Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20110212

>> it's very hard. >> a heartbreaking test of faith and love. >> i want to know that his life is a gift. >> "inconceivable." also tonight. >> shots fired at very close range. >> a young bride murdered. a robber or a rival? >> they thought i was the killer. i mean, come on. >> for two decades this once red hot case grew ice cold, until a new look at an old lead led to a most unexpected place. >> we care about justice more than we care about each other sometimes. >> end of story? >> now you're accusing me of this? >> or just the beginning. >> she's being set up. >> "internal affairs." >> good evening and welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. what does it mean to be a mother and where does a child's identity come from? those are the questions that face two families at the center of our story tonight. it begins with a mother longing for another child. soon she would have a choice to make, and it would be her hardest test, and her greatest gift. here's meredith vieira. >> i think you don't realize how you're going to receive really bad news until bad news comes in your direction. >> there was a moment some of us will inevitably face in our lives -- the moment when our core beliefs, our values, are put to the test. >> and it was as if someone had taken a vacuum and sucked all of the oxygen out of my lungs. >> it would be an agonizing decision for carolyn and sean savage. >> people ask, how do you immediately make that kind of a decision? we were raised to do things for other people. you know, it's just part of who we are. >> a decision that would risk carolyn's health and take an unbearable toll on them both, on they saw no other way. in their eyes, a child's life was at stake. has this sunk in? >> you know i don't know that we'll ever have it sink in. it will be a process that will play out for the rest of our lives. >> it all began with a simple dream. >> we knew that we would start a family right away after we got married, because we wanted kids and lots of them. that was our plan. >> a plan that started while they were college sweethearts in the late '80s. sean came from a family of nine children, carolyn has two siblings. they decided four children would be the right number for them. but having that family, they say, would be the biggest challenge in their marriage. >> just based on my medical history, we knew that fertility was actually somewhat threatened, when i was pretty young. >> they settled in suburban toledo. sean was a financial adviser, carolyn a school teacher, and as planned, they began their family right away. their son, andrew, was born in 1994, a year after carolyn and sean were married. and the first time no problem. >> no problem. i carried him full term, so we thought we were in the clear. >> but they weren't. it took two years and help from fertility specialists for carolyn to become pregnant again. then there were complications, life-threatening ones for both carolyn and the baby. so doctors delivered their son, ryan, two months early. he weighed just three pounds and spent a month in the neonatal intensive care unit. and yet you made a decision that you wanted to try yet again? >> we did. we did seek the opinions of four doctors, and all four of the physicians we spoke with said, it's probably just a medical fluke. go for it. >> but this time, it was a ten-year struggle. carolyn went through over 20 infertility treatments and had four miscarriages. finally, they turned to in vitro fertilization. their own embryos were created in a lab and were transferred into carolyn. their daughter, mary kate, was born in 2008. >> and it was just such a miracle. oh, my gosh, it was, that was a huge accomplishment for us. >> and their family would have been complete with three children instead of four, but for a promise they had made to each other. they still had five embryos left from that in vitro procedure. >> sean and i discussed that we would give every embryo we created a chance at life. >> so almost a year after mary kate was born, carolyn and sean decided to try for another baby, using those remaining embryos. >> we weren't getting any younger. >> you're getting close to 40. >> yeah. >> we decided as soon as we were medically cleared that we would proceed. >> in february, 2009, three emby yos were transferred into carolyn. ten days later, she went on a blood test to see if she was pregnant and found the atmosphere in the office was odd. >> i noticed there were phone calls "is she there yet?" i kept thinking well they really care if i'm pregnant or not. >> carolyn ignored that odd feeling and went home hoping for good news. >> and we expected a result by about lunch time. >> lunch time came, any results? >> no. >> 1:00? >> no. >> 2:00? >> about 3:30. >> what happened? >> i was sitting at my desk in the office and i receive a phone call from the doctor. >> it was their fertility doctor, thinking he'd called carolyn, but he'd reached sean instead. >> and he made sure that i was alone at the time, and that he had bad news, and -- but it wasn't the type of bad news that we would ever expect. >> that news sent sean reeling. he had to tell carolyn immediately. >> this is traumatic. this is so bad. so i dropped everything and got in my car and drove home and just thought during the drive, how am i going to do this? ♪ ♪ hello. [ female announcer ] glasses in about an hour. lenscrafters. pay close attention. a is for angus. one-hundred percent juicy mouth-watering beef. b is for bacon... savory...crispy... and hickory-smoked. c is for...something new... c is a swift kick in the taste buds. c is for chipotle. the new chipotle bbq bacon angus burger -- a sweet smoky blend of chipotle peppers... [ man ] mmmmmm... ...and tangy bbq sauce that flips the script on angus. and it's in a wrap. it's for a limited time, so don't be tardy. the simple joy of acing the taste test. ba da ba ba ba. the simple joy of acing the taste test. the best device for everything you love to read editors' choice. best dedicated ereader. magazines look spectacular. fantastic device. touch the future of reading at barnes and noble. nookcolor. if it can do this, here. and it can do this, here. and it can also do this, here. just imagine what it can do, here. ♪ february 16th, 2009. sean savage was at work and received a call from his wife's fertility doctor. he and carolyn had been waiting to learn whether she was pregnant. the doctor told him carolyn was, but she was pregnant with someone else's child. what's your reaction, sean? >> barely registered. i understood what he was saying but it did not comprehend, because it wasn't within the realm of possibility. it wasn't something that happens. >> now he had to go home and break the news to his wife. sean didn't mince words. >> i let her know. i just said the doctor did call, really bad news. you're really pregnant and they transferred the wrong embryos. >> just like that. >> >> um-hum. >> yeah. i didn't know any other way than just to deliver it right out. >> i could not believe what he was saying, and i literally couldn't breathe. i just went, "no, no, no, no, no, no. no! no! just that can't happen." >> what's going through your mind at that point? >> that there was clearly no way out. we had no way out. i knew that immediately. i'm pregnant. there's a baby growing in me. it's somebody else's. what are we going to do? >> the doctor spoke to carolyn later that night. and what does he say? >> he was calling to tell me that he was sorry. he was devastated. i mean this was a man who had dedicated his life to helping people build their families and he had brought us our miracle, mary kate, and it was such a hard conversation to have because i cared about him. >> did he offer any explanation as to what happened? >> no. >> did you ask -- >> we didn't even ask. didn't even ask at that point. in fact i didn't even think, meredi meredith, to ask, where are my embryos. he finally just offered that. he said i can't believe i have to say this, but your embryos are safe. >> did he say anything about the other couple? >> they didn't know. >> they didn't know if it happened yet. >> they were a patient of one of his partners in the clinic. >> and their doctor, carolyn says, gave her the option of ending the pregnancy. >> i could have ceased my hormone therapy that was supporting the pregnancy which was basically akin to terminating. >> and if she terminated, carolyn says the doctor offered both the savages and the other couple fertility treatments at his own expense. but the savages had already made their decision. >> we can't terminate this pregnancy. >> no matter what, you were going to have the baby if you could have the baby. >> yeah, after everything sean and i have been through, trying to have a baby, we knew that we had somebody's very, very wanted child. i just couldn't see taking that away from another mother. i just -- there's just no way. >> but even in that moment, knowing how difficult it was for you to carry. >> yeah. >> a child, knowing this one was not yours, you might not get another opportunity. you had embryos that were yours. >> um-hum. >> that were stored somewhere that could be transferred. >> um-hum. >> never crossed your mind that that's an option for me, termination? >> no. >> it's not even something we had to really converse about. it's just, it was just that's who we are. we just value life too much. >> and having made that decision, they still held on to a shred of hope, that this baby might become theirs, after all. you were hoping against hope that maybe they'd say -- >> yeah, yeah, just -- >> -- you can have the baby. >> we'll leave awe lone. i thought well maybe, maybe, knowing that women have embryos they don't know what to do with, maybe they'll let us keep the baby. >> it didn't matter, they say, that they weren't the biological parents, but two days after learning about the embryo mix-up, their doctor dashed those hopes. he told them that the other couple very much wanted their baby. >> i actually experienced jealousy about a pregnancy that was occurring in my, my own body. it was -- that's insane. i kept thinking why do we have to be the ones to give this gift? why can't they give a gift? why can't their gift be the embryo instead of us having to have a pregnancy and give the gift of a baby? but at the same time, i knew that if we were in their shoes, we'd be doing the same thing. so i really struggled. >> while all this was sinking in, carolyn and sean had to figure out just how to navigate this unfathomable situation. you know there's this other couple out there. did you feel, we've got to get in touch with them? >> we