DNA Leads Cops in Murder Case to One of Own

Detectives use DNA analysis to tie 1986 murder to Det. Stephanie Lazarus.

ByABC News
July 8, 2009, 11:39 AM

July 9, 2009 -- In early June, Stephanie Lazarus appeared in a Los Angeles courthouse in an orange jumpsuit, accused of committing a murder decades earlier -- a stark contrast from the Los Angeles Police Department uniform she wore until just a few weeks ago.

Lazarus, now charged with capital murder, spent the last 25 years as a highly regarded detective with the LAPD.

"She had a good reputation, hard-working, very energetic," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told ABC News, adding that nothing in Lazarus' job performance raised a red flag. "People ought to, to recognize that it's -- that there are people that can hold very, very dark secrets, and hold 'em very well."

Her alleged secret goes back 23 years, to the 1986 murder of a young woman named Sherri Rasmussen. Rasmussen, a 29-year-old nurse, had, at the time of her death, been married only three months to a man Lazarus had known since childhood and previously dated.

"Sherri was bludgeoned and then shot," Beck said. "Shot several times at close range in the chest. ... There was a struggle, there was a struggle that involved a lot of physical contact, including a bite."

"It was a real loss to everyone and to the nursing world," said Althea Kennedy, former vice president of nursing at Glendale Adventist, where she supervised Rasmussen. "Because I think she would have gone far."

Lazarus has pleaded not guilty to the charges.