The idea that saliva from a bite mark could be her undoing was inconceivable in 1986 when DNA had not yet entered the justice system as a forensic tool.Īmong those present at the verdict was Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, who presided over the first famous DNA case in the building - the O.J. Prosecutors Shannon Presby and Paul Nunez suggested during the trial that Lazarus, a trained police officer, knew to avoid leaving other evidence such as fingerprints and may have worn gloves. "The LAPD family felt a sense of betrayal to have an officer commit such a terrible crime."Ĭooperation US-Ukraine space project taught resilience, innovation. "This case was a tragedy on every level," he added. I am also sorry it took us so long to solve this case and bring a measure of justice to this tragedy," he said in a written statement. "I am truly sorry for the loss of your wife, of your daughter. Police Chief Charlie Beck, who had worked closely with Lazarus in the LAPD, apologized to the Rasmussen family for the long delay in closing the case. Lazarus, 51, was linked to the case by a cold case team examining DNA swabs taken from a bite mark on the arm of victim Sherri Rasmussen. Her long-ago lover, John Ruetten, watched grimly in the courtroom with the family of his slain wife. Stephanie Lazarus was impassive as she heard the first-degree murder verdict. That was a celebration.Ī quarter century after a woman's murder, jurors took little more than a day to decide Thursday the killer was a former Los Angeles police detective who was finally unmasked by her DNA and history of obsessive love for her victim's husband. One red-backed hawk was found to have 16 lizards in its digestive system.“Multiply all the birds of prey flying around the world by 16, then by 365, and in a year that equals ‘un montón de lagartijas,’” he laughs – a mountain of lizards.So does all this mean Pablo will be celebrating World Lizard Day? Not, he says, like some of his herpetologist colleagues, who create special social media posts to mark the occasion.But he later tells me that my call prompted him to review the 34 lizard species he has discovered. A bite of tasty iguana, anyone?) And then lizards are an essential part of the diet of many animals, including birds of prey.Pablo, who works with Austin-based Rainforest Partnership, recalls one expedition to Peru’s central Andes collecting examples of raptors for research and museum display. (And, of course, in some societies people eat lizards. “It’s their role in the ecology of the planet and the health of ecosystems that makes them super important.”Lizards eat huge quantities of insects – which, scientists say, makes them important to humans as controllers of insect-borne diseases. But it’s not just their abundance,” he adds. We know there are something like 5,000 species. “Lizards make up a huge part of all the reptiles in the world. When I met Pablo, he’d just discovered a reptilian beauty with gold-rimmed eyes and a variegated hide of iridescent orange and blue.So he seemed like just the guy to ask: Do lizards really deserve their own special day? His answer is unequivocal.“Yes, without a doubt!” he tells me in a FaceTime call. When my Galapagos Conservancy calendar informed me that today is World Lizard Day, I knew right away I’d be putting in a call to Peruvian herpetologist Pablo Venegas.I’ve known Pablo since doing a story from Peru in 2021 on the discovery of new animal species at a time of alarm over mounting extinctions.Pablo has discovered and registered 34 lizard species previously unknown to science over his two decades of research in Peru’s mountains, deserts, and rainforests.
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