Why the Peterson story resonates: We can relate
By PATRICK GIBLIN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Modesto's Laci Peterson has been missing for a month. Through the holidays and now into late January, the case has saddened and captivated Modesto and the nation, perhaps more so because this seemingly happy woman, 27 and expecting her first child, disappeared on Christmas Eve, when the world turns its attention to another birth.
The police search spiraled out from East La Loma Park, where it was believed that Peterson had gone to walk her golden retriever on the morning of Dec. 24.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers searched from the foothills to the Berkeley Marina and from Sacra- mento to Merced. Thousands of people worked out of a volunteer search center for weeks.
More than 3,000 tips have come in. Psychics and other observers far and wide are offering theories. The media is covering every angle, putting a lot of attention on Peterson's husband, Scott, 30, who was the last person to report seeing his wife.
But while the mystery is being debated in public, it is being investigated in private.
Thursday, Police Chief Roy Wasden said leads are being followed, but he would not discuss details. Nor would police spokesman Doug Ridenour.
"We are not doing any interviews about the Peterson case," the detective said. "We are trying to get to the next phase of this investigation."
He would not say what that phase is.
Outside law enforcement officials know what the Modesto Police Department is going through.
"When you have a high-profile case, it's a double-edged sword," said Sgt. Joe Gentile, spokesman for the Police Department in Washington, D.C.
He handled most of the media relations during the search for Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old Modestan who disappeared in the spring of 2001 after completing an internship with the federal Bureau of Prisons.
"You want to get information out on any case, but when it becomes so high profile, you get a lot of calls that have no relevance," he said. "You can't discard any calls because the caller could have some relevant information to the case and not know it."
Going through the tips
In the Levy case, two investigators were assigned to go through the hundreds of tips received
every day from around the country, Gentile said.
Similarly, Ridenour said, Modesto investigators are going through all the tips in the Peterson case, including the hundreds from people claiming to have psychic abilities.
Police are staying as mum about the tips as they are about the investigation.
"There's so much outside
media attention and inspection that it makes their jobs that much more difficult," said Jeanette Sereno, an attorney and an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at California State University, Stanislaus.
Reporters will dig and try to
report information that could lead the public to believe that someone is innocent or guilty of a crime. If bad information gets out, it can be used as ammunition against the prosecution.
"Any misstep can foul up the investigation and jeopardize prosecution," Sereno said. "It seems they have been prudent and are doing the right thing in keeping information from reporters."
She said the media want police to provide answers so they can tell a story.
"But the police department doesn't find answers; they find evidence," she said. "It's the district attorney's office that provides the answers, and they do that in a court of law."
She said there are no instant answers such as the ones seen on the CBS television shows "CSI" and "CSI: Miami," programs that fictionalize the work of forensic investigators.
In real life, evidence can take weeks, sometimes months to process.
"It's amazing to see them enter fingerprints on these television shows, and they get instant matches on their computer screens," Sereno said. "But across the nation, there are different standards for fingerprints, from the number of points used for a match to how they are stored."
In other words, the public needs to be patient.
Statistics on missing people
State Department of Justice statistics from 2001 show that more than half of the adults reported missing in California returned on their own.
The state tallied 32,742 missing person reports that year, and accounted for the majority as follows: 19,004 (58 percent) came back and law enforcement located 8,768 (27 percent).
Officials said 1,376 people (4 percent) had left voluntarily, and 283 were found dead (less than 1 percent).
Chief Wasden has said that as time passes, usually between 72 and 96 hours into a search, "you switch from looking for an injured, live person. For much of our search, when we're looking in places underwater, we're looking for a body."