Scott Peterson
Posted on 04/18/2003 5:55:02 AM PDT by runningbear
Attorney: There's A Reason Why Scott Hasn't Been Seen
Attorney: There's A Reason Why Scott Hasn't Been Seen
Laci's Family, Friends Continue To Wait For DNA Results
Karen Brown
POSTED: 10:00 p.m. PDT April 17, 2003
UPDATED: 10:10 p.m. PDT April 17, 2003
MODESTO, Calif. -- Family and friends of Laci Peterson continue to wait for results of a DNA test on two bodies found earlier this week in Richmond.
And they also face another concern: the whereabouts of Scott Peterson. NBC11's Karen Brown spoke with Peterson's attorney, Kirk McCallister, on Thursday.
McCallister said there is a very good reason that his client has not been seen in town since this past weekend, Brown said.
Scott Peterson, who said he went fishing the day his wife disappeared near the area where the bodies were found, has not been named as a suspect in the case. McCallister says he's not been seen at home because of the microscope he's been he living under.
"The shark-feeding frenzy's made it so that he can't go home. So for that reason, his life is, on many levels, is turned upside down. That's obviously not the least of the problems," McCallister said.
Meanwhile, investigators at the crime lab in Richmond said they are already planning to work through the weekend if they have to and will do whatever it takes to identify the body.
They have not been able to identify a good sample of DNA from the female body, although they have been able to get a sample from the baby.
Laci Peterson's family remains in seclusion. Her father said that the waiting is excruciating, and he is just trying to keep busy, Brown reported.
In the meantime, a shrine to Laci continues to grow in front of her Modesto home.
Nine-year-old Bianca Ontiveros is one of the steady stream of Modesto residents showing up at a makeshift memorial outside the Petersons' home. She is crushed to think that the bodies found in Richmond may be those of Laci and the baby boy.
"He deserves to be here, be a kid, have fun, enjoy his life," Bianca said.
Some people also showed up to express their anger with Laci's husband, who has not been seen in the area since last weekend.
"Anger that he's not here supporting his family and in-laws, just that he's nowhere to be found," said Rubin Ontiveros, a neighbor.
Meanwhile, the state crime lab continues to try to identify the body.
"There's a lot going on behind the scenes right now. We just don't have anything to make public right now," said Jimmy Lee of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department.
McCallister also said that Scott Peterson hopes that the bodies are not that of Laci and the baby, Brown said.
Scott Peterson
EXCERPTED:Click the link and view the video clip too
"A phone answering machine at the home of Scott Peterson's sister, Susan Caudillo refers media calls to the Laci Hotline. A woman answering the Laci Hotline takes a message but says the family will not be returning calls. Curiously, it's the same answering service woman that takes calls to Scott Peterson's warehouse headquarters for his agricultural chemical business. And the message is the same.
If the Modesto Police have an idea where Scott Peterson is, and you might think they would, they're keeping it to themselves. At a news conference Tuesday, Detective Doug Ridenour said, "I don't know where Scott Peterson is and if I did, I couldn't tell you."
For quite a while after Laci Peterson disappeared, Scott wasn't hard to find. He'd show up daily at the volunteer search headquarters to help work the phones. Or he could be found working around the Modesto house he and Laci shared.
Even when reporters and camera crews filled his street Scott came and went at will.
But today, although the grass looked freshly cut, neighbors say the house has looked abandoned lately.
Neighbor Cory Emerson described the house as "very quiet, no cars there, don't see any movement. Obviously, the yard is getting done, but don't know by who."
Out at the edge of town, a spokesman at the Del Rio Golf Course country club told KRON 4 News that Scott had sold his membership.
In San Diego, camera crews have been staking out the home of Peterson's parents, but no one has reported seeing Scott. A sister there told a television news reporter that Scott was not in San Diego.
Prosecutor: Body is probably Laci Peterson
"We don't have another person in mind," said John Tonkyn, a missing persons supervisor at the Attorney General's Richmond DNA Laboratory.
By Paul Sakuma, AP
Related graphic: DNA used to verify identity
EXCERPTED:
Prosecutor: Body is probably Laci Peterson
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — The county prosecutor in Modesto says he feels "pretty strongly" that the body of a woman that washed up on shore this week is the missing Laci Peterson.
