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Sherri Rasmusen Part 2 · Justice For

• JusticeFor: back to another episode of Justice for we are your host. I'm Jackie and I'm Sam. I'm really sorry. We left you ⁓ we left you last week. She's not I'm not it's gonna get good today ⁓ But ⁓ you did not listen to last week, please go do that because you need some of the background You lost if you didn't it's gonna be linked below ⁓ Right underneath the description of this episode. It'll be linked right in there for you to go ahead and hit part one and then come back and listen to this. But for a quick recap, John Ruttin found his wife Sherry Rasmussen dead at their condo in Fernando Valley, California. So right outside of Los Angeles. ⁓ Technically inside, but outside, you know? Like in the northern part of LA. So he found her brutally beaten and shot in their home, and it looked like it was a burglary had gone wrong. Her car was missing, her purse was missing, and their marriage license was stolen. The police automatically deemed it as a burglary gone wrong, even though there were reports of... I couldn't think of the word. But there was a lot of reports of harassment and stalking by his ex-girlfriend who ended up being an LAPD officer. And that's the bombshell that we left y'all on? Pretty much, yeah. with the only person who was trying to uncover this and reveal this basically being called crazy and retaliated against. And deemed unfit Within the department. Yes. So that's where we left you. Sorry about that. Not really. And let's get back into this because I'm really excited to hear like... what's going on in this right now. It's gonna be good. So we did just find out that the DNA that was tested was very much a woman. A woman, please remember that, and not Sherry. It was a woman. A woman. Where do white women at? Jesus Christ. Unfortunately though, for nearly two decades, the working theory centered on male burglars. And now the most. important biological evidence was pointing somewhere completely different. I also didn't have a good place to put this last episode, so you're getting it right now. Every single time that this case was given to a new detective, Sherry's family would fly in from Tucson to LA to meet the detective and speak to them about the case and try to convince them to reopen him. I love them. Like, I love a family who fights like this and knows. it's very, I know I brought her up in part one. It's giving Ellen Greenberg's family. It's giving Ellen's parents of, know this didn't happen. This is not right. This is not what it is. I love it. I agree. I agree. But then one day in November of 2009, that's a jump, 2009, Jennifer Francis, who was the criminalist who got deemed unfit for her job. because of the DNA discovery, got a call from a homicide detective named Jim, ⁓ I'm really sorry if I say your name wrong and I'm sorry I'm giggling, it's just the way it's spelled. But it's Newtall, Newtall like Utah, but Newtall, Newtall. His name is Detective Jim Newtall. He asked her ⁓ her findings, but she had been so scrutinized that she was scared to tell him ⁓ I mean, valid. ⁓ rightfully so. ⁓ all she tells him is that she doesn't believe it was a burglary ⁓ that the evidence was ⁓ tampered with. But that was it. I feel like that could be enough, but she's also scared like to say anything else or do anything else because... Everything that happened. Yeah. Jesus Christ. She was forced to go to counseling. That's crazy to me. Like, if that does not scream cover up, I don't know what does. Yeah. But who the hell is this Detective Jim? Yeah, I'm very intrigued to see a private investigator hired by the family. No. Jim is an LAPD homicide detective, and in 2008, he walked into his office and found a few boxes of cold cases waiting for him. He grabbed one and started going through it. And wouldn't you know it? It was Sherry. Sherry Rasmussen's case. OK, OK. He noticed that it looked like more than half of the evidence had gone missing or was tampered with in some way. He noticed that the DNA and the notes from Jennifer were all in there though, and he called her. Just immediately, what the fuck? So I really enjoy how they made evidence go missing and all that stuff, but after she dug into it and did all of her stuff, they just left it in there, boxed it up and moved it somewhere else. Pretty much, yeah. Right, Mm-hmm. the little bit of information that he did get from her, he started putting two and two together, and a very clear picture was starting to form. Evidence was pointing to one of their own. And that was LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus. But if you want to, you can call her crazy eyes. Yeah. Do you see this? Yeah. They were blown away that someone within their ranks could do such a thing and has gone away with it for so long. But with how covered up it was, they wanted to keep this information as close to them as possible. Obviously. Especially since the person it was pointing to was literally two doors down from him. ⁓ shit. ⁓ my gosh, he's even in the same department, like in the same building, and they didn't take all that out, they just kept it on in there and put... Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So... I love dumb criminals. Wait a second. Who the fuck is Stephanie Lazarus? I don't know. Stephanie Lazarus was by most accounts someone who had her life together. She grew up in Southern California and a stable middle class family. She was bright, athletic and competitive from a young age. She went to UCLA, which is where she met John Ruttin. Okay. And she wasn't just floating through college. She was active, social, driven, the kind of person who joins teams, shows up and competes. After college, she joined the LAPD, Los Angeles Police Department, if you really didn't know what that was, and that's not a small thing by any feat. The LAPD is one of the largest and most competitive departments in the country. If you've ever watched The Rookie, you know that. Getting hired is difficult. Staying on requires discipline, and Stephanie did both. She threw herself into it. She played on the LAPD's women's basketball team and competed in the California Police Olympics. There's a California Police Olympics. OK. First of all, never I want to one now attend this event. Yeah, I want to know the events. ⁓ Three, I want to know if they have a really fun ⁓ like, you know, how you have a control in a lab. Yeah. Would it be really great to have a civilian that does all these things right along with them without training? I think that'd be fun. I would like to be that civilian, please. That's how I feel about the regular Olympics. just grab Joe Blow off the street and put him in a hundred meter dash. This is what a normal person looks like doing this. And so it looks way more impressive. Even the person in last looks hella impressive compared to this. Could you imagine like Gail and HR? running a hundred meter dash with the it has to be like the Hunger Games where like names are randomly selected. So like you can't have like, no, no, no, no, we can't have any sort of like, you know, we can't be like, oh, I want to put my name in for this. Like, no, I would like to see like a 75 year old grandma with knee issues out there curling. Okay. Put me in that US women's hockey team. Done. ⁓ Anyway, ⁓ friends and described as intense and focused but very capable. ⁓ She wasn't viewed as or reckless. She was respected. She had structure ⁓ and she had ambition. people were terrified when she looked at them. Dead ass, I'm terrified looking at her. ⁓ At that point in her life, she had a solid career path, a strong physical presence and the kind of personality that doesn't shy from challenges. ⁓ She wasn't someone drifting or struggling to find her place because she already had one. And that's important. Because when you look at her background, there aren't red flags. No history of violence, no public meltdowns, no dramatic downward spirals. She was functioning, she was achieving, and she built herself a future. She just had crazy eyes, You can't fault someone for their eyes being crazy. Yeah, you can. No, but I bet you it helped her as a detective in LAPD because if... Listen, if the detective's looking crazier than you and you're already crazy, I think you're gonna chill out a bit. Valid. Just saying. That's fair. Now I'm going to tell you the long history of John and Stephanie. Okay. And this is why this is a two part because it's long. Yeah. Yeah. I see him big bold letters. John and Stephanie, history. The history. The history. It's Hogwarts history. Long before Sherry entered the picture, John and Stephanie had known each other at UCLA, where they both lived in Dickstra Hall. According to John, their relationship was casual. He later phrased it as, necking and fooling around, end quote, which feels very 80s and very telling. Did they go steady? They sure did. You saw how many pictures they had together. I know. Which is crazy. Knucking goes along with going steady. ⁓ Did he give her his sweater? No, I don't think so. The Letterman, the Letterman jacket, his class ring. I don't think so. But people around them would later say that Stephanie seemed far more emotionally invested than John was. He's also a dude. Looking back, some of the behavior reads differently in hindsight, though. She took his clothes while he was showering. She also photographed him while he was sleeping. Yikes. They did actually continue seeing each other after they graduated as well between, oh, sorry, between 1981 and 1984, John estimated that they had sex somewhere between 20 to 30 times. But who's counting? John? I guess. Stephanie joined the LAPD in 1983 and built her reputation for being extremely competitive and physically tough, but emotionally, like it really doesn't seem that she ever fully let go of things. Okay. When she learned in 1985 that John and Sherry were engaged, her diary entries reflected significant distress. She wrote that her concentration was quote, like negative 10. End quote and her roommate later remember this is Valley girl. It was negative 10. So yeah. And her roommate later said that it was the first time he had ever seen her cry. So Stephanie had dated John for years, not four years, but four years, multiple years. OK, she clearly thought they were actually end game. Yeah. So much so that she threw him a surprise 25th birthday party, completely unaware that he was seeing other women, including someone he was starting to get serious with. Sherry. Did he bring Sherry to the party? He sure did. And by May of 1985, Stephanie had met Sherry at that point. A month later, she found out John and Sherry were engaged. Nope, my timeline's wrong there. No, that's right. That's right. Sorry. So they got engaged in May, June, and got married in November. Okay, short engagement. And that's apparently when it hit her really, really hard. In her diary, she wrote, quote, I found out that John is getting married. My concentration is like negative 10. That's where it came from. She was devastated. ⁓ end quote. Being an LAPD officer, you need all of your attention. but here's where it gets messy. Here, yeah. Like we haven't been messy? I know. ⁓ that same month ⁓ ⁓ found out they got engaged, ⁓ went to John's condo one last time before he moved in with Sherry ⁓ the two slept together. ⁓ did the deed. ⁓ didn't even say it this time. ⁓ ⁓ John would later describe this moment as closure, but he never told Sherry until a little bit later. Stephanie was still very much not over the situation. She wrote to her mother that she was truly in love with John and didn't understand his decision. Friends said she still talked about him like he was her boyfriend. ⁓ He had one last hookup to for his closure and she was