SCOTT IN SICK LACI LIE TO LOVER

NY Post.com ^ | Nov 7, 2003 | HOWARD BREUER

[runningbear]

SCOTT IN SICK LACI LIE TO LOVER

SCOTT PETERSON Prophetic death fib.

SCOTT IN SICK LACI LIE TO LOVER

By HOWARD BREUER
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November 7, 2003 -- MODESTO, Calif. - Scott Peterson lied to mistress Amber Frey, telling her his wife was dead - a prophetic fib told on the very same day he purchased a boat possibly used in Laci Peterson's murder, a cop testified yesterday.

Detective Al Brocchini also suggested that the fertilizer salesman knew his pregnant wife was dead a day after she was reported missing. Brocchini said Peterson asked him on Christmas Day 2002 whether cops had used cadaver dogs to find her.

Brocchini's testimony came on the seventh day of a preliminary hearing to determine if there's enough evidence to try Scott Peterson, 31, for the murder of wife Laci and their unborn son, Connor.

Peterson told Frey on Dec. 9 that "he had lost his wife and this would be his first holiday without his wife," said Brocchini.

Laci disappeared on Christmas Eve, while Scott Peterson claims he was on a solo fishing trip in San Francisco Bay. Remains of the missing woman and her unborn son washed ashore near San Francisco in April, and cops arrested Scott Peterson days later.

Brocchini said Peterson made himself a suspect almost immediately by acting suspiciously.

Police found a loaded handgun in Peterson's car as they combed through the couple's house on Christmas Eve, when Laci was first reported missing.

The detective offered no suggestion that the gun - with no round in the chamber and a magazine loaded with live ammo - had recently been used by Peterson.

But Brocchini recalled how a nervous Scott Peterson called him at 2 a.m. Christmas morning, demanding the gun back.

"He said he wished I'd told him I kept the gun for evidence," Brocchini testified. "I responded it was illegal to have a loaded gun in his glove box and I was going to put it into evidence."

Peterson then asked "if they had used cadaver dogs to search for Laci," the investigator recalled.

"I said, 'No, I hadn't considered her dead yet.' I was kind of surprised he asked that."

Cadaver dogs later tracked Laci's scent from Modesto to the bay, according to court documents.

The preliminary hearing, before Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami, is scheduled to resume on Wednesday. .............

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Front page image

Detective: Peterson said Laci was dead

Posted on Fri, Nov. 07, 2003

Detective: Peterson said Laci was dead

By Brian Anderson
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

MODESTO - Two weeks before his wife disappeared, Scott Peterson told his mistress he was a widower about to spend his first Christmas alone, an investigator testified Thursday.

That was Dec. 9, the same day Peterson purchased the boat he told police he used while fishing San Francisco Bay the day his wife disappeared, said Detective Al Brocchini.

Taking the witness stand on day six of Peterson's preliminary hearing, the Modesto officer said he interviewed Amber Frey after she called a tip line Dec. 30, telling him she had been romantically involved with Scott Peterson.

Frey told him Peterson had told her he was single -- a lie, she later learned. She said she confronted him Dec. 9, and he told her his wife was dead, the detective said.

A Stanislaus County judge is hearing evidence to determine whether there is enough proof to continue holding Peterson on two murder counts.

Peterson has denied killing his pregnant wife.

Laci Peterson vanished Dec. 24 and later turned up dead on the shores of San Francisco Bay not far from where Peterson said he was fishing.

Peterson was arrested April 18 in San Diego, driving a 1984 Mercedes Benz that Brocchini said Peterson told him he bought with $3,600 in cash days earlier while using his mother's name.

With dyed hair and sporting a goatee, Peterson told the seller that his parents named him Jacquelyn Peterson in a "Boy Named Sue" thing, referring to the Johnny Cash song about a boy given a girl's name, Brocchini said.

Offering up detailed description of the early search for the pregnant Modesto woman, Brocchini told a packed courtroom that Scott Peterson's behavior was, in some instances, surprising.