felt as though we needed to set up some mode of contact. they needed to know how to get in touch with us. >> but for now, they decided contact with the other couple would be through their attorney. so they don't know who you are and you don't know who they are. >> um-hum. >> yeah, and that was all within 24 hours of learning the news, so we were in shock. we really felt we needed to keep this private as much as possible. >> and it wasn't just the shock that made them keep this private. in the back of their minds, there were always the questions. would this pregnancy threaten carolyn's life yet again, and would it even last? >> there was a chance that there would be a miscarriage. that was a strong possibility, early on, just because of our history. >> and just a month into the pregnancy, those fears nearly came to pass. carolyn began bleeding. it was caused by a blood clot, which was threatening to trigger a miscarriage. the bleeding continued for four weeks, until the clot disappeared. but carolyn was far from being out of the woods. she needed daily hormone injections just to keep the pregnancy viable, and the physical symptoms of being pregnant were hitting her hard. >> i just didn't know how i was going to handle all the physical challenges of a pregnancy. i had always balanced those with the idea that in the end, there was the reward of a baby. now, now no baby, and i'm still going to go through all this. >> adding to her stress were endless doctors appointments to monitor her progress. there were blood tests once a week, and because of her history of miscarriages, carolyn was having ultrasounds once a week as well. and during that time, carolyn and sean had no one but each other to lean on. worried about a miscarriage, they kept the pregnancy hidden from their family and friends. they just went about their lives, pretending everything was normal. >> it was so hard, and so not telling, we had no outlet. it was a very lonely, lonely time. >> but by three months, thanks to the watchful eye of her doctor, at least some of those fears about their secret pregnancy began to subside. >> our o.b. kind of said okay, guys, you know, i think this is a go. you're going to get a live birth out of this. >> so they decided they were ready to meet the other couple. who was this other family? and what were they going through? what had happened was just as inconceivable to them. when "dateline" continues. [ sister ] we're the shultz's. [ brother ] a brother and sister photography team. being photographers, images are really important to us, and so we'll try to take in as many movies as we can. and poynt is great for that. it automatically knows where you are. are you going to interrupt me right now? uh huh. go for it. and it will tell you what movies are playing around you. on blackberry, it's a super app. you can watch movie trailers, purchase tickets on the phone, lets put it on my calendar, it gives you a little golden ticket, and you're good to go. thank you. [ male announcer ] more than apps. super apps. ♪ only at blackberry app world. ♪ just lo me ♪ oh oh oh ♪ just hold me ♪ oh oh oh ♪ just kiss me ♪ oh oh oh ♪ just want me ♪ l-o-v-e ♪ love, love, love t ♪ l-o-v-e [ male announcer ] it's time line of baked meals -- ws made to share. like creamy chicken alfredo, with sundried tomatoes. even from the microwave, they still taste like homemade. baked meals from marie callender's, it's time to savor. um, no. cleveland. listen cleveland, your savings account is stuck in the past! earn more with interestplus savings at capitalone.com. that's new school banking baby! so instead of making peanuts, your savings will be earning three times the national average. oops. sorry. three times more? i'll have that! it is now safe to go online to capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? buh-bye... call me. ♪ in the early months of carolyn savage's pregnancy, she and her husband, sean, decided they would not reveal who they were or have any contact with the couple whose embryos carolyn received, but that didn't stop her from worrying about that couple, especially the mother-to-be. >> i just thought these people are going to be scared enough and then i'm thinking but maybe they're better off not knowing who we are at this point and knowing my medical history because that's only going to add fuel to their fear. >> now three months into the pregnancy, they were about to meet. >> those embrembryos, we though about them all the time. >> the morells are a family with young twins living in suburban detroit, two hours away from the savages. paul is an electrical engineer. shannon a history teacher. they married in 2002 and had tried for several years to have children with no success. finally their doctor recommended in vitro fertilization. the results were even better than they had hoped. >> they were like wow! it worked. and then we went back i think the next week, we see two strong heartbeats. >> their twins were born in november 2006. by the time the girls were 2, shannon and paul decided they would try to have another child, using the embryos that had been frozen after their first in vitro procedure. >> i made the appointment and then i got that phone call. >> a call from their doctor, asking them both to come and see him that evening. this was two weeks before shannon and paul's scheduled appointment. tell me about that moment when you walk in the office. >> first, it was normal, and then he just had this real stressful look on his face. >> and i felt like there was -- the mood changed in the room. he said "there's been a terriblence deterrible incident." >> what's what he said? >> um-hum. he said "your embryos have been thawed." >> what went through your mind? >> at that point it's like finding someone died because those are your six potential babies. >> at first they thought some power outage damaged the storage tanks where the embree yos were kept frozen, when the second bombshell came. >> then he said "and they've been transferred into another tw woman." my mouth dropped at that point. and i said "and she's preg --" >> he went "pregnant." i fell back and went no. >> oh my. >> i can't imagine processing that. >> i was in shock and i was thinking, processing what he just told me. >> then the what ifs come. >> and i started asking questions. >> what did you ask? >> how did this happen? >> and what did he say? >> it was human error. i said you have protocol in place, you have protocol. yes, but this is human error. >> her next question, who was carrying her child. >> they told me, she wasn't my patient. >> and most important of all -- >> is she going to terminate? and he told me, i don't know. >> so how long was it before the doctor called you back and told you the good news? >> two days. it was a long two days. >> a sense of relief, for a moment, happiness, and some of that stress left, but then it was, okay, there's another woman we don't know carrying our child. now what? >> relieved to learn that the pregnancy would continue, shannon and paul were still desperate to know who had made that decision. did you have a name? >> idea. >> nothing? >> we didn't know anything about them. i desperately wanted to connect with them, let them know about us. >> shannon and paul's only link to their child those first months was shannon's inbox. the savage's attorney was sending weekly medical updates and ultrasound pictures. at first, this eased their minds. then seeing all those sonograms only made things worse. >> after the first couple i thought, this is really strange. you don't get ultrasounds. >> there's ultrasound every week. like why every week? >> that makes you even more nervous. >> right. now that all-consuming question became even more pressing. just who had received their embryos? and why was she having so many ultrasounds? three months into the pregnancy, the two couples would finally come face to face. >> so we were like that piece of fragile glass that is setting in their house and you know, they wanted to be very careful around us. >> the first meeting, would there be second thoughts? >> most awkward moment in my entire life probably. >> when "inconceivable" continues. t's world-famous pan pizza. with a delicious deep, golden crust baked in a seasoned pan until it's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, it's a true original. and now for a limited time, choose any pan pizza, any size, with any of your favorite toppings for just ten dollars! even specialty pan pizzas -- like a large meat lover's pan or a large pan supreme! there's nothing like a pan pizza so for just ten bucks, why not get two? the legendary pan pizza. now only ten dollars. and only at your pizza hut. see? "my girl." - "you're sweet." - oh, here's one. "you're an amazing, beautiful woman. "you're everything i ever wanted. i love you." - that's not on there. - no, it's in here. - save 20% to 50% on select diamond fashion jewelry from kay, one more reason kay is the number one jewelry store in america. how are those flat rate boxes working out? fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state... for a low flat rate? yes! a really low flat rate. like $4.95? yes! and it could look like a flat rate box... only flatter? like this? you...me...genius. genius. priority mail flat rate envelopes. just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. that meeting was extremely tough to walk into. i needed to like them. i needed to be happy for their family. we needed to frame this as a gift, and that is the only way that we could figure out how to get through this. >> two couples, strangers to each other, found their lives colliding in an unimaginable set of circumstances. carolyn savage was pregnant with shannon and paul morell's child. if the two couples had never spoken, never met, they didn't even know each other's names. that all changed three months into the pregnancy. first trimepser is over. you get word that the other couple finally red to meet you face-to-face. were you nervous, excited? >> nervous, excited. almost like a job. you're nervous and excited and you want that job and want them to like you. >> why was it important they like you? >> they're carrying our child we want them to like us so that they love our child. >> the setting was business-like at the office in toledo but the purpose of the meeting couldn't have been more intimate. >> we walked in and they were there. the most awkward moment in my entire life probably. >> shannon spoke first and she just kind of talked from the heart. >> i said, you know, "i just can't tell you how grateful we are to you for what you've done." i said "i know this hasn't been easy" and i said it's easy for people to say