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People want to know: Who is Scott Peterson?
The Modesto Bee ^ | January 23, 2003 Posted: 05:10:11 AM PST | Ty Phillips

Posted on 01/23/2003 5:21:46 AM PST by runningbear

People want to know: Who is Scott Peterson?

People want to know: Who is Scott Peterson?

January 23, 2003 Posted: 05:10:11 AM PST

By TY PHILLIPS
BEE STAFF WRITER

His cell phone rings incessantly. TV camera crews capture his every move. Curious people drive, slowly, by his home every few minutes.

For Scott Peterson, privacy is a thing of the past. He has become perhaps the most recognizable man in Modesto.

"I feel badly for him," said Brian Argain, a friend of Scott and Laci Peterson's. "I can't even imagine being in Scott's shoes. Everybody has a theory on what happened to Laci, but nobody really knows. It's all very sad."

Laci, Scott's wife, was reported missing on Christmas Eve. The story has been a nightly fixture on many national TV news programs. Internet forums and talk shows brim with wild speculation about what happened to the pregnant woman.

Early on, family and friends described the couple's relationship as perfect. Most pledged unwavering support. Then cracks began to appear.

Last week, police detectives told

Laci's side of the family that her husband had an affair and during the summer took out a $250,000 life insurance policy on his 27-year-old wife, according to family members.

The family felt betrayed, and they distanced themselves from Scott. Many of Laci's friends also left his side. Others remain loyal to a man whom they consider a good friend.

"We're all looking for the truth," Argain said. "I'm going to support Scott no matter what the rumors are. It doesn't affect my friendship with him. Just because he may have had an affair doesn't mean he has anything to do with her disappearance."

Still, his recent behavior has many people -- including some who know him -- asking the same question:

Who is Scott Peterson?

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He was born Oct. 24, 1971, at Sharp Hospital in San Diego. His mother, Jacqueline, described him as a healthy, happy baby. The youngest of Lee and Jacqueline Peterson's seven children, Scott enjoyed no shortage of attention growing up.

As Lee raised his five sons, he instilled in them his passions for golfing, fishing and hunting. Scott quickly took to hunting and fishing as a young boy; golf was another story.

"When he was about 6 or 7 years old, we'd all go golfing together," Jacqueline said in an interview last week. "He would put his fishing pole in his bag because the course we often went to was on the San Diego River. By the second hole, he'd stop golfing and start fishing. We'd pass by him every so often, and he usually fished until we were done golfing."

The family, especially the Peterson boys, often took fishing trips to the mountains. Scott eventually convinced his father to buy a fishing boat.

As Scott got older, his parents enticed him to go golfing with them by letting him drive the cart. Over time, he began to excel at the sport.

He made the golf team at University of San Diego High School, playing alongside Phil Mickelson, who is now a touring professional.

"Lee told him once if he ever played a round of scratch golf, he'd buy him a Ferrari," Jacqueline said. "Lee never thought it would happen, but Scott was doing that before he got out of high school. We did get him a car, but it was a used Peugeot sedan. We thought it would be safer."

Scott had no living grandparents. So, while he was in high school, he befriended an elderly woman who had no grandchildren and visited her on Sundays after church, Jacqueline said.

"The school he went to encouraged community service," she said. "One day, he told us he was bringing his grandmother to Grandparents Day at the school. I asked where he got a grandmother. He told me he'd had one for a while.

"I went and met her the following Sunday. She just kept saying what a great kid he was, and how nice it was that he visited an old lady and brightened her day."

While Scott was in high school, his parents received two letters from people whose cars had broken down on the road, Jacqueline said. Scott had stopped to help them get going.

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Scott graduated from high school in 1990. He briefly attended Arizona State University on a partial golf scholarship, but he moved back with his parents, who had bought a house in Morro Bay.

He moved out about six months later, telling them that he was too old to be living at home. He began working three jobs to put himself through

Cuesta College and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

While he was a waiter at

Pacific Cafe, Scott met Laci Rocha, an upbeat young woman with a beautiful smile. Laci's neighbor worked at the cafe, and Laci ended up there from time to time, sometimes having brief conversations with Scott over a counter as she ordered coffee.

One day, Laci wrote her phone number on a piece of paper, handing it to her neighbor to give to Scott. Thinking his friend was playing a mean trick on him, Scott crumpled the paper and threw it in the garbage. After being convinced it was no joke, he retrieved the number from the trash and called her soon.

