Morbid - Episode 397: The Murder of Sherri Rasmussen

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

In 1986 Sherri Rasmussen was brutally murdered in her own home. She was a young nurse who had already worked her way to becoming the director of nursing at Glendale Adventist Medical Center and had just gotten married three months earlier. But when her husband John returned home on February 24th, 1986 he found her laying dead on their living room floor and their home absolutely ransacked. Was this a case of robbery gone wrong or was someone in a position of power responsible?Thank you to the no no no....notorious David White for research assistance:Archibold, Randal. 2009. "Police Find Unlikely Suspect in a Cold Case: One of Their Own." New York Times, June 13: A11.Bowden, Mark. 2012. "A Case So Cold It Was Blue." Vanity Fair, July.McGough, Matthew. 2011. "The Lazarus File." The Atlantic, June.Mikulan, Steven. 2012. "In plan sight: Stephanie Lazarus was an exemplary cop. She is also a murderer." Los Angeles Magazine, September.New York Times. 2009. "California: detective must stand trial in 1986 killing." New York Times, December 11.—. 2009. "California: Detective's Motion Denied." New York Times, December 8.O'Neill, Ann. 2012. A bite, bullet and broken heart: Former LA cop stands trial for murder. February 8. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/07/justice/lazarus-trial-cold-case/index.html.People v. Lazaus. 2015. B241172 (Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 4, California, June 13).Rasmussen v. City of L.A. 2012. B234731 (Los Angeles County Superior Court, November 15).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to Immorbid Network Podcast. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about two judges who stood accused of making millions of dollars in a brazen scheme that shattered the lives of countless children. Listen to American scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, weirdos, I am Ash.

Who are you, girl? I'm a wavet. And this is morbid? What you make, isn? Is it baby? I was like, I look over and she was literally just looking at me. I was like, I'm so you know your name. I zoned so hard for something. We were looking right at me too. I was like, whoa, I was looking through you and that you all out loud. Wow, wow. Wow, so kind of like that LAPD, they were, they were literally

looking at the suspect in this place. Right in the eyes, but they didn't even know it. Look at you with the Segway. I am a Segway sister. And what is it that um, and that's why we drink calls them, they call them like segues or something They call them something really hilarious and they came up with it and it's and I think of it every time someone says Segway So shout out to them. That's what I love them. I think of Paul Blart Mall cop whenever I think of a second was Both wonderful wonderful things truly truly. Well, yeah, I am remaining in a place of LAPD with my case this week. Oh boy.

I was there last week and here I am again. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's the most. My case this week is the murder of Sherry Rasmussen. And this was a case that went cold for a long, long, long time, but then finally was reopened thanks to some new guys on the

squad. Some new guys on the squad. Guys on the street. So should we get into it? No. Well, what are we going to do then? Let's just chat. Okay.

I'm like, we are you like, I feel like you're like me right now. Yeah, I am. I'm having a moment. I feel like I'm Elena and you're Ash. You're Ash. I'm like, we are you like, I feel like you're like me and right now. Yeah, I am having a moment. I feel like I'm Alina and you're Ash. You're Ash-ing. I'm Ash-ing right now. At least, yeah, you're not Ash-ing, you're just Ash-ing. I'm just Ash-ing. And you're DASH-ing.

I'm DASH-ing, 10. One might even say our Smoshers. Through the snow. And a one-pour soap and slimy. Ooh, it's a holiday season, it's the holiday season. I wonder how many times I said that last year. This year you guys should drink every time I say it. But then you might die.

And I don't want that to happen to you. Yeah, I don't do that actually. I don't do that. If you are going to do it, make sure that you're 21 and that you're responsible and that you're not going to be driving. Yay. Woo.

All right, so let's talk about it actually. I decided we should talk about it. OK, let's go. All right, so like I said, a late night recording everybody. Late night recording. As you can tell. Yeah, let's get into this. So, so, so, like I said,

remaining in a place of LAPD and we are going to be talking today about the murder of Sherry Rasmussen. So Sherry was just 29 years old when she was killed. Oh geez. And she had only been married to her husband, John, for three months. I was about to say we love a John. I love a John, but I'm going to keep it there.

I'm going to not show my cards yet. Okay. So John and Cherry had met two years before our story starts and they instantly hit it off. John had just recently graduated from UCLA. I don't know why, but I feel like I always John had just recently graduated from UCLA. I don't know why, but I feel like I always have to say it very like, you see LA. I can just say, what just happened there?

It's just the letters. Yeah, they're like kind of aggressive. You see LA. You see LA. Do you see LA? Yeah, you do see it. And so did John, he graduated from there. Wow.

He got his degree in mechanical engineering. And Sherry, she was already well established in her field, which was nursing. She had actually enrolled in college classes when she was only 16 years old. Oh, okay. And became a full-blown nurse when she was 20. What?

By the time she met John, she was actually already the director of nursing at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. What a badass. She was an absolute badass. Oh, look at how pretty she looks in her nurses uniform. Like she looks like beautiful.

The quintessential. Yes. So true. Sherry's mother, Loretta, later said of her, she liked taking care of people and making sure things were done right, that people were cared for properly. Like this woman was a nurse because she genuinely cared about people.

She has those kind of kind eyes. Doesn't she? Her face is just like very friendly. Friendly. It is. Kind and friendly. And even her father said he elaborated on what her mother said of her. And he said that Sherry told him, I'm going to elevate the stature of nursing in the nation.

And he said that she was well on her way to do so. Her parents absolutely loved her. Her two sisters adored her. Everybody in her family was beyond proud of her. And John was also very impressed with not only her work ethic and her drive, but her beauty. Like we were just saying, Google a picture of Sherry.

Yeah. You'll be an all. She was gorgeous. And they had a lot in common too. They were interested in the same things. They both loved running. They just, their lives really matched up with one another. And of course, their relationship had a take-up, which we will definitely get into, but by all accounts, the two of them were really happy

and overall loved each other. But the morning of February 24th, 1986 would change absolutely everything. So John was headed into work that morning, while Sherry debated whether or not she was gonna go in, because that morning she'd been called in to supervise a human resources class for the nurses, and she just really didn't feel like going in. Okay. You know, just, it wasn't for her to happen this, man. You know, you just, you wake up and you're like,

fuck this. Yeah, sometimes you just need a you day. Yeah, and you know what? Take those days, self-care, man, self-care. Don't take too many of those days. Don't just use your job, but take a couple of those days every now and again. You deserve that day. You certainly do.

But John said he was like, I don't know, I think you should just go in and get it over with, like, you know, let's just get it done with. And with those few words of advice, he was off to start his own day. He had some dry cleaning to cleaning to drop off before work, and then he was heading writing to work. So he left the townhouse that they owned together around 720 in the morning. Now later that morning, he called home

to see if Sherry had gone in or not. And when he didn't get an answer, he assumed that she must have gone into work. So he called her office, but he was told by her secretary that she actually hadn't seen Sherry in the office that day. So you called her office, but he was told by her secretary that she actually hadn't seen Sherry in the office that day. So you might think that's weird. I thought that was a little weird when I first read that, like her secretary didn't see her. But this wasn't super weird to John or Sherry

Secretary because this day was a Monday, which meant that Sherry would actually spend her day going along to teach different classes. So it wasn't unlike her secretary to not see her on a Monday. It was a busy day because she was just kind of bopping around. Exactly. So John just figured that in the hectic going on that Sherry secretary had just missed her. So we tried her at home a couple more times that day and he didn't get any answer, which did make him slightly nervous.

But at the time, he didn't want to overreact. Maybe she just got out to run errands after work, something like that. Everybody's been there where you're like, I'm not gonna go straight to the worst case scenario because I don't want to. But it is in the very back of my mind always. So Jon got home later that night, and things were off when he pulled up to their garage.

