that smile could light up room >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning, thank yo for watching >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales >> and this is "dateline. >> we were going to go whereve the case was >> one of the most extraordinary cases in lap history. >> toto, were not in kansa anymore. >> a newlywed murdered month after her wedding. >> as she walked away, she gav me a big smile and and i lived in that smile for years. >> and all the time episode th killer was hiding in plain sight. >> no indication she was eve spoken to? >> no. >> then a new detective took a

look at an old lead. >> he just said it's a match >> a person no one would hav ever suspected of murder >> we were going to end this >> was suddenly suspect number one. >> perfect murder. almost ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello welcome to "dateline". she was a new bride marrie just three months, then she wa found murdered what happened to her remained mystery for decades partly because police told us the thief must have killed her during a break-in gone bad they discovered it wasn't murder, but a suspect whos trail right to their own front door here is josh mankiewicz with " the smoking gun. " >> february 1st, 2009. the detective arrived before

dawn at the los angeles police department's van nuys station. >> i was tired i was tired. >> he had hosted a super bow party the night before and the beer had flowed freely >> that seemed to be a good da to have a cup of coffee an caught up on my reading. >> a couple of aspirin >> maybe >> he reached for a file sitting on his desk for months the file of sherri rasmussen shot to death in her condo a few miles from where he worked >> it was one of the mos horrific crime scenes. i said this guy met a horrible ending >> just as troubling, sherri rasmussen was murdered a generation ago february, 1986 meaning the odds of catching her killer were slim to none >> memories fade

evidence has to be relocated so it's obviously an uphil battle >> uphill battle does not begi to describe it the cold case the detectiv opened on that bleary-eyed monday morning would lead hi on a chase of a lifetime and shake the foundations of the lapd dates back to 1986 and a battl for the truth by the parents o a young bride. >> we miss her every day >> those parents are nels an loretta rasmussen. >> doesn't make any difference what day it is it's a pain that is always there. there's no cure for it >> who would want to kil sherri rasmussen she was hard-working, caring and popular with her coworkers trained as a nurse, sherri was director of critical care at a large local hospital >> we are implementing the people difference program.

>> it was a devastating day. she was 29 years old and jus in the prime of her career >> althea kennedy was sherri's boss at the hospital and had originally hired her >> we couldn't believe it. first of all, like how could someone do this? people crying. people upset i mean, the hospital was like tomb, you know so, the loss was real palpable >> sherri had just married three months earlier to john ruetten. >> where the happily married >> unusually so. >> months after the wedding, john found sherri sprawled dead he might seem a likely suspect but john was cleared almos immediately. the lapd focused instead o evidence that this was a burglary that turned violent >> this was no accident.

>> yolanda mcclary was a retired crime scene investor investigator and was a consultant to "dateline. " >> multiple shots fired. shots fired at very clos range. >> she has reviewed cour records and media reports on this case. we returned with her to th actual apartment where sherr was found murdered to try to understand what happened police think maybe the kille just walked in the open fron door >> they didn't find any forced entry, so, yes, they are assum the front door was open and th killer just walked right in. >> right here where we are standing, is there some kind o confrontation? >> yes this appears to be a struggl here not just a struggle, but w also have shots fired at thi point. we have one shot that clearl goes straight through this bac slider and another shot that went through sherri and then back out through the slide also >> so, sherri is now wounded and she tries to get bac downstairs

>> that would be correct she is bleeding profusely an very wounded and she gets down these steps and actually i would appear she is trying t go out the door, or make it to that alarm box where there is panic button at that point, we believe that sherri went down in this foyer area, due to the fact that you could see marks in this, a well as broken fingernails fro her hands. >> so, there is a tremendous fight going on >> well, yes the killer is actually draggin her back into this area an then the killer takes a vase and hits her in the head wit it, knocking her out then grabs the blanket, muzzle the gun, and does and does a close contact shot into th victim >> so, that is an execution? >> that would be correct >> as for a motive it seemed to be in plain sight just a few feet from sherri' body >> they found vcr and a disc player that was stacked one on top of the other in the fron door >> as if somebody was about to steal them >> yeah, giving the indication