like, there's a chance. ⁓ this is when things escalated. One day in the summer, Stephanie showed up at Sherry's workplace, the one I told you guys before, and she was wearing tight shorts in a tank top. Scandalous. I know. She told Sherry she and John were still having sex and added, quote, when your marriage fails, I'll be there to pick up the pieces." quote. Damn! Sherry didn't even flinch and responded, your services won't be needed. Sherry, this is when Stephanie said the famous line I already told you earlier, if I can't have John, no one else will, including you. She said that to Sherry's face. Yes, she did. This is giving that commercial from the 2000s, you lint liquor. Suck on you, cumquad. Don't you call me a lint liquor. So personally, this doesn't seem like a normal breakup response, but you know. No, it's kind of slightly psychotic. I don't know. don't know. Sherry did tell her father about this encounter. Obviously, she also had coworkers that saw it happen. And witnessed it. And she's not in disguise. She's clearly just there as herself. Yeah. So she decided to confront John. about it, like, yo, John, the fuck brother. And that's when he finally admitted to cheating on her. And then he apologized. ⁓ And he said, I, my relationship with Stephanie is over. It's done. It's over. It's harmless. It's good. We're good. Was it John? Was it harmless? Was it good? Was it John? Is it over? John and Sherry married in November of but strange strange things continued to happen. ⁓ People would call and they would hang up. ⁓ Stephanie also come and drop by unannounced. ⁓ She would show up in her uniform and armed. ⁓ There was one incident where she brought over her skis for John to Wax my skis. Butter your bread, baby. Is your muffin buttered? Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin? But Sherry kept telling John, this needs to stop. I'm done with this. She can't keep coming Why isn't John telling her to stop? I don't fucking know. On one occasion, Sherry came downstairs after John left for work and found Stephanie inside of the living room in uniform and armed. Like, be so fucking for real. Sherry again confided in her father that she felt like she was being stalked. She even like she was very sure that Stephanie, even though she didn't tell him her name, was the one following her in disguise. Stephanie has a key to the condo. John might not know Stephanie has a key to the condo, but Stephanie has a key to the condo. So it doesn't matter if he locked that front door. Yeah. And then just days before the murder, John accidentally left the condo's front door unlocked after a friend visited. So he kind of has history of leaving the front door unlocked. Okay, but I'm also gonna go with, She's psycho and a detective for the LAPD. So we either know the garage code because there's a door that leads into the house or she made a key. don't know if they had. took his clothes, remember? I mean, that was in college. But like he took his clothes, which by the way, like that's really kind of funny because like college like showers aren't in the dorm rooms. They're like down the hallway and they're communal. so therefore. I mean don't do that, but I thought about that. I'm gonna walk through that shit. Yeah, literally had to walk back to his dorm naked like with his towel If you had a towel like I don't know she left him with I mean I'd be taking down the shower curtain. I'd be like Thank you use the outside not the inside. Oh, I don't care. I'll just fucking walked Booty checks out and all take me back to my college body and I wouldn't have paid a time before kids I would have proudly walked down the hallway. Anyway, I would do it now. I have no shame Texas Roadhouse Rolls, baby. Give me some that butter. I'm so sorry. my goodness. ⁓ been great. I just, ⁓ I'm going to go with I'm thinking that that's like, yes, we have a whole breakup inside, but no doubt me that she took his keys, took a copy of it, did something. if she's a cop, most people like. Why would they question it? Yeah, and they wouldn't question a cop being around the house or anything or nobody, none of the neighbors would find that suspicious or any of that stuff. And especially after this happening and then finding out that Sherry thought that someone saw, you know what I mean? Like, uh-huh. I'm right there with you girl. I'm right there. So you guys remember that they took a trip to Hawaii? Yeah. Yeah. John and Stephanie stayed in occasional contact after that and met up a few more times. But on the surface, both of their lives kept moving forward. She continued to build her career with LAPD. She worked in the department's drug abuse resistance education program, better known as D.A.R.E. did also later handle background investigations ⁓ new recruits for the DARE program. ⁓ 1994, she had earned a promotion to detective, which again is no small achievement ⁓ the LAPD. Around the same time, she launched her own private investigation business called Unique Investigations, ⁓ another layer onto her. ⁓ ⁓ professional resume. I don't like that. A few years later, she married a fellow officer she had met while teaching a DARE class in Oregon. They adopted a daughter and eventually settled in Simi Valley, which is also in California. Yeah. Her husband would later join the LAPD as well. ⁓ Stephanie became an instructor at the police academy ⁓ and was training future officers. the 1990s, she was assigned twice the Van News Division, the very division where the files for Sherry's case were sitting in storage. Yeah, I was like, recognize that. uh-huh. ⁓ In between those assignments, she spent a in internal affairs, ⁓ which is one of the most sensitive in any police department. and according to department records, she excelled in both background investigations and internal affairs. Supervisors praised her for being thorough, meticulous and relentless in her cases. Which