Evidence from bay prompts speculation in Peterson case

When authorities recovered Laci Peterson's remains on the shore of San Francisco Bay, they also found tape and clear plastic sheeting nearby.

The significance is unknown, given a court-imposed gag order on the double-murder case that prevents either side from discussing evidence.

But that hasn't prevented a host of theories from pundits, observers and experts on what the plastic may or may not mean. There appear to be equal numbers of scenarios presented that support the prosecution's contention that Scott Peterson murdered his pregnant wife and their unborn son, Conner, or that the Modesto man is innocent of the charges.

Connecting the plastic to Scott Peterson could bolster the prosecution's claim that he killed his wife on Dec. 23 or 24, when she was about eight months pregnant, and dumped her body in the bay.

But others argue that a link to Conner could cast doubt on that charge by suggesting that the boy was born before he was killed. Scott Peterson presumably wouldn't have had the opportunity to commit that murder because he came under heavy police surveillance soon after Laci Peterson was reported missing Christmas Eve.

A sizable bundle of the distinctive clear plastic with what appeared to be a length of black electrical tape attached to it was recovered 50 yards from Laci Peterson's remains and was forensically analyzed, according to a source. Results of those tests are not known.

A separate length of black plastic similar to roofing material also was found about 50 yards from the body. The objects appear to be among at least 31 items the defense has asked to examine after they were recovered from the East Bay and logged as potential evidence.

Conner's body was recovered with a thin circle of plastic tape wrapped 1 1/2 times around his neck, extending in another loop that resembles a bow knot.

A theory benefiting Scott Peterson's defense considers that as evidence of someone else's involvement, while others have speculated that the body became entangled in ocean debris.

Walkers found Laci Peterson's badly decomposed torso and lower body April 14 among the rocks at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline south of Richmond. The body was missing its head, feet and hands. The baby's relatively well-preserved body had been found the day before just more than a mile north in marshy grassland, about 15 feet inland from the shoreline, officials said.

A body in plastic would be expected to decompose slower than one exposed to the elements, said Harry J. Bonnell, a San Diego forensic pathologist.

But there are several other reasons that the body of a woman would deteriorate faster if neither was wrapped in plastic, Bonnell said. They include:

Adult stomachs contain bacteria, "a large element in decomposition," Bonnell said, while the stomachs of fetuses do not.

Cold water preserves small bodies better. Adults have more fat, which keeps bodies warmer, allowing bacteria to break down tissues.

Predators like crabs and fish would be expected to seek large food sources first.

The plastic sheeting and plastic material around Conner's neck "may be just normal garbage in the bay," Bonnell said.

Other experts have speculated that the boy was expelled from the womb when the mother's body sufficiently decomposed. He would have been partially protected from predators while in her body.

The wad of clear plastic found near Laci Peterson's remains sports a logo for Target Products Ltd., a Canada-based company that manufactures items such as concrete, grout and stucco for use in building, mining and golf industries.

The polyethylene sheeting appears consistent with plastic commonly used to cover items on pallets.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this May 21, 1990, file photo, Janice Keson reacts to the news of her daughter's death in Salida. BART AH YOU/THE BEE

Then-Deputy District Attorney James Brazelton, left, watches as defendants David Beck, Ronald Willey, Gerald Cruz, Michelle Lee Evans and Ricky Vieira are arraigned in connection with the Salida murders on May 24, 1990. BART AH YOU/THE BEE

Both cases have been colored with questions of ritualistic murder by Satan worshippers. Some are debating if the current high-profile proceeding could have a connection to the 1990 slaughter of four people in Salida.

Scott Peterson's legal team six weeks ago laid out a strategy relying on the theory that his wife, Laci Peterson, may have been kidnapped in Modesto and slain by Satan worshippers. She was eight months pregnant with a son, Conner, when she disappeared at Christmastime.

Sources close to the case say that in June, Peterson's defense team acquired a coat worn by a Modesto resident allegedly affiliated with an occult group. The man bragged about being involved in Laci Peterson's death, a source said.

