The Strange Stephanie Lazarus Case — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Hey you and welcome. My name is Mike and
2. 0:05in this old video, like every video is
3. 0:07old, we're going to take a look at the
4. 0:08batshit insane case of Stephanie
5. 0:11Lazarus. When Sher Rasm Muen was found
6. 0:14murdered in her home in 1986, it seemed
7. 0:17to have been a robbery gone wrong. And
8. 0:19so the case went cold for non 20 years
9. 0:22when, like the man himself, it came back
10. 0:26from the dead. In this video, you got
11. 0:29your crazy love triangle, your crazy
12. 0:31interview with crazy lady, who was a
13. 0:34cop, by the way, and then your 20 years
14. 0:37of people pointing the finger and nobody
15. 0:39doing anything about it until they did.
16. 0:43So, let's stop kicking the tires.
17. 0:47[Music]
18. 0:58Our story begins with a man by the name
19. 1:00of John Rutton who was basically caught
20. 1:03in the middle of this entire affair and
21. 1:05the affair he was having. John was born
22. 1:08in 1959 and began attending UCLA in
23. 1:111978. While attending university
24. 1:14studying mechanical engineering, he met
25. 1:16a certain Stephanie Lazarus.
26. 1:19Sound familiar? She's the title of the
27. 1:22video. What are the odds? Stephanie was
28. 1:24also a fellow UCLA student. She was
29. 1:26studying political science. And guess
30. 1:30what? They started dating. They kind of
31. 1:32had an on again offagain relationship.
32. 1:34It was never official. They were more
33. 1:36like um friends with benefits. Now,
34. 1:39while they were fooling around in
35. 1:41university, Stephanie threw a couple of
36. 1:43red flags. For example, she'd photograph
37. 1:45him naked while he was asleep. Harmless
38. 1:48stuff, not really. But this went on for
39. 1:51a number of years until they both
40. 1:52graduated. He would get a job with a
41. 1:54hard drive manufacturer and Stephanie H,
42. 1:58wouldn't you know it, would join the
43. 2:00LAPD, getting her badge in 1983.
44. 2:04In June 1984, John would later meet Sher
45. 2:07Russ Mueen, a director of nursing at
46. 2:09Glendale Activist Medical Center. As the
47. 2:12year went on, things began getting
48. 2:14pretty serious with Sherry having
49. 2:17diamonds in her eyes. But Stephanie, oh
50. 2:19boy, she had not forgotten about old
51. 2:22dear John. Even though they had stopped
52. 2:23dating about 2 years previous when they
53. 2:26both uh graduated university in 1984,
54. 2:30Stephanie threw a surprise birthday
55. 2:31party for John. It was his 25th
56. 2:33birthday. Um, she was totally out of the
57. 2:36loop that he was in a pretty serious
58. 2:39relationship with another woman, Sher.
59. 2:42And when she found out that John was
60. 2:45seeing somebody else,
61. 2:48oh boy. Stephanie would even write to
62. 2:50John's mother telling her of how
63. 2:52heartbroken she was.
64. 2:57The next year, Stephanie rocked up to
65. 2:58John's condo to get closure. One final
66. 3:02bang, they were good to go. John was
67. 3:05engaged to Sherry at the time. And
68. 3:08remember how I said one final bang and
69. 3:10they were good to go. I lied. That just
70. 3:12seemed to lead Stephanie on even more.
71. 3:15She would pop by to John and Sherry's
72. 3:17all the time. And this made Sherry feel
73. 3:19very uncomfortable. No [ __ ] She knew
74. 3:22they had a ting in college. Sherry and
75. 3:25John, they would get married in 1985.
76. 3:27Stephanie didn't give a [ __ ] One time,
77. 3:30Stephanie even popped by Sherry's office
78. 3:33to tell Sherry that things weren't over
79. 3:36between her and Jon, and that if
80. 3:38Stephanie couldn't have Jon,
81. 3:41no one could, which is a totally normal
82. 3:43thing to say if you're a cartoon
83. 3:45villain. Sherry would relay her fears to
84. 3:48her parents, that she might be dealing
85. 3:50with a nut job, that she thought
86. 3:52Stephanie might be out to get her. At
87. 3:54times she would even come out of the
88. 3:55condo she lived in with Jon in Van Noise
89. 3:58and see Stephanie standing outside in
90. 4:00her LAPD uniform. And a few days before
91. 4:05what happened, Sherry even told her
92. 4:07parents she believed she was being
93. 4:10followed.
94. 4:13Early on the 24th of February 1986, John
95. 4:17left the condo he lived in with his wife
96. 4:18of 3 months for a lovely day of work
97. 4:21ahead. 29-year-old Sher Russ Meson was
98. 4:24due to start her job later that day.
