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Noprid just necessary boid, We're prohibited 20 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.719 by long eighteen plus terms and conditioned to plicy let's demail. 21 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:03.240 Loop TA. 22 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.079 You are now listening to True Murder, The most shocking 23 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:19.200 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 24 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:26.560 written about them Gasey, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every 25 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:30.280 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 26 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.560 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your 27 00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:51.000 host journalist and author Dan Zufanski Good Evening, a deeply reported, 28 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:54.760 riveting account of a cold case murder in Los Angeles, 29 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:59.799 unsolved until DNA evidence implicated a shocking suspect, a female 30 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:05.280 detective within the LAPD's own ranks. On February twenty fourth, 31 00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:09.759 nineteen eighty six, twenty nine year old newlywed Sherry Rasmusen 32 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:12.840 was murdered in the home she shared with her husband John. 33 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:17.719 The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially 34 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:21.599 assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, 35 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:24.680 Sherry had confided to her parents that an ex girlfriend 36 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:28.319 of John's, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. 37 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:33.599 The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex girlfriend, 38 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.080 but the original detectives only pursued burglary suspects and the 39 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:42.439 case went cold. DNA analysis did not exist when Sherry 40 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:45.800 was murdered. Decades later, a swamp from a bite mark 41 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:49.840 on Sherry's arm revealed her killer was in fact female. 42 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.960 Not male. A DNA match led to the arrest and 43 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:57.280 conviction of veteran LAPD detective Stephanie Lazareth, John's one time girlfriend. 44 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:01.919 The Lazareth Files The Liver the visceral experience of being 45 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:06.319 inside a real life murder mystery. McGoff reconstructs the lives 46 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:09.639 of Sherry John and Stephanie, the love triangle that led 47 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:13.479 to Sherry's murder and the homicide investigation that followed. Was 48 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:17.439 Stephanie protected by her fellow officers? What did the LAPD 49 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:20.919 know and when did they know it? Are there other 50 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:24.639 LAPD cold cases with a police connection that remain unsolved. 51 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:28.280 The book that we're featuring this evening is The Lazareth Files, 52 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:33.479 a cold case investigation with my special guest journalist and author, 53 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.439 Matthew McGoff. Welcome to the program, and thank you very 54 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:42.080 much for a Greenness interview. Matthew McGough, thank you very much. 55 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:47.360 Thank you for Johnny Man incredible. I call it an 56 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:50.759 old time almost like a classic true crime book. Incredible 57 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.680 detail and congratulations on just an amazing edge of your 58 00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:56.479 seat book. 59 00:03:57.319 --> 00:03:58.800 Let's thank you so much. 60 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:00.759 Are you welcome? 61 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:06.520 Tell us how you became involved with this book and 62 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.039 this case, how you came to be the author of 63 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.879 the Lazaruth Files. 64 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:16.000 Well, for me, the story began in two thousand and eight, 65 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:21.040 a year before Stephanie was arrested, when coincidentally I interviewed 66 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:23.959 her for a book that I was planning to write 67 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:27.079 about art theft, which was her beat as an laped 68 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:31.160 detective before or at least up until the time that 69 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:34.920 she was arrested. So I had a fairly innocuous encounter 70 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:39.560 with Stephanie when she was still a detective and good standing. 71 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:42.560 And then it was about a year after that that 72 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.319 she was arrested for having committed this murder twenty some 73 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:49.079 years before. So I was really on the story from 74 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:53.680 day one, just because I knew who she was, and 75 00:04:53.720 --> 00:05:01.199 I immediately just had this curiosity and desire to first 76 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:04.839 of all, know whether or not it could possibly be 77 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:09.600 true that this female police attective who I've met with 78 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.399 could possibly have been harboring a secret like this for 79 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:16.279 her whole career, and the more I learned about the story, 80 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:17.240 the more I wanted to know. 81 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:24.519 Certainly, certainly very interesting first meeting with Stephanie. Very interesting. 