When Ruetten, an engineer, had come home from work at 5:55 p.m., hed known instantly that something was wrong. Now, using the new fingerprint and ballistics databases that had come online, Lambkin found he was able to clear some old homicides fairly easily. starbulletin.com TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2023 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. When the two LAPD detectives pulled up to the house, Nels came out to the driveway to greet them. A century later, the unit could not do much about that one. Given the number of drive-by shootings then occurring in the city, LAPD detectives were far more accustomed to picking shell casings up off the street than searching for hair strands, semen stains, and other barely visible bodily traces. LAPD homicide detectives had always been free to work cold cases, but only as time permitted between fresh murders, which wasnt very often. The other presumably belonged to her killer. In 2006, Lazarus was assigned to the departments Art Theft Detail, a plum post with a degree of prestige rare for Los Angeles police work. PART SIX Curse of Palmyra: Stephanie Stearns on trial for murder Woman Acquitted in Island Slaying : Victim, an S.D. On September 19, DNA analysis was requested on evidence from the 1986 murder of Sherri Rasmussen. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. You watch too much television, he remembers being told. LAPD homicide detectives track their clearance rate the way pro athletes track their season stats. Jeffreyswho would later be knighted for his contributions to forensic sciencerealized almost instantly the potential of the new technology, for which he coined the term genetic fingerprinting. Other yachtsmen testified that there were bad feelings between the Grahams and the other couple. The third, in 1989, was an accused rapist named Henry Wilds. A week went by before the coroners office could locate the missing evidence. Then something changed, Most of Yosemite Valley is closed due to potentially perilous snowpack and flooding, Column: If not cops or guns, what will it take to make us feel safe? Both were charged with murdering Eleanor Muff Graham of San Diego, who disappeared along with her husband, Malcolm, from Palmyra atoll in August, 1974. Shards from a broken porcelain vase littered the floor. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Two 15-year-old girls from neighboring villages outside Leicester, in the English Midlands, had been killed, one of them that summer and one three years earlier. Chief Bratton wanted the Rasmussen family informed of the arrest in person as soon as it happened, so they didnt hear about it through the media. All Rights In late October, the Los Angeles Times ran a story on the now eight-month-old case, reporting that the Rasmussens were offering a $10,000 reward for any information regarding the suspects in their daughters murder, whom Mayer described in the article as two Latino men between 5 feet 4 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall. Garrett-Stearns new role includes responsibilities held by Nick Martin, who announced plans to pursue new opportunities in April and will be leaving his role on May 21., Stephanie Garrett-Stearns is a communications veteran with insight into Bostons diverse communities, said Mayor Kim Janey. One of them, a .38, had been reported stolen on March 9, 198613 days after the murder. Garrett-Stearns was previously Head of Public Relations and Chief Corporate Spokesperson for the Siemens division, Osram Sylvania., I am honored to serve the people of Boston as part of the historic Kim Janey administration, said Garrett-Stearns. That jumps off the page at you, because when you have that, and youre aware that the case is based on two male burglarswell, that alters the entire course of the investigation. I swear by all I hold dear I never harmed anyone in my life, the soft-spoken Stearns told jurors, who leaned forward in their seats to hear her. Her manipulative skills are unusually sharp as can be observed while she was at work on Palmyra Island the summer of 1974, and in her interplay with counsel and court during her murder trial. By coincidence, Bub followed it in March 2008, when he accepted a transfer to run the Van Nuys homicide unit, which had just lost its supervising detective and two others to retirement. ATSWT reviewed the supposed facts surrounding the murder of the Grahams on Palmyra, and followed STEPHANIE STEARNS (aka JENNIFER JENKINS) upon her He removed the stopper and carefully swabbed the impression left by the assailants teeth. But that began to change in 1989, when two lawyers, Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, convinced a New York judge that poor laboratory procedures warranted exclusion of DNA evidence that had been introduced against their client. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Everything I knew about Stephanie, she was sharp, Nuttall says. Webstephanie stearns today. At the dawn of the DNA age, Lambkins background investigating sex crimes proved an excellent foundation for homicide work. The detectives went back over the whole investigationbut this time with the assumption that they were looking for a female suspect. I dont know a lot about this stuff, he told Lazarus. Stearns was acquitted. By the end of the year, LAPD homicide detectives had solved 538 of those murders, a clearance rate of 65 percent. He and Miss Stearns shifted their sailboat to Honolulu. She served seven months in prison and six months in a halfway house. He called the Rasmussens and said he was coming back and would need to see them again on Friday morning. MYSTERY ON PACIFIC ATOLL LEADS TO MURDER CHARGE, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/13/us/mystery-on-pacific-atoll-leads-to-murder-charge.html. Final Argument: An Inquiry into the murders of Mac and Muff He is now trying to locate Muff's family and return her remains to them. In 1963, Robinson had been an 18-year-old Navy recruit stationed in San Diego. 'Buck' Walker infamous for high-profile Palmyra deaths Sea Wind Returns. He placed the tube inside a 5-by-7-inch L.A. coroners physical-evidence envelope, on which he wrote Sherri Rasmussens name, a description of the contents, and where hed obtained them. Stearns and Jaramillo interviewed Lazarus for more than an hour, coming at her in an oblique manner that left it unclear whether they were speaking with her as a possible witness or a criminal suspect. They have also lived in Honomu, HI and Haiku, HI. She's working for the telecommunications giant Harris Corporation. Stephanie is related to Conner Mark Stearns and John T Stearns as well as 3 additional people. The decision, People v. Castro, sent shock waves through the criminal-justice system. The Manson Family Blog - Tate LaBianca Murders - TLB - True A credenza drawer had been yanked out and its contents, mostly documents, dumped on the floor. On behalf of the prosecution, Kahn coordinated the DNA testing of more than 50 blood samples that seemed to tie Simpson inextricably to the killings. Mayor's Office I wish Nick the very best in his next chapter., Before joining the Janey administration, Garrett-Stearns (pictured) served as Vice President of Communications and Fund Development for The Community Builders, Inc, where she led communications and fundraising strategy and program execution. Still, as the Van Nuys unit continued to dig, other details fell uncomfortably into place. The woman called the police, and the naf whod taken the surrogate blood test promptly fingered the man who had talked him into it, a fellow baker with the improbable name of Colin Pitchfork. In most violent crimes, the suspect comes up XY, or male. I am thrilled to have Stephanie as part of my cabinet and look forward to her continued leadership and counsel as we advance a city-wide agenda for Bostons recovery, reopening, and renewal. She is a master of authentic, transparent communication strategies that deepen understanding and foster trust. Her boyfriend, Buck Walker, was convicted of murder in June and sentenced to life in prison. Eager to win every point, when necessary he shaves the truth. PARTINGTON She was acquitted Friday by a federal court jury. When they finished going through the case file, they had a list of five names, among them that of Stephanie Lazarus, who was cited in the original police work as John Ruettens ex-girlfriend, with the further notation P.O. Nuttall didnt make anything of the initials until he called Ruetten, who told him that Lazarus had been a Los Angeles police officer. After Bugliosi argued that Buck Walker had Within a week, the detectives obtained a copy of the stolen-gun report. A murder trial scheduled to begin in Federal Court here this fall will center on the disappearance of a San Diego couple who were swept up in the romance of cruising under sail in the South Pacific. The plan was for the RHD detectives to request Lazaruss help interviewing a jailed suspect who claimed to have information on an art-theft case. Wilds was charged with committing two rapes, in 1986 and 1987. Using the LAPDs annual statistics, Lambkin tallied the numbers. They failed to report the couples disappearance to authorities and at one point Walker told friends he won the boat in a chess match with an eccentric millionaire. In mid-April, just over two months into the new investigation, that DNA report came back negative. He received no reply. Palmyra murder-case convict freed | The Honolulu Advertiser When Butterworth analyzed the swab, it yielded a mixture of two DNA profiles, one of which matched Rasmussens. She just walked across the room and she gave me a hug. Before the detectives left, Nuttall made one last plea for the familys patience. Since her arrest, Lazarus has steadfastly maintained her innocence. We explained that this could still turn out not to be her, Bub says. You can kind of talk to him. But a curious detail caught Butterworths eye. Russia missile attack on Ukraine injures 34, damages homes, Far from Russia, a pro-Moscow sliver of land