when you look back at everything, it adds a layer of irony to the almost impossible to ignore. So. She literally wouldn't know what's going on at any time because when did Jennifer Francis start digging back into this in the 90s, right? I can't remember if 2009 was when the new detective stepped in. So, 91 is when a new detective stepped in. 93, the case was reopened to investigate, or like had a reinvestigation, and that's when everything went missing. Yes, but then Jennifer came into play in the early 2000s. And then 2009 was when the other detective who called her came into play. Okay. was just wondering. know that timeline. I'm jumping a lot. No, the reason why I was asking for that clarification on that timeline is because if she was in internal affairs when Jennifer was going back through that, it would make sense for them to push it all out, make her crazy because, but it makes, it still makes sense because internal affairs have that connection with her and she made her in that department already. Stephanie had also won a lot of awards. Yeah. And that's her time as well. the crazy picture of her with her award. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But let's get back to Detective Newtall and the investigation that is now proceeding. Some aspects of the crime that were implausible for a break-in, especially one that was committed in the daylight. I have some bullet points. Let's go over them. ⁓ Sherry's jewelry box was in plain view atop of her dresser and had not been touched. The condo was in the middle of a gated complex surrounded by other units from which burglars could have also expected to be easily observed. So they are basically in a gated community and they see the house and they're like, yep, that's the one. I also would like to point out we are in the eighties. Okay. Stereos for those of you young ins are not tiny things. Yeah, when I was like, oh, there's a VCR and she's all that's the stereo and then I remembered like my dad had this Like I mean I swear this was in our house until 2000s. It was this whole thing It like the speakers were on the side. I had this giant silver thing It was like this stacked because there's the cassette things on it. There was the record player thing on it I don't know if his had the record player part or not on him and like you had the The cassette places for it, the two slots, all of that, the speakers. Like, I even had a stereo that went for me in like elementary school, middle school, high school. Actually, I think I got it from my sister in middle school. Anyway, but it had the speakers that disconnected in the middle thing. ⁓ They had to hook all up and I had like my CD and my cassette spots on it. These are big things. Like, they're large. And they were expensive back then. There was a lot of different kinds. So like breaking in and stealing a stereo was a whole thing back then. And for them to leave the stereo is also had record players and vinyls in here as well. And to leave those back then, that's a little wild. We're actually going to touch on that in two more points. OK. So. Point number three. Point number three is the front door had an alarm warning and had not been forced open as it might have been if the ⁓ burglars had not expected anyone to be home. Is there a keypad on the outside of the garage? Do we know that? I don't believe so. Can we look at the picture? Yeah. Because if she knew the keypad code, we wouldn't even have to worry about that front door alarm going off because and the car was missing. But I mean, you can go out the garage from inside the house. It's hard to tell. Like I can kind of see how there would be one, but I don't know if they had that kind of... Did they have that kind of stuff in the 80s? That's hard to tell. Yeah. Because I mean, there's just, there's many options to this. hmm. Mm hmm. Number four, number four, the stack of stereo equipment atop a VCR at the base of the stairs was also inconsistent with the burglary theory. If as evidence suggested the struggle between Sherry and her attack, it had started upstairs and continued downstairs. The stack would likely have been knocked downwards and scattered everywhere. Yeah, instead of being placed over there. It made more sense to assume that hit had been stacked afterwards, although a burglar would have fled the scene immediately after the shooting. Yeah. So, I mean, if we're going off the theory that it is Stephanie and we are a seasoned homicide detective, well, I mean, we haven't made detective yet when we did this, but we're working in the LAPD and doing all this, we do know what we're doing. So, and she staged it well enough that they really did think it was a burglary or suspected her enough to know to keep saying it was a burglary and move on. Last point. OK, five. Last point. ⁓ On a record player that was on top of the stack of shit, there was a thumb-shaped blood stain. However, it had no print with it, suggesting whoever left it was wearing gloves. But the blood was Sherry's, suggesting that the equipment again had been stacked after the struggle. and the shooting to make the crime look like a botched burglary. So from the four bound volumes of the murder book, which by the way, the LAPD refer to case files as murder books, they developed a list of five female suspects. They actually said that Stephanie was the least likely suspect because of her rank within the department, but they talked to Sherry's family and they told them how They were always mentioning a crazy ex-girlfriend and how she was being stalked. But all of the documents that contained statements mentioning anything about stalking, that visit to the hospital, the phone calls, all of the unexpected house calls that she would fucking make, they were all missing. I am so surprised. Then the detectives called John and he told them that he does have an ex that might be close to the case. And it