The garage door was left open, which was weird in and of itself. And what was stranger was that Sherry's BMW that he'd gifted her after they got engaged was gone. So for a second, John rationalized that, you know, she's just off running errands. Everything's fine. But then he saw broken glass scattered upon the driveway. And would later realize that their balcony door on the second floor of the townhouse had

been smashed to pieces. And that's what this glass was for. And as for the door leading into the home, wide open, something was very off here and there was nothing left to rush. Oh, what a scary scene to come home to. Absolutely. So John entered the home cautiously

and he immediately found his wife, 29 year old Sherry Rasmussen laying dead on the living room floor. Sherry, she was still dressed in the oversized t-shirt that she'd gone to sleep in the night before and she was wearing a robe that she usually wore when she was kind of bopped about in the morning getting ready for her day.

Her arms were raised up slightly like she'd been in defense mode up until the last second and one of her legs was slightly bent at the knee. Her face showed very obvious signs of a very intense speeding, like insane. And John also saw evidence of at least one gunshot wound to her chest, which was in the center of her chest. My God. It would later be revealed that she was shot three times in the chest. When John reached out to touch her, she was already cold.

And when he checked for any other signs of life, there were none. So he raced to the phone and he dialed 911. Now, it was immediately clear that the LAPD wanted to write this crime office some kind of home invasion gone wrong. Huh. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, no, I've never heard them say things like that. Yeah, even last week it wasn't a home Invasion Gone Wrong.

And especially in the 80s, you never heard them getting anything wrong. No, never. They were on top of everything. Spoiler alert, this is not a home Invasion Gone Wrong. Yeah, I don't know not a lot about that. No, looks like a home Invasion Gone Wrong. That's the thing.

It would have gone very wrong. Like the beating and the shots to the, yeah. And we're gonna get into like, how none of that really makes sense. But there had been other burglaries in the area and the culprit hadn't been caught yet. So the investigators, they kind of looked about the scene and they realized that this was a home invasion they said.

They believed that the home was broken into by two men and Sherry caught them off guard by being home at which point they became violent with her and shot her to death Hmm Sherry's murder was one of 831 reported homicides in LA that year Wow, and we know what happens when certain places have too much of a caseload Yep, important details followed by the wayside, and that is exactly what happened here. Sherry's case would promptly be placed on the back burner for the remainder of the 80s and the 90s.

That's wild. And it would remain a cold case until 2009. Wow, almost 22 years later, when new investigators finally gave it the attention it deserved all along. Now, ultimately, Sherry's killer would be put away for good, even though said killer was one of the LAPD's very own. What? Yup.

But, before we get to the conclusion, we've got to get to the nitty-gritty in the middle and the initial quote-unquote investigation. So Detective Lyle Mayor was the homicide detective initially assigned to Sherry's case and he arrived immediately to survey the scene. He noted that it looked like Sherry had been badly beaten to the face. It really wouldn't take a professional to do so. He did.

And he said that it seemed like she was struck with some kind of heavy object above her right eye. There was also a very intense and very human bite mark inside her left forearm. What? Yeah. Home invasion. Home invasion, right? All burglarers.

All burglarers. Bite their victims, right? What the fuck? They saw a bite mark and said this is a home invasion? Yes. Wow. Like, absolutely. Okay. Not only that, she'd also been shot in home invasion? Yes. Wow. Like absolutely well-canned. Okay.

Not only that, she'd also been shot in the chest three times. Yes. That's a lot of times for a home invasion. And they could determine that she'd been shot with a 38 caliber pistol. That was the cause of death. Around two of the bullet holes, there were contact wounds. Oh, so it was closed.

Yep, exactly. Meaning that those shots must have been fired at point blank range. Mm. Excuse me. You're not excused. I wanna be. And when he saw a pink and green quilt

on the nearby chair with a bullet hole through the middle of it, the detective realized what had happened here. Whoever this was must have shot cherry once, but then worried about noise from the gun shot and use the blanket to muffle the two shots that were fired at point blank range. Wow.

That's really spooky. Firing through her blanket, her pink and green quilt. And to just like make that decision too, that's just such a, I hate, like, it's those kind of very blatant thought out decisions during these kind of acts that you're like, wow. And I'm happy that you said those, those couple of words blatant and sought out. Yeah. That's not a home invasion. No. Stought out? Like no. You're saying that she was like, she caught these people off guard, but then they held that out. No, that doesn't make sense. Yeah, I don't know about that.

No. So looking around the townhouse, Detective Marisaw that the place had been absolutely trashed. But it wasn't like ransacked. It looked like this was like a violent struggle. There was a huge stereo speaker lying overturned on the floor with its wires torn out.

And the remainder of the set stood where it should be. So these had been overturned from like the top of a shelf. A vase had been smashed on the floor. Wooden shelving from the cabinets had been pulled down off of the cabinets. Jesus. And the television's amplifier and receiver

had both been knocked over and were hanging from the TV. Huh. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times or fell in love with a vampire or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later paralyzed? What would you do? I'm Whit Missaldine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their firstperson account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery.

These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually happening. Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App. At the foot of the stairs which led to the second floor of the townhouse, there was a VCR and a CD player stacked on top of each other, and the CD player had a bloody fingerprint smudged onto it, and there was also blood smeared all along the wall leading up to the stairs. And like I said, one of the glass doors that was on the second floor, which led out to the second floor balcony, had been completely smashed out.

Yeah. So I'm the scene is like not making sense. Not at all. And why are all these electronics left? Right. If this is a home invasion gone wrong, they didn't get, they didn't even carry one of those things out, not even the CD player. Yeah, like you think they grabbed something. Yeah, like anything, especially if it's right by the stairs.

And if you're gonna, like, kill this woman during a home invasion, you're going to steal things. That's the whole point. Exactly. You came in here to steal things. Exactly. You killed her so that you could then continue to steal things. Pro. That's weird whole point. Exactly. You came in here to steal things. Exactly. You killed her so that you could then continue to steal things. That's weird, precisely. Yeah. So after taking in the scenes and, excuse me, the scene and

taking notes, Detective Mayor wanted to sit down with John to talk about the morning before he left and what he saw and did when he first got home and discovered Cherry's body. Essentially, he was trying to rule John out as a suspect because as we all know, nine out of 10 times, the husband did it TM. Detective Mayor, though, was actually able to rule John out as a suspect pretty quickly. Wow.

He's not a police officer. Just so it wasn't John. Okay, all right, good. So we all love John. Right, right. Okay, well, we love one John. We love the John. Yeah, we love the John. Yeah, the reigning John. The re a John. Right, right, okay, well, but we love one John. We love the John. Yeah, we love the John.

Yeah, the reigning John. The reigning John. There you go. So it was clear that this John was absolutely distraught and he described Sherry and his marriage to her by saying that they were having the best time. Like they loved being married. That's sad.

To mayor, it didn't seem like an act. He felt like this was genuine. Okay. So he told John, and this is a direct quote, I believe your house was burglarized today sometime before 10 a.m. He then said that there were no signs of a forced entry which led him to believe that the killer or killers

had simply trips into the home expecting to find valuables inside but not a person. He presumed that while one of the home invaders went around unplugging electronics from the walls, that the other person went upstairs and was met by Sherry, who probably came out of the bedroom and was caught off guard. Oh, okay. He then said that Sherry either ran from or traced the intruder to the dining room, and that's where the first shot was fired.

Mayor thought that the shot must have gone through Sherry's body, which shattered the glass door behind her. Oh, okay, I was wondering now. So that makes sense, I guess. And at that moment, when the other intruder heard the shots, they got startled and left, which was why the electronics were still stacked by the stairs, he said. Okay, maybe.