The defense submitted the trenchcoat-type jacket for forensic analysis. The jacket bore an Oakland Raiders logo, had a downward rip from one side pocket, and had been torn and sewn in other places.

Also, authorities are consulting with Randy Cerny, a local expert on ritualistic crimes whom they directed not to speak to the media because he may testify in Peterson's proceedings, he said. Cerny had testified in the Salida killers' cases.

TV personalities such as talk show host Larry King and NBC reporter Dan Abrams have discussed a seeming similarity between the Peterson case and the one that shined regional attention on Salida in the early 1990s. The Salida case ended with three defendants on death row and two others with life sentences.

One survivor and two former cult members not involved in that massacre -- all three admittedly scarred by the butchery -- aren't willing to rule out a possible connection.

Some lawyers involved in the Salida case, however, and other experts scoff at the notion. They chalk it up to a trial balloon floated by Peterson's defense camp.

Observers may find out next month whether his attorneys will raise the issue in court. A preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin Oct. 20.

However, such proceedings typically focus on the prosecution's evidence. Defense strategy often doesn't become apparent until the actual trial, which might be a year or more away.

Peterson has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife and unborn son. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Locals were horrified 13 years ago at the gruesome details of the Salida murders, committed by a paramilitary cult whose charismatic and sadistic leader had a deep interest in the occult.

"It was very serious, not just dabbled in," said former group member Angela Young of their unconventional worship. She broke away from the group before the murders, but her younger brother, Ricky Vieira, stayed and was sentenced to death.

Leader Gerald Cruz manipulated group members through bizarre activities that included indoctrination into various forms of the occult, sleep deprivation and brainwashing. At his direction, witnesses said, some members beat, raped and tortured each other.

Cruz eventually led his followers from their living compound in Salida to a nearby duplex where they bashed and slashed the occupants to death with baseball bats and knives. At least some of the victims were disassociated members of Cruz's circle.

Killed were Darlene Paris, 23, Frank Raper, 51, Dennis Colwell, 35, and Richard T. Ritchey, 25.

James Brazelton, a deputy district attorney at the time, steered the prosecution. A few years later, he became district attorney and now oversees the Peterson case, although his senior prosecutors are handling courtroom proceedings.

Sentenced to death in the Salida case were Cruz, now 41; his "enforcer," David Beck, 47; and Vieira, 34. Jason LaMarsh, 36, and Ronald Willey, 37, received prison sentences of 64 years to life. All remain under appeal.

Their trials were sprinkled with testimony on the occult, including blood-letting rituals and black magic.

But many details were excluded from parts of the proceedings, sometimes because Brazelton protested, sometimes at the request of Cruz's lawyer.

In a recent interview, Brazelton said, "There was no evidence of any cult or rituals, though the defense tried to make it seem that way."

Cruz's Van Nuys lawyer, Seymour Amster, agreed, saying, "It didn't come out (in court) because it wasn't a cult murder in any sense, in my opinion."

Ramon Magana of Modesto, who represented LaMarsh, remembers stories of rituals under the full moon at midnight along the Stanislaus River. Diaries and letters by group members made reference to desecrating graves, forced sodomy and beatings for disobedience, and even murder, Magana said, calling the writings "chilling."

"My recollection is that Brazelton wanted to focus only on the (Salida slayings) themselves," Magana said. "If the case got cluttered up with anything else, it might hurt his case."

Amster fought to exclude evidence of the occult from much of the proceedings, arguing that the group's worship was irrelevant to the quadruple murder.

Modesto attorney William Arthur Miller, who represented Willey, recalled many of the same things as Magana, plus allegations of animal sacrifice. He said group members listened to heavy metal music just before the murders, and remembered talk of group members dancing at one point, as if in a ritual............

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stockton attorney Douglas Jacobsen represented Jerry Bunyard in a 1981 trial when he faced charges of paying a friend to murder his wife and unborn child in 1979. Bunyard was the first person sent to death row under the state's fetal murder law. BART AH YOU/THE BEE

His wife was pregnant with their first baby, and he was having an affair. He killed her, and their unborn child. Jurors sent the unrepentant, 30-year-old husband to death row in what eventually was recognized as California's first test case of its fetal murder law.

