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40 Years Later: The Murder of Sherri Rasmussen Pt. 2 | Murder: True Crime Stories
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- [00:02]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi, it's Vanessa. If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, there's a new Crime House original you should check out. It's called the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah's an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose own sister disappeared in 2001. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller who's seen firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, examining the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, the small details that often get overlooked because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal. Until it doesn't. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.
- [01:02]
Carter Roy
This is crime house. As children, we're taught to apologize when we do something wrong, that admitting to our mistakes is the first step toward forgiveness. But out in the real world, accountability isn't always so straightforward. And the 1986 murder of Sherry Rasmussen is a prime example.
- [01:27]
Vanessa Richardson
After Sherry was found dead in her Los Angeles home, the LAPD rushed to label her murder a burglary gone wrong. But when they started searching for suspects, no one stood out. And eventually Sherry's case went cold. According to the Rasmussen family, that was because the LAPD was looking in all the wrong places.
- [01:50]
Carter Roy
For decades, Sherry's family begged detectives to widen their suspect pool. The authorities didn't listen until 23 years later. And when they finally reopened the case in 2009, their findings left the people of Los Angeles wondering. Could they really trust the officers who were meant to to protect them? People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. And sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon. And we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy and this is Murder True Crime Stories, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. New episodes come out every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Friday's episodes covering the cases that deserve a deeper look.
- [02:55]
Vanessa Richardson
And I'm Vanessa Richardson, host of Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Crime House is made possible by you. Follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes and Murder True Crime Stories wherever you listen and subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts for ad free early access to each two part series.
- [03:15]
Carter Roy
Forty years after the murder of 29 year old Sherry Rasmussen, we're looking back at the case to see what went wrong and why. Last time we met Sherry and discussed her tumultuous relationship with 27 year old John Rutten. When the couple tied the knot in 1985, John's ex girlfriend, an LAPD officer named Stephanie Lazarus, was determined to sabotage their marriage. Their bitter love triangle came to a head on February 24, 1986 when Sherry was found dead in her Los Angeles condo. Today we'll examine the decades long investigation into her death. From the beginning, it seemed like there was an obvious suspect. But instead of making an arrest, the LAPD let the case go cold. When the authorities finally took a second look 23 years later, the truth was undeniable and it made the LAPD look really bad. All that and more coming up.
- [04:27]
Vanessa Richardson
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- [05:49]
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- [06:20]
Carter Roy
On February 24, 1986, newlywed John Rutten pulled into the driveway of his Los Angeles condo around 6pm The 27 year old could tell Something was wrong right away. The garage door was wide open. His wife, 29 year old Sherry Rasmussen, should have been home, but her BMW was nowhere to be seen. Even more alarming was the shattered glass that covered the floor of the garage. John rushed up the stairs to find Sherry sprawled on the living room floor. Her face was covered in bruises and her body was stone cold. A shattered vase and a broken shelf littered the carpet around her. It was clear to John Sherry had been murdered.
- [07:08]
Vanessa Richardson
Shocked and terrified, he rushed to call 91 1. Once the paramedics were on the way, John decided he couldn't stand next to his wife's body any longer. He covered her bloody face with a hand towel and waited by the front door. At 6:10, the EMTs arrived and officially pronounced Sherry dead of an apparent homicide. Twenty minutes later, the LAPD cleared out the condo and assigned the case to detectives Lyle Mayer and Steve Hooks.
- [07:38]
Carter Roy
With more than 20 years under his belt, Mayer was the more experienced investigator. Hooks was a lower rank and had been with the department for about eight years. But both of them had seen their fair share of murders, and from the beginning, their instincts told them Sherry was the victim of a burglary gone wrong. The pile of electronics next to her body suggested the culprit intended to rob the place, and and the fact that her BMW was stolen bolstered their theory. After talking with John, the detectives came to believe the murderer had entered through the front door. The lock showed no sign of forced entry, and John told them he might have forgotten to deadbolt it the night before. That said it was only a theory. John was clearly in shock, and it was difficult to keep him focused on the questions. At various points during the interrogation, it looked like he was about to vomit. His behavior convinced both detectives that his grief was genuine, at least for the moment. They didn't suspect him of being directly involved in the crime.