was Stephanie. Oh, now we're finally going to admit this. Now we would like to say that. They didn't want her to know that they were looking into her, like I said. So they started having people follow her throughout the day. They were trying not to alert her, so they were just trying to trail her, like tail her to not have to get a warrant, because then she would be made aware and bad things happen when that happens. Then I really enjoy that we're tailing a seasoned. LAPD detective. I know. Without thinking she's going to notice them. She didn't. Really? Because then one day she threw away a cup that she was drinking from at a Costco, to be exact. ⁓ And they went and grabbed it and got the DNA off of it and compared it to the DNA that was from the bite mark. So when I asked earlier if they took the DNA and put it in a database. Can we not check against the people in the precinct? She was in CODIS. That's not what I said. I know. I mean, that's fair. I know you're saying. write prints against, like, the police database, like police officers and stuff like that. But like, if they know that there's like detectives who are in this, like, why don't we run... Do they not keep their DNA in their detectives' file? I kind of doubt it. Will someone let us know? Like do all police understand that's crazy, but at the same time why not? Yeah. Like do all police have their fingerprints and DNA and everything in databases? Cause I don't actually know. their fingerprints are, cause you get fingerprinted when you become a cop, so I know they have that. But like why wouldn't they also have a DNA database? Because- Unless it's just so corrupt at this point, this is why not, but you know. To compare against when you have this because one, it would be really good where if like a defense is claiming that the scene was contaminated by officers that were there, you could use it to rule out officer's DNA. Well, that's when they collect their DNA usually and test against it. But I'm just saying that it would be a whole lot easier if it was already all on the data on all on file with their fingerprints. Yeah, I agree. I agree. mean, that wouldn't be crazy. mean, if you are already you're taking an oath to serve and to be truthful and honest and protect, you shouldn't have an issue with having your DNA in there. You should be compared to stuff. I completely agree just saying. Well, I'd say even if her DNA is on file, there are so many detectives that were like, Yeah. Like, who knows how many of these detectives knew. Yeah, that's the other thing is because this was really covered up. This was with all of the evidence that went missing. All of what did she have on them? I don't know. That's what I want. I don't know if it was a have on them or if because she was so good at her job that they're like, we can't lose her. We need her for the basketball team. She was like team and she was very like social and like had those friendships and stuff like that. She was probably very well liked within the department and stuff like that. So there were people willing to do things like that. genuinely knows? Who knows? Okay. ⁓ If you didn't get it, her DNA from her cup to the DNA on the bite, they matched. Shocking. Very shocking. But she bit herself. ⁓ They also determined that Stephanie actually was off of work the day that the murder occurred. which would make it easier for her to be able to go home, clean up, dispose of the vehicle, and dispose of the gun that was used. As the case was reopened, homicide supervisors quietly alerted LAPD leadership and prosecutors, and he was transferred to the robbery homicide unit. In June of 2009, detectives lured Stephanie to Parker Center under the pretense of discussing an art theft. That was the department she was in, apparently. I don't know. Because it was headquartered, she had to check in her gun before entering. Once inside the interrogation room, detectives immediately shifted the focus to Sherry Rasmussen's murder, telling her that her name was resurfaced. Knowing she was an experienced detective familiar with interview tactics, they moved as carefully as they possibly could. At first, she claimed she remembered very little. But as they pressed, she acknowledged past visits with John at their condo. And when detectives mentioned possible DNA evidence and asked if she would provide a sample, she said she needed to speak to someone. I also have a clip of this for you that I'm going to play for you now. That's all crazy. I had a gun that went missing. I don't know. You guys can figure that out. I don't remember when. ⁓ I don't know if I actually know them. I don't know these people. I don't know any of them. Are you accusing me of something? Because that makes me uncomfortable. And I'm very uncomfortable. Should I get a lawyer? So six minutes after she said, I'm going to have to talk to someone. I need to talk to someone. And the guy was like, OK. Six minutes after that part, she actually stepped out of the room. And then they followed her and arrested her. Okay. And then brought her back in, which they did say they were free to go. She was free to go. And so she left and then she wasn't free to go. No, not at all. They actually brought her back in the room and read her her Miranda rights. Right on. On camera. Right on. Yeah. So she was arrested 23 years after Sherry had been murdered. Damn. ⁓ huh. At this time, search warrants were executed at her home, her car, all of the above. And this is where the investigators did find her 1980s diary detailing her love for John and anguish over his engagement, along with later internet searches of his name. Bitch, you committed this crime in 1986 and you were doing we have Google and we have Internet. We have Google searches. Yeah. Google wasn't a thing back then. But apparently you was obsessed, obsessed. The arrest ended up stunning the department, obviously. Afterward, Stephanie