Vans continue to fuel mysteries
Newman resident Vera Alizaga, 41, thinks the tip she provided led Scott Peterson's defense team to examine a van.
ADRIAN MENDOZA/THE BEE
Homer and Helen Maldonado say they saw a van in the Petersons' neighborhood. AL GOLUB/THE BEE
(wonder if homer got his name after the Simpson? Doh!! ))
Vans continue to fuel mysteries
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
Published: June 11, 2003, 05:34:26 AM PDT
A Newman woman believes her tip about a suspicious van two weeks ago led Scott Peterson's defense attorneys to acquire the vehicle as a possible clue in the Laci Peterson murder case.
The same day police received Vera Alizaga's tip, they examined a van and announced that there was no connection to the double-murder case. They won't say whether her tip led them to the van they towed to a crime lab.
Also, people who spotted a van in the Petersons' neighborhood about the time the pregnant woman disappeared noted that the one they saw bears little resemblance to the one Alizaga described.
And that could mean, the witnesses said, that the van they saw "is still out there."
The search for tan and brown vans might figure into a theory that such a vehicle played a part in the deaths of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner. Her husband has pleaded not guilty to two charges of capital murder.
Soon after the pregnant woman was reported missing in December, Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said detectives believed a brown van some residents described belonged to a landscaping crew.
Another vehicle seen by witnesses
But witnesses also described another type of vehicle in the area.
Homer and Helen Maldonado described a yellowish-tan van with curtains and a chrome ladder on the back leading to a rooftop rack. They parked next to it briefly at a gas station in the Petersons' neighborhood on Christmas Eve, the day Laci Peterson disappeared.
After driving off, Homer Maldonado said he saw Laci Peterson walking her dog about a half-block away.
Having read in The Bee about a mysterious van reported near the Petersons' home, Alizaga's curiosity was piqued by one she saw May 28 while driving on Interstate 5 south of Crows Landing, she said.
"When you see something that looks so out of place, you go, 'Hmm, that's weird,'" Ali-zaga said.
She said she sped up to the dented, light-brown Chevrolet van until she and her husband, Jack, could see inside. They noted rubbish, including wrappers and used food containers. And they saw two men wearing what appeared to be stained T-shirts.
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