Killer Cop Denied Parole: Former LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus to Remain in Prison
In February 2025, former LAPD detective and convicted murderer Stephanie Lazarus was denied parole for a second time. Lazarus was convicted in 2012 for the 1986 murder of Sherri Rasmussen
Tales From the Underworld first covered the story of Stephanie Lazarus and Sherri Rasmussen in December 2023.
Update
In February 2025, former LAPD officer and convicted murderer Stephanie Lazarus was denied parole a second time. Lazarus, 64, is serving a sentence of 27 years to life for the brutal 1986 murder of Sherri Rasmussen, the wife of her former lover, John Ruetten.
Lazarus got away with the crime for more than two decades until, in 2009, DNA evidence placed her at the scene of the murder. She was eventually convicted of first-degree murder in 2012.
She first became eligible for parole in 2023 after the passage of a California law that gave special consideration to offenders who were under 26 years old at the time of their crimes. Lazarus was 25 at the time.
At the hearing, Lazarus appeared to express remorse, claiming: “It makes me sick to this day that I took an oath to protect and serve people, and I took Sherri Rasmussen’s life from her, a nurse.” However, many, including Rasmussen’s family and those who prosecuted Lazarus, believe she is willing to say anything to be granted parole.
In fact, prior to 2023, Lazarus continued to proclaim her innocence. And even after admitting guilt, she continued to minimize her culpability, claiming that she and Rasmussen got into a fight, and that her gun fell out of her purse. However, the physical evidence discredited her version of events.
On February 12, 2025, a subsequent sustainability hearing was held in which Stephanie stated, “I will never, ever harm an individual like I did on February 24, 1986, when I murdered, callously murdered, and heinously murdered Sherri Rasmussen.” Her parole was denied.
Stephanie Lazarus is not eligible for another parole hearing until 2028.
Backstory
John Ruetten and Stephanie Lazarus first met while attending UCLA, where he had studied mechanical engineering while she majored in political science. Between 1978 and 1984, the two often got together for reasons more physical than emotional – at least as far as John was concerned.
After graduation, Lazarus worked at a law firm for about a year before completing the local police academy training and becoming a police officer with the LAPD. While planning a birthday party for John, Stephanie learned that he had been dating someone else – a nurse named Sherri Rasmussen. In June of 1985, John and Sherri announced their engagement.
However, despite his engagement, Ruetten continued to maintain a sexual relationship with Lazarus. Early that autumn, Stephanie visited Sherri at work and informed her that she and John were continuing to see each other and that she would be there to pick up the pieces when his marriage to Sherri failed.
When Sherri confronted John, he admitted to cheating on her and apologized. John and Sherri married in November 1985. Despite Ruetten’s claims, it didn’t seem like the relationship with Lazarus was over.
There were many hang-up calls and many strange visits by Stephanie, fully clad in her police uniform. Sherri’s car had been vandalized in the hospital parking lot. Everything about Stephanie Lazarus felt intrusive in their lives as far as Sherri was concerned.
Murder of Sherri Rasmussen
On the evening of February 24, 1986, John returned home to find broken glass in the driveway and Sherri’s BMW missing. The interior of the house was strewn with evidence of a struggle. Pieces of a broken vase were on the floor, a bloody handprint was present next to the burglar alarm’s panic button, and furniture was overturned.
In the living room, John found his wife dead with three bullet holes in her chest, as well as bruises and facial injuries. Investigators also observed a bite mark on Sherri’s arm, from which a swab was taken and placed into evidence.
The killer had fired through a quilted blanket to muffle the sound. A maid who had been cleaning a nearby unit earlier that day reported that she’d heard two people fighting around 12:30 that afternoon.
Sherri’s car was located eleven days later, parked at an intersection about two miles away, with the keys in the ignition.
Investigation
The murder of Sherri Rasmussen was initially investigated as a burglary gone bad. However, several factors seemed to contradict this theory. One being that although the house appeared to have been rifled through, nothing seemed to be missing. Investigators noted that there were several electronic items piled against a wall near a door; however, they had been left at the scene rather than taken by the presumed burglars.
