Police say foul play likely (Laci Peterson)

Modesto Bee ^ | January 1, 2003 Posted: 06:02:00 AM PST | By PATRICK GIBLIN

[IamHD]

I'm not familiar with the area, at all, but remember, this was Christmas Eve. Would that still hold true? I don't fish. Is it common to go fishing the day before Christmas, especially, when your wife is 8 and 1/2 months pregnant.

I still smell something fishy, and it isn't fish.

[BossLady]

"her disappearance is the result of foul play."

Careful: Genius at work! /sarcasm off

[CARepubGal]

Hmmm! Is Condit in the area? Or is this a Domestic Violence case gone very bad? Either way, prayers for the family.

[Eva]

I was just giving my husband an update on the story and he thinks that the husband probably has a girlfriend that he visited at the marina. Maybe Laci wasn't even alive at 9:30 when the husband left. Maybe he dumped her and then went fishing.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the update.

Police spokesman Doug Ridenour said: "We are hopeful that we will find her alive. But seven days after the fact, we are not as optimistic."

He echoes my feelings as well....

Laci Rocha Peterson:

[steveo]

First off, 9:30 in the morning is not when you leave to go fishing. 0930 is when you give up and go home. Lets say he did leave when he said he did, with driving time to Berkeley he would be lucky to hit the water by noon.. I took a look at the tides for Berkeley for that day:

H 0430
L 0853
H 1420

That would place him on the water during a flood tide. Not the time I would go fishing especially because of the drive time and the other fishing opportunities he had between his house and the bay. The only thing he could possibly be fishing for is sturgeon or stripers, but they would he heading up the rivers due to the recent heavy rainfall.

[IamHD]

Very good. I hope that LE is checking all of this out. (I'm sure that they are.) This wouldn't be the first time that a husband killed his pregnant wife. If he did, maybe they had an argument, and it was an accident. I sure hope that they find this lovely young lady alive, but I doubt it. :(

Off hand, do you know if this was a *planned* fishing trip, or just a spur of the moment thing? Just odd, Christmas eve and all.

[alexandria]

Up to now they've said he is not a suspect.

THAT is a fact!
That very statement, along with THIS one...

it is becoming more apparent that her disappearance is the result of foul play.

Up until today they hadn't "RULED OUT" foul play.
To me, especially since I KNOW how the police operate in this area, this says that the cops are looking at Mr. Wonderful with increased suspicion.
If anyone happens to find out WHICH attorney he retained please Freepmail me. If this guy is a "heavy" in town we'll know something up.

[pbear8]

I'm not familiar with the area, at all, but remember, this was Christmas Eve. Would that still hold true?

Yes I think so. There are just no really hidden areas I can think of. All very public, all very open. Lots of pagans not at home getting ready for Christmas.

Again, unless well-weighed a body would be up onshore very quickly, esp. as the wind has been so fierce lately. It blows right into the marina and even washes water onto the frontage road.

I agree that something is seriously wrong here and the husband is acting very strange. I don't think he brought her to Berkeley, there'd be too much evidence in the car. I think he rented the boat too, didn't he? 12-14 foot boat, very small for him and a body.

[Vic3O3]

Is it common to go fishing the day before Christmas, especially, when your wife is 8 and 1/2 months pregnant.

Oh, I don't know...sorta depends on how much of a fishing junkie he is. I personally went deer hunting last December at 38wks pregnant, and also let my husband go out for the dawn hunts in 1st season then. He was an hour away, but had a cellphone.

Personally, I'd be curious to know if the bloodhounds hit on the boat at all...

[wimpycat]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/814792/posts?page=70#70

The link above lists some questions that I'm sure the police are working on answering.

You're right about one thing, it wouldn't be the first time a husband killed his pregnant wife when everyone thought they had a good relationship.

[MilspecRob]

I canceled a company mandated training course for myself because it was 2 hours from home when my sister (she was living with me at the time) was 8 months along. I really can’t imagine leaving her alone on Christmas Eve?

(now a shameless plug for my nephew see) http://www.tracyclark.com/david

[Humidston]

How about if he was merely carrying a large cooler to his boat?

....That's happened before. Several times, actually.

[Scupoli]

If the timestamp on the Marina receipt is consistent with his story, perhaps he dumped her body somewhere on the way to the Marina. I know they've checked the 132 area west of Modesto. I wonder how many other places on the way to Berkeley he could have gotten rid of a body (the I 5, the Altamont Pass area).

Then again, if it happened anytime from the day before on, he could have driven anywhere to get rid of her and simply gone to Berkeley the next day to create his alibi.

[Scupoli]

Cute little guy. I like the duckmobile pics.

[Humidston]

PRECIOUS!

[snippy_about_it]

I put together everything regarding the husband that has been printed in the last week. I left out the reports of all the area searches and interviews with non-family members.

Missing since Christmas Eve.
Her husband said he last saw her at 9:30 a.m. when he departed their La Loma neighborhood home en route to San Francisco Bay to go fishing.

Scott Peterson, told police he last saw her at 9:30 a.m. as she prepared to walk the family's golden retriever in East La Loma Park.

Last saw his wife at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when he left with his aluminum fishing boat for a trip out of Berkeley.

He said he was leaving on a fishing day trip to the Berkeley Marina.

Peterson told police that he left his home at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and took his aluminum boat to a marina in Berkeley, where he set out on a fishing trip on San Francisco Bay.

