Michael Looby (top center) recounts for jurors Tuesday his discovery of the remains of Scott Peterson's son.
Posted on 07/07/2004 5:55:51 AM PDT by runningbear
Grusome Testimony About Baby's Body in Peterson Case
Grusome Testimony About Baby's Body in Peterson Case
Scott Peterson is accused of killing his wife Laci and her unborn child.
Len Ramirez
Testimony in the Scott Peterson double-murder case was so heart-wrenching Tuesday that Laci Peterson's family left the courtroom.
Witness Michael Looby described walking on the shore of San Francisco Bay after a storm in April of 2003 and finding the decomposing body of a baby. Laci's mother and stepfather Sharon Rocha and Ron Grantski and her brother Brent Rocha quickly left the courtroom during the.......
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TESTIMONY TOO MUCH FOR LACI'S KIN, JURORS
TESTIMONY TOO MUCH FOR LACI'S KIN, JURORS
By HOWARD BREUER
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July 7, 2004 -- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Laci Peterson's mom, stepdad and brother rushed out of court yesterday as a witness took the stand to describe how he found her fetus washed up on a bay shore.
Even some jurors appeared disturbed by photos of the bodies of the unborn baby boy and Laci that were displayed — cupping their hands over their mouths as if sickened, and rubbing their foreheads.
The body of the unborn boy — whom the Petersons planned to name Conner — was found Sunday, April 13, 2003, a day before his mother's headless torso was discovered nearby.
Both washed ashore in the San Francisco Bay, near where Laci's husband, Scott — who is on trial for their deaths — says he went fishing the previous Christmas Eve. That was the day he reported the eight-months-pregnant Laci missing.
"As you're walking along, does something attract your attention or your dog's attention?" prosecutor Dave Harris asked witness Michael Looby. .......
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Laci's family stunned by large-screen images of decomposed bodies
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 - 3:35:40 AM PST
Grisly photos shock trial
Laci's family stunned by large-screen images of decomposed bodies
By Jason Dearen, STAFF WRITER
REDWOOD CITY -- Grim photos of Laci Peterson and her unborn child's badly decomposed bodies were projected on a large screen in the Scott Peterson double-murder trial Tuesday, evoking gasps from the seating gallery and forcing the dead woman's family to flee the courtroom.
When the macabre images were shown, the defendant's mother, Jacqueline Peterson, covered her eyes, slumping down in her chair.
Determining the age and condition of the fetus' remains are instrumental to both sides' theories about how Laci Peterson died -- and could be the deciding factor in the case. Defense attorney Mark Geragos promised the jury during opening statements that he will prove that the baby was 36 to 38 weeks old before it died. .........
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Peterson trial witness describes finding infant's body
Peterson trial witness describes finding infant's body
Stacy Finz and Diana Walsh, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
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Laci Peterson’s family rushed out of the courtroom this morning, minutes before a witness described finding the body of the Modesto woman’s infant on the Richmond shoreline.
Scott Peterson, on trial in Redwood City for allegedly murdering his wife and their unborn child, watched the witness attentively.
Michael Looby said he and his wife were walking their dog along the beach near Point Isabel on April 13, 2003, looking for a good spot for the dog to take a swim. The tide was low, so they decided to take a walk down the coastline instead, Looby testified for the prosecution.
When they got to a point where the sand ended, they climbed over some rocks into a marshy area. It was there, Looby said, that he saw the tiny corpse. ........
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Peterson denied affair, polygraph expert testifies
Peterson denied affair, polygraph expert testifies
Tuesday, July 6, 2004 Posted: 5:07 PM EDT (2107 GMT)
REDWOOD CITY, California (AP) -- A day after his wife, Laci, disappeared, Scott Peterson told a state polygraph expert that he was not having an affair and that his marriage was fine, the expert testified Tuesday at Peterson's murder trial.
Peterson was, in fact, having an affair with a massage therapist, Amber Frey. Prosecutors have suggested that he killed his pregnant wife so that he could be with Frey.
Douglas Mansfield said he interviewed Peterson on Christmas Day 2002.
"He said there was no third ......
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Peterson looks away as jury sees graphic photos of wife, child
Michael Looby (top center) recounts for jurors Tuesday his discovery of the remains of Scott Peterson's son.
Peterson looks away as jury sees graphic photos of wife, child
By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Scott Peterson turned away as prosecutors displayed graphic photos of his slain wife and unborn child at his capital trial Tuesday.
The double-murder defendant angled his chair to the side and stared toward away across the courtroom as the gory images of the severely decomposed bodies were flashed onto a giant projection screen.
Several jurors appeared disturbed by the pictures of Laci Peterson and the baby the couple planned to name Conner. One female panelist put her hand to her temple when she first glimpsed a photo of the baby's body. Another woman looked away entirely.