Peterson said in early questioning that on Christmas Eve he had gone fishing in his new boat. He had planned to golf, but the chilly December temperatures changed his mind, Brocchini said he was told.

Peterson returned home about 4:30 p.m. His wife was nowhere to be found.

Brocchini arrived about 9:30 p.m. at the Peterson house after police were called. He searched the house and then Peterson's truck, he said, finding a .22-caliber handgun in the glove compartment.

Brocchini stuffed the gun in his pocket and later booked it as evidence.

Brocchini asked Peterson to submit to a gunshot residue test, to which he agreed. Peterson said he had last fired a gun a month earlier while hunting, but questioned whether exhaust from the boat's motor would show up on the test, the detective testified, adding that it would not.

The results of the test were not announced in court.

Officials have not said whether Laci Peterson died from a gunshot wound, but have indicated in court papers that she was killed inside her house.........

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Laci Peterson's husband talked about life as a widower, detective says

Laci Peterson's husband talked about life as a widower, detective says

Bill Melley, Associated Press

Published November 7, 2003 LACI08

MODESTO, Calif. -- The same day he bought a fishing boat that would provide his alibi when his pregnant wife vanished two weeks later, Scott Peterson told his mistress he was a widower planning his first Christmas alone, a police officer testified.

Detective Allen Brocchini, who launched the Christmas Eve investigation into Laci Peterson's disappearance, said Scott Peterson bought the boat Dec. 9 - the same day Fresno massage therapist Amber Frey later told the officer that she confronted Peterson about being married.

While Brocchini did not link the two events that happened that day, he provided the pieces of the puzzle prosecutors are assembling to show Peterson was plotting the demise of his wife weeks before he returned from his Dec. 24 fishing excursion and reported her gone.

Brocchini's testimony Thursday in the preliminary hearing revealed the details he gathered from the day Peterson claimed he was motoring his 14-foot skiff on San Francisco Bay to his arrest nearly four months later in San Diego.

Peterson was arrested driving a Mercedes convertible be bought for $3,600 cash, using his mother's name, ``Jacqueline Peterson.''

When asked about the peculiar name, he told the seller it was the name his parents gave him, Brocchini said.

In the first hours of the investigation, Peterson denied he was having an affair, Brocchini said. Peterson never told him about Frey.

On Dec. 30, Frey placed one of the hundreds of calls Modesto police received each day. Brocchini was watching a clerk type notes from the caller and decided to pick up the phone and handle the call himself.

The detective then drove 90 miles to Fresno to interview Frey, a single mother.

Frey said she met Peterson on Nov. 20 and he said he was single. But she later became suspicious and confronted him about three weeks later because she thought he was married.

``He said he lost his wife, this would be the first holiday he was without his wife,'' Frey told Brocchini.

Peterson called Frey on Christmas and the following three days, Brocchini said. At some point, he told her he was out of the country and would be able to spend more time with her after Jan. 25.

Frey began taping their phone conversations for police, and investigators tapped Peterson's phones for evidence.

Frey may testify later in the hearing that will determine whether the 31-year-old former fertilizer salesman is tried on charges of murdering his 27-year-old wife and unborn son. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The hearing will resume Wednesday.............

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Detective testifies to finding gun in Scott Peterson's truck

BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press Writer Thursday, November 6, 2003

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(11-06) 11:45 PST MODESTO, Calif. (AP) --

A Modesto Police detective who spent last Christmas Eve launching an investigation into Laci Peterson's disappearance testified Thursday that officers found a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun in Scott Peterson's pickup truck.

It was the first hint that Peterson, accused of killing his pregnant wife and unborn son, owned a weapon. But Modesto police detective Al Brocchini made no connection between the weapon and the death of pregnant substitute teacher Laci Peterson. Brocchini testified for 90 minutes Thursday on the sixth day of a hearing to determine if Peterson will stand trial for murder.

Brocchini, under questioning from Stanislaus County prosecutor Rick Distaso, also explained that as the Christmas Eve investigation began, Peterson denied having an extramarital affair and worried about his boss learning that he stored his boat in a company warehouse.

