SCOTT PETERSON ARRESTED IN MODESTO

[BurbankKarl]

breaking KCAL9 LA reporting

[CheneyChick]

That's freaky.

[texasbluebell]

This was almost as ridiculous as a poster a few months ago who was criticizing some thread, maybe even one of the Laci threads, and the thread he was most interested in at that time was some humorous thread about the penis.

Yes, you read it correctly.

[Devil_Anse]

Hmm! Thanks for the info! That sounds like our system, kind of.

Red. Shoot, Diver Dave, why'd you have to tell us that now?? This is becoming a color palette nightmare! How on earth are we supposed to visualize Scott's current hair with RED??

[Devil_Anse]

The brother--actually, half-brother--in PA is named Don Chapman.

[Howlin]

For the life of me, I have NEVER understood why people fail to grasp the concept of CLICKING ON BY.

I've been here five years and I do it EVERY SINGLE DAY.

You have to know they are coming on just to disrupt.

[RGSpincich]

Archie- In the middle of hostilities you start a vanity thread about Westerns? And then criticize others here? Magnificent Doofus you are.

[Devil_Anse]

Oh, wow, thanks, Clouda!! That's it! That msg was in there and at the time, it was the ONLY one that struck a discordant note. All the others were well-wishes, with no barbs, even for Scott (who had not yet been revealed as an adulterer.)

WONDER who she is! Could Amber's sister have been posting there, using the name Krista?

[Devil_Anse]

One is An American Mother. Another is Iwo Jima. Both have revealed what looks to me like a lot of detailed knowledge of insurance, claims, and ins. litigation.

[Wednesday's Child]

hmmmm only a little over 300 replies to the thread he started??????? but he felt the need to come here and say this thread is wasting bandwidth???
sheesh

[RGSpincich]

Thread envy

[Wednesday's Child]

LOL

it takes all kinds I guess.......

[texasbluebell]

It's amusing when people think they're qualified to criticize others like this, and then they're caught in something so ridiculous.

And yes, you can only think they want to disrupt and stir things up a bit.

[runningbear]

Some Excerpted Modesto Bee ariticles from Sunday's hard copy/online
Pinging ya to today's continuing of this thread from Friday ;o)

As mystery unfolded, fear turned to despair

As mystery unfolded, fear turned to despair

BEE STAFF REPORTS

Published: April 20, 2003, 06:58:59 AM PDT

Her baby was nearly full-term.
The nursery was almost complete.>br> The presents were wrapped and waiting beneath the Christmas tree.
As the holidays progressed, Laci Peterson seemed to have everything in order.
On Dec. 23, the Modesto woman had time to join her husband when he went for a haircut. They went to Salon Salon at McHenry Village, where Laci's sister, Amy Rocha, cut Scott's hair. The sisters chatted.
It was the last time that anybody besides her husband reported seeing Laci.
Laci's mother said she spoke with Laci by telephone that night, and they ended their conversation about 8:30. Laci and Scott were due for dinner the next night at the home of Laci's mom and stepfather.
Christmas Eve dawned, and at 9:30, according to Scott, he left on a solo fishing trip as his wife prepared to take their dog for a walk at East La Loma Park.
Her normal route would have taken her to a trail, about a block from their home at 523 Covena Ave., which leads to the park.
A neighbor later said she found the dog, McKenzie, wandering alone with muddy leash attached about 10:30 a.m. The neighbor, not thinking that anything was amiss, put the golden retriever in the Petersons' yard.
Scott said he returned home that evening, and his wife was not there, even though her Land Rover was in the driveway. He called his in-laws, Sharon Rocha and Ron Grantski. He checked with neighbors and friends.

Peterson alone in cell

Peterson alone in cell

By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER

Published: April 20, 2003, 05:55:58 AM PDT

As a memorial of stuffed animals, flowers and candles swelled in front of his Modesto home Saturday, Scott Peterson sat across town in a 6-by-9-foot cell. Peterson spent his first night behind bars, sleeping on a 2-inch-thick mattress in a single-person cell, officials said.

"We absolutely do not want to treat this gentleman any differently than we do anyone else," said Stanislaus County sheriff's Lt. Janet Rasmussen, who oversees the downtown Modesto jail. "He's being treated exactly as we would anybody else."

But the nature of the allegations against Peterson and the national attention given the case prompted officials to segregate him from the rest of the jail population.