this was a burglary or a hom invasion gone wrong. >> sherri's purse was missing, as was her new bmw, an engagement gift from john. there was no sign of the murde weapon, but detectives did recover two. 38 caliber slug and something else that caught the detective's attention. >> on the inside of sherri's left arm, they found a bit mark. a crime scene analys went ahead and she swabbed tha for saliva that could pertai to the killer. >> saliva that contained dna from whoever bit sherri. remember, this was 1986, years before dna technology testin would arrive, which could link a suspect to a sample like thi one. so, back then, the dna wasn' much help. but the swab was carefully package and bundled with all o the other evidence for now, detectives didn't hav much else to work with. no eyewitnesses. no usabl

fingerprints. no clear motive, except for theory that this wa a botched burglary >> by the level of violenc that occurred in this residence, the theory was that it was a man or possibly two men that had entered the residence to d a burglary or a home invasio that had not gone completely wrong, murders the victimet to cover up the crime and the fled >> gone wrong because sherri somehow surprised them they panicked, shot her, and then fled. the theory seemed to make sense, especially since sherri had no apparent enemies, certainly no one who want to kill her, or s they thought >> coming up >> we went to sherri's offic and said if she couldn't hav john, nobody could >> when "dateline" continues oh, boy. meeting a new young homeowner for the first time is a unique challenge. -so you think you can help? -i can try. hey, what you doing?

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come on guys! our big adventure begins now! let's-a go. [ ominous music playing ] yeah! >> the year was 1986 crack was hitting los angeles, and the city of angels had become a violent place. th murder rate would hit 83 killings that year. nearly three times the amount 30 year later in 2016, and the lapd wa stretched very thin. >> this was a time where homicide was just booming in los angeles. >> miles corwin is a bes selling author who has written several books about the lapd

>> it's kind of a perfect stor of problems. you had the proliferation of high-powere weapons and crack cocain hitting the streets, a tremendous homicide rate and detectives are overwhelmed >> in february of that year, cops had their hands full with an especially heinous crime in the san fernando valley that was sprawling. 29-year-old sherri rasmussen had bee brutally beaten and shot in he own home. no suspects and fe clues. then a couple of week later, a possible lead. former criminal variation yolanda mcclary was a consultant for nbc news >> in the same vicinity, another woman was approached i her residence by two males a gun point, also involved a hom invasion robbery situation, so police, early on, thought ther was a possibility these two me might have something to do wit the murder >> a composite sketch wa released of the 2 men. the dna collected at the crime scene was useless, at least righ now. police collected it any way. why >> at crime scenes, if you kno there's possible evidence on anything, you're not going t leave it behind. so, it wa great forethought on their behalf actually to recover it. >> detectives scoured the cond and the entire complex. th

only thing apparently stolen was from the garage, sherri' car. and that was recovere just a mile away from the crim scene with the keys still in it. the only other thing missing, sherri and he husband's marriage license. it seemed an odd thing to steal cash, computers, and jewelry were not touched. but that wasn't the only thing that struck sherri's family and colleagues as strange. the crime was especially violent for a two-bit burglary >> it just seemed a little lik

overkill >> sherri's boss at th hospital, althea kennedy, ha to review sherri's autopsy report for insurance reasons and she was struck by what she saw. >> i thought, wow, she reall put up one heck of a fight which wasn't real surprising because sherri was tall, athletic, and i'm sure wouldn' go down easily >> the lapd theory back then was that there were two me robbing the house and so presumably, sherri would hav fought with two guys. does tha sound like sherri? >> that part didn't make sense to me because two men and tw guns seemed weird. >> because sherri wouldn't begin a fight with two guys wh were armed >> i wouldn't think so >> what about with a woman >> i think she would have take on a woman >> we would really like to kno what happened.

