Kriti Mehrotra
It was long after Terry Rasmussen had died in prison in 2010 while serving a sentence for murder that he was linked to at least six additional homicides, leaving the entire nation baffled to the core. The truth is, as explored in ABC’s ’20/20: The Chameleon,’ the suspected serial killer was only identified thanks to extensive investigations by officials who refused to give up the search for the truth. Amongst them was none other than Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department’s Roxane Gruenheid, whose attention to detail, as well as gut feelings, blew several cold or old cases wide open.
Roxane Gruenheid Was a Force of Nature Throughout Her Career
Although Roxane Gruenheid has preferred to keep the details of her background well away from the limelight for privacy reasons, she reportedly developed an interest in public service at an early age. That’s why she chose to pursue her calling in law enforcement almost as soon as she had completed her formal studies, joining the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department around the early 1990s. From what we can tell, she was arguably everything a community wants in a police officer from her very first day on the force, especially owing to her dedication, meticulousness, and perseverance.
In fact, when Roxane was going through the training program and then working patrol during her initial few months, some of her superiors would point out that her reports were always “too detailed.” Little did anyone know at the time that this same skill would help her rise through the internal ranks relatively quickly, resulting in her being promoted to a Detective in the homicide division by 1999. According to records, she thrived here due to her innate passion for mystery to such an extent that she was solving not only active cases assigned to her but also cold ones nobody had looked at for years.
However, it was in 2002 when Roxane got her biggest case yet with Eunsoon Jun, who had been reported missing by a friend after not hearing from her for months, because she found her remains. The detective and her partner were searching the home this young woman shared with her beau, Larry Vanner, when they found her buried in 10 pounds of cat litter with a fatal blunt force trauma to the head. They subsequently uncovered that Larry had several aliases as well as a lengthy criminal history, only for him to shut down and ultimately plead no contest to murder when confronted with his past. That’s what intrigued Roxane, driving her to take a deeper look over the years, resulting in the discovery of his identity as Terry Rasmussen and his link to the Bear Brook murders in New Hampshire.
Related
Having Retired, Roxane Gruenheid Leads a Quiet Life in New York Today
Roxane never gave up on any case she encountered, as she believes in people, wanted to fight for them, and give them the justice they deserved, no matter how hard it was or how long it took. It thus comes as no surprise that she was not only well-respected in her community but also within the force, leading to her promotion to sergeant, lieutenant, and ultimately Captain of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department. In the end, though, as all good things must come to an end, so did her career after over 25 years of active service within the same bureau — the proud law enforcement official retired as Captain in 2018.
After nearly three decades in the police force in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, California, Roxane chose to start anew in Suffolk County in Long Island, New York, to be closer to her family. In other words, she packed up her entire life and relocated to the East Coast in 2018 itself, where she remains to this day alongside her beloved partner as well as several loved ones in the form of friends and family.
Since then, it appears as if Roxane has been leading a relatively private life where her priorities are simply experiencing new things and spending quality time with her support system. From what we can tell, she shares a particularly tight-knit bond with both her parents, Sonja and Paul, with whom she has even traveled to Florida as well as South Carolina in 2022. The fishing enthusiast is also a dog mom who currently seems to have two adorable furbabies at home. She lost her 17-year-old pup named Sadie in 2022, whom she had rescued in California and later shared with her mother, yet it has only made her love for dogs shine brighter.