82 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.439 Let's go, as you write in the book, to February 83 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:29.839 twenty fourth, nineteen eighty six. You take us right to 84 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:33.720 the crime scene. Tell us a little bit about before 85 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:35.560 we do that, to introduce a little bit about to 86 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.839 Van Nuys. Where Van Night's California? What section of Los 87 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:41.800 Angeles is this? And tell us a little bit about 88 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:48.199 Sherri Rasmussen and her husband John and the Balboa townhouses. 89 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.319 Tell us a little bit about them before we talk 90 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:54.600 about what happened February twenty fourth, nineteen eighty six. 91 00:05:55.079 --> 00:05:55.600 Who were they? 92 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:59.480 Of course, of course, Sherry Rathmussen was a twenty nine 93 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:04.160 year old hospital nurse, a very accomplished woman. Although she 94 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:08.920 was still in her twenties. She really had a pretty 95 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:15.480 meteoric career as a nurse. Worked at UCLA Medical Center 96 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.759 and then Glendell Adventis Medical Center and was running there 97 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:25.160 critical care operations which would include like intensive care unit, 98 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:29.279 and she had a specialty in cardiac medicine. She was 99 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:34.040 really quite extraordinary, skipped multiple grades when she was a 100 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:38.360 young woman, graduated from college I think began college at 101 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.000 age sixteen, so she was really sort of a high flyer. 102 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:48.120 Sherry and John had been married for only three months 103 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:53.879 when she was killed. John had attended UCLA and worked 104 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:57.720 as a engineer in the computer field back in the 105 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:03.720 mid eighties. As a couple, they lived in, as you said, 106 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:09.160 Van Nives, which is the middle class area of the 107 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:16.600 San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, and they were, you know, 108 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:19.240 where the murderer heard and where they lived was a 109 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:23.839 condominium complex called about the Balboa Town Homes. It was 110 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:27.079 somewhere where Sherry had lived by herself and then with 111 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:31.759 a roommate for several years before she met John. They 112 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:34.319 became engaged and he moved in with her. 113 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.439 Now, tell us about February twenty fourth, nineteen eighty six. 114 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:45.959 You introduced in the book that John had left work 115 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:50.959 at seven twenty that morning, and so you describe him 116 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:55.000 as he approaches when he comes back from work. Tell 117 00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:57.720 us what, as you write in a book, what he 118 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:00.240 encounters when he comes home according to him. 119 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.480 Yeah, everything in the book I should I should notice 120 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:07.759 based on either witness testimony that was given during the 121 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:10.879 trial or statements that were given to the LAPD or 122 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.839 interviews that I that I personally conducted. So according to 123 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:20.000 that source material, John left for work. It was a Monday, 124 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:27.160 Sherry called in sick tour and stayed home that day, 125 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:30.439 so he left her in bed when he left for 126 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.720 work that morning, and when he came home that evening, 127 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:38.519 when he pulled up to their their condo which had 128 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:40.759 it was a split level condo, so there was a 129 00:08:42.200 --> 00:08:46.440 garage two car garage on the ground level and then 130 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.240 the first floor of the condo was a living room, 131 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.320 kitchen and dining room on the second floor, and the 132 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:56.919 bedrooms on the third floor. So when he pulled up, 133 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.919 the first thing that he noticed that was unusual was 134 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:04.639 that their garage door was open and the Sherry's car 135 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:12.440 was not there. So he went upstairs, discovered her body, 136 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.480 called nine one one, and the police arrived shortly thereafter. 137 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:24.480 Tell us about his demeanor, and you introduce important characters 138 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:28.960 in this The detectives in charge soon after arrived, Detectives 139 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:34.320 Lyell Mayler mayor pardon me and Steve Hooks tell us 140 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:38.720 about the demeanor of John and also what the police 141 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:42.200 find in their run through as you call it the 142 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:42.720 walk through. 