LAPD Detective to Stand Trial in Murder of Ex-Boyfriend's Wife

Los Angeles -  A veteran Los Angeles police detective was ordered today to stand trial for murder in the shooting death of her ex-boyfriend's wife more than 23 years ago in Van Nuys.

Stephanie Ilene Lazarus, 49, is accused in the Feb. 24, 1986, slaying of 29-year-old Sherri Rasmussen, a Glendale Adventist Medical Center nursing supervisor who was shot three times in the chest at her Balboa Boulevard townhouse.

Police initially thought the death may have been related to some nearby burglaries, although Rasmussen's husband, John Ruetten, told police at the time they should talk to his ex-girlfriend -- Lazarus -- who had been a police officer for two years.

But the case went cold until 2004, when the coroner was asked to retest DNA from a bite mark on the victim, and when the test was finally conducted, it was determined the DNA belonged to a female.

Lazarus remained on the force for 25 years -- assigned to the LAPD's art theft unit -- until she was arrested and charged in June, and ordered the following month to provide a dental impression that could be compared to the bite mark on the victim's arm.

An LAPD criminalist who examined a DNA sample from Lazarus and DNA from the bite mark on the victim's arm testified Wednesday that they matched.

The combination of those genetic markers is found in one in 402 quadrillion people, criminalist Jennifer Butterworth told the judge.

Under cross-examination, she acknowledged the tube containing the genetic material was inside an envelope that was torn and later re-packaged inside a larger envelope and that the tube didn't contain a security seal.

The hearing -- which lasted just over three days -- also included testimony from a Los Angeles police detective who said the victim's husband had made it "very clear" to police that he thought they should talk to Lazarus.

Nuttall testified that Ruetten said he became "very good friends" with Lazarus when they lived in the same dorm at UCLA, and that "the relationship had become fully intimate" after college.

According to the detective, Ruetten said that after Lazarus found out in June 1985 that he had gotten engaged to Rasmussen, she went to see him, declared her love for him and they had sex.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry ruled that prosecutors presented "ample" evidence to support the murder charge, along with sufficient evidence that she personally used a firearm in the commission of the crime.

But the judge determined that there was insufficient evidence to support two special circumstance allegations -- murder while lying in wait and murder during the commission of a burglary, that would have made Lazarus eligible for the death sentence if convicted.

Prosecutors have not yet decided if they will re-file those allegations. Without the, the murder charge and gun use allegation carry a maximum 27-year- to-life term, according to Deputy District Attorney Shelly Baron Torrealba.

In arguing there was enough evidence on the lying in wait allegation, the prosecutor told the judge that Lazarus must have "watched and waited" for a time when Rasmussen's husband would be away from home. He noted that Lazarus wrote in a 1985 journal entry that she had watched John Ruetten's car for at least a half-hour on one occasion.

The prosecutor also contended that Lazarus tried to bind the victim and that Rasmussen resisted, and that Lazarus realized she might be suspected in the woman's death so she pulled out a drawer in an effort to mislead investigators into believing the crime involved a burglary that went wrong.

Lazarus' attorney, Mark Overland, countered that the prosecution had not proven the special circumstance allegations, saying he did not think there was any evidence to support lying in wait.

Lazarus has been jailed without bail since her arrest, but Overland told the judge that he plans to ask that bail be set at a Dec. 18 hearing at which Lazarus is to be arraigned.

Outside court, he said he hadn't decide what bail amount to request for Lazarus, but told reporters that the bail schedule is $1 million for a murder charge.