[Velveeta]

9/23 National Enquirer
Bloodhound sends investigators off in the right direction!

One of the key witnesses in the Laci Peterson case is a dog- a 4 year old bloodhound named Merlin.

Merlin and his handler, Cindee Valentin, helped search for Laci last Dec. 26, two days after she was missing. And the dog gave the cops the first hint she may have been the victim of foul play.

"Following Laci's scent, Merlin stopped in his tracks at the end of the Petersons' driveway, rather than continue to LaLoma Park one block away, where her husband Scott claimed she'd gone to walk the family dog."

"The bloodhound instead set off in the opposite direction toward Yosemite Blvd." said a source close to the case.

"It told cops, Laci left in a car and not on foot."

Merlin continued to follow Laci's scent for several miles before losing the scent. "The dog stopped at a dumpster on Yosemite, where it is possible some physical evidence may have been dumped," said a detective assigned to the case.

Peterson's defense attorneys want to know how good a dog Merlin is. They have filed papers with the court seeking complete backgrounds on Valentin and the bloodhound, though their credentials seem impeccable.

Valentin is a volunteer trainer and dog handler in the Costa County Sheriff's Reserve Division. Merlin is her personal dog, and has worked with her on numerous cases.

"Cindee Valentin is a highly trained individual in search and rescue and in evidence handling," Contra Costa Sheriff's spokesman, Jimmie Lee, told the NE.

In addition to training dogs for Contra Costa Sheriffi's office and the California Rescue Dog Assoc., Valentin teaches seminars in the training of guide dogs, rescue and cadaver searching dogs.

[Velveeta]

Again from the 9/23 National Enquirer
Laci's Tragic Final Journey

by David Wright

new pictures; The Hearse, Overview of Cemetary, Laci's Family arriving in Limo, Friends at Grave Side, Flowers at the Grave

Laci Peterson and the baby she came so close to holding in her arms were laid to rest in the same way they died- together.

The murdered mom and her tragic son Connor were buried in a single casket as two white doves symbolizing their souls soared into the blue sky above.

The emotional service might not have taken place if accused killer Scott Peterson's family had their way.

As Laci's loving mom Sharon Rocha was making burial arrangements, a close family source says she received a stunning e-mail from her daughter's mother-in-law Jackie Peterson, who wrote in part:

"We ask you to postpone the service until such time as Scott is exonerated and we all join together as a family to mourn your daughter, Scott's wife, our and your grandson and Scott's son who has been taken from all of us so cruelly."

Furious, Sharon and her husband Ron Grantski- who are convinced of Scott's guilt- handed the sensational message to their lawyer. "The Peterson's were told in no uncertain terms that the funeral was going ahead and that they were not welcome," revealed the close family source.

The attorney, Adam Stewart, wondered whether Jackie Peterson really wanted to be at the funeral..or "was she more concerned about elicitng sympathy for her son?"

It was against that turbulent background that more than 250 family and friends gathered at Burwood Cemetery in Escalon, Calif., on August 29 to say farewell to 27-year-old Laci, who was 8 months pregnant with Connor when she vanished last Christmas Eve.

Before the single coffin was lowered into the grave, Laci's distraught stepfather Ron Granstski rose to declare bitterly,"She was the light of my life. The animal that did this to her is going to pay."

The two doves were released over the grave, piled high with roses, daisies and sunflowers. As they fluttered away, 20 more doves followed them.

"The two were Laci and Connor, and the rest were angels sent to help follow them to heaven," Grantski explained.

But if Laci had been laid to rest, the bad blood between the families had not.

"Laci's mom Sharon is brokenhearted over her loss," the close family source told the NE.

"When she began planning Laci's and Conner's funeral, she bought two plots side by side.

"She told her family,"The second plot is for me when I die. I want to rest close to my daughter and grandson."

[Jackie-O]

If the bloodhound stopped in his tracks at the end of the driveway that means that Laci never left it, right??? Then HOW in the hell could there be wittnesses saying that they saw Laci walking McKenzie that morning??? If she did indeed venture out into the neighborhood that fatefull morning, wouldn't the sent of her travels be fairly fresh??
Laci left that driveway that day in the back of a boat....