Imagine coming home from a normal shift at work to find your driveway swarming with detectives. Not just any detectives—your own colleagues. They aren’t there for a social visit or a quick briefing. They’re there because your wife, a respected detective herself, is being arrested for a cold-blooded murder committed decades ago.
That was the reality for Scott Young on a June morning in 2009.
Most people know the name Stephanie Lazarus. She’s the LAPD detective who killed Sherri Rasmussen in 1986 out of a jealous rage over an ex-boyfriend. But fewer people talk about Scott Young, the man who married her, raised a daughter with her, and shared a bed with her for years, never knowing the woman he loved had a dark, violent secret buried in her past.
The Man in the Shadow of the Case
Scott Young was more than just the husband of a killer; he was a veteran officer in the LAPD. He worked as a sergeant, a solid member of the force. By all accounts, the life he and Stephanie built in Simi Valley was the picture of suburban normalcy. They had a young daughter, they were active in their neighborhood, and they were "the sweet people" across the street.
Honestly, it’s hard to wrap your head around it. How do you live with someone for years and never see a crack in the mask?
Lazarus wasn't just some random person Scott met at a bar. They were part of the same professional world. She was a high-flying detective in the Art Theft Detail. He was a sergeant. They were a "power couple" of sorts within the department. When the LAPD finally connected the DNA from a 1986 bite mark to Lazarus, the shockwave didn't just hit the public—it leveled Scott Young’s entire world.
The Day the World Collapsed
On June 5, 2009, the LAPD orchestrated a plan to arrest Lazarus at work to avoid a shootout. They knew she’d be armed. While she was being interrogated in a room she’d likely used herself many times, search teams were descending on her home.
Scott Young had to be called home from his own post.
Can you imagine that phone call? He had to use his own key to let his coworkers inside so they could strip his house for evidence. According to reports from the time, he was cooperative, but visibly shaken. LAPD Lt. Mark Tappan, who was on the scene, told reporters he couldn’t imagine what was going through Young's mind. It must have been "racing a mile a minute."
What Scott Young Didn't Know
The tragedy of Scott Young is that he was essentially the "replacement" for the life Stephanie Lazarus couldn't have.
Years before she met Scott, Stephanie was obsessed with a man named John Ruetten. When Ruetten married Sherri Rasmussen, Stephanie couldn't take it. She broke into their home, beat Sherri, bit her, and shot her three times in the chest. Then, she went back to work. She continued her career. She got promoted. She met Scott Young.
- 1986: The murder happens; it's incorrectly labeled a "burglary gone wrong."
- 1990s: Lazarus and Young marry and begin their life together.
- 2000s: They adopt a daughter and live as a respected law enforcement family.
- 2009: The secret is unraveled by a tiny tube of DNA.
Scott wasn't just a husband; he was the evidence of her "normalcy." She used her life with him as a shield. During her trial, her defense team tried to argue that she couldn't have been a crazed killer because she went on to have a stable, loving marriage with Scott.
It didn't work. The DNA was a one-in-a-sextillion match.
Living with a Secret Killer
People often ask if Scott Young knew. Honestly, there is zero evidence to suggest he did. In fact, most experts on the case believe he was as much a victim of her deception as anyone else.
Think about the psychological toll. Every anniversary of the murder, every time a cold case was discussed at the dinner table, Stephanie sat there, knowing. She watched her husband go to work every day to uphold the law, while she had broken it in the most permanent way possible.
The Aftermath for the Young Family
Once the trial ended in 2012 and Stephanie was sentenced to 27 years to life, Scott Young largely disappeared from the public eye. You can't blame him.
He had to pick up the pieces for their daughter. He had to deal with the fact that the woman he loved had confessed—not just by the evidence, but eventually in a 2023 parole hearing—to a brutal crime. While Lazarus remains in the California Institution for Women, Scott had to navigate the "civilian" reality of being married to one of the most notorious "cop killers" (not a killer of cops, but a killer who was a cop) in California history.
The case of Scott Young and Stephanie Lazarus is a reminder that you never truly know what people are carrying. Even the person sleeping right next to you.
What We Can Learn from This
If you're following this case or looking for lessons in the wreckage, here are the takeaways that actually matter:
The "Normalcy" Fallacy
Just because someone has a stable job, a happy marriage, and a nice home doesn't mean they aren't capable of extreme acts. Psychopaths and those with deep-seated obsessions are often experts at compartmentalization. Scott Young's marriage wasn't a sign of Stephanie's innocence; it was a sign of her ability to hide.
The Persistence of Forensic Science
Scott and Stephanie’s life was built on the assumption that the 1980s was a "safe" time to commit a crime because DNA didn't exist in the way it does now. They were wrong. Technology eventually caught up to the truth.
The Collateral Damage of Crime
Sherri Rasmussen’s family suffered for 23 years without justice. But Scott Young and his daughter are also a different kind of casualty. Their family history was rewritten in an instant, replaced by a legacy of violence and betrayal.
If you’re researching this case further, focus on the 2023 parole board transcripts. It’s there that Lazarus finally admitted to the killing, ending decades of "innocence" claims that Scott and her friends had likely wanted to believe for years.
The next step for anyone interested in this story is to look into the Sherri Rasmussen Foundation or similar advocacy groups for victims of cold cases. It puts the focus back where it belongs: on the victims and the truth.