i would never abort a baby but a lot harder to walk the walk. >> then it was carolyn and sean's turn. they told the morells about themselves, their family, carolyn's prenatal care and plans for the birth. >> it was hard. it was awkward. >> the two couples metaphor about an hour and a half. >> they were so respectful of us at that point. they didn't want to barge into our lives. >> we were like that piece of fragile glass that's setting in that spot in your house and you know, they wanted to be very careful around us. i think they felt they wanted to do everything right. >> sitting there and finally talking to carolyn and sean, what was your impression of them? >> if you were to choose someone to carry your child, you like, that's her, until carolyn started to talk and then she started telling me oh, about the struggles that they've had with pregnancies and i'm like oh my gosh, that was the first three months when i had to be worried and i realized oh it's going to be difficult the whole way through. >> at least now they would be getting updates from carolyn, not her attorney. just a few weeks after their meeting, carolyn began e-mailing shannon directly and while there was some comfort in that, shannon knew this was a high-risk pregnancy and bad news could come at any time. >> i wrote about the baby. >> the more you know the more you worry. >> right, right. >> those same worries never left carolyn and sean as well, but in may, four months pregnant, carolyn had even more to worry about. she was showing and had to tell her family. carolyn, you were scared to tell at least your dad? >> oh, my gosh. he was no fan of me being pregnant in the first place because it threatened my health with ryan and that was scary for him. >> carolyn and sean invited their parents over to tell them she was going to have another couple's baby. carolyn held her breath, waiting for her father's reaction. >> i can tell you, i've never been proud of her, of two people in my life than i was at that moment. >> linda and byron higgins are carolyn's parents. >> they had principles and values which governed their lives and decided to live by those values. >> their son's, drew and ryan, were told next. ryan was 12 at the time, drew 14. the news left them speechless. >> can't believe that was happening to us. >> it was all just a big shock i guess. it looked like they were in shock, too. >> and even in their state of shock, both brothers realized how proud they were of their parents. >> they were really amazing people and i'm glad that they're my parents. >> at what point did you tell family members? >> i could afford to wait, and i waited. >> because you're not the one who is pregnant? >> no, nobody knew. >> shannon and paul waited until june, five months into the pregnancy. by that time they learned they were having a boy and dna tests left no doubt, this was their child. initial reaction from your family? >> they were excited. they were shocked. >> and at that same time, even in the midst of all they were going through, carolyn and sean still hadn't given up on having their own child. so they came up with a plan. one just as astonishing as the situation they were already in. coming up, another woman enters the picture. >> i had to do it for carolyn and sean. >> could she help the savages make their dream come true? when "dateline" continues. this valentine's day,to se with gifts for all the loved ones in your life. big or small. so stop by walgreens. love is in the air. make your sweetheart smile with ferrero rocher... and share the love with hershey's kisses chocolates. find stuffed animals, fragrances, even fresh flowers and more at walgreens. there's a way to share the love. tuna's a natural source of omega 3's and that is good for your heart. these 27 latin lovers agree... [ latin lovers ] we agree! sí bonita, we agree! well, there you have it! tuna, it's good for your heart. ( wind blowing ) a wintermint flavor that warms... and cools as you chew. 5 gum. stimulate your senses. [ female announcer ] starbucks via is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via taste promise. look for it where you buy groceries. carolyn and sean savage had been hoping for a fourth child so that their year-old daughter, mary kate, might have a sibling close in age. >> night-night. there's ten years between our second and third child and thought it would be fun for her to grow up with a buddy. it was kind of a dream. >> but right now carolyn was pregnant with another couple's child and deciding to have that baby meant she would have to go through another high-risk pregnancy. then even worse, carolyn also learned that carrying the morell's child would cause this pregnancy to be her last. you cannot become pregnant again. doctors advised you that that's not something that you should do. >> right. it would put me well around 42 or so by the time we could attempt another pregnancy with our own embryos, and if we tried to have another baby at 42, delivery well after i was 43, it just was considered dangerous. >> but carolyn and sean were undeterred. they still had five embryos, and had promised each other they would use every one of them to try to have a child, and they wanted to begin trying right away. so the savages made a remarkable decision. carolyn, the accidental surrogate, would search for her own surrogate, to have that child for them. seems like you have enough on your plate at that point. how did you make that decision then? >> there was a lot on our plates, enormous amount of things to be doing, but in a way, too, it was something positive to focus on for our family. >> we got good advice and we did a good search process. >> how long did it take to you find the surrogate? >> a month. >> probably about a month. we got very lucky. >> her name is jennifer. she was a nursing student, 30 years old, and had been a surrogate once before. she and carolyn corresponded for several weeks and finally met in june. carolyn was five months pregnant. >> the first thing she said when she sat down is "well, as you can see i'm pregnant, but" and there was a long pause and she said "it's not mine" and that's usually what i say to people as a surrogate, so i was kind of confused, and she went on to tell me the story. >> after hearing that story, jennifer made her decision. she would become their surrogate. >> i had to do it for carolyn and sean. >> now that she had her own surrogate, carolyn wanted to be involved in jennifer's doctor's appointments. >> a light bulb went off and i thought, well, that's probably what shannon's thinking about this and what's even worse for shannon is that she doesn't feel like she can call me and say hey can i come meet your doctor, and that's when i thought, okay, i need to step out of my own comfort zone here and reach out to her. >> so she invited shannon to an ultrasound appointment. while they had been speaking on the phone and e-mailing, they had only seen each other once before. that had to be a hard appointment for you. >> yeah. it was another one of those moments that the situation brought to our lives where we feel like this can't be happening. >> we go in, sit down. already feeling weird anyway because i'm look at this, trying not to stare at her belly. and then sean walks in, and i -- oh, my gosh, what am i doing here? >> you felt like you were intruding almost on a personal? >> i'm thinking if i could have left and not looked rude about it, i would have. >> was it hard for you emotionally? >> it was, because it's a constant reminder again you are carrying my child. this is odd, but yet i'm grateful that you are. >> the ultrasound technician knew this was shannon's child, so she focused her attention on shannon as she explained the sonogram. carolyn was numb with disbelief. >> count all the fingers, count all the toes, oh, look he has hair. we can see he has hair. >> the technician is talking around you. >> what else was she to do? that's why shannon is here. i'm saying i cannot believe i'm surviving this moment without just falling completely apart. >> through all of this, carolyn and sean had one bright spot, the possibility of still having a child from their own embryos. in late august, they finally received some good news. their surrogate was pregnant. >> it was just such a huge relief. i felt like our world had been tilted, and then kind of went, woop, center. and to me, that was the way things were supposed to have been at that moment. and we were very, very happy. >> happy, but overwhelmed. at 7 1/2 months, carolyn and her doctor became concerned that she was once again facing life-threatening problems in her pregnancy. first she developed a problem with her liver, which could potentially harm the baby, and then her doctor found that her blood pressure was rising to a dangerous level. >> and so there was a lot of anxiety building in us, are we going to be able to get this baby further? is our baby okay? it was absurd. it was absurd. >> september 24th, 2009, carolyn's blood pressure had spiked. she was eight months pregnant. her doctor, concerned for her health and the baby's, had no choice but to deliver. the day carolyn and sean had been dreading had abruptly arrived. one way or another, they knew they would be losing the baby. that would not be all they'd have to face. >> i'm kind of looking up at the heavens going, seriously, have we not done enough? this, too? >> and later in our second hour "internal affairs." >> multiple shots fired. >> a new bride found dead in her own home. looked like a robbery, but was it really a rivalry? two women in love with the same man. >> i must have killed her? i mean, come on. >> for 23 years that murder was a mystery, until a new look at an old lead led to a most unexpected place. >> we care about justice more than we care about each other sometimes. [ female announcer ] valentine's day is not for saying i love you. [ crowd cheering ] it's for saying, "i love us." ♪ i love who we are together, how we've grown, from our nervous conversations to the one we two have become. valentine's day is for taking the time to say i love us. ♪ and i wondered what it was. i found out that connected to our muscles are nerves that send messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and less pain means i can do more with the ones i love. [ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior or any swelling or affected breathing, or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. i found answers about fibromyalgia. then i found lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. - the craving for chocolate... - oooh. - is all grown up. - oooh. - jared presents beautiful natural levian chocolate diamonds. levian