Vans continue to fuel mysteries (Peterson Case)

Modesto Bee ^ | 06/11/2003 | ADRIAN MENDOZA/THE BEE

[Arthalion]

Newman resident Vera Alizaga, 41, thinks the tip she provided led Scott Peterson's defense team to examine a van.

A Newman woman believes her tip about a suspicious van two weeks ago led Scott Peterson's defense attorneys to acquire the vehicle as a possible clue in the Laci Peterson murder case. The same day police received Vera Alizaga's tip, they examined a van and announced that there was no connection to the double-murder case. They won't say whether her tip led them to the van they towed to a crime lab.

[Arthalion]

Are these people Peterson defense plants or just publicity seekers? I can't help but wonder why, if "so many people" saw the same brown van, nobody bothered to mention it before now. Even if the police were ignoring the tips, you'd think that ONE of these witnesses would have grabbed one of the 10,000 reporters swarming the city and mentioned it.

[Catspaw]

There's a brown van parked right around the corner from my office. Should I call Mark Geragos (even though the van's in Green Bay, Wisconsin)?

[Pearls Before Swine]

Remember the robbers who did a job up the street and were cleared as suspects in the murder? What were they driving?

[SJSAMPLE]

Pretty soon old Scotty will be looking for a brightly colored van with a stoner and his dog. And he'll get away with it, if it isn't for some meddling kids.

[Steely Tom]

Vera Alizaga looks like a character in L.A Confidential.

(steely)

[Arthalion]

Remember the robbers who did a job up the street and were cleared as suspects in the murder? What were they driving?

They weren't. If I remember correctly, they were fence hopping. The Covena/La Loma area is a fairly nice upper-middle class neighborhood, but it sits within a mile of some of Modesto's "scuzzier" neighborhoods. Most thefts in the area occur when some of these meth-addled lowlifes go looking for drug money.

[Howlin]

FYI.

[IYAS9YAS]

What I don't get is that, given all the traffic everywhere these days, how are they certain that there really was a van? Especially on Christmas Eve and especially somewhere near where a crime took place. Do people really go around and think, "Oh, that's odd." when nothing has happened yet?

What made the van stand out before the crime? Nothing, just something to instill doubt.

[Shermy]

Vans continue to fuel mysteries

Same defense as Sniper Boy Malvo. Wonder if it will hold water...

[archy]

There's a brown van parked right around the corner from my office. Should I call Mark Geragos (even though the van's in Green Bay, Wisconsin)?

Absolutely. Collect.

-archy-/-

[archy]

What made the van stand out before the crime? Nothing, just something to instill doubt.

The two black guys with a sniper rifle inside.

[Ooops! Wrong van!]

-archy-/-

[Arthalion]

What made the van stand out before the crime? Nothing, just something to instill doubt.

Exactly. Modesto sits in the middle of a HUGE agricultural region, and vans are commonly used to ferry the farmworkers around town and to the fields. There are so many vans around here that it's almost a given that a van has driven down the street at some point or another. If you think about it hard enough, you can probably visualize seeing any car at some point, but humans aren't good at "timestamping" our memories (as an example: Try to remember the last time you saw an old Ford Grenada. Got it? Now tell me the DATE you saw it). With a little prodding, it's not too difficult to "remember" things that didn't really happen.

Oh, and the gas station they are referring to is the USA Gas on Miller Rd which gets a fairly large amount of traffic...the fact that a "van" stopped there for gas on Christmas Eve means nothing. I'll bet I could prove that there was a Volvo there too at some point, but that neither makes Volvo drivers suspects or Scott Peterson innocent ;-)

[Catspaw]

Absolutely. Collect.

Well, I should've asked if there was a reward. A big fat one. If there is, I'll call Geragos. Collect.

[Pearls Before Swine]

They weren't. If I remember correctly, they were fence hopping. ....... Most thefts in the area occur when some of these meth-addled lowlifes go looking for drug money.

Thanks for the info. As far as the second sentence goes, I thought I remembered these guys were professionals, and there was some significant (50K?) jewelry taken in the area. If I'm right on that, they're still low-lifes, but not the day-by-day drug theft kind.

[Arthalion]

Professionals? I'd say more like "repeat offenders". It's been a while, but seeing these guys on TV and in the paper, they did strike me as the lowlife meth-head types. They had been on a burglary spree and hit a number of houses, but they weren't any "higher class" than your typical crook...just a bit more persistent.

Professional burglars typically target a specific type of object (jewlry, art, etc), these guys were just grabbing whatever they could carry & fence.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Professionals? I'd say more like "repeat offenders". It's been a while, but seeing these guys on TV and in the paper, they did strike me as the lowlife meth-head types. eeing these guys on TV and in the paper, they did strike me as the lowlife meth-head types.

Interesting. You probably got a better look at them. I'm on the East Coast and only had a couple of TV glimpses of these guys; no papers.