Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
On the morning of June 5th, 2009, LAPD detective Dan Jaramillo was assigned to a homicide case that had been cold for 23 years. It was a particularly sensitive one. Decades passed before it was revisited, and the DNA evidence was only tested relatively recently. Jaramillo needed answers, and he knew exactly who to ask to get them. Detective Stephanie Lazarus.
She'd been on the force since the early 80s and was an active officer around the time the murder was committed. Since then, she'd become somewhat of a legend in several divisions. The 51-year-old was a gregarious and spirited detective who lived and breathed law enforcement. She regularly worked overtime, gave talks at schools, and even married a fellow officer
Her likable nature and go-getter attitude made her extremely popular amongst her peers and superiors. However, they didn't just like her, they revered her. Detective Lazarus had worked hard to make a name for herself and pulled it off spectacularly. She started out as a humble patrolwoman and rose through the ranks early on in her career.
In just a few years, Lazarus blazed through some of the LAPD's most coveted positions, such as homicide, drug abuse resistance education, and internal affairs. In 2008, she managed to earn a spot in the art theft and fraud division, which handled high-profile cases that garnered extensive media attention. PR was an intrinsic element of the position, and the charismatic Lazarus slotted in seamlessly.
The detective's charisma and sterling reputation even saw her being featured on a week-long special of Family Feud, which covered the stories of America's Finest. This came as no surprise to her fellow officers. Lazarus had been named Detective of the Year twice and was known for being a no-nonsense, by-the-book cop. She'd been working with the LAPD for a quarter century and, in all her years, had never faced a disciplinary hearing.
So, when Detective Jaramillo approached her at the LAPD headquarters for help, she was happy to oblige. He explained that he had a perp in custody who admitted to having intel on an art theft. As cases like these were her specialty, he asked if she'd join him for the interrogation. The pair made their way down to the holding cells in the basement and, before entering the detention area, relinquished their weapons as per protocol.
Lazarus followed Jaramillo into a small interrogation room, complete with soundproof tiles and three chairs, two for the officers, the other for the offender. Curiously, she noticed that the ladder was empty. It quickly became apparent why. They were joined by another investigator, who Jaramillo introduced as his partner, Detective Greg Stearns. The men then sat down and awkwardly gestured to the lone chair opposite them.
the one that was usually reserved for the suspect. Lazarus stared at them in disbelief. She wasn't used to sitting on that side of the interrogation table, but politely complied. She was there to help, after all. "You're going to bring someone in, right?" she asked. Detective Jaramillo sidestepped her question and revealed that there was no perpetrator, nor had there been a recent art theft. They'd brought her down to the interrogation room for another case entirely.
one that was very close to home. "Do you know John Rutten?" he asked, mispronouncing the man's surname. It took Lazarus a moment to realize who he was talking about. "John Rudden?" she clarified, still confused. Jaramillo noted the correction and began firing off several questions to ascertain how she knew the man. She stated they'd gone to college together and lived in the same dorm.
"I mean, what's this all about?" she demanded, desperate to be clued in. After a lengthy back and forth, Jaramillo eventually came clean. "Well, it's relating to his wife," he stated. Part one, the story of Sherry Rasmussen. I'm sure you're just as confused by the situation as Stephanie Lazarus was. Let me bring you up to speed.
In the summer of 1984, John Rudden met Sherry Rasmussen. She was 27, two years older than him, and as brilliant as she was beautiful. The tall, athletic Washington State native came from a well-to-do family but remained humble and hardworking. In her early childhood, her parents, Nels and Loretta Rasmussen, moved her and her two sisters to Tucson, Arizona, where they attended elementary school.
Even at a young age, it was clear that Sherry was destined to be an intellect. She was exceedingly intelligent and studied hard, even over her summer breaks. Her diligence inevitably paid off. Sherry completed elementary school one year before her peers did, an achievement that was only overshadowed by her high school performance. In her junior year of high school, Sherry managed to complete all the coursework for the following year and was allowed to graduate early.
In September 1973, at just 16 years old, her exceptional grades saw her being accepted into La Sierra University in Riverside, California. Sherry's older sister, Connie, was studying nursing at the affiliated Loma Linda University at the time. Their great aunt was also a nurse and an accomplished one at that. She earned her accolades from her work in Guam, where she helped transform the island's public health standards.
