Services for Peterson will be private

The Modesto Bee ^ | August 26, 2003 | John Cote'

[Velveeta]

More (unconfirmed) scoopage from misfitting.com"

>>>>>"MPD detectives have uncovered another woman in Fresno with whom SP was having a "romantic relationship." He frequented a bar/restaurant on a number of occasions with her, with the tab running over $100 in some cases. He stayed frequently in Fresno for "business" and it is now likely he had more than one squeeze there.

Investigators have interviewed the patrons and employees of this bar/restaurant. I guess he made no secret about going in there, everyone immediately recognized he was a customer there after the event.

Unconfirmed rumor: the other squeeze is married. Her name might begin with an "L."<<<<<<<

[I. Ben Hurt]

I wondered from the beginning if Scott might be involved in the "drug" business. Some assured me credit cards could explain his luxury lifestyle and there was no evidence Scott was living beyond his means. Right! It could explain some of Scott's unusual behaviour after Laci's disappearance but not prove Scott killed her. The plot thickens.

[Jackie-O]

Thanks for the info, Vel! Some interesting stuff.

[Sandylapper]

Thanks for all the news/rumors! My "bones" are feeling somewhat vindicated for being so paranoid and suspicious about this case.

[Velveeta]

People Magazine: Page 1

On Aug. 21 the remains of Laci Peterson and the son she wanted to name Conner finally made it back to their hometown of Modesto, Calif. With the coroners and forensic scientists having completed examining them, the bodies were quietly returned for the burial they and their loved ones had been denied for months. In a statement released a week earlier, Laci's kin asked for privacy so that family and friends could mourn. "Please treat her in death respectfully," read the statement, "so that we as her family will be allowed to lay her and Conner to rest in dignity and peace."
Dignity they will always have. But as Scott Peterson's Sept. 9 preliminary hearing approaches, it's hard to imagine that Laci and Conner will find much peace. At the hearing, the prosecution will for the first time begin to lay out its case against Scott Peterson. And with that — and the vociferous defense rebuttals involving satanic rituals and adulterous affairs that are sure to follow — one of the most bewildering and transfixing murder cases in years will truly begin.

In June, Stanislaus County superior court judge Al Girolami slapped everyone involved in the Peterson affair with a gag order; since then, only bits of evidence have leaked out. Now, however, PEOPLE, after an investigation based on interviews with multiple sources and access to confidential documents and photos, can offer a preview, with new details, of at least some of the controversial issues on which the trial may hinge. Among the most contentious: If Laci was only 7 1/2 months pregnant at the time of her disappearance, around Dec. 24, how is it that Conner's body was found with tape that may have been deliberately knotted around his neck? And what is to be made of the indications, however tentative, that somehow Conner could possibly have been born alive? If Laci was murdered on Dec. 23, why did several witnesses report seeing her alive on the morning of Dec. 24?

Ever since Scott Peterson's arrest on April 18, when state attorney general Bill Lockyer pronounced the case against Peterson a "slam dunk," the prosecution has seemed confident. Many outside legal experts believe Stanislaus County D.A. James Brazelton lacks a smoking gun to convict Peterson, 30, but feel he can build a powerful case based mainly on circumstantial evidence, most notably motive and opportunity. "I think what the prosecution has got are a lot of little bricks that they're going to use to build a big wall," says Stan Goldman, a professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, who has taught several principals on both sides of the case, including deputy D.A. Joseph "Rick" Distaso. Such walls can be quite formidable. "Circumstantial cases can be very difficult to defend," says one veteran L.A. prosecutor. "The more circumstances you have to point to guilt, the more ridiculous the defense story has to become."

[Velveeta]

People Magazine Page 2

Although PEOPLE has not reviewed all of the evidence that may be relevant to the case, among the documents and photographs that correspondents have seen, and interviews they have done, there are certainly bombshells to be found. The question is whether they will pulverize Peterson's defense — or offer attorney Mark Geragos a chance to sow enough reasonable doubt to blow a breach in the prosecution's wall of guilt.
THE CRIME SCENE
From the start, prosecutors and their supporters emphasized the fact that the bodies of Laci and Conner had turned up in the same waters, San Francisco Bay, where Scott said he had taken his boat on Dec. 24. As a deputy district attorney in L.A. county who is not involved in the case drily observes, "What a coincidence that of all the places in California or the western United States the body just happens to wash ashore in the place he was fishing." But the actual location of the remains may pose some sticking points for the prosecution as well. Although Laci's body, which was found on April 14, was on the rocks, Conner's body, which was discovered a day earlier, was found roughly 15 feet from the shoreline, near footprints and some tire marks, raising the possibility at least that someone or something had deposited him there separately. What's more, it seems clear that the defense intends to argue that investigators did not properly secure the crime scene around Conner's remains, because no casts of the tire marks or footprints were ever made. An official with the Richmond police says, however, "That was just a big huge watery area, and there was nothing to take footprints of. It looked like the body was just washed up by the tide."

