Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20200720

All the time, the killer was hiding in plain sight. No indication she had ever spoken to him . No. Then old detective looked at old lead and person no one suspected of murder was suspect number one. Perfect murder. Almost hello and welcome to dateline. She was a new bride, married just three months, then she was found murdered what happened to her remained a mystery for decades, partly because police mistakenly believed she was killed during a breakin gone bad. But when detectives finally reopened this case, they discovered it wasnt a burglar but a suspect whose trail led right to their own front door. Heres Josh Mankiewicz with the smoking gun. February 2nd, 2009, homicide detective arrives before dawn at Los Angeles Police departments van nuys station. I was tired reporter had nht before, and beer flowed freely. Seemed to be good way to spend the day, cup of coffee and caught up on reading. Reporter cup of aspirin. Maybe reporter reached for a file sitting on his desk for months, murder of Sheri Rasmussen. Shot to death in her condo, a few miles from where nuttal worked just as troubling, murdered a generation ago, february 1996. Meaning the odds of catching her killer were slim to none memories fade, evidence has to be relocated, so its obviously uphill battle, what youre working with. Reporter doesnt begin to describe it. Cold case file that he opened that bleary eyed monday morning would lead him on chase of a lifetime and shake the foundations of the lapd. Dates back to 1986 and battle for truth by parents of a young bride. We miss her every day. Nils and loretta rasmussen. Doesnt make a difference what day it is, its a pain always there, no cure for it reporter who would want to kill Sheri Rasmussen she was hardworking, popular with friends and coworkers, a nurse at local hospital. Implementing the program. Devastating day she was 29 years old, just in the prime of her career. Reporter Althea Kennedy was sheris boss at the hospital and had originally hired her. We couldnt believe it first of all, how could someone do this people crying, people upset. The hospital was like a tomb, you know, so the loss was really p palpable reporter sheri had just been married to engineer john ruttan. Were they happily married unusually so. Reporter but months after the wedding, john found sheri sprawled dead on the floor of their home he might seem a likely suspect but john was cleared almost immediately. Lapd focused instead that this was a burglary that turned violent. This was no accident. Reporter retired crime scene investigator and consultant to dateline. Multiple shots fired, at close range. Reporter shes reviewed Court Records and media reports on this case we return with her to the actual apartment where sheri was found murdered to try to understand what happened. Police think maybe the killer just walked in the open front door. They didnt find any forced entry, so yes theyre assuming the front door was open and kill killer walked right in reporter and here was a confrontation. Appears to be a struggle. Not just a struggle but shots fired at this point. One shot clearly goes straight through the back slider, and another shot that went through sheri and back out through the slider also. So sheri is now wounded and tries to get back downstairs. Correct shes bleeding profusely, very wounded. Gets down these steps appears like trying to go out the door or make it to alarm box where theres a panic button we believe sheri went down in this foyer area due to the fact you could see marks in this as well as broken finger untinailsm her hands. Reporter tremendous fight going on. Killer is dragging her through this area, takes a vase, hits her in the head, knocking her out, grabs blanket, muzzles the gun and does a contact shot into the victim. Reporter so thats an execution. That would be correct reporter as for a motive, it seemed to be in plain sight, just a few feet from sheris body they found vcr and disc player stacked up by the front door. As if going to steal them indication this was burglary or Home Invasion gone wrong. Reporter purse was missing and bmw, a gift from john. No sign of the murder weapon but detectives did recover two. 38 caliber slugs and Something Else. Inside of sheris right arm they found a bite mark crime scene analyst swabbed it for saliva that could belong to the killer. Reporter and contain dna from whoever bit sheri this was 1986, years before dna Testing Technology would arrive to link a suspect to a sample like this one. Back then the dna wasnt much help, but the swab was carefully packaged and bundled with all the other evidence for now detectives didnt have much else to work with no eyewitnesss, no useable fingerprints, no clear motive except the theory of botched burglary. By the level of violence that occurred in the residence, theory was it was a man or two men who went in the residence for a Home Invasion that had gone terribly wrong, murdered the victim to cover up the theft and fled. Gone wrong because sheri somehow surprised them, panicked and shot her, then fled. Seemed to make sense, especially since sheri had no apparent enemies who wanted to kill her or so they thought. Coming up went to sheris office, said if she couldnt have john, nobody good. When dateline continues all the way out here just for a blurry photo of me. Oh, thats a good one. Wait, whats that . Thats just the lowbattery warning. Oh, alright. Now its all, check out my rv, and, lets go fourwheeling. Maybe theres a little part of me that wanted to be seen. Well, progressive helps people save when they bundle their home with their outdoor vehicles. So theyve got other things to do now, bigfoot. Wait, whatd you just call me . Bigfoot . My name is daryl. 