is the only company on earth to make jewelry with chocolate diamonds. levian: the leading family in jewelry, from ancient royalty to today's red carpet. you will only find these styles at jared. levian chocolate diamonds: they're anything but vanilla. that's why he went to jared. ♪ the whole pregnancy was like walking a plank, and on september 24th, we jumped. >> they had talked about, thought about, even cried about this day for months. >> the idea that that baby was going to be rolled out of the delivery room and handed to another mother -- oh, i just -- it was just unfathomable. >> now, it had finally come. september 24th, 2009. carolyn was in the o.r. being prepped for a c-section. shannon and paul anxiously waited in a separate room nearby. >> i was worried about carolyn. i was worried about the baby, too, and i couldn't do anything about it. i was just waiting. just horrible. >> yeah and just the reality of it all >> knowing that you're not going to hear the first cries and see the baby and just experience it. so that was hard. but we just kept focusing on we're going to have this child. >> at 3:18 in the afternoon, a baby boy named logan morell cried for the first time. >> i was so happy when i heard him. i mean, he had a serious set of lungs on him, and he came out kicking, screaming, very feisty. >> he was four weeks premature but there were no complications. logan was a healthy five-pound baby. >> it was a very joyful moment and they wrapped him all up and brought him to me. he was pink and green and crying and i was smiling from ear to ear, just yea, so happy. >> but for you, carolyn, as a mom, someone who so wanted a fourth baby, knowing this was your last opportunity. >> none of that mattered at the moment. what mattered was that he came out and he was healthy. so what i wanted in my log didn't matter at that moment. what matter was his health and his safe arrival, and that was a slam dunk for us. it was big, huge accomplishment. >> with the delivery behind them, carolyn and sean now had to face every emotion, every heartbreak they knew would come next. while carolyn remained in the o.r., sean would bring logan to shannon and paul. >> it was the most unnatural thing you can do as a person. i mean, i don't -- being in the delivery room and then moments later, handing a child over is, i mean you're all about family. >> um-hum. >> just shouldn't have to do it. but we had to do it. so we had to get through it. we had to celebrate it. he was beautiful, and it's what we did. >> oh, my goodness. you're a cutie pie. >> just a half an hour after logan was born, sean handed him to his parents. >> it was the most exciting moment of my life. i mean, that moment, i don't think anything could ever compare to that ever. >> i almost started crying. >> there he is right there. i could touch him. >> he was, for real. >> the first moment of bonding. >> do you remember what sean was doing? >> he started crying, too. >> tears coming down. >> we all were. >> i kept thinking hopefully they know. it's like how do you let someone know how much you appreciate what they did? >> it was almost like a split screen where you had, you know, your own personal loss that you had to deal with, but at the same time, there was a celebration and so i just had to figure out a way going from that complete utter despair and loss and suffering to inviting this gift into it, and to balance those two. >> sean left and you two were alone with the baby. >> yeah. >> what was that like for you? >> it was just a serene moment at that point, knowing that, wow! it's going to work out. we were just so grateful. we felt so lucky. >> the next day, carolyn and sean signed papers, giving custody of logan to shannon and paul. and later that day, before they went home, the morells brought logan back to the savages. carolyn and sean spent time alone with the baby boy they would have loved to call their son. >> he had his little head tucked up under my chin and all snuggled up and he was asleep, and that to me was the way you should feel after a baby is born, and when that gets taken away, it was like he grabbed a piece of my heart and just left with it. >> leaving with you what? >> wow. >> i think leaving us knowing that we did the right thing, that he was healthy. it was kind of a sad moment i think from the loss, kind of crashed on us, and we knew we needed to kind of move forward from there. >> they were moving forward. their own baby was on the way, and helped ease the loss of logan, but just one week later, carolyn and sean's dream of a fourth child was shattered by a phone call. >> and i picked it up and it was my surrogate on the other line, sobbing. i mean, i couldn't -- she was hysterical, couldn't breathe and i knew immediately. >> two and a half months into the pregnancy, jennifer, their surrogate, had miscarried. the news left carolyn and sean numb. in their minds, they'd lost two babies in eight days. >> i just, i couldn't breathe. i just, all of the oxygen out of my lungs and i know i felt in my knees and kind of looking up athe the heavens, going, "seriously, have we not done enough?" this, too? >> did a part of you, carolyn, wish you hadn't even started that process? >> no, i don't have any regrets about doing it. it didn't matter when it would have happened. it just would have slammed us as hard. a part of me thought immediately, okay, we still have two more embryos. >> and with jennifer as their surrogate they tried again last january, using those two remaining embryos. jennifer did not become pregnant. unwilling to give up, carolyn and sean created a new embryo which was transferred into jennifer last summer. still, no success. does any part of you think that this need for another baby is trying to fill a void left by logan? >> sure. >> there is no way to fill that void. i mean, there is no make-up baby, but yeah, i mean i think it's a way of fulfilling the what-ifs, what if mary kate had a little brother, a little sister closer in age? what if things had worked out differently? >> but there's something to be said about you have three healthy children. >> absolutely. >> yep. >> we've had that discussion many, many times, so we're very blessed. we're very thankful. >> we're to a point now where, if we don't have any more children, i think we're good. we're good. >> it is almost two years to the day since carolyn and sean received that stunning news. they are still healing, they say, and part of that process has been writing a book. it's called "inconceivable." >> we talk about ourw3 darker moments, and there were a lot of them, and i don't want people to think, i could never do something like that. yeah, you can. everybody can. it's just how hard are you willing to push yourself? sean talks about marching through this. it was like marching through something. and there were days when i didn't want to. >> still haven't come out the other end? >> nope. >> no, we're in process. >> both couple vps reached settlements with the clinic. as part of theirs, carolyn and sean insisted on learning how the mistake was made and how it was discovered. the mix-up started with the name. >> shannon had not changed her name at the time of her original ivf. >> at the time shannon's embryos were created she was still using her maiden name, which of all names happens to be savage. that meant the sheet of paper identifying her embryos had the name shannon savage. >> that sheet was used to pull the embryos and it was placed in a file with our paperwork. >> but it took a completely unrelated error at the clinic for this colossal one to be discovered. an alert employee there noticed a mistake in carolyn's birth date. she was born in 1969, not 1967, so that employee took a closer look at the savage's file. >> that person noticed a discrepancy on my label, and on my wristband, and the information in the computer, so that person found shannon savage's embryo data sheet in my file. >> still, a healthy, happy, very loved baby boy was the result of all this. a little boy named logan savage morell, named in part, his parents say, as a tribute to the couple who took care of him before he came into this world. ♪ we wish you a merry christmas ♪ >> at christmastime 2009 the savages received a special treat. shannon and paul brought 3-month-old logan for a visit. carolyn and sean hadn't seen him since he was born. >> that was awesome that we got to see him, part of a family that he was certainly loved and adored. >> the two families spent all day together at sean and carolyn's home. then it was time to say good-bye to logan yet again. but this good-bye was much different than in the hospital. >> after they left, it was almost like we got the gas tank filled up a little bit, and it wasn't at all as though we were losing him or anything again. >> it was such a reassuring moment. >> did it help you turn a coroner terms of coping with letting go? >> yeah, for sure. we gave a gift. >> the dog's over there. >> the gift was received and it was very much appreciated. he is incredibly loved by his mom and dad, and you know, that's awesome. >> what role do you think that carolyn and sean are going to play in logan's life? >> i just always want him to know them, and that we'll get together maybe a couple times a year. >> what are you going to tell logan when he's old enough about his birth and about these people that were part of his life, that will be a part of his life, obviously? >> well, i just think it's important that he realizes that she protected him for nine months, and i just want him to think "my birth was a blessing. i need to go out and do good things here. there were people who did good things for me before i came into this world." put your arm in. >> beforeand when he's old enoud like him to thank the woman who gave him life. >> i think he should. he should say thank you. the most important thing for me is that when logan grows up -- i want him to know that he was never a burden. he's not a mistake. he's very purposeful, and even though it's very hard, we want him to know his life is a gift. he'll always be my baby. he will. he'll be their baby, too. he's just got more people that love him than most babies that come into the world. >> carolyn and sean savage plan to donate part of the settlement they got from the fertility clinic to charity. and they say they'll ask their children to help choose the charities as a way to teach them the rewards of giving. the savages will share more of their story monday morning on the "today" show and you can find more information on dateline.msnbc.com. we turn now from one family's quest for a child to another family's quest for justice for a lost daughter. she had been