Of potentially far greater significance, however, is the condition of the two sets of remains. The photos viewed by PEOPLE of Laci's and Conner's bodies are horrific, but disturbing in very different ways. As reported initially, Laci's body was little more than a torso. She was found with shreds of what appeared to be light-colored maternity pants — Scott said on the morning she disappeared she was wearing black pants — which had gray duct tape wrapped around the outside of the crotch area, tape that some experts believe could have been used to bind her. Given the condition of the body, no cause of death could be determined.

Then there is Conner — and a host of bizarre circumstances. In contrast to his mother's remains, Conner's were remarkably well-preserved. Except for a laceration across his right shoulder and chest, his outer skin was more or less intact, with no sign of the umbilical cord or a placenta. But that is not to say his body was undisturbed. There is adhesive tape wrapped 1 1/2 times around the baby's neck, with a knot two centimeters from the neck, then under the left arm and drawn across the chest to the right arm. One source speculates that the baby had been bagged and someone had wrapped the tape around the body. Next to the body investigators found what appeared to be the remnants of a plastic bag.

[Velveeta]

People Magazine "Justice for Laci" Page 3
AOL keyword: People

Nor is that all. According to a source, a detective said, "there is some evidence the child may have been born alive." If so, that could change the case dramatically. Suddenly the timing of the murders, which investigators have previously asserted took place sometime between Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, could be off by days or even weeks.
But just how plausible is that scenario? A source tells PEOPLE there is reason to believe that Conner's remains indicate a gestation period of 35 to 38 weeks, which would put him at about full term. The defense is reportedly trying to obtain a sonogram of Conner that Laci had on Dec. 23, during which the baby was estimated to be 31 weeks along, to compare with the body as it was found. But Jon Nordby, a director of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, who has his own company, Final Analysis Forensics, based in Tacoma, Wash., points out that sonograms don't offer a perfect measurement of a fetus's development. "I've seen them wrong by four weeks," says Nordby, who has himself worked with hundreds of sonograms during his career. "Theoretically they are more accurate toward the end of the pregnancy than the beginning, but it's going to be subject to interpretation." And rest assured, adds one outside prosecutor, "if the defense has an expert testify that the child lived for some period of time, I can guarantee that the prosecution will have one who says that's not credible based upon whatever theories their expert is using."

Leaving aside the question of timing, there is still the fact of the tape around his body, specifically the neck. PEOPLE approached several prominent forensic scientists who have no stake in the outcome of the case to ask what might be concluded from that circumstance and the differing state of decomposition between Laci's and Conner's remains. According to Dr. Gregory Schmunk, the chief medical examiner-coroner for California's Santa Clara County, the most straightforward explanation is that Laci's decomposing body caused Conner to be forced out. "As the decomposition occurs, the abdominal wall breaks down and eventually the baby is expelled right through the abdominal wall," says Schmunk. "That would explain why Conner is less decomposed than Laci, because Conner was in a protected uterine environment for quite some time prior to being expelled." From that point, he continues, "the baby could have easily been entangled in the tape that was surrounding Laci."

But Nordby questions whether it could happen accidentally — that, for example, the tape could have been floating in the water and become wrapped around Conner as the result of the movement of tides or waves. "I would doubt very much that would be something you could attribute to a natural process," he says. The defense is sure to stress the fact that there appears to be a knot in the tape and that it is at the baby's neck, as opposed to the knee or some other comparatively innocuous location. "I would be puzzled by the fact that the mother would be in such an advanced state of decay and the baby would be more well-preserved and have that tape," agrees Nordby. "I would start to suspect that the two didn't go in the water together."

This is an online excerpt of PEOPLE magazine's cover package.

— BILL HEWITT
— RON ARIAS, VICKIE BANE, LYNDON STAMBLER and JOHNNY DODD in California

[Velveeta]

>>>>>She was found with shreds of what appeared to be light-colored maternity pants — Scott said on the morning she disappeared she was wearing black pants — which had gray duct tape wrapped around the outside of the crotch area, tape that some experts believe could have been used to bind her<<<<<

Bingo! Laci wore light colored maternity pants the night *before*....this was stated by Amy during one of the interviews.

[Velveeta]

Sept 9 National Enquirer....courtesy Rickamorti at Purgatory

LACI'S AUTOPSY REPORT DESTROYS SCOTT'S DEFENSE

by Don Gentile and Michael Hanrahan

inset is a copy of the Autopsy Report

____________________________________________________________________

The Autopsy Report

Name: Peterson, Laci aka: Doe Jane Date 04/14/03 Time: 1830 Hrs

Finish Time: 2200 hrs.

Place of Death: Richmond, California

Age: Sex: Female Race: Caucasian

AUTOPSY DIAGNOSES

1.) Female body with:

A. Absence of each radius, each ulna and both hands

B. Absence of both feet and left tibia and fibula

C. Absence of head and cervical vertebrae 1-6

D. Absence of thoracoabdominal viscera

2.) Gravid uterus: fetus, placenta and the umbilical cord absent, with opening near fundus. Cervix intact and closed.

