Nels replied that he had a doctors appointment. Its been nearly two years of hell, not knowing who did this to Sherri or why, he told the assembled reporters. Her attirerobe, T-shirt, and pantiessuggested she had not been expecting visitors. After considerable political machinations, the LAPDs new Cold Case Homicide Unit went operational in November 2001. At the dawn of the DNA age, Lambkins background investigating sex crimes proved an excellent foundation for homicide work. The cold-case unit initially consisted of seven detectives: three teams of two, with Lambkin at the helm. New evidence has led to a murder charge against her. He received no reply. The detectives went back over the whole investigationbut this time with the assumption that they were looking for a female suspect. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Hes going to know I know. Stephanie is related to Janet Allison Stearns and George Palmer Stearns as well as 3 additional people. According to Bugliosis book, Dorothy Young of La Mesa is an older sister of Bugliosi. Were giving them this spiel of where we are and how we got here, whats been going on for 23 years, Nuttall recalls. After that meeting, Loretta stopping calling. 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.) Knowing she was married to someone else, they told her, theyd selected a place where they could speak privately, away from gossiping colleagues. What is the birth name of Jeff Stearns? Without the case file, Butterworth had little information regarding theories of the case or possible suspects, and so lacked context for her discovery. 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. In Nelss mind, she was a prime suspect. Why did Cory Williams divorce Stephanie? Marc Martinez recalled that in the mid-1980s, most LAPD cops carried a .38 as their backup or off-duty gunthe same caliber weapon indicated on the ballistics report in the Rasmussen murder book. While one removed electronics from the wall unit, the other went upstairs and was surprised by Rasmussen. Jurors announced they were deadlocked 6-6 before noon Friday, but were told by U.S. District Judge Samuel King to keep deliberating. The accused killer of a San Diego woman on a tiny Pacific atoll told a U.S. District Court jury that she never harmed anyone in my life.. From the interrogation room, Lazarus was taken to Lynwood, the Los Angeles County jail facility for female prisoners, where she has been held ever since on $10 million bail. Bugliosi professing his belief in Stearns innocence is duped by his client. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Miss Stearns surrendered and was freed on $100,000 bond. 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. 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 Buck received 10 years for the theft Yet contrary to expectations, Simpsons Dream Team of defense lawyers did not fight to keep DNA results out, nor did they challenge the forensic value of DNA evidence during the trial. He reinserted the swab into the tube, squeezed the stopper shut, and labeled it with his initials and the coroners case number. She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment April 2. She and Walker turned up in Honolulu later with the repainted and renamed 38-foot ketch Sea Wind, which belonged to the Grahams. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. 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. Her trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in late August. 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. When Ruetten, an engineer, had come home from work at 5:55 p.m., hed known instantly that something was wrong. Nuttall and Sanchez were tasked with getting on-the-record statements from the Rasmussens and updating them on the investigation, without tipping them off to just how close the police were to making an arrest. We were teetering, Bub recalls. She is an actress, known for Dreamers (1999), Triple Threat (2005) and America's Most Wanted: Lambkin excelled at the work, but by 1990, he felt burned out and decided to shift to homicides. The detectives list was down to one name: Stephanie Lazarus. When they did, they found themselves facing one of the unlikeliest murder suspects in the citys history. 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. The unknown factor was how long she would wait before invoking one or both. A few hours later, the vote was changed to 10-2. Walker and his girlfriend, Stephanie Stearns, were arrested in Honolulu in 1974 after they returned from Palmyra in a yacht stolen from Malcolm "Mac" Graham and his wife, Eleanor "Muff" Graham. Nels and Loretta Rasmussen, Sherris parents, arrived in Los Angeles from Arizona the day after the murder. During those 39 years, 23,713 murders took place in Los Angeles. This book is both interesting and clumsily misleading. The decision, People v. Castro, sent shock waves through the criminal-justice system. Stearns said she would return to work as an office manager in a Los Angeles telecommunications company. She would bebut only technically. It indicated that shortly after 2 p.m. that Sunday, Lazarus had walked into the lobby of the Santa Monica Police Department, identified herself as an LAPD officer, and told the clerk that her car, parked near Santa Monica Pier, had been broken into. You watch too much television, he remembers being told. When Butterworth analyzed the swab, it yielded a mixture of two DNA profiles, one of which matched Rasmussens. She was acquitted Friday by a federal court jury. Three months later, she was dead. 