99. 4:27Though she was supposed to give a
100. 4:28motivational speech at work, which in my
101. 4:32experience I just usually crocs a [ __ ]
102. 4:34and she was not in humor for it. She was
103. 4:36actually uh she was going to pull a
104. 4:38sicky sick come in. Boohoo.
105. 4:40So Sherry would stay at home for the day
106. 4:43and this is when things get dark
107. 4:46darker. So John had left for work.
108. 4:49Sherry was at home and at 9:45 a.m. a
109. 4:52neighbor noticed their garage door was
110. 4:55open, but Sherry's BMW and engagement
111. 4:57gift from John was gone. John and
112. 5:01Sherry's sister would call her
113. 5:03throughout the day. No answer. And at
114. 5:06around midday, a maid working in a
115. 5:08nearby apartment heard what she thought
116. 5:10was two people fighting and then
117. 5:12falling. She didn't hear any gunshots
118. 5:14and she didn't file a police report
119. 5:17because she thought it might uh you know
120. 5:19just be a domestic dispute. Stay out of
121. 5:21it. John would eventually return home
122. 5:24hours later and find his wife dead on
123. 5:27the floor. She had been shot three
124. 5:29times. The place it was in bits. Broken
125. 5:33vases, toppled sideboards, bloody
126. 5:35handprints. She had been shot through a
127. 5:38quilt in order to muffle the sound.
128. 5:41Sherry had put up quite a struggle. She
129. 5:43had defensive wounds. Someone had
130. 5:45attempted to bind her and she had
131. 5:46bruises on her face. She also had a bite
132. 5:49mark on her arm like someone had tried
133. 5:52to take a chomp out of her. It seemed
134. 5:54like she had been surprised while at
135. 5:55home. She was wearing her night gown and
136. 5:57so forth. So, who who could have done
137. 6:00this to Sherry? Wink wink. Well,
138. 6:03obviously it was a burglar. Duh. Someone
139. 6:06had broken in to steal electronic
140. 6:07equipment. There was a shitload of it
141. 6:09stacked beside Sherry's body. So they
142. 6:12were in there, they got surprised by
143. 6:14Sherry, a struggle ensued, they killed
144. 6:17her, and then they made a hasty l
145. 6:21retreat in Sher's car. Hence why not
146. 6:23that much was missing. Her jewelry and
147. 6:25all her stuff was still there and wire
148. 6:27her car was gone. The silver BMW would
149. 6:29be discovered 2 miles from the couple's
150. 6:31house 10 days after the murder, but give
151. 6:34investigators jack [ __ ] The only other
152. 6:37thing missing was John and Sher's
153. 6:40marriage license. Maybe the burglar was
154. 6:43the sentimental type. Well, they were
155. 6:46half that word at least. The lead
156. 6:48detective did look into John, but he was
157. 6:50quickly ruled out and he moved away
158. 6:51shortly after. There had been burglaries
159. 6:54in the area a few days after. Two men
160. 6:56had robbed a woman at gunpoint. A few
161. 6:58months after the murder, the same two
162. 7:01held another unsuspecting woman at
163. 7:02gunpoint after she walked into a
164. 7:04break-in. Her house was just a few
165. 7:06blocks away. They were described as
166. 7:08Latinos between 5' 4 in and 5' 6 in
167. 7:12tall. They therefore emerged as the
168. 7:14primary suspects in Sherry's death, but
169. 7:17they were never found. One of the
170. 7:19suspects was carrying a gun of the same
171. 7:22caliber used to kill Sherry. So, seemed
172. 7:25to match up. But Sherry's parents, they
173. 7:27were like, "hm, you know, shortly before
174. 7:30our daughter was brutally murdered. She
175. 7:34had mentioned a woman by the name of
176. 7:36Stephanie Lazarus who was stalking her
177. 7:38and intimidating her. I don't know,
178. 7:41might be worth a goo." The detective
179. 7:43made a note of it, but dismissed it
180. 7:45pretty quickly. Even after another
181. 7:47detective said, "Hm, there's a bite mark
182. 7:49on Sherry's body. That's that's like
183. 7:51something, you know, that's more of a
184. 7:52female thing to do. Men don't usually
185. 7:54bite, but women do. Maybe there's
186. 7:56something. Ah, don't worry about it.
187. 7:58It's a burglary. We solved them.