Police launched their search soon after Peterson reported her missing at about 6 p.m. Christmas Eve.

Peterson told detectives that he tried to call his wife after he was done fishing, but was unable to reach her. He reported her missing shortly before 6 p.m. after returning home, authorities said.

Modesto and Berkeley police went to a marina on San Francisco Bay to investigate Peterson's claim that he was fishing at the time his wife disappeared

Investigators reported coming up empty Friday when they went to the marina. Officers said they found no one who could report seeing Peterson on Tuesday, nor did officers find any other clues.

Scott Peterson gave investigators a receipt last week from the Berkeley Marina where he said he went fishing.

Police confirmed the validity of a time-stamped parking receipt, presented by Peterson, from a vending machine at Berkeley Marina, which is where he said he launched his aluminum boat in the hours after he last saw his wife.

Lee Peterson said that his son had provided detectives with a launch receipt that verified his trip. Later, Peterson also said his son had turned over a receipt from a Bay Area gas station.

Officers made a return visit Saturday, but it was not known what they might have found.

Police said they were still investigating receipts that Peterson turned over from his trip, one for launching his boat and one for gasoline in the Bay Area.

Police were still investigating a burglary at a home across from the Peterson home that happened about the same time she disappeared.

Investigators say they believe the burglary occurred between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday, the day Peterson disappeared.

Neighbors told about their home being burglarized across the street from the Peterson home some time around Christmas.

Susan Medina said she and her husband, Rudy, were gone from Christmas Eve until about 5 p.m. Thursday, and discovered then that someone had broken in and stolen a safe holding $50,000 worth of jewelry. Police have been going in and out of the house the past two days.

The timing does not seem to fit, detectives said. The burglary occurred some time between 10:30 a.m. Dec 24 and 4 p.m. Dec. 26.

They believe she disappeared between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Witnesses reported that they saw three suspicious-looking people in front of the home at about 11:40 a.m. Dec. 24, Detective George Stough said. That sighting was more than an hour after a neighbor found Peterson's dog -- with leash attached -- wandering in the neighborhood.

Police described the possible burglars as short, dark-skinned men. They were seen in an older, full-size van, either tan or light brown, with one or two doors in the rear.

Laci Peterson left her home in a car, not by foot, the handler of a bloodhound used in the search
said. They thought the dog would follow a dirt trail toward the park, instead the dog stayed on neighborhood streets, made its way to Yosemite Boulevard and headed west.

Also, police and FBI crime-scene analysts spent a second day working inside the La Loma neighborhood home that belongs to the missing woman. Evidence collected so far includes two computers and two vehicles from the Peterson home, and a boat from the Modesto warehouse that Scott Peterson uses in his work as an agricultural salesman.

Investigators expanded their hunt for clues Friday to a warehouse used by the Modesto man whose pregnant wife has been missing since Christmas Eve.

The warehouse, which Peterson uses in his work as an agricultural salesman, is on North Emerald Avenue near Kansas Avenue in Modesto. Police sealed the warehouse as well as the Peterson home.

Police said they doubt now whether Peterson went to East La Loma Park on Tuesday, despite witnesses who said they believed that they saw her there with her golden retriever.

Officers located people who said they saw her in the park about 10 a.m. Karen Servas, a neighbor, said she spotted the Petersons' golden retriever about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, his leash attached and muddy. Servas said she returned the dog to its yard, not realizing there might be something amiss.

A neighbor found the dog, with leash attached, wandering in the neighborhood and put it in the Petersons' yard, not knowing that anything might be amiss. Family members said the dog did not behave in an unusual manner.

Her husband, Scott, was away on a fishing trip in the San Francisco Bay area, but called police when he returned home and found his wife missing. She is eight months pregnant.

Police have searched the couple's home and vehicles and a warehouse used by Scott Peterson's fertilizer business.

Investigators also announced that on Friday night, they served a search warrant at the warehouse used by Scott Peterson's business and seized his fishing boat.

Peterson was reported missing shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday, after her husband returned home from a fishing trip to the Bay Area, police said.

Before leaving Tuesday morning, Scott Peterson said his wife indicated that she planned to go grocery shopping and walk the dog, according to police.

Police said Scott Peterson tried calling his wife on his cell phone when he finished fishing but was not able to reach her. When he arrived home, he said he found her purse in the house and her sport-utility vehicle in the driveway.

He started contacting neighbors and family members, and then called police, officials said.

Scott Peterson and others began searching the park. The Petersons' home is only about a block and a half from a footpath leading into the park.

The Petersons have lived in the neighborhood about two years, and friends described the missing woman as cheerful and friendly.

The search involved friends like Jeff Tomlinson of Hughson. He and his wife plan to hold a baby shower for the Petersons in a couple of weeks. Tomlinson said the Petersons are expecting a boy and already have the baby's room ready.

"She's a fun-loving girl," said Tomlinson. "She's always smiling and joking with you."

[eastforker]

Not familiar with fishing on the west coast,but on the gulf coast fishing a high tide as it starts to fall is one of the best times to fish.With the outgoing tide,it also carries baitfish and shrimp that redfish and specs adore ambushing.

[IamHD]

Awww, how adorable. :)

[IamHD]

I believe you. Okay, it is possible that she was gotten rid of beforehand, and his fishing expedition, although true, is a cover-up. I'm such a skeptic. :) Things like this now days happen so frequently, I'm just not buying the husband's story. I'll apologize if they find that he didn't do something to his wife.