Two child murders, Holly Staker and Jeanine Nicarico, end up telling the same chilling story: once police pick a suspect, the system stops asking who did it and starts creating a narrative to prove that person did. Both cases lean on shaky human statements, false confessions, shifting stories, and admitted lies, while ignoring evidence that doesn’t fit, and evidence that may have been planted. Even when DNA raises doubts in Rivera’s case, and even when another man confesses in the Nicarico case, the prosecutions push forward. Families trust the system because the alternative is unbearable: if the system is wrong, the real killer is still out there. Wicked doesn’t just describe the men who killed Holly Staker and Jeanine Nicarico. It describes the ones who let their killers slip away, while innocent men were locked in cages for crimes they never committed.

Police and prosecutors swear an oath, not to win, not to “close cases,” but to uphold the Constitution and the laws of Illinois. (Lake County Chiefs of Police Association and 705 ILCS 205/4). That oath is supposed to be the backbone of public trust. It’s the promise that the people with the most power in the system will use it responsibly.

So how do you square that oath with the long line of wrongful convictions out of Waukegan and Lake County? Who carries the real duty to the public and who pays the price when that duty is ignored? When officers or prosecutors bend facts, manipulate people, or cling to a narrative that doesn’t match the evidence, the consequences don’t fall on them. They fall on the the innocent victim, family that has lost a loved one to violence, to the wrongfully convicted, and the innocent members of society that have a murderer living amongst them.

This episode digs into the danger of police and prosecutors shaping stories instead of following facts. The way a narrative can become more important than the truth. And the way “justice” can twist into something unrecognizable.

This is an episode about oxymorons — and morons — and the uncomfortable reality that sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.

Nancy Kalinoski hasn’t spoken publicly since Juan Rivera was exonerated in late 2011. For more than a decade, she’s remained silent. But before that silence, Nancy and her husband, Mike, left behind a trail of comments, small windows into the impossible reality of losing an eleven‑year‑old child to violence, and then being pulled through decades of trials, reversals, and unanswered questions.

This episode revisits those moments. The things Nancy and Mike shared with media outlets. Their words aren’t just historical, they’re emotional artifacts of a family trying to survive the unthinkable.

And woven through their story is another voice: Dawn Engelbrecht, the mother of the two little kids that Holly was babysitting. Dawn’s perspective brings us into the world of living victims, the parents, siblings, and loved ones who carry the weight of a crime long after the headlines fade. Dawn shared what that survival looked like from the inside: the guilt, the anger, the exhaustion, the way hope becomes both a lifeline and a threat.

Together, all these voices form a fuller picture of what Holly’s murder left behind. Not just a case. Not just a wrongful conviction. But a family, a community, and a set of wounds that stayed open. These wounds will remain open until such time as Holly's murderer is found and justice is served. Then, and only then, will the Stalker/Kalinoski family, the young girls (now women) of Waukegan, and Lake County residents get peace and Holly will once again be the person we remember and celebrate.

This episode will cover newly discovered information regarding Chandler’s gym and DNA testing reports that are tied to Holly Staker's 1992 murder but are part of Marvin Williford's criminal case, pending in Lake County, IL.

This episode is an update of Marvin Williford's fight for freedom. The episode covers Marvin's current court filings seeking a new trial. The episode also discusses the distance between Holly Staker's crime scene and Delwin Foxworth's crime scene, as well as Augustine Melock's crime scene location. These locations are discussed because of the Marauder Pattern Theory of criminal psychology. To see the corresponding photo's referenced in the episode, please go to the Facebook page Justice Denied (the profile picture is of Lady Justice and the cover photo is a picture of the kid's bed and a school picture of Holly Staker).

This episode is a deep dive into the the latest wrongful convictions out of Waukegan, Illinois and the connection they have with the wrongful conviction of Juan Rivera and unsolved murders of Holly Staker and Delwin Foxworth.

This episode covers the DNA that was linked to Holly's murder and that was found at the murder of a North Chicago man in 2000. In addition to covering that 2000 North Chicago murder, I also discuss issues with the 2000 murder similar to the 1992 murder of Holly and later conviction of Juan Rivera. Lastly, I discuss the problems surrounding Holly's murder investigation and the questions that still linger. This is the last episode planned, for now, unless something new is uncovered. Please share this podcast with others and let's get Holly's name and murder back in the spotlight so her murderer can finally be located and properly prosecuted.

In 2005, the DNA from the crime scene was tested and returned to an "unknown male suspect" and not to Juan Rivera. Juan's defense team requested that the FBI compare the unknown male suspect's DNA to DNA contained in the FBI's nationwide databank. The FBI refused to do so and Juan's defense team was forced to sue the Director of the FBI. Later it would come out that the DNA left at Holly's crime scene was found at another crime scene, a 2000 crime that took place in North Chicago, Illinois. The same murderer killed two people in Lake County, IL, seven and a half years apart and less then 5 miles apart. The Waukegan Police Department is in charge of Holly's open and ongoing murder investigation which is now 32 years old. However, there is no assigned officer nor is there a dedicated Cold Case Unit working on Holly's murder. Rather it is a, when they have the time, they work on the case. Likely this means, Holly's case will remain an open and ongoing investigation for another 32 years unless the public puts pressure on the police to demand action in finding Holly's killer.