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Expert: Search dog picked up Laci Peterson’s scent
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A search dog handler testified Tuesday that her canine picked up Laci Peterson’s scent at the marina where Scott Peterson launched what he says was a solo fishing trip the day his wife vanished.
Eloise Anderson, a dog handler with the Contra Costa County Search and Rescue team, said the Labrador named Trimble came to the Berkeley Marina on Dec. 28, 2002, four days after Peterson reported his pregnant wife missing.
Anderson said Trimble found Laci’s scent and followed it from the parking area, along a tree line and down a pier, where the dog stopped at a pylon at the water’s edge.
The dog then ‘‘stopped, checked out over the water, the wind was coming into her face ... turned around and gave me end-of-trail indication,’’ Anderson said.
Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then drove to the marina and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. Her remains and those of the couple’s fetus washed ashore in April 2003, not far from where Peterson launched his fishing trip.
Defense lawyers contend someone else abducted and killed Laci, then framed their client after learning his widely publicized alibi.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi ruled during pretrial hearings that jurors would hear some, but not all, details gathered by the scent-sniffing police dogs........
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Peterson defense attacks dog tracking evidence, testimony turns to surveillance
:48 p.m. September 1, 2004
REDWOOD CITY – Scott Peterson's murder trial resumed Wednesday with the cross-examination of a search dog handler who testified her canine picked up Laci Peterson's scent at the marina where Scott Peterson launched what he says was a solo fishing trip the day his wife vanished.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos, as part of his effort to undermine the reliability of the scent-tracking technique, began his cross-examination with stern questions about how search dogs are trained. Defense lawyers attempted to show Tuesday that the scent-sniffing .........
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Police followed Peterson to marina several times
Associated Press
REDWOOD CITY, CALIF. - Police who trailed Scott Peterson after his wife disappeared testified Wednesday that he repeatedly drove to the bay where her body was found months later and at times appeared to try to shake the police on his tail.
Prosecutors claim Peterson was so worried his wife's body would surface in San Francisco Bay that he visited the area several times during the search.
Defense lawyers say he was simply checking on search efforts.
Prosecutors called numerous police witnesses who tailed Peterson in the weeks after his pregnant wife, Laci, was reported missing Dec. 24, 2002.
The witnesses described how Peterson visited the Berkeley Marina three times — on Jan. 5, Jan. 6 and Jan. 9 — while police were scouring the bay for Laci's body.
Witnesses said that Peterson drove at speeds ........
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Six witnesses testified.
ELOISE ANDERSON
Anderson is a dog handler with the Contra Costa County search and rescue team. She testified that her dog Trimble picked up Laci Peterson's scent at the Berkeley Marina, where police believe Peterson took his wife's body and dumped it in the bay. Under cross-examination Wednesday, Anderson admitted that Trimble was unsuccessful during a training exercise three months before the Berkeley search in following the scent trail of a woman in a vehicle. Anderson said the dog was confused by an overlapping of scents from the same person who was driving all over the same area earlier in the day. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos was trying to show that Trimble can't be trusted.
ALEXANDER BETTIS
Bettis is a Modesto police officer assigned to trail Scott Peterson from Jan. 5 to 8, 2003. He followed Peterson twice to the marina, where Peterson stayed in his car, drove out to the sea wall, around the parking lots, then left. Peterson borrowed a friend's car on one trip and rented cars on the others. Prosecutors are trying to show that Peterson was looking to see whether his wife's body had surfaced. Defense lawyers are suggesting that Peterson went there to check up on the search operation and also find witnesses to corroborate his alibi that he was fishing there the day his wife vanished. Bettis also testified that Peterson spent his mornings at the volunteer center where the search was headquartered, and put up fliers during the day.
RANDY BOLINGER.........
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Geragos tries to discredit tracking dog
REDWOOD CITY -- Scott Peterson's attorney Wednesday tried to discredit the dog that reportedly found Laci Peterson's scent on a waterfront pier, showing jurors video footage of the dog struggling during a training exercise and suggesting her handler tried to hide that information.
Also Wednesday, undercover officers who followed Peterson shortly after his pregnant wife disappeared described him spending hours putting up reward posters -- then changing clothes and cars before speeding off to the Berkeley Marina, where he stayed just minutes before driving back.
Peterson's behavior could support both sides of the double-murder case. Authorities suggest he wanted to surreptitiously keep tabs on an intense search in San Francisco Bay, while his defenders contend that he hoped to avoid media while being understandably curious about efforts to find his wife.
