Murder of Sherri Rasmussen
Rasmussen shortly before her 1985 wedding
|
|
| Date | February 24, 1986 |
|---|---|
| Location | Van Nuys, California, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 34°11′58″N 118°30′1″W / 34.19944°N 118.50028°WCoordinates: 34°11′58″N 118°30′1″W / 34.19944°N 118.50028°W |
| Convicted | Stephanie Lazarus |
| Charges | First-degree murder |
| Verdict | Guilty |
| Litigation | Rasmussen v. City of Los Angeles, Francis v. City of Los Angeles |
Sherri Rasmussen (February 7, 1957 – February 24, 1986) was found dead in February 1986 in an apartment she shared with her husband, John Ruetten, in Van Nuys, California. She had been beaten and shot three times in a struggle. The Los Angeles Police Department initially considered the case as a botched burglary, and the crime remained unsolved for more than 20 years.
Rasmussen's father, however, believed that Stephanie Lazarus, a Los Angeles police officer, was a prime suspect. Detectives who re-examined the cold case files in 2009 were eventually led to Lazarus, by then herself a detective. A DNA sample she unknowingly discarded was matched to one from a bite on Rasmussen's body that had remained in the files. She was convicted of the crime in 2012, and is serving a sentence of 27 years to life for first-degree murder at the California Institution for Women in Corona.
Lazarus appealed the conviction, claiming that the age of the case and the evidence denied her due process. She also alleged that the search warrant was improperly granted, her statements in an interview prior to her arrest were compelled, and that evidence supporting the original case theory should have been admitted at trial. In 2015, the verdict was upheld by the California Court of Appeal.
Some of the police files suggest that evidence which could have implicated her earlier in the investigation was later removed, perhaps by others in the department. Rasmussen's parents unsuccessfully sued the LAPD over this and other aspects of the investigation. Jennifer Francis, the criminalist who found that the DNA from the bite mark was from a female, a key break in the case, has also sued the city, claiming she was pressured by police to favor certain suspects in this and other high-profile cases and was retaliated against when she brought this to the department's attention.
...
Wikipedia