married just three months when she died and now after 23 years, a new investigation has led detectives to a rejected lover and to their own front door. here's josh mankiewicz. >> los angeles, june, 2009. early one cool, clear morning, an unusual meeting took place at parker's center, then the headquarters of the los angeles police department. deep in the basement, near the l.a. pd's massive evidence archives, homicide detectives were conducting an extremely sensitive and volatile interrogation, a police camera rolled as the questions began. >> i mean what's this all about? >> no one in the tiny interrogation room knew quite what to expect especially the cops, who were having to grill the most unlikely of subjects. >> you know, i don't understand why you're talking about some guy i dated a million years ago. >> do you know what happened to his wife? >> his wife, sherri rasmussen, an attractive, young woman and a new bride. sherri was the victim in an unsolved cold case which was for years buried in the l.a. pd archives. no arrest was ever made, but now cops thought they were closing in. >> if you guys are claiming that i'm a suspect then you know i got a problem you no he with that. >> and the crime she's suspected of? murder. the case dating back to february, 1986, when sherri ray rasmussen was found dead, brutally beaten and shot in her san fernando valley condo. but who would want to kill sherri rasmussen? she was hard-working, caring, and popular with her co-workers, trained as a nurse, sherri was director of critical care at a large local hospital. >> it was a devastating day. she was 29 years old, and just in the prime of her career. >> althea kennedy was sherri's boss at the hospital and had originally hired her. >> we couldn't believe it, first of all. it was like how could someone do this? people crying, people upset. i mean the hospital was like a tomb, you know, so the loss was real palpable. >> sherri had just been married three months earlier to a high-tech engineer named john rutton. her new husband said he left their condo in the morning, well before the murder, only to come home from work that evening to discover his wife's bloody body. >> this was no accident. >> yolanda mcclairy is a retired veteran homicide detective who specialized in analyzing crime scenes and is a consultant to "dateline." >> multiple shots fired, shots fired at very close range. >> she's reviewed court records and media reports on this case. we return with her to the actual apartment where sherri was found murdered almost 25 years ago, to try to understand what happened. police think the killer maybe walked in the front door? >> they didn't find any forced entry so yes they're aassuming the front door was open and that the killer just walked right in. >> right where we're standing there was a confrontation. >> there appears to be not just a struggle but we also have shots fired at this point. we have one shot that goes straight through the back slider and another shot that went through sherri and then back out through the slider also. >> and so sherri is now wounded and tries to get back downstairs. >> that would be correct. she's bleeding profusely. she's very wounded. she gets down these steps, and actually it would appear she's trying to go out the door or make it to that alarm box where there's a panic button and at that point, we believe that sherri went down in this foyer area, due to the fact that you could see marks in this as well as broken fingernails from her hand. >> so there's a tremendous fight going on. >> yes, the killer is actually dragging her back into this area, and then the killer takes a vase and hits her in the head with it, knocking her out, then grabs a blanket, muzzles the gun and does a contact shot into the victim. >> so that's an exkuecution. >> that would be correct. >> as for a motive? it seemed to be in plain sight, just a few feet from sherri's body. >> they found a vcr and a disc player stacked one on top of the other right by the front door. >> as if somebody were about to steal them. >> yeah, giving the indication this was a burglary or home invasion gone wrong. >> there was no sign of the murder weapon but detectives did recover two .38 caliber slots and there was something else that caught detectives' attention. >> on the inside of sherri's left arm they found a bite mark, a crime scene analyst at the time went ahead and swabbed the mark for any possible saliva that could probably belong to the killer. >> saliva that would contain dna from whoever bit sherri. remember, this was 1986, years before dna testing technology would arrive, which could link a suspect to a sample like this one. so back then, the dna wasn't much help, but the swab was carefully packaged and bundled with all the other evidence. for now, detectives didn't have much else to work with. no eyewitnesses, no usable fingerprints, no clear motive, except the theory that this was a botched burglary. >> by the level of violence that occurred in this residence, the theory was that it was a man or possibly two men that had entered the residence to do a burglary or home invasion that had gone completely wrong, murdered the victim to cover up the crime and then fled. >> gone wrong because sherri somehow surprised them, they panicked, shot her, and then fled. the theory seemed to make sense especially since sherri had no apparent enemies -- certainly no one who would want to kill her. detectives couldn't know it then, but this murder case was unlike any other, because of this woman, and her story. coming up, the killer left behind computers and jewelry but did take something odd and if this were just a burglar, why was it so violent? >> it just seemed like overkill. >> when "internal affairs" continues. mcdonald's new chipotle bbq bacon angus third pounder. trying to contain all that smoky, sweet goodness atop 100% angus beef, luscious bacon, and melted cheese may prove impossible. for chipotle bbq sauce follows two laws of nature -- one -- bold taste... two -- gravity. that's a shame. angus axiom #43 -- it's better to have loved chipotle and lost some than never to have loved chipotle at all. for a limited time only. the simple joy of angus, with a kick. if you're taking an antidepressant and still feel depressed, one option your doctor may consider is adding abilify. abilify treats depression in adults when added to an antidepressant. some people had symptom improvement in as early as one to two weeks after adding abilify. now with the abilify (me+) program, your first two weeks of abilify can be free. abilify is not for everyone. call your doctor if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking abilify have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor if you have high fever, stiff muscles and confusion to address a possible life-threatening condition. or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with abilify and medicines like it. in some cases, extreme high blood sugar can lead to coma or death. other risks include decreases in white blood cells, which can be serious, dizziness upon standing, seizures, trouble swallowing, and impaired judgment or motor skills. adding abilify has made a difference for me. [ male announcer ] visit abilifyoffer.com for your free trial offer. and ask your doctor about the risks and benefits of adding abilify. but we still may suffer from nasal allergy symptoms. they can hit you year round... indoors or out. achoo! oh to have relief. prescription nasonex is clinically proven to help relieve nasal allergy symptoms... including congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. [ female announcer ] side effects may include headache, viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds, and coughing. infections of the nose and throat and eye problems, including glaucoma or cataracts may occur. have regular eye exams. slow wound healing may occur, so do not use nasonex until your nose has healed from any sore, surgery or injury. nasonex can increase your risk of getting infections. avoid contact with infections like chicken pox or measles while using nasonex. it does not come in generic form. ask your doctor if nasonex is right for you. ♪ work, work all week long ♪ punching that clock from dusk till dawn ♪ ♪ countin' the days till friday night ♪ ♪ that's when all the conditions are right for a good time ♪ [ male announcer ] advanced technology that helps provide cleaner air, cleaner water, and helps make all of us more energy efficient is something the whole world can get in step with. [ static ] ♪ i need a good time [ male announcer ] ecomagination from ge. ' it s technology that makes the world work. ♪ the year was 1986. crack was hitting los angeles, and the city of angels had become a violent place. the murder rate would hit 831 killings that year, almost four times the amount in 2010, and the lapd was stretched very thin. >> this was a time where homicide was just booming in los angeles. >> miles corwin is a best selling author who has written several books about the lapd >> it's kind of a perfect storm of problems, the proliferation of high-powered weaponry, you had the gangs really expanding. you had crack cocaine hitting the streets. all these forces created a tremendous homicide rate and detectives were really overwhelmed. >> and now in february of that year, cops had their hands full with an especially heinous crime in the city's sprawling san fernando valley. 