Lazarus’ husband, Scott Young, a detective in the San Fernando Valley, knew nothing about the slaying, Beck said.
“There was a significant struggle that preceded the homicide,” he said. Lazarus was identified as a suspect through a DNA match of saliva taken from bite marks on Rasmussen’s body, Deputy Chief Charlie Beck said Monday. Lazarus is additionally charged with personal use of a handgun. That makes the death penalty a possibility if she is convicted, but prosecutors have not decided whether they would seek capital punishment. Los Angeles County prosecutors charged her with willful, premeditated murder with the special circumstance of murder in commission of a burglary. Lazarus, a specialist in investigating art thefts, was arrested last week after colleagues in the homicide unit across a hallway at police headquarters examined the long-cold case and made what they say was a DNA match. Lazarus, 49, is accused of killing Sherri Rasmussen, who was bitten, beaten and shot in her condominium in 1986, when Lazarus had been on the police force for two years.
He was not available for comment afterward. Her attorney, Mark Pachowitz, asked only for the delay.
She appeared to chat amiably with sheriff’s deputies guarding her as she stood behind a glass partition in the courtroom waiting for the proceeding, which lasted about two minutes. A veteran Los Angeles police detective was brought to court Tuesday in an orange jail jumpsuit to face a capital murder charge alleging she killed an ex-boyfriend’s wife 23 years ago when she was a young officer.ĭetective Stephanie Lazarus calmly answered, “Yes, your honor,” when Superior Court Commissioner Kristi Lousteau asked if she agreed to have her arraignment continued to July 6.
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