Before Brocchini's testimony, Peterson defense lawyer Mark Geragos told Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami that he recently discovered that the FBI conducted closed-circuit television surveillance of Peterson's home after his wife disappeared.

Geragos said he will subpoena the FBI for copies of the tape and seek a motion to dismiss charges against Peterson.

The 31-year-old former fertilizer salesman faces two counts of murder for the death of his wife and unborn son. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Brocchini said he arrived at the Peterson house on Covena Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 24, about four hours after Laci Peterson's stepfather Ron Grantski reported her missing to police.

The detective described Scott Peterson as cooperative, saying the fertilizer salesman never told him to leave or get out of his house.

Brocchini also recounted writing down all the phone numbers in Peterson's cellular phone log and taking pictures of Peterson's boat stored at a warehouse. He said the boat contained two fishing poles, a lifejacket, a homemade boat anchor consisting of cement poured into a bucket and yellow-handled pliers.

Much of the Peterson's preliminary hearing has focused on a single piece of human hair wrapped in the pliers, which prosecutors maintain was a hair from Laci Peterson.

Brocchini also described Peterson's remarks about a bucket and mop that have dominated testimony in recent days. He said Peterson told officers that his wife asked him to bring the mop bucket into the house before he left on a fishing trip to Berkeley Marina on the morning of Christmas Eve. He said Peterson said his wife was mopping floors when.........

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Peterson allegedly said wife died

Peterson allegedly said wife died

Detective says husband made claim before woman was killed

MODESTO, Calif., Nov. 6 — Two weeks before his wife was murdered, Scott Peterson told his mistress that his wife was already dead and that he was about to spend his first Christmas without her, the lead detective in the case testified Thursday.

Scott Peterson, asked whether police ‘had used cadaver dogs to search for Laci. I said, “No, I hadn’t considered her dead yet.” I was kind of surprised he asked that.’

— AL BROCCHINI Modesto police detective PETERSON TOLD the woman, Amber Frey, that “he had lost his wife and this would be his first holiday without his wife,” Modesto police Detective Al Brocchini said during the seventh day of a preliminary hearing on charges that Peterson murdered his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son.

The detective said he later learned that Scott Peterson called Frey daily starting Christmas Day, the day after Laci Peterson disappeared.

Frey “heard from him on the 25th, the 26th, the 27th and the 28th, and he said he was out of the country and would be able to be with her more around January 25,” Brocchini said.

Frey, who is expected to testify next week, taped many of the conversations, Brocchini said. It was a day of revealing testimony in a hearing dragged out by delays and painstakingly detailed DNA testimony. Brocchini also testified that when he searched Peterson’s pickup truck for clues late Christmas Eve, he founded a loaded gun in the glove compartment.

The detective offered no suggestion that the gun, a Llama .22 caliber semiautomatic handgun with no round in the chamber and a magazine loaded with live ammunition, had recently been used.

But Brocchini said Peterson called him on his cell phone at 2 a.m. Christmas Day wanting the gun back. “He said he wished I’d told him I kept the gun for evidence,” Brocchini said. “I responded it was illegal to have a loaded gun in his glove box and I was going to put it into evidence.”

Scott Peterson, 31, then asked Brocchini “if they had used cadaver dogs to search for Laci,” Brocchini added. “I said, ‘No, I hadn’t considered her dead yet.’ I was kind of surprised he asked that.”

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[cyncooper]

I hear you about good salesmen.

I'm just intrigued that a man would represent himself under his mother's name.

Seems very psychologically interesting....

I'll bet your bartending former roommate had some stories to tell!

[cyncooper]

From the his vain quirks to his fashion sense to his rapt viewing of Martha Stewart, Scotty seems like a woman trapped in a man's body. does this lead to an inner conflict with his mother and mother serrogates (Laci)? matricide would be unthinkable but...

To buying a car under his mother's name---and saying that name is his name.

[cyncooper]

Well, howdy, stranger.

