Stephanie Lazarus, the LA cop who got away with murder for over 20 years

Full interrogation:

I’ve seen that interrogation before and it is hilarious. Definitely worth a watch !

Some context:

The “Generation Why” podcast had a good episode on this case.

The biggest surprise was that she wasn't a big lesbo.

Jesus, what psycho trash. And WTF with the LAPD covering for her and "losing" all that evidence? Horrible!

Is she really guilty? Could it be a case of justifiable homicide?

Yeah, she seemed more like a lesbian to me. The husband of the victim is partly responsible for not cutting her (Stephanie Lazarus) loose when it was apparent she would not be ignored.

R5, I thought the same thing. Caneface, canevoice....

She has the crazy eyes

OP. NICE. I find this case chilling. That video is something else.

I consider Stephanie one of those MANY people walking the earth who have committed heinous crimes as an "actor". I sense that there are many of them walking amongst us.

I loved watching her act in that video with the cops. (Those cops were FANTASTIC)

She has CRAZY EYES and is the definitive sociopath. What an evil bitch. Caught like the evil bitch she is.

Rot in hell, lady!

r11 what do you mean " actor"? Somebody who acts normal but isn't?

Lazarus was on the women's basketball team at UCLA.

[quote] I consider Stephanie one of those MANY people walking the earth who have committed heinous crimes

So the other woman bears no responsibility?

It wasn't that podcast r4, but I remember some podcast I listen to covered this case. It's definitely a popular one in true crime circles.

R14, Stephanie Lazarus *was* the other woman. The victim was this douchebag's wife.

John and Sherri were a very attractive couple.

Op ‘s pic looks like she’s shitting

Her ex boyfriend was out of her league looks wise. I can't imagine killing somebody you are jealous of and then the guy you killed for doesn't want you.

R19, I think he used her for sex. They fucked 20-30 times at UCLA but it never really went anywhere. They fucked at least once when he was engaged and a couple of times after the murder.

R18, she was shitting a brick through the entire interview. It is fascinating, yet difficult to watch. She's a detective so she knows the interrogators have incriminating information but she doesn't know what.

John is also a scum bag. He was sleeping with her while he was engaged. Then, he ignored his wife when she said she was being stalked. Once she was killed, he not only had sex with her, he didn’t back up her families concern that Lazerus was the killer. I think deep down he knew but he couldn’t admit it to himself.

What I don’t get is, if she was willing to kill for him, after they didn’t get together, why not kill him afterwards?

[quote] Stephanie Lazarus *was* the other woman. The victim was this douchebag's wife.

I was talking about the wife. She wasn’t killed for no reason.

The most surprising thing is that woman isn’t a huge pussy loving dyke. Also that man was way too hot for her.

John’s Twitter account. Other than his testimony and a victims impact statement he hasn’t spoken publicly about it. Sherri’s parents hate his guts.

He is still hot as hell. He must have some addicting daddy dick as well.

Wow. This whole case is new to me. Thanks OP!

Cherry Jones could play her in the TV movie.

BRUTALLY murdered

No, LOVINGLY murdered

Goodness, who ever heard of a cop getting away with murder.

She didn’t do anything else. What’s the point of locking her away after all that time? She seems to have had a decent life afterwards.

She beat and then murdered a woman, R31. Who the fuck are you? The ghost of Rhoda Penmark?

Do you feel the same way about Nazis who assume other identities and live “decent lives” after getting away with mass murder?

If your post was actually serious, you’re a pretty dreadful human being.

I just meant that this Shelly woman clearly made her mad. It’s not like Stephanie went around killing people for no reason if she never did it again. After that amount of time, maybe just let it go.

The bitch should be rotting away in prison as we speak.

Yep, just checked she is rotting away,lost her appeals and will first be eligible for parole in 2034

R22, Lazarus wasn’t exactly killing “for him,” she allegedly told Rasmussen that if she (Lazarus) couldn’t have him, nobody could. Once she did the deed and he didn’t run to her, she probably figured it wasn’t worth it to go after somebody so traumatized. The premeditation is quite astonishing; stalking her, coming over when she knew the husband would be at work, staging the scene to resemble a robbery, not leaving a single print or strand of hair. Her poor parents, enduring their daughter’s murder along with the dishonest husband and corrupt police department. it’s too bad they didn’t win their lawsuit against the LAPD for malfeasance, though it seems that only recent DNA-testing technologies could have given the prosecution what they needed. What causes an otherwise normal, functioning adult to do something like that?

I saw one of those ID channel shows about her and her face as she's being interviewed is "OH shit! OH shit! OH shit! OH shit! OH shit! OH shit! OH shit! OH shit!"