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If your financial situation has changed, we may be able to help. If yits very common to havehave has changedsensitivity a gum Health Concern as well. You know, i talk to dentists every day and theyre able to recommend new sensodyne sensitivity gum. Its really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product that can address two conditions. The year was 1996, crack was hitting los angeles and city of angels was becoming a violent place. Murder rate hit killings that year three times the amount of 2016, and lapd was stretched very thin. This is time homicide was booming in los angeles. Reporter best selling author proliferation of highpowered weaponry, gangs expanding and drugs hitting the street detectives were overwhelmed. Reporter now the cops have hands full with especially heinous crime in sprawling san fernando valley. Sheri rasmussen brutally murdered then a possible lead consultant for nbc news. In the same vincinity another woman was approached in her resident by two males at gunpoint also a Home Invasion robbery situation. Thought these two men could have something to do with the murder. Reporter a composite sketch was released but still had no prints, witnesses or murder weapons connecting them or anyone else to sheris murder, and dna was useless. Right now. Police collected it anyway, why . At crime scenes, if theres possible evidence youre not going to leave it behind great forethought to recover it. Reporter detectives scoured the condo and complex. Only thing apparently stolen from the garage was sheris car, recovered a mile from the crime scene with the keys still in it. Only other thing missing, sheri and her husbands marriage license. Seemed an odd thing to steal cash, computers and jewelry werent touched. Wasnt only thing strange. Crime was very violent for a twobit burglary. Overkill. Sheris boss had to review her autopsy for insurance reasons and was struck by what she saw. I thought she really put up a heck of a fight. Wasnt real surprising sheri was tall, athletic and im sure wouldnt go down easily. The lapd theory back then was that there were two men robbing the house so sheri would have fought with two guys does that sound like sheri that part didnt make a lot of sense to me if there were two men and they had a gun, just seemed weird because sheri wouldnt be in a fight with two guys who were armed . I wouldnt think so a woman i think she would have taken on a woman. We just really want to know what happened. Reporter sheris parents never thought it was a burglary. Had strange encounters dined at restaurant. Woman watching her scary eyes. Runin at hospital where sheri worked went to sheris office and said if she couldnt have john, nobody could reporter most terrifying, encounter in sheris own home and by now she knew who the mystery woman was. She heard a noise and looked up there was johns exgirlfriend. How did she get in the house . We have no idea reporter johns e exgirlfriend appeared to be stalking sheri but never mentioned her name to her parents. Wanted them not to worry. See if i cant work this out myself. Reporter that conversation in a dinner celebrating sheris 29th birthday. Afterwards took sheri to the airport. As she walked away, turned and gave me a big smile, and i relived that smile for years reporter less than three weeks later, Sheri Rasmussen lay dead the rasmussens insist that early in the investigation they told the lead lapd detective about sheris troubling encounters with johns exgirlfriend. I told the detective not once but probably 15 to 20 times. And he said trouble with you, watching too much tv. Coming up, old evidence offers new clues. Suspect made it appear to look like burglary, staged it to mislead the initial investigation in 1986. She was execute. 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Lapd declined. They said we dont have a suspect. If we had a suspect and dna, then would have something to match. Reporter and the case sat for another decade then in 2004, lapds newly formed cold case unit was conducting dna tests on unsolved cases, one of them the murder of Sherri Rasmussen it took two months to actually find that saliva sample buried in refrigeration unit. Label was torn, poking out, but saliva was still inside and dna was just enough to blow this case wide open in the lab report it indicated that suspect that had bitten Sherri Rasmussen during the struggle was actually a female reporter a woman, not two male burglars as the detectives had suspected. But would take two more years to understand what that crucial test result meant. It was 2009 and cold again 22 years it sat, no apparent leads, suspects or answers for the rasmussen family then came that monday after the super bowl when detective jim nutall started picking through the old case file and made a remarkable discovery the dna test that had been conducted on that bite mark in 2004 once the department figured out a woman was involved, why did it take 22 years, what was the department doing in the interim . From what it appears, investigators may have followed the initial theory that it was a burglary. Reporter and woman involved in the burglary . In hindsight, organization that may have slipped through our hands as organization. Reporter but now nutall looked at the photos and developed his own theory Sherri Rasmussen was shot at point blank range after violent struggle and despite the stereo equipment stacked by front door, very little was actually stolen. Suspect made it look like burglary, staged it to mess up the investigation in 1986. She was executed. Reporter someone had wanted Sherri Rasmussen dead, so nutall dug through the file