tries to cling to its identity and keep war at bay, Man who lost wife, son in Texas mass shooting tells story. Mayers successor explained that he had reviewed the original case notes and tried to advance the investigation, but he had been unable to identify any suspects, and prospects for new leads were poor. Miss Stearns came to Hawaii in the late 1960's. The press loves these cases, Lambkin says. But the way the circumstances were, there would have been too many variables involved and too much potential for screwup. The victim, Thora Rose, had been brutally killed in her apartment in October 1963. The body of a 29-year-old nurse and three-month newlywed, Sherri Rasmussen, had been discovered by her husband, John Ruetten. Stephanie Stearns According to evidence presented at the earlier court hearings, Buck Walker's criminal career began when he was a teen-ager in Oregon and he was in and out of prisons through the 1960's. You can read the story HERE. Time and again she is exposed as a liar and a perjurer, yet the jury forgives lie after lie all the while ignoring the honest and forthright testimony of the Pollocks (The LEONARDS in ATSWT.) DNA profiles developed since the late 1990s typically include a gender marker. The assailant had then taken a quilt from across the roompresumably to muffle the guns reportand fired more shots through it, killing Rasmussen. Nels brought up an article about DNA forensics he had read in a science magazine and offered to pay for DNA analysis of the evidence at a private lab. Jurors announced they were deadlocked 6-6 before noon Friday, but were told by U.S. District Judge Samuel King to keep deliberating. Kahn recalls her desire to find jurors who would be able to make sense of this new universe of DNA testimony. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. He proposed to her that summer, and they married in November. The office the unit was givena 250-square-foot former janitorial storage spacewas so cramped that every time someone wanted to leave, others had to pull in their chairs to make room. All concernedprosecutors, defense lawyers, forensic scientists, judgeshad to raise their game. When they did, they found themselves facing one of the unlikeliest murder suspects in the citys history. Next he opened a sexual-assault kit and collected a series of swabs and slides. When he was charged with drug sales in 1973, he swore he would never return to the California prison. Soon, all that either of them find is trouble. Garrett-Stearns is a volunteer and board member for several nonprofit organizations, including the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), the Boston Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. An active member of Union United Methodist Church in the South End, she lives in West Roxbury with her husband and daughter. When one couple emerges months later, the FBI will spend years The jurors, and the judge, agreed: Robinson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The entire point of "Final Argument" is to argue against "And The Sea Will Tell"; plus, Bucy doesn't start the reader off by explaining the story's narrative - so if you don't already know about the tragedy of Palmyra backward and forward, you'll be lost for a while. As it happened, just a few months before, California voters had overwhelmingly approved Proposition 69, a ballot measure co-authored by Lisa Kahn. The jurywhich included Kahns little retired guyvoted to convict. This was not a random act of violence toward Sherri Rasmussen, Nuttall says. Bugliosi professing his belief in Stearns innocence is duped by his client. Robinson emerged from prison a changed man. In November 1987, they returned to Los Angeles and held a press conference, at which they renewed their offer of a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. In 1993, the Rasmussens traveled to Van Nuys for a face-to-face meeting with one of the detectives who had inherited the case when Lyle Mayer retired. The defendant will be Stephanie Stearns, 34 years old, of Simi Valley, Calif., who has served one prison term as a result of what happened seven years ago at Its condition would later be described in court as pretty beaten up and ratty. There was a tear at one end, from which protruded the red-capped top of the tube holding the swab, but the tube itself appeared intact. The detective turned him down. It was during that time that he planned to flee Hawaii on his own boat, and Stearns decided to go with him. In 1981, as a young cop, Lambkin had requested assignment to the Automated Information Division, which, among other responsibilities, maintained a citywide crime database that could be searched by modus operandi or other basic criteriafor instance, all liquor-store robberies in which the suspect wore a mask. Not since 1901, when Scotland Yard validated fingerprinting for the purpose of criminal identification, had detectives power to solve crimes been so profoundly transformed. Stephanie Stearns fought back tears Tuesday when she testified about her