Sherry admired both her aunt and sister for their dedication to helping people, which inspired her to follow in their footsteps. As she neared the end of her freshman year, she chose to pursue a career in critical care nursing and, as usual, exceeded her goals at lightning speed. Sherry started studying at Loma Linda in the fall of 1974 and spent her summers working in the surgical intensive care unit of the university's teaching hospital.
the teenager thrived in the fast-paced, life-or-death environment of the ICU. She had a gift for it, one she was determined to put to use in service of others. At just 20 years old, Sherry went on to graduate from Loma Linda in June of 1977 and was awarded her nursing license one month later. Her life seemed to be a flurry of achievements from then onwards. The following year, she was accepted into UCLA's master's program
and started working there as a staff nurse to cover her tuition. Despite Sherry's intense commitments, the then 23-year-old earned her master's degree as a cardiovascular clinical nurse specialist in March of 1980. Her father, Nels Rasmussen, couldn't contain his pride and felt that she deserved to be rewarded. So, in August of that year, he bought her a condo at the gated Balboa Townhomes complex in Van Nuys, California.
The split-level unit was ideal for a young woman living alone. It was in a safe neighborhood, surrounded by six-foot-high walls, and sported a drive-in garage. It was perfect. The deed was under Nels' name. However, Sherry valued her financial independence and insisted on sharing the burden. Every month, without fail, the nurse wrote Nels a check that covered his monthly mortgage payments.
Over the next three years, Sherry threw herself into her career. She began lecturing internationally on critical care nursing and was quickly headhunted by the Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where she inevitably became the director of nursing. Sherry grew so adept in her field that she considered pursuing medicine at one point. She knew she had what it took to become an exceptional doctor, but wasn't willing to sacrifice motherhood. She built the life she wanted.
The only thing missing was a family to share it with. She thought it would be years before she met someone special, but she vastly underestimated her magnetism. A month after landing her new job, Sherry met the man that would change her life forever in more ways than one. Part Two: Struck by Cupid's Arrow One evening in May of 1984, Sherry attended a party held by Anita Kramer, another friend from her UCLA Medical Center days.
Anita was known as the Cupid in their friendship circle, and she had a knack for matchmaking that often ended in marriage. Unbeknownst to Sherry, it was her turn to be struck by Anita's arrow.
When the party was in full swing, Anita whisked Sherry away and led her to a tall, lean, and unsettlingly handsome man. It was John Rutten. The 25-year-old San Diego native was a childhood friend of Anita's boyfriend and had recently graduated from UCLA. Anita thought they'd hit it off, and she was right. Sherry was immediately captivated by John. He was lively, charming, and exuded confidence.
It wasn't just his endearing demeanor and looks that fascinated her though. He was also intelligent and ambitious. John was a mechanical engineer who worked at a computer equipment manufacturing company and, like Sherry, was an avid runner. He too was immediately smitten with the brilliant, beautiful nurse. A moment John would later recall as love at first sight. The pair were inseparable from that night onwards. To Sherry's delight,
John proposed to her one year later. He ignored the traditional engagement ring and opted for a new car instead. It was far more suited to Sherry, who was a practical person. One month after their engagement, John moved in and Nels promptly transferred the ownership of the condo to the couple. Sherry thought she'd found her happily ever after. I truly wish she had, unbeknownst to her.
John had a secret that would cut her fairy tale short. On November 23rd, 1985, they were married in front of their cheering friends and family. The newlyweds honeymooned at a beach resort in Jamaica before returning home to spend Christmas with the Rasmussens. In 1986, John landed a new job at Micropolis, a hard drive manufacturing company, and was adjusting to his new hours. He had to be at the office earlier than usual
meaning he'd leave for work well before Sherry did. That's exactly what happened one day in February. John rose early that Monday morning and left Sherry lying in bed. She was due to supervise an HR class at the hospital that day, the content of which she considered entirely unnecessary. John encouraged Sherry to go in, but she remained under the covers and undecided. At 7:20 a.m., he kissed her goodbye and walked out their front door.
