Either he hadn't made note of these numerous calls, or someone else removed those pages. None of this was in the original detective's notes. Sherri's dad kept urging them for years to look at her. Also Sherri's father and co-workers told the cops about Lazarus. Everyone said how well-liked Stephanie was, I guess she could have gotten someone to risk their career to cover for her. It cleared the question up for me.Īpparently another cop named Phil Morritt checked out the evidence on this case in 1993 (right around the time cold cases started being solved with DNA - LA didn't start their program till 2001 but other PDs were doing it and Lazarus had to be terrified what would happen when LA caught up) and any evidence that could have had the DNA of the killer went missing. I just read the Vanity Fair article you posted a while back, CA4Now. But for some reason, Stephanie Lazarus is the only one that makes me stop and ponder, what were those 23 years like for her? I watch a lot of true crime and have seen a lot of evil, unfeeling, greedy people committing heinous crimes. I'm not sure why this particular woman's thought processes and state of mind fascinates me so much. But after DNA came along, I wonder how she managed to keep that confidence? I'd have been a complete wreck. I wonder how she coped? I wonder what mechanisms she used to basically forget about it and go on with life? How could she have been so sure she'd never get caught that she never even thought about what to say if she was interrogated? I can understand how a few years went by so she got pretty confident at that time. If that was me, I'd have been so scared and paranoid, I'm not sure I could have done my job. I'd have done or thought about doing all the above things if that was me. I wonder if she thought about looking at the evidence box herself before Homicide got to it and removing anything that could point to her? I wonder if she was able to look at a written list of the evidence without anyone knowing she had accessed it and saw they had that swab? If not, I wonder if it was always in the back of her mind that someone COULD have swabbed that bitemark? I don't think she planned what to say if she was ever questioned again, because she sure got caught in a lot of lies. The cold case homicide detectives said they often ran into her because they shared kitchen space with her department, so I think she knew that sooner or later they'd be looking at the Sherri Rassmussen case. I kept thinking, surely Lazarus knew about the cold cases being reinvestigated after the DNA technology came along. I rewatched an episode of Snapped last night that featured this case. And I hope she's seen it now, and researched DNA and realized that swab could not have been made recently since it also had Sherry's DNA, and has since done a big and realized that this woman she thought she knew really did murder a romantic rival. I assume she hadn't seen the police interview at that time to see all the lies she told the detectives. I recall seeing a friend of hers interviewed saying she wondered who Stephanie pissed off that caused them to frame her. That's exactly what happened to Stephanie. But can you imagine if you had turned your life around, you now had a spouse, and maybe kids and grandkids, and you're respected in the community and at work? Your life is moving along swimmingly, and now you have something to live for and so much more to lose when you're caught. He said at the time, they're expecting to be arrested any day now, and they often don't have much to lose. He says he's come to believe that it's probably worse for the perp when they're caught later, especially if they've turned their lives around. I saw a cold case detective talking about these kinds of killers just recently on one of those true crime shows. It's not like they didn't know about her from the get go. Her parents, and I think a co-worker or two, kept telling the police about Stephanie coming to Sherry's work and confronting her. Yes, a male stalker would have been investigated much more closely back in the day. Since, if she were a guy that did this to a woman, she would have gone to prison back in the '80's - when the crime actually occurred.instead of being free to walk the streets & do whatever she wanted for 15+ years afterwards. Plus, most LE cover for each other - so, again, surprised about this.Īnd, actually, she did get preferential treatment. She was both female & LE, and typically women get treated much less harshly then men - for the same crimes. I'm actually surprised that she was even investigated & convicted. What's unfortunate is that she was free & walking the streets for years after doing this. Glad this female piece of excrement got caught re: her crime.
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