perspective. Essentially you can think of it as another pair of eyes looking at it with different knowledge to ask, ‘Is this something we can show that a crime occurred or not?’ It goes both ways. I could turn around and find out that this is a suicide. For me, it’s not a win because someone died. But at least it creates closure.”
Read the July 24, 2020, follow-up to this article here.