for name, female name. Three we eliminated almost immediately for insufficient motive. Reporter but still two name left, one a coworker a woman named deb braorah th worked with sherri in the hospital replaced by sherri in official capacity and problems followed after that. Reporter bad blood between them a motive. Reporter deborah had moved and nutall asked local Law Enforcement to watch her and secretly snag her dna for comparison testing in the meantime learned more about the second husband, contacted john ruetten, now remarried. In relationship with Stephanie Lazarus. Reporter that was the other name still on the short list of suspects nutall pressed john ruetten for more on their relationship started as students in ucla, dated on and off until john got engaged to sherri. Even then youre convinced th lazarus overlapped with the relationship with his wife we know from john, at least one incident he was engaged and intimate with Stephanie Lazarus, it was love triangle and lazarus had deep feelings for john ruetten, maybe a motive to hurt Sherri Rasmussen reporter scorned lover or coworker a few weeks later cops in Northern California tracked down deborah and scooped up a sam of her trash which contained dna. It was sent to the crime lab in l. A. For hours later, came the. She was not the donor of the dna from the bite. Reporter left just one suspect, john ruettens exgirlfriend Stephanie Lazarus. Nutall called the rasmussens. There was message from detective, they wanted to talk to us. I thought oh, yeah, right. Thought it was another false hope reporter this was detective nutall right. He said they were opening the investigation. Upset with me, detective, where have you been the last two decades . Reporter now Nils Rasmussen explained it all, how he told detectives in 1986 someone was stalking his daughter sherri, a woman with crazy eyes, the exgirlfriend of sherris husband. Nils had never known the name Stephanie Lazarus but did know Something Else about her, something very important, and by this time, detective nutall knew it too. He was cautious with what he said, but said we would be hearing more from him. Reporter nutall had ample reason to be cautious because hed learned that Stephanie Lazarus wore the same badge he did. We now have a Los Angeles Police officer as a person of interest in a murder case. Reporter add you thought ive bitten off more than i can chew toto, were not in kansas anymore, that changed everything. Coming up, top secret investigation as detectives go after one of their own we would never leave a paper trail of what we were doing. She worked our unit. When dateline continues wh. Get in its way. Hpv can affect males and females. 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From the outset her parents told investigators about several runins sherri had with her husbands ex now detective was focusing on the same woman, a member of the lapd heres Josh Mankiewicz with more of the smoking gun. Reporter for two decades the lapd had but one rasmussens mu, randomly killed by two men in botched burglary now science had rewritten the script and almost too hot to handle prime suspect, lapd detective named Stephanie Lazarus. But as detective nutall went back through it, no evidence never spoken to . No. Reporter only one thing, detective had written Stephanie Lazarus, po. As if her name had come up, not as suspect no notes no paper trail. Reporter seemed to be above suspicion. Stephanie irene lazarus grew up in california, tomboy of sorts, loved sports attended ucla, played basketball in college met and dated john ruetten long before he and sherri got married after graduating in 1982, surprised her family joining lapd, when only a handful of women entered the force. I dont think i knew she was applying reporter stephanies brother stephen. I thought it was cool thing reporter quickly rose through the ranks 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 twice named detective of year. Later worked at internal affairs investigating other officers accused of crime or corruption and promoted to the art theft unit personal life was good too, got married to another lapd detective. Together they adopted a baby Daughter Life at home and on the job never seemed better. She was a happy person, loved what she did for work. Loved her husband, their life. Reporter but in 2009, this high achieving cop became the focus of a murder investigation. Had to be mindful she had many friends on the force her husband worked the same station as nutall did. Going to work behind closed doors, never leave a paper trail. Reporter and gave lazarus a code name, number five and contrary to Police Procedure decided not to tell lapd headquarters their new suspect was a fellow detective doing that to protect her or your investigation from her . Dual purpose. Integrity of the investigation and if she was not involved, nobody would ever know about it. Reporter four cops knowingly skirted department rules to investigate one of their own difficult phase of our career she was one of us, worked our unit, side by side with people around us. Reporter but nutall and three fellow detectives didnt waver, built a case on the original files and interviewing sherris family. It was clear that lazarus had the means, motive and opportunity to kill Sherri Rasmussen. Seemed obsessed with john and his new wife was she the person with the scary eyes stalking sherri to nutall, it added up especially consider this, sherris purse and contents were recovered after the murder, except for one thing only thing not recovered was john and sherris marriage certificate. Reporter after three months of intense, secretive investigation, nutalls team needed one more piece of evidence to either clear detective lazarus or incriminate her. Needed syrup tishs piece of her dna. Not cut out for this work. Reporter so brought internal affairs into the loop, hoping to close the loop and recover her dna. She was tailed for days as undercover cops waited for her to leave piece of herself behind finally a retail store it happened ordered a soft drink, drank it, dna on the straw which she tossed in the trash. More than enough for testing two dna samples separated by two decades. 