Stephanie Laazrus In Her Own Words (Part II 2/24/1985)

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Stephanie Lazarus In Her Own Words (Part II, 2/24/1985)

In 1986, Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in her Van Nuys home.

23 years later, in 2009, LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus was arrested for the crime. Lazarus was convicted of first degree murder in 2012, a trial I covered from gavel to gavel.

Early in her LAPD career, Stephanie kept a diary of her daily patrol rounds.

This diary entry is from February 24, 1985, 34 years ago today. 

At the time, Stephanie was a patrol officer assigned to the LAPD’s Hollywood Division. Her partner that day was Dave May. A year later, on February 24, 1986, Stephanie murdered Sherri.

2245 – 0730
HWD
6A67
MAY
2-24-85 

We had roll call training today in Hostage Negotiation. Sgt. Anderson gave the training. It was informative. 

This is the last night I work with May.

NOTE – This morning we had a qualifying run for the Vegas run. I ran 5 miles in 37 minutes. There were 8 people, me and 7 guys. I came in 7th. I beat May at the end.

First thing we did May wrote a ticket to a guy who had no license plate no registration. Then we were going back to the Station and 3 people walked across the don’t walk right in front of us. So we stopped them and of course they had no ID. So we took them to the Station and wrote them a ticket.
Then we went by Marathon and St. Andrews. First time we drove by we saw nothing, then we went by again and Dave saw a guy throw his bindles on the ground. We stopped the guy and Dave found the bindles and we arrested him. The susp looked like a real cholo, but he was rather truthful with us. He did admit that he was going to sell the marijuana. The guy was really funny. I kinda felt bad booking him. 

May wrote the report and booked the susp on the computer. He wanted me to write the report, but I didn’t see the guy dropped the stuff. So I don’t like writing reports that I have to lie on.
Then we tried to eat. I was really getting tired. But we got a call for 459 Susps. There were none at the location so then we got Code 7. We ate at Sunset and Vista, free. Not many units eat at this location because prostitutes and pimps hang out here. 

Then we answered a call 459 Susp breaking into a car at 1700 Gramercy. I was falling asleep. We got to the location and we saw the guy flagging us down. So we drove up to him and he told us we passed the Susps. Dave saw them run but I was so tired I didn’t see a thing. I got out of the car and ran to the apt. Well it was the wrong apt. So we lost him. I took a report and that was it for the day. Dave I think liked working with me and said someday he’d probably be working for me as Chief or something.

My friend Matthew McGough's book, The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation, will be released on April 30, 2019. You can pre-order his book on Amazon HERE.

The previous diary entry can be found HERE.
The next diary entry can be found HERE.