- [08:45]
Vanessa Richardson
After they were done talking, Officers Mayer and Hooks carried out a more detailed search of the condo and turned up some valuable forensic evidence. Between the living room and the entryway, they found a thin white rope and a discarded speaker wire. It looked like the killer had tried to tie Sherry up. And following the trail of blood, detectives picked up two stray fingernails near the front door. A closet door, the adjoining wall and the stairway all showed clear signs of a struggle. Next to a cluster of bloodstains was the pile of electronics, including a CD player stacked on top of a vcr. There was a clear red fingerprint on the CD player, and nearby, someone had tossed a colorful blanket on top of A living room chair. After taking a closer look, investigators found several bullet holes in it. The killer had probably used it as a kind of silencer to soften the sounds of their gunshots. Further back, behind the spot where Sher's body was found in the living room, there was a section of wall mounted shelves and an end table. The shelves were shattered into pieces, probably in the final fight between Sherry and her attacker. A drawer from the end table had also been ripped out, but that seemed more deliberate. The way the contents were scattered on the floor made it look like part of the potential burglary.
- [10:06]
Carter Roy
On the other hand, the second floor of the condo seemed untouched. Sherry's jewelry box hadn't been rifled through and neither had anything else in the bedroom. The last clue the officers noticed was back downstairs. The glass door leading to the balcony was totally shattered. The sheer white drapes that covered the door had two bullet holes in them about six feet off the floor. With that, the detectives finished their sweep of the crime scene. Hook stayed behind to bag and tag evidence while Mayer took John to the police station in Van Nuys for a longer interview at 9pm during questioning, John
- [10:46]
Vanessa Richardson
recounted the day and night leading up to Sherry's death. On February 23, they went out to see a movie. They got home at around 10pm and entered through the garage door. Earlier that day, a friend had come to visit through the front and John couldn't remember whether he'd locked it after that. The next morning he left for work a little after 7am Sherry was still in bed at the time and told him she wasn't feeling well. He wasn't able to reach her over the phone all day, but he assumed she was either too busy or sleeping off her illness.
- [11:17]
Carter Roy
When he was done, Detective Mayer told John they didn't think he was involved in the murder. At that point, the two of them had only been speaking for less than an hour. But Mayer was confident enough to lay out his theory that Sherry had been killed when she accidentally interrupted a burglary. After that, Mayer asked if John and Sherry had been having any problems in their marriage. John said no. He didn't mention that the two of them had recently been fighting about their finances and and he didn't say that his ex girlfriend, 25 year old Stephanie Lazarus, had been stalking them for months. When asked whether he'd been getting any prank calls recently, John said someone had been ringing them about once a week, then immediately hanging up. He and Sherry thought it was a problem with the phone line. Detective Mayer didn't ask any more follow up questions. Instead, he encouraged John to call his in laws and come back to the station the following morning for another interview. As John waited in the lobby for his parents to pick him up, he was overcome with guilt. He thought Sherry's death was his fault. He hadn't turned on the burglar alarm before he left for work. He hadn't deadbolted the front door, and he hadn't come home soon enough to stop her from getting killed. He couldn't bring himself to talk to Sherry's parents himself. It wasn't until 1am on Feb. 25 that John's father called to deliver the news.
- [13:00]
Vanessa Richardson
Sherry's family was devastated. As they frantically scheduled a flight from Tucson to Los Angeles, her father, Nels tried to think of potential suspects. He knew the police's working theory about the burglary, but he wasn't convinced. Off the top of his head, he could think of two people who might want Sherry dead. One was a nurse who worked under her. She'd recently been angling for a promotion, but Sherry had chosen someone else instead. The second was John's ex girlfriend. Nels knew she was an LAPD officer who had been meddling in the couple's relationship, but Sherry had never told him her name. While the Rasmussen's flew to California on the morning of the 25th, detectives interviewed John's neighbors. A housekeeper named Evangelina Flores told them she heard screams from next door on the morning Sherry died. But because they were so brief, she didn't think to report them. She said she hadn't heard any gunshots at all. But a retired couple who lived across the street said the garage door was closed at 8:30am when they went for a walk. By the time they came back at 9:45, it was. It was open and empty of cars. That gave investigators a tentative time of death, but they would have to wait for an autopsy to confirm the details. In the meantime, detectives Mayer and Hooks went over the evidence they'd gathered so far back in 1986. Fingerprints were considered the gold standard. Just one year later, the advent of DNA technology would change forensics forever. But for the time being, that meant the police had their work cut out for them.