John called home at around 10 a.m. to see whether Sherry had gone to work, but she never picked up. He figured she was still in bed and decided to call back later. When he did, there was no answer. Stranger still, Sherry hadn't turned their answering machine on, which she always did before she left for work. John assumed that she must have gone in after all and forgotten to turn it on, but he called her office just to be sure. Her secretary, Sylvia, picked up.
Sylvia said that Sherry hadn't come by the office yet, which wasn't unusual when she had a mandatory class scheduled. Satisfied, John settled back into work. He later clocked off at 5pm and did some errands on his way home. It was close to 6pm by the time he arrived at their condo. Just as he was about to pull into their garage, he stopped. The roller door was open and Sherry's BMW was gone.
Confused, John parked his car in its usual spot and heard something crunch beneath the tires as he did. He got out to investigate and found shards of broken glass strewn just outside the garage entrance. For a moment, he thought that Sherry had hit her car pulling out into their driveway. Perhaps she took it in to get fixed and forgot to close the garage door behind her. She did something similar just weeks earlier.
That's when John saw that the door at the top of the stairs leading into their condo was wide open. His skin prickled with unease. John walked up the garage stairs, not noticing the blood smeared on the door, and entered their living room. Part 3: Happily Never After John had a gut feeling that something ominous was afoot, but not this. The condo looked as if it had been turned upside down.
Their electronics had been ripped from their cabinets, leaving behind frayed, dangling wires. The shelves of their entertainment center had collapsed, and its contents were strewn across the carpet. Their CD player and VCR were stacked by the door to the garage, right in front of John's feet. But he didn't care for the destruction. He barely noticed it. John's eyes were fixed on the floor of their living room. There, crumpled amidst the broken pieces of a heavy ceramic vase,
was his wife. She lay motionless, still barefoot, and wrapped in the short robe that usually concealed what she wore underneath. It had slipped off her shoulders and hiked up to her waist, revealing the delicate camisole and panties she was wearing when he left for work. John rushed to Sherry's side, expecting her to rouse and return his embrace. She didn't. He initially thought she'd fallen or passed out,
He prayed that, for some inconceivable reason, she was just asleep. However, her face told a vivid story of the violence she endured. It was swollen, caked in congealed blood, and disfigured by deep purple bruising. Sherry's right eye was black and swollen shut, its lashes encrusted with blood. Her left eye was open with an unblinking gaze fixed on nothing. Her lips were parted, but no breath escaped them.
and the complexion of her skin was all wrong. Her face was too pale and the back of her body was discolored. Unbeknownst to John, Liver Mortis had already set in. So had Rigor Mortis. All her muscles had contracted, leaving one long, slender leg raised and her right arm frozen above her as if reaching for help. Though we refused to believe it, Sherry was clearly dead and had obviously been so for hours.
John desperately searched her skin for a pulse. It was ice cold and devoid of any rhythmic throbbing. There was no hiding from it, ignoring it, or rationalizing it. Sherry was gone. They'd only been married for three months. John called 911 in a daze of disbelief. - 911, what is your emergency? - I think my wife is dead, he murmured. Two paramedics arrived within minutes and found John weeping by the front door.
He led them to the living room where his wife lay battered, bloody, and dead. As expected, there was nothing they could do. Just after 6:00 PM on February 24th, 1986, 29-year-old Sherry Rasmussen was officially pronounced dead. The first police officer arrived about 10 minutes later. He instructed John to wait outside to be taken to the station for questioning and took control of this scene.
By 9:00 PM, the condo was swarming with LAPD personnel and forensic investigators. Homicide detective Lyle Mayer perused the crime scene and began piecing together what happened. It was clear that a struggle had ensued. Sherry, who was six foot one and fit, fought for her life. So much so that two of her fingernails were torn off. However, she was no match for a gun.
The blunt force trauma that mangled her face was so severe, it distracted both John and the paramedics from the three bullet holes in her chest. One of the rounds had passed straight through Sherry's chest, leaving an exit wound on her back. The other two remained in her body until they were recovered in the autopsy. Both were identified as being 38 caliber bullets. Detective Mayer noticed a colorful quilted blanket draped over the living room couch. It sported two small bullet holes complete with powder burns.