188. 8:03And so time passed with jack [ __ ] to
189. 8:06show for it. The police kept their line
190. 8:08of thinking. Burglary gone wrong. And
191. 8:10this is Los Angeles in the 1980s. They
192. 8:13had bigger fish to fry. However,
193. 8:15Sherry's parents were like,
194. 8:19"We disagree." The fact that someone was
195. 8:22able to mask the gunshot with a blanket
196. 8:24kind of proves more that this wasn't
197. 8:26just a struggle. This was a deliberate
198. 8:28murder. Sherry's parents kept it up as
199. 8:30many, many years went by. Press
200. 8:33conferences, rewards, offering to pay
201. 8:35for DNA testing. The investigators told
202. 8:37them they were watching too much TV.
203. 8:40It's always funny when people say that
204. 8:41because covering these stories, you
205. 8:43know, on that chapter, the truth is
206. 8:45always a lot more batshit than fiction
207. 8:49is. At one point, Sherry's parents were
208. 8:51told by a detective, "You should do
209. 8:54yourselves a favor and move on with your
210. 8:56lives." Good idea.
211. 9:00So, what was Stephanie Lazarus doing
212. 9:02during this time, I wonder? Well, she
213. 9:04was having a very successful career,
214. 9:08rising up the ranks of the LAPD,
215. 9:10eventually becoming a detective, and
216. 9:12marrying a fellow police officer, Scott
217. 9:14Young, and they adopted an infant
218. 9:16daughter. She became quite well
219. 9:18respected, thought of highly by her
220. 9:20fellow officers, having an unblenmished
221. 9:23record. For example, she helped fund
222. 9:26raise to provide reliable roundthe-clock
223. 9:28child care for parents who worked on the
224. 9:30force. At one point, she even started
225. 9:33her own private investigation company,
226. 9:35Unique Investigations.
227. 9:38God bless all the little children in the
228. 9:40world. Good night.
229. 9:44And that was that until a couple more
230. 9:47years. And by a couple more, I mean
231. 9:49about 18 when in 2004, LAPD criminalist
232. 9:52Jennifer Butterworth took a look into
233. 9:55the case. She was examining the forensic
234. 9:58evidence from the now cold case of Sher
235. 10:01Russ Muen using modern, you know,
236. 10:03investigative techniques, that kind of
237. 10:05stuff. Using the forensic evidence from
238. 10:07the crime scene, Jennifer found the
239. 10:10suspect's saliva, which dun dun matched
240. 10:14what? An unknown female. She continued
241. 10:17digging and found the report that
242. 10:20Sherry's parents made that someone, a
243. 10:23woman, had been after Sherry not long
244. 10:25before the incident. She put two and two
245. 10:28together pretty quickly and was like,
246. 10:31"Hey, has anybody looked into who this
247. 10:34who this woman was that Sher, you know,
248. 10:35said was following her?" Oh, she's a
249. 10:39detective. You don't want me to look
250. 10:40into it? You're still saying it's a
251. 10:41burglary? Okay, fine. I mean, we should
252. 10:43we should look into it, though. Maybe.
253. 10:45Uh Oh, okay. Fine. I won't. Forget I
254. 10:47said anything.
255. 10:49[Music]
256. 10:50It wouldn't be until 2009 that the Sher
257. 10:54Rasmusen case would be given a fresh
258. 10:56pair of eyes. And by that I mean two
259. 10:58pairs, Jim Nutall and Pete Barbara. They
260. 11:01started from scratch with the burglary
261. 11:03theory out the window from the get- go.
262. 11:06Their first thought was that the
263. 11:07attempted robbery was staged and they
264. 11:09knew their suspect was female. And on
265. 11:12their list was old Stephanie, back from
266. 11:15the list of dead leads. I only wish
267. 11:18there was a name for someone who came
268. 11:19back from the dead.
269. 11:22Stephanie was now working on art theft
270. 11:24cases. By the way, a very classy affair
271. 11:27which tracked stolen art and art
272. 11:29forgeries.
273. 11:31And so all the other suspects, women who
274. 11:33in one way or another may have had
275. 11:35disputes with Sherry, they were all
276. 11:37eliminated due to DNA testing. But
277. 11:40Stephanie, she was a co-op. You don't go
278. 11:42after your own. Which I think is the
279. 11:44motto of corrupt police officers
280. 11:45everywhere. something like that. So,
281. 11:48with Stephanie being the only remaining
282. 11:50suspect, Jim and Pete, the two
283. 11:52detectives, they had to look into her
284. 11:54covert. Like, she wasn't even listed as
285. 11:56a suspect in their files. She was just
286. 11:58listed as number five. And it was
287. 12:01especially awkward when Stephanie's
288. 12:04husband, uh, Scott Young, his his office
289. 12:07was literally across the hall from the
290. 12:10cold case division. Kind of awkward when
291. 12:13you're going to get a coffee. And so
292. 12:14digging into Stephanie, they discovered
293. 12:16that she had reported her backup offduty
294. 12:19gun stolen 13 days before Sherry was
295. 12:23murdered. Wow. I wonder if that gun I
296. 12:26wonder if it was the same caliber. Of
297. 12:27course it was. She likely booked it in
298. 12:29the ocean, specifically the Pacific.
