Defense Team Seeking Man Named 'Donnie' as Laci Peterson Murder Suspect

MODESTO, Calif. — New details have come to light about the person Scott Peterson's defense team says they believe could be responsible for the murder of his 8-months-pregnant wife, Laci Peterson (search).

The defense has revealed that it is searching for a man named "Donnie," with no known address and a possible tie to illegal drugs, including methamphetamines, Fox News has learned.

Peterson's attorneys say they're also still combing for signs of a brown van reportedly spotted in the area when Laci disappeared on Christmas Eve. They believe that Donnie and others are linked to the van.

Meanwhile, tensions escalated as battles over personal belongings continued this weekend between the Petersons and Laci's family, the Rochas. The latest squabble was apparently over Laci's wedding ring, which Scott Peterson wants back.

In an interview with Fox News, Rocha family attorney Adam Stewart said he was retained about two months ago by Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, to oversee the property matters in the case.

Rocha asked Stewart not to discuss the wedding ring details with Fox News. But Stewart did say that the Peterson family ignored the Rochas' repeated requests to go into Laci and Scott's Modesto (search) home to go through some of Laci's belongings.

The Rochas had a list of 22 items -- many of them of sentimental value, like her wedding dress and the crib for the unborn baby Conner -- that they wanted to retrieve.

But after her requests were ignored, she and the rest of the Rocha family grew frustrated --leading to their surprise visit on Friday to get the mementos they sought, Stewart told Fox News.

Against the advice of their attorney and unbeknownst to the defense, the Rochas arrived at the house Friday morning and left with several carloads of belongings -- including the crib, the dress, the rocking chair in the baby's room and other items.

"Sharon's objective, at the start of all this, was to get inside the home and look at her daughter's belongings," Stewart told Fox News. "She wanted to have that time. I think she would give back everything she has of Laci's to have that time."

The incident infuriated the Petersons and their lawyers. The battle between the two families played out at least partly in the media over the weekend.

After the anguished families clashed Friday over the Rochas' removal of personal items, a new tiff arose surrounding Laci's wedding ring -- which the Peterson family wants back, according to The Modesto Bee.

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June 2, 2003 -- Almost half of Americans believe life begins at the moment of conception, a new poll says. Forty-six percent say a fetus should be considered a person as soon as conception occurs.

Another 24 percent believe human life begins only when the fetus can survive outside of the womb. Just 11 percent believe life begins at birth, according to a Newsweek poll released yesterday.

(((if you are eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, might want to put it down before reading the NY Daily News article)))

Scott Peterson's parents accused their former in-laws of trespassing yesterday after Laci Peterson's family went into the couple's former home and took out truckloads of the dead woman's mementos.

The bizarre scene underscored simmering tensions between the families since Scott Peterson has been accused of murdering Laci Peterson and her unborn baby, Conner.

Laci Peterson's relatives entered the suburban Modesto home one day after lawyers hammered out a deal that would allow them to visit next week.

But Laci Peterson's family members and their friends arrived yesterday morning and began loading pickup trucks with furniture - including the white rocker Laci Peterson had planned to use to lull her baby to sleep - and boxes of goods.

Scott Peterson's attorneys were furious with Laci Peterson's relatives, including her mother, Sharon Rocha, accusing them of trespassing.

Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie Peterson, told the Bee, "I have a lot of empathy for Sharon but she does not have a right to go in our house and take what she wants."

Also yesterday, ABC's "Good Morning America" reported that it had obtained a copy of Laci Peterson's sealed autopsy report, which showed her ribs were broken, her maternity bra was torn or cut and a long strip of duct tape was found between what's left of her legs.

Laci Peterson's remains were found badly decomposed and her head, arms and parts of her legs were missing. But her torso has yielded some tantalizing clues of who killed her and her unborn son - and when.

Forensic experts say it's possible that if the duct tape had been used to bind her body before it was dumped into the San Francisco Bay, there's a chance the adhesive glue still bears the fingerprints of her killer.

"I don't know after three months in the water but I would not dismiss the possibility until I've checked it [for any prints]," said Dr. Werner Spitz, a forensic pathologist.

The report also said she had caffeine in her system. If the levels are high, and Laci Peterson had a habit of drinking coffee at a certain time of day, "that might tell you what time of the day this [slaying] occurred," Spitz said.

Laci Peterson's body washed ashore in Richmond, Calif., on April 14 - just a couple of miles away from where her husband, Scott Peterson, said he was fishing Dec. 24.

Cops believe Scott Peterson killed his pregnant wife in their home on Dec. 23 or 24 and then dumped her body while on his alleged fishing trip, according to a police document.

Scott Peterson, now charged in the murders of his wife and unborn son, says he is innocent.

ABC's story came a day after MSNBC reported the coroner's findings on Baby Conner's remains that showed that the infant's neck was wrapped in plastic tape.

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Moved by the Laci Peterson story, two songwriters 77 miles apart independently produced musical tributes to the slain Modesto woman and her unborn son, Conner. Although they do not know each other, both musicians said they were inspired by media reports of a May 4 public memorial in Modesto attended by about 3,000 people. Both songs draw heavily on images of mother and child safe and happy in heaven.