- [14:39]
Carter Roy
They dusted for prints the old fashioned way and ended up pulling 18 samples from John and Sherry's condo. Eight were either smudged or only partially clear, making them useless. Almost all the others matched John or Sherry, which wasn't surprising. But there were a few that looked like they might belong to someone else. For some reason, though, investigators missed the bloody print Detective Mayer had noticed. On top of the CD player, the still they had the white rope and the speaker wire that had been used to try to tie Sherry up, plus the two fingernails that were lodged in a tuft of carpet. With the autopsy results still pending, detectives felt like they had a strong foundation for their case. The initial round of evidence supported their idea that Sherry was killed in a burglary gone wrong. But in the months to come, their theory would come under serious fire and the search for Sherry Rasmussen's killer would last longer than anyone expected.
- [15:55]
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- [17:03]
Carter Roy
On February 24, 1986, 29 year old Sherry Rett Rasmussen was murdered at her condo in Los Angeles. The following day, Dr. Lloyd Moni completed an initial medical examination of her body. He determined that Sherry had sustained three gunshot wounds. Two of the bullets entered above her left breast, apparently fired from some distance away. The third and final wound was in the center of her chest. Powder residue indicated it was a point blank shot. There were no signs of sexual assault, but she had severe injuries to her face, including a swollen, bloody eye. Dr. Mani managed to gather some stray hairs and fibers from her robes, and he noticed a clear bite mark on her left forearm, probably sustained during the final struggle with her attacker. The bite mark seemed like especially strong evidence. Although DNA testing wasn't around yet, forensic experts could determine someone's blood type based on their saliva. With a strong suspect, that kind of connection could be enough for a conviction. So Dr. Mani took a saliva sample and bagged it up with the rest of the evidence.
- [18:22]
Vanessa Richardson
By the time he was finished, the police were speaking to the retired couple who lived across the street from Sherry. They remembered seeing the garage door open sometime after her husband, 27 year old John Reuten, left for work that morning. Later that afternoon, two Spanish speaking men in work clothes came by to give them Sherry's purse. The couple assumed she'd lost it or left it outside and the men were trying to return it. After wrapping up their interview with the neighbors, the police spoke to John once again. He seemed a little calmer than the previous day, but was still obviously distraught. This interrogation wasn't recorded and in Sherry's case file the only mention of it is a brief summary. Because of that, we don't know whose memory is correct. But more than 20 years later, John and the detectives would disagree about what was actually said.
- [19:16]
Carter Roy
According to Detective Lyle Mayer, he pressed John harder about his past. He asked John several times if he was cheating on Sherry or if he had an ex girlfriend who was still in the picture. Mayer claimed that John didn't hesitate to say no. If that's true, then John was lying. Because about 10 months earlier, right after he and Sherry got engaged, he had slept with his ex, a 25 year old LAPD officer named Stephanie Lazarus. It's possible John didn't know Sherry thought Stephanie was following her around in the weeks before her death. But he was definitely aware that Stephanie had come to their house at least twice to bother them. He also knew that she wanted to sabotage their relationship. And allegedly his lies didn't end there. Although John did call out Stephanie by name, he didn't tell Mayor that she was his ex. Instead, he described her as a former acquaintance from college who is now a police officer. When asked whether they were sleeping together, John was firm. He said he hadn't seen Stephanie since he got married and that he wasn't having sex with her. Detective Mayer came away from that conversation feeling confused about why John mentioned her at all if he didn't think she was a likely suspect.
- [20:44]
Vanessa Richardson
None of that was noted in the case file. But Afterward, at around 10:30am detectives accompanied John on a walkthrough of his condo. They wanted to determine whether the killer had actually stolen anything before fleeing the scene. John didn't think anything had been taken, but later he remembered that part of the day differently from Detective Mayer. He maintained that he didn't talk about Stephanie at all during his interview at the station. Instead, he mentioned her during the walkthrough after he Learned the medical examiner had found a bite mark on Sherry's forearm. According to John, detectives made an offhand remark that a woman was more likely to bite someone in a fight than a man. That's what caused John to bring up Stephanie. He recalled asking the police to look into her. He also reportedly told them that Stephanie had confronted Sherry at the hospital a few months before her death. The one thing John and the detectives agreed on was that he did mention Stephanie Lazarus, but never admitted to sleeping with her. And he didn't describe Stephanie's full pattern of harassment leading up to the murder.
