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July 5, 2004 National Enquirer (Thanks, Rickamorti!)

HALF SISTER CRIPPLES SCOTT'S DEFENSE

BY DON GENTILE AND DAVID WRIGHT

SYNOPSIS

In a shocking development, Scott Peterson's half-sister has given damaging information to investigators - evidence that could destroy his defense, the NE has learned exclusively.

The new revelations-coming directly from a family member-will have a powerful influence on jurors in his murder trial.

Scott's half-sister Anne Bird is directly contradicting her brother's major-assertion-that his pregnant wife Laci was kidnapped while walking their dog, as she did every day.

But just a few weeks before she vanished, Laci was tiring so easily that Scott had to push her around in a wheelchair!

Anne made that bombshell revelation to Modesto, police. Interviewed by Det. Grogan, Anne revealed she'd gone to San Diego, where Scott's parents live, in late November 2002, to attend a baby shower for Laci.

In the days before the shower, Anne joined Scott and Laci for a trip to Disneyland. While visiting the amusement park, Scott "rented a wheelchair to push her around in," Anne told Det. Grogan, according to police files obtained exclusively by the NE.

During his opening statement at Scott's trial, prosecutor Rick Distaso was able to introduce that key information. "Scott and Laci go to Disney's California Adventure," Distaso told the jury. "While she is there, Laci gets tired-she's tired, she doesn't want to walk anymore, and the defendant actually gets a wheelchair for her and pushes her around, because she is not walking so well."

Laci told her mom Sharon, that she had gotten sick and almost passed out walking in the park near her home. Laci told her doctor about the problem after she had a dizzy spell while walking for 20 minutes.

"Scott had to know that Laci was suffering from dizzy spells and that her doctor recommended she not walk anymore." Yet he still maintains that Laci was walking the dog the day she disappeared.

When Anne asked Scott what he thought had happened to Laci, he didn't mention a brown van that his attorney claims was involved in the abduction. Instead, Scott offered yet another story.

"He told her he thought Laci was taken by an individual possibly related to a purple car with Confederate flags in the back, that had been parked at the park near Scott and Laci's home," Det. Grogan wrote in his report.

Ironically, Scott's half-sister lives in Berkley-not far from the marina where he said he was fishing on DEC.24, 2002. Anne likes Scott but told the truth when interviewed by investigators.

"Anne is going to be a witness for the defense," disclosed a source close to the case. "The'll be calling her in an attempt to have her balance what she told police about Scott - with testimony that paints him in a more favorable light."

In her interview with Grogan, Anne also revealed that Scott visited her several times between the time Laci disappeared and his arrest-and that he admitted one of his affairs.

Scott told Anne it occurred while he and Laci were in college and that Laci was aware of it because the woman, Janet Ilse, had walked in on him and Laci while they were in bed together.