The Right Shoe
The Right Shoe
The killing of Stephanie Dzikowski
Stephanie Dzikowski was a young woman, 22, about to start a career as a dental assistant, had a 2 year old baby with Gastroschisis prounounced (gas-troh-skee-sis) I apologize for mispronouncing it in the episode; and a fiance, Sean Sadowniczak. Together they lived with her father, Stephen, in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.
One night, Sean went out for 5-10 minutes to get milk for the baby, came back and Stephanie lay dead, a gunshot to the head, the baby crying.
It would take a year and a half before they found out who killed Stephanie but why?
The story is a tragic, cautionary tale about never being too careful. Crime comes when one least expects it.
Hello, everybody, this is Debbie Q and you're listening to the right shoe, the right to his podcast about all things strange and unusual. Especially when it references at death. That song I do love. I like to change things I was even thinking. When I first started this, I became Debbie q because I don't know I was all freaked out and didn't want anyone to know my real name. And now I'm thinking My name is Debbie pay my real name. So I was thinking it just using that it doesn't rhyme with shoe, but I don't know it. I'm just I like change. I don't like anything to be the same ever. Except for my shoe. My shoe will always remain beyond that. I don't know. I don't know what to name myself. Maybe just Deb. I was doing it before I was thinking evil Deb. I love that instead of Evil Dead get it. Also, for the business end of the right shoe. I would like to talk about because I didn't do it last month, fabulous female and my fabulous female for the month, which was supposed to be the month of November. But we switched it around is gizella. K, from Grizzly books. She has many podcast, she has one podcast, Grizzly books, which follows serial killers. She does a couple of Instagrams and they are all very good. I really suggest you go look at Grizzly books. And then you can go through there to find her a variety of Instagram feeds. And they're they're excellent. Very fun. I always look at them. And she is my fabulous female. She wins her choice of an Kryon book from my huge, huge library. I'm doing it Kindle wise because the mail I were very uncertain of the mail lately, it's just been things have been taking a long time. So I'll get together with her and we'll figure out what books she wants it congratulations gizella. Also, of course, the right shoe, I don't do Patreon yet I know that it is imperative that you build on your community for advertorial reasons and such when you're just a regular podcaster does it mostly as you feel a hobby, you still need those likes and stuff because it does actually. Because there's so many True Crime podcasts out there and the right shoe it sounds like a shoe store. So especially for me, you know you need that bump. So if you can, if you're on Apple and just happen to be looking around and see where you can put a like or something and subscribe, please do so it would help me out greatly. I am actually going on vacation. For by the time you hear this. I'll be back from vacation. I this is going to be a relatively short story, but it's a necessary story for several reasons. And that is we have to remember about security and that is a simple thing of locking your door. This is a very cautionary tale about how one locked door might have saved a life not necessarily but it might have helped. This is the Stephanie Dzikowsky case before I get to the case, I have a little advertisement from stolen from me podcast. Welcome to my true crime podcast stolen from me. Every week we will cover a different case, from the notorious Ian Huntley to the gruesome end game. You can follow me for more episodes and news on my Twitter page at stolen from me pod. I got into True Crime from an early age. I was around eight years old at the time. And at school we had to reach for someone famous. Everybody decided to write to the queen, but I didn't want to do that. So I decided I was going to write to the Kray twins. This didn't go down well, but it did escalate in my fascination of true crime. Thank you for being a part of my podcast. Please leave a five star review. Like and subscribe and see you in the next episode. Go check out stolen from me. It's on YouTube as well. We're going to start with Stephanie. This koski is a relatively it's not a large case, it's not as labor intensive as Zodiac was. And then gosh, you know, as soon as I put that up, I realized there was another suspect. Oh, it never ends. I thought I could only do so am I the podcast would have been three hours long. A very interesting case. But regardless, definitely discount ski. We lived in the port Richmond section of Philadelphia. I live there from 2006 to 2009. She had lived there relatively her whole life it was that there's a corner Ehrman going and it's it's right almost on the border, you know, Kensington's right there. Fishtown and then port Richmond. She had lived there for 18 years that that neighborhood knew her. Well, I went on Facebook, I looked up everything I could. She was a well liked girl. Stephanie was born on July 2 1993, her mom was in and out of her life and her dad, Steven, he was the more stable person so they had always split custody. But more often than not, he was the parental figure in Stephanie's life. And she, she went to, she went to Catholic school. And her and her brother, her