decision to help her former lover Buck Walker flee drug charges in Hawaii and ultimately Stephanie Stearns Center Manager at Hanesbrands Inc. Arlington, WA. WebStephanie Stearns was tried separately in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. It was a burglary gone awry. A 77-year-old grandfather with a bushy white beard, Laudenberg was suspected of having raped and strangled four women between 1972 and 1975; the media quickly dubbed him the Santa Claus Strangler. The detectives possessed the killers DNA profile, but had no sample from Laudenberg with which they could compare it. There was no way anybody was going to sign off on us going into the house with a search warrant in the middle of the night and it maybe ending in tragedy.. I thought I could help, she said, wiping away tears. Some jurors took notes during her testimony. Two months after the Grahams vanished, Stearns and Walker sailed the Grahams yacht into Hawaii, 1,100 miles away; they were later sentenced to prison for stealing the yacht. Lambkin excelled at the work, but by 1990, he felt burned out and decided to shift to homicides. Her moronic pronouncements (all of which went unnoticed) regarding the birth of the Iola (for the most part wisely left out of Bugliosi's account of the trial) are absurd to the point of zaniness. She would bebut only technically. Prop 69 required police to collect DNA samples from all individuals arrested for a felony or a sex crime, as well as from all state-prison inmates who had been convicted of such crimes. Her trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in late August. While Stearns and Jaramillo began planning their strategy for interviewing Lazarus, Nuttall and Lisa Sanchez, another RHD detective, flew to Arizona to meet with the Rasmussen family. Palmyra killer released from California prison - The The two men agreed to talk by shortwave radio at 7 P.M. on Mondays and Wednesdays. Firearms were not allowed in the jail, so it would not seem unnatural for all three detectivesStearns, Jaramillo, and Lazarusto surrender their guns before entering. Chief Bratton didnt want anybody approaching her when she had a gun or access to a gun, Nuttall explains. Few people could have predicted in early 1986 that the science of police work was about to take an epochal leap forward. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? The Rose case made Lambkin eager to see how many other homicides from the citys past might be solved using new technology. Rasmussen was six feet tall and fit, and the ensuing struggle was ferocious. FINAL ARGUMENT exposes lie after compounded lie, set forth as truth in Bugliosi's version of the "facts" surrounding the murder of the Grahams on Palmyra the August of 1974. Stearns claims to have studied mathematics, yet in her supposed log she cannot engage in simple addition. MYSTERY ON PACIFIC ATOLL LEADS TO MURDER CHARGE Mr. Walker did not appear for his sentencing. They said that the Grahams had invited them to a farewell dinner on Aug. 28, but that when Mr. Walker and Miss Stearns went to the Sea Wind, they found her empty. The same person had indeed raped and killed both girls. Forensic scientists and legal historians refer to the late 1980s and early 90s as the height of the DNA wars. As DNA evidence was accepted state by state, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, defense attorneys were initially helpless against the highly credentialed scientific experts called by prosecutors to testify. Stephanie Stearns For what it's worth, at the end of the day I do agree with Tom Bucy's assertion that Stephanie Stearns is compulsive liar and sociopath who is responsible in LOS ANGELES, Nov. 25, 2010 -- New details on a Los Angeles cold case that led to the murder arrest of He made detective quickly and requested assignment to a sex-crimes unit. Select this result to view Stephanie Marie Stearns's phone number, address, When he was arrested for killing Thora Rose, Robinson was a 45-year-old manager for a building-maintenance company in Minneapolis. For the most part he does this by omitting critical testimony that proves the lie such as Stearns' patently absurd account of her sailing method re "leisure sailing," or her improbable account of the Iola's supposed approach to Palmyra. Tuesday, September 4, 2007, 12 a.m. Share this story. When she arrived at the interrogation roomone equipped with recording equipment to videotape the interviewthey would shift gears and gradually turn to the Rasmussen case. At a time when public trust is paramount, our communications team will be a key link between City Hall and the residents of Boston as we work to create a stronger, more equitable city., An alumna of The Partnership, Inc. Next Generation Executive program for professionals of color, Garrett-Stearns also completed the Business Management Institute at Cornell University. Lazarus and John Ruetten had become close friends at UCLA, where theyd lived in the same dorm. A suspect, Edmond Marr, had been identified at the time but was never