I've seen a couple of Dateline-type shows on Stephanie Lazarus. IIRC, she was a suspect from Day 1 and should have been interrogated and investigated. Law enforcement dropped the ball for many years. The DNA on the bite mark was crucial, though. I'm not sure whether DNA use was available at the time of the murder.

If I were the parents of the victim, I wouldn't want anything further to do with the husband.

[quote] After that amount of time, maybe just let it go.

I would imagine the victim’s parents believed quite differently.

She intentionally snuffed out the life of an innocent (and apparently quite wonderful) person who did nothing to her but make her resentful. She then went on to live a full happy life, which is the thing she robbed her victim of.

Nail. Her. To. The. Fucking. Wall. NO MERCY.

If anything, her punishment should be WORSE for walking around her whole life acting like it didn’t matter. Pure evil.

I’m just happy that justice of this sort can sometimes happen with cold cases. It gives one hope.

She should share a cell with Betty Broderick.

R41 Betty was very much driven to kill by her ex-husband, who was beneath contempt. He and his side piece tormented Betty and flaunted their relationship in her face. Fuck that rat bastard and his whore.

I found this Vanity Fair article from 2012 well done. It creates two clear timelines from years apart, with lots of details.

Wow this is fucked up - that interview was riveting, seriously.

Sounds like she was always the side chick for this guy, even if the wife was out of the picture he still wasn't going to choose her.

I don't understand how that statement (described in the VF article) is admissible as evidence. She was in custody (not free to leave) and was being interrogated. She should have been Mirandized.

R46 She actually was not in custody. I watched the full interview with her, and they did say a couple times "You are free to leave." I know nothing about the legality of admissible evidence, but they did say to her she was free to go at any point.

I can understand killing in self defense. Maybe even shooting or stabbing in blind rage. But who bites another human, and why?

R47, according to the VF article that R43 posted, Lazarus was arrested right after the "interview." I'm not a fan of her, but that was BS. "In custody" for the purposes of Miranda can mean you're not free to leave (you don't necessarily need to be sitting in a prison cell or in handcuffs). Lazarus was not really "free to leave" in that they arrested her right afterwards and obviously never planned to let her walk out of there.

R49 That makes sense

R48 The VG article says the detectives that later took over the case created a timeline of how they believed the home invasion, long struggle, and murder happened. Because of the location of the bite mark it’s believed Lazarus bit Sherri’s forearm when Sherri might have had her in a headlock.

Sounds like Sherri put up a pretty good fight. I think the VF articles says that Sherri may have grabbed Lazarus's gun at some point (but never got possession of it).

[quote] She intentionally snuffed out the life of an innocent (and apparently quite wonderful) person who did nothing to her but make her resentful.

Then she clearly did do something to her.

The crazy eyes should have given her away.

I remember an interview with he brother of the policewoman saying she was "framed", that the DNA evidence was, somehow opened and the fact S. Lazarus lost his weapon a week before the crime was just a coincidence. He said her sister had many enemies in the force because she was in internal affairs for some time. I thought it was insane how blind some people can be when someone you love is accused of a terrible crime.

The DNA was misplaced at some point, also not labelled according to regulation. That’s in the VF article.

The interview at that point was moot. They had the DNA evidence and could have arrested her at any of point, but (at least as reported on Wikipedia's page) they were concerned about her having a weapon and possibly using it (some officers nicknamed here Spazarus due odd bouts of anger) so they called her somewhere she would have to check the weapon. And she did leave the interview when DNA was brought up, only to be arrested. I'm not sure how else they could have handled it. Raiding her house in the early morning hours?

I wonder what happened the husband and daughter.

Is manfaced Stephy posting here at R33?

R57, I understand the other cops wanting to trick her into, basically, turn herself in, unarmed. But I don't understand how they got away with interrogating her first and then Mirandizing her afterwards. The plan seemed to be that the cops would have arrested her whether she talked or not. Miranda rights are triggered when (1) you're not free to leave and (2) you're being interrogated. From the time she walked into that "meeting," she was not free to leave (and she was obviously, IMO, being interrogated).

[quote]Because of the location of the bite mark it’s believed Lazarus bit Sherri’s forearm when Sherri might have had her in a headlock.

It had to be a monumental struggle. Sherri was six feet tall and described as big boned and Lazarus was a college athlete. Sherri probably could have taken her out had Smith and Wesson not been in the fight.

Reading her personal details -- she went to college at 16 and was director of nursing at 28, already teaching university courses, had such a promising career ahead, newlywed for only a few months -- makes it all the more tragic. At least her parents got to see justice.

And her husband had to have wondered/suspected. He asked detectives if Lazarus was ba suspect. And proceeded to sleep with her. I guess the justice for ignoring his wife's concerns is the whole world knowing he got played for a fool.

Odd detail is that

Ah, r43 - back in the good old days, when VF used to be a pretty decent magazine.