The attack seemed very aggressive and personal, which was inconsistent with the theory of a random burglar. Despite this, the LAPD continued to investigate the murder within the context of a burglary gone wrong.
However, Sherri’s father, Dr. Rasmussen, informed the police about a female stalker who had been harassing Sherri in the weeks and months leading up to her murder. He told them that the woman had been an ex-girlfriend of Sherri’s husband, John.
Despite this information, it was not followed up on at the time. John Ruetten was questioned and ultimately cleared as a suspect. As the couple’s friends and acquaintances were likewise interviewed and cleared, the case eventually went cold.
In 1991, John Ruetten remarried. In 1997, Stephanie Lazarus married a fellow police officer. Over the years, Lazarus rose through the ranks of the LAPD, becoming a highly decorated detective.
Turning Point
The murder of Sheri Rasmussen remained cold until LAPD detectives Jim Nuttall and Pete Barba took over the case. They quickly cast aside the burglary theory, noticing that the criminalist had reexamined the saliva taken from a bite mark on Sherri’s arm, and determined that the DNA belonged to a female.
The two detectives discovered that much of the evidence from the original case had been tampered with. Other items were missing, such as polygraph results, handwritten notes from detectives, and case file interviews.
With this information, Nuttal and Barba interviewed and eliminated all but one of the potential female suspects in Sherri Rasmussen’s orbit. The only remaining suspect was LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus. They also discovered that, thirteen days after Sherri’s murder, Lazarus had reported her gun stolen.
In an effort to covertly obtain a DNA sample from Lazarus, the detectives followed her to a Costco in Simi Valley and, after she deposited an empty drinking cup into a trash can outside, retrieved it and compared her DNA to the sample— It matched.
Nuttal and Barba succeeded in getting Stephanie into the interrogation room by falsely claiming someone wanted to speak to her about an art theft. Once inside, they told her they were really looking back into the Rasmussen case. When asked about Sherri Rasmussen, Lazarus told them, “Shelley? Sherri? I think she worked at a hospital somewhere. I might have talked to her once or twice.”
She told them she thought she remembered John saying that his wife’s murder had something to do with drugs. When the detectives informed her that Sherri’s friends claimed she had gone to John’s house on occasion and fought with Sherri, she became defensive. “They’re saying I fought with her, so I must have killed her? If you guys are claiming that I am a suspect, I have a problem with that.”
After leaving the room, Stephanie was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Sherri Rasmussen.
In 2012, Stephanie Lazarus was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Sherri Rasmussen and sentenced to 27 years to life in prison.
Killer Cop: How LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus (Almost) Got Away With Murdering Her Lover's Wife
Sources:
Fioresi, D. “Stephanie Lazarus, former LAPD detective who shot ex-lover’s new wife, has parole denied again.” CBS News, 13 February 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/stephanie-lazarus-former-lapd-detective-who-shot-ex-lovers-new-wife-has-parole-denied-again/
LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus and the murder of Sherri Rae Rasmussen — Introduction — Crime Library on TruTV.com. (n.d.). https://web.archive.org/web/20121017084537/http:/www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/stephanie_lazarus/1.html
Louallen, D. “Former LAPD detective who murdered her ex-lover’s wife, hid crime for decades remains behind bars.” ABC News, 4 October 2024, https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-lapd-detective-murdered-lovers-wife-hid-crime/story?id=113955531
Mikulan, S. “In plain sight.” LAmag - Culture, Food, Fashion, News & Los Angeles, 6 September 2023, https://lamag.com/crimeinla/in-plain-sight1
Staff, C. “Stephanie Lazarus found guilty in 26-year-old murder of ex-lover’s wife.” CBS News, 8 March 2012, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephanie-lazarus-found-guilty-in-26-year-old-murder-of-ex-lovers-wife/
As she should