brother was born about five years after she was when she got to a certain age, especially in the port Richmond section eight is a very one of those sections of Philadelphia that people look after you. The whole neighborhood looks after each other. There is nothing that happens that people don't know about. Or, for example, when I lived on, I lived on Castor Avenue, my my kids were younger. I was so mad at my one of my friends had lived with me for a short period of time, he rented the back room. And he tells everyone that he he worked right down the street. And he said to his boss that my daughter was we had been hit by a car, which she wasn't he just wanted to get off work, but I am at home and all these people are knocking on my door, like with soup bowls and saying, Oh my gosh, we're so sorry to hear and I'm like what the hell is going on? First of all, when I found out what happened, I was furious. I you know, I didn't I just don't do that anymore. You know, that's bad karma. The point was, is that all those people came to the door. And we're very worried. And that's how it is down there. People are take care of each other. It's a it's one of those neighborhoods, even if the crime is kind of somewhat, but I don't know how it is now but when I was there wasn't too bad. A little or sections like the side streets and a lot of drug issues. But people take care of each other people mocked after each other. So Stephanie lived in that house for for all those years. And she lived at this time when this incident happened with her her dad Steven and her boyfriend, Shawn Sado niczak at Aramingo and it w s around Aramingo and ann stree S. Now her she had gotten preg ant at age 20. And I think he and Sean were they were go ng to get married her and her boyfriend and but at the time they were just living with the d ad as she was growing up. She h d she did get through high schoo. She had wanted to drop o t started hanging out aroun with the wrong crowd but her h r dad was like now you're goi g through school so she did fini h school. She got pregnant wit Sean and her baby had someth ng called gastroschisis. gastos hisis is a birth defect in whi h a baby's intestines extend out ide of the abdomen in a hole ext to the belly button, the rgans. You know, they might also be outside the baby's body an I imagine which organs are utside the baby's body or how c mplex this disease might be. T ere's many complications, of ourse, and they don't know e actly what causes it. They es imate that possibly younger others who smoke or drink or use or use alcohol or are youn er than 20 are more susceptib e to this, but they're n t sure. So Stephanie's baby h d this and she was determined t learn all that she could about this illness and to sho She was, it was admirable because she just at the age of 20, I don't know if I could have been had that strength to, you know, it's tough. It's tough to have a baby at age 20, let alone one with the birth defect. And it is usually curable, but you don't, you know, it's Don't worry So, and this is what her baby had. Now, she was taking care of the child. They were her and Shawn were living their lives. And on the night of July 30 2015, her boyfriend Shawn wanted to he said that he was going to go out for milk, he only went out for like, 510 minutes, but he left the door unlocked, which I have to be honest, if my door is unlocked all the time. Only recently, when I've started these podcasts have I started locking it, because I really have been taking note of these stories. And opportunity is the purest form of brutal intention. When these nuts get something in their mind, you know, I remember that one vampire guy. I don't remember his name, but crime enthusiasts will know. He was like this, one of their serial killers real dirty and he would eat his victims. And he was like a vampire. They used to call him because of this. And he said, I would literally just if if the door was locked, I figured I was not meant to go in there. But if the door was open, that's when you would go in and kill people. So I I've always been more inclined to lock my doors. So Stephanie's door was open. And her she was in there with her baby. She was in the kitchen. It seems when Sean came back, he alked into the house. And the baby was crying. He could not find Stephanie. He was out of his mind. He said he said as soon as he walked in, he knew something was wrong because Stephanie would never left that baby. He ran upstairs. He You know, he was looking all over for the dad, I guess wasn't home at this time. He finds her in the bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head. She was dead at age 22. Stephanie, this caskey was dead. He was a wreck. He ran outside there was neighbor he was he was freaking out. You know what could have happened in five minutes. They have gotten surveillance footage from this. It was a little bit of time. It took about a year and a half. I don't know if they release the footage right away. And and I'm not sure why they hold on to it at times. You know, I don't know if they thought maybe they would confess or something. But a little more than a year and a half goes by and this is what we started hearing on the news. And I have several pictures of Stephanie she was such a beautiful girl. You can even tell in her pictures. She was a strong girl. You know she had a little bit of attitude. That was good you know that's what you need. And and then this report started to come out. Who