- [21:55]
Carter Roy
A few hours after the condo walkthrough, Sherry's parents flew in from Arizona. Their first stop was the police station where they were both interviewed. This conversation wasn't recorded either, and once again, detectives remembered the interrogation differently than Sherry's parents. Her father, Nels, was confident that he mentioned John's ex girlfriend, who he didn't know by name, as a potential suspect. At least three times, though investigators explained their burglary gone wrong theory, Nels didn't believe them. He insisted they check up on Stephanie. In response, the police allegedly told him it was a dead end. They were confident that a robber was responsible for Sherry's murder. Detective Mayer, on the other hand, claimed Nels never mentioned Stephanie at all. Instead, Mayer came away feeling like Nels was a controlling father. Someone who had instilled a win at all cost mentality in his favorite daughter. In Mayer's opinion, that attitude could have encouraged Sherry to fight back against her attacker, which may have escalated the situation and ultimately led to her death.
- [23:12]
Vanessa Richardson
Either way, the police ended their first day of the investigation more committed than ever to their burglary theory. And because Sherry's car was stolen, they believed at least two people were involved. One to drive to the condo and a second to leave in the BMW. For them, the next step was taking a closer look at the forensic evidence. They believed the fingerprints and the saliva sample would help them hone in on a potential suspect. The they also held out hope that Sherry's missing car would be found. If it didn't turn up, There probably wasn't much chance of catching the murderers with stolen property. Only Sherry's mom, Loretta, thought something had been taken from the condo, specifically from Sherry's purse.
- [23:57]
Carter Roy
Remember, weeks earlier, Sherry and John had gotten into a fight about money. Afterwards, Sherry decided to keep their savings account separate instead of opening a joint one as planned. When she heard about the argument, Loretta told Sherry to keep her marriage license in her purse just in case she had to Prove her identity to the bank. Detective Mayer told Loretta it wasn't in the purse. John couldn't locate a copy in the condo either. That's when Loretta started to think the killer took the license for some kind of personal reason. It was a compelling theory, but the LAPD officers didn't buy it. They still thought the most likely suspects were the burglars, People with no obvious reason to steal a marriage license. Even so, they did follow up on one of the Rasmussen suggestions.
- [24:56]
Vanessa Richardson
On February 28, four days after the murder, Detective Hooks conducted a series of interviews at the hospital where Sherry worked. His main target was the nurse Sherry hadn't given a promotion to, the one Nels had mentioned. According to investigators, these interrogations were tape recorded, but for some reason, there were no records of them in the case file. Regardless, the authorities quickly decided the hospital lead was a dead end. They reportedly spoke to the nurse in question as well as her co workers. And though she clearly didn't get along with Sherry, she didn't seem like the type to resort to murder. So after the next few days, the police continued to focus on burglary suspects in the area where Sherry died. Anytime someone was arrested for theft, they took their fingerprints and compared them to the samples taken from the condo. No matches were found in the week after the murder, but detectives believed it was only only a matter of time. They were still waiting on the full medical report and some forensic analysis, which they hoped would yield some new leads. By March 4, they had everything they needed.
- [26:05]
Carter Roy
During the autopsy, two bullets were recovered from Sherry's body. Experts determined they were either.38 or.357 caliber. Both were common types of ammunition. In fact, they were so common that.38 caliber bullets were the only kind LAPD officers were allowed to carry. These bullets had a jacket of copper coating and an exposed lead tip. They also had a single cannelure, which created a distinctive set of grooves around the cylinder. The two bullets recovered during Sherry's autopsy had this exact kind of jacket and canler. That said, police officers certainly weren't the only people who carried this kind of ammunition. So rather than investigate Stephanie Lazarus, detectives remained laser focused on their burglary theory.