"There are inmates in the jail who definitely have some unfavorable opinions of him, and they have expressed that," said Kelly Huston, a Sheriff's Department spokesman. "He is in the highest security area so he does not have access to other inmates, nor do they have access to him."

Prosecutors plan to charge Peterson, 30, with two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, District Attorney James Brazelton said Friday.

Peterson likely will be arraigned Monday or Tuesday. He could face the death penalty if convicted of both counts.

Laci Peterson, 27, was eight months pregnant when she was reported missing Christmas Eve.

DNA tests confirmed Friday that two bodies found last week along the San Francisco Bay's eastern shoreline were those of Laci and her child, Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced.

Peterson was arrested in La Jolla on Friday morning. At the time, he was carrying a large amount of money; law enforcement officers on Saturday would not say how much.

Detectives returned him to Modesto by car, and he was booked into Stanislaus County Jail at 12:09 a.m. Saturday.

The white polo shirt and khaki shorts he wore Friday were replaced by a red jumpsuit designated for maximum-security prisoners, officials said.

His cell is within eyeshot of a deputy "pretty much all of the time," but he was not placed on a suicide watch, Huston said. A television set is within view.

Peterson made several phone calls Saturday and requested a haircut, Huston said. He was booked into jail sporting a full goatee and his dark hair had been dyed a lighter shade. Haircuts are given once a month on a rotating basis by cell block, Huston said.

Crowd on hand to see Scott's arrival at jail

About 200 people, not including media, were on hand to witness the arrival of Scott Peterson late Friday at the Stanislaus County Jail.
ADRIAN MENDOZA/THE BEE

Kelly Huston, spokesman for the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, said the magnitude of the crowd was a surprise.

"We were considering doing a last-minute booking change," Huston said. "Our No. 1 goal was to make sure he was booked safely, and that included that he didn't get lynched when he came in the driveway. There were people out there screaming, 'Murderer.'"

Officers arrested Peterson, 30, in San Diego County on Friday morning on murder charges in the deaths of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.

DNA tests leave little doubt on identities

Using DNA taken from the shin bone of the female body and from a blood sample taken from Scott Peterson by law enforcement officials, serologists in the state forensics lab in Richmond determined that the infant was the child of the female and Scott Peterson, Lockyer said. He said the statistic was 1 to 18 billion, meaning that only one out of every 18 billion people also could positively test as the parents of the child.

The world's population is roughly 6.3 billion.

Using cheek swabs from Laci Peterson's parents, Sharon Rocha and Dennis Rocha, the lab determined there was a 1 in 1.9 billion chance that Sharon and Dennis Rocha were not the parents of the adult female.

John Tonkyn, supervisor of the state's Missing Persons DNA project, explained that the DNA samples taken from the remains also were compared with random DNA samples to see if there were positive matches there. There were none.

"Law code assumes paternity when the code exceeds the hundreds, and this is in the billions," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said. "There is no question in our mind the unidentified female is Laci Peterson and the unidentified infant is the child of Scott and Laci Peterson."

Scott Peterson focus of investigation from beginning, police say

Many of his Modesto friends began to shun him. His fellow golfers at the Del Rio Country Club quietly bought out his membership for an estimated $25,000 in cash.

He eventually moved to San Diego, his hometown.

There, he was aware of the surveillance, waved at detectives and was "being kind of a smart aleck" before Friday, said California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

Wasden sought an arrest warrant Thursday, a day before the confirmation of the identities of the bodies, in part because he feared Peterson might flee to Mexico, which forbids the extradition of anyone who faces the death penalty.

"That was a concern," Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said Saturday. "While we've improved our relationship with Mexico, extraditions, death penalty or not, can be very troublesome, expensive and tiresome."

Calif attorney general marries pregnant girlfriend

The Ca AG story is too fitting on a Democrat.. but wish him luck

And a little bit off humor... Hey did scotty escape?... (yes I know it isn't him...;o)

An unidentified man climbed to the top of the fence on the south side of the Briggsmore Avenue overpass, over the northbound lanes of Highway 99, on Saturday afternoon. Freeway traffic was stopped, causing major congestion for about an hour around 3 p.m. Modesto police officers finally convinced the man to come down.
BART AH YOU/THE BEE

[melodie]

NOW is hopping on the SP bandwagon....oh boy....

http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/03/04/20/news3-laci.htm

Laci Peterson case tied to Roe debate

By Rob Jennings, Daily Record

The head of the National Organization for Women's Morris County chapter is opposing a double-murder charge in the Laci Peterson case, saying it could provide ammunition to the pro-life lobby.