299. 12:31Interestingly, she didn't report her gun
300. 12:33stolen in her own police department. She
301. 12:35reported it in Santa Monica as if she
302. 12:37didn't want people maybe to know. So
303. 12:40what else did they have? Well, Stephanie
304. 12:42was off the day Sherry was killed and
305. 12:44would know enough about crime scenes to
306. 12:46make it look like something it wasn't.
307. 12:48And so Stephanie was put under
308. 12:50surveillance. And after nearly 2 weeks,
309. 12:53she tossed a soda cup and straw into a
310. 12:55trash can. The detectives would
311. 12:57retrieve. Bingo. Due to her being an
312. 13:00armed police officer, her arrest had to
313. 13:02be carefully planned. They lured her to
314. 13:05department headquarters under the
315. 13:06pretense that they had a suspect
316. 13:08involved in an art theft. They needed
317. 13:11her to interrogate. To get there, she
318. 13:13would have to surrender her gun. So, she
319. 13:15rocked up and then quickly discovered
320. 13:17that there was no one there she was
321. 13:19supposed to talk to and she had been
322. 13:21hoodwinkedked. And so, the
323. 13:23investigators, they brought up Sher Russ
324. 13:25MueN, casual like, prepare yourself for
325. 13:28this one.
326. 13:33Stephanie, I don't know if you know my
327. 13:34partner. Great. Nice to see you guys.
328. 13:37How's it going? No interactive. Uh,
329. 13:40well, have a seat.
330. 13:42What this is is uh I didn't want to
331. 13:46bring this up in your squad room.
332. 13:49You want
333. 13:50Oh, no. It's fine. I think we're good to
334. 13:57We're bring You're going to bring
335. 13:58somebody in, right?
336. 13:58Yeah. Well, let me explain the whole
337. 14:00thing, too.
338. 14:01I don't want to talk about this in the
339. 14:03squadron because I don't know who people
340. 14:04are listening. And if we go to my side,
341. 14:07everybody's always wondering what
342. 14:08everybody else is saying. No problem.
343. 14:09Okay.
344. 14:10But uh we're talking about being busy
345. 14:12and stuff. We've been assigned a case
346. 14:13that we've been looking at. Okay. It's a
347. 14:15new case and reviewing the case.
348. 14:17There's some notes uh to see as far as
349. 14:20your name being mentioned.
350. 14:22Oh, okay.
351. 14:22Do you know John Ruten?
352. 14:24John.
353. 14:26John Rutton.
354. 14:28Rutton. Rut.
355. 14:29Oh, yeah. I went to school with him.
356. 14:30You did?
357. 14:31Yeah.
358. 14:31How long did you know him? Gosh, I went
359. 14:33to school in um let's see, went to UCLA
360. 14:371978
361. 14:38I started and um you know met him at
362. 14:43school at the dorms.
363. 14:44Mhm.
364. 14:45Um
365. 14:46were you guys friends? Close friends?
366. 14:48Yeah, we're very close friends. I mean I
367. 14:50mean what's this all about?
368. 14:51Well, it's regarding it's a case we're
369. 14:53working on. It involves John and in
370. 14:55there some of the statements we we
371. 14:57reviewed uh you know there's notes and
372. 14:59stuff that that he knew you and stuff.
373. 15:01Oh yeah. I mean, we good friends. Um,
374. 15:04lived in the dorms for I lived in the
375. 15:06dorms for 2 years. Um,
376. 15:08you guys lived in the same dorms?
377. 15:10Yeah.
378. 15:11Okay.
379. 15:11Yeah. Dystra.
380. 15:12Okay. Were you guys just friends or
381. 15:13anything else or?
382. 15:15Yeah, we were we were good friends.
383. 15:17Yeah. Was there any relationship or
384. 15:19anything that developed between you
385. 15:20guys?
386. 15:21Yeah. I mean, we dated. Uh
387. 15:23Uhhuh.
388. 15:24you know. Um I mean, is what's this all
389. 15:27about? Well, it's relating to uh his
390. 15:30wife.
391. 15:32Okay.
392. 15:33Okay. Did you know her?
393. 15:35Not really. I mean, I knew that he got
394. 15:37married years ago.
395. 15:38Uh-huh. Did you ever meet her?
396. 15:40God, I don't know. Um,
397. 15:43do you know who she was or anything?
398. 15:44Well, I Let me think. God, it's been a
399. 15:48long time ago. Um
400. 15:50Um,
401. 15:52you know, I may have met her. Um jeez,
402. 15:56you know.
