Ex-LAPD detective denied parole again in 1986 murder of lover's wife – NBC Los Angeles

Ex-LAPD detective denied parole again in 1986 murder of lover’s wife  NBC Los Angeles

"I am truly and immensely sorry,'' the now 66-year-old inmate said about the murder from California Institution for Women in Corona. A state parole board panel denied parole again Friday for a former Los Angeles Police Department detective who first admitted at a parole hearing in 2023 that she murdered her ex-lover's new wife in the victim's Van Nuys condominium more than 40 years ago. After a hearing that stretched over portions of four hours along with more than 45 minutes of deliberations by the two-member parole board panel, Commissioner Michael Ruff said Stephanie Lazarus was "still choosing not to be completely honest with this panel." Lazarus, a 25-year LAPD veteran who worked as an art theft investigator, was sentenced to 27 years to life in state prison as a result of March 2012 conviction for the killing of Rasmussen, who was shot three times on Feb.

24, 1986, in the Balboa Boulevard condominium she shared with her husband. Rasmussen had married John Ruetten, Lazarus' one-time love interest, three months before her death. The parole board commissioner noted that Lazarus was a police officer who was "sworn to uphold the law,'' telling her that she "chose to break the law'' and committed a "brutal crime.'' Deputy Commissioner Nga Lam noted that the panel "did not see a lot of movement''