Posted on 11/12/2003 5:28:47 AM PST by runningbear
Peterson's ex-girlfriend testifies today
Amber Frey: Detective told court husband lamented wife's death weeks before her murder
Julie Smyth
National Post
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Laci and Scott Peterson celebrate Christmas in this undated family photo. Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant, disappeared last Christmas Eve. Her body and that of her unborn son were found in April.
The murder trial of Scott Peterson, accused of killing his pregnant wife and their unborn child, has not even begun, yet a preliminary hearing is already providing the tabloids and talk shows with enough salacious details to keep the American public captivated.
The hearing is set to provide even more fodder for the media this week -- Amber Frey, Mr. Peterson's former girlfriend, is expected to take the stand as early as today as a key witness. She will be speaking for the first time since she went public in January about their affair, when she claimed she had no idea her ex-boyfriend was married and expecting a child. She went to the police when she discovered his pregnant wife was missing.
Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant with her first child, disappeared from her Modesto, Calif., home on Christmas Eve.
In April, her body and that of her unborn son, whom she wanted to name Connor, washed up on the shore of San Francisco Bay, just miles from where Mr. Peterson had told police he was fishing the day his wife vanished.
The most sensational details came on Thursday, when a police detective revealed to the court that Mr. Peterson told Ms. Frey on Dec. 9, more than two weeks before Mrs. Peterson went missing, that he had "lost his wife" and that the upcoming holidays would be his first without her.
Ms. Frey told police her former lover said he would be able to spend more time with her after Jan. 26, Detective Al Brocchini told the court.
Mr. Peterson initially denied to police that he had been involved with Ms. Frey, a massage therapist and single mother, but eventually went public about his affair during a television interview with Diane Sawyer. He said Mrs. Peterson, a 27-year-old substitute teacher, knew about the affair and they were working through their problems. Speaking through teary eyes, he told the cameras they had a "glorious" marriage and never fought about his infidelity.
Det. Brocchini, who investigated Mrs. Peterson's disappearance, testified last week that police discovered on Dec. 9 that Mr. Peterson had bought a boat and paid for it with cash -- more than a dozen US$100 bills, according to the man who sold him the boat. He said Mr. Peterson also paid cash -- 36 US$100 bills -- for a car, according to another man who sold Mr. Peterson the vehicle in San Diego shortly before his arrest. Mr. Peterson filled out the paperwork using his mother's name, the court heard.
Mr. Peterson, a 31-year-old fertilizer salesman, spent days leading a volunteer search when his wife first went missing. However, he came under the spotlight when police began searching his house, boat and truck and after Ms. Frey admitted to their affair. Police arrested him on April 18, not far from the Mexico border. His hair was bleached blond and he was carrying US$10,000 in cash.
He was charged with two counts of capital murder and could face the death penalty.
Mr. Peterson has denied any guilt and his lawyers have vowed to find the real killers, raising the possibility of a satanic cult killing.
The preliminary hearing at Stanislaus County Superior Court................
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Modesto Man Goes Hollywood, Opens Speciality Shops
Modesto Man Goes Hollywood, Opens Speciality Shops
Tue, Nov 11, 2003, 05:11 PM PT
By Hanh Nguyen
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Former hotel general manager Brad Saltzman, who served as a chief volunteer in the search for missing Modesto, Calif., woman Laci Peterson, has gone Hollywood.
He's opening a Pure Foods, a chain of retail stores specializing in
b, low-fat and sugar-free items important to diets such as the Atkins, Zone and South Beach diets, which are popular in the showbiz world.
Celebs such as Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt owe their svelte bodies to the Atkins diet, while Madonna, Demi Moore and Charlie Sheen are fans of the Zone.
Saltzman says the stress of the Peterson case caused him to gain weight, especially before being forced to resign in July after refusing to accommodate the parents of Scott Peterson, the husband suspected of murdering Laci and their unborn son last Christmas. Their bodies were found in a marina along the San Francisco Bay shoreline.
"I guess I ate a little too much, for the same reasons a lot of us do -- to escape," says Saltzman about dealing with his dubious notoriety.
But after losing more than 20 pounds on the Atkins Diet while trying to piece back together, Saltzman decided to focus on his health.
"I had several offers from other hotels," he says. "But after all the media attention and negative energy associated with the Peterson case, I decided to take a totally different direction and make a new start."
An estimated 35 million people are now embracing some form of low-carb diet and many more will no doubt make a fresh start after the upcoming ......
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Peterson mailbox is alleged
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: November 9, 2003, 08:17:54 AM PST
Scott Peterson told his lover in late December to send a Christmas present to his private mailbox, according to well-placed sources.
Peterson rented a private mailbox on Dec. 23 -- the same day that his pregnant wife, Laci, visited her obstetrician and watched her sister cut her husband's hair. Authorities have said they believe Scott Peterson murdered his wife that night or the next morning.
