FILE - In this July 29, 2009 file photo, former Los Angeles police officer Stephanie Lazarus appears in court in Los Angeles. Lazarus is accused of killing an ex-boyfriend's wife 23 years ago when she was a young officer. Opening statements in Lazarus' trial begin Monday, Feb. 6, 2012.
Nick Ut, File, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The murder trial of Stephanie Lazarus opens in Los Angeles Superior Court a quarter century after the killing of her alleged romantic rival.
The defendant is a veteran police detective who says she did not kill Stephanie Rasmussen, the woman who married her ex-boyfriend. Investigators linked her to the case through DNA analysis of saliva from a bite mark on Rasmussen's arm.
The case has all the elements of a TV crime drama — two pretty women, a bloody murder scene and a love triangle. The murder mystery has already inspired multiple TV reality shows. It is a classic cold case with detectives reopening it and tagging one of their own as a suspect.
DNA is expected to be the key and Lazarus' lawyer will say the evidence was contaminated.
Syria dead executed
Most of the 108 victims of a chilling massacre in Syria last week were shot at close range, including children.
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