- [26:57]
Vanessa Richardson
They felt vindicated three days later when Sherry's BMW was finally discovered in Van Nuys. On March 7, a patrol officer happened to notice the car parked on a street just about two miles east of the condo. Not only was it unlocked, but the keys were still in the ignition. It may have been there for over a week, since the day Sherry was killed. But there was no way to be sure. Officers towed the car to the station and swiped it for prints. But even before the results came in, Detective Mayer felt like he was on the right track. He called the neighborhood where the car was found a bad old area, one where drug dealers were known to operate. Though the BMW hadn't been stripped for parts or tampered with, Mayer speculated the killer slash burglar had used it to flee to safety, then abandoned it. Based on that, Mayer redoubled his efforts to take fingerprints from every criminal arrested in Van Nuys, hoping to get lucky and match them to Sherry's murder.
- [27:59]
Carter Roy
Meanwhile, 25 year old Stephanie Lazarus encountered some problems of her own. Two days after Sherry's car was recovered on March 9, she filed a police report in Santa Monica claiming someone had broken into her vehicle. She logged several items as missing, including her official police sidearm, a Smith and Wesson Model 49 revolver, a relatively small gun with a 2 inch barrel that used.38 caliber ammunition. Those were the same kind of bullets that ended Sherry Rasmussen's life, which meant that two weeks after her death, a potential murder weapon disappeared and the best chance to catch Sherry's killer went up in smoke.
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- [30:53]
Carter Roy
By April of 1986, it had been more than a month since 29 year old Sherry Rasmussen was murdered at her condo in Los Angeles. So far, police hadn't identified any suspects or conducted any official interviews with Sherry's friends or family. Their only tape recorded conversations were with her husband, 27 year old John Reuten. They did keep in contact with Sherry's parents, Nels and Loretta Rasmussen. Both of them, especially Nels, begged the cops to look into John's bitter example, 25 year old LAPD officer named Stephanie Lazarus. But the detectives assigned to the case, Mayor and Hooks, told them there was nothing there. In their opinion, the better course of action was to investigate every suspected burglar they could get their hands on. And on April 10, the authorities uncovered more circumstantial evidence that supported their theory.
- [31:53]
Vanessa Richardson
That afternoon, a condo about a quarter mile from John and Cherry's place was robbed. The homeowner, a woman named Lisa Ravalli, walked through her front door to find two Latino men ransacking her living room. When they saw Lisa, one of the men pointed a revolver at her and fled the scene. For Detective Mayer, the incident confirmed every suspicion he had about Sherry's murder. Lisa's condo had a security gate similar to Sherry's in a In both cases, the thieves stacked valuable electronics by the door and based on Lisa's description of the revolver, it could have been a match for the weapon that killed Sherri Rasmussen. Police created a composite picture of the suspects and sent it out to cops all over LA. On April 23, an officer put a man under surveillance who matched the photo. The next day they determined his fingerprints didn't match the samples collected at Sherry's condo.
- [32:50]
Carter Roy
It was another dead end, and it marked the last serious update in Sherry's case. On September 10, more than six months after she was found dead, the police were back at square one. Detective Mayer was so desperate that he even spoke to a psychic about her case. Unfortunately, the consultation didn't yield any results. Come October, the Rasmussen held a press conference and offered a $10,000 reward for any that led to the capture of Sherry's killer. They contributed $8,000 to the fund, while John's parents donated an additional $2,000. Sadly, not even money could prompt any useful leads. Apparently, the LAPD didn't get any new tips after the reward was announced a few months later, it seemed like authorities had all but given up on solving the crime. Meanwhile, John was trying to start over.
- [33:54]
Vanessa Richardson
By March of 1987, he'd moved into a new condo. Since Sherry's death, his relationship with his in laws had deteriorated. Nels believed he knew something about the murder that he wasn't telling the police. The tension drove a wedge between them even then. The Rasmussen continued to pressure the police for updates on Cherry's case. But as time passed, they became less and less frequent. By 1991, it had been five years since any progress had been made on the case. And in September, Detective Mayer retired from the lapd. His former partner, Detective Hooks, remained with the force, but he shifted his focus and stopped investigating murders in Van Nuys around the same time.
- [34:39]
Carter Roy
That left practically no one to investigate Sherry's murder. The Rasmussen's were devastated. They felt like their daughter had been abandoned by the people who were supposed to bring her killer to justice. Getting any answers about the status of the case was like pulling teeth. And eventually, they couldn't take it anymore. At some point, the Rasmussen stopped checking with the LAPD and Sherry's file was relegated to the department's records and identification division. It took 22 years for a curious officer to dig the old binder out of its cardboard box and take a look. According to detective Jim Nuttall, he just happened to notice Sherry's file in the homicide squad room one day in March of 2008. At the time, he was about to go on paternity leave. But something about the case caught his eye. He'd always wanted to solve a cold case. He put the box aside and resolved to look into it further when he got back to work. And when he did, it made him question everything.