Upon further inspection, Mayer realized that two of the holes in the victim's chest were contact wounds, a discovery that painted a sinister picture. It looked as though the killer had shot Sherry once from a distance. Then, using the blanket as a muffler, they placed the handgun against her chest and fired two more rounds at point-blank range. Just one of the shots would have done the trick, but the shooter deemed determined not to take that chance.
This made her murder scene deliberate and personal, as did the disturbing bite mark on the inside of her left forearm. The police, on the other hand, had other ideas. Part Four: A Burglary Gone Wrong The forensic investigators spent hours gathering evidence from the scene. Sherry's fingernails were bagged, along with some bloodied rope found near the entrance to the condo. They checked her corpse for signs of sexual assault, of which there were none.
and took saliva samples from the bite mark. While the forensics team busied themselves with DNA evidence, the detectives surveyed the scene for potential clues as to how the killer had entered the newlyweds' condo and why. They inspected all potential entry points to the condo, but eventually concluded that there were no signs of forced entry. The possibility of the killer being someone the couple knew was also ruled out, considering Sherry's clothing or lack thereof.
it was evident that she wasn't expecting company. So, the detectives assumed that the front door must have been unlocked. As far as unsubstantiated explanations go, it was flimsy at best. Nevertheless, they moved on and began investigating why the killer broke in. It looked as if the motive was greed,
The newlywed CD player and VCR were stacked in a neat pile near the door to the garage, and the rest of their electronics had been ripped from the walls. It was as if the killer had intended to steal them, but fled in a hurry and left them behind. Here we encounter the first problem I have with this story. The condo seemed like it had been ransacked, but in reality, the only thing stolen was John and Sherry's marriage certificate.
Why would a burglar go through the trouble of strenuously disconnecting all the electronics and murdering an innocent woman only to make off with a marriage certificate and leave their haul behind? The truth is they wouldn't, but the police certainly didn't see it that way. The investigators decided that Sherry had surprised the intruder which resulted in her being attacked and killed. After firing three rounds, they deduced that the culprit must have panicked and fled in her car.
Their theory was barely backed by circumstantial evidence, but they stood by it nonetheless. The incident was logged as a burglary gone wrong, which is exactly what Detective Mayer told John after clearing him of any involvement. The distraught widower expressed serious doubts about the theory, which were quickly and rather forcefully put to rest by Mayer. Detective Mayer's team spent the next few weeks interviewing the couple's neighbors, friends, and relatives.
It seemed to be done more out of obligation than genuine concern. No new leads turned up, nor were any suspects identified. They did manage to recover Sherry's BMW though. It was discovered two and a half miles away from the condo abandoned, unlocked, and with the key still in the ignition. After a thorough inspection, several fingerprints, a small amount of blood, and a single strand of brown hair were found inside.
As forensic testing was still in its infancy at that time, nothing could be done with the DNA evidence, leaving the investigation at a standstill, that is, until the detective stumbled upon a fresh lead. Two months after Sherry's brutal murder, a burglary occurred that bore striking similarities. A pair of Latino men had broken into a condo in a neighboring complex. Armed with a handgun, they attempted to steal stereo equipment and assaulted a woman in the process.
These findings only bolstered Detective Mayer's belief that Sherry's murder was a tragic accident and a burglary gone wrong. He promptly concluded that the men were responsible for her death, alerted the LAPD that they were still at large, and had two composite sketches drawn up. That's it, case closed. Sherry's parents, however, weren't convinced. Nels Rasmussen was particularly perplexed by Mayer's hasty assumption.
especially considering the investigators hadn't explored all possible options yet. "Have you checked out John's ex-girlfriend?" he asked. Part 5: The Woman The Rasmussen family was a tight-knit one. However, Nels and Sherry shared a special bond. She was the last of his daughters to get married, and consequently had more time to spend with him, even if just over the phone. They had nightly calls in the months preceding her murder,
during which she confided in him about a worrying problem: John's ex-girlfriend. Sherry never mentioned the woman's name, but the interactions the two had were enough to alarm her father. Sherry met the woman for the first time in the summer of 1985, just weeks after John proposed. The woman had brazenly burst into her office at the Glendale Adventist Medical Center wearing very short, very tight shorts and a tiny tube top.