It was very obvious that Rasmussen didn't really care about Lazarus and just used her as a fuckhole. A pity she didn't see that, although it's hard to imagine how she couldn't have. He was never going to be serious about her.

I meant Ruetten, not Rasmussen.

The interrogation is so uncomfortable to watch. Her acting clueless is so faked it is blatantly obvious she is feigning to not remember. The extraneous amount of detail also points towards her guilt. They asked how long she dated John. She never answered, but instead gave ridiculous extra detail to shut that did not even matter. BUSTED!

Bitch looked fucking cray cray!

There was a bunch of missing evidence from the case file. Perhaps Lazarus herself secretly removed it at some point?

This is an interesting analysis by a criminal psychologist. He makes an extremely detailed breakdown of the interrogation, and delves deeply into the case's background.

R67---This is the thing I saw a few weeks ago.

[quote]The husband of the victim is partly responsible for not cutting her (Stephanie Lazarus) loose when it was apparent she would not be ignored.

Not only that but he lied to police during the original investigation about Lazarus, and then after Lazarus killed his wife, he started hooking up with her again. He even called the cops to ask and make sure Lazarus wasn't a suspect before he started banging her.

R69 seriously? How could he not know that crazy bitch eyes killed his wife? Maybe he was in on the murder? Could it be a setup?

I know that I'm being incredibly superficial, but he should have gone to prison as well, for crimes against good taste - I mean, he slept with THAT? He was either visually impaired, or a total pervert.

R71 damn she was so ugly. I was surprised she ended up marrying a man, because she looks like a lesbian. Maybe she is a blow job Queen? I bet his wife did not like sucking his dick, and crazy Stephanie would do anything to satisfy him. Disgusting people.

R62 I don’t think he cared about his wife either to be honest.

R67 Just watched this whole thing. Fascinating.

r33, HELLO? She made her mad? She had the man she loved. FUCK THIS BITCH STEPHANIE. She should rot in jail. DAMN you think murder should have a statue of limitation? What if someone else made her mad.

I'm watching her interview and it's deteriorating rapidly. She should have known what was going on and stopped talking and asked for a lawyer. Not that she deserved to get off the hook but I would think her experience would tell her what they were doing.

What is the lesbian equivalent of “gayface”? Because she has it.

It's a bit tiring as DListers keep calling her out as a lesbian. She isn't. She was obsessed with this dude and married to another cop. Looks like an average frau. Let it go.

"It's a bit tiring"

Well, this post is certainly only for your pleasure, R78.

This reawakens my occasional wondering who I might know in life that may have murdered someone or done something horrible, and successfully kept it hidden for years and years. And they’re your friend and coworker.

Besides her discovered crime, she has crazy eyes and seems odd (I know many people like that!) but also seems just like any other random kooky person you might know.

r80, I always side eye my coworkers

R80 This happened to an ex of mine in Austin. He found out a girl he’d known (a big fun loving dyke) since college in the 80’s had been guilty along with another accomplice in the murder of someone in the early 90’s. The cold case broke sometime in the late 00’s. She stilled lived in Austin and occasionally they would hang out and were MySpace friends and everything. That whole time she had this thing in her past. The way he found out, he saw her in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs on the local news!

Caneface, r77.

That must've been some AMAZING dick!

R77 Dykeface

So R23 is cuckoo loco.

R33, seriously? She made her mad so it was OK to kill another person and then "let it go"?

Fucking sociopath.

Darn up OP I am now down the rabbit hole reading about this case. The VF article is good.

This case to me is so compelling and FRIGHTENING on all levels. Can you imagine what Stephanie was like in person??

Totally fucking scary shit.

The way she killed her was frightening as fuck- in her own home!??

This loopty-loo had giants balls of brass.

I cannot tell if it was 100% pre-planned though.. She used her own (2nd handgun)- That was seriously stupid- Clearly this woman planned on killing her, but I cannot tell if her intent was to kill her that day..

And according to this awesome video above with the psychologist commenting, many of her injuries were made AFTER she was dead. Stephanie HATED this woman and beat her after shooting her.

And you know what film this reminds me of? Unlawful Entry starring Ray Liotta, Kurk Russell, and Madeline Stowe. Very similar in a weird way.

Did she break into the condo or did she ring the doorbell and the wife let her in?

I suspect Lazarus was motivated by more than just her unreciprocated love and devotion to John Ruettan and deep envy for his eventual mate, whoever she might be. If it had been anyone else, I don't think she would have gone off the deep end.