>> sherri's parents knew it it was a burglary. weeks before the burglary, sherri had several strange encounters. on as she dined at a restaurant and thought a woman wa watching her >> she said she has eyes tha can see right through you. >> scary eyes. >> there was also a run-in a the hospital where sherr worked >> she went to sherri's office and said that if she couldn' have john, nobody could. >> most terrifying, an encounter in sherri's own home and by now, she knew who the mystery woman was. >> she heard a noise and she looked up and there was john's ex-girlfriend. >> how did she get in the house? >> we have no idea >> john's ex-girlfrien

appeared to be stalking sherri yet sherri never mentioned the woman's name to her parents. instead, she told them not t worry. >> she told me, i want to se if i can't work this out myself >> that conversation happene during a dinner celebratin sherri's 29th birthday afterward, her parents shoul sherri to the airport. >> as she walked away, she turned and gave me a big smile and i've relived that smile fo years. >> less than three weeks later sherri rasmussen lay dead. the rasmussens insist that early i the investigation, they told the lead lapd detective abou sherri's troubling encounter with john's ex-girlfriend. >> i told the detective no once, but probably 15 to 2 times. and he said, the troubl with you is you've bee watching too much tv. >> comin up - old evidence offers new clues.

>> the suspect made it appea to look like a burglary. the staged it to mislead the initial investigation in 1986. she was executed >> when "dateline" continues e for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. introducing astepro allergy. ask your asthma specialist now available without a prescription. astepro is the first and only 24-hour steroid-free spray.

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have patented gel waves that absorb shock to hard-working muscles and joints, for all-day energy. >> years had passed and no arrests had been made in the brutal 1986 slaying of nurse and newlywed sherri rasmussen. killed in her los angele condo. the trail kept gettin colder. in 1993, sherri'

parents offered to have th saliva sample the bite mark fo dna, and even pay for it, bu the lapd declined. >> she said we don't have suspect. if we had a suspect w would have something to match. >> the case sat for anothe decade. but then in 2004, th lapd was conducting cases on cold cases and one of them was the murder of sherri rasmussen it took two months to find tha saliva sample -- buried in a refrigeration unit. th envelope was tattered, label torn, but the saliva was still inside and the dna was jus enough to blow this case wid open >> in that lab report, i indicated that the suspect tha had bitten sherri rasmusse during the struggle was female >> a woman. not two male

burglars, as the origina detectives had suspected all those years. but it would take a few more years befor investigators began to understand what that crucial dna test result meant. it wa now 2009, and the case was col once again. 23 years it sa with no apparent leads, no suspects, and no answers for the rasmussen family. then cam that monday after the supe bowl when detective jim nuttal started peeking through that old case file and made a remarkable discovery. the dn test that had been conducted o that bite mark back in 2004. once the department realized a woman was involved, why did it take four years until yo finally picked it up? what was the department doing in th interim? >> from what it appears, investigators may have followe

the initial theory of this crime, that, in fact, it was a burglary >> and that there was a woma involved in the burglary >> that there was a woma involved in the burglary looking back now in hindsight, it was an opportunity that may have slipped through our hands as an organization >> but now nuttall took closer look at the crime scene photos and began to develop hi own very different theory. remember, sherri rasmussen was shot at point blank range afte a violent struggle, and despit the stereo equipment stacked b the front door, very little wa actually stolen. >> the suspect made it appea to look like a burglary. the staged it to mislead the investigation in 1986. she was executed >> in other words, someone had wanted sherri rasmussen dead so now, nuttall dug deeper through the file looking for names, female names. >> we had five women that woul have had access to sherri an perhaps at least some of the

may have had a motive to har her. three of them w eliminated almost immediatel for insufficient motive. >> but there were still tw names left. one of them was coworker >> a woman named debra tha worked with sherri rasmussen i the glendale hospital. thi person of interest was later placed by sherri rasmussen i an official capacity and problems followed almost immediately after that >> so, there was bad blood between them >> there was a motive. >> debra had moved to northern california. nuttall asked loca law enforcement to watch her and secretly try to snag a sample of her dna fo comparison testing. in the meantime, nuttall learned more about the second woman. he contacted john ruetten sherri's former husband and no remarried and living in sa diego. >> john involved he had been involved in a dating relationship with stephani lazarus. >> stephanie lazarus -- that was the other name on the shor list of suspects. nuttal

pressed ruetten for more o their relationship which had started when they were bot students at u.c.l.a.. they dated on and off until john go engaged to sherri. but eve then.. >> even though you're convince the relationship that john had with stephanie lazarus overlapped with th relationship he had with his wife >> we know from john that ther was at least on one occasion where he was engaged that he was intimate with stephani lazarus. there was a lov triangle and stephanie lazarus had deep feelings for john ruetten, and may have had motive to harm sherr rasmussen. >> was sherri's killer a scorned lover or a jealous coworker >> we had two women on the lis who, in our opinion, had a motive to harm her >> debra, the nurse, and stephanie lazarus? >> correct >> a few weeks later, cops i northern california tracke down debra and secretly scoope up a sample of her trash which contained dna. it was sent t

