Local News in Brief : $10,000 Reward Offered for Killers of Nurse

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers of a prominent hospital nurse shot to death in her Van Nuys condominium earlier this year, police said.

The parents of Sherri Rae Rasmussen, 29, director of critical care nursing at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, are offering the reward to help police, who have been unable to locate the two men they believe killed Rasmussen during a daylight burglary Feb. 24.

Police Detective Lyle O. Mayer said investigators believe the intruders may have been the same men who came precariously close to killing another woman in a botched burglary two months later and three blocks from Rasmussen’s home.

The victim of the second break-in walked into her apartment and confronted two men stacking stereo equipment by the front door, Mayer said. The woman ran off when one of the men pointed a gun at her, he said, and the intruders left without taking anything.

The men were described as Latino, between 5 feet, 4 inches and 5 feet, 6 inches tall, with dark skin and hair, Mayer said. They were seen leaving the second burglary in a royal blue 1975 or 1979 Ford station wagon.

Mayer said persons with information should contact homicide detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division. He said the identity of informants will remain confidential.