143 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:48.960 Initially, yeah, Well, according to again testimony and the statements 144 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:52.559 given by the paramedics who reported to the scene and 145 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:57.679 the patrol the patrol officers who were initially directed to 146 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.200 the scene by the nine one one operator, John was 147 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:05.679 very distraught, as would be expected, coming home and finding 148 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:15.279 finding his wife dead on the floor the condo. The 149 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:17.840 living room which is where her body was found, appeared 150 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:24.039 to have been ransacked. So when the detectives who were 151 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.440 assigned to the case, and you had their names right, 152 00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:31.480 it was Detective Lyle Mayer was the lead investigator. He 153 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:35.759 was the more senior detective assigned to the case, and 154 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:40.919 then his partner assigned to assist was a younger, somewhat 155 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:46.440 less experienced detective named Steve Hooks. They arrived at the 156 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:50.080 condo within an hour or so after John placed his call, 157 00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:54.960 had some initial conversations with him, and based on his demeanor, 158 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:02.399 I think concluded fairly quickly that he seemed much more 159 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.519 likely to be a witness than the suspect, that he 160 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:08.200 did not have any direct involvement in the murder, and 161 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:11.440 so it was necessary for them to interview him. That 162 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:15.720 happened a little bit later on that evening. But the detectives, 163 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:18.879 based on their initial impression of the crime scene, the 164 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:25.559 fact that Sherry's car at BMW was missing, and just 165 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:28.320 the condition of the living room living room, there were 166 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:33.600 some there was a drawer of an end table that 167 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:36.440 was pulled and dumped out as if someone was possibly 168 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:40.399 looking for valuables. There was some stereo equipment that had 169 00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:48.519 been removed from an entertainment wall unit and placed near 170 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:52.399 the front door inside the condo, as you know, which 171 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:57.799 to the detectives suggested that Cherry may had been home alone. 172 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:04.679 Burglars had entered on knowing that someone was home and 173 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:08.000 that she had surprised them and the confrontation had turned 174 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:13.679 violent and then the burglars had fled. So their initial impression, 175 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.200 based on John's demeanor and the crime scene, was that 176 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.120 this was most likely a burglary gone wrong. 177 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:27.519 As you write in here, you incredible detail and with 178 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:31.039 the incredible access that you had to everything and all 179 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:34.679 the reports, but you also include the procedures that were 180 00:12:34.679 --> 00:12:38.559 supposed to be followed at the time by detectives, especially 181 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.600 in a homicide case, and you talk about some of 182 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:45.320 the things that were done, and we're not done. Tell 183 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:49.639 us as you do about because they thought initially that 184 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:53.639 this was a burglary, how did the detectives conduct the 185 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:58.799 interview with John and how did they conduct the rest 186 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:04.320 of the initially that their investigation. How did they proceed 187 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:06.039 based on this? 188 00:13:06.279 --> 00:13:09.840 Yeah, well, feel free to insterrupt me because we're talking 189 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.399 about a thirty year investigation. So we'll just go a 190 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:17.960 little bit chronologically at the beginning. You know, obviously, homicide 191 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:25.759 is the most serious crime that exists, and you know, 192 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:28.759 the LAPD has a lot of policies and procedures that 193 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:31.919 have developed over the years sort of best practices that 194 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:36.639 detectives are supposed to follow. And there were several things 195 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:41.080 that the detectives did in nineteen eighty six that they 196 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:43.360 did well that allowed the case to be solved. And 197 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:48.679 not just the detectives, but forensic science personnel from the 198 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:53.879 LAPD Crime Lab which is called Scientific Investigation Division, the 199 00:13:53.919 --> 00:14:01.039 people who were there to collect things like fingerprints and bloodstains, 200 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:05.279 and you know, also a similar personnel who work for 201 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:10.639 the coroner's office there to collect evidence. But the only 202 00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:14.759 interviews that the detectives conducted in nineteen eighty six and 203 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:18.799 the way of the murder that were actually tape recorded 204 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:25.440 the way that you know, they had the ability to 205 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:30.639 tape record all interviews, and I think today it's recognized 206 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:32.480 as the best practice to. 207 00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:34.919 Do that. 208 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.960 Because there's no statut of limitations and homicide, you don't 209 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:40.679 know how long it's going to take to solve the case, 210 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:44.320 and it's very very common for cases to be transferred 211 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:52.480 between detectives police divisions, and for you know, detectives eventually retire. 