Then Sherry round downstairs from the remaining intruder, which accounted for the blood smeared on the wall going down the stairs. But you're also leading me to believe that she'd been shot through the chest and then ran down the stairs. Yeah. I don't really know about that.

I mean, crazy or things have happened, but that's a lot to assume. Feels like a little bit of a stretch. Yeah, but I see like the other pieces a little bit. I do see the other pieces slightly. And then she met, she was met with the killer in the living room where they hit her over the head with the vase, which is why the vase was smashed, and then grabbed the quilt lying nearby and used it to quietly shoot her two more times.

Then they got out of there using Sherry's BMW and abandoned the plan to rub the house in the first place. Man, if that's what happened, that is really brutal. And like a really brutal home invasion. That's a lot to assume from just walking around for a few, like a little while. Yeah. You know, like I don't know exactly how long it took him to survey the scene, but that's a lot to conclude after being there for less than a day. Yeah, you know, that is. And by the way, Sherry's car would be found later parked down the street with the

key still inside. That detective Mary said was why nothing else was missing, but he was wrong there because one thing other than Sherry's BMW was missing. Her and John's marriage certificate. you was missing. Her and John's marriage certificate. What? Yes. Okay. But for some reason, that was left out of the original notes on the case, along with a few other details.

That's strange as fuck. Now satisfied that this was the case, Detective Mayor headed out, and the criminologist for the LA County Coroner's office came to the scene to examine the body. This man was Lloyd Mahaney, and he arrived around 2am, and luckily he did a very thorough investigation. He found that there were multiple abrasions and contusions to Sherry's face. To him it seemed like she'd been in a fist fight, and there was a large cut open just above her right eye. But he felt like something other than a fist had created that cut.

He surmised that she may have been struck in the face with the gun that actually shot her. Oh jeez. He also saw abrasions on her arms close by to her wrists. And to him, it seemed like she'd actually been tied up at some point with some kind of rope or cord. Ooh, this gets worse and worse. And then this is a lot, just so you know.

He discovered that two fingernails were missing from one of her hands. Ugh. And later discovered them by the front door. Oh, this was a brutal attack. Now, he believed that the initial gunshot wound is very sorry, I sneezed in the background, but I tried to cover it.

It's okay, bless you, bless you. Thank you. Now, he believed that the initial gunshot wound is very likely what killed Cherry, but he did also admit that it could have been the other two. He didn't know. Okay. Now, one shot had gone completely through her body. Like I said, the one that shattered the last door behind her, presumably, and the other

two struck through her heart and lungs. Wow. And then became lodged in her chest and spine. Oh. Now this poor woman, she went through the most brutal attack. Yeah. Now her body was checked for any trace evidence like hair, dirt, fibers, anything that may someday

connect them to the killer, but there wasn't much to find, unfortunately. She didn't seem to be sexually assaulted, but airing on the side of caution and wanting to be as thorough as possible, he did do a rape kit and a number of swabs and included all of them within his report. This guy was not fucking around.

I was kind of say this corner was on it. He was. He also finally measured and photographed the bite mark on Sherry's arm and swabbed the injury. Wow, look at this guy, doing his job. I'm saying, noted the time and date of the collection after placing the swab into a sealed tube, initialed it and added it to the physical evidence envelope.

He noted that there was very little hemorrhaging and almost no inflammation near the wound, which led him to believe that this wound was likely inflicted right as she died. Oh my God. Almost like a final like fuck you. That is, I don't know what it is about that. You know what that is?

That's personal. That's so person. It's so degrading. Yeah, absolutely. You know, like, ugh. Absolutely. So this examination took four hours. This man was thorough.

And after those four hours, Mahaney drove the evidence and his report down to the coroner's office. Having no idea that in due time, much of this hard work would be lost. But you fucking kidding me. Lost. He spent four hours collecting things

that should have already been collected. Nope. Wow. And then it was quote unquote lost. But don't worry, it does become found. Okay good. So after reviewing the Haney's report and going over his own notes, Detective Mayor also couldn't shake the feeling that something about this case was personal. He's still leaned on the air of this was a home invasion, but what whole invasion ends with someone biting someone? That's the thing. That's wild to me. He said that the level of violence and brutality

was unlike anything he'd ever seen before in a robbery gone wrong. But the LAPD as a whole agreed that this was the case, that this was a robbery, and that's how they pursued the case. No, guys. Now, I'm here to tell you it's not. It's not. Yeah.

And although the investigator said that they conducted hundreds and hundreds of interviews, they never asked to speak with Sherry's own sister, Theresa, who was at the townhouse the day before Sherry was killed. They never spoke with her neighbor, Alan Tarski, who lived 20 feet away and was there right after Sherry's body was discovered. And they never spoke with her close friend, Jane, who knew of somebody that Sherry was having problems with. They did, however, speak with John and with Sherry's parents, but they did not interview the one main person that John had told them about, and that Sherry's parents had told them about.

And they treated Sherry's parents terribly when they pushed the point of speaking to the same person. Now, why wouldn't they want to speak to this one person? John's ex-girlfriend Stephanie Lazarus. Oh. Why wouldn't they want to talk to her? Why not? Most likely because she was one of their own.

An LAPD officer, a rookie at the time, but one of their own no less. Oh. Now, that whole, we protect our own. Mm-hmm. Sherry's parents actually pushed the LAPD to speak with Stephanie because like Sherry's close friend Jane, they knew that she was having lots and lots of problems with this woman. Sherry's father Nell's Rasmussen called Detective Mayor the day after his daughter was killed and wanted to know if they had spoken with Stephanie yet.

He emphasized some of the issues that Sherry had been having with this particular LAPD officer recently. We're calling four separate occasions where Sherry was made uncomfortable by this woman. What? So the first was when Stephanie stopped by Sherry and John's townhome to see if John could wax a pair of skis for her.

Are you fucking kidding me? What? Now this was shortly before Sherry and John's wedding and it was pretty obvious to Sherry of skis for her. Are you fucking kidding me? Like what? Now this was shortly before Sherry and John's wedding and it was pretty obvious to Sherry that Stephanie wasn't there for the favor she asked for. This was about more than just skis. Yeah. And also like was that a euphemism? Well, I'm like, what the weird, like who asks that?

I don't know. You're also in LA. Yeah, like what the hell are you using? Skies for you. Unless you're going to like big bear or something, and like where are you going? Weird. Sherry was like, this is,

this is where you're going. Fuck off. She knew that this was about lingering feelings. Also go away. Yeah, like get out of my house. Don't come to our house asking my soon to be husband too. No. Wax your skis for you.

I can promise you that those skis would be so far up your ass and protruding out your mouth if you ask my husband to wax your fucking skis. That is a no-king mean. No, it can mean to like, actually say, husband. My husband. Not yet. But, so after Stephanie left,

Sherry told her soon to be husband, just that. She was like, I'm uncomfortable with Stephanie being in our home, and I would prefer it if you didn't take care of those skis for her, like this is a weird situation. Yeah, very right. But John was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, nothing's going on between us.

And our relationship never got that serious. He said they simply dated in college and he just felt like it would be easier to play Kate's Stephanie versus getting into something bigger than necessary. Yeah, it's always good to play Kate somebody instead of just being upfront and honest. Yeah, totally. Yeah, definitely.

If you're ever in a situation where it's like, should I placate this person? Right. Or just be honest. Yeah, definitely placate them. That always ends up great. This also tells me that he knew that Stephanie had a wild temper.