The pictures accompanied testimony about the separate discoveries of the mother-to-be and child on April 13 and April 14, 2003. A dog walker found the boy's remains in grassy marshland on the shores of San Francisco Bay. The next day, about a mile away, another dog owner came across Laci Peterson's body wedged in some rocks on the bayshore.
Story continues ..........
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Exclusive document reveals identity of Peterson defense's 'mystery woman'
Exclusive document reveals identity of Peterson defense's 'mystery woman'
(Court TV) — What do a gold watch, a brown van and an eBay auction have in common?
According to documents obtained by Court TV's Catherine Crier, they resurrect defense attorney Mark Geragos' theory that Satanists in a brown van were involved in the murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn son.
Deanna Renfro pawned a gold watch like one belonging to Laci Peterson.
The host of Court TV's "Crier Live" obtained a pawn shop receipt revealing the identity of a "mystery woman" cited by Scott Peterson's lawyer and her possible connection to the owners of a brown van allegedly spotted in the Petersons' neighborhood before her disappearance.
The document indicates that Deanna Renfro pawned a gold Croton watch six days after Laci Peterson's disappearance — a gold watch almost identical to one Laci tried to auction on eBay weeks earlier, according to the records of the Petersons' eBay account.
Laci Peterson, 27, disappeared Dec. 24, 2002. Four days later, a rape crisis counselor told police that an unidentified woman reported she had been raped by two men and two women in a brown van during a satanic ritual.
A watch Laci Peterson attempted to sell on eBay
According to the counselor's account, the victim said that, during the ritual, the group mentioned a Christmas day death, one she would read about in the papers.
When police tracked down the van to a nearby campsite on Dec. 30, among the four people in the van were Donny and Mary Renfrow. Court TV sources indicated that Deanna Renfro (despite a different spelling in documents) is related to the Renfrows and may be Donny Renfrow's daughter.
The receipt from the pawn shop indicates that, the day after the police visit to the campsite, Deanna Renfro, who has a long criminal history including at least one methamphetamine arrest, pawned the gold Croton watch for $20.
The pawn shop where Deanna Renfo pawned a gold Croton watch for $20.
The bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son were found four months later on the shore of San Francisco Bay. Her husband, Scott, faces the death penalty if convicted of both murders.
"Is the pawned watch the same as Laci's? Are the Renfrows related?" Crier said. "Court TV is working to resolve these unanswered questions, but in the meantime, a conspiracy theory is born."...........
If Geragos successfully proves the baby was as developed as that, it could exonerate his client. Prosecutors believe the baby died on Dec. 23 or 24, 2002, which would have made the fetus 33 weeks old. Peterson was under intense surveillance after Dec. 24, so if Geragos proves the baby was alive two or three weeks after Laci's disappearance, it would go a long way to disproving the prosecution's scenario.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs5.com ...
As for Scott's motive, several can be speculated. Laci found out about his interet in bestiality. Laci found out about Amber and wanted a divorce and he didn't want to end up with alimony and child support payments. He wanted to be rid of her. He wanted her jewelry. They had a huge fight. Etc, etc.
The purpose of this bill is not to change the intent, meaning or consequence of a "not guilty" verdict, but simply to change the wording of "not guilty" to "not proven."
Wonder if this was the basis for the fact O.J. Simpson was found not guilty and then in the civil suit that followed he was found guilty. That made no sense to me at all. As for myself...I really prefer not to be pointing a judgemental finger at anyone unless forced into it.
Yup, those toolboxes on trucks always looked pretty large to me. I'm glad you found an actual Greenlee so now we know someone whose opinion we trust has actually looked into the matter!
You remind me of the across-the-street neighbor who saw a workman talking to my elderly mother in the yard, and called over there to be sure she was all right. Neighbors like you are a blessing!
But I'm just not as observant, I guess. I have been a worrier in the past, and I have made a conscious effort not to worry as much, and I guess maybe I've gone overboard, b/c it just wouldn't bother me to see a dog with its leash--except to the extent that I would worry that the DOG was in trouble.
There might be another factor for Karen. Part of these few days, her young son was with her, and part of those days, he wasn't. I'd bet you dollars to doughnuts that in her divorce (she obviously got custody) they had one of those visitation orders in which one parent gets part of Christmas Day, and the other parent gets the other part of Christmas.
Now, when the parents have to drop off/pick up the kid on these holidays, it can be very stressful. They often have to see the ex, and even worse, they may have to deal with the ex's new wife/husband/lover. Not to mention ex-in-laws.
Trust me, this is a BIG DEAL among parents who are divorced! It causes so many problems and can ruin holidays. But of course people have to get visitation.