212 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:56.120 So there's very good reasons for things to be done 213 00:14:56.200 --> 00:15:00.600 by the book because it gives later to is the 214 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:05.600 best possible chance to solve the crime. So where the 215 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:10.840 shortfalls exist is in what was documented back in nineteen 216 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:16.279 eighty six and conversations that those initial detectives had with 217 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:20.600 people who had information to suggest that it may not 218 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:24.799 have been a burglary, which was their primary theory, possibly 219 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:29.480 a more personal motive. But on paper, there's very very 220 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:34.000 little indication that any of those conversations ever took place. 221 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.559 What you're talking what you're referring to for our audience 222 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:40.519 and for those who read the book, is that you're 223 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:44.600 talking about the homicide division having something called a murder book, 224 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:49.639 and also something you call short for chronological is chrono. 225 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:54.200 So what you were referring to is that the protocol 226 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.720 is is that they would have all kinds of labeling 227 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.440 as to when it was the questioning had been done, 228 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:06.039 who had done it, and what was contained in that 229 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:13.240 those conversations, in those interviews, and that was not as 230 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:15.639 you write in this book. That's one of the features 231 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.639 of what happened in nineteen eighty six. And because they 232 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:21.120 were supposed to do follow ups, that's some of the 233 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:26.039 things that were very lacking in terms of what they 234 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:26.879 did in eighty six. 235 00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:32.039 Yeah, there's there's there's gaps there. Again, my goal in 236 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:35.639 researching and reporting the story was to try to interview 237 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:39.600 anyone who had sort of lived through the experience. I'm 238 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:44.519 forty three years old right now. I was eleven years 239 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:48.639 old when this murder occurred and not living in Los Angeles. 240 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:54.039 So when I came to the case, you know, beginning 241 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:59.639 in two thousand and nine, after Stephanie was arrested, strategy 242 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.000 for trying to get it the truth was to try 243 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:05.000 to speak to people who actually lived through it and 244 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:09.880 try to get their own recollections down so that I 245 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:13.640 could write about the story as as clearly as possible. 246 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:18.279 Through the eyes of the people who who were actually 247 00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:23.839 there at the time. So uh, yeah, you're you're correct. 248 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:26.839 The the murder book for your listeners who are unaware 249 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:31.799 is basically to just demystify it. It's it's a three 250 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:37.000 ring binder essentially, or if a case is very complex 251 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:39.400 or goes on for long enough, it may spill over 252 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:41.839 to multiple three ring binders, but it's a it's a 253 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:47.839 compendium of all the reports, uh and information generated over 254 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:52.240 the life of a homicide case, from the moment that 255 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:57.200 the uh the phone rings at the homicide table that 256 00:17:57.240 --> 00:18:03.119 there's a you know that a murder or a dead 257 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:07.079 body has been found or reported through the verdict however 258 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:10.720 many years later that is and yeah, the murder book 259 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:14.559 would include pretty much everything that is known about a case, 260 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:18.759 with the exception of who did it, which is the 261 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:24.200 point of the investigation. So there's one murder book for 262 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:30.880 each homicide that is committed. The most important document in 263 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:36.039 the murder book is the chronological log, which is referred 264 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:39.440 to in shorthand as the chrono, and that's sort of 265 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:49.200 the running log of every investigative action that detectives take 266 