was allowed to retire early, which pisses me off. But also I get it. And she was actually held in jail with the judge setting her bail at 10. million dollars, citing the strength of this case and the risk of her fleeing. I'm only okay with her being able to retire if she retired too early to get pension. I, like I understand, she was a huge force in LAPD. So like, she was also there for what, 25 years? That's why I said I'm only okay with them allowing her to retire as long as she doesn't receive her pension. so ⁓ for the next three years up to trial, ⁓ Stephanie's attorney, his name is Mark Overland. ⁓ He fought hard to dismantle the case. ⁓ He argued that evidence was too old to fairly challenge ⁓ the warrant had been defective. that her interrogation skirted her constitutional rights and that the bite mark of DNA was unreliable and improperly stored. You know what I say to that? The judge denied every attempt to have this case dismissed though. And as those motions played out, the media started circling like a bunch of fucking sharks. The story had everything that the media could want. A love triangle, a cold case buried for over two decades, and a decorated LAPD detective sitting at the defense table accused of murder. It didn't feel real. It was like Christmas Day. That's awesome. Like that's wild. Like getting a cold case, like an arrest in a cold case after 20 years, that's wild. That's one thing. But to have the person arrested being a decorated LAPD detective, that's just like a cherry on top. It's true. When the trial finally began in February of 2012, prosecutors leaned fully into the motive of jealousy. In opening statements, one prosecutor described the case as, quote, a bite, a bullet, a gun barrel, and a broken heart, end quote. Damn. John Rutten also took the stand. And it was emotional. It was so emotional. It was very sad. You remember that picture of him, gray hair? Yeah. His voice was breaking. He said, this all happened. because of him. And Sherry didn't deserve it. I feel for that man. I'm not gonna lie to you. So, I mean. Yeah. I only feel for him to a certain extent because one, he downplayed Stephanie and her craziness to the police. And then he continued to hook up with her for years afterwards. To be fair, though. police to make sure she wasn't involved. So on some level, he knew she was involved and he did not want to get caught up in that. So to be fair, though, the police very much fed him. No, she's not involved. No, don't talk to her family. Like, why wouldn't you believe police officers if they're telling you? No, he was already not talking to Sherry's family either. because the police told him not to. I'm talking about Stephanie. I'm talking about he was literally questioned about Stephanie. He said, ⁓ yeah, I have an ex, but she is not a worry. And then because they told him, no, she's not involved in this. Yeah, that's fine. So why did he keep calling to make sure every time before he went and got some? Because he knew. He knew on some level, that's why he also downplayed it. That's fair. That's also why he went talk to Sherry's family. That's fair. Maybe he just didn't want to believe it. Doesn't matter. He also shut up very much about it and was not trying to find or search for justice anywhere in here. He knew on some level, that's why he shut up for 20 years. I feel for him to a certain extent. Totally valid. I get exactly what you're saying. So with his testimony, the emotional shift or the emotional part of it completely shifted the case. in a good way. mean, that's fine. just I don't like him. He did admit that sleeping with Stephanie after the engagement was a mistake, and he also ended up crying on the stand more than once. However, the defense pushed back hard. Overland, the attorney. kept just bringing up the original burglary theory pointing to evidence he said had never been properly excluded like unidentified fingerprints that were in the car because I don't think they ever tested her fingerprints since all I did was get the DNA. ⁓ The commonality of the 38 caliber guns and how common they are. in fucking LA or in the world I should say. The possibility that the bite mark sample had been contaminated somehow. Did they not compare her bite? I don't think so. I don't think they meant to do that. Also, I don't know if they even got a warrant to get that information. Valid. So he painted the prosecution's case. would also depend if they had a casting of the bite mark as well because you can't really do it. mean, you could try to do it just from pictures alone if it was clear enough, but there would still be enough discrepancy. But we were in the 2000s, so we could have done digitally like. They could have. They could have, but not that I know of. And also some things just aren't allowed in trial sometimes, so. Weird, right? Overland painted the prosecution's case as circumstantial and overreaching, arguing that they were forcing a decades old tragedy into a neat narrative. But in closing, prosecutors showed jurors photos of Sherry's injuries and told them it wasn't even a fair fight. It was prey caught in a cage with a predator and the room was silent. After three weeks of trial and three full days of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict. Guilty? Guilty on first degree murder. ⁓ thank God. You scared me for like 2.3 seconds. I know I had to be dramatic for a minute. Stephanie Lazarus was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison with possibility of parole. ⁓ And just like that, a case that had sat cold for 23 years. I mean, I guess technically a little bit longer since it took three more years. Yeah. It finally had an answer. Today, Stephanie Lazarus remains incarcerated at the California Institute for Women in Corona, California. Good. Unfortunately, Sherry's dad Nels passed away before all of... ⁓ he was at trial. Okay. He