48 hours later jim nutall got a call from supervisor simple, just said it was match. Reporter good feeling, bad both surreal, that call, never forget it. Reporter but Stephanie Lazarus was still free and had no clue after 23 years her own department was on her tail for murder detectives wanted to speak to stephanie to elicit a statement or perhaps a confession but without revealing how deeply implicated she was in Sherri Rasmussens murder another secret plan was hatched, this time to get stephanies side of the story, all captured on tape. Stephanie lazarus is asked by fellow detectives to help in interrogation, only to discover shes the suspect. Coming up so i must have killed her i mean come on when dateline continues with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 8 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. 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After arriving, stephanie was told to meet with two detectives, men she didnt know from lapds elite robbery Homicide Investigation to help interrogate a suspect about art, because its part of the jail, all cops who enter are required to give up their guns unarmed and unsuspecting, lazarus didnt realize she was being recorded by undercover camera hi. My partner hi. Reporter thats when detectives revealed this conversation wasnt about art. Do you know john ruetten . John ruetten . How long did you guys date . I dont know i mean is this something you said it was something about art. Reporter detective lazarus seemed uncomfortable and vague in her answers, especially when detectives asked about Sherri Rasmussen. You know, i may have talked to her you know mentioned hospital maybe . Talked to her at hospital . Yeah, yeah, i may have im thinking back, bringing up all these old memories reporter detectives turned up the heat. Did you have a fight with her . Fought . Duke it out with her . No, i dont think so. Youd remember that right, would be pretty yeah, i would think so. Most of us can remember without much difficulty the number of fist fights weve had over the course of our lives but while detective lazarus at one point answers know when asked if she remembers attacking sherri or being attacked, at other times cant recall that ever happened. Doesnt sound familiar. What are they saying that i fought with her and i jump i fought with her so i must have killed her come on. Reporter after 45 minutes lazarus realized she was the prime suspect in sherris murder. Now youre accusing me of this is that what youre saying were trying to figure out what happened, stephanie well i was, you know, im just saying, you know, do i need to get a lawyer . Are you accusing me of something . Reporter minutes later came to an end that must have been as familiar as it was uncomfortable for all of them. I know you guys have to do your job and i guess i have to contact somebody thats fair. Because i know how this stuff works. Reporter then Stephanie Lazarus was read the same words she herself had read to hundreds of suspects over the years. You have the right to remain silent, do you understand . Yes. Reporter and for just a moment can see the handcuffs placed on her by her fellow officers. Im totally in shock. Reporter word of lazaruss arrest traveled fast to tucson where detective nuttall was standing by to deliver the news to the rasmussen family. Tell me what you said . You were right, folks, you folks were right, and i apologize it took us over two decades to give them that closure. Feel better most gratifying moment of my career. I was extremely happy i said i feel like i knew it all along. Reporter back in l. A. , the lazarus family also got the news it was numbing. Reporter guessing one of the things you thought for felt, they got it wrong, this is a mistake . Absolutely. Reporter error been made. Going to get cleared up by end of day reporter right didnt happen. Didnt happen. Reporter Stephanie Lazarus at any time go home after her arrest, bail set at 10 million, much higher than most murder cases. Judge cited her a flight risk due to the strength of the evidence against her cold case had finally been cracked and prime suspect worked right beside them. For the rasmussen family it also brought back bitter memories of the investigation. I think it was because she was a Police Officer and they figured they would cover this one up reporter family hired prominent l. A. Attorney john taylor who filed lawsuit against detective lazarus and rest of the lapd, claiming that department deliberately ignored clues pointing to fellow officer. Earlier missteps of lapd werent missteps, they were intentional conduct, intentional ignoring of evidence and intentional dereliction of duties, beyond just being sloppy and lazy. Reporter fact they didnt close the case and didnt listen to the family, those are not evidence of the coverup. Wasnt that they didnt close the case, they didnt do anything to create a case. Reporter says in 1986 the detectives were protecting Stephanie Lazarus. They actively covered up the identity of the person who committed this crime. Reporter the rasmussens lawsuit alleging coverup was dismissed in 2011. Charlie beck was l. A. Chief then, spoke with us about the case. I can accept someone unable to solve a crime not solving it. I cannot accept