- [35:53]
Vanessa Richardson
In 2009, Detective Nuttall read Sherry Rasmussen's case file from front to back. A few things stuck out to him right away. One was that several blood samples had been collected from the crime scene. That meant there could be strong forensic evidence available that the department wasn't able to analyze back in 1986. The second good sign was that a few DNA tests had already been performed. Back in 2005, a recently certified analyst at the LAPD named Jennifer Francis was assigned the cold case As a sort of training exercise to practice her testing skills. Jennifer's analysis focused on the bite mark found on Sherry's forearm. She determined that saliva from the wound fit a woman's DNA profile. That was a surprise to her, since female murder suspects were rare. She passed the results on to a cold case detective named Cliff Shepherd. Like his predecessors, Shepard focused on tracking down female burglary suspects. But he failed to make much progress. Four years later, as Detective Nuttall read over the case file, it seemed like the previous investigators had made a serious oversight.
- [37:06]
Carter Roy
Based on the injuries Sherry sustained during her final struggle, he believed the motive may have been more personal than a burglary gone wrong. So a week later, on February 10, 2009, he called 51 year old John Rutten to discuss his former wife. By that point, John was happily remarried to a woman he met in 1992 and was living in San Diego. But he had never forgotten about Sherry, though the prospect of talking about her tore open old wounds. He agreed to be interviewed over the phone. And one of the first questions Detective Nuttall asked was if there was any woman who might have wanted to hurt Sherry. John immediately brought up Stephanie Lazarus. Though he didn't admit that the two of them slept together while he was engaged, he did recount the story about Stephanie harassing Sherry at the hospital. That conversation single handedly reignited the investigation into her murder. Nuttall spoke to his supervisor, Rob Bubb, and got the other two officers in his unit, Detectives Martinez and Barba, on board. All four of them knew how sensitive the case was. They didn't want to believe a fellow officer could be guilty of murder. But based on the preliminary evidence, they had to admit it was a strong possibility.
- [38:34]
Vanessa Richardson
By that point, 48 year old Stephanie Lazarus was doing pretty well for herself. She still lived in LA and was married to a fellow police officer officer. In fact, the two of them had recently adopted a daughter. She'd also made it pretty high up the chain at the lapd. She was one of only two detectives assigned to the prestigious Art Theft detail. This special unit focused on cases that involved fine art. Since those were likely to grab headlines. The job often involved public facing responsibilities like doing media interviews. It also meant that Stephanie enjoyed some special perks. Because art thefts were relatively rare. She wasn't the kind of detective who usually had to work weekends or respond to calls right away. To get assigned to a position like that, Detective Bub knew she had to have some friends in high places.
- [39:27]
Carter Roy
With that in mind, he knew they had to Tread carefully. He swore Nuttall and the others to absolute secrecy. He even created a generic A case number in the LAPD's database that they could use to log evidence. That way, if Stephanie was keeping tabs on the status of Sherry's investigation, she wouldn't realize the cold case had been reopened. From there, the officer set out to eliminate every other possible suspect before moving on to Stephanie. They reinterviewed previous witnesses and ran down all the previous leads their predecessors had already discounted. Two months later, they felt like their initial suspicions were justified. Stephanie Lazarus was by far the strongest suspect.
- [40:18]
Vanessa Richardson
On April 30, Detective Martinez searched her name in a database of registered gun owners in California. He discovered that 13 days after Sherry's murder, Stephanie officially reported her sidearm stolen. The last thing left to do was test her DNA. Detectives officially placed her under surveillance to try to discreetly take a sample. That turned out to be surprisingly difficult. Stephanie was an experienced officer and extremely careful about where she went and what she did. It took the officers until May 28, three months into their investigation, to finally score a hit. Seconds after Stephanie threw away her soda in a Costco trash can, the surveillance team swiped her cup and straw. They used those to get a viable DNA sample.