29-year-old sherri rasmussen had been brutally beaten and shot in her own home, no suspects no, clues. a few days later, nbc's consultant yolanda mcclairy is a consultant. >> another resident was approached by two males at gunpoint, involved a home invasion robbery situation so police early on thought there was a possibly these two men might have something to do with the murder. >> a composite sketch was released of the two men, they had no prints, no i-witnesses or murder weapon connecting them or anyone else to sherri's murder and the dna collected at the crime scene was useless, at least right now. police went ahead and collected it anyway, why? >> at crime scenes if you know there was possible evidence on anything you are not going to cleave it behind. it was great forethought on their behalf actually to recover it. >> detectives scoured the condo and the entire complex. the only thing apparently stolen was from the garage, sherri's car, and that was recovered, just a mile away from the crime scene, with the keys still in it. the only other thing missing, sherri and her husband's marriage license. it seemed an odd thing to steal. cash, computers and jewelry weren't touched. but that wasn't the only thing that struck sherri's family and colleagues as strange. the crime was especially violent for a two-bit burglary. >> it just seemed a little like overkill. >> sherri's boss at the hospital, althea kennedy, had to review sherri's autopsy report for insurance reasons, and she was struck by what she saw. >> i thought, wow, she really put up one heck of a fight, which wasn't real surprising, because sherri was tall, athletic, and i'm sure wouldn't go down easily. >> the lapd theory back then was that there were two men robbing the house, and so that presumably sherri would have fought with two guys. does that sound like sherri? >> well, that part didn't make a lot of sense to me, because i thought if there were two men and they had a gun, that just seemed a little weird. >> because sherri wouldn't begin a fight with two guys who were armed. >> i wouldn't think so. >> what about with a woman? >> well, i think she would have taken on a woman. >> and it turns out there was a young woman whose name did surface early on in the investigation. someone that both sherri's husband, john, and her parents say they mentioned to the lapd. >> from the very first meeting that the rasmussens had with the l.a. police detectives they asked, had they looked at john ruetton's ex-girlfriend to see if there was any indication that she had been involved in a struggle because sherri rasmussen had been beat son badly prior to being shot. >> john taylor is the attorney for sherri's parents, nel and loretta rasmussen. her parents pressed from the outside to not only question but also to focus on that ex-girlfriend. >> and nels asked, "you have looked at or photographed john's ex-girlfriend?" meaning, have you done anything to document or to see if there's anything on her body which would indicate she had been involved in a fight? >> who was this mysterious ex-girlfriend of sherri's new husband, john? did that woman hold a clue that cops needed to crack the case? and there was another clue that might help the case. a key piece of evidence, if only they knew where it was. >> they were looking at the lapd vault and couldn't find it, the coroner's vault, couldn't find it. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ ♪ mama said there'd be days like this ♪ ♪ "there'll be days like this," mama said ♪ ♪ mama said, mama said ♪ mama said, "there'll be days like this" ♪ [ male announcer ] the toughest job on the planet just got a little easier. with one-touch technology and even an air scrubber. the all-new nissan quest. innovation for family. innovation for all. ♪ innovation for family. innovation for all. fitting into clothes is naturally satisfying. so select harvest light soups are 80 calories or less, 100% natural. and-oh-so-satisfying. select harvest light from campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ you know, when i got him on e-trade he was all like "oh no, i cannot do investing." that's actually a perfect enzo. but after a couple educational videos, and a little hand holding from customer support... next thing you know he's got a stunning portfolio. now he's planning to retire in tuscany. we're both pretty emotional about it. shhhh, don't say a word. you're welcome. [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. with marie callender's line of baked meals -- made to share. like creamy chicken alfredo, with sundried tomatoes. even from the microwave, they still taste like homemade. baked meals from marie callender's, it's time to savor. nsitume[instrumental music] baked meals from marie callender's, - in all the years we've been coming here, i've never seen a storm like this. [thunder crashes] i'm right here. and i always will be. - the love's embrace collection from kay jewelers. now you can surround her with the strength of your love. giver her diamonds in a design that captures the comfort found in each other's arms. one more reason kay is the number one jewelry store in america. - don't let go... ever. as los angeles transitioned from the 1980s to the 1990s, so did the lapd, and so did the unsolved murder of sherri rasmussen. once a hot investigation, it was now just another cold case, one of thousands relegated to the archives of the lapd. writer myles corwin reported on the lapd during this time period and remembers how the department was overwhelmed. >> detectives were handling so many cases. they couldn't thoroughly investigate each case. they'd investigate a week or two and boom another case and another case and they could never follow all of these cases. >> but 500 miles away in tucson, sherri's family wasn't giving up. >> we'd just really like to know what happened. >> and continued to seek justice for their daughter. according to their attorney, john taylor, the rasmussen's kept hounding the lapd for years about that ex-girlfriend of sherri's husband, john ruetton. they say it dated baaing to something sherri had told them shortly before she was killed. >> sherri told her father "i'm having a problem with a person but i think i'm going to be able to resolve it and if not i'll let you know if i need your help." >> but for detectives that lead went nowhere and soon sherri's case was as cold as they come. 18 years passed until 2004. during that time, the world witnessed the explosion of the internet, 9/11, four american presidents, and also a major breakthrough in that crucial crime solving technology known as dna testing. and something else had changed -- crime was down in los angeles and the lapd with a newly formed cold case unit ordered a review of all of its unsolved cases in which there was usable, testable dna. >> now you can go back and look at some of those cases that you didn't have the time and resources to investigate back in the '80s and '90s. >> was of those cases was the murder of sherri rasmussen. a new team of detectives ordered dna samples from the bite found on sherri's arm. that sample should have been held with all the other evidence but before it could be tested, there was a slight problem. >> they were looking at the lapd vault and couldn't find it. they were looking at the coroner's vault, couldn't find it. >> the crucial dna sample was missing for a month, until it was found buried in one of the prefridgeration units at the coroner's department. the envelope holding the dna sample from sherri's murder was crumpled, its case number partially torn off. it was tested and -- >> the profile came back to a female which kind of throws out the theory of a male intruder, possibly two male intruders as the original theory was from the burglary. >> you can tell from the dna stamp if you don't know who it is if it's male or female? >> absolutely. absolutely tells you gender. >> it was a stunning, new lead that seems to rule out the theory that sherri's murder was the result of a botched burglary by two men, and it suggested detectives had gone in the wrong direction back in 1986. >> 1986 was a busy time for us, not that that's any excuse. >> charlie beck is the current chief of the lapd. looking back, he admits the original investigation was flawed. >> detectives took the road most traveled, you know, they assumed it was a garden variety burglary and gone wrong, which we had plenty of at the time and followed that path and they turned a blind eye to outside evidence which they in hindsight should have followed it. >> sort of tunnel vision? >> that happens. i mean, you know, unfortunately we don't get every one of these right. >> police work is rarely as smooth and effortless as it appears to be on tv dramas. it would take nearly five more years before police would finally dig into the details of the 1986 case file and focus on the women listed in the original records. dna samples were collected from all of them. and one by one, they were ruled out as sherri's killer, but the last one would be a challenge. it was the former girlfriend of sherri's husband, and the problem wasn't finding her. detectives knew exactly where she was, and what she did for a living. coming up, police close in on a suspect, and she's the last person anyone would expect to be a killer. >> while i was saddened by it, i'm well past being shocked. >> when "internal affairs" continues. ♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪ [ female announcer ] starbucks via is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via taste promise. look for it where you buy groceries. with my citi thankyou points when it happened... [ glass breaks ] ...again. ♪ [ child ] run! [ man ] first it was the mailbox, then my squirrel... and now, this. so i used my points to make a donation to get the park down the street built. when it finally opened, i also used my points for... car repair. [ male announcer ] use citi thankyou points for almost anything. and earn them fast with the new citi thankyou preferred card. what's your story? citi can help you write it. lapd detectives had a hot lead in the cold case murder of sherri rasmussen. dna testing revealed the suspect had to be female. all the other women mentioned in the case files had been tested and eliminated, all but one. her name was stephanie lazarus. she was the ex-girlfriend of sherri's husband, john ruetton. police wouldn't have to look far to find her. stephanie was a colleague, a friend, a fellow lapd detective, the last person you'd expect to be a killer, and not just because of the badge she wore. stephanie ilen lazarus had grown up in southern california, a child of the '60s. she attended ucla where she excelled in sports and in the classroom. it was during her college days that she met and casually dated john ruetton, long before he and sherri got married. after graduating, lazarus joined the lapd. it was a career choice that her family never expected. >> i don't think i knew that she was applying. >> stephanie's brother, steven. >> i just know that when she got accepted to the academy, it became public knowledge and she was proud and excited about that. >> and why did she say she wanted to do that? >> it gave her an opportunity to experience all the things that police officers get to experience, which are to deal with human condition and investigations and things. i was very proud of steph. i thought that was really cool, i thought it was a cool thing. >> stephanie lazarus quickly rose through the ranks at the lapd, from patrol officer to detective. she was popular, friendly and well-regarded. her assignments also included project d.a.r.e., a drug prevention program aimed at kids. she was twice named detective of the year. lazarus later worked at internal affairs investigating other officers accused of wrongdoing or corruption, and was then promotored to the lapd's prestigious art theft unit. her personal life was good, too. in 1996, lazarus got married to another lapd detective. together they adopted a baby daughter. life both at home and on the job had never seemed better. >> she was a happy person. she loved what she did for work. she loved her husband, loved their life, and they were thriving as parents, you know, raising their daughter. could this mother, wife, and dedicated detective, also be a cold-bloo cold-blooded killer? there was only one way to find out, get her dna, and compare it with the sample found in the bite mark on sherri's arm. but getting lazarus' dna for comparison would be tricky and had to be done without tipping her off. for a week, she was tailed by detectives who drew the same paycheck she did, waiting for that perfect time and place to somehow snag a sample of her dna. finally, at a retail store, it happened. lazarus ordered a soft drink and drank it, leaving a trace of saliva on the cup, which she then tossed in the trash. it was more than enough for testing. >> technology on dna has come so far that i can breathe on something and they could get my entire profile from my breath. >> two dna samples, separated by 23 years. 