Twenty-two years later, prosecutors are using the same law to seek the death penalty for Modesto's Scott Peterson, 30, if he is convicted in the slayings of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.

People vs. Bunyard generated little media interest when that grisly 1981 case was tried in Stockton.

"It's unfair to those who don't get the publicity," said Douglas Jacobsen, a Stockton attorney who represented Jerry Bunyard then. "It's like they're less worthy or something."

Bunyard's wife of three years, Elaine, a nurse's aide in Manteca, was days shy of delivering their baby girl in 1979. In anticipation of a stay in the maternity ward, she had packed a bag and kept it by the front door.

But Jerry Bunyard wasn't as excited. The good-looking, well- spoken carpenter had been carrying on with a Tracy woman and thought his wife would "take him for everything he had" if he divorced her, a witness said.

Enter Earlin Popham, a biker-type boyhood friend who had been helping the Bunyards build a home in Patterson. When Elaine Bunyard was alone in the kitchen, Popham broke an iron skillet on her skull. He then shot her in the head with a shotgun and tried to make the crime look like both a robbery and a suicide.

Popham later testified that his buddy had promised him $1,000 to kill Elaine Bunyard. Popham received a sentence of 25 years to life in exchange for his testimony against Bunyard.

California law requires special circumstances for a death sentence. They include multiple murder and murder for hire.

Murder-for-hire prosecution parameters still were evolving, so Stockton prosecutors chose to go after Bunyard for multiple murder. A 1970 law -- which resulted from the prosecution of a Stockton man who had killed his ex-wife's fetus -- makes no differentiation between children who are born and those who aren't.

Jacobsen doesn't recall any significance attached to the Bunyard trial as a test case for the fetal murder law. He does recall that prosecutors played up evidence that Elaine Bunyard struggled mightily against her attacker, as if "fighting to stay alive for her unborn child."

William Murray, who prosecuted the case, now is a San Joaquin County Superior Court judge and recently was appointed to the prestigious California Judicial Council.

Murray refrained from commenting on the Bunyard case, citing its pending status before the Supreme Court. Death sentences are considered on appeal until carried out.

The case was among the first the California Supreme Court considered under the fetal murder law. In a 1988 appellate ruling, Justice John Arguelles cited "the unique relationship between a pregnant woman and her unborn fetus" in rejecting Bunyard's claim that no one intended to kill the unborn child.

Arguelles cited "the Legislature's determination that viable fetuses receive the same protection under the murder statute."

Bunyard also had claimed that a death sentence for killing an unborn child was tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment, noting that at the time, only four states allowed death for such a crime. The state Supreme Court rejected those contentions as well.

The same court since has upheld similar sentences, including the 1984 Halloween slayings of a San Jose woman and her unborn child by her former husband..........

Jackie-O,you did indeed make that comment. Now,I just want to see what the divers, have brought up, as evidence from the bay.I do!I do!

Sandylapper, it was lead detective Craig Grogan, who said,"He (Scott)can't account for a half roll of chicken wire he owned. He may have used the wire to wrap around Laci's body...." The source,was the May 20th, NE

Hergus,you may very well be right on the meth lab tie in. I believe Scott was involved in drugs also.

Thanks, Mags, you're the best! ;^)

Jackie, I'm with Mags here! We want to see what divers have brought up!

Hergus, I believe there's a drug connection, too. But will they ever tell us? P.S. Love your website! Thanks!

Yes hergus, the meth/biker connection does make some sence to me...alot more than the satanic cult theory.
But I think in the end, evidence will show that Snotty acted alone. Something tells me that this is something obscure that came up, Prosecutors had to follow up and investigate to the fullest, and will be another red herring. But MG will take this and leak it to try and show that Laci did not die by Snott's hands directly. I think at this point he is just trying to keep hime from death row.
I truely think that this report on the biker connection is a direct result of a Defence leak.