403. 15:58Yeah. Uh well, let me see. Let me ask
404. 16:00you. You said you you dated John. How
405. 16:01long did you guys date?
406. 16:05I mean, well, are you guys is this
407. 16:07something? I mean, you said I was going
408. 16:10to interview somebody about art and how
409. 16:11you guys are
410. 16:12Here's
411. 16:13I mean,
412. 16:13Stephanie, here's the situation is
413. 16:15basically we, you know, we knew that
414. 16:18this when we saw this in the in in this
415. 16:20chrono that maybe, you know, there was
416. 16:22some relationship there. That's what the
417. 16:23chrono seem to indicate and we didn't
418. 16:24want to come up to you at your desk and
419. 16:27ask those kinds of questions or do
420. 16:29anything. You know how up there people
421. 16:30can see what's going on if you go into
422. 16:32an interview room or people are in there
423. 16:33getting supplies. So we we wanted to
424. 16:35afford you some privacy, some
425. 16:37confidentiality to talk about this cuz
426. 16:38we thought it might be you know
427. 16:40something you know you're married to
428. 16:41someone else obviously and so forth and
429. 16:43that you may not want to you know talk
430. 16:44about these things in that setting where
431. 16:46someone you know we don't want the rumor
432. 16:47mill or gossip or any of that kind of
433. 16:48stuff.
434. 16:49That's fine. I mean you know god that's
435. 16:50been a million years ago. I mean, you
436. 16:52know, um,
437. 16:55what year is it now? 2009. I mean, I
438. 16:57graduated in ' 82. 82. Yeah. Um,
439. 17:03you know, we dated, um, I dated other
440. 17:05guys. I'm sure he dated other girls. Um,
441. 17:09had you ever met his wife?
442. 17:11I may have. Do you know do you remember
443. 17:13her name or anything or
444. 17:16um
445. 17:19um
446. 17:21or what she did for a living or where
447. 17:23she worked or anything about her?
448. 17:25Well, I think she I I'm going to say I
449. 17:27think she was a nurse. Um
450. 17:31I mean I don't you know again I I mean
451. 17:33what you know I don't understand why
452. 17:36you're talking about some guy dated a
453. 17:38million years ago.
454. 17:38Well, do you know what happened to his
455. 17:40wife? Yeah, I know. She got killed. Do
456. 17:42you remember her first name?
457. 17:45Shelly. Um Sherry,
458. 17:49I don't know something maybe. You know,
459. 17:51um like I said, it's been so many years
460. 17:53and um
461. 17:55from all the years as far as you can
462. 17:56remember, you don't do you remember ever
463. 17:59talking to her just
464. 18:00Well, as I said earlier, you know, I I
465. 18:03mean I may have, you know, I may have
466. 18:06talked to her. Um I it sound I you know
467. 18:10you mentioned a hospital maybe you may
468. 18:12have talked to her at a hospital.
469. 18:15Yeah. Um yeah I may have and I'm like
470. 18:18you know what why are you calling me if
471. 18:21you're either dating her or living with
472. 18:22her or married to her. I cuz I honest
473. 18:24don't remember the time frame.
474. 18:25Um and I'm like come on knock it off.
475. 18:27And I'm and now I'm thinking I may I may
476. 18:29have gone to her and say hey you know
477. 18:30what you know what is he dating you?
478. 18:33He's he's bothering me. Um, and so I'm
479. 18:36thinking that we had a conversation
480. 18:37about that. Um,
481. 18:39one or two maybe. I don't even know that
482. 18:42I knew where they lived. I, you know,
483. 18:44that's what I'm saying. I don't, if I
484. 18:46knew where they lived and I'd been
485. 18:47there, if it was for something social,
486. 18:50I', I would, I'm I'm And I can't see how
487. 18:53many times I I saw her face to face. You
488. 18:55know, he lived on Rosco. Did I ever see
489. 18:57her there? I don't know. I mean, I may
490. 19:00have seen her at his apartment on Rosco.
491. 19:02Mhm. I may have met her there. Um, you
492. 19:06know, I I mean,
493. 19:08but you didn't have any issues with her,
494. 19:09right?
495. 19:10No, I mean, you know, obviously if he
496. 19:13was dating me and dating her, I probably
497. 19:15said, "Hey, pick" or something, you
498. 19:17know, you know, back then. Um,
499. 19:21I can't say that we ever screamed or
500. 19:23Yeah. You know, it's I'm crazy,
501. 19:26you know, but you're always kind of like
502. 19:27real
503. 19:29I mean, you seem kind of bubbly. Oh, I'm
504. 19:31you know people think I'm really hyper.
