The Lazarus Files
A Cold Case Investigation
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The Lazarus Files
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Narrated by:
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Matthew McGough
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Written by:
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Matthew McGough
About this listen
This program is read by the author.
A deeply reported, riveting account of a cold case murder in Los Angeles, unsolved until DNA evidence implicated a shocking suspect - a female detective within the LAPD’s own ranks.
On February 24, 1986, 29-year-old newlywed Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, Sherri had confided to her parents that an ex-girlfriend of John’s, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex-girlfriend, but the original detectives pursued only burglary suspects, and the case went cold.
DNA analysis did not exist when Sherri was murdered. Decades later, a swab from a bite mark on Sherri’s arm revealed her killer was in fact female, not male. A DNA match led to the arrest and conviction of veteran LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus, John’s onetime girlfriend.
The Lazarus Files delivers the visceral experience of being inside a real-life murder mystery. McGough reconstructs the lives of Sherri, John, and Stephanie; the love triangle that led to Sherri’s murder; and the homicide investigation that followed. Was Stephanie protected by her fellow officers? What did the LAPD know, and when did they know it? Are there other LAPD cold cases with a police connection that remain unsolved?
©2019 Matthew McGough (P)2019 Macmillan AudioWhat listeners say about The Lazarus Files
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Northern Girl
- 2021-01-17
Interesting and comprehensive
The author cites the work as the product of 11 years of investigative reporting, and it shows. Significant detail is provided for the periods leading up to and immediately following the crime as the initial botched investigation unfolds. By necessity the facts are heavily covered from the viewpoint of Sherri’s family and friends as John Ruetten did not cooperate with the book. We get to know Stephanie through her own work diaries kept during the early years of her policing. There is an interesting side trip to the murder of another Van Nuys woman in 1988 that also raised concerns of police involvement. We make a stop in 2004 where the case fails to be solved for a second time, ultimately arriving in 2009 when a box of files mysteriously left with a detective in the Van Nuys division ultimately leads to Stephanie’s arrest by LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division. The trial is not covered beyond a few sentences and the the ultimate verdict, which is a departure of sorts for the genre, and perhaps the only disappointment in the content. The author reads his own work, and the listener will have to prepare for a fairly monotone delivery and the distracting quirk of pronouncing most of the Ts in the middle of words as Ds. John ‘Rudden’, Sherri was ‘bidden’ on the arm, etc.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Phil C.
- 2019-05-01
Terrible
I was really looking forward to this having followed the case since an arrest was made. However, I can”t listen. The author reads like a computer. I want a refund!
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1 person found this helpful