John Rutton News Today

Names. >> we had five women that would have had access to sherry and perhaps at least some of them may have motivated to harm her. three of them reeliminated almost immediately for insufficient motive. >> but there was still two names left. one of them was a coworker. >> a woman named debra. this person of interest was later replaced by sherry and problems followed almost immediately after that. >> there was bad blood between them. >> there was a motive. >> reporter: debra had moved to californi...

Versus stefanie lazarus, finally began in a courtroom in downtown los angeles. the prosecution laid out a clear case of how stephanie lazarus was deeply in love with john rutton, and was devastated when he became engaged to sherry, and then executed her and covered it up, by staging a burglary. linda deutsche of the associated press covered the trial. >> the opening statement by the prosecutor was quite dramatic and he came up with a theme which was that the case was about a bite, a bullet, a gu...

Their guns. unarmed and unsuspecting, she didnt realize she was being recorded by an undercover camera. >> hi. >> have a seat. >> and thats when detectives revealed that this conversation wasnt about art. >> do you know john rutton? >> john rutton? >> you said you dated john. how long did you guys date? >> i mean, what -- are you guys, is this something -- you said i was going to interview somebody about art. >> detective seemed uncomfortab uncomfortable and vague in her answers especially when ...

Her parents told investigators about several run ins with her husbands ex-. now a detective was focusing on that very same woman who happened to be a member of the lapd. heres more with the smoking gun. >> the lapd had but one narrative for sherrys murder. she was randomly killed by two men during a botched burglary. now science had rewritten the script and this once cold case was suddenly almost too hot to handle. the prime suspect an lapd detective named stefani. but as he went back through th...

In the official chronoology from back in is the 86. a detective had written her name but no notes. >> she seemed to be someone above suspicion. stefani had grown up in southern california, a tomboy of sorts. loved sports, she attended ucla where she played basketball. it was during her college days that she met and dated john rutton long before he and sherry had gotten married. she surprised her family by joining the lapd. >> i dont think i knew that she was applying. >> i was very proud. i thou...

>> correct. >> a few weeks later cops in northern california tracked down debra and recreditly scooped up a sample of her crash that contained her dna. it was sent to the crime lab and 72 hours later came an answer. >> she was not the donor of the dna profile from the bite. >> that left one possible suspect. number five on the list. john ruttons ex- girlfriend. he called the family. >> we came home and there was a message on our phone from a detective that they wanted to talk to us and i thought...

Diego. he explained he had been involved in a dating relationship with stephanie lazarus. >> that was the other name still on the short list of suspects. he pressed him for more on their relationship which started when they were both students at ucla. they dated on and off until john got engaged to sherry. >> youre convinced that the relationship that john had with stephanie overlapped with the relationship he had with his wife. >> we know from john that there was at least on one occasion where ...

Of the official crynology. they had written stephanie lazarus lazarus p.o., as in police officer. >> no paper trail. >> she seemed to be someone above suspicion. >> she had grown up in southern california. a tomboy of sorts. loved sports. she attended ucla where she played basketball. it was during her college days that she met and dated john rutton, long before he and sherry got married. after graduating in 1982, she surprised her family by joining the lapd. this when only a hand full of women ...

Revealed that this conversation wasnt about art. >> do you know john rutton? >> john rutton? >> how long did you guys date? >> i mean, are you guys -- is this something -- you said i was going to interview somebody about art. >> detective lazarus seemed uncomfortable and vague in her answers. especially when detectives asked about sherry. >> i may have talked to her. i -- >> talked to her at a hospital, maybe. >> yeah. i may have -- you know, im thinking back now, you guys are bringing up all of...

>> deborah the nurse and stephanie lazarus. >> correct. >> a few weeks later, cops in northern california tracked down deborah and secretly scooped up a sample of her trash which contained dna. it was sent to the crime lab in la for analysis and 72 hours later came an answer. >> she was not the donor of the dna profile from the bite. >> that left just one possible suspect. number 5 on the list. john ruttons ex-girlfriend stephanie lazarus. >> we came home and there was a message on our phone fro...