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Murder of Sherri Rasmussen · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome in. Everybody, Get ready for a deep dive that's
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  going to stay with you. We're talking love, jealousy, and
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  a murder hidden for decades. The Sherry Rasmussen case.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this one's a roller coaster.
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  Speaker 1: You sent this over a court, docs reports, personal accounts,
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  intense stuff. We're talking nineteen eighty six. Sherry Rasmussen, a
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  dedicated nurse, found murdered in her home. Initially police thought
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  it was a burglary.
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  Speaker 2: Tragically wrong. In this case, it's not just about one
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  tragic death. It reveals so much about how investigations were
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  handled back then. The emergence of DNA technology even raises
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  questions about well potential police misconduct.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly right, Like a true crime novel come to life. Okay,
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  so picture this. It's nineteen eighty six, Sherry's twenty nine
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  successful nursing director. Seems like she.
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  Speaker 2: Had it all until it all came crashing down.
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  Speaker 1: You highlighted this in your notes, and it always gets
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  to me that contrast between how her life looked and
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  how it ended.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, her husband, John Rutten, comes home, finds their place ransacked,
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  and Cherry she's gone murdered. February twenty fourth nineteen eighty six.
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  They were only married a few months.
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  Speaker 1: That detail, the newlywed part, it just makes it all
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  so much more heartbreaking. That there's another person we need
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  to talk about. Someone you keyed in on right away,
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  Stephanie Lazarus. And she wasn't just an ex girlfriend of John's,
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  but the police officer. Exactly.
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  Speaker 2: It's a whole other layer to this whole thing, doesn't
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  it a big one?
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  Speaker 1: So Lazarus and John dated back in college, but after graduation,
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  he moves on, meets Sherry, They fall in love Lazarus,
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  though not happy about it.
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  Speaker 2: Understatement. You mentioned in your notes how Lazarus was stealing
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  John's clothes even after they broke up, showing up at
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  places uninvited.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and to me, that speaks to something deeper than
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  just wanting to hold on to someone's belongings. Right, It's
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  about control. It's about still feeling connected to John even
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  though the relationship was over.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, classic sign of a love triangle turning toxic.
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  That possessiveness, the inability to let go, is like a
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  powder keg, and in this case it exploded.
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  Speaker 1: Because here's the thing. Before the murder, Lazarus visited Sherry
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  at work and the words she said, it's like something
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  out of a nightmare. She said, If I can't have John,
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  no one else will. Chilling.
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  Speaker 2: Chilling is right, and to me that speaks to premeditation,
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  to planning. This wasn't just some heat of the moment outburst,
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  but simmering anger, you know, a calculated intense And then.
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  Speaker 1: The crime scene itself, it was almost like it was
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  designed to mislead. You were onto something in your notes
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  about the VCR and the stereo. It's like you know
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  those crime shows where they talk about staging. This is
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  that in real life. And we have to remember it's
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  nineteen eighty six. DNA technology it wasn't what it is today,
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  so totally back.
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  Speaker 2: Then, DNA evidence was barely on their radar. Yeah, and
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  police procedures night and day compared to now.
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  Speaker 1: So much has changed totally. So the crime scene, it's chaotic,
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  there are signs of a struggle, but that burglary narrative,
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  it kind of made sense the.
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  Speaker 2: Story they ran with. You know, at first glance at tracks, apartments,
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  a mess, vases broken, some electronics on. But like you
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  pointed out, when you really look at the.
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  Speaker 1: Details, things just don't add up.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly like the VCR and stereo all neatly stacked. It's
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  not typical burglar behavior after a violent act.
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  Speaker 1: It's almost like they'd seen one too many movies, trying
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  to be all clever and right.
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  Speaker 2: And then there's the missing marriage license. What burglar is
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  going to take that and leave the jewelry?
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  Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, what, you're trying to make a statement.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly like they wanted the police to know as personal.
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  And that detail about the gun being fired through.
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  Speaker 1: A quilt, Okay, yeah, that's weird.
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  Speaker 2: Trying to be too clever by half. Yeah, thinking they
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  could control the noise the evidence. But that's the thing
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  about trying too hard to hide something, it becomes more
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  obvious exactly.
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  Speaker 1: And in all of this, there's one person who never
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  believed that burglary story for a second. Sherry's father, Nell's Rasmisen.