3.) Extensive changes of immersion, postmortem animal feeding, tidal effect and decomposition, estimated postmortem interval : months

4.) Multiple rib fractures (left 5 and 6, right 9)

CAUSE OF DEATH UNDETERMINED

COMMENTS: The absence of body parts in this case may simply be attributable to postmortem change, animal feeding, and tidal action , there is no evidence of tool marks on remaining bones of the extremites or on the thoracic vertebral column. Toxicology testing performed on skeletal muscle is positive only for caffeine and PEA (decomposition product.)

______________________________________________________________________

The Enquirer has uncovered bombshell new details from the autopsy report of Laci Peterson.

And the dramatic findings destroy claims by Scott's legal team that Laci was killed and dismembered by killers who cut her unborn child from her body, according to a top expert who analyzed the new information. Scott has been charged with the murders of Laci and her unborn son Conner.

"All this satanic cult business that Peterson's lawyer Mark Geragos is throwing around shows that he is full of hot gases," forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz told the NE.

The new details about Laci are contained in a report labeled "Autopsy Diagnoses," a summary of the condition of her body after it was found.

The report which was obtained by the NE was prepared by Contra Costa County pathologist Brian Peterson. He conducted the autopsy on Laci and it states, "There is no evidence of tool marks" on the skeletal remains.

"That's significant," said Dr. Spitz. "It means a device like a saw or hatchet was not used to cut up the body as Scott's lawyers are saying." According to the report, Laci's body was absent "each radius, each ulna and both hands." Said Dr. Spitz: "It means she had no arms right up to the elbow."

"The elbows are the weakest joints. With no evidence of tool marks, the arms probably detached at the elbows from the natural movement of water over the body for many months."

The report states that Laci's head was gone as well as cervical (neck) vertebrae (numbers) 1-6.

Dr. Spitz said this is another indication Laci was not beheaded. "The sixth vertebra is down on the neck between the shoulder blades, not a spot where it's easy to cut someone's head off."

Laci's body was also missing the right foot and the left leg below the knee, as well as all the major organs of the chest and abdominal cavity- and the lungs, heart, bowels, liver and spleen, according to the report.

Laci still had her uterus but there was an opening near the top part of it. Her cervix was "intact and closed." This means the unborn child did not emerge from the birth canal but from that opening near the top of the uterus," said Dr. Spitz.

Decomposition of Laci's body was the most likely cause of the opening, not a knife as some news reports have claimed. "The uterus is the last part of a woman's body to decompose, so it would protect the unborn child until the last," said Spitz. "That's why the infant's remains were in better condition than his mother."

Laci also had fractures to the 5th and 6th ribs on the left side of her body and the 9th rib on her right side. "If you draw a straight line from the fractured ribs on the left to the fractured rib on the right, you get a steep angle downward," said Dr. Spitz. "I've seen wounds like this. They are caused by boat propeller blades- not satanic cults!"

[runningbear]

wow, stuff comes out now.... just in time for the prelim?

RG, does this hold to the DC you got?

[Canadian Outrage]

Any wonder Vel why Geragos is SO EXTREMELY DESPERATE to keep the Prelim closed??? No wonder in my mind. Firstly, on September 2nd only a few days away, he MUST make a showing of proof of evidence of another theory. He CANNOT do it. Then of course, on September 9th, his case will be DEVESTATED!!

[MaggieMay]

Correct Velveeta. The interview was with Nacy Grace on Feb.13,2003.

Grace:Amy,do you recall what she had on that night?.......

Amy Rocha:I do remember what she had on. I don't know if they've-I haven't heard-I don't know if the police have found clothing. She was wearing,like,a black-colored top with cream either flowers or polka dots on it. It was a maternity shirt. And like,CREAM-COLORED PANTS,a black coat,cream scaft.

[Canadian Outrage]

Good find Maggie!

[Devil_Anse]

Well, WHAT do you know! We never heard about the corpse having traces of PANTS before--to my recollection, all we ever heard about was the bra. And the pants are NOT black as Scott said she was wearing when supposedly last seen.

Thanks, both of you, for putting all this together for us. And thanks for all the new info, Vel!!

[Sandylapper]

Hey, Vel! Thanks for all this info. It's overwhelming! I've got to sift through it all carefully. Is the Sept. 9 Enquirer debunking their own earlier report of the drug connection?

[Jackie-O]

Bingo is right on, Vel!! And the duct tape on the crotch???? Somebody did not want that baby to be born! Maybe the person that told Amber that he did not want any children???

[Jackie-O]

Hi darlin'! How ya be??

[Jackie-O]

This is just an awesome time for all of this stuff to come out...I pray it's all accurate. Geragross has been spinning so much crap for the last several weeks, if this stuff is true, it tells me that he will probably be filing some motions to delay the prelim. God I hope not...Now I'm realllyyyy looking foreward to the pre-lim...cameras or not!!

[Sandylapper]

I just don't understand the wealth of info coming out at this particular time. I thought everything was still sealed. I know the autopsy was released, but not to the public. Now, we're hearing words like "cops said", investigators said". I thought they were gagged!

Vel, what was the date of the NE article about the drug connection? Was it also Sept. 9?