"If I were a betting man, I'd put money on it," Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton told the Modesto Bee for a story published Thursday. (Related graphic: DNA used to verify identity)
A state crime lab was working to determine whether two bodies found on the shores of the San Francisco Bay were Peterson and the baby she was carrying when she vanished Dec. 24. She was eight months pregnant at the time.
"I feel pretty strongly it is (Peterson)," said Brazelton, whose jurisdiction includes Modesto. "It's too much of a coincidence to have a female and a baby found close to each other a day apart and no others were reported missing."
Asked about Brazelton's comments, Laci Peterson's stepfather, Ron Grantski, said Thursday that he had not been told that personally. "Our family is waiting until we are told personally, not told by the press," he said.
State Department of Justice spokesman Nathan Barankin told the paper that lab technicians had determined that samples from the infant's body, found Sunday, contained enough intact DNA to be used for testing. A determination was expected Thursday on whether enough DNA could be extracted from the woman's body, found Monday.
"We've determined that we can yield a usable DNA profile from the fetus sample," Barankin said. "We're doing a little more work on the adult sample to finally determine whether we will be able to get a usable DNA profile."
Earlier, lab supervisor John Tonkyn had said, "We don't have another person in mind" other than Peterson.
When asked why dental records weren't being used, Tonkyn said the lab wasn't provided with teeth. Published reports have said the woman's body was headless. The full-term baby still had an umbilical cord attached.
The 27-year-old substitute teacher vanished on Christmas Eve from her home in Modesto, 90 miles southeast of Richmond. She was eight months pregnant. Her husband, Scott Peterson, said he saw her as he left to go fishing that morning in Berkeley, not far from where the bodies were found.
Scott Peterson, 30, a fertilizer salesman, hasn't surfaced publicly since the bodies were discovered by people walking dogs. His in-laws stood by him early in the investigation, but a rift developed after he acknowledged having an affair with a Fresno woman.
Scott Peterson has not been named as a suspect in his wife's disappearance, but police have seized his boat, truck and nearly 100 items from his house.
His father, Lee Peterson, said Tuesday at his house north of San Diego that he didn't know where his son was.
"What if Scott were here?" he said. "Is that a big deal?"
The property manager of the building where Scott Peterson rented an office, who identified himself only as Mark, said Peterson moved out earlier this year and is trying to find someone to take over the lease.
If the woman's body is not identified as Peterson's, the lab will begin comparing the samples with likely matches in a database of 100 DNA samples of other missing people or their relatives. The state has more than 25,000 active missing person cases.
Enough DNA Found To Test For Laci Relationship
Enough DNA Found To Test For Laci Relationship
Report: Stanislaus DA Believes Body Is Laci
POSTED: 9:00 a.m. PDT April 17, 2003
UPDATED: 5:46 p.m. PDT April 17, 2003
MODESTO, Calif. -- Crime analysts say they have enough DNA to see if an unborn child's body that washed up on a San Francisco shoreline this week is related to Laci Peterson.
"We've determined that we can yield a usable DNA profile from the fetus sample," State Department of Justice spokesman Nathan Barankin said.
The analysts expressed hope that they will be able to extract usable nuclear DNA from an adult female body that was found nearby a day later to be able to get a quick identification.
"We're doing a little more work on the adult sample to finally determine whether we will be able to get a usable DNA profile," Barankin said.
On the "Today Show," Thursday, DNA expert and former O.J. Simpson defense attorney Barry Scheck explained why the process is so time-consuming.
"They literally take a drill and a bit to the middle of a bone to try and get to the marrow. Hopefully, they can take those shavings and extract two kinds of DNA," Scheck said.
Also, the county prosecutor in Modesto says he feels "pretty strongly" that the adult body is missing Modesto woman, Laci Peterson.
"If I were a betting man, I'd put money on it," Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton told the Modesto Bee for a story published Thursday.
A state crime lab was working to determine whether two bodies found on the shores of the San Francisco Bay were Peterson and the baby she was carrying when she vanished Dec. 24. She was eight months pregnant at the time.
"I feel pretty strongly it is (Peterson)," said Brazelton, whose jurisdiction includes Modesto. "It's too much of a coincidence to have a female and a baby found close to each other a day apart and no others were reported missing."
Asked about Brazelton's comments, Laci Peterson's stepfather, Ron Grantski, said Thursday that he had not been told that personally. "Our family is waiting until we are told personally, not told by the press," he said.