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  She suspected Lazarus right from the beginning, push the LAPD
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  to investigate her, even offered to pay for DNA testing himself.
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  Speaker 2: Talk about a father's intuition. He just knew in his gut,
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  but the tech just wasn't there yet.
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  Speaker 1: It's heartbreaking, you know, just the thought of him knowing
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  and people not listening.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, but it makes you think right about how
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  far we've come with forensic science.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, completely, this case. It really highlights how crucial DNA
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  has become insolving crimes, especially these cold cases.
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  Speaker 2: Totally. Even a decade later, this whole thing could have
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  played out so differently, but thankfully science caught up. It's
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  two thousand and four, new criminalist on the case and
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  they're re examining the evidence. Can they find something the
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  bite mark ye on Sherry's arm. They were finally able
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  to extract usable DNA and guess.
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  Speaker 1: What it pointed to? A woman?
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  Speaker 2: Game changer throws that whole burglery theory right out the window.
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  Speaker 1: And finally it's like nels Ars Meisen, he finally had
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  some validation after all these years.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, but there is a twist because the DNA it
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  puts the spotlight on Stephanie Lazarus, who by now is
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  a detective with the LAPD herself.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, the irony. Talk about a tangled web.
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  Speaker 2: The very person tasked with upholding the law.
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  Speaker 1: Is now a suspect in a murder investigation.
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  Speaker 2: Ticking time bomb two thousand.
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  Speaker 1: And nine, over two decades after Sherry's murder, and the
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  LAPD has this huge problem on their hands, one of
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  their own, a detective linked to this gold case.
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  Speaker 2: A nightmare for the department, I mean, could completely erode
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  public trust.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, they had to be so careful, couldn't risk tipping
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  off Lazarus Right, She's working in their art theft division.
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  Speaker 2: Imagine the pressure building a case against a colleague, someone
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  they probably.
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  Speaker 1: Knew wild So how'd they even start?
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  Speaker 2: How to get creative brought Lazarus in said it was
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  about an art theft case.
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  Speaker 1: Clever plays on her expertise throws her off exactly.
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  Speaker 2: She walks into Parker Center thinking it's.
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  Speaker 1: Routine, no idea, what's coming.
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  Speaker 2: It's like a movie, total plot twist. So they start
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  asking her about Sherry Rasmussen casually, like trying to jog
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  her memory.
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  Speaker 1: Pat Spooker, especially not someone who knows the game. Did
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  she crack.
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  Speaker 2: Won't believe it at first, Denial doesn't remember, blah blah,
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  but they're patient. Keep your talking, eh. She starts slipping up,
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  admits to visiting John and Sherry at their pros, even
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  that confrontation at the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: What Sherry's father always said.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, Lazarus is caught in her own lives, never confesses outright.
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  Speaker 1: But the pieces are there. It's like, no matter how
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  hard you try to hide something, the truth.
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  Speaker 2: Finds a way. Exactly so, they asked for a DNA sample,
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  Lazarus refuses, ballgame and.
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  Speaker 1: That's when they arrest her. You mark this part in
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  the documents must.
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  Speaker 2: Be surreal, headline news instantly a cop charged with the
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  decade's old murder. Stranger than fiction?
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  Speaker 1: What was the trial like?
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  Speaker 2: Media frenzy? Prosecution presented a ton of evidence, the DNA
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  witnesses talking about lazarus behavior, those threats, well, it was
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  her defense tried to discredit the DNA, said it was contaminated,
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  painted Lazarus's escapegoat because of her history with John, But.
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  Speaker 1: The jury didn't buy it.
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  Speaker 2: Nope. Guilty of first degree murder, twenty seven years to.
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  Speaker 1: Life justice for shechery. Ask me sin, But after twenty
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  three long years, it really makes you think about persistence.
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  You know, Sherry's father never giving up, the investigators refusing
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  to let this case die.
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  Speaker 2: It shows that truth has a way of emerging, even
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  after all this time. But it also reveals that sometimes
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  justice it takes time and it's messy.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely And for those of you listening, if you want
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  to dive deeper, check out the lawsuits against the LAPD.
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  Jennifer Francis's case especially, it's about potential misconduct, about what
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  happens when people try to silence the truth. Just wow,
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  what a case. Until next time, stay curious, everyone,