the crime lab in l.a. fo analysis and 72 hours later, came an answer >> she was not the donor of th dna profile from the bite. >> that left just one possible suspect, number five on th list, john ruetten's ex-girlfriend, stephanie lazarus. nuttall called th rasmussens >> we came home and there was message on our phone from detective that they wanted t talk to us. i thought oh, yeah right. i thought it was just another false hope >> this is detective nuttall >> right >> he said that they wer opening the investigation. >> nels was upset with me. i was like, detective, where hav you been for the last tw decades. >> now nels rasmussen explaine it all. how he told detectives back in 1986 that someone wa stalking his daughter, sherri. a woman with crazy eyes. the ex-girlfriend of sherri' husband. nels had never know

that the girlfriend's name was stephanie lazarus. but he di know something else about her. something very important and b this time, detective nuttall knew it too. >> he was very cautious of wha he said. but he said that we would be hearing more from him >> nuttall had ample reason to be cautious. because he learne that stephanie lazarus wore th same badge he did. >> we now have a los angeles police officer as a person o interest in a murder case. >> and you thought, i've bitte off more than i can chew >> toto, we are not in kansa any more. that changed everything >> coming up - a top secret investigation, as detectives go after one of their own. >> we would never leave a pape trail of what we were doing. she worked our unit. >> when "dateline" continues

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here is what is happening, a federal judge in texas ruled t suspend the fda's approval of widely used abortion pill. soon thereafter, another judge in washington state issued another ruling saying that i must make it available in 18 states the conflicting orders are likely to move up to the unite states supreme court and a new batch of classifie documents that appears t detail secrets on the middle east in china have surface online the pentagon is alarmed by the findings investigating the leak now back to dateline >> welcome back to "dateline. i'm natalie morales. sherr rasmussen had been murdered in los angeles back in the 1980s. from the outset, her parents told the investigators about several runs sherri had with her husband's ex. now decade later, a cold case detective was focusing his attention o that very same woman, who also happened to be a member of the

lapd. here is josh mankiewic with more of "the smoking gun. >> for two decades, the lapd had but one narrative fo sherri rasmussen's murder. tha she was killed by a botche burglary. as science rewrote the script, this cold case suddenly was almost too hot to handle. the prime suspect was lapd detective stephanie lazarus. but as jim nuttal went through the murder book he found almost nothing on lazarus, even though she was the ex-girlfriend of the husband of sherri rasmussen. there was only one notation in the criminology in 1986. a detective had written stephani lazarus, p. o., police officer as if her name had come up, bu not as a suspect. no notes o any conversation with her? >> no paper trail. >> she seemed to be someon above suspicion. stephanie ilene lazarus had grown up i southern, california, a tomboy of sorts and loved sports. she attended u.c.l.a. where sh played basketball. it wa during her college days that

she met and dated john ruetten long before he and sherri go married. after graduating in 1982, lazarus surprised he family by joining the lapd this when only a handful o women entered the force. >> i don't think i knew that she was applying >> she seemed to be someon above suspicion. stephanie ilene lazarus had grown up i southern, california, a tomboy of sorts and loved sports. she attended u.c.l.a. where sh played basketball. it wa during her college days that she met and dated john ruetten long before he and sherri go married. after graduating in 1982, lazarus surprised he family by joining the lapd this when only a handful o women entered the force. >> i don't think i knew that she was applying >> stephanie's brother, steven >> i was very proud of steph. thought it was a cool thing. >> stephanie lazarus quickly rose through the ranks of lapd from patrol officer to detective. she was popular friendly, and well-regarded. her assignments also include project d. a. r. e., a dru

