look at an old lead. he just said it s a match a person no one would hav ever suspected of murder we were going to end this was suddenly suspect number one. perfect murder. almost hello welcome to dateline . she was a new bride marrie just three months, then she wa found murdered what happened to her remained mystery for decades partly because police told us the thief must have killed her during a break-in gone bad they discovered it wasn t murder, but a suspect whos trail right to their own front door here is josh mankiewicz with the smoking gun. february 1st, 2009. the detective arrived before dawn at the los angeles police department s van nuys station. i was tired i was tired. he had hosted a super bow party the night before and the beer had flowed freely that seemed to be a good da to have a cup of coffee an caught up on my reading. a couple of aspirin maybe he reached for a file sitting on his desk for months the file of sherri rasmu
one of the most extraordinary cases in lapd history. toto, were not in kansas anymore. a newlywed murdered months after her wedding. as she walked away, she gave me a big smile and and i lived in that smile for years. and all the time episode the killer was hiding in plain sight. no indication she was ever spoken to? no. then a new detective took a look at an old lead. he just said it s a match. a person no one would have ever suspected of murder. we were going to end this. was suddenly suspect number one. perfect murder. almost. hello. 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 told us the thief must have killed her during a break-in gone bad. they discovered it wasn t a murder, but a suspect whose trail right to their own front door. here is josh mankiewicz with the smoking gun. february 1st, 2009. the dete
have patented gel waves that absorb shock to hard-working muscles and joints, for all-day energy. years had passed and no arrests had been made in the brutal 1986 slaying of nurse and newlywed sherri rasmussen. killed in her los angele condo. the trail kept gettin colder. in 1993, sherri
we really did not expect this result with the state of the evidence and the way mr. overland presented the case, so it s devastating. for the lapd, a cold case was finally solved, but with painful side effects. i m very pleased, but it s bittersweet. and i m thrilled that the conclusion has been reached and that some form of justice has been brought to a family that has grieved for far too long. we would much rather that this not be a los angeles police detective. that s for sure. i ve known stephanie for 5 years. this is a tragedy on a bunch of levels. this is not something that we are proud of in that we had a los angeles police detective involved here. stephanie lazarus was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. as for that wrongful death civil lawsuit that sherri rasmussen s parents filed against lazarus, they were awarded $10 million. and so, ended the case of a detective
the initial theory of this crime, that, in fact, it was a burglary. and that there was a woman involved in the burglary? that there was a woman involved in the burglary. looking back now in hindsight, it was an opportunity that may have slipped through our hands as an organization. but now nuttall took a closer look at the crime scene photos and began to develop his own very different theory. remember, sherri rasmussen was shot at point blank range after a violent struggle, and despite the stereo equipment stacked by the front door, very little was actually stolen. the suspect made it appear to look like a burglary. they staged it to mislead the investigation in 1986. she was executed. in other words, someone had wanted sherri rasmussen dead. so now, nuttall dug deeper through the file looking for names, female names. we had five women that would have had access to sherri and perhaps at least some of them