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:53.759 over the course of the entire case. So it'll begin 267 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:58.480 with the notification that I just described that at this 268 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:03.079 time and this date, detectives were notified that there was 269 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:08.240 a homicide reported at so and so address, and detectives 270 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:10.519 so and so and so and so reported to the 271 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:13.400 crime scene at this time and date. And then it 272 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.279 goes from there, and it should include everything, because the 273 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:24.759 purpose of this document is to allow anyone other than 274 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:30.319 the original detectives to pick it up however much you know, 275 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:33.680 at any point later in the case, even months or 276 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:37.680 years or decades later, and be able to understand this 277 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:42.920 is what has been done to this point. This is 278 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:47.720 you know, these are the scientific reports or tests that 279 00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:51.680 have been completed, these witnesses have been spoken to. This is, 280 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:54.119 you know, maybe a short summary of this is what 281 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:58.720 the witness reported their contact information. If their name is 282 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:02.400 John Smith, you would hope to have a date of 283 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:06.200 birth and an address, because you can just imagine picking 284 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:09.359 up a murder booker a Krano thirty years later and 285 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.759 trying to figure out if a witness named John Smith 286 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:17.079 in nineteen eighty six is still alive or where they 287 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:23.640 might be today. So it's a crucial it's a crucial document. 288 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:28.279 It's the lens through which all later detectives look at 289 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:34.519 the case. So one of the features of Sherry Rascus's 290 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:40.000 case that is troubling is that there appears to be 291 00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:46.079 gaps in this original Krano. I interviewed several people who 292 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:52.039 were adamant that they had had conversations with the detectives 293 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:56.720 back then, and there's no record in the Krano or 294 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:58.960 in the murder book that those conversations took place. 295 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:04.839 Let's get back to the investigation that is just hours old, 296 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:10.240 and you introduce again very important characters in this Sherry 297 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:15.079 Rasmusen's father Nells, and the mother Loretta, and the sister Connie, 298 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:20.920 and Sherry is killed, but they are not notified by 299 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:24.519 John for many many hours later. In fact, they're not 300 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:31.039 notified by anyone except John's father, Richard. What did the 301 00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:35.160 police When you talk about the police and the police response, 302 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:41.000 normally the husband becomes for lack of any other suspects, 303 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.400 becomes a suspect and they do question him despite that 304 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:49.759 person might be grieving. Let's talk about the questioning, the 305 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:52.920 interview with him, and also the polygraph test that he 306 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:55.640 was asked to take. 307 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:01.359 Sure. Yeah, So moving from the these procedural stuff to 308 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:05.440 the more sort of human you know, relationship elements of 309 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:09.319 the story. Uh, you know, it's not uncommon in many 310 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:13.039 families or couples or whatever. There there there's tension between 311 00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:17.799 the in laws and uh uh, I don't think Nels 312 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:21.160 Rasmussen is the only father to want to have only 313 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:25.680 the best uh for his daughter in terms of of 314 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:30.440 a son in law. But Sherry and John's relationship uh 315 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:35.440 uh you know, they met and fell in love fairly 316 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:38.839 quickly in that soon after they met they were a couple. 317 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:39.880 Uh. 318 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:42.599 And then within a year or so of meeting, they 319 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:45.079 were engaged to marry, and then six months later they 320 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.400 were married. So it all happened pretty quickly for them 321 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:54.720 as a couple. And there was some tension between Sherry's father, 322 00:22:54.880 --> 00:23:00.519 Nell's and John's father Richard that you know, those back 323 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:05.200 to well before the murder. So that's one of the 324 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:10.000 elements that possibly exacerbated things after the murder, that there 325 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:12.920 just wasn't a lot of like a baseline of trust 326 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:19.480 between these people who were thrust into this tragic situation 327 00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:22.480 not by choice at all, but