"Everyone has been moved by the events as they unfold," said Tony Handy, 50, of Oakland. "As the story went on, I wanted to get more involved."

The same goes for John Strand, 51, of Escalon, who said he wishes that he had been moved before the memorial service.

"You can't orchestrate inspiration," Strand said, "and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was inspired."

Strand's song, "Remembering Laci," is a piano ballad that can be heard on The Bee's Web site, modbee.com. Sprinkled throughout the piece are references to Conner and flowers.

Handy described his song, "Straight to Heaven," as a pop tune with strains of jazz and soul. Part of the chorus says, "Gone straight to heaven, where princess angels live on."

Strand, a guard at Deuel Vocational Institution near Tracy, composed "Song for America," a patriotic folk song, four days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Handy, an activist who has worked for nonprofit agencies, once wrote a tune about a high school student killed in Los Angeles, his hometown, when a classmate's gun accidentally discharged at school.

A Sacramento man was sentenced to one year in prison Friday for helping cover up the murder of a pregnant teenager.

During his sentencing, 21-year-old James Kaleo Ross apologized for his role in hiding the murder of Quinnisha Thomas. He said he decided to help in the crime because he was afraid of the accused gunman in the case, 17-year-old Deondre Terrell Hudson.

The body of Thomas, who was eight months pregnant, was discovered January 13 in Sojourner Truth Park in the Greenhaven area of Sacramento. She had been shot in the back of the head.

Prosecutors contend that Hudson, who was Thomas' boyfriend at the time, murdered the pregnant woman and her unborn child. They said Hudson and 20-year-old Kevin Duran Coleman then put Thomas' body in the trunk of Ross' car and disposed of it at the park while Ross remained in his car.

Hudson was purportedly angry about Thomas' pregnancy and worried it would hurt his goal of a career in rap music which he was pursuing with Ross and Coleman.

Here is the actual California Codes on Probates.

Pay particular attention to section 255

CALIFORNIA CODES
PROBATE CODE
SECTION 250-259

(a) A person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is not entitled to any of the following:(1) Any property, interest, or benefit under a will of the decedent, or a trust created by or for the benefit of the decedent or in which the decedent has an interest, including any general or special power of appointment conferred by the will or trust on the killer and any nomination of the killer as executor, trustee,guardian, or conservator or custodian made by the will or trust.
2) Any property of the decedent by intestate succession.
(3) Any of the decedent's quasi-community property the killer would otherwise acquire under Section 101 or 102 upon the death of the decedent.
(4) Any property of the decedent under Part 5 (commencing with Section 5700) of Division 5.
(5) Any property of the decedent under Part 3 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 6.
(b) In the cases covered by subdivision (a):
(1) The property interest or benefit referred to in paragraph (1)of subdivision (a) passes as if the killer had predeceased thedecedent and Section 21110 does not apply.
(2) Any property interest or benefit referred to in paragraph (1)of subdivision (a) which passes under a power of appointment and by reason of the death of the decedent passes as if the killer had predeceased the decedent, and Section 673 not apply.
(3) Any nomination in a will or trust of the killer as executor,trustee, guardian, conservator, or custodian which becomes effective as a result of the death of the decedent shall be interpreted as if the killer had predeceased the decedent.

251. A joint tenant who feloniously and intentionally kills another joint tenant thereby effects a severance of the interest of the decedent so that the share of the decedent passes as the decedent's property and the killer has no rights by survivorship. This section applies to joint tenancies in real and personal property, joint and multiple-party accounts in financial institutions, and any other form of co ownership with survivorship incidents.

252. A named beneficiary of a bond, life insurance policy, or other contractual arrangement who feloniously and intentionally kills the principal obligee or the person upon whose life the policy is issued is not entitled to any benefit under the bond, policy, or other contractual arrangement, and it becomes payable as though the killer had pre deceased the decedent.

253. In any case not described in Section 250, 251, or 252 in which one person feloniously and intentionally kills another, any acquisition of property, interest, or benefit by the killer as a result of the killing of the decedent shall be treated in accordance with the principles of this part.

254. (a) A final judgment of conviction of felonious and intentional killing is conclusive for purposes of this part.(b) In the absence of a final judgment of conviction of felonious and intentional killing, the court may determine by a preponderance of evidence whether the killing was felonious and intentional for purposes of this part. The burden of proof is on the party seeking to establish that the killing was felonious and intentional for the purposes of this part.

255. This part does not affect the rights of any person who, before rights under this part have been adjudicated, purchases from the killer for value and without notice property which the killer would have acquired except for this part, but the killer is liable for the amount of the proceeds or the value of the property.

256. An insurance company, financial institution, or other obligor making payment according to the terms of its policy or obligation is not liable by reason of this part, unless prior to payment it has received at its home office or principal address written notice of aclaim under this part.

Now I am no attorney but in reading Section 255 it appears that the killer can sell the house before he is either convicted or adjudicated, but the killer is liable for the value of the property which would then go into Probate if found guilty.

So if my reading is correct, Scott could have sold it to the Peterson's and that is why Jackie refers to it as her house.
But what do I know, except I am getting more and more educated reading threads on FreeRepublic;-)

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