prosecuted; confronted with wiretap evidence and a DNA report that linked him to the murder, Marr eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 years to life. But it was certainly unusual. Muff and Mac Graham Murders: Is Buck Walker Dead or As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Given how many suspects Lazarus had arrested herself over the years, she was undoubtedly well aware of her rights to silence and to legal counsel. Stephanie Garrett-Stearns named Chief Communications Officer The investigation went back to the drawing board in all respects except one: police now had a DNA profile of their killer, who they suspected lived nearby. But the box washed ashore and was discovered in 1981 by a South African traveler stopping in Palmyra. Since her swearing-in on March 24, Janey has named, , Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space., Stephanie Garrett-Stearns named Chief Communications Officer. Lambkin, by comparison, had been working with biological evidence for years, and was already convinced of DNAs potential. The prosecution said Stearns helped Walker in the murder in order to get the Grahams yacht and food supply and leave Palmyra. She is an actress, known for Dreamers (1999), Triple Threat (2005) and America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988). The inescapable conclusion for both police and terrified residents was that a serial predator was hiding among the local population. Miss Stearns surrendered and was freed on $100,000 bond. In 1986, a young nurse named Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in Los Angeles. The garage door was open and the silver two-door BMW hed bought Rasmussen as an engagement gift was gone. he didnt he just doesnt want her in his videos for While free on bail, Mr. Walker assumed a new identity, according to the court documents. The stolen BMW was found abandoned nearby about a week later, but it offered up no further clues. Eventually, a detective arranged to meet at a doughnut shop to discuss what he described as a series of burglaries from automobiles. Bub, a veteran of RHD, was determined to deliver an ultra-professional case to them. and Mac's messenger, Curtis Shoemaker. There are 30+ professionals named "Stephanie Stearns", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. The LAPD had collected semen at both crime scenes, and Kahn received permission to submit the evidence to a private lab for DNA analysis, which confirmed that Wildss DNA profile matched that of the rapist. In her long career, she had never been involved in a use-of-force incident or been accused of any misconduct. Mr. Walker and Miss Stearns had been trying to plant seeds, but most were eaten by sand crabs. By Bryan Lambert, Boston 25 News Staff and Butch Stearns, Boston 25 News April 14, 2023 at 12:20 am EDT. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! It was four books when it reached me, four books deep, Nuttall says of the case file. By 1994, the DNA wars were basically over, as a singular case would affirm. If a homicide occurs in late December but an arrest is made in January, credit for the clearance is taken in the year of the arrest, not the year of the murder. By Wallace Turner, Special To the New York Times. The detectives returned to Los Angeles and dove back into the case with Stearns and Jaramillo. He escaped from prison after 42 months. Nels mentioned that his daughter had complained one or two months earlier about an ex-girlfriend of her husbands who had shown up at Sherris hospital one day and confronted her. That left them with only two suspects: Lazarus and one other woman, a fellow nurse who, according to the original case notes, had occasionally argued with Sherri at the hospital. After considerable political machinations, the LAPDs new Cold Case Homicide Unit went operational in November 2001. The suspects on the squads list were numbered 1 through 5. Smithville, MO , is where Stephanie Beshears lives today. And the Sea Will Tell - Wikipedia Stearns, who sobbed as she read entries from her 1974 log to the jury about the Grahams disappearance, denied there was any feud. At the Scientific Investigation Division, a DNA profile was quickly developed from the saliva on the straw and compared with the unidentified profile extracted from the bite-mark swab. The results stunned everyone. Ultimately, the not-guilty verdict turned more on Fuhrmans alleged racism and the LAPDs carelessness in handling evidence than on the validity of the DNA. Somebody on that list committed this crime., The Van Nuys detectives quickly eliminated three of the five women on their list for having insufficient motive to harm Rasmussen. One corollary of this quirk is that a division can raise its current-year clearance rate by solving old cases as well as fresh ones. For these families, this stuff never goes away, he says. He walks me in, Nuttall recalls, and I drew a blank on what I was going to say. The awkward silence was broken when Loretta crossed the room to where Nuttall stood, and hugged him.