Sherry was by no means modest, but the outfit seemed intentionally provocative. Sylvia, Sherry's secretary, recalls the nurse being visibly upset after the encounter. She'd clearly been crying and immediately went home, even though it was barely lunchtime. Later that night, Sherry called Nels in tears. The nurse explained that John's ex-girlfriend had ambushed her at work and told her that, if she couldn't have him, no one could.
The woman had also sneered that she'd be waiting with open arms when their marriage failed. When Sherry confronted John about the incident, he assured her that there was nothing going on between them. He explained that the woman was an old dorm mate from the UCLA days, not an ex-girlfriend. They'd been friends with benefits for a time, but it was never serious. Sherry was upset, but John's sincerity comforted her, and she put the matter to rest. Little did she know.
That wouldn't be the last time the woman inserted herself into their life. Shortly after the couple returned home from their honeymoon, the woman showed up at their condo unannounced and unashamed. She claimed that she needed John to wax her water skis, which was obviously an excuse. Sherry found it odd that the woman not only knew where they lived, but somehow managed to get into their gated complex without being buzzed in, a notion that made her extremely uncomfortable.
She later called Nels to complain about how John handled the situation. Sherry had pleaded with her husband to refuse the woman's request and show her out, but he insisted that it would only worsen things. The woman ended up lingering for far longer than Sherry would have liked, forcing the nurse to ask her to leave. John's inability to stand up to the woman was concerning, so Sherry took it upon herself to do something about it.
The woman returned some days later, unannounced as usual, to collect her freshly waxed skis. Sherry intercepted her on her way out and warned her not to come over again. Of course, the woman ignored her. In January 1986, one month before Sherry was murdered, the woman showed up without warning at 10:00 AM in the middle of the week. John had started his new job and was already at the office. Sherry should have been at work too, but was running late that morning.
As she got ready to head to the hospital, she was startled by a noise coming from downstairs. It was John's old lover. To Sherry's utter disbelief, the woman was standing in their living room clad in an LAPD uniform with a gun strapped to her waist. Sherry chewed her out and demanded to know how she'd gotten into their home. The woman ignored the question and smirked at the nurse, saying she was there to see John. Once again, Sherry called her father in tears.
Nels encouraged his daughter to report the woman to the police. However, knowing the woman was a fellow officer, the nurse felt that it would be best to deal with the situation herself. Sadly, this decision would ultimately lead to her death. Nels relayed this information to Mayer the day after her daughter's murder, weeks before the Latino burglars had been identified as suspects. The detective promptly dismissed his suspicions and accused him of watching too many cop shows
Though Mayer wasn't interested in investigating the lead any further, he did know who Nels was talking about. One of the detectives under his supervision had noted her name in the case file after speaking with John. It was the only time the woman was mentioned in the investigation. John Rutten called. Verified Stephanie Lazarus, police officer, was former girlfriend. The entry read,
Part 6: The Blue Wall of Silence Detective Mayer never noted Nels' suspicions in the case file, nor did he consider Lazarus a suspect. Despite her glaringly incriminating behavior, she wasn't even interviewed. Worse, the chrono, which recorded the investigators' activity, was missing all records of the first three months of their investigation. Apparently, those pages had been lost.
The rest of the chrono exclusively documented the investigator's search for the two Latino burglars they presumed murdered Sherry. That's not all. Every single interview was recorded, transcribed, and neatly stored in the case file. Aside from those where Lazarus's name was mentioned, it appears the detectives weren't just unwilling to investigate their fellow officers' involvement, but actively tried to conceal it. Frustratingly, their silence had the desired effect.
No one was arrested for Sherry's murder, and all the evidence was shoved into storage and out of mind. The Rasmussens, however, never forgot. Nels and Loretta spent the next several years calling the LAPD to get updates on their daughter's case. It was pointless. The detectives simply didn't care to revisit it, and point blank refused to investigate Lazarus. The distraught parents decided to take matters into their own hands,
They went to the press and offered a $10,000 reward for any information about Sherry's murder, and even got the producers of Murder One, a true crime TV show, to feature it as a cold case. However, no matter how hard they tried, no new leads turned up. The Rasmussens began to think that the case would never be solved. But that changed when DNA testing became more accessible.
