On February 24, 1986, Sherri Rasmussen was brutally murdered in her home in Granada Hills, California. Sherri, a nurse at UCLA Medical Center, was found beaten and shot to death. 

The case remained unsolved for nearly three years. In 1989, detectives finally identified the killer as Stephanie Lazarus, a former LAPD detective obsessed with Sherri since high school.

Stephanie was tried and convicted of first-degree murder in 2012. 

The case garnered national attention due to the brutal nature of the crime and the fact that the murderer was a police officer.

Today, the Sherri Rasmussen murder case is considered one of the most notorious unsolved homicides in Los Angeles history.

What Was The Relationship Between John Ruetten & Stephanie Lazarus?

John Ruetten and Stephanie Lazarus had a happy and healthy relationship. They met while they both were students at the University of California, Los Angeles, and were both set to graduate in 1982. 

Ruetten was a mechanical engineering major, and Lazarus was studying political science. They were also both active and very athletic.

Until graduation, they both did not reveal anything about their relationship and maintained a causal relationship till their graduation. 

After graduating, John started to work as a hardware developer, and Stephenie pursued her career as a police officer with the LAPD.

Later, they both met up several times and developed a good relationship. Stephenie deeply fell in love with John Rutten, but he did not have any feelings for her in retrospect. 

While John Rutten fell in love with Sherri after he met her for the first time, they fell in love at first sight. 

 Rasmussen was a nurse and worked at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, she was a professional and a qualified nurse who was exceptionally well in her field. 

After years of being together, Rasmussen and Ruetten moved into an apartment. Stephanie had difficulty letting go after she knew that the lovebirds lived in one apartment.

A few months after they had moved in together, she found out that they were having problems and that John was seeing other people. She tried to intervene and help them work through their issues, but her meddling only made things worse. 

Eventually, Stephenie became the villain in their relationship, and Rasmussen was forced to move out.

While she may have had good intentions, Stephanie’s actions only served to create more problems for the couple. In the end, her inability to let go led to the breakdown of their relationship.

What Did The Letter From John Ruetten’s Ex-Girlfriend State?

Stephanie Lazarus organized her 25th birthday, and she invited John and Rasmussen together. On her birthday, John revealed his relationship with Rasmussen in front of her and confessed that they deeply loved each other.

That confession of his hit hard on Stephanie, and she could not control her emotions then. 

Later, she wrote a letter to John’s mother and confessed that “I’m truly in love with John and the past year has really torn me apart. I wish it didn’t end the way it did, and I don’t think I’ll ever understand his decision.” In the letter, she also revealed that she had a physical relationship with him. 

Stephanie’s words provide insight into the emotional turmoil she was experiencing at the time. It is clear that she was deeply hurt by John’s confession and felt betrayed by his decision to pursue a relationship with Rasmussen. 

While her letter may not have provided the closure she was seeking, it does offer a glimpse into the depth of her feelings for John.

On November 27, 1985, John and Rasmussen got married. They had a beautiful ceremony, and they were so in love. They had three months of marital bliss before tragedy struck. In February 1986, Stephenie came to Rasmuseens’s office and told her, “If I can’t have John, no one else will.” 

Her words worried her, and she worried that Stephenie was stalking her all actions continuously. She took out a restraining order against Stephenie, but it didn’t help. On May 29, 1986, Stephenie broke into John and Rasmussen’s home and shot Rasmussen dead. It was a devastating tragedy, and their families were never the same.

Where Is The Killer Now?

Sherri Rasmussen’s murder was one of the most brutal murders in Los Angeles history. On February 24, 1986, newlyweds Sherri Rasmussen and John Ruetten came home to their Van Nuys condo to find it had been ransacked. 

John and Rasmussen’s happy life together ended abruptly when Stephanie was accused of murdering John’s wife. 

Drawers were pulled out, clothes were strewn about, and the couple’s wedding gifts had been opened and scattered around the room. Sherri was brutally beaten and shot three times; John was uninjured. 

The case remained unsolved for nearly three years until detectives finally discovered that John Ruetten’s ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Lazarus, had committed the murder. Lazarus had become obsessed with John after he ended their relationship and she didn’t want him to be happy with anyone else.

After a lengthy trial, she was ultimately convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison. In 2009, she was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison.