Posted on 01/28/2003 5:13:29 AM PST by runningbear
Homicide victims usually know killer
Homicide victims usually know killer
By PATRICK GIBLIN
BEE STAFF WRITER
If Laci Peterson has been killed, statistics say she was likely slain by someone close to her.
Police still hold out hope for the pregnant, 27-year-old woman's safe return, but veteran investigators know that with each passing day since her disappearance on Christmas Eve, the chance diminishes.
"For much of our search, when we're looking in places under water, we're looking for a body," Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said earlier this month.
According to the California Department of Justice, more than 63 percent of the people who were arrested in California on homicide charges in 2001 knew their victims.
That's why detectives usually start investigating family members when they suspect a homicide has occurred, said Mike Van Winkle, spokesman for the department's Division of Law Enforcement.
"About three years ago, we had a female agent who didn't show up for work," he said. "The husband said she left in the morning, but our detectives took a look at him anyway. Pretty soon, he told us where to find the body."
It makes sense statistically why police are increasingly focusing on Laci Peterson's 30-year-old husband, Scott Peterson. According to the California homicide figures:
Approximately 46 percent of victims were related to the killer in some other way.
Nearly 7 percent of victims were killed by their spouses.
About 7 percent of the victims were killed by a parent or child.
About 4 percent of the killers had an "other" relationship with the victim. That could mean they were dating or roommates, for example.
About 36 percent of the victims did not know the person who killed them.
But just because Scott Peterson is the husband does not mean he's guilty of anything, Van Winkle cautioned.
Neither does the news that he had a romantic relationship with a Fresno woman he met in late November, a criminal justice expert said Monday.
Jeanette Sereno, a lawyer and assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice with California State University, Stanislaus, warned that Scott Peterson's reported liaison doesn't make him guilty of homicide.
"In fact, just because he (might be) a suspect doesn't automatically make him the defendant," she said.
According to several studies on marriage -- including a 1998 study by the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California at San Francisco -- nearly one-fifth of spouses will have affairs during their marriages. Yet few end up in homicide.
Laci Peterson's case has another factor -- she's pregnant. Their son is due on Feb. 10.
According to a 2001 study by the American Medical Association, the leading cause of death for pregnant women is homicide. The study randomly looked at the cases of 247 pregnant women who died and found that 50 of them were murdered.
The other women died from heart problems, car accidents, previously unknown medical problems or complications from the pregnancy.
"Typically, pregnant women don't participate in risky activities such as hiking, mountain climbing or drinking in bars," Sereno said. "They are eating well and seeing their doctors, so their deaths normally would be something out of their control."
Bee staff writer Patrick Giblin can be reached at 578-2347 or pgiblin@modbee.com.
Posted: January 28, 2003 @ 04:50:10 AM PST
"he doesn't want to piss her off any further" In my opinion, you've nailed it exactly.
"wouldn't she have been distraught when she talked to her mother on the 24th?" Very good question. I never heard of her mother saying she sounded distraught, but I DO remember that sometime her sister Amy (the hairdresser) said that when Scott and Laci stopped by her salon on the evening of the 23rd, there was some tension in the air, and Laci shot out the door without waiting for Scott, or something like that.
If Laci decked another girl when she was 17 over some guy, I have a feeling she was probably a bit upset if/when SP told her about this...
And it will depend on the evidence report that's supposed to come out at the end of the week. If there's evidence of large amounts of blood, or any other tissue etc. that was found, then they'll be able to declare that something awful happened to her.
I believe Amber didn't suspect for 2 reasons:
First, Scott appears adept at lying and second because she came forward.
And it crossed my mind the other day that because Laci had had so much trouble getting pregnant that she may have been advised to refrain during the last few months of her pregnancy anyway.
Oh....wait now! Don't tell me! Um........
...because he likes blond-haired female interviewers with empty heads better than he likes grey-haired male interviewers who have lost their son to a killer-pervert?
No. Wait.....because he is practiced at snowing females, but feels kinda scared when he tells baldfaced lies to males?
Given this guy's knowledge about fertilizer and other compounds, I wouldn't be surprised. The water searches could be a wild goose chase.
When I read on another forum that he's the youngest in a family of 7 children, his behavior has struck me as that of a spoiled brat too, going through life always being bailed out by his parents.
No, I'm not saying the baby of the family is always a brat! But I can see how birth position can sometimes lead to such behavior.
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