Stephanie Ilene Lazarus, 49, was arrested over allegedly shooting Sherri Rae Rasmussen to death in 1986. Stephanie Ilene Lazarus is described by LAT as a well-regarded and veteran detective at Los Angeles Police Department. Stephanie Lazarus was arrested by her colleagues at 8am this morning while working at the LAPD’s headquarter in downtown Los Angeles.
Sherri Rae Rasmussen, a nursing director at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, was then married to John Ruetten. However, Sherri Rasmussen was cheated by her husband–Ruetten had an extra-marital affair with Stephanie Lazarus. Rasmussen was found dead by John in the living room of their Van Nuys condominium on February 24, 1986 and she was badly beaten.
LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus Picture
Despite of her relationship with John Ruetten, Stephanie Ilene Lazarus, who joined to LAPD in 1983, was not thought as a suspect. Lazarus wasn’t paid much attention to because shortly after Rasmussen’s murder, two men robbed another woman in the area at gun point and homicide detectives came to believe the pair had killed Rasmussen when she came upon them burglarizing her home.
Not until recently, because of the relatively light workload due to low homicides, LAPD reviewed Sherri Rasmussen’s case and found her killer’s DNA was from a woman. This time Stephanie Lazarus became a suspect, being considered her then romance with John Ruetten. So LAPD detectives took an opportunity to secretly sample Lazarus’s saliva last week during her errands after she left a coffee shop where she made some drinkings.
The test showed Stephanie Lazarus’s DNA was identical to Rasmussen murderer’s. As a result, this finding led today’s Stephanie Ilene Lazarus arrest. Lazarus was being held without bail at the Los Angeles County jail.
Source: Los Angeles Times (w/ a Stephanie Ilene Lazarus Photo)
in L.A. County Superior Court. Her arraignment was scheduled on July 6. Lazarus could face the death penalty if convicted.