Earlier, lab supervisor John Tonkyn had said, "We don't have another person in mind" other than Peterson.
http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2118224/detail.html">DNA Lab Tests Remains With Laci Peterson In Mind
DNA Lab Tests Remains With Laci Peterson In Mind
Cause Of Death Could Be Difficult To Determine
POSTED: 4:53 p.m. PDT April 16, 2003
UPDATED: 2:44 p.m. PDT April 17, 2003
RICHMOND, Calif. -- While the parents of Laci Peterson have stayed out of the public eye since the remains of a woman and baby washed ashore in San Francisco Bay, they may play an important role in confirming whether the bodies belong to their missing daughter and her unborn son.
State crime lab technicians are analyzing DNA swabbed from the mouths of Sharon and Dennis Rocha to compare with samples from the severely decomposed corpses found a mile apart this week on the rocky shoreline of this city east of San Francisco.
Experts: 'Coffin Birth' Could Explain How Dead Woman Could Deliver Baby Coffin Birth
At this point, the scope of their identification work is limited to determining if the months-long search for Laci Peterson and the baby boy she was due to deliver in February is over, authorities said Wednesday.
"We don't have another person in mind," said John Tonkyn, a missing persons supervisor at the Attorney General's Richmond DNA Laboratory.
Peterson, 27, was eight months pregnant when she vanished from her Modesto home on Christmas. Her husband, Scott Peterson, said he last saw her that morning as he left to go fishing in Berkeley, 90 miles northeast of Modesto and three miles south of where the bodies surfaced.
Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton told the Modesto Bee he thinks the woman's body is that of Laci Peterson.
"I feel pretty strongly it is," said Brazelton, whose jurisdiction includes Modesto. "It's too much of a coincidence to have a female and a baby found close to each other a day apart and no others were reported missing. If I were a betting man, I'd put money on it."
In addition to testing specimens from Peterson's mother and father, the lab in Richmond will also compare tissue and bone from the two unidentified corpses with DNA extracted from strands of hair taken from Laci Peterson's brush.
Click the several video clips from NBC4.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbc11.com ...
Police: Suspect May Be Using New Identification
Earl Foster Jr., 40, of Pittsburg
impound Foster's gold Mercedes 300E
Latest:
MPD shot and killed a person as reported by KCBS, details still pending and sketchy....
Are they on the lookout for a white Bronco?
However, if neither her family nor the police knows where is at, that doesn't look so good.
I don't think he expected the sea to give up its dead.
Modesto attorney says he is in daily contact with Scott Peterson
EXCERPTED:
MODESTO, Calif. (AP) -- Scott Peterson's lawyer said Thursday that he is in daily contact with his client, who is still hoping that his missing wife and the son she was due to deliver in February will be found alive.
In an interview with the Modesto Bee, attorney Kirk McAllister refused to disclose the whereabouts of Peterson, who has not been seen publicly since the decomposed remains of a woman and a male infant washed ashore this week in Richmond, 90 miles away.
But McAllister told the newspaper that he has spoken regularly with Peterson this week.
``His thought is that certainly, for somebody, this represents a tragedy,'' McAllister said. ``He is hoping this doesn't mean that his search for Laci and the baby is over.''
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's office would not say Thursday whether lab technicians had determined if the woman's body contained enough intact DNA to prove whether or not it was Laci Peterson's.
AND
D.A.: 'I'd Put My Money On It' Being Laci
EXCERPTED:
MODESTO, Calif. -- The headline in the local paper said it all Thursday morning. Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton told the Modesto Bee he has no doubt the body recovered in a Richmond waterfront park is that of Laci Peterson.
"I feel pretty strongly it is," Brazelton was quoted as saying. "It's too much of a coincidence to have a female and a baby found close to each other a day apart and no others were reported missing. If I were a betting man, I'd put money on it."
Brazelton's comments further fueled a local atmosphere turning against Laci's husband, Scott Peterson.
Yeah, I'll bet there is; a reason along the lines of relocating in el Mexico.
So, he's still trying to convince people that he's in the "Find Laci" mode?
Incredibly poor choice of words from the lawyer.
Can they determine if the baby was full term? If so, and she was only 8 mos. preg when she vanished, wouldn't that tend to support the abduction theory and exonerate the husband?
He has certainly behaved like a guilty scumbag, but the physical evidence might point the other way.
Also, how come it's taking them so long with the DNA analysis? I know real life isn't like CSI...DNA results while you wait...but they discovered the bodies about a week ago, right?
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