Sherri represented a lot more to her: well-educated and in an important career acheived at a young age, very attractive, tall, great future earning potential, etc. In other words, Sherri was everything she was not. Steph may have had a rocking body and been a good lay, but she was truly a double bagger. She got an undergrad degree from UCLA and got a blue collar beat cop in LA? Sounds like he she was aimless after college and took a job to pay bills. I thought it said a lot that she blew into Sherri's office, past the admin unannounced like she was on some power of the badge kick. "You my have a fancy office and a secretary, but look at what I can do because...". I don't think she would have been bothered so much if John's fiancee was the admin or a floor nurse.

What's odd to me is that she didn't seem to be overtly possessive of John and didn't seem to stalk him, showing up where he was, showering him with presents, etc. She didn't sound clingy. And she apparently survived when he remarried.

Sherri was a nurse, not a CEO. Lazraus was obsessed with John and he was weak enough to not set decent boundaries with her.

Sherri's family hates John. They felt he could've done a lot more to get rid of Stephanie. He never told her to fuck off and that he never wanted to see her again. I suspect it fed his ego that his ex-fuckbuddy was still around.

She was also an administrator who became director of nursing at the age of 27 and was teaching student nurses. (suggesting she had a graduate degree) Do you really think her career trajectory was going to be like that of an average nurse? A CEO title may have been in her future.

There was more than sexual envy going on here, r92. Had she ever shown obsession over other women he dated or his second wife? The police got her hard drive and diaries, so they would have found out.

Has anyone ever had dick so good you would murder someone for it?

Lazarus was bold and brazen b/c Ruetten didn't put her in her place. Lazarus would drop by and want him to wax her skis, etc. When she dropped by Sherri's work place, Lazarus was not in a cop uniform, she was in a tube top and shorts, according to the VF article.

Sherri was kind of dumb as well, though, for getting married to someone who hadn't even ended his previous relationship.

Ruetten fucked Lazarus for "closure." What a dumb ass. After Sherri was killed, he checked with the cops to see if Lazarus was cleared as a suspect. Then he fucked Lazarus again in Hawaii, IIRC.

Sherri was about 3 years older than Ruetten and, IIRC, was in some type of supervisory position.

I think Ruetten would have fucked around on Sherri, whether it was Lazarus or someone else.

R94: I've worked in health care. I know what her job is. her progress is impressive, but being at best a middle manager, overseeing a low status profession in a community hospital is not going to impress anyone very much. Lots of people have an office and maybe even have an assistant (I'll bet she shared hers). Engineers usually wind up in middle management pretty quickly--John probably looked like he was going places.

You may be jealous of other people's success, but intense stalkerish behavior isn't primarily motivated by that, it's the irrational attachment to the person and that she went hunting for him after Steffi's death seems to corroborate that. She also recognized she could push his buttons. He couldn't say "no". A lot of people do that even when confronted with an obvious bully.

He was “slumming” it with the nurse. Some of these hot successful guys will do that. I don’t get it.

She shows too much guilt in that interview to be a psychopath. I wonder how should could have committed the murder then gone on with her life if she did have a conscience?

R91, gets it. Women might hate men, but they hate other women more.

I used to have a girl friend who was fucking a married man. She talked so much shit about his wife, barely talked about him at all. I don’t even think she ever said the wife’s name. And my friend was a pretty, sexy girl with a fabulous body. Men hit on her all the time. One day it dawned on me that this thing had very little to do with him and mostly to do with her. She wanted to be better than the wife.

She broke it off when he got his wife pregnant.

The VF article said that Lazarus stopped by their home on her break and usually John was home then but instead Sherri was which made her suspicious. I bet John had been screwing Lazarus the whole time he was with Sherri.

Sounds like Lazarus was a butter face, she had a nice athletic body but her face was fug.

Did you catch their dorm name? Dykstra. I know Lenny, but still.

23 years later, after she comfortably got away with it, then she gets arrested. This is like a made for TV movie.

[quote]r97 -- You are presuming low level beat cop

[Quote]'ve worked in health care. I know what her job is. her progress is impressive, but being at best a middle manager, overseeing a low status profession in a community hospital

You seem to presume her career would have ended at 27 in a cushy frau job she got at a young age without merit. Tell us more about your assumptions, please.

People who go to college at 16 and achieve don't settle for lower level jobs. Why do you think someone who went to college at 16 would not have a graduate degree or seek career advancement? Where else should a 27 year old be trying out her chops before moving on? Oh, great Healthcare Swami?

And how many 27 y.o.s become a director of nursing, even in a community setting?

And, for FUCKS SAKE, are.you a failed CNA?

Go Nels! Stephanie's father saw through the bullshit.

Maybe Stephanie's stalking and murderous rage towards Sherri really was about unbearable latent lesbian attraction? From all accounts she did nothing against John except take his wife from him.

I love the almost three times in the video that Stephanie meticulously lists everyone who lives in her dorm. Someone with the last name “Suck-a-boo” which sounds like she made it up on the spot.

Her "claymation" faces, the chin jutting and lip smacking are a hoot.