Because if you're worrying about getting into an argument about somebody because you're not going to wax their skis, because your fiance is uncomfortable with it, like I think most people would understand that. Yeah. But clearly, she's not somebody who is going to. Something's up here. So Sherry hoped that that would be the last time she saw Stephanie,

but as we know, it was not. There were more occasions, three more. Stephanie stopped by the house a few days later to pick up her skis, and Sherry made it clear on that occasion that she was not welcome within the house. Good. This all happened outside, which like high-five Sherry. She assumed that this would be the last she saw of Stephanie, but again, it was not. Just a few days after that, John had already left for work, and Stephanie showed up in uniform a bit after he left

at the townhouse. And she told Sherry that she was on a break and just wanted to stop by and say hi to John, but she didn't expect Sherry to be there. Usually Sherry was at work at this time. Oh, at that point, Sherry started to wonder if there was something going on between John and his ex. Did she usually come over

when Sherry had already left for work and John was still home? Or was this her entire intention to make Sherry feel that way when it simply wasn't the case? And that's the worst, too, because your first initial reaction is always to get mad at the other person instead of directing it at the person you're with who you're supposed to trust.

Right. And it's like this must have been hard to just be like, okay, which one is it? Yeah, exactly. Is it her being crazy and overbearing and like trying to cause issues or something else happening? Exactly. Exactly. So John maintained that this was not the case.

There was nothing going on between him and Stephanie. Then why the hell did she feel comfortable showing up in the middle of the day? Tab lunch. Why would she feel comfortable? John. Yeah, John. So now finally, one last uncomfortable interaction, and this one is the fucking crescendo. Oh no. So just a couple of days before Sherry and John's wedding, stop it.

A couple of days before the wedding, Stephanie stopped by Sherry's office, provocatively dressed, stop it, and pushed past Sherry's secretary to tell Sherry that she and John were very much still romantically involved and that Sherry shouldn't trust her husband. She then elaborated and said that if she could not have John, nobody would. Wow, yeah. Wow. So remember, Sherry's father is recalling all of this to Detective Mayor. And do you want to know what his response was?

To tell this father, whose child was murdered yesterday, that he watched too many cop shows on TV, are you kidding me? Nope, not only did they tell him he watched too many cop shows on TV, he, like all the other investigators would lean over him trying to intimidate him, like they treated this man like an idiot. What the fuck?

And it's also like, okay, how many cop shows have I watched that have a female cop threatening another woman? Which, can you point me to those ones that I'm coming up with this? I don't think I've seen any of those. Like, what the fuck are you talking about, you idiot? You're the one watching too many cop shows. Right. Sitting here trying to intimidate the parent of a murder victim. Like, I'm just telling you what my daughter told me before her death.

And like, yeah, I know you want to think this is a home invasion, but I'm telling you about multiple experiences she had with an unhinged woman. No matter whether she works at your department or not, she's fucking unhinged. There is a bite mark on this woman. Right. I don't, you gotta give me a page list of home invasions

that were home invasions. Actual home invasions with a bite. And not murders, not like serial killers, not anything, not domestic disputes. I want straight up home invasions by an actual stranger. Exactly. That ended with a bite. Nope.

That is like animalistic. Oh, absolutely. That shit. That whole attack was animalistic. Oh, absolutely. That shit. That's what attack was animalistic. Bish, because if you really put in your head a visual of somebody biting someone, especially after they've been beaten and shot three times. These rage, they have to look like an actual wild animal. Oh, absolutely.

Like it is an actual terrifying picture to have in your head. How did this woman lose two fingers? Yes. No. Not in a casual home invasion. Like I'm sorry. No. This was exactly what you said.

I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for her parents. Absolutely. Like fuck these people. And the fact that, and we know this, like no spoiler alert, it takes over 20 years to get to the bottom of this. And it's, they were, door after door after door after door slammed in these poor people's faces.

That's fucked. So as far as the detective was concerned, it was absolutely out of the question. It was a robbery gone wrong or somebody who wanted to hurt John and Sherry personally. John had previously told, if you remember, detective Meyer to talk to Stephanie. He literally said like, you might want to talk to Stephanie. Yeah. But at this, at this new time, he told the detective, he didn't actually know anybody who would have wanted

to hurt the two of them personally. Now, for Stephanie. Exactly. Because she literally said it. She straight up said it. Literally threatened her. It is unclear whether or not Sherry shared those last two interactions with John.

So if she didn't, perhaps that's why he didn't think to bring up Stephanie again. Okay. Just playing double that. We simply don't know. Yeah. That's a possibility. So Sherry's parents flew from Tucson to LA to meet with the detectives in person. Once they realized that their concerns were not being taken seriously. And when they arrived at the station, Detective Mayor showed Sherry's father two sketches of two possible suspects that they thought were responsible for the murder, and also first string of robberies near Sherry and John's home. Nells was absolutely shocked that they still hadn't looked into Stephanie and thought the entire theory of this burglary gone wrong was preposterous. Because it was.

For one thing, if the investigators believed that this was indeed a burglary, then they also had to believe that the fight that happened between, excuse me, before Sherry's death lasted over an hour. Yeah. Based on, like, her time of death, she would have had to fight with this attacker for more than an hour. Yeah, that makes total sense. If these two men were the ones that were the ones that Nell's had been shown, then they were big guys, and it was near impossible to think that Sherry could have fought off even

one of them for that long. But two of them? Without sustaining more injuries. It was completely, completely preposterous. And for another thing, how about the cause of death? If this truly was a robbery gone wrong, then wouldn't the killer want to get away as fast as humanly possible? Mm-hmm. You would think that one gunshot would have been sufficient.

What kind of burglar would fight somebody off for an hour, shoot them once and then take the time to look for a blanket to quietly shoot that person twice more. No. And again, at what point would they bite their victim? And that blanket trick, that shows a little familiarity with shooting a gun. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Because I don't know, like a lot of just like, I mean, I don't know Because I don't know a lot, like a lot of just like, I mean, I don't know, I don't know any home invaders, but I'm saying like, not that I know of at least, but I also, like, I don't think they come in there thinking like, well, like, I could use this to muffle this. Like, they're not, no. Usually home invasions, if they're there to rob, they're not looking to hurt someone. they're not looking to hurt someone.

They're not looking to kill someone. They're there to intimidate if they have to, but to get the shit and get out. That's the thing. That's the main goal here. It's not to kill someone silently. That's not the goal. That's the point, like later on the DA says,

like why not just fire one shot even in the air and then run away? Like that's probably what they would have done. Or even fire one shot at the person in a way. Exactly, and run. They're not gonna take the time to find a fucking blanket to shoot at them two more times. And then bite her.

Yeah, no. What? No. What? The evidence just was not adding up to being a burglary, but unfortunately, it wasn't really adding up to anything. And after the initial round of interviews and a couple of weeks following up on evidence, there weren't any leads whatsoever.

Probably because they weren't following up on the correct evidence, I would say. That's exactly what that. But at some point, they packed all the evidence they had into boxes and put the case on a shelf. Technically still an active investigation, but at this point, a cold one. still an active investigation, but at this point a cold one. So years and years and years went by, and then in 2001 a new unit formed within the LAPD, and it was dedicated to cases that were yes still technically open, but hadn't seen activity in years. So there were thousands, thousands of unsolved cases dating back to 1970.

That's sad. That's sad, isn't that so sad? And That's sad. That's sad. Isn't that so sad? And that's at one department. Yeah. Like, imagine throughout the world how we solved cases, there are countless. Absolutely. So sad.

But within that case load was Sherry's case. So her case landed on the desk of Rob Bubb toward the end of 2008. Bubb? Yes. I love that. He's like Rob Bubb's spoiler alert. He's like the hero of the story.? Yes. I love that. He's like Rob Bob's spoiler alert. He's like the hero of the story. Oh, thank goodness. Okay, detective Bob.