505. 19:33Um but I can I mean I can get
506. 19:36I can get upset, you know, and and then
507. 19:38I forget 5 seconds later, you know, you
508. 19:40know how guys raz you and you go ah you
509. 19:43know um you know I don't know. It's like
510. 19:46like I said this stuff's been so long
511. 19:47ago. Um you know I'm sure as soon as I
512. 19:50walk out of here I'll go oh shoot I 25
513. 19:53things I'll remember. Um you know
514. 19:55but you'll call us or I mean you'll just
515. 19:57come over our desk and tell us. I mean,
516. 19:58I I don't know what else you need to
517. 20:00know. Like I said,
518. 20:01some of Sherry's friends said that you
519. 20:04and her were having a problem because of
520. 20:07the John situation.
521. 20:12Well, number one, I don't know who her
522. 20:14friends are. Um cuz again, I don't I
523. 20:18don't recall if he did tell me where he
524. 20:20met her.
525. 20:21I don't even these friends are a
526. 20:24problem.
527. 20:25Well, that's what I'm reading is that
528. 20:27you guys had problems with each other
529. 20:29and words are being exchanged and it's
530. 20:31all relating to John.
531. 20:35You know what I I I I just I can't say
532. 20:38you can't say.
533. 20:39No, I that doesn't even ring a bell. I
534. 20:41mean
535. 20:42I mean it seemed like Yeah, you would
536. 20:43recall something if somebody's going off
537. 20:45on you, right?
538. 20:46I would think. I mean, I would think
539. 20:48well on some of the uh on this case, you
540. 20:52know, this is occurred in ' 86, right?
541. 20:56Uh detectives processed the scene,
542. 20:58things of that nature. Uh they did
543. 21:01fingerprints and all that stuff. You
544. 21:02know, well, you know, the standard
545. 21:03stuff. You didn't been doing this longer
546. 21:05than I have.
547. 21:06Uh
548. 21:06well, I don't know about that. I got 26
549. 21:09years on
550. 21:10going on 26
551. 21:1119.
552. 21:13But,
553. 21:15you know, as they processed everything,
554. 21:17uh, they did the best they could at that
555. 21:18time. And they looked at a lot of a lot
556. 21:20of people and different things in this
557. 21:21case. And you're right.
558. 21:23I mean, if you guys are claiming that
559. 21:24I'm a suspect, then, you know, I I got a
560. 21:26problem with, you know, with that.
561. 21:28Okay.
562. 21:29Okay. So, you know, if you're if you're
563. 21:32doing this as an interrogation, you're
564. 21:34saying, "Hey, I'm a suspect. Well, now I
565. 21:36got a problem with, you know, now you're
566. 21:38accusing me of this. Is that what you're
567. 21:40Is that what you're saying?
568. 21:42We're trying to figure out what
569. 21:43happened, Stephanie.
570. 21:45Well, I'm I was, you know, I'm just
571. 21:47saying,
572. 21:49you know, would I need to get a lawyer
573. 21:51if you're accusing me of,
574. 21:52you know,
575. 21:53you don't have to I mean, you know,
576. 21:54you're here of your own free will. I
577. 21:56mean,
578. 21:56well, I know, but
579. 21:57you know, you're not you're not under
580. 21:58arrest. You can walk out when
581. 21:59you can leave whenever you like. Well,
582. 22:01you know, I I'm trying to give you some
583. 22:03background of, you know, how I knew him
584. 22:05and now you're telling me that some
585. 22:07somebody's saying that we had this big
586. 22:09old fight and I don't even know what
587. 22:11you're talking about. Um, you know, and
588. 22:13I don't want to, you know, get in
589. 22:14trouble for something that I didn't even
590. 22:16do or you're saying I did something.
591. 22:19Okay,
592. 22:19we understand.
593. 22:21I mean, how would you guys like it if
594. 22:22the tables were turned on you?
595. 22:24I understand. No,
596. 22:25no, that's what we're telling you. I
597. 22:26mean, you're free to go whenever you
598. 22:27want. If if this makes you uncomfortable
599. 22:29and you want to
600. 22:30now you're starting to make me
601. 22:31uncomfortable.
602. 22:32The thing is I mean detectives did what
603. 22:34they could at that time on the crime
604. 22:35scene. Okay. And the burglary thing
605. 22:37you're talking about that is an angle
606. 22:38that they looked at. I go but now we're
607. 22:41looking at everything else on the case
608. 22:42cuz nobody was ever arrested on the
609. 22:44case.
610. 22:45I I don't know that or not.
611. 22:48Okay. Now what we'd like to do is
612. 22:51obviously you know about all the DNA
613. 22:53stuff and things of the nature that you
614. 22:55know gets done on cases nowadays. You
615. 22:57know, if we asked you for a DNA swab,
616. 22:59would you be willing to give us one?