Nels read about how it was being used to crack decades-old cold cases and immediately contacted Mayer, pleading with him to test the blood, saliva, and hair samples taken back in 1986. The detective droned on about their department not having the budget for it. Nels had prepared for this and countered that. Not only was he happy to pay for the tests, but he was in contact with a lab that was willing to conduct them. Astoundingly,
Mayer insisted that the results wouldn't matter without a suspect. Nels raised the issue of Lazarus and was, once again, promptly shut down and told to move on. In 1989, John contacted Mayer with a telling request. He wanted the detective to confirm categorically that there was no evidence leaking Lazarus to Sherry's murder. Mayer assured the widower that the policewoman had nothing to do with it and wasn't even a suspect.
Of course, there's no evidence that this conversation ever happened, as Mayer didn't document it in the case file. John was overwhelmed with relief, not because he was concerned by Nels' suspicions about Lazarus, but because he was about to reconnect with her in Hawaii. While Sherry's body rotted in the ground, the pair joined a group of college friends on a scuba trip in paradise. John, who was apparently absolved of any guilt,
slept with Lazarus several times during their getaway. I hope it was worth it because their fling inevitably fizzled out and they lost contact. Years later, Detective Mayer eventually retired. John remarried and started a family with his second wife. Lazarus went on to marry a fellow officer with whom she adopted a daughter before devoting herself to building an illustrious career as an accomplished detective.
Sherry remained six feet under, and her case remained as cold as her corpse for almost two decades. It likely would have stayed that way had it not been for Jennifer Francis. Francis was a criminalist with the LAPD's Cold Case Homicide Unit, which had been established in 2001. Since then, her team had been painstakingly combing through the case files of unsolved murders, hunting for DNA evidence they could test. Francis stumbled upon Sherry's case in 2003,
According to the chrono, a saliva sample had been taken from the bite mark on the victim's arm. Yet, there was no record of it being stored in evidence. Strange. Francis decided to check with the coroner's office, where fresh samples from active cases were kept in freezers before going into evidence. However, the saliva sample wasn't on file. Eventually, after searching the freezer by hand for six hours,
Francis found it stuffed into the furthest corner. Someone had left it there for 18 years, not bothering to follow due process. The criminalists sent the sample in for testing and waited. The results came back in January, 2005. Francis ran the DNA sequence through their database, but didn't get a match. She did, however, get a clue. The biter had been a woman. Francis immediately approached the cold case detectives with her discovery.
The case relied entirely upon Mayer's theory, which pointed to two men being the killers. However, the DNA evidence disagreed. She thought that this was more than enough to warrant reinvestigating Sherry's homicide. The detectives felt differently. They dismissed her observations that the burglar must have been a woman. Although unusual, it wasn't impossible.
Frances wanted to object but, with no evidence of any female suspect in the case file, she had no leg to stand on. Once again, Sherry's case went back into storage, where it would stay for four more years. Part 7: Breaking the Silence In February 2009, the LAPD Homicide Division was strangely quiet, even dull. The city's violent crime rates had plummeted,
and its detectives found themselves with near empty plates. That wouldn't do. The chief assigned them cold cases to keep them busy and hopefully answer decades old questions in the process. Detective Jim Nuttall was given Sherry's. He got stuck into the case and, like Jennifer Francis, came across a single detail that didn't quite fit. Mayer had reported that the nurse was killed by two men in a burglary gone wrong.
The DNA, however, told a different story. The bite mark on the victim's arm was made by a woman, though there was no mention of one in the case file. More so, there was no indication that anyone had ever considered that possibility. The detective immediately got permission to reinvestigate the case with two colleagues, Mark Martinez and Pete Barba. It didn't take much to see that Mayer had botched the investigation from the start.
Sherry wasn't surprised by her killer in the living room. She was surprised by her upstairs. The trio deduced that the intruder had shot at her and missed, shattering the glass sliding door. They believed that Sherry ran downstairs, hoping to escape, only to be savagely attacked. Mayer had been right about one thing. The nurse put up one hell of a fight. She managed to get her assailant in a headlock before they bit her arm and broke free.