Sean Stephanie does koski in Philadelphia believe has an answer. Everybody was shocked with a neighborhood and the accused cold blooded killer is someone everyone in the neighborhood knows sometimes you just need a break. That break came after crime watch daily air this previously unseen video featuring the suspected murderer started this was a big case for the Philadelphia PD How was the crime watch daily story helpful in pursuing assessment? Well, shortly after the airing of the program, the tip calls came pouring in. And eventually that led to identification of the person of interest, which eventually led to the arrest of that person is 28 year old James Jones. Now 28 year old James Jones was actually somebody that the couple knew what had happened his crime watch daily had aired this segment in the Philadelphia region and said if anybody knows this, there was a guy white male with a backpack on walking through the neighborhood calmly after shooting this girl and when crime watch daily aired it there was several they knew right away they said that's a guy named James Jones. Apparently. Now I went through so many things because when I you know a new When you hear of somebody getting killed, murdered, and it's that sort of a time period, you're thinking, oh god it had it had to be drugs like I'm thinking the boyfriend ran out so that she could do a quick drug deal. I don't know, you know, he goes through all these things in your head. I don't know why he would run out of the house for that. But I was thinking and then something happened in the drug deal and he got shot. You do think that because of the neighborhood and everything and and that not that I even think I don't even care that's, that's whatever, that's their business. I'm not a big proponent of against people that use drugs as long as you're not affecting anybody, or especially your children. The point is, it had nothing to do with that. I read many, many Facebook entries of people that knew are everything I ever read about her. She was very well liked. In the neighborhood. They did not feel that it was drugs. They said that this is what happened. And this is crazy. And it reminds me of them. Another case, when Stephanie left. Sean, thanks thinks that this guy James Jones, had been standing outside her house, because she had a best friend. They never named the best friend. I'm sure everybody knows her name in the neighborhood. But I I did not specifically No, Stephanie. So I don't know the name of the best friend. But she was close friends with this girl who was going out with James Jones. And when they showed the person on crime, watch his walk. Everybody knew his walk and the backpack that he wore. And apparently, he was all high paranoid, and thought that Stephanie was getting in between them. boyfriend girlfriend wise, like she was telling her best friend get away from him. Because he's no good. He uses drugs. He's a scumbag. You need to get away from them. And this and James Jones, all amped up and pissed off. He must have been waiting outside, I have to agree with the boyfriend. He must have been waiting until he left that house. Or just it was like opportunity. And he saw him leave. Check the door. It was open. Because when when Sean her boyfriend said that he just left the house for five minutes to get milk. I have no reason not to believe them. He said I mean, the story always fell in line with the time and you know that time wise. He said he when he came back, she was shocked. She was dead. Initially, they thought that, that he did that in front of the baby. But it was later found out that the baby was not there. The baby was downstairs and she was up in the bedroom. So she might have said like, Hey, I got to talk to you. And then that's when she was saying or he was saying I got to talk to you. And you know, when you see somebody you know, you're not thinking they always thought that it was somebody that they know, because of the way she wouldn't have just brought somebody upstairs to talk to them fit with that. So she must have brought him upstairs, told him you know, he probably said, What the hell are you doing? You know, that's my girl. And she was and then he probably did. Or he could have just pulled out the gun and shot her, which is so sad. Her baby by the way. I did get over the illness and she is perfectly healthy. She's seven years old. And it's tragic that she does not have a mother. They now split the time between Shawn and the dad. The dad has partial custody. And Steven just koski always says like, I can't believe like she was shot for just for something so stupid. You know. So they did when they aired that on crime watch. They had they got so many tips. They recognize they said the gate, the like the way he walked. And the backpack was familiar to them. They James Jones was arrested very quickly after. And that was that. It's just a shame. He got 26 years, as the dad said he should get life at least they got something. I mean anymore. They're really not given homicides a lot of time here in Philly. So we had 499 homicides in 2020. It's terrible. And also I read there was a big thing about what's the motive, what's the motive? Because a lot of people arguing that it was drugs and after what I was reading, I don't think it was drugs either. I think that it was the friend angle. It just makes sense. With everything that I read it with everything told how it happened. He, you know, he was all high, standing outside the