someone covering up a crime or individual involved in a crime. I have absolutely no indication that happened here. Reporter nothing suggested they looked away from stephanie or road they didnt want to go down i think it was lack of ability, not deliberate act to exclude stephanie. Reporter in february of 2012, nearly 26 years to the day since Sherri Rasmussens murder, Stephanie Lazarus would have her day in court, chance to clear her name and reputation and show that dna evidence isnt always right and that the Los Angeles Police department had it all wrong. Coming up, did the lapd have it wrong johns still calling, and stephanie went to tell sherri, look, you guys are getting married, tell him not to call me we the jury find the defendant when dateline continues whether its a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. So go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our technowizardry calculates your cars value and gives you a real offer in seconds. When youre ready, well come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. Thats it. So ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. Faced the competition and we broke through. 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Get zero percent financing on all 2020 lexus models. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Welcome back there was a lot at stake at murder trial of lapd detective Stephanie Lazarus, who stood accused of murdering Sherri Rasmussen. The prosecution believed the dna evidence was smoking gun but the defense said it was tainted. What would the jury believe . Here is Josh Mankiewicz with the conclusion of the smoking gun. Reporter it took 26 years to get here, a generation of false leads, missed opportunities, a familys frustration, a Police Departments nightmare february 6th, 2012, the people versus Stephanie Lazarus finally began in a courtroom in downtown los angeles. Prosecution laid out a clear case how Stephanie Lazarus was deeply in lovewith john ruette and was devastated when he became engaged to sherri, then executed her and covered it up by staging a burglary. The Opening Statement was quite dramatic he came up with a theme which was the case was about a bite, a bullet, a gun barrel and a broken heart and that kind of resonated in the courtroom. Reporter the jury saw journals Police Seized from stephanies home, detailing how upset she was when she learned john was engaged to someone else stephanies date book was also introduced, which mentioned locksmithing books which could explain no forced entry to the condo. On the day of the murder, Patrol Officer happened to be off duty. Ammunition used in the shooting was same type used by lapd and same caliber as lazaruss offduty a. 38 revolver she reported stolen two weeks before the murder. Really smoking gun was the bite mark dna found at the scene. Dna was center of the case. This shows she was there without the dna, could not have placed her at the condo. Reporter and the statistics were staggering. 1 sext illian chance dna belonged to someone else insisting had been mishandled, improperly stamped and sealed. Vile was protruding, rather than being inside the envelope and sealed to protect the integrity of the evidence. You cant rely on the scientific results. Reporter also said that hair, blood and fingerprints at crime scene did not come from lazarus, as for the weapon, several other guns besides stephani stephanies could have fired the bullet and as for motive, there was no evidence she was obsessed with john quite the opposite. John was still calling. And stephanie went to tell sherri, look, you guys are getting married, id tell him not to call me reporter after five weeks, it was up to the jury. Loretta and Nils Rasmussen had waited a lot longer than that. Do you feel confident . Never know what a jurys going to do. We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Stephanie Irene Lazarus guilty of the murder of Sherri Rasmussen, and further find the murder of the first degree reporter day the rasmussen family thought would never come finally did as their attorney explained. Family is overwhelmingly relieved that again, their suspicions and todays verdict reflects and confirmed the identity of the person who killed their daughter and intent with which she did it. Its a tremendous relief reporter for the lazarus family, their wife, daughter, sister and once decorated detective was now a convicted killer. We really didnt expect this result with the state of the evidence and way mr. Oberlin presented the case its devastating reporter for the lapd, cold case finally solved, painful side effects. Im thrilled that conclusion has been reached and some form of justice been brought to the family would have much rather this not be a Los Angeles Police detective for sure ive known stephanie a number of years, this is a tragedyon a bunch of levels, not something we are proud of that Los Angeles Police detective was involved here reporter sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. As for the wrongful death civil lawsuit sherris parents filed against lazarus, they were awarded 10 million. Ended the case of the detective finally caught by her own department she almost got away with it almost committed the perfect murder who better to do thapolice offi thats all for this edition of dateline. Im natalie morales. Thanks for watching. Nd this is im craig melvin. Im natalie morales. And this is dateline. Denita was a light in this dark world thats what she was about. She was just a cup of love im like, who saw this coming . A beautiful young student gunned down. Things like that just didnt happen there why who . Who would want to do this . I thought i had my man. Her boyfriend was a Police Officer. I