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.

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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............

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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..........

I more likely think that she was shot IF Laci's head was missing due to decapitation. Otherwise I tend to agree with you that strangulation would make more sense. I definately think this was premeditated so Scott had the time to think the method of killing through. Although I agree that the disposal of the body might have been a combination of a couple of different plans/changing his mind etc. I am not sure WHAT to think about this whole kidnapping plan that has come to light.

That SP was selling chemicals to meth labs is an interesting possibility.

I rather think that the Prosecution would like to leave that can of worms unopened and dismiss this Cory guy as a lying con.

Otherwise MG is going to portray SP as the victim of a drug gang trying to extort materials by threat of harm to his family. It was Dirty and Skeeter who brought up kidnapping, see, cause Scott didn't want to sell them the anhydrous at the price they wanted....blah, blah, blah.

MG could play that as Lacy being kidnapped to punish or frighten Scott into cooperation, etc.

And then of course when SP went to the police and the heat was on, they framed Scott by dumping Laci and Connor near where SP said he was fishing.

And it explains completely the "I know who did" call to Amber, and his other weird behavior, changing appearance, etc. He was in fear for his life, because LE doesn't believe him and are either complete dupes or complicit with the "drug mafia"

It is actually a plausbile story line for a movie script.

I really think you're right about the meth labs, and have thought for some time that was a "big" drug connection with respect to Laci's disappearance. Do believe prosecution has been trying to avoid "going there" regarding the drug connection. On the other hand, in the past, prosecution and MPD have really been playing this close to the vest, and they have said things like "peoples' lives could be in danger", as well as, "we believe SP has knowledge and has not been forthcoming", blah blah. Even Sharon and Bret Rocha have never said "we think Scott did it". They seem to be thinking too, that he knew more than he was saying.

As to Carroll, I suspect that something tipped him off that his name was, or had been thrown out to MPD, and he thought he'd better get something out there quickly in his own defense. Is he telling the truth? Well, that's the big question now, isn't it?

As to the kidnapping plan, I don't know. I kind of want there to be a grain of truth in it, ONLY b/c I am VERY ready for some ANSWERS!

But Valpall made a valid point when he said that inmates will indeed fabricate things, even when the only thing they get out of it is a break from their routine. If this Cory Carroll is doing any sort of serious time, that might be what he's doing. I think we'll be able to judge better after the police have checked out his story to see if it is a total sieve, or is at least halfway believable.

O'Reilly tonight: Discussion of "low-riders."

Low-riders are "cut down" cars (not motorcycles), Chevrolets, & always associated with Mexicans. The rear end of the car would be so low that driving over a dip in the road was hazardous.

No Nazi group, white supremists, would include Mexicans among their numbers. That jailbird either doesn't know his facts, or is pulling everyones' "leg."

Re the lie detector, did you see dr julie's post #71 (Fresno Bee article)? The questions on the LD (or some of them) are included near the end of the article. IIRC, there was no direct question about stealing Laci's car.

Re paragraph 2, he could have hired them to kidnap and kill and done the disposal himself, but if the murder happened in the Peterson home, then they didn't kidnap her, did they?

and before all the focus of everyone shifted to the baby

You got it, Devil, right there. Even his Mommy was getting too excited about the baby, perhaps. He was about to be replaced as the golden boy. He was going to be the excrement salesman and Conner was going to be everyone's darling.

I think killing the baby outright would have been too difficult, even for that monster.

I just can't believe how cold he is to get rid of them, planning for months, really just due to his infantile need to be adored.

What if ONLY the part of Carroll's story about meeting Scott at City Lights and discussing having the Petersons' car stolen--what if ONLY that part of his story is true?

Such things are done. People do arrange to have autos stolen for insurance fraud. Obviously, it's quite illegal, and quite dishonest.

I mean, do we even know if "Skeeter" and "Dirty" (who are both supposedly named Anthony, as Vel pointed out) exist? If they do exist, this guy Carroll must have a death wish if he's pointing the finger at them for a murder.

But suppose Scott did make that arrangement about having Laci's car stolen? If you read about almost any murderer, you'll find little acts of dishonesty like insurance fraud sprinkled throughout his/her history. Even if only the part about arranging a fraudulent theft is true, that makes Scott look really sinister and creepy. (As if he didn't already look, er, pretty bad.)

I guess that's the strongest indication, Yaelle, that we the public have (to date) that he actually did this: his reported attitude during the whole thing. And his personality, well-described by you as infantile.

Because what else do we have? It's not that it's not (possibly) there, it's just that we're not privy to anything! We know he said he was fishing that very day, right near where the bodies later appeared. Which doesn't make sense: why on earth would he place himself at the very spot which would make him look most suspicious? ("Those bodies were never supposed to surface"........?)

We hear of a fingerprint on the tape, which was on some plastic sheeting that washed up near Laci's body. But we don't KNOW yet if that's true. We hear of his statement to Amber: "yes...uh, no, but I know who did." But we don't KNOW if that's true, either. It's maddening. There may be tons of evidence, but we can't get at it!

Meanwhile, all we really know is about the suspicious way he acted in the early days, in late Dec.-early Jan. At least that part we were able to see for ourselves. We saw how he was camera-shy, whereas several other family members got on TV a.s.a.p. to put the word out. We could see with our own eyes, Scott grinning while standing at the candlelight vigil. This sort of thing gives a very strong feeling of his guilt, but I just wish we knew something more than feelings.

Hi,TexKat,will remember your son in my prayers! I know March cannot come soon enough for you both.

I wanted to let you know I have looked for more information on Scott's nightlife in the timeframe you gave. Early on it was frequently rumored about the nightclubs,stripclubs and the general bar scene he frequented in Fresno.If I can find more documentation I will post back or freepmail you.

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