part of the house waiting to get in, you know, the boyfriend leaves. He sees him leave and he goes in and shoots or just and that's it sucks. It really It really does. I and and I asked homicide I said, you know, do you guys have to prove motive? And they said no in Philadelphia, you just you have an eyewitness you have something like that, like a video come out. And then many people call up. And then I think the guy confessed after they got him in this James Jones. It's it's a given you don't even have to give them motive. The motive they said was robbery, I think on there and they were he was high and needed more money for drugs. And that's what they claimed. But it I don't think it was robbery. I do believe the friend angle. And it reminded me of that story, which another one all crime enthusiast. Definitely. This is a big one that was on Forensic Files. It was that one nightmare. And Napa Laura menza lived with two girls, Leslie Massara, and a girl named Adrian. They all live together all three of them. Initially they had thought it was Oh, Adrian and insogna they all had lived together. I'll tell the story real quick because it's it's just weird how similar it is. These three girls live together. Adrian, Leslie and Lauren. There was a one night it was Halloween night I believe they went to sleep. She they had gotten in kind of a TIFF, because they there was like a lot of boys coming in and stuff. And Lauren had said like we have to keep this cool and everything. Let's not bring guys in the house. So one night she heard a lot of commotion upstairs. So she thought it was something was going on. And it Here she comes out Lauren comes out because she was on the bottom floor. She sees a guy, one pastor, her friends had been murdered upstairs. It was in Napa Valley, California. She was hysterical. So they found these Turkish cigarettes out side. And that was the only clue that they have ever had. But this guy, Eric koppel when Eric was going out with this girl Lily, and she was friends with one of the girls. I think Adrian Yes. Best Friend. Adrian was best friends with Lily. And they thought it was Leslie because Leslie was like the beauty queen. They thought initially that's who the killer was going after. Here. It was. It wasn't. Leslie. It was Adrian. And it was her boyfriend, Eric, because he thought that she was because I guess they were supposed to get married. And she was saying don't marry him. She didn't think he was good enough for her. And he found out and he went and he killed the both of them. Both girls, Lily's friends. And when they got married, the mother was at the wedding. That's a great Forensic Files episode. It's murder in Napa Valley. check that one out. But that totally remember reminded me of this whole story. It's not uncommon for guys to be pissed off. And you know, your best friend of course is going to tell you if the guy is not right for you. And obviously wasn't he was a jerk. He was a murder. So I mean, the whole story is so sad and tragic and male that baby has no mother. And that's what the dad said. Like I can't believe my granddaughters tries motherless is a very sad story is a short story. But I saw that and I had to talk about it because it was so upsetting to me. And I just it burns my hide when I read about these. This is such a senseless killing. Nobody was doing anything wrong. You know, it was just people going about their lives. And then this guy just freaked and shot this girl and now a baby as you know, mother, and Shawn was very broken up. They said Shawn, and Stephanie were very, they loved each other. And you could tell it when there's several episodes on like Crimewatch and ABC and The affiliates here in Philadelphia and you can tell that he's extremely upset. He seems like a fine guy to me. I mean, I know I mean, everybody does. sorek everyone experiments at that age, whatever, I don't know, drugs just never again, if unless you're doing something that's really hurting you or your family or your children, you know, if you're just like, a little bit here a little bit there. I don't see the issue. But I don't want to get into that because I don't advocate drug use at all. I think it takes away I, myself talk about my own issues of addiction, and I am so much happier without being addicted to something. It really does wreck your life. I am currently the next I had to take a little I had to do like a little episode. It gave me a little bit of a break. I am going on vacation. Why can I wait? When I when this is released, I'll be back but I am so excited. I just need this break. So when I am looking, I am reading while on vacation. Fun, fun, fun. I'm gonna be reading all about Gary Hyde, Nick because 3520 North Marshall was a place I knew well. When I was 18 years old. I live with this guy. And we lived on Fisher Street. Fisher and when Jerome and 10th it was in only two miles away at 3520 North Marshall with Gary hi Nick and I cannot believe when I was living with that guy. At that time. It was it was exactly when he was caught was freaked me out. Oh, that is so nasty. I was two miles away from this nutcase. And I'm reading the book which is fascinating. Gary, hi Nick. I know a little bit more about so I'll be a little bit more I feel a little more confident. Although the Zodiac I'm glad I got into that because I do cases because I want to know more about them. So it helps me to learn about it just as much. This is Debbie Q and you're l stening to the right shoe.