The fact that I started calling him detective Bob. And every time I wrote it, it was making me so happy. I felt like Bob was like with me. Bob's would do that as a detective. She would be the hero. Absolutely. But true. So yes, it was about 22 years after the murder

that Sherry's case landed on his desk. Wow, 22 years. Crazy. And at first, nothing really significant jumped out at him. But then he saw the note about the bite mark on Sherry's arm. And back in 2004, he realized within the caseload that an error was discovered relating to the evidence in this case. After Lloyd Mahaney's four-hour examination, you remember, he drove the evidence, including

the swab done on the bite mark, down to the coroner's office. Well, somehow it was never delivered to the LAPD Scientific Investigation Unit, and instead sat on a free-in-a-freezer at the coroner's office for 18 years. Are you shitting me? Never even made it to the LAPD at all. Wow. Sat in a freezer for 18 years. Wow.

However, once that error was discovered, the evidence was tested. And while the saliva from the bite mark didn't match anybody that the LAPD had in their criminal system, it was determined to be a woman's saliva. I knew it. I knew it. So Detective Bub went back to the suspect list and he looked for a woman's name. There was only one name on that list.

Stephanie Lazarus. Oh, shit. Who was now a high up detective within the LAPD? I knew it. And not the rookie that she was in the 80s. I knew it. Now, Detective Bubb did not know Stephanie personally, but he knew her name well enough.

She was very, very well respected in the force. She had gone to UCLA with John. And then joined the LAPD right out of college. And she done a really good job in pressing her superiors and made quite the name for herself. In 1996 she got married to another officer, Scott Young. Later they adopted a daughter together. And she was Stephanie was described by friends as intelligent, athletic, good with people. She was very logical and analytical, which are two objectively good skills for detective work. True. She was known to drop off

sweet treats to her neighbors, come the holiday time. She'd also been very active within community policing initiatives. She was involved with dare. She had internal roles on the police force. She actually served as treasurer of the Los Angeles Women Police Officers officers and associates. Whoa. And worked briefly within internal affairs. Back in 1993, she was promoted to detective. And in the late 90s, she actually worked as an instructor with the police academy. This is horrifying.

It's insane. This is horrifying. And she was also part of a new two-person unit on the Force. She was one of two people on this Force, investigating art thefts. She'd actually gone out of her way to learn different painting techniques and other aspects that would help her solve these cases and recover previously stolen artwork. Essentially, she seemed very far off from being a cold-hearted murderer. Yeah.

And all of that made Detective Bob nervous. Yeah. It was gonna be a big deal for him to investigate a fellow detective anyway, but somebody is well regarded as Stephanie. Yikes. Oh no. But at the same time, he still wanted justice for Sherry and was really more worried about his investigation on Stephanie flying through the rumor mill that was the LAPD.

And that's how sad is that that he was like, oh shit. Yeah, like she definitely did it. But like, right, this is going to be a problem. Exactly. No. Right. If the evidence points to her, then this shouldn't be a problem. That's the thing.

But it's true that it would have been. Not only was he worried that it was going to fly through the rumor mill and get back to her, but he was also worried that somebody else would become involved and try to protect Stephanie, whether it was legal or not. Which tells you that this does happen. Yeah. Like, if he's worried about that, there's a precedent that was set. That should never be a worry.

Never. It should be the evidence is pushing this way. We're going to pursue it. Exactly. But his concerns were entirely valid because it seemed like at least one person had already tried to cover up Stephanie's involvement in the original investigation.

According to Mark Bowden from Vanity Fair, quote, the case records suggest that one or more persons during the initial investigation and continuing through the next 10 years were not just dis me, sorry, were not just a disinclined to consider that one of their own had murdered Sherry Rasmussen, but actively conspired to hide evidence that might have proved it. For one thing, all of the records in the Rasmussen file pertaining to Nell Suspissions about Lazarus,

and even the interview with John the day after the murder where he discusses Lazarus with Meyer, are missing. What? Excuse me. Fah, mayor. Are missing. There are audio recordings and notes of every other interview in those first days, which was standard operating procedure, but there are none for the ones where Lazarus was specifically mentioned.

End quote. Can you imagine being so broken? Absolutely not. As a human being. I will even imagine it for a second. That you would help cover up a crime like this. No. No.

Against a woman who did nothing. Literally nothing. Literally nothing. That's been she loved. Not even that there's a justification out there for that. No, but this is like, I just want your husband. Yeah, and I'm just mad that you like, and would you really break it down?

You're covering up the murder because you have the same job. That's so wild. It's like, okay, so like people that work in human resources, do you feel compelled to cover up crimes for other people because they work in human resources? No. No.

Where else does this happen? Like other than politics. Like, that's insane. It's a, because you have the same job. Like when I was a hairstylist, I promise you, if I thought that one of my other fellow hairstylists has murdered somebody, I would not be defending them. No.

I would not be planting anybody else's hair at that crime scene. No. No, no, no, be on the housewives like so bad. So bad when I turned 50, maybe. There you go. That's your time, Dries. Dries. I was gonna try to come up with like a 30, 30 flirty and thriving, but with 50.

50, thrifty. No, it's thriving. And then try them. 50 on the real housewives and thriving. But anyway, this is fishy as fuck. It's just fucked up. It's like what the real is. Like people went out of their way in this case

to cover up for somebody simply because she was a cop. Yeah, I can. I know of course that's not gonna make your department look awesome if there's a murderous cop. A horror squad, but also at the time, she's a fucking rookie anyway. It's also not gonna make your department look great to cover up a murderer.

It's in your good mind. But at least you can win in the fact of justice. If you guys all came forward and said, well, the evidence points to this and we follow the evidence because that's our fucking job. I'm sure a lot more people would be like, wow, integrity, good job, everybody.

Exactly. I still seem like hey Sorry, we covered it up because like she has the same job as we for as we as we she has the same jobs We are fucking 22 years. Oh my god. Get fucked all of you know if you're still alive And you're somehow for some reason listening to this fuck you. Yeah, that's fuck you But instead of letting that scare him off, all of that, Detective Bub just got crafty. Hell yeah, Bub did, right?

There were officers and investigators within his team that he trusted implicitly. And he was also their supervisor. So he was like, I pretty much trust you. And like, you're fucked if you fuck up. You're fucked. So he called on them to do an outside of regular hours investigation.

The team was made up of him and detectives Jim Natal, Pete Barbara and Mark Martinez. They were the only four with any information about this investigation, which they did outside of regular work hours. And they all made up cover stories in case anybody asked why they were suddenly so interested in old DNA evidence. Oh my God, this is badass. They also encoded their notes on the investigation and had a code name for Stephanie Lazarus, which was number five. Number five. I don't really know why. And they kept all the information regarding her specifically

in a separate binder that only they had access to. Wow. Fucking badass. That's crazy. Now in all honesty, they actually weren't super confident in the beginning of this investigation that they had the right suspect. But then a literal smoking gun fell into their laps. Oh, they found within Stephanie's file that there was a record showing that just two weeks after Sherry Rasbussen was murdered. Stephanie reported that her 38-calibre backup pistol was stolen. Oh. Stolen you say, Steph Steph. Oh. As we know, that was the exact gun that Sherry had been killed with. And interestingly enough,

Stephanie had made the decision to file this report in Santa Monica, even though she worked for the LA department. Huh, weird. Yeah, that's strange. Very clearly she was going out of her way to avoid suspicion. Of course. And she had clearly gotten rid of that gun, because she had to, because she used her cop gun to kill someone.