Around the same period, Peterson told Fresno massage therapist Amber Frey that he could not spend the holidays with her, but "would be able to be with her more exclusively like Jan. 25," a detective testified Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
Peterson also told Frey that he would be out of the country for the holidays, his first without his wife, Modesto police Detective Al Brocchini testified Thursday.
Frey, 28 and a single mother, has said she did not know that Peterson was married when they met Nov. 20. On Dec. 9, he told her that he had "lost his wife," Brocchini said at Peterson's preliminary hearing on double-murder charges.
Also on Dec. 9, Peterson bought a 14-foot aluminum fishing boat -- a central part of the prosecution's case. Authorities say they believe Peterson carried his wife's body in the boat. A hair found in pliers in the boat could have been Laci Peterson's, an FBI expert testified Oct. 29, the first day of the hearing.
Peterson is accused in the deaths of his wife and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred of Los Angeles, refused Friday to confirm or deny the account of Peterson's private mailbox.
Peterson accompanied Frey to a party in Fresno on Dec. 14. A photo, widely circulated since, captured the cozy couple by a Christmas tree.
Sources said Frey, downcast at having to spend the holidays without her boyfriend, talked to him on the phone about exchanging gifts. Peterson instructed her to send a gift to his private mailbox, the sources said.
Brocchini testified Thursday that Peterson denied having an affair when the detective interviewed him Christmas Eve for a missing person report on Laci Peterson.
Scott Peterson also denied the affair to reporters. He came clean Jan. 28 -- four days after Frey revealed their romance at a news conference arranged by Modesto police.
Frey secretly taped her phone conversations with Peterson after she learned the ...........
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A Boy Named JacquelineA Boy Named Jacqueline
POSTED: 2:56 PM PST November 7, 2003
UPDATED: 5:12 PM PST November 9, 2003
MODESTO, Calif. -- After days of scientific information on DNA, testimony at the Scott Peterson preliminary hearing finally got down to the heart of the prosecution's case with the testimony of detective Al Brocchini. Here are excerpts from Brocchini's testimony about what Scott Peterson told him during their first meeting -- hours after Laci Peterson was reported missing.
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Video
Ted Rowlands Friday Report From Modesto
Video
Ted Rowlands Reports On Brocchini's Testimony
On the happening at the Peterson household on Christmas Eve morning (Brocchini's answers are designated 'A' and Assistant D.A. Rick Distaso's questions are designated
'Q'):
MR. DISTASO: Q. What time did the defendant say he woke up?
A. He woke up about 8:00 o'clock. Laci had gotten up a little bit earlier.
Q. And did he say whether or not they both ate breakfast?
A. Yes.
Q. What did he say?
A. He said he got up after Laci, took a shower and went had a bowl of cereal.
Q. Did he say what Laci had had for breakfast?
A. Said she had a bowl of cereal.
Q. What did he say happened next? Or what did he say they did next?
A. They watched Laci's favorite show, Martha Stewart.
Q. And did he say whether or not they watched the whole show?
A. No, he said he didn't watch the whole show, but I asked him what he remembered about the show.
Q. Okay. And what did he tell you?
A. That they were cooking meringue, something to do with meringue.
Q. Okay. Did he tell you anything else about the show, anything else that he remembered?
A. No............
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Murder hearing turns to home
By JOHN COTÉ
and GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITERS
Last Updated: November 11, 2003, 07:56:38 AM PST
The questions "Who cleaned what, and when did they clean it?" are hovering over Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing on double-murder charges.
Much of the six days of testimony in Stanislaus County Superior Court has been devoted to mops, a bucket, towels and laundry.
Prosecutors also have focused their questions on items found in Peterson's truck, including patio umbrellas wrapped in a tarp, a loaded .22-caliber handgun and an unopened package of fishing lures.
Judge Al Girolami's gag order prevents attorneys, investigators and others from providing context for the evidence.
But some details are emerging in the case against the 31-year-old Modesto fertilizer salesman charged with murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.
The focus on cleaning in the couple's Covena Avenue home could address two issues: Peterson's statement about what his wife was doing when he says he last saw her, Christmas Eve morning; and whether he attempted to sanitize a crime scene.
Testimony also focused on whether animals were in the home -- Peterson's explanation for a displaced throw rug and a reason that he gave for cleaning the floors twice in two days.
Peterson said his wife was mopping the floor in front of French doors in the kitchen area as he left at about 9:30 a.m. to go fishing in San Francisco Bay, a police detective testified last week.
Peterson told police that he returned home between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m. and his wife was missing.
House cleaner Margarita Nava testified that she cleaned the home the day before as part of her regular two-week rounds. Nava said she mopped the floors with water and Pine-Sol and used bleach only in the bathroom.
The floors were dirty and there was animal hair in the home, Nava said. There was an animal bed in "Laci's bedroom" and a water bowl in the bathroom. Nava said she did not know if they were for a cat or a dog.
Nava said she put towels used to clean a door in the mopping bucket and placed it on top of the washing machine, behind a set of doors in the living room.
Nava said she then put the mop outside to dry.