LAPD is the most corrupt in the nation, and that's saying something.

I just watched the Snapped episode about this case. That poor woman was ambushed and murdered execution style by that psycho bitch. Lazarus should never get out of prison.

What a fucked up world.

This woman was HARDCORE AND EVIL. The way she murdered that woman was so vicious and absolutely gangster. She comes across so gawky and daffy that its makes her even scarier.

This kind of outcome is proof the statute of limitations should be twenty minutes at most.

Stephanie, who joined the police force after graduation and became a part of the LAPD, expressed her love for John after he had been engaged to Sherri. Reportedly, the two had sexual intercourse to give Stephanie closure.

Conversations with John revealed that he never even considered Stephanie to be a suspect, and he had in fact been in contact with her after the murder took place. John who had quit his job and left Los Angeles after Sherri’s death, on his return met up with Stephanie where the two had sexual intercourse again.

Geez, how many times did he have to have sex with that psycho?

This is actually one of my favorite Youtube videos. I posted it in another thread on DL once but no one seemed interested. Sherri was murdered on my 3rd birthday.

When she starts making up people she shared a dorm with on the fly and for no reason….

“Diana Basta….ROY SUCKABOO”!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The Roy Suckaboo moment gives me life.

What a horrible liar. I just love her crazy bug eyes.

Most old ladies get craggy eyes but hers look like have been done or something.

He sure had a lot of intercourse.

Who, Roy Suckaboo!!??

Oh no you mean that piece of shit- Rutten-

He's a real scum bag too

I feel bad for that poor woman who died.

I hope Roy Suckaboo is somewhere living the dream!

[Quote]She has CRAZY EYES and is the definitive sociopath

She's definitely not a sociopath. A sociopath would be more casual about getting arrested and sound more convincing when telling his lies. This woman was scared shitless and acting like a kid who's been caught.

R120- Is she even a psychopath?

She seems to skirt around all qualities but maybe she is just evil..

The "48 Hours" episode about this case is online, or if you have Roku you can watch it on-demand (for free) through Pluto TV. I had it on as background noise while painting the house and was stopped in my tracks several times by her craziness.

The husband was absolute trash.

Obviously he didn't commit the murder but he slept with her while engaged, told his wife not to report being harassed, all while keeping in contact with her. He actually called to double check with police that she wasn't implicated before going to see her, TF.

This psycho bitch showed up to his wife's workplace and verbally harassed her and he did nothing about it! WTF kind of man would not do anything about that?

[quote]When she starts making up people she shared a dorm with on the fly and for no reason

I had to laugh at that too. Who the hell can remember all the names of the people who lived in their college dorm for a semester or two, decades ago? Crazy bitch.

DL LOVES you Roy Suckaboo!!! Wherever you are, baby!

These scary people walk among us, completely undetected.

That's the really scary part r126. There are total psychopaths who can blend into everyday society and you would never guess because they can fake being "normal." Ted Bundy is a good example of this. He was handsome and charming and people liked him but it was all an act. In reality he was an inhuman monster.

I'm with the other posters who are shocked that Lazarus wasn't into pussy. I definitely would've clocked her as a big ol' dykeosaurus.

R128! Shit! YES! Its amazing that she would kill for cock. She ooooooozzzzeeess pussylover.

This is now a Roy Suckaboo Appreciation Thread.

Shit I am laughing so hard I cannot breathe. I just googled Roy Suckaboo and it brings up Stephanie's picture.

And this video. Love the description.

Love you Roy Suckaboo !!!!! And whichever parallel universe you inhabit!

Sorry here-

Her crazy bug eyes and bizarre facial expressions in the interrogation video are funny AF.

I was the middle in a Suckaboo Brothers SEX SANDWICH!!!!

Diana Basta watched through the winda!!!

I love when good old Steph says she has a TEMPER but pretty chill otherwise...

[quote] These scary people walk among us, completely undetected.

Lazarus was not blending in (the eyes, the intensity, etc.). Just b/c the dumbass husband wanted to sleep with the enemy. For whatever reason, he found her sexually attractive. The wife / murder victim should have run for the hills when the husband did nothing to protect her in the early stages.

[quote] The wife / murder victim should have run for the hills when the husband did nothing to protect her in the early stages.

The husband was a real POS for not doing anything. He never called Lazarus and told her to fuck off and move on with her life, even after she showed up at the hospital where Sherri worked and acted like a crazy bitch, threatening her. That was a very unnerving thing, and he took no action over it.

And holy fuck the husband was an utter piece of shit. Almost as bad as this murdering bitch.

But I must say that I am forever grateful to Diana BASTA and Roy SUCKABOO!!!!!!!

Fun fact: Lazarus went undercover as a prostitute during her police career, and never got any takers!