24 hours later came the answer and they matched. the statistics were staggering -- a 402 quadrillion to one chance that the dna belonged to someone other than stephanie lazarus. >> i worked internal affairs. i've had the misfortune of having to arrest a number of police officers so while i was saddened by it, you know, i'm well past being shocked. >> maybe not shocking but it's -- >> oh, no, it's very sad. it's very sad because i no he what's going to happen. i've read this book before. i've seen this movie. >> like the lazarus mentioned in the new testament, this case had been raised from the dead. the rasmussen family say they had insisted from the start that the ex-girlfriend should have been a suspect, claiming sherri had talked about at least three different tense encounters with her and they say sherri described her as being angry and confrontational about john ruetton's decision to break up with her and get married to sherri. >> she had shown up at sherri's place of employment, where she worked, unannounced, had come to the house on two different occasions, had come into the house on one other previous occasion, and they told this to the detectives, starting the day immediately after the murder, and throughout the following years. >> taylor says that what happened here wasn't tunnel vision. it was deliberate blindness, specifically a cover-up that began in 1986 during the initial investigation, when the lapd was run by chief darryl gates. back in 1986, chief gates was aware of the sherri rasmussen murder, and the ongoing pressure to solve it, but there's no evidence he had any problem with the investigation back then. in fact, he even sent a letter of commendation, praising the work of the original detectives on the case, even though sherri's murder remained unsolved. that was more than a little frustrating to sherri's family. >> the rasmussens every time they would see the detectives who were investigating the crime ask them, what was the status of looking into john's ex-girlfriend, the l.a. police officer. they were always deflected, they were always put off. they were told they were watching too much tv. >> it is true that detectives didn't focus on stephanie lazarus back then, but her name does appear in the original lapd investigative file. it's not clear if she was ever questioned. what is clear is that stephanie was never a suspect. there's some distance between not getting it right and covering it up. >> there's a huge distance. you know, i can accept somebody that is unable to solve a crime that is solvable. i cannot accept somebody that covers up a crime or covers up an individual involved in a crime and i have have no, absolutely no indication that's what happened here. >> nothing to suggest they deliberately looked away from self know or that was a road they didn't want to go down. >> the closest i could come they didn't want to open up their mind to the broad range of suspects here. they had locked on to a theory and they stuck with it. i think it was lack of ability, not a deliberate, intentional act to exclude stephanie. >> but whatever had happened in 1986, by 2009, the lapd had found a suspect, the result of hard work by a new team of detectives, and a dna match that pointed straight at stephanie lazarus. beyond the dna, there was a circumstantial case. lapd records show lazarus was off-duty the day of the murder. and there was also this -- just two weeks after the murder, then officer stephanie lazarus reported her off-duty handgun had been stolen here in santa monica. it was a .38 revolver, the same caliber of the bullets that killed sherri rasmussen. that gun was never recovered. detectives wanted to speak with stephanie to see if they could elicit a statement, perhaps a confession, but they'd have to do that without tipping their hand and letting stephanie know that she was now deeply implicated in sherri rasmussen's murder, and so another secret plan was hatched, this time to get stephanie's side of the story, and the result would be captured on tape. coming up, detective lazarus is asked to help interrogate a suspect, only to discover she's the suspect. >> now you're accusing me of this? >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] the gerber generation is all for balanced nutrition. ♪ only graduates lil' entrees is designed just for toddlers with protein, grains, and a side of veggies plus a taste that's totally toddler. [ baby giggles ] [ female announcer ] join the gerber generation on facebook. ♪ come on up. what kind of toothpaste do you brush with? [ chime ] ooh. this shows your plaque germs. ok. [ scanning ] [ woman ] those are germs? yep. germ city. oooh. now with regular toothpaste, germs start to grow back right away. and they cause most dental problems. you wanna see a colgate total mouth? yes. [ scanning ] see, a lot less germs with colgate total. colgate total reduces 90% more plaque germs for 12 hours. big difference. [ engager ] colgate total. stop brushing with regular toothpaste and start fighting germs for 12 hours [ woman 2 ] alright i got a picture. one of the ways that we find restaurants for our blog, is the application urbanspoon. click a neighborhood, and a cuisine. then it pops out restaurant options. it's really good. on blackberry, it's a super app. you can add the restaurant to your contacts, map it, post to facebook, and tweet, without leaving the application. [ waitress ] hey ladies. it's like a slot machine, it's like cha ching. cha ching. you spin to win. i'm so full. [ male announcer ] more than apps. super apps. only at blackberry app world. june 5th, 2009, started routinely enough for lapd detective stephanie lazarus. she took the train to union station in downtown l.a., reporting for her normal shift this morning at police headquarters in parker center. after she arrived, two detectives, the men she didn't know from the lapd's elite robbery/homicide division asked her to help them interrogate a suspect regarding some stolen artwork which was stephanie's beat as detective. the suspect, they said, was being held in the lapd jail. so lazarus went down to a secured area in the basement where she would meet with two colleagues in a small interview room. all cops who enter this area are required to give up their guns. unarmed and unsuspecting, she didn't realize an undercover camera was recording her. >> hi. hi. >> and that's when detectives reveal that this conversation won't be about art. >> do you know ron rjohn ruetto? >> john ruetton? >> for stephanie lazarus it's a name out of her past. >> you said you dated john. how long did you guys date? >> i mean -- are you guys -- is this something -- i mean you said this was going to be about art and -- >> it wasn't an easy interview, and not just because cops hate to accuse one of their own. from the outset, lazarus seems uncomfortable and vague in her answers, especially when detectives ask about sherri rasmussen. >> do you remember ever talking to her, just -- >> i may have, you know. i may have talked to her. i -- it sounds -- you know -- >> you mentioned a hospital maybe, you may have talked to her at a hospital? >> yeah, umm -- yeah, i may have -- you know, i'm thinking back now you guys are bringing up all of these old memories. >> detectives zero in on that hospital visit and also another encounter she may have had have sherri at her condo, the same condo that later became a crime scene. >> i don't think i've ever gone there. i don't think, i don't -- i don't want to say no i've never gone there and say oh i was at a party because i don't -- shall you know, i don't think so. >> for more than an hour, detectives grill lazarus about her involvement with sherri rasmussen, and while lazarus admits to meeting sherri perhaps as many as several times she wasn't sure whether things got heated. >> did you ever fight with her? >> like fought? >> like duke it out with her. >> i don't think so. >> you'd remember that, that would be pretty -- >> yeah, i would think so. >> most of us can remember without much difficulty the number of fist fights we've had over the course of our lives, but while detective lazarus at one point answers no, when asked if she remembers attacking sherri or being attacked, at other points, she can't recall doing so. >> it just doesn't sound familiar. i mean what was i saying, i followed her so now i'm getting the jump, they're saying okay i followed her so i must have killed her. i mean come on. >> after about 45 minutes lazarus seems to realize she is now the prime suspect in sherri's murder. >> now you're accusing me of this? is that what it you're saying? >> we're trying to figure out what happened, stephanie. >> well, i was, you know, i'm just saying, you know -- do i need to get a lawyer if you're accusing me? >> minutes later, it came to an end that must have been as familiar as it was uncomfortable for all of them. >> it would be irresponsible on our part not to look at it. >> i know you guys have to do your job and i guess i'm going to have to contact somebody. >> that's fair. >> i mean, because i know how this stuff works. >> sure. >> i mean i, i, i just can't believe it. had. >> and then stephanie lazarus is read the same words she herself has read to hundreds of suspects over the years. >> stephanie, you know you have the right to remain silent. do you understand? >> yes. >> anything you say may be used against you in court, do youened? >> yes. >> and for just a moment you can see the handcuffs placed on her by her fellow officers. >> i'm like, i'm like in shock. i'm totally in shock. >> word traveled fast to tucson, where lapd detectives met with the rasmussen family to give them the news. >> this is coming to the forefront, only makes it seem like yesterday that this occurr occurred. i can't imagine. >> back in l.a., the lazarus family also got the news that stephanie had been blind-sided, that a mother, a sister, a wife, and a decorated lapd detective was now behind bars. >> well, it was numbing, you know. i'll tell you it's no less numbing right now. any time you're given, you know, devastating information, a death or, you know, your sister, who is a stellar human being, just got arrested for a 23-year-old cold case homicide, i absolutely believe in my heart and in my head that stephanie did not commit this crime. >> i'm guessing that one of the things you said or thought was, they got it wrong somehow. this is a mistake. >> absolutely. >> some error has been made here. >> yeah. it will be cleared up by the end of the day. >> right. >> didn't happen. >> didn't happen. >> and for the lapd it was a bittersweet day. a 23-year-old cold case they believed had finally been cracked, but the prime suspect was one of their own. >> i take no pleasure in arresting stephanie. i took no pleasure in it. i take no pleasure in prosecuting her but i do have some satisfaction in knowing that los angeles police department does the hard things. you know, we care about justice more than we care about internal issues or more than we even care about each other sometimes. >> the sad news, it hurts morale but to the l.a..ed. 