prevention program aimed a kids. she was twice name detective of the year. later she worked at internal affairs investigating other officers accused of wrongdoing or corruption, and then promote to the lapd's art theft unit her personal life was good too. in 1996, lazarus go married to another lap detective. together, the adopted a baby daughter. lif both at home and on the jo never seemed better. >> she was a happy person. she loved what she did for work. she loved her husband. loved their life >> but in 2009, this hig achieving cop became the focus of a homicide investigation. jim nuttall and his team o three detectives had to be mindful that lazarus had man friends on the force. he husband worked at the same station as nuttall did >> we were going to work behin closed doors. we were going to

work after hours. we would never leave a paper trail of what we were doing >> they even gave lazarus code name -- number 5. and contrary to police procedure they decided not to tell lap headquarters that their ne suspect was a fellow detective you're doing that to protect her or to protect your investigation from her >> dual purpose. it woul protect the integrity of the investigation, and if she wa not involved, then nobody woul ever know about it >> four cops knowingly skirted department rules to investigat one of their own >> it was a difficult phase of her careers. she was one of us she worked our unit. had worke side-by-side with the people around us. >> but nuttall and his three fellow detectives didn't waiver. they methodically buil a case by exhaustingly reviewing the original files and interviewing sherri' friends and family. it becam clear to them that stephanie lazarus had the means, the motive, the opportunity to kil

sherri rasmussen. she seemed obsessed with john and jealous of his new wife. she was the woman with the scary eyes, who'd been stalking sherri >> to nuttall, it seemed to ad up. sherri's purse and all o its contents stolen during the crime were recovered soon afte the murder, except for one ite inside >> the only thing to this da that was never recovered was john and sherri's marriage certificate. >> after three months of intense secretive investigation, nuttall's team needed one last piece of evidence that would either clear detective lazarus or incriminate her >> we needed a sample of her dna. our investigators were no cut out for undercover surveillance work.

>> so, nuttall finally brought lapd's internal affair detectives into the loop hoping they could close th deal by somehow secretly obtaining lazarus'dna. she was tailed for days, as undercover cops waited for her to leave some small piece of hersel behind. finally, at a retail store it happened. lazarus ordered a soft drink and drank it. a trace of her saliva wa on the straw, which she then tossed in the trash. it wa more than enough for testing two dna samples separated by two decades. 48 hours later, jim nuttall got call from hi supervisor >> it was real simple. he just said, "it's a match. " >> good feeling, bad feeling both >> surreal. that moment, tha call, i'll never forget it >> but stephanie lazarus was still free and had no clue after 23 years, her department was on her tail for murder

detectives wanted to speak t stephanie to elicit a statement, perhaps a confession. but they would have to do it withou revealing how deeply implicate she was in sherri rasmussen' murder. so, another secret pla was hatched. this time to ge stephanie's side of the story. and all of it would be capture on tape. >> stephanie lazarus is aske by fellow detectives to help i an interrogation, only t discover she's the suspect coming up -- they when "dateline" continues >> they thought, i must have killed her. i mean, come on. ant, waiting... and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time. think you're not at risk for shingles?

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started routinely routinel enough for lapd detectiv stephanie lazarus. she took th train to union station i downtown l.a. reporting for he normal shift that morning at police headquarters in parke center. after arriving stephanie was told to meet wit two detectives. the man sh didn't know from lapd's elit robbery homicide division, t help them interrogate a suspec involving some stolen art work which was stephanie's beat as detective. so lazarus went dow to a secured area in the basement to meet with her tw colleagues in a small intervie room. because it's part of the jail, all cops who enter her are required to give up thei guns. unarmed and unsuspecting lazarus didn't realize she was being recorded by an undercove camera >> i don't know if you know my partner.

>> hi. >> have a seat >> that is when detectives revealed that this conversatio wasn't about art >> do you know john ruetten? >> john ruetten? john ruetten? >> you said you dated john. ho long did you guys date >> i mean, what? are you guy -- is this something -- i mean you said i was going t interview somebody about art and now you're - >> detective lazarus seeme uncomfortable and vague in her answers, especially when detectives asked about sherr rasmussen. >> you know, i may have talked to her. i -- it sound -- i-- >> you mentioned a hospita maybe. you may have talked t her in a hospital? >> yeah. yeah. i may have -- you know, i'm thinking bac now. you guys are bringing u all of these old memories. >> detectives turned up th heat >> did you ever fight with her