Yes r138, I remember reading that somewhere.

Even all those horny Johns feared for their lives when they saw that crazy bitch.

R139, even Aileen Wuornos had some takers, hahahaha.

Thankfully, Sherri's parents were still alive to see Lazarus arrested and put on trial. They were pretty old by then. Sherri's father died a few years ago.

Lazarus ought to have been dealt with when she showed up at her victim's workplace to create a scene.

Nobody did anything! The useless husband John didn't call Stephanie to tell her to fuck off and stop bothering his wife, he didn't go get a restraining order, nothing. And then there were the three occasions Stephanie showed up at the condo, and he still did nothing. He was a spineless piece of shit.

Stephanie coming over to have John wax her skis was likely just an excuse, she was really there to see the layout of the condo because she had already decided to murder Sherri. It's quite chilling to think about.

Personification of crazy 👀 eyes

I’ve come across many actresses just like her in Hollywood. In fact, I still come across cray cray women like this in the average course of a day. Scary shit!

God bless you Roy Suckaboo, wherever you are now

The original Roy Suckaboo:

I don’t know! Gosh, it was years ago!

That Rasmussen woman looks like she could’ve been Leonardo’s sister. She may have felt sympathy for Lazarus having lost John’s nice cock, perhaps allowing a few pity fucks. OR…it was supposed to be a threesome with dark lesbo Lazarus ending up killing her during an intense female/female rape. The mind boggles.

the victim was 29, 6ft tall and a newly wed=, she felt invincible most young people do.

This bitch is a goddamned ANIMAL. The fact that she bit this poor, nice woman really makes me think of her as subhuman. I hope some big fat lesbian BITES her on a daily basis. What a pig. Beneath contempt.

I just watched her police interview. It’s hilarious. From the minute her colleagues mention her ex’s name, she knows she’s fucked, as her body language shows (hand slapping repeatedly the table, head jerking violently). What ensues is priceless. The constant repetition of “you know”, “I mean”, “errrr”, “gee”, “that was a million years ago”, etc. Her detective colleagues are torturing her masterfully, considering they know everything already. They’re just playing with her. Absolutely kudos to them though.

When the cops searched Lazarus's house, they found several books on lock picking. It's theorized he got into the condo by picking the lock on the front door. Sherri heard the door open and went downstairs to investigate. Such a horrible, awful story. Hopefully Lazarus won't get parole when she's eligible.

I’m betting Lazarus was banking on the idea that the police would never turn on one of their own. Once she realized in that interview that they indeed would and in fact did, allowed her to accept her fate in prison. At that realization, she just went all in hoping she could rely on the CYA for each other. I still don’t understand how she could let it all escalate into such a brutal murder. It’s all just so weird. I’m thinking there’s more to this that we don’t know.

John Ruetten always treated Stephanie as a side piece, he was never interested in having a serious relationship with her. She knew this. It's not like he was going to go running to her after his wife was dead. It's just bizarre that she killed his wife, knowing nothing would happen between her and John.

This case just stays with you, it's so disturbing.

R156- Its true. I think its the combination of the abuse of power (at least in Stephanie's mind), her sheer balls in how she killed this woman in her own home, bit her like an animal, and then proceeded to cooly go on with her life.

And then the fact that 20 years later, this dumpy old crazy eyed Frau gets caught.

Stephanie is just really scary. That's what I am saying. lol

[quote] I’m betting Lazarus was banking on the idea that the police would never turn on one of their own.

She did get 20 years of freedom (after the murder) as part of special treatment amongst police officers. She was a suspect from the start. I think the victim's father told cops that he (dad) suspected Lazarus. Cops did not listen to dad.

Also, I wouldn't marry someone that unprotective. There were red flags with the husband. Scumbag POS.

That was hilarious, R147. I love that kind of dopey humor.

It's startling how Lazarus could commit such a cold blooded, execution-style murder and then just go on with her life like nothing happened. What a fucking psychopath. "The Lazarus Files" is a good read. The case file of Sherri's Rasmussen's murder had a lot of pages missing. It was stored in the same police station where Lazarus worked for several years in the 90s, she would've had unfettered access to it. I would bet money she tampered with the file. Interestingly, the bite mark swab was misfiled in the coroner's office. It too several days of searching in the freezer room to find it, and it was tucked away in some random area, as if someone was deliberately trying to hide it. Hmmmm.......

BTW, HLN's "Dead Wives Club" did an episode about this case, you can watch it on HBO Max.

This is the 48 hours episode

Imagine the shit this evil cunt pulled on those she arrested?

That’s the thing about dirty cops, they usually don’t stop at one.

I hope all of her arrests and convictions were re-examined in light of her justified arrest.

I wonder if she had other victims.