Wow, she got away with this for so long. Yeah, it's so fucked up. Wow. The detectives then looked over the notes on the scene and it became clear to them that this was staged or at the very least had just all happened within the struggle of everything. Nothing about the scene, as we've said, 400 million times at this point,

made sense in the context of a robbery. Sherry and John lived within a gated and very busy condo complex. This was broad daylight and during hours that people would be out and about and heading into work. And even if they had decided to ignore all of that, these home invaders, why would they take the time to get in such a wild fight

with the homeowner instead of just firing the gun like I said earlier and dipping? Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. And if these were like the home invaders that the cops initially were trying to say they were, they had a ton of robberies like this under their belt. They wouldn't go and rob somebody at 9 a.m. Yeah, that's why they're dumb as shit. Totally breaking what has been working for them. Exactly. Exactly. So at first, they were simply trying to rule Stephanie out as a suspect,

but the more and more investigative work they did, the more and more confident they became that one of their very own was responsible for a senseless murder and had spent the last 22 years cosplaying as somebody who was supposed to protect the community and pretending like she wasn't a cold blooded murderer herself. Wow, she was just like at the dare program hanging around with kids.

Wow. And her name only showed up in this investigation one time. That's one time. Not talking. But they knew that Sherry's parents had been adamant that John's ex be looked into. But these investigators, relooking at the case, didn't know if John's ex and Stephanie were the same person. And they were gonna be like, hey, do you have a new to Guineem John's wife got murdered? Because that'd be kind of obvious. Yeah.

So instead, Detective Jim Nathal placed a call to Sherry's father and asked him about his original statement that he'd made to the police about looking into John's ex. Meanwhile, he's like, hi, yeah. Oh, he must have been absolutely elated, validated. Like, geez. He still didn't know the woman's name,

but he knew that she was a female police officer. Boom. Boom. So this investigative work took about four months. But by the end of those four months, Detective Bubb's team, Detective Bubb's team, was sure that they had their prime suspect. There was a problem though.

Pretty much all of their evidence was speculative. No smoke, no actual smoking gun here, sort of, but no actual one. Yeah. And in order to make a good case, they knew that they were going to need physical proof or evidence. Yeah. But they knew that the swab test from Sherry's bite mark injury proved that the attacker was a woman. And so they figured they needed to prove that that woman was Stephanie Lazarus. So that meant that they would need to collect a sample from her. But again, they didn't want to

restate raise suspicion on her part. I'm getting comfortable because this is getting, I'm like, who are they going to do? This is what's going to happen. Just absolute best. This is, I love that. So in May of 2009, Detective Bub went to his commanding officer and arranged a meeting with the deputy chief at the time, Michael Moore. In that meeting, they laid out their entire case against Stephanie and Moore authorized the use

of a special internal affairs unit. Hell yeah, I did. Which meant that an undercover police officer was now going to become involved. And follows, Stephanie, into a Costco. Okay, you know, the land of free samples that nobody can pass up. Oh my gosh.

Well, you know, just like the rest of us, Miss brilliant. Stephanie Lazarus also couldn't pass up a free sample. I mean, no one can pass up those free samples. No, like, come on. Just like the rest of us. Miss brilliant. Stephanie Lazarus also couldn't pass up a free sample. I mean, no one can pass up those free samples. No, like come on. Just like the rest, come on. Come on. I said, wow.

Her sample of choice was a drink. Was a drink. So she used a little straw and a little cup to sample that drink. And she said, mm, mm, mm. And then she tossed that straw and that cup into a nearby trash bin. Oh my God.

And as soon as she walked away that undercover officer Skadattled right over that trash bin pick that up and threw it in an evidence bag. I bet he did a little soft shoe over to that I'd be so excited. Oh, yeah, yeah, he did a little Do he be Bop a loop but oh hell yeah, he did at my And then he brought that directly to the lab where it would not sit on a shelf for the next umpteen years. Hell yeah.

And just one week later, Detective Bub got a call ring-a-ding-ding. The criminalist at the lab was able to develop a partial DNA profile from the cup and the straw. And you know who it was a match for? Who's the match for? It was a match for Stephanie Lazarus. Hey! She was at least the woman

who bit Sherry Rasmussen, but also likely beat and then shot her. Holy, yes. So it was time to bring Stephanie Lazarus in for some questioning. Let's get that bitch in. It's, then she is just walking into Costco Buying some bulk fucking items. Yeah, like she didn't just murder a woman brutally murder a woman two decades ago Like talk about having skeletons in your closet. I'm just like

Holy shit the amount of people in that Costco that just walked by her Buying the 20 pack of rice errone and had no fucking clue that she is a savage murderer. Oh yeah, to the point of biting the victim. What's that statistic? We walked by like how many murders in our life? 30 something. Yeah, that's 32 or something like that.

Like at this point, you and I have definitely already walked by at least five murderers. That's wild. Crazy. Hopefully not just like you just think about it, you're like, definitely already walked by at least five murderers. That's wild. Crazy. Hopefully my mom just, like, you just think about it. You're like, it was like the Golden State Killer. Y'all, you know what I mean? Like, it's just like, just going about her day, just going to Costco.

She got married. She was able to adopt a child. She was someone's mother. She was somebody's mother. She worked in dare. She was somebody's dare officer. Yeah. She said, don't do

drugs and don't kill people. I did, but like it's okay. But don't do it. But you shouldn't. Yeah. Wow. So she was brought in for questioning on June 5th, 2009. And that morning before that was a pretty typical one for detective Lazarus until she arrived to work at the LAPD's administrative building Park Center in downtown LA. She was getting settled for the day when Detective Dan Arameo poked his head into her office and asked if she could help him with something. Oh my god, this must have been really fun to do. Oh yeah, she agreed and he explained that they had somebody at the station who was under arrest relating to an art heist. Oh. And he asked if she would be able to interrogate the suspect, you know, with her incredible knowledge of art and heist. Hell yeah.

I'm sure the flattery went straight to her fucking ego and she agreed. And Detective Arameo directed her to the basement where the holding cells are located. But instead of taking her to a holding cell, he took her to an interrogation room where there was no suspect. Oh my God, I love this.

But instead, his partner, Greg Stern's detective. And so they said, Steph, can you sit down? And she said, sure. And then, Detective Arameo explained to a confused detective Lazarus that he had taken her down there because he didn't wanna create a scene upstairs. Oh my God, you know she knew. Oh, she was.

You know she knew. She knew. She was knitting herself. As soon as she walked down there and didn't see a suspect, you know her brain went, they got it. Oh, because she absolutely thought that she had gotten away with this every single day for the remaining 22 years that she had to get away with it. So she had follow-up questions, but the other detectives were not answering them.

Instead, they told her that they were assigned to a case and they wanted to know if she knew a man by the name of John Rutton. And she told them that, yeah, she went to school with him. She met him at the dorms at UCLA, but nothing really more than that. You see, yeah, yeah. Yes, excuse me. You see LA, but nothing really more than that. You see LA. Yes, excuse me. You see LA. Now, she was getting slightly standoffish

and she clearly was becoming more and more suspicious, but she was still maintaining a professional and friendly demeanor. So they asked her a few more questions about John and finally, she was like, what is this all about? So Detective Arameo explained that it was about John's wife who had been murdered and he said, did you know her? And at first, she said that she may have met her, but then as time went on, she knew all

about Cherry. She'd actually met her on one occasion, at least, knew where she worked, knew actually that she'd been murdered, and some kind of a burglary, burglary-gon wrong scenario. Wow. I broke. That escalated. It did. She also said first that her and John had casually dated, but then as she got to talking more and more,

she said to the detectives, I'm thinking that because he would date other people and I would date other people, I think at one point he may have been dating her. I don't know. Maybe he was married. I don't even remember. And I'm like, why are you calling me

if you're dating her or living with her married to her? I honestly don't know. Maybe he was married. I don't even remember. And I'm like, why are you calling me if you're dating her or living with her or married to her? I honestly don't remember the time frame. I'm like, come on, knock it off. But now I'm thinking, I may have gone to her and said, like, hey, you know what? If he's dating you, he's bothering me. I think we had a conversation about that one or two, maybe it could have been three, but I don't want to say that I had three conversations with her or whatever. Ma'am. Ma'am. Ma'am, this is a interrogation room. This is not a Wendy's. No, like what?

