After 22 years, Rasmussen murder conviction could get another look

It was a gruesome killing followed by a spectacular trial that horrified and captured the attention of many in the region for years.

In May 1988, Loreli T. Rasmussen, a young woman with curling locks of brown hair, was found naked in a pool of blood in her Montville home with a 5-foot spear through her chest and her throat slashed.

A jury eventually found her husband, Erik C. Rasmussen - her high school sweetheart - guilty of murder.

Rasmussen has maintained his innocence ever since.

Now, 22 years later, lawyers and investigators from the Connecticut Innocence Project and other state agencies are seeking to review the evidence to determine whether Rasmussen, currently serving a 35-year prison sentence, was indeed responsible.

During a hearing Monday, a New London Superior Court judge agreed to release the evidence in the case so the team can use new DNA technology to try to prove Rasmussen's innocence.

"We look at the entire case, and if there is any biological evidence that if tested … that DNA result could prove innocence," said Karen Goodrow, the director of the project, which is a division of the state public defender services. She refused to comment specifically on Rasmussen's case.

Rasmussen, 44, is serving the 19th year of his sentence at Gates Correctional Institution. His estimated release date, according to the Department of Correction, is May 2014.

The innocence project does not entirely rely on DNA testing; it also looks into cases in which evidence other than DNA could prove innocence. However, a $1.5 million grant awarded to the project, the state forensic laboratory and the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, is earmarked for murder, non-negligent homicide and forcible rape cases in which DNA can be tested or retested using the latest technology. The review of Rasmussen's case is being funded through the grant.

Goodrow said her office is working on about 100 cases in various stages and the recent grant could potentially help another 700 inmates. The state-funded project also works on other cases that are not solely based on DNA testing for which it has different requirements.

This review of Rasmussen's case is not the first.

Several years ago, Rasmussen persuaded the Boston-based New England Innocence Project, which focuses on DNA evidence, to examine his case. It is not clear what came of that review. Messages left at the New England Innocence Project were not returned.

Grisly scene

At 1:58 a.m. on May 5, 1988, Erik Rasmussen called 911 from his Montville home, crying, and said: "My wife is dead ... she's in the other room ... she's been stabbed."

Police found Loreli Rasmussen, 22, on the floor of a second-floor bedroom. She'd been strangled, her throat had been repeatedly slashed and she had been stabbed in the chest.

Rasmussen told police that he had been sleeping two rooms away with the couple's two dogs. He said he heard nothing except a "clunk" while his wife of 19 months was murdered.

Rasmussen claimed his wife was killed by an intruder who broke into their home at 2443 Route 32. Detectives and prosecutors, however, maintained that Rasmussen called police four hours after his wife was killed and staged a burglary.

Trial a spectacle

The evidence presented during Rasmussen's trial "stunk," jury foreman Gary D. Potter said in an interview with The Day after the verdict in the 10-week trial was announced.

During the trial the jury was ushered in and out of the courtroom numerous times as lawyers argued over what evidence could be presented.

Although it was mentioned in the arrest-warrant affidavit, the jury never heard evidence about a possible occult connection with the murder weapon - a spear fashioned from a mason's trowel and a wooden dowel. The jury also never heard about Satanism, the role-playing fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons, or books found in Rasmussen's home that contained a picture of a creature stabbing a naked woman in the neck and chest with a spear.

The jury did see and hear some controversial evidence. At one point during the trial, Rasmussen's lawyer played a videotaped re-enactment of the burglary Rasmussen claimed took place the night of his wife's murder. The video featured Rasmussen's brother carrying a five-foot pole, climbing into the house through a first-floor window and exiting by jumping out a second-floor window. The video, the defense said, showed that a burglary could have occurred as Rasmussen described it.

Rasmussen's mother and brother also testified that he was a heavy sleeper.

Prosecutors submitted evidence that included hair in Loreli Rasmussen's hand that was similar to her husband's, as well as blood and scratches on him that they alleged were defensive wounds inflicted by his wife.

Neighbors said they saw all the lights on in Rasmussen's home after 1 a.m. Police said he had tried to stage a burglary before calling police at about 2 a.m.

"The evidence stunk - what they allowed and what they didn't allow," Potter said in the interview. "There was a lot of doubt in our minds, but what we had to work with, we found out that the system worked.

"I honestly feel he was absolutely guilty. Was, is, always will be."

On Tuesday, Potter said he still believes Rasmussen is guilty, but he added that he also now believes that Rasmussen should have the opportunity to try to prove his innocence.

"I don't think he can be proved innocent," Potter said. "The evidence may prove he was not alone. I think it will prove that he is guilty. Honestly, I don't think we made the wrong decision."

Attempts to reach Loreli Rasmussen's family Tuesday were unsuccessful.

While the evidence may appear stacked against Rasmussen, Goodrow cited the case of James Tillman, who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Tillman won his freedom in 2006 with the help of the innocence project after DNA evidence proved he didn't commit the rape.

"Many people felt he was very guilty," Goodrow said, "and they learned he was not."