A Labrador retriever named Trimble tracked Laci Peterson's scent from a parking lot to a pier at the marina, where her husband told police he launched a boat during the day Dec. 24, 2002, the dog's handler had testified Tuesday.......
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Peterson timeline problem hinted
Wife may have been online after time she was believed slain
------((Grace and Gloria came up with something interesting here. Scott bought Laci some seeds with a basket? The seeds were, SUNFLOWER SEEDS!)......
REDWOOD CITY - A prosecution expert opened the door Monday to the possibility that Laci Peterson was alive and shopping online after the time prosecutors say she had been murdered by her husband. Someone used the Petersons' home computer to shop for a Gap scarf and a sunflower-motif umbrella stand at 8:44 a.m. the day Laci Peterson was reported missing, the prosecution's computer expert testified Monday in the double-murder trial of Scott Peterson.
The expert, Stanislaus County Sheriff's Detective Lydell Wall, testified that no one ever asked him to try to determine who the computer user was......
Scott Peterson
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Peterson defense picks apart dog's search skills
Scott Peterson's defense attorney attacked both the credibility of a dog handler and the reliability of her search dog in a pointed cross-examination this morning.
Dog trainer Eloise Anderson testified Tuesday that her highly trained Labrador retriever had tracked Laci Peterson's scent from a parking lot to a boat launch at the Berkeley marina four days after her husband reported her missing. Prosecutors believe Peterson towed his wife's body in his fishing boat to the marina on Dec. 24, 2002, and then dumped it in the bay.
Anderson testified that her dog Trimble, who is a certified search dog, had been trained to follow the trail of a person, even if it traveled by vehicle. She produced a list of records, detailing a variety of successful trailing exercises completed by the dog over a three-year period. ..........
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The cost of high-profile justice
You have to figure that accused murderer Scott Peterson of Modesto, Calif., is incredibly smart, unbelievably lucky or not guilty.
You also may have concluded by now that high-profile criminal trials are more a game of one-upmanship than a relentless pursuit of truth and justice.
Peterson, of course, is charged with the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son at Christmastime of 2002. The victims' separated bodies washed ashore several weeks later at San Francisco Bay where Scott Peterson has said he was fishing on the day his wife disappeared.
Since a murder victim's spouse almost routinely is the first possible suspect to be eliminated, the investigation of Laci's disappearance naturally centered on Peterson. He soon became trapped in the tangled web of his own lies and deceit.
Some people, it has been said, will tell a story a dozen different ways to keep from lying. Peterson........
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Modesto on Its Own to Pay Costs of Peterson Case
No one will be happier to see the Peterson case resolved than the City of Modesto. Administrators had hoped the high cost of investigating and prosecuting the case would be paid by the state, but it now appears that will not happen.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had included full reimbursement for the Peterson case in the his initial budget proposal this year, but the Legislature rejected it, saying the state didn't have the money. A bill introduced by Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced would have provided for state reimbursement, but it was killed just before the end of the Legislative session.
According to state and local officials, the search for Laci Peterson and the investigation and prosecution of Scott Peterson has cost the City of Modesto $2 million so far. Even though Peterson's trial has moved to Redwood City, Modesto is still paying the costs.......
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((NO CATTY POSTS, PLEASE!! THIS ONE IS A SPOOF!
Amber ... Or is it real Amber?
CALIFORNIA (AP) Between her appearances in court to testify against Scott Peterson, Amber Frey has resumed her active social life and is dating one “very special man”. Her last dating experience with Scott Peterson didn’t go so well for Amber when she was led to believe that Scott was single. Scott neglected to tell her that he was about to murder his wife, Laci Peterson and their unborn child, mix cement in a fishing boat, and collect on some life insurance policies.
At a lunch place near the courthouse, Amber Frey told reporters, “Now I know I made a mistake when I dated Scott Peterson, but how in the world was I supposed to know he was married? He didn’t have a ring on his finger. That’s how I always can tell if a man is married or single.”
“Amber, do you have any plans to date other men any time soon?” asked Spoof reporter Morgan Truce.
Breaking into a big smile, Amber Frey said, “Well, I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but I’ve been seeing this really sweet guy for the past week. He told me how much he loves me and even bought me some flowers!”.......
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“What’s his name Amber… who is he?” shouted several reporters.
“I’m really not supposed to tell… he’s a bit older and very smart, you know. He seems to be very up to date on all that newspaper stuff and, uh, current events. He treats me MUCH nicer than Scott ever did----and he gets along just fine with my daughter. And I KNOW for sure that he’s single, because I came right out and asked him!”