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. That most items in the house appeared undisturbedincluding Rasmussens jewelry box, sitting in plain view on her dresserseemed to Mayer further evidence of a rushed exit. Yet she couldnt find the swab in the rape kit or anywhere else. In January 1987, a bold plan was announced: the police requested that all male residents between the ages of 17 and 34 provide blood samples for DNA analysis, to eliminate themselves as suspects. Her boyfriend, Buck Walker, was convicted of murder in June and sentenced to life in prison. Her new trial, which was to have begun June 9, has been delayed until October. One of the thorny issues still to be resolved was how and where to confront Lazarus. I dont know a lot about this stuff, he told Lazarus. Phillip Stearns was born on June 2, 1984, in Bloomington, Illinois, USA. Detectives boxed up whichever cases werent being actively worked and sent them back to the divisions where they had originated, if there was room for them, or to the LAPD archives if there wasnt. On the night of Aug. 28, 1974, a Wednesday, the last radio conversation was held between Mr. Graham at Palmyra and Mr. Shoemaker on Hawaii. It was Buck Walker and his girlfriend Stephanie Stearns. Few people could have predicted in early 1986 that the science of police work was about to take an epochal leap forward. SAN FRANCISCO -- The defense today attacked the federal murder case against Stephanie Stearns for a 1974 killing of a San Diego socialite in the remote Where is Stephanie stearns now? Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space., I am committed to building a cabinet that is as talented as the city we serve, said Janey. On June 8, 2009, she was charged with the murder of Sherri Rasmussen. No one was forced to participate in the blooding, as the DNA dragnet came to be called, and few expected that the killer would volunteer himself. Webstephanie stearns today Nationally and in San Diego, the trials made headlines. Under questioning by her attorney, Vincent Bugliosi, Stearns described Walker as a very strong person, domineering, a person who liked to have his own way. They had subsisted by eating birds' eggs and by borrowing as much food as they could from any other boats that came to the atoll. He is now trying to locate Muff's family and return her remains to them. She told of her extreme aversion to guns. She said that when Walker brought guns to their home on the island of Hawaii she fought with him over it. A warrant could have forced their suspect to give them a sample, but they werent sure they had enough evidence to get one. But a curious detail caught Butterworths eye. 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. The police were certain that he had killed both girls. Move on with your lives, he advised the Rasmussens. Nels didnt know the ex-girlfriends name, but he knew she was a Los Angeles police officer. The team had by then moved to a new, slightly more spacious squad room on the fifth floor of Parker Center, the LAPDs legendarily decrepit headquarters, but it still didnt have enough space for all the murder books that it had accumulated. You can read the story HERE. We explained that this could still turn out not to be her, Bub says. I am honored to serve the people of Boston as part of the historic Kim Janey administration, said Garrett-Stearns. After leaving the Navy in 1966, he fell into drugs and crime, and was eventually sentenced to three years at San Quentin for assault and robbery. Inside were Eleanor Graham's remains, identified with dental records. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a bachelors degree in human resources management from Michigan State University., Janeys appointment of Garrett-Stearns is her latest move to build one of the most diverse cabinets in the Citys history. In 1993, Lambkin was working homicide at the Hollywood Division, where he had a front-row seat for the conclusion of perhaps the coldest case ever solved by the LAPD. He proposed to her that summer, and they married in November. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. But the way the circumstances were, there would have been too many variables involved and too much potential for screwup. 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. I am proud to welcome these experienced and inclusive leaders to Boston City Hall.. Lazarus was friendly with a number of RHD detectives, which made assigning the case a challenge. Walker told her terrible stories about his term in San Quentin prison at the age of 19 for armed robbery. There was a hole in the temple of the skull. We were looking for a bright jury, she explains. Stearns, 39, who was convicted along with Walker of stealing the couples yacht, testified that she lied to authorities to help him escape capture but knew nothing of the murder. There was no way to know who in the division might be acquainted with her, and they didnt want to dirty her good name in the likely event that she didnt have anything to do with the murderor tip her off in the unlikely event that she did. It was a burglary gone awry. She is an actress, known for Dreamers (1999), Triple Threat (2005) and America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988). Bugliosi's careful analysis of the tides revealed Stearns was lying about her activities purportedly occurring on the 30th and 31st of August 1974. Miss Stearns and Mr. Walker were convicted in 1975 of stealing a sailing yacht that belonged to Malcolm Graham, 43, and his wife, LaVerne, 40, of San Diego. I just gave up reading because I felt like it was just too repetitive. Final Argument: An Inquiry Into the Torture and Murder of Mac and Muff Graham on Palmyra Island Perpetrated by Buck Walker and Stephanie Stearns, and the Subsequent Trial of Stephanie Stearns. 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. 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. It was useful for investigative purposes, but too imprecise to serve as a smoking gun. Murder Indictment in February. WebView the profiles of professionals named "Stephanie Stearns" on LinkedIn. Laudenberg lived in a mobile home that he moved sporadically around Los Angeles. Given the sensitivity of the unfolding investigation, Nuttall had to be cautious about tipping his hand. On May 27, after a week of preparation and surveillance, plainclothes detectives surreptitiously trailed Lazarus as she ran errands. 