The Murder of Sherri Rae Rasmussen

"If I can't have John, then nobody else will."

After months of stalemate in the case, Rasmussen's parents began holding press conferences asking for people to come forward with clues, and offered a $10,000 reward. During the initial investigation, Lazarus was only a blip on the radar screen, despite repeated pleas from Rasmussen's father, Nels Rasmussen, for the LAPD to consider that Rasmussen and Lazarus had both dated John Ruetten, and that Lazarus had turned up at the Glendale Adventist Hospital, where Rasmussen worked as a critical care nurse, and allegedly threatened her: "If I can't have John, nobody else will."

The Glendale Adventist Medical Center as it looks today.

Another confrontation had occurred a month before the murder, her father recounted. When Rasmussen had arrived home, she found Lazarus waiting for her inside. She was wearing her uniform. And just a few days before the murder, Lazarus had allegedly called Rasmussen and threatened her; Rasmussen had told her father that she thought the officer had been stalking her on the streets.

At the time, Mr. Rasmussen's allegations were dismissed. He was told to stop watching so much television. He wrote letters to the head of the police department at the time, Daryl F. Gates. His pleas for the department to take a second look at the case went unheeded, and, after five years, Mr. Rasmussen gave up.

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1. Introduction
2. Rising in the Force
3. Robbery Gone Awry
4. "If I can't have John, then nobody else will."
5. Something out of Law and Order
6. Announcing the Cracking of the Cold Case
7. Redemption: "I told you so."
8. New Details
9. On the Other Side of the Thin Blue Line