Geraldo discussing the conspiracy possibility.
Carrol's atty on- Client wanted to tell the DA what he thought really happened to Laci...came foreward a few short weeks ago.
Says he came foreward now because he went into police custody shortly after the conversation about the Kidnap way back in Oct. Carrol did not become aware that Laci was murdered till June of this year.
LE working on identifying and finding the 2 that were "hired" by Snott. They were hoping that this story would not break till the nazis were apprehended. (MG leak, no doubt IMO)
Saying that Snott met the thugs at a strip club and after some drinking and talking Snot tried to hire them to steal Laci's car.
Commercial.

I hope you all are watching Geraldo now..this is his lead story and it is an interesting discussion.
Even if Snott did hire someone to doo the evil deed, he will still pay with his life.
Carrol's atty says his client is very credible and is being taken very seriously by LE. He ask asked and is being offered notheing for this info, is in jail for driving violation testing positeve for substance, is remaining in jail waiting for wittness protection because he has been attacked twice in connection to being a potential wittness in this case. Told to keep quiet.
Atty wants to know who leaked this story, concerned about client's and his families safety, wants protection from the state.

Thanks Jackie, I just caught the last few minutes. Very interesting. I hope they can find "Dirty" and "Skeeter" to back up this story. Gerogos will rip this guy apart without some kind of confirmation.

Agreed. Maybe something to the leak that when Amber asked Snott if he had anything to do with it and he said something like, "um yes, er no, but I know who did."

I watched some of Rita's report tonight. She and Geraldo need to get on the same page. Rita had the lawyer for this guy on her show. The lawyer said the guy was in lockdown until June and did not know about the Peterson case. Rita said he (this guy who's doing the talking) wrote a letter to the DA in June, but it was only checked or followed up quite recently.

That was my exact thought. This has the ring of truth to it. This is the reason that the defense was trying to blame it on that cult with the brown van.

The part that I didn't get was when the lawyer said you know why they took the body to the same place where Scott was fishing.

I took it to mean that Snotty was there with them dumping the body. I don't know why but something tells me that he had the disposal worked out, bucket anchors, tidal research for the area, and the boat that he just bought just a few weeks before the murder. Remember, this Carrol says the solicitaion happened a month before the murder. Snott had alot of time to prepare.

What do you all think (assuming this is true)? a. That these people (Skeeter & Dirty) really did kill her at Scott's request or b. That something went wrong with the plan and Scott did it himself. Given what we know, I tend to lean towards b. Although I remember thinking at the beginning of this case that I didn't think he would be the type to get his hands dirty. In either case (again if true) this goes a long way towards establishing premeditation.

Geraldo says that he just got a call from Jamie Peterson who said that Laci and Snott were wither her on the night that Carrol claims the solicitation occured..Geraldo will follow up.
Isn't she under the gag too??

This whole thing has the ring of truth to it. Everything fits, including the timing. Wouldn't that timing put the solicitation shortly after he met April?

I don't think she would be under the gag order because she is not a witness - but I'm not sure. Do we even have a gag order any more! Well who should we believe Jackie? Convicted felon Carroll or Janey Peterson? Mmmmmm...I think I'm going to have to go with Carroll.

In reguard to you multiple choice;
I'm thinking about the report or leak that vomit on the mop was Laci's, and the GHB mention a few months ago, if it is Laci's and there are traces of GHB, that yes Snott did end up doing it himself. I do agree that didn't seem to be the type to get his hands dirty, so if the deal did go bad and he did have to do it, out of desperation, he may have drugged her to make the deed less "messy"...wouldn't have to look her in the eye.
But then I'm thinking of the rumor/leak that ther were rope marks on one of the kitchen chairs, so maybe these thugs did have access and something went down inside the house.
Either way, Snotty was there.

Yes, it was just around the time he met Amber. Boy, what the hell did this chickadee have that made him want to slaughter his family??? But then again ther are reports that he was a serial aldulterer.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.