Everyone who knew them then said they quickly fell in love. When Sharon Rocha came to Morro Bay to meet Scott, the mother and daughter each were greeted by a dozen roses at their dinner table at Pacific Cafe.

A few weeks later, Scott brought Laci to San Diego to meet his brothers and sisters, and they noticed how their brother could not stop smiling.

"The moment he was with Laci, they just beamed at each other," Jacqueline said. "No one else ever made my son smile like that. They did everything right."

After graduation, the couple opened a popular eatery called The Shack, a place near the Cal Poly campus where students came for hamburgers and sandwiches. The restaurant, a converted bakery, featured barrels of peanuts and numerous televisions showing sports.

The business quickly became a success. The couple sold The Shack two years later after deciding to move to Modesto to start a family and be closer to Laci's parents.

They rented a home for a while before buying a fixer-upper on Covena Avenue in the La Loma neighborhood. Scott is a salesman for a specialty fertilizer company.

After several years of trying, Laci became pregnant last summer. She was so excited when she found out that she began calling family and friends at 7 a.m. after taking a pregnancy test.

As the holiday season progressed, the Petersons held several parties at their home. Guests walking in noticed that the house no longer resembled the place that the Petersons had purchased.

"Scott remodeled the entire house, doing woodwork, tile, plumbing, a little bit of everything," said Guy Miligi, a friend of the Petersons'. "I know he put a lot of hours into making that baby room just right. He was real excited about having his first child. He talked about that all the time."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Dec. 23, Laci and her mother spoke by telephone. The call ended about 8:30 p.m. Scott told police he last saw his wife the next morning as he left for a fishing trip out of the Berkeley Marina, and was unable to find her when he returned home that evening.

Early on, police obtained a search warrant for the couple's home and vehicles and his warehouse. Police said they gathered evidence during those searches, but have not elaborated.

When they released pictures of Scott's truck and boat several weeks ago, police said they had been unable to corroborate his story. Police have said he is cooperating with investigators "to some degree."

Scott has not been named a suspect in his wife's disappearance; Police Chief Roy Wasden said Wednesday that detectives have not been able to eliminate Scott from the investigation.

Initially, Scott refused nearly every media request for interviews, saying that he preferred to keep the focus on his wife and not himself. He broke his silence roughly at about the same time that reports surfaced about the affair and life insurance policy.

Since he began talking with the media last week, Scott mostly has given one- and two-sentence comments, mostly about his plans to keep searching for his wife and child. He has ended most interviews quickly and abruptly.

He has not issued a direct denial of allegations of the affair. During a brief interview Friday with a Bay Area TV station, Scott called The Bee's report "a bunch of lies."

That same day, the Rocha family issued a statement asking Scott to tell police everything he knows, imploring him to prove that he has nothing to hide.

That weekend, as national media trucks inundated the area around the Modesto Police Department, Scott headed to Southern California to help with a one-day event to raise awareness of his wife's disappearance

(Excerpt) Read more at modestobee.com ...


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: lacipeterson
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To: tubebender
what proceeds from the business...we now know they declared bankuptcy just after they sold the business...this is something...:-)truth is truly stranger than fiction..
241 posted on 01/23/2003 8:33:08 PM PST by STOCKHRSE
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To: STOCKHRSE
.we now know they declared bankuptcy just after they sold the business...this is something..

I guess I missed that...what date did they sell the business and what date did they file bankruptcy?

242 posted on 01/23/2003 8:39:23 PM PST by tubebender
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To: Rusty Roberts
you do know that is Scotts favorite show...
243 posted on 01/23/2003 8:43:19 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: BonneBlue
This really sounds like they are trying to pick their words as if they were coached beforehand, or are really trying to protect Scott. Rusty Roberts brought out a good point about the phone call from scott to his dad on the boat, not mentioning he was fishing in his brand new boat. Something is really fishy about these stories, I'm sure LE has cought on as well.
244 posted on 01/23/2003 8:43:30 PM PST by jdontom (BacktheBadge)
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To: jdontom
"Ridenour saying it that way may be a veiled warning to those in Scotts circle, letting them know that more than one jail cell is available .. for murderers and those that help them, before, during, or after the commission of a crime."

You gotta love the uh understatement and subtle humor of that paragraph!!!


245 posted on 01/23/2003 8:46:09 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: jdontom
When Gretta was interviewing the father of Scott, the guy said that Scott talked to him that morning and Scott told him they were going to her parents for Christmas Eve; and that Laci was going to walk the dog.