[at bay]

The wallet. I wish I had the Diane Sawyer tape of her asking that question, but now I can recall it well. He is taken aback, just for a moment, then looks down for a second as if it takes some recall to come up with an answer. In reality, he had to think fast because obviously he had gotten her nothing.

Most likely the wallet was last year's gift. So why doesn't the prosecution just play the D.S. tape during trial and then immediately bring the witness/detective that can testify that they saw that wallet already in her possession! If the Bruno Magli shoes ultimately at least sunk OJ in the civil trial, could the wallet lie sink Snotty?

[blondee123]

YES. He made 5 anchors, two were found the other three could not be accounted for.

Here's what still bugs me about the anchors!!! Here is a man who has no qualms about spending money, a $25000.00 membership at a country club and he makes his own anchors?????? That is really puzzling! Anchors are not that expensive to buy!! Anyone else find this odd??

[maggief]

Here's a link to part II of the interview, (bottom of page).

http://www.kxtv.com/storyfull.asp?id=3526

[RGSpincich]

Cops found out from his computer he learned to make cement anchors. Scott made 5 cement anchors but could only account for 2 of them.

Quite the handyman ...Computers are supposed to speed things up. These days before a guy can put a hook and a load of cement in a bucket, he's gotta check his computer to see if he's doing it right. Brother.

Anyway, a couple of things have come to light during the police testimony. SP did not refuse to let police in the house and was cooperating, at least on the 24th. They searched the house and took items on the first night. When the search warrant applications are released we'll see what led police to believe that evidence of a crime could still be in the house. We know now that they collected many items on the 24th that could justify their application.

And the "walking" timeline took a another hit this week. All the "sightings" of Laci occur between 10 and 11am. SP told police that Laci was mopping the floor at 9:30 and when she finished doing that she would be going shopping for items for dinner that evening. He told police that Laci planned to walk the dog after shopping. We know how shopping wipes her out from the maid's testimony. One would not expect to see Laci walking the dog until, 1) the weather warmed up, 2) she made her trip to the grocery store, and 3) she sufficently recuperated from her trip to the store. She would not have gone walking until at least noon, given the testimony thusfar. Police never said she planned on walking at 10 or so, just that she was last seen at 9:30 and that she planned to walk the dog that day.

[DreamWeaver]

That's not right, the cops didn't try the switch. I sure wish he did.

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I'll read further and look for the link to the transcript..

[DreamWeaver]

Just take a good look at Snott's face at the beginning of this article. This is how he always looks, cold, chin sticking out, vacuous eyes with nothing behind them but maybe the devil, and a sort of smirk.

My thoughts exactly. There is no emotion, no change in his eyes, mouth, no expression at all, the same vacuous stare. Scary guy he his. Is this the norm for a sociopath, whereas they have no concsience(sp) of their wrong doing ?

[drjulie]

"When the search warrant applications are released we'll see what led police to believe that evidence of a crime could still be in the house."

When will those warrants be released? I assumed they would be released at the time of the preliminary hearing.

[drjulie]

"All the "sightings" of Laci occur between 10 and 11am. SP told police that Laci was mopping the floor at 9:30 and when she finished doing that she would be going shopping for items for dinner that evening. He told police that Laci planned to walk the dog after shopping. We know how shopping wipes her out from the maid's testimony."

Great catch! I wonder if Scott expected the dog to be found later in the day. It certainly makes this timeline very questionable. BTW what did he do with the dog? Did he put the dog in the car and drive to the park? When would he have done this?

[Devil_Anse]

Yes, great catch on the time factor for walking! And the time of discovery of the dog is so important, too, b/c it puts a limit on the time period in which these alleged sightings of Laci MUST have occurred in order to jibe with what actually happened regarding neighbor and dog. (Unless Geragos and Co. are going to say, "Brocchini immediately suggested to the neighbor that she claim she returned the dog to the yard at 10:15.")

