LA cop brutally murdered ex-lover's wife - then frozen bite mark exposed her sick liesMaria
Sherri Rasmussen (Image: NBC NEWS)
A detective lived an apparently ordinary life, steadily climbing the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department over 23 years, until a chilling secret from her past came to light.
Stephanie Lazarus was 51 and had devoted 26 years to the police force without a single disciplinary hearing. Alongside her impeccable professional record, her personal life appeared equally unblemished - she had married a fellow officer, launched the department's childcare program, and navigated her way through various divisions, including homicide and internal affairs, before ultimately specializing in art theft investigations.
However, in 2009, detectives Dan Jaramillo and Greg Stearns approached her under the guise of needing help on an art theft case, escorted her to their basement holding area, and routinely requested she surrender her weapon - before blindsiding her with an interrogation that would turn her world upside down.
The detectives had come to question Lazarus about a former flame, John Ruetten, and, more critically, his wife, Sherri Rasmussen. Sherri, a nursing director at a Glendale hospital, met John in 1984 and the couple wed in 1985, reports the Daily Star.
Lazarus got away with her crime for over two decades (Image: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The next year, John arrived home one evening to discover the garage door ajar, shattered glass scattered on the ground, and Sherri's lifeless body lying on the living room floor, dressed in her bathrobe. She appeared to have been assaulted and had a bullet wound in her chest.
Subsequent forensic examination revealed that Sherri had phoned in sick to work citing a back injury. At approximately 10am, her assailant broke into the home, carrying a .38-calibre revolver.
A brutal struggle erupted in the living room, leaving Sherri severely beaten, her wrists bound, and bearing a deep bite mark on her left forearm. The attacker then utilized a thick quilt from the residence to suppress the sound of gunshots, firing three bullets into Sherri's chest at close range.
Lazarus was arrested by her own police department (Image: AP)
The assailant had moved Sherri's stereo equipment partway out of the residence, abandoning it on the staircase as though inadvertently left behind, and seized her silver BMW to create the appearance of a burglary, yet had left most valuables inside the residence. The case was concluded shortly after her death, classified as a burglary that had turned fatal.
However, Sherri's father, Nels, rejected that explanation - he was convinced his daughter had fallen victim to a woman she had previously described to him. Sherri had told her father about an incident where one of John's former girlfriends appeared uninvited at their home prior to the wedding, bringing water skis for John to wax as a favor.
During the pickup, the woman arrived in police uniform with a firearm holstered at her side. That same woman subsequently appeared at Sherri's workplace at the hospital mere days afterward.
The lead detective dismissed Nels' concerns, telling him he was "watching too many cop shows" and should defer to the authorities' conclusion, declining to pursue the matter despite Lazarys reporting her spare. 38 weapon stolen just weeks following Sherri's death.
Following his wife's passing, John rekindled his connection with Lazarus, and the pair went on a scuba diving trip to Hawaii, though their renewed romance proved fleeting.
Jump ahead to 2004, when a forensic analyst with the Cold Case Homicide Unit discovered a specimen preserved in a freezer that had remained undisturbed for 18 years - a swab taken from the bite mark discovered on Sherri's arm. Laboratory analysis revealed the bite had been inflicted by a female, yet investigators disregarded this fresh intelligence and returned the evidence to storage.
Sherri's father never believed the burglary theory (Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
In 2009, Van Nuys detective Jim Nuttall found that finding compelling and felt it undermined the burglary hypothesis. Together with his squad, he reconstructed the incident as a deliberate attack and successfully linked the physical evidence to Lazarus through DNA analysis.
When initially questioned, Lazarus appeared evasive, claiming she had little recollection of Sherri, though her account shifted considerably as the interrogation progressed. By the second hour, she conceded that she might have encountered her.
She then altered her story once more, suggesting the two may have crossed paths at the hospital, before finally admitting they might have had a dispute, "a million years ago."
The perpetrator left an incriminating bite mark on her arm (Image: RealCrime)
As it dawned on her that she was a prime suspect, her attitude underwent a dramatic transformation. According to a transcript published by Vanity Fair, she stated: "I know how this stuff works. I've been doing this a long time, O.K., and now it all sounds like you're trying to pin something on me. I got that sense."
She attempted to walk out of the interrogation room, but was promptly placed under arrest, all the while repeating, "This is crazy. This is absolutely insane."
Lazarus received a 27-year prison sentence for the killing of Sherri, whose family subsequently filed a lawsuit against the LAPD. However, investigators uncovered no evidence of an internal cover-up.
Source: Crime
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