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. In her long career, she had never been involved in a use-of-force incident or been accused of any misconduct. Stephanie Sternes, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Emmett, ID, 83617, (208) 357-9335, I completed my studies in Marriage and Family Counseling at So we looked for sexually motivated murders, where there was a better chance for DNA. With Mac Graham, Muff Graham, Buck Walker, Stephanie Stearns. The body of a 29-year-old nurse and three-month newlywed, Sherri Rasmussen, had been discovered by her husband, John Ruetten. In January, two persons from Natal, South Africa, were taking a break from their voyage by walking on a beach at Palmyra. In this case, it would not be easy. Nels immediately sought out Mayer, the homicide detective, who informed him that the police were looking for one or more burglars in connection with the killing. Now, using the new fingerprint and ballistics databases that had come online, Lambkin found he was able to clear some old homicides fairly easily. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The two men agreed to talk by shortwave radio at 7 P.M. on Mondays and Wednesdays. Both Stearns and Walker had stated the Iola sank on the reef just inside the Palmyra harbor while they tried to tow it back to Hawaii. The Grahams left Hilo June 24. 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. It was extremely difficult initially to process that possibility, he says. The same person had indeed raped and killed both girls. As Joseph Wambaugh, the LAPD detective turned crime writer, recounted masterfully in his 1989 book, The Blooding, an unprecedented force of 200 police officers was assembled to hunt for the murderer. 661, and on one count of transporting stolen property in interstate and foreign commerce, a violation of 18 U.S.C. It was four books when it reached me, four books deep, Nuttall says of the case file. WebStephanie Stearns was tried separately in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. WebStephanie Stearns Resides in Auburn, WA Includes Address (1) Phone (1) See Results Stephanie Louise Stearns, 49 Resides in Arlington, WA Lived In Reedsburg WI, Las Vegas NV, Auburn WA, Mount Vernon WA Related To Shannon Stearns, Steven Stearns, Stacy Stearns Also known as S Stearns, Stephanie L Stearn, Stephan Stearns The third, in 1989, was an accused rapist named Henry Wilds. Mayor Kim Janey announced today that she is appointing Senior Advisor Stephanie Garrett-Stearns as Chief Communications Officer. In early February 2009, with the squads most recent homicide cleared, Nuttall and Barba began poking around for an interesting cold case. Its a very manageable number of murders for three guys to work, Bub says. 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 She said she did stand up to Walker occasionally. But the suspects remained elusive, and months passed without further leads. Into the early 1990s, Loretta called the Van Nuys homicide unit regularly to inquire about Sherris case. TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2023 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. Lambkin, by comparison, had been working with biological evidence for years, and was already convinced of DNAs potential. In 1993, she made detective, and in 1996 she married a fellow LAPD officer, with whom she later adopted a little girl. Miss Stearns came to Hawaii in the late 1960's. A woman who worked at a bakery in Leicester had been gossiping with co-workers at a pub when one mentioned that he had agreed to take the blood test on someone elses behalf. But it was certainly unusual. During their trials they both said that they and the Grahams had become close friends. The assailant had then taken a quilt from across the roompresumably to muffle the guns reportand fired more shots through it, killing Rasmussen. 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. The police said they found him using another alias in a hotel on the north edge of Hawaii Island. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a bachelors degree in human resources management from Michigan State University.. 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. But no matter how hard they pushed him, the boy refused to confess to the first murder. I need you to walk me through everything from A to Z, Nuttall recalls. Moreover, he believed strongly that the LAPD had a moral obligation to do its best to solve cold cases. Deputy D.A. And toward the end it becomes a horror fiction book, too. Stephanie Lazarus: Yeah, I know she got killed. We were looking for cases that had the best chance for us to potentially work with, given the small numbers [of detectives] we had, says Rick Jackson, who was part of the original unit. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? Without that gunor, more precisely, without a bullet known to have been fired from itthe Van Nuys detectives would have no way to prove, or disprove, that it was the murder weapon. When he noticed the bite mark on Rasmussens arm, Mahany selected a six-inch swab housed in a tube with a red rubber stopper. The other presumably belonged to her killer. There were some coincidences, but there was nothing definitive for us at this point. The chief decided that Bubs unit could hang on to the case until the DNA sample was obtained. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Wildfires in Anchorage? The prosecution said Stearns helped Walker in the murder in order to get the Grahams yacht and food supply and leave Palmyra. Mayer made a note of the ex-girlfriend in the case file but apparently never followed up. In October 1974, the Sea Wind was sailed to dry dock in Honolulu, where Buck Walker had her repainted and renamed and had a hole in the bow repaired.