617. 23:01Maybe
618. 23:03because now now now
619. 23:06now I'm thinking I probably need to talk
620. 23:08to a lawyer.
621. 23:09Okay.
622. 23:10I mean,
623. 23:11well,
624. 23:11I because I know how this stuff works.
625. 23:13Okay, don't get me wrong. You're right.
626. 23:14have been doing this a long time and and
627. 23:16I wish I had been recording this because
628. 23:18because now it sounds like, you know,
629. 23:20there's,
630. 23:21you know, you're selling these people
631. 23:22saying I'm a fighting with her and now
632. 23:25it sounds like you're trying to, you
633. 23:26know, I've been doing this a long time.
634. 23:28Yeah, we know.
635. 23:29Okay. And and now it almost sounds like
636. 23:31you're trying to pin something on me.
637. 23:32Now I I got that sense.
638. 23:33Well, what it gets to on these on these
639. 23:35cases, and you know it as well as I do,
640. 23:37our job is to identify and eliminate
641. 23:38something.
642. 23:39I can't believe this. So, if we ask you
643. 23:41to the point to give us a DNA sample, a
644. 23:44bugal swab, so we can identify or
645. 23:47eliminate you, would you be willing to
646. 23:49do that?
647. 23:49Maybe.
648. 23:51Cuz I know this. I I I I
649. 23:53That's where we're at, too. I mean,
650. 23:55because right now from looking at the
651. 23:58evidence, it's, you know, it's possible
652. 24:00we may have some DNA at the location.
653. 24:02That's great.
654. 24:03And
655. 24:04we're going to do what we can to try to
656. 24:06put this thing together. and your name's
657. 24:09in the book. These people are pointing
658. 24:11at you for whatever reason.
659. 24:13I don't know why. That's just crazy. I
660. 24:15mean, that's just that's absolutely
661. 24:16crazy.
662. 24:17And it would be irresponsible on our
663. 24:19part not to look at it.
664. 24:20I know. You guys have to do your job.
665. 24:22And I guess I'm going to have to contact
666. 24:24somebody. So,
667. 24:25that's fair.
668. 24:26I mean, cuz I know how this stuff works.
669. 24:28I mean, I I I I
670. 24:31just can't believe it.
671. 24:32That's I mean, we we understand that. I
672. 24:34mean, if we were in your position, I
673. 24:35mean, we would feel the same way. I just
674. 24:38can't even believe it. I mean, it's just
675. 24:41I mean, I'm shocked. I'm really shocked
676. 24:44that somebody would be blame saying that
677. 24:45I did this. I mean, we had a fight and
678. 24:47so I went and killed her. I mean, come
679. 24:48on.
680. 24:49Well,
681. 24:49that's
682. 24:51okay.
683. 24:52After they requested a DNA sample, she
684. 24:55noped right out and left the room. She
685. 24:57was then arrested like right outside.
686. 25:00So,
687. 25:00this is just absolutely crazy. See,
688. 25:03Stephanie,
689. 25:05this is insane.
690. 25:06Okay.
691. 25:14Give me one sec.
692. 25:20Okay,
693. 25:21Stephanie, you know you have the right
694. 25:22to remain silent. Do you understand?
695. 25:24Yes.
696. 25:25Anything you say may be used against you
697. 25:26in court. Do you understand?
698. 25:28Yes.
699. 25:28You have the right to the presence of an
700. 25:30attorney before and during any
701. 25:31questioning. Do you understand?
702. 25:32Yes. If you cannot afford an attorney,
703. 25:34one will be appointed for you free of
704. 25:35charge before any questioning if you
705. 25:37want. Do you understand?
706. 25:38Yes.
707. 25:39You want to talk to us right now?
708. 25:40No.
709. 25:41Okay.
710. 25:42All right. Okay.
711. 25:43This is crazy.
712. 25:44This is absolutely I'm like I'm like in
713. 25:47shock. I'm totally in shock.
714. 25:51A surprise twist to a decades old murder
715. 25:54mystery.
716. 25:54LAPD detectives have found a killer and
717. 25:56she is one of their own. Duki is live
718. 26:00with a cold case that took 23 years to
719. 26:02solve. Trisha,
720. 26:04well Christine and Carlos, this
721. 26:05apartment building behind me here on
722. 26:07Belbola Belola Boulevard, that is where
723. 26:1023 years ago a woman was found murdered
724. 26:12inside her apartment and that case went
725. 26:14unsolved for 23 years until this
726. 26:17morning. That's when investigators
727. 26:19arrested a veteran LAPD female detective
728. 26:22for that woman's murder.
729. 26:24After her arrest, Stephanie was allowed
730. 26:26to retire early from the LAPD. She was
731. 26:29held in a Los Angeles County jail. Bail
732. 26:31would be set at $10 million in cash.