Scott's team has a rather narrow window in which to work, regarding sightings of Laci walking the dog. Scott's own words place Laci in the house mopping at 9:30. The neighbor's account (and this neighbor is not some evil, evidence-planting, citizen-framing policeman) determines that Laci was not attached to the other end of the dog's leash as of 10:15 or at most, 10:30.

I'm not too surprised to find out that Scott was not objecting to the police presence that first night. I'm sure he was mindful of the fact that there were people all over the place. He knew if he said, "hold it everyone, I don't want the police in here at all w/o a warrant", people like Sharon and Ron would have been having a conniption fit. They would be aghast that he would worry about such a thing when there was such a crisis happening.

After reading so much about consent, police's rights or lack thereof regarding stops and regarding coming into the house, I have tried to picture myself in that situation. I think it would just be the most natural thing in the world, if the cops showed up at my door after being called, that I would say, sure, come on in. Most people do that. They don't even think about things like warrants at a time like that. Even Scott.

[Devil_Anse]

Scott may well have really left the house at 9:30, although we of course don't know where he might have been btw 8:30 the previous night, and 9:30 that morning. I think he'd have wanted to make sure some neighbor didn't pop up and say, "9:30? I saw him leave at 7:30, and his truck was still gone at about 9:30."

I do think he probably took the dog with him, and as you say, let him out somewhere, maybe at some remote corner of that huge, mostly deserted, park. Or it's just possible that Scott just put the leash on McKenzie in the back yard, then left the gate open. The dog, if he's like mine, would have bounded out and gone for a round of the neighborhood, or to his usual place for walks, before finally making his way back home.

Yes, don't you wonder what Scott might have thought when he returned to see the dog in the yard WITH THE GATE CLOSED? If I'd been Scott, I'd have been scratching my head over that one.

[RGSpincich]

I'm not too surprised to find out that Scott was not objecting to the police presence that first night. I'm sure he was mindful of the fact that there were people all over the place. He knew if he said, "hold it everyone, I don't want the police in here at all w/o a warrant", people like Sharon and Ron would have been having a conniption fit. They would be aghast that he would worry about such a thing when there was such a crisis happening.

I WAS surprised at the pre-preliminary hearing belief that SP required MPD to get a search warrant. I don't know where that came from unless as the testimony from the MPD proceeds we get into the happenings of the day of the 25th and learn that SP had a change of heart. As MPD became more suspicious he may have stopped cooperating. Guess we'll find out next week.

RE: the dog. IMO, he was supposed to have been found tied to a tree or wondering in the park on the evening of Dec. 24th. That would have been perfect for SP. Or even picked up by the dogcatcher later in the day, anything but showing up at home when he did.Imagine SP's surprise when he found Mackenzie INSIDE the gate and the gate was latched closed. (Houston we have a problem...)

[RGSpincich]

Yes, don't you wonder what Scott might have thought when he returned to see the dog in the yard WITH THE GATE CLOSED? If I'd been Scott, I'd have been scratching my head over that one.

Sheez, I just saw this. Hate it when you copy me in advance like that.

[Canadian Outrage]

I don't find it odd because he thought it would be one less paper trail that he was leaving!! Look how the ankle weights turned out for him? The anchors would have been the same. Most fishermen need One anchor!!

[RGSpincich]

wondering...wandering..same thing

[Canadian Outrage]

RG - do you notice that Peterson, while hearing this damning info and the exposure of lie after lie after lie, he just sits there looking spaced out? For sure there is something desperately wrong inside this man???

[hergus]

I put all my interior and exterior Peterson house pictures on one page, it looks like the pool still had water in it from the aerial views.

I know the best aerial photo on the webpage was taken during the 2nd search.

http://community-2.webtv.net/westttrial/laci7/page2.html

Do Modestans drain their pools for the winter? I know most people in FL don't, not too familiar with north FL pool maintenance though.

[hergus]

Sandylapper, we were discussing the storage unit the other day. I got interior pics of a similar storage unit and similar warehouse unit from Greta's show.

I thought you might like to see them:

http://community-2.webtv.net/westri/laci5/page3.html