Peterson told police that his wife asked him to bring in the mop bucket from outside Christmas Eve morning because "she was pregnant, so she couldn't carry it," Detective Al Brocchini testified.
Peterson said he placed the bucket near the front door, and there were two mops present, Brocchini testified.
Peterson said that upon his return from the bay, he opened the French doors, and the cat and dog ran in, with the cat heading toward the bucket, Brocchini said.
"He thought the cat was gonna spill it or drink out of it," Brocchini said. "He took it out and dumped it."
Peterson told police that he set the bucket and mops outside, along a walkway that leads to the front door, where the first officer on the scene, Jon Evers, said they were in plain sight when he arrived at about 6:30 p.m. Dec. 24 in response to the missing person report about Laci Peterson.
Early in the investigation, police sources said there was a noticeable smell of bleach when officers entered the home, but Evers and Brocchini both have testified that they did not smell bleach or other cleaners.
After putting the bucket outside, Peterson told police, he removed some towels from the washing machine, put them on top of the machine, undressed and washed the clothes that he had been wearing, Brocchini said.
The detective testified that he found a laundry basket overflowing in the master bedroom and dirty white towels on top of the washing machine.
Questioning also keyed on a rug that two police officers said was bunched up against a doorway when they responded to the missing person call..........
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Superior Court, Stanislaus County
November 6, 2003
Minute Order: Preliminary Hearing
(ie; Seventh day court provided overview)
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
Posted on Tuesday, November 11 2003 at 5:08 PM PST ----
Court is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Weds, 11/12/03) at 9:30 am (PST). You must be seated in the courtroom by 9:15 am.
A large perimeter trench was dug on the media parking lot across from the courthouse. There is now limited parking for live trucks/vans ONLY. The entrance has been moved. You now enter this lot on H Street between 10th and 11th Streets.
DO NOT PARK YOUR PRIVATE CARS ON THIS LOT. There is adequate public parking at the parking structure on 11th Street beween I and J Street.
All courtroom seating credentials issued at the beginning of the Scott Peterson Preliminary Hearing will remain valid for the duration. Please do not discard your numbered pass even though it's passed the expiration date -- as it will not be replaced and you will forfeit your designation.
Court is scheduled for Weds, Thurs and Friday of this week. Depending on the pace of the hearing, it could extend into the following week.
I just hope the case won't get another dimwitted and/or corrupt OJ/Durst jury.
lucky for me, I have no cable, only internet data/links....lol...
thank goodness I am not bounded by TV!
2nd FBI expert to defend tests based on DNA
By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: November 12, 2003, 05:58:45 AM PST
Testimony over a disputed DNA technique is expected to again dominate Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing on double-murder charges, with a second FBI expert set to testify today.
Prosecutors have indicated that they will call Bruce Budowle, described as one of the "principal architects" of the FBI's DNA typing program, in a bid to counter defense arguments that the DNA test used by the FBI in the Peterson case is unreliable and should be excluded from court.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. in Stanislaus County Superior Court in Modesto after a five-day break.
Of the six days of testimony so far, three have been devoted to technical and exhaustive questioning of experts about mitochondrial DNA.
FBI lab technicians used mitochondrial DNA testing on a single hair found attached to pliers in Peterson's boat and determined that it could not have been his, but may have been his wife's.
If the FBI findings hold up, the hair could be a key piece of physical evidence linking Laci Peterson to the boat that her husband said he took fishing to San Francisco Bay on Dec. 24, the day that she was reported missing.
Peterson told police that his wife was gone when he arrived back at their Modesto home.
Laci Peterson, 27, was almost eight months pregnant at the time. Scott Peterson, 31, is charged with murdering his wife and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Laci Peterson's body and that of her son were found in April along San Francisco Bay's eastern shore, several miles from where Peterson said he went fishing.
A defense expert last week blasted the DNA technique, saying it can produce false results and relies on a flawed database for analysis. The process also is susceptible to contamination, said William Shields, a professor of biology at the State University of New York, Syracuse.
Shields testified that FBI techniques do not take into account evolving genetic science and could wrongly rule out a DNA sample coming from a given individual.
Unlike more commonly known nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA analysis can rule out a match with a known sample, but cannot show that a test sample came from a specific person.
Mitochondrial DNA is passed down from women to their children, and all maternal family members share the same mitochondrial DNA in most cases.
Under California law, evidence from a novel scientific technique cannot be admitted in court unless a judge determines it is generally accepted by the relevant scientific community.
FBI expert Constance L. Fisher testified earlier that the technique was widely accepted and considered valid.
The defense is trying to show that the method is in dispute.
Peterson's case is the first California case in which mitochondrial DNA is being offered for forensic evidence. It has been admitted as evidence apparently for another purpose in a San Diego court.
It just amazes me that he actually thought everything would be just fine only one month after Laci disappeared.
Nobody would be looking for her anymore, and he certainly would be over it all by then.
How detached can somebody be?
Currently, he probably wants to write to her: "Okay, just give it one year from now, okay, and then I promise you that you and I can be together exclusively."
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