The fatal bite and the case, solved after a quarter of a century (8 photos)

It took a quarter of a century to find the young woman’s killer and force her to suffer the punishment she deserved.





On that February day in 1986, Los Angeles resident John Rutten was unable to reach his wife, Sherry Rasmussen, by phone. On February 24, the 27-year-old nurse did not feel well and stayed at home.



Sherry in her youth

When John arrived home, he saw shards of glass in the driveway. The man realized that something bad had happened and ran through the garage into the house.



John and Sherry

There was chaos inside: lying furniture, broken things, a bloody handprint on the wall. He found Sherry on the floor in a pool of blood in the same nightgown she was wearing in the morning. The young woman’s face was disfigured by numerous cuts and bruises – Sherry resisted to the last. The man called the police and sank exhausted to the floor. It subsequently turned out that three shots from a .38-caliber revolver reached the target. And each of them turned out to be fatal. The bullets pierced the heart, lungs and spine.



During the investigation, police concluded that the woman was the victim of a random robbery. In the living room there were neatly prepared expensive electronics, which the robber planned to take, but ran into the housewife who remained at home and decided not to leave any witnesses.



Teeth marks on the victim's forearm

In addition to cuts and bruises on the body of the murdered woman, the forensic scientist noticed a clear imprint of teeth on the victim’s forearm. He carefully swabbed the bite area, placed it in a test tube, sealed it, and attached a note with the date and time. Simple practice. But this evidence had been waiting for its moment for 23 long years.

Another hang-up



Nels and Loretta Rasmussen

The victim's parents, Nels and Loretta Rasmussen, periodically tried to shake up the police - they announced a reward, attracted the press. But changing detectives brushed them aside, arguing that there were no suspects or promising leads.

Hope dawned only in 2001, when a new department for investigating unsolved serious crimes appeared in Los Angeles. Its head, David Lambkin, came up with the idea to resume the investigation and use the capabilities of new technologies.

Female footprint



Stephanie Lazarus

The rather tattered envelope with the evidence was opened by criminologist Jennifer Butterworth and carried out a DNA analysis. The tampon contained material from two people - the victim and another woman. There were no matches in the database. But the criminologist was interested in this point, since Latino men were suspected of committing the murder.

The name of Stephanie Lazarus was among the first suspects named by the father of the murdered woman. Stephanie was John's ex-girlfriend. They studied together, the relationship was serious. But Rutten met Sherry, fell in love and broke up with his ex-girlfriend.

Stephanie hasn't fallen off the radar. And she continued to communicate with her ex even after the wedding, called and came to visit without an invitation. The situation was complicated by the fact that Lazarus worked in the police. And Sherry was afraid to enter into an open confrontation with the officer.

They then brushed Nels off, advising him to watch less TV.

An exemplary wife, mother and... killer



Stephanie Lazarus

There was no direct evidence of guilt, but the investigation decided to pursue this version. Stephanie's colleagues, under the pretext of helping in the investigation of another case, took her into the interrogation room and began asking her about her relationship with John. Suddenly Lazarus became worried, began to get confused in her testimony, and said that she didn’t remember anything.

Handcuffs were waiting for her at the exit. Because there was enough time in the interrogation room to do a DNA test using a discarded coffee cup and compare it with material extracted from a teeth wound on the victim's forearm.

During a search of Lazarus's house, they found an old diary, where she described in detail her feelings for Rutten and her desire to take revenge on his wife. Shortly after the murder, she reported the loss of her personal weapon, a .38 caliber revolver. Was from this and Sherry was killed.

Remarkably, Lazarus was in good standing at work. With a perfect track record without dark spots. She worked in a prestigious department specializing in art theft. A few years after the crime, she married a colleague, adopted a child, and initiated the launch of a special child protection program in her department.

Lazarus was sentenced to life in prison. With the possibility of release on parole, but this will appear only in 2039. Whether the jealous ex will live to see that time is a big question. After all, then prisoner Lazarus will be almost 80 years old.