Mystery Writers of America

Last Sunday, I caught a ride with fellow mystery author, Raul Melendez, to L.A. to attend the November meeting of Mystery Writers of America SoCal Chapter. The chapter meets at the Tam O’Shanter restaurant, where we enjoyed excellent food and a fascinating speaker. Detective Robert Bub has been working cold cases. Terri Nolan, who has been consulting with Bub for ten years on her own books, conducted the interview.

Detective Bub detailed the Sherri Rasmussen murder case, which his team solved 25 years after the 1986 killing.

Here’s the story he told: Sherri’s husband, John Ruetten, pictured left, returned home from work work one evening to find Sherri “brutally beaten, and shot 3 times in the chest.” A bite mark on her arm also played an important role in identifying her killer.

Bub portrayed Sherri’s killer, Stephanie Lazarus, as a jealous lover who could not let Sherri’s husband go (the affair continued following his marriage to Sherri a few months earlier). When Bub revealed that, like John Ruetten, Lazarus was also a cop, a gasp rounded the room. Arrested in 2009, she was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five to life.

The CBS show, 48 Hours episode, One of Their Own, covered the crime.

Next month, SOCAL MWA joins with Sisters in Crime/LA for a holiday party. Trust me, I will be there!

If you are interested in the forensic side of handwriting, check out my non-fiction books.