After three months of marriage, Sherri Rasmussen and her new husband, John Ruetten, were happily building their life together. Having tied the knot in November 1985, they spent the Christmas period at family gatherings, and as the new year began they looked towards their future with excitement.
When they met, there was an instant connection. John was smitten with Sherri, who was an athlete like he was. She was tall, charismatic and so talented that she was fast-tracked to become director of nursing at a medical centre. John got a position at an engineering company and the couple got engaged. He bought Sherri a BMW as an engagement gift.
By February 1986, John and Sherri were living in a condominium in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. On 24 February, John left their home for work, but Sherri, 29, was uncertain about whether she was going to her job that day. She had a company speech to do at work, which she was uncomfortable with, so she told John she might call in sick to avoid it.
Later that morning, John called his wife several times with no answer. Sherri’s sister called her too without any luck. Both thought it was unusual that the answerphone wasn’t on because if Sherri went out, she would always put it on.
When John returned home that evening, he saw the garage door was open and there was broken glass on the driveway. Sherri’s BMW was missing. Inside, John found Sherri dead on the living room floor. She was still dressed in nightwear and a dressing gown. She had been beaten and shot three times in what appeared to be a violent struggle.
A vase was broken, possibly by it being smashed over Sherri’s head. There was a bloody handprint next the house alarm’s panic button as though someone had tried to reach for it. The gun, a .38 calibre, had been fired through a blanket to muffle the sound. There was a bite mark on Sherri’s left forearm that was swabbed for DNA and a cast was made – although the use of DNA science was still in its infancy.
THE SEARCH FOR A MOTIVE
At first, investigators believed it was a robbery that had gone wrong. There had been other burglaries in the area. But there were some unusual points about the crime scene that didn’t make sense. Sherri’s home was in a gated complex and wasn’t the first unit the thieves would have reached. Why hers? And why in broad daylight?
There was no sign of forced entry, which would be the case if opportunist burglars thought no one was in. While the crime scene was in disarray, it hadn’t been ransacked. A jewellery box was in clear sight and Sherri’s car was found a week later, abandoned.
The killer had shot Sherri clean through the chest – a fatal wound. But then went on to fire two more shots, using a blanket to muffle the sound. That wasn’t the result of a surprise struggle – someone had really wanted her dead. But around this time LA was suffering with gang wars and a drug epidemic and Sherri’s case wasn’t the focus.
A grieving John quit his job and moved away from LA as the case ran cold. Sherri’s frustrated family offered a reward of $10,000 to try to keep the case in the spotlight, but they had a theory about why no one took it seriously. Sherri’s family had a suspect of their own.
Sherri’s dad, Nels Rasmussen, told the police to look into Stephanie Lazarus, then 25. She was an LAPD officer who had once dated John while they were at university. He never considered her to be his girlfriend, but Lazarus, who was studying political science, wanted more.
She used to steal John’s clothes to keep for herself and take photos of him sleeping. He eventually met Sherri and Lazarus was devastated when she found out they were engaged. John would later admit he’d had sex with Lazarus “one last time”, which he deeply regretted and didn’t tell Sherri about.
Sherri once met Lazarus. Before the wedding, Lazarus turned up at her home with a set of water skis that she wanted John to wax for her. Sherri confronted John, who said there was nothing going on. When Lazarus returned to pick up the skis, Sherri made it clear she wasn’t welcome – but Lazarus called by again before the wedding in full police uniform with a gun on her waist. Sherri told her dad it had felt intimidating.
Sherri’s family believed Lazarus was involved in the shooting but, despite mentioning her a lot during the investigation, Lazarus’ name was barely in the files. Sherri’s family felt it was because her colleagues had instinctively protected her. Lazarus went on to be promoted to detective and specialised in art theft. She married another officer.
In 2009, the case was looked at again. With advances in forensic science, it was determined that the bite mark on Sherri’s arm belonged to a female. Lazarus was on a day off on the day of the shooting – and her back-up duty gun, that she would later report missing weeks after Sherri’s death, was the same calibre as the gun used to kill Sherri.
COVERING HER TRACKS
Lazarus was a police officer who knew how to cover up tracks and make a scene look like a robbery. The police took a DNA sample from a cup she had thrown away and matched it with the DNA from a bite on Sherri’s arm. Finally, 23 years after Sherri’s death, Lazarus was arrested and charged with her murder. She was held on a $10 million bail.
In 2012, Lazarus went to trial. The prosecution said she was driven by jealousy and had felt that the wedding dress Sherri wore belonged to her. The prosecutor summed up the case for court. “A bite, a bullet, a gun barrel and a broken heart. That’s the evidence that will prove to you that defendant Stephanie Lazarus murdered Sherri Rasmussen,” they said.
John testified and wept as he admitted having sex with Lazarus while engaged to Sherri was a “mistake” and said Lazarus had pleaded him with not to marry Sherri. The defence argued the evidence was old and compromised, but the jury convicted Lazarus of first-degree murder and she was sentenced to 27 years to life. Her legal team appealed but the verdict was upheld and she started to serve her sentence.
In 2023, Lazarus had a parole hearing and shocked everyone by confessing that she had killed Sherri. “It makes me sick to this day that I took an oath to protect and serve people and I took Sherri Rasmussen’s life from her, a nurse,” she told the parole board panel. “All I could think about was getting out of there before the police showed up.”
Lazarus said she hadn’t gone to Sherri’s home to kill her – she’d just wanted to talk to John. She said she hadn’t turned herself in afterwards because she was “ashamed”.
Despite the confession, the parole board gave her parole. Sherri’s family and the state objected and the decision was taken to a hearing for reconsideration. It was argued that Lazarus wasn’t remorseful – she’d had 37 years to confess but she’d only done it to get parole. Her admittance of guilt confirmed she was a killer who had abused her position of trust as a police officer.
In October this year, the parole board’s decision was reversed. Larazus, now 64, was sent back to prison to serve her time.