made it to trial. He saw that. But he passed away before any of the parole hearings started. However, he recorded a video to be played at every single one of Stephanie's hearings until she's finally out of options. I love this. Yeah, I have a clip of it. So in 2023, during a parole hearing, Stephanie finally admitted to killing Sherry. Well, that's going to help you with parole. No, it's not. Quote, it makes me sick to this day that I took an oath to protect and serve people and I took Sherry Rasmussen's life from her. End quote. ⁓ does she think that finally owning her actions is going to get her out? ⁓ yep. She thought finally being like, yep, I did it. You caught me. No, it just proved that you could lie for over 30 years and nobody cared. That's what I'm fucking saying. Without Batten and Not that nobody cared, but you could lie for 30 years without anyone Batten and I. But the parole board was not convinced. Thank God. But then in October of 24, ⁓ they actually recommended parole again, but then it was rescinded. OK. Then in 2025. Another parole request was denied with commissioners pointing to the inconsistencies between her account and the forensic evidence. Because of course she's changing her fucking story. There's actually a lot of information about this and how the LAPD had a big hand in the evidence issues. But this is already a long episode. Two parts, I will link it in the notes if you are interested. Just know they fucked up. ⁓ they fucked up a lot. I mean, I feel like you covered it very well and like let into where things were missing and what other things happened. But no. So they fucked up and the judge was like, nah, fuck y'all. And it's also probably extremely hard to follow and figure out because they are trying to make this look like different things. So obviously there's going to be missing pieces where it changed hands and did this or did that. yeah. ⁓ Her next parole eligibility is scheduled for 2028. However, under special circumstances, she could be eligible earlier. Which I highly doubt with the way her parole has been going. In 2010, Sherry Rasmussen's family filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, the LAPD, Stephanie Lazarus, and a few others, alleging the department's handling of the case and what they believed was hostility towards them, amounting to civil rights violations, emotional distress, and fraudulent concealment. The case moved between federal and state court, tangled in procedural issues and statute of limitations arguments. Ultimately, the courts ruled that the family had waited too long to pursue certain claims and their lawsuit against the city was dismissed. Well, I'm sorry. It took the city over 20 fucking years to go ahead and solve this case and then it took them a few more to actually prosecute it. took them a quarter of a century. Yeah. I'm sorry. What? I've never heard of you of it being passed that to file a civil lawsuit. Yeah. The California Supreme Court also declined to review the case. Because they know they fucked up and they know that they were going to be... ⁓ yeah, no, because they knew. As for Stephanie, once she was convicted of murder, she was automatically held liable for Sherry's death in civil court. She tried to argue that the Rasmussen family had filed their suit too early and should have waited until after her parole, but the court rejected the claim and the ruling was upheld on appeal. This is, this will be the only part where I will be happy if she was allowed to retire and get her pension. Because that means that she has money for them to go after in the civil lawsuit. And so that's when I'm okay for her having a pension. ⁓ yes, nevermind. take that all back. It's okay. She can retire. that means her husband's not getting it. Period. Or her adopted child. Yeah. Cause it, ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause it'll go to next of kin. Or the husband, depending on who she put that to, if they die. Or if they're... ⁓ Sorry, I'm way too excited about way too excited, but something more exciting is about to happen as well. Ready? Meanwhile, another legal battle was unfolding inside the department itself. Jennifer Francis, the criminalist, filed a lawsuit in 2013 claiming she had faced pressure and retaliation for raising concerns years earlier about Stephanie Lazarus potentially being involved in Sherry's case. According to Francis, ⁓ when she later shared what she knew with prosecutors, she was called into the supervisor's office, sent to counseling under what she believed were punitive circumstances and interrogated by internal investigators. She said she had feared retaliation and felt the department was more concerned with controlling the narrative than addressing what actually happened. In 2017, a judge allowed part of Francis' case specifically a state labor law claim to move forward. But they did dismiss her harassment and discrimination claims. But everything else was fine? In 2019, a jury ultimately ruled in favor of the city. The decision was later upheld on appeal. That's just shitty all around. I know. But I'm happy she tried. She did try. But that's still so shitty. Because that's still like a slap in the face to them. And it's still... I don't know. This sucks. It does suck. At least she got validation. Absolutely. But now your favorite part. All about Sherry. Let's talk all things about Sherry. Sherry Rasmussen was 29 years old, a bright, accomplished critical care nurse. She loved sports, especially tennis and basketball, and had a competitive streak with friends that was balanced by a warm, playful personality. She was close with her parents and had grown up in a tight knit family that just absolutely adored her. Her father later described her as the light of their lives. She had just gotten married, was building a future, decorating her first home, and talking about children with John. Sherry