The Police Officer No One Investigated - The Murder of Sherri Rasmussen

In February 1986, 29-year-old nursing director Sherri Rasmussen was found beaten and shot inside the Los Angeles home she shared with her husband, John. The LAPD decided that she had interrupted a burglary.

But Sherri’s parents believed the crime was personal. Before her death, she had been confronted by a woman with a complicated history with John, someone who had slept with him while he was engaged to Sherri. She was also an LAPD officer.

For more than twenty years, the case remained unsolved. Then a cold-case investigation finally reconsidered the possibility police had dismissed.

In this episode of Tell Me the Crime, John tells Feb how the investigation eventually turned toward Stephanie Lazarus. They discuss jealousy, sexual betrayal, Stephanie’s relationship with John after the murder, and whether police failed to recognize a suspect because she was one of their own.

Listener discretion is advised. This episode discusses stalking, intimate-partner violence, murder, and institutional failures within law enforcement.