>> you mean like fight >> yeah. did you ever duke i out with her >> no, i don't think so. >> you'd remember that, right? that would be a pretty - >> yeah, i think so. >> most of us can remember without much difficulty, the number of fist fights we hav had over the course of our lives. but while detective lazarus, at one point, answers no, when asked if she remember attacking sherri or bein attacked, at other points sh can't recall if that happened. >> it doesn't sound familiar. mean, what are they saying? fought with her so i -- i -- getting the jump of the leap they are saying, i fought her, so i must have killed her? i mean, come on. >> after about 45 minutes, lazarus realized she was the prime suspect in sherri' murder >> now you're accusing me of this? is that what you're -- i that what you're saying? >> we are trying to figure out what happened, stephanie >> well, i was -- you know, i' just saying. you know? do need to get a lawyer? you're

accusing me? >> moments later, it came to a end, as it must have fel uncomfortable as all of them >> i know you guys have had to do your job and i guess i have to contact somebody, so... >> that's fair >> i mean, because i know ho this stuff works >> and then stephanie lazaru was read the same words she, herself, had read to hundred of suspects over the years >> stephanie, you know you hav the right to remain silent? do you understand >> yes >> and for just a moment, yo can see the handcuffs placed o her by her fellow officers >> i'm like in shock. i' totally in shock >> word of lazarus'arres traveled fast to tucson, where detective nuttall was standing by to deliver the news to th rasmussen family tell me what you said. >> you were right, folks. yo folks were right and i apologize that it took us over

two decades to give them tha closure. >> you feel better >> the most gratifying momen of my career >> i was extremely happy. said, i feel like i knew it al along. >> back in l.a., the lazarus family also got the news >> well, it was numbing. >> i'm guessing that one of th things you said or thought was they got it wrong somehow. thi is a mistake >> absolutely. >> some error has been mad here >> yes. it will be cleared u by the end of the day, yeah. >> it didn't happen? >> didn't happen >> stephanie lazarus didn't go home that day after her arrest bail was set at $10 million. much higher than most murder cases. the judge considered he a flight risk, citing th strong case against her, and

for the lapd? it was a bittersweet day. a 23-year-old cold case they believed ha finally been cracked, but th prime suspect worked right beside them. for the rasmussen family, stephanie's arrest was a vindication, but it also brought back their memory of the original lapd. >> i think she was a polic officer, so they figured the would cover this one up. >> the family hired a prominen l.a. attorney john taylor, who filed a lawsuit agains detective lazarus and also the lapd, claiming the departmen deliberately ignored clues tha pointed to a fellow officer. >> the earlier missteps of lap weren't missteps. they wer intentional conduct, intentional ignoring o evidence, and intentiona dereliction of duties.

>> beyond just being sloppy, o the fact they didn't close the case and they didn't listen to the family, those two things are not evidence of a cover-up >> it wasn't that they didn' close the case. they didn't do anything to create a case. >> he says that in 1986, the detectives were protecting stephanie lazarus. >> they actively covered up th identity of the person who committed this crime >> the rasmussen's lawsuit alleging a cover-up wa dismissed in 2011. charlie bec was then the lapd chief and he spoke with us about the case >> i can accept somebody tha is unable to solve a crime tha is solvable. i cannot accept somebody that covers up a crim or covers up an individual involved in a crime and i have no -- absolutely no indication that is what happened here >> there is intoing to suggest they deliberately looked awa from stephanie or not a road they didn't want to go down? >> i think it was a lack o ability, not an act to exclude stephanie. >> in february of 2012, nearly 26 years to the day sinc sherri rasmussen's murder, stephanie lazarus would have her day in court. a chance t clear her name and reputation,

and to show that dna isn't always right and that the lo angeles police department ha it all wrong >> coming up, did the lapd hav it wrong >> john was still -- and stephanie went to tell sherri, look, you guys are getting married, i'm telling him not t call me. >> we, the jury, in the abov entitled action, find th defendant, stephanie ilene lazarus -- >> when "dateline" continues marco's new magnifico pizzas are loaded with old world sausage and pepperoni to deliver your taste buds to crispy, savory glory. and it all starts at $9.99. marco's. pizza lovers get it.