's credit of all of the cold cases we're going to go out to this case, follow it and look at the leads. >> stephanie lazarus didn't go home that day after her arrest. bail at set at $10 million, much higher than most murder cases. the judge considered her a flight risk, citing the strong case against her. the lazarus family was outraged. >> the concept of innocent until proven guilty, it doesn't really prevail anymore. you know, $10 million essentially is no bail and it just doesn't seem right. if the judge would have said hey, i'm going to follow this district attorney's recommendation of between $3 million and $5 million, that would be really high bail. >> and you can't write $10 million bail. >> we can't raise $10 million bail. >> lazarus did find a lawyer, hiring prominent l.a. defense attorney mark overlund. he's convinced the evidence that led police to the arrest may not be what it seems, and stephanie's family believes that some members of the lapd might have their own reasons for wanting to see stephanie lazarus behind bars. >> i absolutely feel stephanie didn't do it. she's being set up. >> was the fix in for detective lazarus? and coming up sunday on "dateline," janet jackson, finding herself. >> i feel very you an tractive to head to toe. >> intimate revelations, painful memories. >> i got called a lot of names, pig, cow, slut or hog. >> about her weight, her family, her father. >> he said "i'm joseph t. "you do not call me that. ed an emotional interview with ♪ [ male announcer ] this isn't new york city... ♪ ...or the windy city... ♪ ...or sin city... and we're certainly no one's emerald city. ♪ we're the motor city and this is what we do. ♪ ♪ tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that i didn't even understand -- i was so naive. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i mean, i still need help. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 but not from some guy that's just going to sell me stuff. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i need somebody who works with me, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 speaks a language i understand, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and basically helps me make better decisions. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 maybe i'm still being naive? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] no hard sell. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no attitude. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no broker-speak. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's different when you talk to chuck. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 ♪ pay close attention. a is for angus. one-hundred percent juicy mouth-watering beef. b is for bacon... savory...crispy... and hickory-smoked. c is for...something new... c is a swift kick in the taste buds. c is for chipotle. the new chipotle bbq bacon angus burger -- a sweet smoky blend of chipotle peppers... [ man ] mmmmmm... ...and tangy bbq sauce that flips the script on angus. and it's in a wrap. it's for a limited time, so don't be tardy. the simple joy of acing the taste test. ba da ba ba ba. that's crazy. i'm like, i'm like in shock. i'm totally in shock. >> stephanie lazarus was interrogated, cuffed and arrested for murder in june 2009. since that day, she has been locked up in a 6 x 9 cell. 20 months behind bars, unable to make $10 million bail. lazarus has pleaded not guilty. her defense attorney, mark overland, is conducting his own investigation. he says he's convinced the cops have it all wrong and that the evidence doesn't add up. beginning with those meetings between stephanie and sherri at the hospital, apparently over the man in the middle of this alleged love triangle, john ruetton. >> stephanie went to see sherri? >> yes. >> i'm guessing not to wish her well in her new marriage. >> no, but i can tell you what happened. john was still calling her, and stephanie went to tell sherri, look, you guys are getting married. tell him not to call me. you better tell him to lay off. >> not "your marriage isn't going anywhere to him and i'm ready to step in if anything goes wrong?" >> that's nonsense and there's hearsay to say that's what happened but that never happened. >> overland does admit that back in 19 6 stephanie was unhappy when she learned that her former boyfriend, john ruetton, was planning to marry sherri rasmussen, rather than continue a relationship with her. in fact, in a journal stephanie kept back then, which was seized at the time of her arrest, lazarus wrote "i really don't feel like working. i found out john is getting married. i was very depressed, very sad. my concentration was negative ten." was she obsessed with him? >> absolutely not, and there's no evidence of that. >> so she didn't care, when he broke up with her and married somebody else? >> well, no, she certainly did care and there was an incident before the homicide where she called john and asked him for the final time whether or not this relationship had a chance to go further. >> and he said, no, i'm getting engaged. >> i don't know if it exactly went that way, because they ended up having sex that night. but it was made clear that he was going to get married. >> and that, according to overland, was the last time that lazarus and ruetton had any contact, until after the murder. as for the dna evidence, swabbed from a bite mark that apparently occurred during a violent struggle, and which places stephanie at the crime scene, overland insists it's been compromised, and he showed us a mock-up of what that evidence envelope looked like when it was finally found at the coroner's department. >> the vial was protruding. the vial was clearly movable, rather than being inside the envelope and sealed in order to protect the sbeg riintegrity of evidence. i think what you have here is tampering. >> this couldn't be the result of slopiness, carelessness or a mistake? it has to be tampering? >> slopiness and there's a tear in the envelope, with the vial protruding? even if there's a tear, why is the vial protruding? >> that says tampering to you, that says frame job? >> i'm not saying it's deliberate tampering but whether it's slopiness or carelessness or negligence or recklessness. you can't rely on the scientific results. >> the case could well turn on the weight given to that microscopic speck of dna that's freighted with such huge implications and whether a damaged envelope means the evidence inside it is also compromised. stephanie's brother, steven, believes that not only is the dna evidence tainted, but also that his sister is a target, perhaps because she was once assigned to the department's internal affairs unit. >> i absolutely think that stephanie has been set up. i'm not comfortable talking about why i feel that way or what's happening with that, but i absolutely feel stephanie didn't do it, and therefore what's the explanation? she's being set up. >> i understand the family's grief. you know, i understand the family's inability to come to grips with this, you know, and when you're -- when things don't make sense to you, sometimes you reach out. >> any officer, internally trying to frame another officer for whatever reason would be taking an enormous risk. >> oh, they'd be risking not only their career, but their freedom, because i would vigorously prosecute them. >> prosecutors would not speak to us about the case as they prepare for trial. john ruetton declined our request for an interview. in the r and the rasmussen family isn't commenting either but their attorney, john taylor, is convinced stephanie lazarus killed their daughter and he says they believed that from the beginning. >> they would like to see justice be done. they would like to see the trial proceed. they look forward to the trial. they will be present at every court appearance until now until the criminal process is concluded. >> sometime this spring or summer, that trial is expected to begin at this courthouse in downtown l.a., a quarter of a century after a young, pretty and promising nurse was found murdered in her own home, more than 25 years after a young officer joined the lapd and began to rise through its ranks, but what will constitute justice after so long? would a guilty verdict be enough for the rasmussen family? will the words "not guilty "resurrect stephanie lazarus' life and career? and what would any verdict mean to the l.a..ed. ? lapd? 25 years of questions and doubts. all of it may be too much for any trial to put to rest. >> and that's all for this edition of "dateline" friday. we're back again for "dateline" sunday at 7:00, 6:00 central. i'm ann curry and for all of us here at nbc news, good night.

Related Keywords

United States ,New York ,California ,San Fernando Valley ,Parker Center ,America ,American ,Sherri Ray Rasmussen ,Santa Monica ,Josh Mankiewicz ,John Taylor ,Meredith ,Los Angeles ,Janet Jackson ,Myles Corwin ,Sherri Rasmussen ,Charlie Beck ,Ferrero Rocher ,Loretta Rasmussen ,Paul Morell ,Althea Kennedy ,Nba ,Meredith Vieira ,Mary Kate ,Logan Morell ,Stephanie Lazarus ,Byron Higgins ,