What the fuck did you just say? I feel like what was the answer to the question? Was it in there? What was it? First it was no, then I don't know if I knew her, then it was I might have known her, then it was okay you might have been married to her, perhaps. I don't really know. Maybe we had a conversation about it, maybe we had three. I don't really want to say that we had three. What? And I was all like, oh my god, if he's married to you, then he's

bothering me. He's bothering me. What the fuck? Then she went on to say that, you know, she couldn't remember exactly what had happened, but whatever had happened between her and Sherry was water under the bridge. So detective Armeo then asked Detective Lazarus if she'd ever been to Sherry and John's home. He said you ever been there? And she said she couldn't remember entirely but if she had it was probably just a nice visit. Oh yeah, not sure. Any romantic reason at all. No, like it was just a nice visit. Just yeah, I'm sure. For any romantic reason at all. No, like, it was just a nice visit. Just stopped by. After all, you forget if you even met her or possibly had three conversations with her about John.

But yeah, I can understand why you wouldn't know if you actually had a nice visit. Yeah, who knows. Who knows? Like, she's like, oh, it was probably a nice visit. Yeah. I thought you didn't even fucking, did you even know her? Seriously, like, what are you doing now?

What's your answer? What, what, are you? Oh my. Now, detective Armeo then noted that some of Sherry's friends had concerns and some of Sherry's family had concerns because they believe that Sherry and Stephanie were having issues relating to the John situation. Oh, this is always a John situation. Yeah, there is. unfortunately. But she kept going with the so long ago, can't remember. Act. So then Detective Armio just laid it on her. He was like, yeah, we processed the scene

and originally we couldn't do a lot with the evidence, but like, you know DNA and all. You know the long way. No, we can. Yeah. So it was becoming pretty clear now that Stephanie knew what they were hinting at. And they told her that this was all just part of the job,

but if she would be willing to provide a DNA sample for them, then it would kind of rule her out, you know? It would rule. It would rule. If she could just give them a DNA sample, that would rule. It would not rule. It would not rule. But it would be that would rule. It would not rule, it would rule.

But it would be of her rule. So she wasn't really interested in that, or speaking with them anymore, and she told them, I just can't even believe it. I mean, I'm shocked. I'm really shocked that someone would say that I would be doing this. Yeah, maybe because you like did this.

You really shocked. And then she told them that she probably needed a lawyer and with that she walked out of the room. But she didn't make it very far because Detective Armario walked out of the room too and he placed her under arrest for the 1986 murder of Sherry Restneson. Wow.

Yeah. What a day at the job that was. For everybody. Truly for everybody. Yeah. So now day at the job that was. For everybody. Truly for everybody. Yeah. So now since she was under arrest, they were able to get a proper DNA sample, which made their case even stronger.

The first Costco sample definitely confirmed their suspicions, but this second sample sealed the mother fucking deal. I can't believe this matches the bite mark. Oh, it's insane. Okay. Take it out of that. Oh, just listen to this. According to the deputy district attorney, Shannon Presby, the results of the DNA test

found that the odds of Sherry's killer being someone other than Stephanie Lazarus were one in 1.76 trillion. So you're saying there's a chance. That is 17 with 20 zero. So a lot of zeroes. Many. So with that, Detective Lazarus was now headed to trial by Babich.

In early December 2009, she was indicted for the murder of Sherry Rasmussen, and the DA, the one I just mentioned, had attached special circumstances of lying in wait and murder during the commission of a robbery. Stephanie pleaded not guilty and was held on $10 million bond until her trial. And her lawyer, Mark Overland, did file a motion to have the charges dropped, claiming that, quote, the Los Angeles Police Department investigators were negligent and showed reckless disregard in the investigation of their colleague.

Wow. Like, we shouldn't investigate people who are simply colleagues. Yes. No, don't do that. Now, no. This referred to Detective Bubb and his team secret investigation, but the superior court judge found that her rights had not been violated by the investigation and that she would stand trial for murder. But they were going to take the death penalty off the table because the Superior Court

judge did find that the special circumstances attached to the case were inappropriate. Okay. So the trial started in February of 2012 and the DA argued that Sherry's death was not the botched robbery that the initial detectives believed it was, but was instead a straightforward case of jealousy and passion gun terribly wrong. This is wild. It's insane. It's absolutely insane. John and Stephanie had indeed met in college in the beginning of their relationship.

Things weren't that serious, but in 1981 after the graduation from UCLA, he and Stephanie had been romantically involved dozens of times. Oh, come on. However, he was clear with Stephanie that this was purely sexual and he had no intentions of making her his girlfriend or even his wife. In John's mind, this was 100% casual. But in Stephanie's mind, no matter what she said after Sherry's murder, she had serious feelings for John that led to serious feelings of jealousy directed toward Sherry.

That's why you don't cheat on your spouse. Yeah, exactly. One up until this point, he hasn't. He wasn't married when they had sex at this point. But when Stephanie found out that Sherry and John were engaged in 1985, she actually called John and begged him to come over to her house. She also wrote a letter to John's mother in August of that same year saying, quote, I'm truly in love with John and the past year has really torn me up. I wish it didn't end the way it did and I don't think I'll ever understand his decision. Wow. So when John finally did agree to meet up with her, she declared her love for him, she begged him to please choose her. She said what they had was so much more special than anything

he could ever have with Sherry and that they were the ones who were supposed to be together. John told her no, he loved Sherry and he was going to go ahead and marry her. But he still had sex with Stephanie that night. Oh, come on, John. Are you kidding me? What the fuck is wrong with you? This sounds like my ex. It absolutely does.

Either way, this sounds a lot like that. It sure does. It really does. It's like, what the fuck were you thinking? You're sitting here, ending things with her, and then having sex with her. Well, you're engaged to someone else. What is wrong with you?

Like, come on man. You can't do that. That's gonna muddy all of the waters. Obviously, it's on nowhere near the same level of what Stephanie is doing. And by no means is it a cause and effect situation? No, but it's a situation where it's like, dude, like, come on. Like, think with the head on your neck.

That's the thing. It's like, that's just wrong to do. That shitty to do. What are you doing? Like, you're engaged to someone else. You're talking someone else off a ledge, telling them that you are in love with this other person. Right. And then you have sex with them. you are in love with this other person.

Right. And then you have sex with them. That is going to confuse a human being. And also, what about that gets you going? Yeah, like that's just very pig-ish. It's just very pig-ish. So Stephanie's roommate at the time confirmed this. And also said that John might have been done with Stephanie, but she certainly wasn't done with him. Whenever she did date somebody, which was rare, she always compared them to John and said

that they weren't as good for her as he was. And he also, her roommate knew that she would drop by to remind John that she was still around, just like when she dropped the skis off and all the other instances that Sherry's father had reported to the original detective. So this really was a situation where when she said I'm stopping by and John was like,

there really isn't like she doesn't, like we don't have lunch together, what he was telling the truth. Technically, I guess. I don't know, but I don't know, because that's what I'm saying. Like I don't really believe that. No, I think I believe there was some string

and a long going on here. I mean, having sex with her after you break up with her automatically is stringing her along. But then I think it continued. And that's the thing. Like, we can hope that that was the last time and that like she just held on to that, but who knows?

I'm not so sure. Either way, it's just, I mean, I hope. What a fucked up situation. For a sherry's sake that it ended there. You know, like, I hope for a sherry sure I would hope that it didn't even happen, but unfortunately, yeah, testify that it did. Ugh.