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lot at stake at the murder trial of lapd detectiv stephanie lazarus who stoo accused of murdering sherr rasmussen. the prosecution believed the dna evidence wa their smoking gun. but the defense said it was tainted. what would the jury believe? here is josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of "the smoking gun" >> it took 26 years to get here. a generation of fals leads, missed opportunities. a family's frustration. a police department's nightmare february 6th, 2012. the people versus stephanie lazarus finally began in a courtroom i downtown los angeles. th prosecution laid out a clear case of how stephanie lazaru was deeply in with john ruette

and was devastated when he became engaged to sherri. then executed her and covered it up by staging a burglary. linda deutsch of the associated pres covered the trial. >> the opening statement by th prosecutor was quite dramatic. and he came up with a them which was the case was about a bite, a bullet, a gun barrel and a broken heart. and that kind of resonated in the courtroom. >> the jury saw journals polic seized from stephanie's home detailing how upset she wa when she learned john wa engaged to someone else. stephanie's date book was also introduced which mentioned locksmithing books, that could explain why there was no force entry to the condo. and on the day of the murder, then patrol officer lazarus happened to be off duty. the ammunition use in the shooting was the same type issued by the lapd, sai

prosecutors. and was the sam caliber of lazarus'off-dut weapon. a.38 revolver sh reported stolen just two weeks after the murder. but the real smoking gun was the bite mar dna found at the crime scene >> dna was definitely th centerpiece of this case. this shows she was there. without the dna, they could not have placed her at the condo. >> and the statistics were staggering. a 1. 7 sextillio to one chance that the dna belonged to someone other than stephanie lazarus. defense attorney mark overland aggressively attacked that dna evidence and insisted it was mishandled and improperl stored and sealed whic compromised the sample

>> the vile was protruding rather than being inside the envelope and sealed in order t protect the integrity of the evidence. you can't rely on th scientific results >> overland said that hair blood, fingerprints found at the crime scene did not come from lazarus. as for the weapo the fired the fatal shots? h insisted several other types o guns besides stephanie tha could have fired those bullets as for motive? the defense argued there was no evidence that stephanie lazarus was obsessessed with sherri' husband, john. >> john was still calling her. and stephanie went to tell sherri, look, you guys are getting married, i'd tell hi not to call me >> after five weeks, it was up to the jury. loretta and nel rasmussen had waited a lot longer than that. the two of you feel confident >> as confident as you can b

with a jury. you never kno what a jury is going to do >> we the jury, in the above entitled action, find stephani ilene lazarus guilty of th crime of murder of sherr rasmussen. we further find the murder was of the first-degree >> the day the rasmussen famil thought would never come finally did. as their attorney john taylor explained -- >> the family is overwhelmingl relieved that, again, thei suspicions and today's verdict reflects and confirms th identity of the person who killed their daughter, and the intent with which she did it it's a tremendous relief >> for the lazarus family, their wife, daughter, sister and once decorated detective was now a convicted killer >> we really did not expec

this result with the state o the evidence and the way mr. overland presented the case, s it's devastating >> for the lapd, a cold case was finally solved, but with painful side effects >> i'm very pleased, but it' bittersweet. and i'm thrille that the conclusion has been reached and that some form o justice has been brought to family that has grieved for fa too long. we would much rather that this not be a los angeles police detective. that's for sure. i've known stephanie for 5 years. this is a tragedy on bunch of levels. this is not something that we are proud of in that we had a los angeles police detective involved here >> stephanie lazarus was sentenced to 27 years to lif in prison. as for that wrongfu death civil lawsuit that sherr rasmussen's parents file against lazarus, they were awarded $10 million. and so, ended the case of a detectiv finally caught by her very own department. she almost got awa with it. >> the perfect murder. almos committed the perfect murder >> and who better to do that than a police officer? >> than a police officer >> that's all for this edition

of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. >> happy saturday, and welcome to morning joe >> do you like your coffee >> i love my coffee. it is a little cold, you hav to get another one for me. >> shall i wait till after the break, because we have a lot t talk about >> i know. >> happy saturday for, us happ saturday for you all it may not be -- for a certain former president who is fingerprinted and arrested on tuesday this week, we will get into that. plus some of the week's othe top stories, take a look >> a great group this mornin on a very big day after donald trump's indictment >> it is a massive day, let' lk