However, the guy later said that he talked to Scott when Scott was on his boat (via cell phone), and he and Scott discussed that they were going to her parents for Christmas Eve.

Now, why would they have the same conversation just a few hours later?? Seems very weird to me. Was the dad having a senior moment ...??
246 posted on 01/23/2003 8:48:01 PM PST by CyberAnt (Syracuse where are you?)
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To: tubebender; L84AD8
I don't know, was wondering the same thing. L84AD8 would definately know the answer to that.
247 posted on 01/23/2003 8:48:47 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: Queen Jadis
No, gedouddaheah ;-)
Seriously, how did this come to light? Kind of frightening when you think about it, possibly missing weights, cement "shoes" anchors, possibly sleeping with the fishes...
248 posted on 01/23/2003 8:50:10 PM PST by Rusty Roberts
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To: Queen Jadis
Yea, I'm sure Ridenour knows something from the cell phone records and is at least giving them a chance beforehand.

After reading these threads tonight the Peterson's need to stay off National TV.

249 posted on 01/23/2003 8:50:42 PM PST by jdontom (BacktheBadge)
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To: jdontom
Nite all....geez can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. I believe Dan Abrams said Laci's family will be holding a news conference sometime tomorrow. Wonder if anyone else has heard this? Will check back in the morn....
250 posted on 01/23/2003 8:53:01 PM PST by BonneBlue
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To: CyberAnt
This is interesting....The more he agrees to these interviews the more he will slip up, if he was involved that is.
251 posted on 01/23/2003 8:56:25 PM PST by BonneBlue
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To: Rusty Roberts
yes it's true! I'm not kidding. There have been so many threads going on this story that It would take to long to find it. But the jist of it was this. The Sopranos is Scotts fave show and him and Laci would entertain at their house when the show was on. There were a few posts entertaining the idea that Scott could have had a few ideas from watching the show. I think there was one episode where a body was dumped over board a boat.

Ba da bing
252 posted on 01/23/2003 9:00:53 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: CyberAnt
Now, why would they have the same conversation just a few hours later??

Why would SP mention that Laci was "going to walk the dog" to his dad. Lee Peterson is repeating what scott said to LE, not necessarally what SP said to the dad. This appears that Lee is trying to shore up SP alabi.

253 posted on 01/23/2003 9:06:11 PM PST by jdontom (BacktheBadge)
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To: Rusty Roberts
Not necessarily. There are ways to "hide" money b4 you file. They could have given profits of initial business back to parents and then got the money back after bankruptcy. The former is just an example of how they could have moved money around. I don't think that this is necessarily what they did. I do believe that they were in deep financial trouble. I alluded to this yesterday b4 this new news. I think Scott is a PLAYAH in every sense of the word. Let's see if he is as smart as Tony.
254 posted on 01/23/2003 9:08:19 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: BonneBlue
Just a hunch. I think he already slipped up. Something is brewing.
255 posted on 01/23/2003 9:10:38 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: Queen Jadis
Oh I believe you, not my intention to give the impression otherwise, just thought it ironic in this situation.

Also, as I'm so new at being registered here, didn't realize I had mail, and RG had done some research before leaving today and gave me a heads up in that so far, nothing is turning up for Scott and Laci as to bankruptcy in the last two years--. Sooooooooo...here we go with questions about the NE.

I'll take the heat, I posted it. I saw the reporter on TV again tonight, he seems to feel confident of this, but who knows for sure. Now that the NE has reported it, it is being discussed on other web sites and the news shows. Have to see what follows.
256 posted on 01/23/2003 9:12:58 PM PST by Rusty Roberts
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To: runningbear
You need to change your hours so you can stay on these threads longer ha ha. I should talk!

Headlines will be easy to come by this Morning after tonight...............

257 posted on 01/23/2003 9:13:33 PM PST by jdontom (BacktheBadge)
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To: LuvMyNick
They are considering other family members that may be involved in Laci's disappearance.

I'm sure it must be SP's family they are referring to, who may possibly be involved in the coverup, not Laci's... (Only speculating here, just an opinion.)

258 posted on 01/23/2003 9:13:37 PM PST by texasbluebell
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To: Rusty Roberts
I'm new too. Just signed up at beginning of the year. i lurked for a year.
259 posted on 01/23/2003 9:14:32 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: texasbluebell
I think Scott is being helped AFTER the fact not during the course of the crime.
260 posted on 01/23/2003 9:16:48 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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