just by virtue of 328 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:27.200 what happened. So for the Rasmussens, one of the immediate 329 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:33.839 frustrations for them was that they were not notified of 330 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:37.359 the murder, either by the police or by John himself, 331 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:41.440 but that it was John's father who called the Rasmussens 332 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:46.839 very late that night. Nels and Loretta, Sherry's parents, lived 333 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:50.880 in Tucson, Arizona, where they had raised Sherry and her 334 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:55.440 two sisters, and by the time they received notification that 335 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:58.759 Sherry had been killed, it was already too late at 336 00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:01.559 night for them to get a flight to Los Angeles. 337 00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.960 The last flights from Tucson had already left for the day, 338 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:09.839 so they did not arrive on the scene until mid 339 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:15.640 morning the following morning. You know, well, I would say 340 00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:22.559 maybe eighteen hours after Sherry's body was discovered by John. 341 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:27.440 And that becomes significant because, as I described a little 342 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:33.319 bit earlier, the detectives really sort of made up their 343 00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:37.079 minds almost on the night of the murder, based on 344 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:39.680 their initial impressions of John and the crime scene, that 345 00:24:39.799 --> 00:24:43.119 this is what had occurred, that Cherry had been interrupted 346 00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:46.839 a burglary, struggled with the burglar, things had escalated, and 347 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.000 that it had ended in her murder before the burglars fled. 348 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:58.720 So when the Rasmussens arrived the next day, they had 349 00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:05.759 information from Sherry over the previous several months, going back, 350 00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:10.039 you know, six to nine months before her murder, she 351 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:15.519 had been reporting to her parents a series of troubling 352 00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:21.079 encounters and incidents with an ex girlfriend of John, who 353 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:24.880 was a Los Angeles police officer, and Sherry was a 354 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:31.160 fairly private person. She did not talk very openly, even 355 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:34.519 with some of her closest girlfriends, about the issues that 356 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:38.079 were going on in her marriage, but she had told 357 00:25:38.119 --> 00:25:42.319 her parents and several of her friends different pieces of 358 00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:50.119 this sort of growing problem with John's ex girlfriend, who 359 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:55.839 Sherry felt harassed and threatened by. There was an incident 360 00:25:55.880 --> 00:26:00.319 where the woman had gone to Sherry's workplace and told 361 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:03.319 her that if this marriage doesn't work out, I'm going 362 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:06.359 to pick up the pieces, and a couple of times 363 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:08.960 Sherry had told her parents that the girlfriend had her 364 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:14.200 ex girlfriend had come to their condo uninvited. John had 365 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:17.000 repeatedly promised that he would not have any more contact 366 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:20.160 with her, but Sherry told her parents that John didn't 367 00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:23.960 seem willing to stand up to this ext girlfriend police 368 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:26.559 officer and tell her once and for all that he 369 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:29.839 had moved on from her and to leave him and 370 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:32.759 his wife alone. So there was a big gap in 371 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:37.960 terms of the information that Sherry's parents had and what 372 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:43.960 the detectives believed happened. And that was all within the 373 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.759 first day of the investigation. 374 00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:52.160 With Lucky Lancelots, you can get lucky just about anywhere. 375 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.319 Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today. 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That comes in a little bit later. 389 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:34.359 I'm gonna say it little something about that, or. 390 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:39.079 Talk about it. We'll talk about it later. Then I 391 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:43.039 wanted to mention before we get too far that for detectives, 392 00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:46.000 I guess looking at cases today, they look at things differently, 393 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:49.079 but at that time they thought it was a burglary, 394 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:55.319 and they also we got to say that Sherry was 395 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:59.839 beat so bad that on her face that initially everyone thought, 396 00:28:00.039 --> 00:28:04.039 even as you write, an experienced corner investigator did not 397 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:06.559 recognize that she had not been shot in the face. 398 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:10.680 She had actually been beaten. And so those those were 399 00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:13.880 the extent of his extent of her injuries. But also that, 400 00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:17.759 as we mentioned in the introduction, there was something that 401 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:22.160