The family of Sherri Rae Rasmussen, who was 29 when she was murdered in 1986, is calling for a probe into the Los Angeles Police Department's original investigation, which left the case unsolved for over two decades.
Rasmussen, the director of critical care nursing at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, was discovered in her Van Nuys condominium badly beaten and shot to death at point-blank range.
In an exclusive interview, Sherri's father, Nels, details how he tried repeatedly to get detectives to investigate his son-in-law's ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Lazarus, who friends and family say Sherri complained was stalking her. "To me it would border on harassment," says Nels, who accuses authorities of ignoring their pleas about Lazarus.
"The first weeks, the first five days I mentioned it so many times that he kind of lost his cool with me, saying that there was no need to go there," says Nels about the lead detective. And the family's attorney, John Taylor, calls the 1986 investigation, "sloppy, negligent, inept and incompetent."
Lazarus had ascended to a high-profile position in the commercial crimes unit. "In doing those kind of investigations... it gets a lot of press, a lot of attention," says Blankstein. "If the police and prosecutors are to be believed, she's harboring a secret about murder for 23 years."
Maureen Maher reports for "48 Hours Mystery: "One Of Their Own".