"If this is murder, well, then any time a late-term fetus is aborted, they could call it murder," Morris County NOW President Mavra Stark said on Saturday.

Prosecutors in California announced Friday their intention to charge Scott Peterson, 30, of Modesto, both with killing his wife and their unborn son. Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when she disappeared Dec. 24.

Both bodies were identified on Friday after washing up on the shore of San Francisco Bay.

More than two dozen states, including California, have adopted "fetal homicide" statutes, and prosecutors often will seek a double-murder charge when a pregnant woman is killed.

Marie Tasy, public and legislative affairs director for New Jersey Right To Life, countered that a double-murder charge against Scott Peterson is appropriate. She assailed pro-choice activists for opposing fetal homicide statutes.

"Obviously he was wanted by the mother," Tasy said.

"Clearly groups like NOW are doing a great injustice to women by opposing these laws. It just shows you how extreme, and to what lengths, these groups will go to protect the right to abortion."

Fetal homicide laws have been opposed by some pro-choice organizations that fear they will undermine a woman's right to choose an abortion, even though the statues exempt legal abortions.

After watching news reports of Peterson's arrest, Stark expressed concern with the tone of the coverage.

"There's something about this that bothers me a little bit," Stark said. "Was it born, or was it unborn? If it was unborn, then I can't see charging (Peterson) with a double-murder."

Some pro-lifers hope fetal homicide laws will establish a precedent that fetuses are human beings, thereby fueling efforts to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Laci Peterson's due date was Feb. 10, and she already had picked out a name -- Connor -- for her unborn son. Stark said that added to the tragedy of the case, but shouldn't result in an additional murder charge.

"He was wanted and expected, and (Laci Peterson) had a name for him, but if he wasn't born, he wasn't born. It sets a kind of precedent," Stark said, adding that the issue was "just something I've been ruminating on."

There is no fetal homicide statute in New Jersey, considered one of the nation's most pro-choice states. Under California law, murder charges can result if the fetus is older than seven weeks.

To convict Peterson of murdering his unborn son, prosecutors would have to prove either that he intended to kill the fetus or knew that it would die as a result of Laci Peterson's death.

"The argument that (fetal homicide statutes) would interfere with abortion rights is ridiculous," Tasy said. "These groups are so radical that they would deny recourse to a family for the loss of a wanted child."

The second murder charge against Peterson is crucial because he otherwise would not be eligible for the death penalty. The double-murder charge qualifies as a "special circumstance" for which capital punishment may be sought.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty against Peterson, who will be arraigned on Monday. He is being held in the Stanislaus County Jail.

Stark said that despite her opposition to the double-murder charge, she is not sympathetic to Scott Peterson. "I'd like to see them string him up," Stark said, "any way they can."


Rob Jennings can be reached at rjenning@gannett.com or (973) 989-0652.

[Devil_Anse]

Yes, that's what I was thinking. Since he has fallen out of the public view, perhaps Scott has taken up with some new girlfriend(s). He might still be hoping his new love doesn't recognize him in the jail shots. She would know him as Blond Scott. So he's eager to change back to Brunette Scott, the better to keep her from noticing him on TV.

Why, you may ask, would he bother, when it looks like he's not going to be leaving jail for a very long time? Because in his mind, I truly believe that he is thinking, "this will all be over soon, and I'll be able to get back to my life."

[MaggieMay]

Thanks for the ping runningbear. I wondered where you were Velveeta,good to see you. Happy Easter to all.I posted this yesterday to Devil, but I think it bears repeating,these are the same people who are so concerned by World Affairs,if you look at their posting history there is invariably a thread on the "Most Downloaded Pinup on the Internet". LOL

[melodie]

Sorry that was supposed to be addressed to ALL..

[texasbluebell]

I had to do a double take with that photo of the guy on the overpass! I thought he made a break for it for a few minutes!

Thanks for the updates, rb.

[Archangelsk]

Which I identified as vanity and which bears no relevance to this discussion. As I said earlier, you can attack my ideas and that's fine, but the moment you engage in attacking me personally then I draw the line.

[runningbear]

LOL...I know, caught my eye too... ;o)

about a mile or so away from me...Good thing I wasn't over that direction at that time... Hwy 99 traffic is swift...