was all about family. Her and her sisters were best friends. Quote, she always encouraged people and had always exuded confidence, end quote. She longed to have a family and to be a mother, but wanted to make sure she had her career set in place first. Everyone was always complimenting her for her intelligence, calming presence, and how she was just a natural born leader. She wasn't dramatic or loud, but she was steady and thoughtful and loved very deeply. She was someone's daughter, someone's new wife, and someone who had an entire life ahead ⁓ Her niece Jessica actually got married in Sherry's wedding dress so she could have a part of her with her on her special day. Jessica also went into nursing school to follow in her footsteps. You're gonna make me cry. I know. do. I see the tear. I see the tear forming. I have another little part but we're going to shameless plug before I do that. ⁓ ⁓ my god, I really am. Have a moment. I know I'm like tearing up over here. What the heck? Okay. So, ⁓ make sure that you are like followed, subscribed everywhere so you don't miss an episode we release every Tuesday. ⁓ these trial recaps, who knows what day they're going to come out on. You can get it on a Saturday, you get it on a Sunday, you could get it on a Monday. I don't, ⁓ I don't know. We're going to find out. So make sure you're liked and followed you don't miss it. ⁓ as well as our socials, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. We have a Twitter, but I don't do anything on there. Somebody wants to our Twitter. If someone wants to run our Twitter, let me know. Bro, it's not even called Twitter anymore. See, we don't, I don't... X. Right? Why? I don't know. If someone wants to run our Twitter for us, as long as you're not racist and an asshole, down. Do it. I mean, let's go. ⁓ So make sure you like, follow, subscribe everywhere so you don't miss anything. Check out our website, buy yourself some merch, submit a case. We always like new ideas. We do. We do. Yeah. Yes. Thank you guys for sticking with us on another two-parter. We won't have one of these again for a while. We really try to not do these, but we also don't know how to not add in every detail. So we're sorry, but we're not sorry. This was also the last of my live episode ideas, which I personally chose to be long. So hopefully I'm going to chill the fuck out for a little bit. I hope so. On some cases, because these have been a lot. Yeah. a lot, lot, but thank you for staying with us. Thank you for listening to this case. It's a very interesting. It really is crazy, crazy, crazy case. So, but before we close out today, I do just want to say this. If you are listening to this and you are in a relationship that feels controlling, threatening, unsafe, please know you're not alone and you are not overreacting. If you are in the United States, can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. Again, that's 1-800-799-7233. You can also text the word BEGIN to 88788, BEGIN, B-E-G-I-N, 88788, or chat online at thehotline.org. It's free, it's confidential, and it's available 24 seven 365 and in more than 200 languages. You deserve to feel safe. You deserve to be heard. And there are trained people to help you figure out your next step, even if you don't know what that step is. Yeah. And if you have to say, if anything happened to me, it was this person. I may need you to just get out. If you have to say that, we've already overstayed our welcome. also with those domestic violence, the website and the numbers, reason there's a text and calls because you can't always call, you can't always text. But if you're on the website. The whole time, whether on the mobile version or the website version, there's this little icon up in the corner of your screen that says, need to back out of this page now. And you click that and it'll pop to Google. It'll pop to something else. So you can immediately hit that and you don't have to look like you're loading a new screen or something. It immediately takes you to something else. I don't think it's just Google. I think it takes you to this other page entirely. ⁓ just so you know, even if you are scared to use these things, there are ways to quickly back out of it and do it. ⁓ They have all this in place as well. Absolutely. So keep yourself safe. Oh, my gosh. It's our hundredth episode and we didn't even say anything at the beginning. We did, too. We said at the end of last episode. Oh, well, now we'll say it now. OK. This was our hundredth episode, guys. Jesus Christ, I didn't think you were coming that hot. We did it. We made it to 100. We did. In two seasons, we have done 100 episodes. Does that include our WTFs? Yeah, that's everything. is so crazy to us. Yeah. This is crazy. Like, we love it, obviously. And we have 100 episodes. And we have two live shows completely underneath our belts. Yeah. And we were featured on... ABC we were we were down Hulu for their ABC News nightly their nightline for the Slender Man so It has been a wonderful 100 episodes with you guys, and we love it We're so happy that all of you guys have been here listening to every single episode and with us on this journey We can't wait to see y'all at 200. That's what I'm saying But with that being said, we're going to catch you next week for 101. We will. Have a St. Patrick's Day. Please. Make sure you have a DD. Make sure you wear that green so you don't get pinched. And drink a green beer for us. If you are in Colorado Springs and you need a DD and you can't afford an Uber or something, literally message me. I don't do anything. Message us on the thing and one of us will come and grab you. We can send someone to come grab you. Something. Yep. Don't drink and drive. Please don't leave your friends anywhere. Lock your damn doors. Have a very safe, very, very safe holiday. And we will catch you guys next week for episode 101. Okay? Love you. Bye!