The killer then picked up the heavy ceramic vase and brought it down on Sherry's head, knocking her to the floor. That's when the nurse was shot for the first time. It was a fatal blow. But the killer didn't let her bleed out. They grabbed a nearby quilted blanket, held it to her chest, and pulled the trigger two more times. It wasn't a burglary gone wrong. It was an execution. The scene had been staged to throw the police off.
The only thing that wasn't obvious was which woman in Sherry's life had the motive and means to pull something like this off. The trio revisited the case file and came across a single, seemingly insignificant entry. John Rutten called, verified Stephanie Lazarus, police officer, was former girlfriend. It read, Detective Nuttall searched the LAPD's directory and eventually found Lazarus' profile
She was a celebrated detective in the art theft division with 25 years under her belt, a husband on the force, several awards, and even more connections. Worse, she worked in the office opposite theirs. He shrank back into his seat. This wasn't going to be easy. The trio brought the issue up with their supervisor who instructed them to investigate Lazarus, but keep it confidential until they had concrete evidence.
They started their investigation by looking into Lazarus's movements on February 24th, 1986. As expected, she'd been off duty that day, giving her no hope of a solid alibi. More so, her experience working homicide was proof enough that she was capable of recreating the scene of an apparent burglary. Next, the trio moved on to the murder weapon. Detective Martinez insisted that a cop would be stupid to use their duty gun to murder.
And Lazarus was no fool. Even if she disposed of it afterward, the penalty for losing it would have been severe and drawn far too much attention. That didn't rule out her backup though. Every officer worth their salt carried two guns, one that was given to them by the department and the other a backup, but privately. The trio did some digging and found Lazarus's firearm registration records.
Shortly after graduating from the LAPD Academy, she bought herself a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson. This confirmed Martinez's suspicions, prompting him to trace the gun's serial number to determine what became of it. The detective assumed that Lazarus had gotten rid of the gun. He was right. In March 1986, just 13 days after Sherry's murder, the policewoman filed a report with the Santa Monica police, notifying them that her backup gun had been stolen.
The detectives were stunned. They'd hoped their investigation into Lazarus would prove them wrong. Instead, it unearthed a decades-old police cover-up. They became determined to right the wrongs of their fellow officers, but needed a sample of Lazarus's DNA to do it. Part 8. It's been a million years.
In May 2009, detectives Nadal, Martinez and Barba compiled all their evidence and took it straight to their supervisor who, in turn, brought the case to the attention of Deputy Chief Michael Moore. Alarmed by the trio's discovery, Moore immediately deployed a special operations team from the Internal Affairs Division to support their efforts. The same division that Lazarus had once worked in. Rather than barging into her office, guns blazing,
they decided to take a more clandestine route to obtain her DNA. A team of undercover officers tailed Lazarus over seven days. On May 28, during one of their stakeouts, they followed her and her daughter to Costco, where the pair sat outside and shared a pizza. After about an hour, Lazarus took her daughter and left, but not before she threw away her empty soda cup and straw. The moment the pair were out of sight,
the undercover officer sifted through the trash can and recovered the items of interest. Two days later, and over two decades since the case began, it was finally solved. The DNA test results confirmed, without a doubt, that Detective Stephanie Lazarus of the LAPD had beaten, bitten, and brutally murdered Sherry Rasmussen. Armed with this damning information,
Detective Nuttall and his superior enlisted the help of two detectives who were relatively fresh on the force, Dan Jaramillo and Greg Stearns. They didn't know Lazarus personally, meaning they were devoid of any bias that might sully the investigative process. The case was taken to the DA and a warrant for Lazarus's arrest was approved. Instead of arresting her at her office, Detectives Jaramillo and Stearns came up with a plan to get her alone.
Which brings us back to the small, tiled interrogation room in the basement of the LAPD headquarters. The decision to trick Lazarus and lure her down to the holding cells was a calculated one. Safety protocols required that every officer check their weapons before entering the detention area. This way, the detectives could guarantee that Lazarus would be unarmed and unable to harm them, or herself, as a last resort.
It also allowed them to feign ignorance and give her the opportunity to come clean beforehand. She didn't. They questioned her for over an hour, slowly building up to the crux of the matter. Lazarus's responses quickly became riddled with, "I can't remember. It doesn't sound familiar." And, "It's been a million years." They were asking too many questions. Lazarus wanted to get up and leave, but how would that look? She remained in her seat,
She was there to help after all. Her resolution faltered when the detectives questioning drew closer to Sherry's murder. Lazarus let her indignation slip through her mask, her tone now sharp. She resented the implication that she was a suspect and told them as much. The police woman huffed that she needed to speak with a lawyer, accusing the detectives of trying to pin the homicide on her.