I can't imagine having sex with an ex my murdered wife had begged me to stop allowing into my life. An ex I'd had to repeatedly assure her wasn't a threat. An ex I'd had sex with "to give her closure" while I was engaged. I don't know how you can achieve arousal with that sort of guilt and any what ifs.

Dateline just re-ran the Lazarus episode, it's on their website.

Sorry, I forgot to mention the title of the episode is "Detective Story."

"Imagine the shit this evil cunt pulled on those she arrested?"

She didn't have a bad record as a cop, I think she worked as a detective in the art theft department.....not a job that would call for tons of brutality

This would make a good Hulu miniseries like Candy did

It's going to be a miniseries.

Fish (aka str8 females) are always 'special'!

Sick fucking animal. Rot in prison, cuntface.

She’s a dead-ringer for Cherry Jones so I instantly thought she was into pussy as well.

We named one of our dogs Diana Basta!

R173, You should write to her and tell her she has created a namesake. Be sure and report back with her reply.

R173- I named my bunny rabbit "Roy Suckaboo!"

Its actually with exclamation points

Roy Suckaboo!

Don't forget Smeeda, who also lived in the dorm.

I like to think that Smeeda and Roy Suckaboo got married and they live next door to Diana Basta.

Even an amateur could tell that Steph was the worst liar ever. She could remember everything that happened before 1986 and everything that happened after 1986 with great detail, but she couldn't remember much of anything that happened in 1986.

R176- I think she says "Sanita"? Smeeda?

Smeeda Suckaboo.

Jesus Christ.

This thread gets me every time.

For such a seriously EVIL woman, old Steph is also comedic gold!

She was the definition of "psycho bitch." She stalked that poor woman (Sherri) for quite awhile, showed up at Sherri and John's condo uninvited with some bullshit excuse for being there (John did nothing to tell her to fuck off) and then of course ended up killing Sherri. She was such an obvious suspect, but the LAPD refused to listen to Sherri's parents for many years. John just took off and had nothing to do with the investigation.

"I'll have to check my pictures" made me LOL. Steph interrupts the interrogation to tell the cops how she had so many picture she paid some guy to put them all on a CD ROM! It was the most random and pointless thing to mention.

We need a current interview with her. Someone go visit her in jail.

She has a lumpy face.

This bitch

I wonder if she had another dorm-mate named "Art Vandelay" or "H.E." Pennypacker?"

This whole saga is being turned into a limited series, based on the book The Lazarus Files.

They should get Parker Posey to play Steph Lazarus. Oscar-bait role there!

Is Cherry Jones too old to play Stephanie?

Elizabeth Debecki as Sherri?

r187 - facially, Cherry has IT. Would she be able to handle looking youngish/late 80's/early 90's onto her alcohol induced death? I wonder.

r188 Elizabeth Debecki looked like a tall, well/corn-fed girl. Maybe that huge girl from Games of Thrones - Gwendolyne Christie?

The creepiest thing about the case is how the police covered up for Lazarus. They were immediately told by the victim’s family that Lazarus had been to their daughter’s workplace and threatened her.

R190 it's not creepy, it's the way america's police forces feel they can do everyFUCKINGthing they want without repercussions. Because there pretty much aren't any repercussions anymore for LE.

i just want to add that this country is not the only ones complicate for covering up shit that the police mishandled or ass-grabbed. Check out Italy and Canada for a few others. I'm sure Spain figures into the mix as well, but we in the US have an ingratiating way of looking the other way when it comes to fellow officers completely losing the plot and abusing their power.

Several pages of the case file had been removed, nobody can explain why. Lazarus worked at the police station where the case file was kept. I would bet money it was her. If she had known about the bite mark swab that probably would've mysteriously disappeared, too.

I'm very surprised there has never been a film or at least a TV movie based on this case but SVU did an episode inspired by it.

r193 there's going to be a limited series

R191- What made them finally go after her? Isn't it strange that they covered for her for years then decided to investigate her seriously? I wonder who she pissed off?

r195 there were several cold case files that were considered solvable thanks to advances in DNA technology. The Sherri Rasmussen case just happened to be one of them. The LAPD dug out some old cold case files and assigned them to various detectives.

R196- If only her police buddies had gotten rid of that damn DNA! She reminds me of a Dollar Store version of Betty Broderick.

[quote]R195 What made them finally go after her? Isn't it strange that they covered for her for years then decided to investigate her seriously? I wonder who she pissed off?

Decades had gone by, and the new investigators had nothing to do with ever having worked with Lazarus in the past. So they were more impartial..

Makes me wonder if she went over there that morning with the intention to kill Sherri or if she was just going to snoop around as she had done in the past. It was a workday like any other and Sherri was supposed to be at work when Stephanie picked the lock and entered the condo. She had no way of knowing that Sherri had called in sick that day. There was a previous incident where Stephanie had broken into the condo and Sherri confronted her, and Stephanie left.