733. 26:34Reason being, the case was strong. She
734. 26:36might flee the country or obtain weapons
735. 26:39through her police officer husband. The
736. 26:41trial began in 2012. Prosecutors argued
737. 26:44Stephanie's motive for killing Sher
738. 26:46Rasmusen was pure jealousy. In his
739. 26:49opening argument, the lead prosecutor
740. 26:52summed up the case as a bite, a bullet,
741. 26:55a gun barrel, and a broken heart. That's
742. 26:58the evidence that will prove to you that
743. 27:00defendant Stephanie Lazarus murdered
744. 27:03Sher Rasmusen.
745. 27:05Several times throughout the trial, John
746. 27:07Rutton became quite emotional and he
747. 27:09said having sex with Stephanie while he
748. 27:11was engaged to his future wife was a
749. 27:14mistake. That's what tinking with your
750. 27:16dick will get you. He also had sex with
751. 27:19Stephanie after his wife was murdered.
752. 27:22Like for [ __ ] sake. The defense just
753. 27:24attacked the evidence, more or less
754. 27:26saying that so much time had passed, the
755. 27:28quality would have degraded, become
756. 27:30tainted. Police never identified
757. 27:32Stephanie as a suspect, even after
758. 27:34Sherry's parents did, and so Stephanie's
759. 27:37rights to due process had been adversely
760. 27:39affected. The evidence, they said, was
761. 27:42circumstantial.
762. 27:43Prosecutors said in a statement of use
763. 27:46filed in court that Lazarus misused her
764. 27:49police training in the most profound way
765. 27:51imaginable by utilizing that training
766. 27:53and experience to commit murder and to
767. 27:56cover up her crime.
768. 27:58Lazarus portrayed the trust placed in
769. 28:00her by the Los Angeles Police Department
770. 28:02and by people of Los Angeles in order to
771. 28:05pursue her own murderous ends.
772. 28:09that she did.
773. 28:13People of the state of California versus
774. 28:15Stephanie Eileene Lazarus. Case number
775. 28:19BA 357423.
776. 28:22We the jury in above entitled action
777. 28:25find the defendant Stephanie Eileene
778. 28:27Lazarus guilty of the crime of murder of
779. 28:29Sher Rasmmanson in violation of penal
780. 28:32code section 187A a felony as charged in
781. 28:36count one of the information. We further
782. 28:39find the murder was of the first degree.
783. 28:4152year-old Stephanie Lazarus was
784. 28:44eventually convicted of first-degree
785. 28:46murder and sentenced to 27 years in
786. 28:48prison. she will be eligible for parole
787. 28:51in 2034.
788. 28:57There were a couple of lawsuits after
789. 28:58the trial. One by the Rasmusens, who
790. 29:01well, you know, they had been pointing
791. 29:02at Stephanie since Jump Street, and
792. 29:04another by Jennifer Butterworth, who
793. 29:06claimed that when she discovered the
794. 29:08female DNA from the forensic evidence
795. 29:10and started, you know, asking about
796. 29:13Stephanie, she faced harassment and was
797. 29:15transferred. Neither lawsuit went
798. 29:18anywhere.
799. 29:22It's thought that at one point Stephanie
800. 29:24may have even learned of the
801. 29:25investigation into her as as some of the
802. 29:28evidence the LAPD had but they couldn't
803. 29:30find.
804. 29:32They didn't find was someone cooking the
805. 29:35books maybe misplacing a few things
806. 29:38which you know may have been used
807. 29:40against Stephanie or were supposed to be
808. 29:41used against Stephanie but ultimately
809. 29:43weren't cuz they couldn't find them. And
810. 29:46sure, at one point Stephanie did
811. 29:47actually work in the Van Noise division,
812. 29:50so she would have had unrestricted
813. 29:52access to Sher Rasmusen's case and all
814. 29:55the files. She could, you know, easily,
815. 29:58hey,
816. 30:00just going to put that in my purse,
817. 30:02pocket, whatever. But I think this case
818. 30:04really comes back to the uh the police
819. 30:06uh you know don't investigate your own
820. 30:08mentality because if they did do that
821. 30:11back in you know 1986 this case would
822. 30:14have been a hell of a lot shorter though
823. 30:17probably not as interesting which is
824. 30:19weird to say.
825. 30:20Bye.
826. 30:25Thank you so so much for watching. I
827. 30:26really really appreciate it. Uh, if
828. 30:28you'd like to watch some more of my
829. 30:29videos, please work away you can. And I
830. 30:32will see you as always real soon in the
831. 30:34next video. Take care of yourselves. M
832. 30:37out.
833. 30:41[Music]