She stood abruptly, genuinely believing that they had nothing on her, and strode out of the interrogation room and straight into a pair of handcuffs. Detective Stephanie Lazarus was officially apprehended on June 5th, 2009, while Jaramillo read her Miranda rights. All the detectives involved felt a mixture of relief and apprehension at the news of her arrest. They finally had Sherry Rasmussen's murderer in custody.
but were now responsible for building a case against a fellow officer. It had to be impenetrable. Although the DNA evidence was damning enough, the prosecution would need a compelling motive to convince the jury of the renowned detective's guilt. So, they set out to unearth the truth of what led Lazarus to jeopardize her career and execute an innocent woman in cold blood. Part 9
untouchable. It quickly became apparent that the police woman had an unhealthy obsession with John Rutten. She met him in 1978 while she was studying political science at UCLA, back when she was simply known as Stephanie. The pair lived in the same dorm, Dykstra Hall. They developed a close friendship in their college years, during which Stephanie quickly grew infatuated with John. The engineer, however, was blissfully unaware of her feelings.
They were just friends, to him at least. Stephanie pursued John regardless and became very close with his family, joining them on vacations and spending the holiday seasons at their home. The pair eventually graduated and between 1981 and 1984, they had sex on and off. John never considered it more than a fling and continued seeing other women. He obviously didn't consider the mixed messages it sent either.
They remained close after graduating and Stephanie remained hopeful, though she was well aware that John only saw her as a friend. Undeterred by his unrequited love, she threw him a surprise party for his 25th birthday on September 5th, 1984. The party was a hit. Stephanie relished in the joy she'd brought John, unaware that he was about to pull the rug from beneath her feet. That night, he told her that he was getting married to the love of his life, Sherry Rasmussen.
Stephanie was devastated. She truly believed that, one day, John would come to his senses. Couldn't he see that they were meant to be? She called him a few days later, hysterical and begging him to come over. John, who was engaged to Sherry at the time, agreed. When he arrived, Stephanie confessed her love for him between sobs, but the engineer was unmoved.
He only had eyes for Sherry. But that quickly changed when Stephanie asked to have sex with him one last time. John indulged the desperate woman, rationalizing his adulterous closure. He decided to keep their little rendezvous a secret. Stephanie, on the other hand, had other ideas. John's moment of weakness only fueled her delusions. So, she donned very short, very tight shorts and a tiny tube top.
and headed to the Glendale Adventist Medical Center. Stephanie expected Sherry to take the hint. It was obvious that she and John were destined to be together. However, the nurse stood her ground. Even after finding out about her fiance's infidelity, Stephanie realized that she couldn't break them up, so she resolved to get rid of Sherry instead. She would come to regret that decision in June of 2009,
A few days after her arrest, Stephanie Lazarus was indicted for the murder of Sherry Rasmussen and pleaded not guilty. She was an obvious flight risk considering her connections in the force, so her bail was set at $10 million. Lazarus remained in custody for three years until her trial commenced on February 6th, 2012. Of course, the disgraced detective maintained her innocence throughout the proceedings,
But her protests fell on deaf ears as the mountain of evidence against her was revealed. It only took the jury 24 hours to come to their decision. In early March of 2012, Stephanie Lazarus was convicted of first-degree murder. She was given 27 years to life in a state penitentiary with an additional two years for personal use of a firearm.
although her sentence was rather light considering. I'm comforted by the notion that she will spend it surrounded by criminals with impressive rap sheets and low opinions of cops. Lazarus likely had the same realization, which is why she wasted no time appealing her case. Thankfully, her conviction was upheld. The Rasmussens went on to sue both Lazarus and the LAPD for their obvious collusion. However, the law, once again,
got in the way of justice. The statute of limitations had expired, meaning the LAPD was conveniently immune to the lawsuit. Stephanie Lazarus remains in prison, while the institution that allowed her and many others to get away with murder remains untouchable.