Perhaps this time Stephanie thought "oh shit, I'm not going to get away with it this time. This is one time too many. I'll get fired from the LAPD and my life will be ruined." That's when she decided that she had to kill Sherri.

It's such a sad, fucked up story.

R199- I have often thought that is what happened but we will never know because she will never admit her guilt.

[quote]R155 It's just bizarre that she killed his wife, knowing nothing would happen between her and John.

They did start occasionally dating again once the wife was gone, though. So the killer got something out of it.

John was such a piece of shit. He did nothing to try and have Stephanie stop her harassment. Even after the incident where Stephanie showed up at the hospital and verbally harassed Sherri he didn't even call her and say "knock it off you crazy bitch and never come near my wife again." Nothing. And immediately after Sherri was killed, when John was being interviewed in the police station, the cops asked him point blank if there was anybody who had a problem with Sherri and John said "no." He didn't mention Stephanie and all the stalking incidents. At all. Unbelievable.

Sherri's family understandably despise him.

If you look up the interrogation video on Youtube, there are many hilarious comments, as well as insightful ones about the whole love triangle situation.

And yes Smeeda, Roy Suckaboo and Diana Basta get a number of shout outs.

He must have had some stellar dick.

Well you guys caught a break. I practically wrote a damn book and it didn't post. Long story short, I have observed women who stalk other women and I think it isn't the man they want. They want the ego boost of taking a msn away from his wife/gf. The Watts case was the same. The skank stalked Shan'ann Watts on SM. She went into her house and went through SW things. That is obsessive ,very intrusive, behavior, imo. Princess Diana targeted married men, many of them. She made nuisance calls to one of them knowing his wife was at home. Stephanie wasn't one of the pretty, petite girls. I think Stephanie knew how low she had sunk stalking this women. She may have felt humiliated at being caught and that turned to rage. The women just want the satisfaction and ego boost of taking the man from them, imo.

I find her and this case fascinating. She violently attacks and kills a woman then goes on to be a police officer, mother, wife, and never commits another crime that we know of. No mental health issues, no violence, nothing. Normal Nora. I hope a really good true crime author writes a book about her. I wish we had Ann Rule. Ann Rule would have found out what color shoe's she wore in kindergarten, lol. Miss her .

R202- He was a slimy POS. He went away with her on vacation right after she killed his wife. I think he knew she did it. Maybe the sick fuck got off on it.

How do we know she never went on to commit another major crime? Or hadn't previously?

R208- We actually don't know that. If she did, she didn't get caught. I want to know, lol.

Is her face that way due to a medical issue? I have a co worker who’s girlfriend has a similar misshapen face. We call her potato head.

R210- I didn't notice that because I couldn't look away from her crazy, insane eyes. Scary.

R183 she looks like she's either brimming with rage there, or because she knows she's been caught she's mocking the investigators. Kind of chilling to watch in slow mo.

Rattling off the names of the people who lived in her college dorm 30 years earlier is the best part.

"Diana Basta, Roy Suckaboo, Jim Jaskell, Mike Bowldrick, Diane Sherman, the other Diane Sherman, and there was this girl named Smeeda...."

And every time she says "it was a million years ago!"

Stuff like this creeps me out. How could anyone who did that then walk around as if nothing had happened and live a normal life?

It's mind boggling r214. And so scary.

Here's some behavior analysts talking about how lying liar Stephanie Lazarus lies.

This callous bitch should have gotten the death penalty. But I'm Catholic.

[quote] Ruetten never considered the relationship as anything more than "necking and fooling around." They had sex for the first time after he graduated, when he accepted a job with hard-drive manufacturer Micropolis and she applied to the city's police academy and became a uniformed officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1983. In court, he later testified that they had sex "twenty to thirty times" between 1981 and 1984, but that she was never his girlfriend.

The case is a good example of men are not wanting a serious relationship with a skank who would have sex with them 20 or 30 times outside of marriage. Being a “good time” makes you not marriage material. Keep the pants on.

[QUOTE] The case is a good example of men are not wanting a serious relationship with a skank who would have sex with them 20 or 30 times outside of marriage. Being a “good time” makes you not marriage material. Keep the pants on.

John didn’t get married to Shari until 1985. Something is off about your statement. Who was having sex outside of a marriage here?

R219, here’s a clue: her name is in the thread title and she’s the subject of this thread. Haven’t had your morning coffee yet?

Your post still doesn’t make any sense, R220, but I guess kudos for being a bitch this early.

Neither John nor Stephanie were married to other people when you claim they were having sex 20-30 times between 1981 and 1984. So who exactly was having sex “outside of marriage”?

We’ll wait for your sure-to-be illuminating answer.