Hunting for Secrets: The Murder of Leonila Stickney
LOVE MURDER
Jessie Pray and Andie Cassette
4.8 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 83 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When a joyful young Filipino mother searching for a better life in America is killed during a South Dakota pheasant hunt, her fiancé insists it was a tragic accident. But as investigators dig deeper, they uncover a disturbing pattern: a violently jealous ex-cop, a secret vasectomy, a hidden affair, and nearly a million dollars in life insurance taken out on the victim just months before her death. What initially looked like a hunting mishap slowly unravels into a chilling story of greed, betrayal, and a man who believed his badge could help him get away with murder.
Sources:
1. Accident, Suicide or Murder. 2019.
2. “Leonila ‘Nila’ De Valle Stickney (1983-2009) - Find a Grave Memorial.” Find a Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108733253/leonila-stickney. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
3. “South Dakota Attorney General.” South Dakota Attorney General, https://atg.sd.gov/OurOffice/Media/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=1939#gsc.tab=0. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
4. State v. Bertram. 2018, https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/sd-supreme-court/1885713.html.
5. Argus Leader, 2016, https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2016/01/16/money-tangled-relations-center-ex-officers-murder-case/78894440/.
6. People, https://people.com/crime/ex-south-dakota-police-chief-guilty-of-murdering-pregnant-fiancee-for-insurance/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
7. Mitchell Republic, 2016.
8. Mitchell Republic, 2016.
9. The Dickinson Press, 2021.
10. Mitchell Republic, 2021.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay, Jessie, last week featured a real great A sleaze ball. What do you have for us this week? |
| 0:06.2 | When a young Filipino mother is shot dead during a South Dakota pheasant hunt, it appears to be simply a tragic accident. |
| 0:14.8 | Until the authorities discover secrets galore, including infidelity, a secret mastectomy, a million dollars in life insurance, |
| 0:23.2 | and some sketchy text messages from beyond the grave. |
| 0:27.4 | I'm Andy Cassette, and I'm Jesse Prey, and this is Love Murder. |
| 0:31.8 | Music Hi, Andy. |
| 0:58.8 | Hi, Jesse. |
| 1:00.1 | Welcome back, everyone, to Love Murder, a podcast about good beginnings, bad ends, and love gone fatally wrong, so bad that I couldn't even rhyme this week. |
| 1:10.2 | You can find Love Murder on |
| 1:11.3 | TikTok and Instagram at Love Murder Pod and on Facebook by searching Love Murder Podcast. |
| 1:16.0 | If you are enjoying this show, please Love Slash Murder, a five star rating on your podcast app, |
| 1:20.9 | subscribe and review to help new people discover the show. As always, I am always so touched by all |
| 1:27.2 | of your kind words. So thank you guys |
| 1:28.9 | so much. And it really does help our algorithm and helping people discover us. And that means everything. |
| 1:35.0 | Yes. And thank you everyone for the birthday love this week. That was so nice. That was so so |
| 1:41.6 | nice. We got some really nice, like, comments and messages about Andy's |
| 1:45.8 | birthday, which was super duper sweet. And if you guys don't follow us personally on Instagram, |
| 1:51.2 | I was in transit. I got moved to a different flight and then I was literally traveling for 55 |
| 1:58.2 | hours. And Andy was having her birthday in my town because we were |
| 2:03.1 | supposed to be together and I made it for like just the dinner and one night and to do that |
| 2:09.2 | post together. So that was rough that you were in my town for 48 hours and I was only there |
| 2:14.9 | for like eight of them. So yeah. So feel free to follow us on any of those. |
... |
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