HOW KILLER HUBBY PLANS TO BEAT RAP
INSIDE THE DEFENSE'S SECRET CASE
BY DAVID THOMPSON AND DAWNA KAUFMAN
In a desperate effort to save Scott Peterson's neck, his attorneys are building a defense that innocent wife Laci was killed by a satanic cult.
They say that Laci and her unborn child, Connor, were probably murdered by devil worshippers who sacrificed them Dec.24, hailed by satanists as the celebration of Demon Revels.
Former FBI special agent in charge Ted Gunderson, an expert in devil cults, tells Globe that the Peterson home in Modesto, Calif., is in an area noted for satanic activity, which often reaches a crescendo in the final days of December.
"If Laci and Connor were targeted for sacrifice, this would be the time of year they'd be in danger, " he says.
"However unlikely, it has to be realized that these demented people are out there believing in these rituals and practices."
But experts in the case against Peterson say their moves are doomed to failure because there's just too much evidence against him.
Cops are patiently building the case against Scott and say if he mounts a satanic defense he will rue that day all the way to death row.
Already the defense tactics have backfired on one front- with Globe quickly discovering one potential secret witness is a pathtic phony with mental problems.
Mark Geragos has taken up Scott's defense and within days of signing on , members of his team began to investigate the theory that Laci died at the hands of a devil cult. They leaked stories that her headless body was carved up and that her wounds were awful and horrendous. Using sources close to the defense investigation, Globe reporters were able to get a glimpse inside the case files.
The possibility of satanic involvement was raised after an investigator learned of a strange attack that occured close to Laci's home in Modesto, 10 days before she disappeared.
A woman was allegedly abducted by four men- one of them called Donnie- and driven away in a brown van. According to a source close to the defense team, she was subjected to a violent rape.
Strange rituals were preformed during the attack that had definite satanic overtones.
The woman sought medical help before disappearing and no one has been able to trace her.
Defense investigators believe there is a connection between these events and Laci's murder. And, when they asked for the public's help in finding this woman and the van, they seemed to have success.
The 40 year old divorcee from Merced Calif., approached them, saying she had been attacked and raped, knew Donnie and the where-abouts of the brown van. The woman also called GLOBE and told her story, saying that she believed Laci's death was part of a series of attacks in the Modesto area that had been covered up by corrupt judges.
She reported her attack to police in April last year and Globe confirmed that Merced Sheriff's Department is still investigating. "I believe I was the first victim of the gang who attacked the woman in Modesto and then 10 days later murdered Laci," she told us. And she revealed that she had been interviewed by defense investigators who were examing her story and might call her as a secret witness to bolster their case. But our reporters quickly found questions about her story. When we approached her ex-husband, he told us that the woman has serious mental problems and suffers from multile personalities. And Det. Scott Dover, of Merced sheriff's department , told us, "Its difficult to believe that she could ever be a credible witness in the Peterson case."
Despite the setback, the defense investigators believe that they may still be able to build a satanic attack defense. "The cops say that Laci was taken from her home late on Dec.23rd, but we have people who saw her Dec. 24. That is the key day in the satanic calendar and Laci went missing then."
The satanic defense though cuts no ice with Dr. Cyril Wecht, who is studying the case. He tell Globe, "I am willing to bet there was no mutilation of Laci's body by Satanists or anybody else." "Her head and limbs were probably sawn from the trunk by the action of chains or ropes around those parts and attached to weights to anchor her down to the bottom. The natural turbulence of the water caused it to happen.'
If Scott was innocent, and his wife was abducted by chain-smoking Satanists in a brown van, then how can the defense explain 1000 of Scaughty's behaviors since she went missing?
Why did the grieving husband not allow anyone in the home? Why did he immediately mop the previously mopped floors, vacuum, take umbrellas in a tarp to storage, have missing cement anchors, sell Laci's car and jewelry within weeks, omit all this for two weeks to his bimbo, laugh at Laci's vigil, dye his hair and carry his brother's passport, speak of her in the past tense immediately, not remember the bait he had fished with the day before, and so many other suspicious things?
If anyone else killed Laci and happened to throw her into the bay 2 hours from her home on the same day that Scott happened to be fishing there, why is he doing all of the above?
BTW, does anyone remember the movie "Wrongfully Accused" with Leslie Nielson where each episode in "Wrongfully Accused" is a spoof of some other well known movie? The trick is to name the other movies Nielson is portraying. Reminds me of Geragos and his defense strategies, changing all the time.