- [41:09]
Carter Roy
Things moved quickly after that. Officers brought the items to analysts at the LAPD's Scientific Investigation Division for testing. The next day, experts had officially matched Stephanie's DNA to the saliva in the bite mark on Sherry's forearm. The evidence was irrefutable. After 23 years, the LAPD had finally caught Sherry Rasmussen's killer, and the culprit was one of their own. Now they had to figure out how to catch her.
- [41:42]
Vanessa Richardson
On June 5, 2009, officers told Stephanie they had a potential art thief down at the jail who they wanted her to interview. When Stephanie went down to the interrogation room, she found it empty. That's when she realized she was the one being investigated. A couple of hours later, she was officially booked for murder. The news sparked a firestorm in the media. The LAPD maintained that Stephanie's arrest proved the system worked, that even police officers weren't above the law. But many, including Sherry's family, believed the department had spent years covering up her involvement. While they were relieved Stephanie was finally in custody, they wondered why their allegations weren't taken seriously two decades earlier. It was a question that a lot of people wanted to know the answer to. But for the time being, the focus was on Stephanie's trial.
- [42:38]
Carter Roy
In December 2009, Stephanie had a preliminary hearing and was ordered to stand trial for murder. But it wasn't until her 50th birthday on May 4, 2010, that she officially retired from the LAPD. In the 11 months between then and the hearing, the department never fired her. And as a 25 year employee, she was entitled to a full pension. Yearly cash infusion that grows larger every year. She definitely needed some of that money for her legal costs. On February 6, 2012, her five week trial began. Stephanie pleaded not guilty and refused to testify in court. Throughout the highly publicized proceedings, she never made a public statement of any kind. And despite her official plea, the evidence was clear. On March 8, she was found guilty of first degree murder and was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. She wasn't eligible for parole until 2023, when a new California law loosened the requirements for certain offenders. And while her conviction may have officially closed the case, Sherry's family still had a bone to pick with the police.
- [44:01]
Vanessa Richardson
The Rasmussen lodged a legal claim against the city of Los Angeles, which is the precursor to a civil lawsuit. In the filing, they claimed the LAPD engaged in a conspiracy to cover up Stephanie's involvement in their daughter's murder. The city government eventually denied the legal claim. In response, the Rasmussen filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, the LAPD and Stephanie Lazarus. On May 24, 2011, a Superior Court judge dismissed this suit too, citing governmental immunity. Soon afterwards, an LAPD internal affairs investigation was closed without recommending any penalties for the officials involved with Sherry's case.
- [44:47]
Carter Roy
Since then, the department has continued to deny any cover up in the murder of Sherri Rasmussen. According to them, the case was not mishandled and no one involved engaged in any kind of misconduct. No one at the LAPD has ever been held responsible for any mistakes made during the investigation. The one bright spot is that Stephanie Lazarus remains behind bars for what she did.
- [45:17]
Vanessa Richardson
In 2023, she became eligible for parole for the first time. And after years of denying her guilt, the 63 year old officially confessed to the murder at her hearing. John Reuten was among the people who argued against her release, claiming she couldn't be trusted. Neither he nor Sherry's mother believed she had shown any genuine remorse. Stephanie's request was denied in 2023 and again in 2025. Though she may be granted parole in the future, her confession provided a small amount of closure for Sherry's mother, Loretta. Sadly, her father Nels passed away in 2020. But he did live to see his daughter's killer finally locked away Today on
- [46:05]
Carter Roy
the 40th anniversary of her murder. We remember Sherry. Her story should remind us all how important transparency is during a criminal investigation because everyone has blind spots, even seasoned homicide detectives who are trying to do their job. The truth is, our society places a lot of trust in the police and if this tragedy can teach us anything, it's that this trust should go two ways. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next time for another murder and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original Powered by Pave Studios Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference and to enhance your murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode early and ad free. We'll be back on Friday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy and special guest Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Perl, Tartzofsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Tara Wells, Sheila Patterson and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.
- [48:10]
Progressive Insurance Representative
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- [48:45]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi, it's Vanessa. If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, check out the new Crime House original the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.
- [49:08]
Carter Roy
Comcast Business helps retailers become seamlessly restocking, frictionless paying favorite shopping destinations. It's how nationwide restaurants become touchscreen ordering quick serving eateries and how hospitals become the patient scanning data managing healthcare facilities that we all depend on with leading networking and connectivity, advanced cybersecurity and expert partnership. Comcast business is powering the engine of modern business. Powering possibilities, restriction supply.