So it's what a messy, messy situation. But when Stephanie realized that John wasn't going to leave sherry, she ultimately lost it and brutally attacked and murdered somebody. So Nell's was called to the stand for the prosecution and recalled telling the police on multiple occasions to investigate Stephanie Lazarus and told the jury how many times he'd been dismissed. It was clear to him that the LAPD was simply unwilling

to investigate one of their own. And he also testified that his daughter had told him she was sure somebody in disguise was following her. In the days and months leading up to her death. She said she believed that it was a woman dressed as a boy. And whoever it was, she said, had eyes that would look straight through someone. Oh.

And check out Stephanie Lazarus' eyes. Oh, I just looked it up. If you got a second. Yeah. She's got like piercing eyes. Yeah, her eyes are very unique. Very, guys. They give a vibe.

He had also heard from friends of Sherries in the following years that actually Stephanie showed up everywhere Sherry went and that Sherry was scared of her. What? Like move on. Seriously, seriously. Like I'm sorry. No one is that good.

No, no one's worth that. For you to end somebody else's life in front of you. Get out of your way. Like it's no. No, no. It's just not that good. No, no one's worth that. For you to end somebody else's life in front of your life. Get out of your way. Like it's no. No, no, it's just not that good. I don't care who you are. No. You can move on.

Now, John was also called to the stand and he testified that Stephanie was most likely upset because she never got any closure from the end of their relationship. And that's why he slept with her that night. He went to her house telling her he planned to marry Sherry to give her closure. He thought that was closure. Wow.

He said that he was stupid and young and also used those excuses to explain why he had sex with Stephanie two more times after Sherry had been killed. Are you fucking kidding me? One of those instances, while what was while they were both, on vacation, to Hawaii, with other people. I am baffled. Also, dude, you had sex. Like, now you know. Yeah, you had sex with the woman who murdered your wife.

Like, in your home. And also, what are you doing? You're the one that sat there and told the detectives to talk to her. Obviously you felt some kind of something. You were obviously, you obviously knew that she had this in her. Like if you're telling them to talk to her,

then you really believe she could have done this. Exactly. You're not just gonna send the detectives after somebody being like, yeah, she's kind of like a cookie ex girlfriend, like maybe go run after her. Like, no, you have to be like, you know what, you could have done this.

Yeah. Did you have sex with her two more times? What is your deal, John? I gotta go. What the fuck? I gotta go, oh, so that happened. And then the D.A. also presented the physical evidence, including not only the Costco sample,

but the one following that, and also the fact that presented the physical evidence, including not only the Costco sample, but the one following that. And also the fact that Stephanie's backup gun, the one to that she had reported stolen just after the murder, matched the 38 caliber slugs that were removed from Sherry's body. And at that time, those were standard LAPD issue. Oh, look at that. Crazy, huh?

Wow. Then it was Stephanie's lawyer's turn to make his argument, which was going to be pretty hard to make, especially because of the DNA of it all. I was going to say you have your work cut out for you. Yeah, but he argued that John and Stephanie's relationship went much further than a casual fling, which like, you can argue that all you want. It did. In my opinion, it absolutely was more of a casual.

Obviously, but that doesn't mean anything. What defenses that? Yeah, if anything, that makes it worse. Exactly. He said they went on trips together. They had sex many times. Stephanie even considered it serious enough to get to know John's mom and his brother really well. And she believed that the two of them had a future together. He argued also that there had been no hairs, fibers, or fingerprints at the scene that could be tied back to Stephanie, and nothing in Cherry Stolen Car that could point back to her. Except the bite mark that had her own saliva on it. Yeah, there was that little thing.

How did your saliva end up on the murder victim? Well, let me tell you. He said that the swab taken from the bite mark simply couldn't be trusted because over the course of almost 22 years it had been mishandled by multiple agencies and had also sat on a shell for two decades before it was even processed as evidence. And isn't it wild that it matches the one suspect that makes the most sense? Still after all those years. My goodness, how DNA degrades strangely.

That it just turns into the perfect piece of evidence that fits with somebody who has every motive in the world and everything points to that person. Precisely. That very convenient. So convenient. Yeah. Wow. Luckily, in the end, the DNA spoke for itself.

And on March 8, 2012, the jury began their three-day deliberation. Ultimately, they found Stephanie Lazarus. Guilty. Okay. You were giving me a face. I know, I got stressed where to you. If you tell me that you got off, I will riot in the streets. I would be rioting. The streets, I would not be sitting here in this pop-up. Yeah. No. No. No. She was fun guilty of first-degree murder, and she was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. Now, after sentencing, her lawyer filed an appeal saying that her right to do process had been violated Shut up and that the trial court had made several errors relating to search warrants and allowing the DNA and in the first place just like

Grasping at straws shut up. The appeal was reviewed by the second district court of appeals And they found no pre-judicial it's so hard say that error, and upheld the court's guilty verdict. They said, shut up. They said, generate silence. Exactly. Now, Stephanie has filed many appeals since then, all of which have been denied. As for Shari's parents, Nell's in the reddit,

they still believe that a cover-up absolutely happened somewhere in the original investigation. Absolutely. Same. And they filed a civil suit against the LAPD, but unfortunately it was dismissed and they were unsuccessful with appeals. I'm shocked.

John has since remarried and seems to live a quiet life and her parents remain sure that he had no knowledge or any didn't have any kind of involvement in her murder whatsoever. I don't believe he did either. Neither do I. I really don't know. I think he made some stupid choices.

Yeah, I think it also probably sucks to have to sit at your wife's murder trial and talk about your fuck-ups that aren't murderous. Like you're just having to reveal that you are being a shitty husband and a shitty person. And it's like who knows if his new wife was there at the trial and had to hear all of that? Like I'm sure that

Probably cause some issues that's rough Yeah, but I I mean if her parents are sure I'd like it make sense that doesn't from what you were saying it doesn't Really like stand out then he was like looking to get out of that marriage that no They don't even need to be with Stephanie. I mean there was definitely something weird going on there because he was still going afterwards. Right. I don't know. No, I don't think he was involved at all. I think he seemed like from all accounts, genuinely shocked to find her.

And I think it's terrible that he had to find his wife of three months like that, you know, like that's horrific. Yeah. And I think she was clearly somewhere, you know, she's on a level that none of us will ever understand and shouldn't ever understand. Yes, Stephanie, absolutely. He obviously couldn't have known that either.

No, he could not have known that she is on that level, but then it's like on top of it. It's like, dude, you knew she was like a little bit, you know, out to lunch here because you were mentioning her to go talk to her. So it's like, not, and again, not that I'm blaming anything, but it's just like, oh man, what a mess. And that's why you don't do this stuff. That's why you don't do this stuff.

That's why you don't cheat. It's always messy. Get separate, be single and sleep with whoever you want. Like, do whatever you want. You're not capable of being married if you're doing that, like two seconds after you ask for me to marry. Like all I can hope is that like obviously people change.

So let's hope that. I mean, they were in their 20s. I was gonna say that's very early. So like hopefully that's changed, but it's like, dude, you were too young clearly. Yes. The whole thing is just a mess and poor Sherry. And all she did was exist exist and get married to someone

she loved and be like an incredibly kind like wanted to change nursing throughout the nation. Yeah. Like determined like she had so many goals that she never got to to get to because of Stephanie. All these, every murder we talk about is senseless, but like these kind of things are just like, what the fuck? Right, keep saying. She just woke up that day. Yeah, just existing. Yep, doing her own thing in her own house.

It's really wild, it's so sad. So I know. I really sad for her family. But yes, that is the case of Sherry Rasmussen. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you Stephanie Lazarus it don't do that. Don't do anything like Stephanie did. Also keep her behind bars forever. nd nd

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