Karen clearly had a life of her own, and she was pretty busy, going to Ripon, and then going to Santa Fe two days later. And probably worrying about her son and about what kind of memory he would have of Christmas.
YES! People like grandparents and elderly aunts and heaven knows who else, who may have thought of him as such a "nice young man", would be hearing about how he introduced himself to strange women at trade shows by saying "I'm a horny bastard." B/C that's what he called himself.
Image. Image means SO MUCH to some people. Mess with whatever image they want to project, just TRY to contradict it, and you are likely to get clobbered!
According to the testimony, yes, the dog was very protective of Laci. In fact, Scott once told their pool maintenance man to not get in between the dog and Laci, b/c the dog would act up.
Trust me, the media has NOT labelled this man as guilty. In fact, they've been doing backwards handstands to give the impression that this is all a frame-up, with a poor innocent victim as the defendant.
I DEFINITELY presumed this man innocent when I first heard about this case.
I think it was John Douglas (isn't his first name John?), the profiler, who said, if you can answer the WHY and the HOW of a crime, you will be able to answer WHO.
Regarding why someone would want to kill this little expectant mother:
Have you ever seen that e-mail, it's one of those ones that gets sent around among the joke e-mails, etc., it is a picture of a very good-looking, "hot" young woman, and underneath the picture it says, "No matter how good she looks, somebody, somewhere is sick of her sh##."
We really don't know everything about Laci, as far as her personal life went. We really know a lot more about Scott's personal life than we do about Laci's.
I feel very sure that Laci was essentially a virtuous person. BUT everyone has a personality, and sometimes a spouse just gets sick of their other half's personality. Sometimes they just simmer about it, then do something totally irrational. 99.9% of the time they don't kill the other person! But every now and then, it happens.
I'm not trying to offer that as an excuse, just as a possible explanation.
I'm quite sure someone at some time has been sick of my "whatever bugs them".. and the same for all people...It is that step to the extreme, murder... instead of taking time out,taking a walk, ending a relationship, cutting ties, getting a divorce, that baffles one when viewing a crime like this....
I suspect Scott does "blow up" big when he finally blows up...I suspect he did it for many reasons that all come together to mean freedom, from marriage, Laci and her "honey do" lists, fatherhood responsibilities, freedom to do as he pleased without having to hide and excuse..He wanted OUT!
Laci, her needs and demands, the demands of fatherhood, the expectations of family and friends that come with fatherhood, were threatening his own needs.
He wanted to retain the aura of respectability,the good son, good husband image he had and the approval that came from that...He didn't want everyone to know he was a self indulgent HB, living a double life.
A messy divorce would have not been helpful to his narcissistic need for approval. He wanted "the problems" that stood in his way solved, gone, erased. No threat of divorce, no child support payments, no spousal support.
>>I don't think they have proven any of that....but its as good a GUESS as any.<<
Actually it was testified to under oath, that Scott told Laci's aunt that he was hoping for infertility. That stands as proof that he didn't want to be a father.
Also well established that he was having at least one affair,and talking about sex with at least one other woman that we know of so far(Shawn Sibley).
Sounds to me like he wanted to be single, without a child.
Good catch!!!
That one went right by me. He was done searching, already having conversations with the dead. Dealing predictably with whatever grief he was able to muster.
Pinz
Toxemia can also produce fetal distress that would necesitate a Csection. Meconium is a symptom of fetal distress also, can be caused by several things. They're not the same thing, but the symptoms from different problems can over lap.
Does this sound as confused as I think it does?
Pinz
(former La Leche League Leader)
I think that summed up the difference well.
Toxemia: potential CAUSE of fetal distress.
Meconium (in amniotic fluid): potential SIGN of fetal distress.
Hi Sis. I don't even bother to respond to the naysayers anymore. They are free to think as they please. I and many of the rest of us regulars here, have followed every last detail of this case. I feel absolutely SURE that Scott Peterson is guilty of the crime for which he is charged. I'm through explaining my reasons to these folks that just pop up on the thread from time to time.
sorry for responding late.... I was in Lake Tahoe all weekend... Just got back, and winding down for work tomorrow....
Morning all! It's back to work for me today. :o(
Had a nice relaxing week off.
I'm ready for this case to start working! Too many delays.
Hi, Jackie! At least now we will have a show Mon. thru Thursday that is more or less dedicated to this case. Nancy Grace reportedly has this new show at 10 or 11 E.S.T. (which is it?), on Court TV. I've never seen it and I can't wait to watch it.
Those who go to bed earlier than that can always record the show and watch it the next day.
11:00 Nancy Grace Live: The Scott Peterson Trial
Great! Now I have somthing to watch after being pissed off the hour before from Greta's coverage!
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