Homicide victims usually know killer

The Modesto Bee ^ | Posted: January 28, 2003 @ 04:50:10 AM PST | Patick Giblin

[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

[HairOfTheDog]

Homicide victims usually know killer

I haven't read the article, but the headline makes me want to say "DUH!"

You have to know me, usually, to get pissed off enough to want to kill me.

[texasbluebell]

For crying out loud, if your wife and baby are suddenly missing without a trace, why do you need to be coached on how to answer questions, your grief would speak for you. There was no grief that I could see.

That's the most obvious thing about this guy. From day one that he's been in the public eye, it's been obvious--and to me it just speaks volumes about how little he cared for poor Laci.

If someone you truly love has gone missing, you don't behave this way. I don't care who you are. He must not have loved her at all. (Just speculation here...)

[Devil_Anse]

Really? Then I guess that story was a mistake. I distinctly remember hearing that Amy had said something about Laci's going out the door w/o even waiting for Scott. If anyone else remembers something like that, I hope they'll post. Whatever it was, must've been a bad source!

I defer to the actual interview with Amy. I know it was right there for everyone to see; in fact, I did see part of it--but not the part where Amy said everything seemed fine.

Or is it possible that what I heard was a quote from someone else who was at the salon? Anyway, thanks for the information!

[suzyq5558]

there may not be smoking gun per se but i think that LE knows a lot more than we the public know at this moment.

scotty blabbing on tv is good in a way i bet the MPD are taping and watching evry word the man utters.
the physical evidence is probably what they took out of the house and even then LE may or may not disclose to the public what it has found you know?

[Devil_Anse]

Heh-heh! At least they're dogging him around town!

[texasbluebell]

It would have upset her possibly enough to have caused her to go into labor early.

And it crossed my mind that she may have gone into labor right then and there, as whatever happened to her happened. I wonder if there's more than blood that had to be cleaned up.

[Arthalion]

Here's another piece of inside info that the press hasn't latched onto yet: The Rocha family, like most of the Portuguese in this area, are devout Catholics. Laci was raised in that environment, and I remember that she always wore a small gold cross on a necklace, indicating to me that she took her faith seriouly. I have a hard time believing that a Catholic woman raised in a Catholic household would simply way "No big deal" to the relevation that her husband has broken the sacred vows of marriage. Even if she wasn't devout or practicing, being raised in a christian household would have instilled in her a solid sense of right and wrong, and a respect for marriage. This woman was not a moral-less atheist swinger.

[jdontom]

Great post, Always wondered if Laci might have had that Italian temper.

BTW we need you on the ping list.....

[Devil_Anse]

Ah, yes!! I fondly remember your Geraldo Rivera scenario!!

In this new scenario, an unknown man is sitting next to Scott on the plane! He puts down his newspaper and voila! It is Geraldo! "Lemme see your shoes, Scott!!! Those are the same brand of shoes Richard Reid was wearing!!! HEY! HEY STOP THAT! LET GO OF ME!! I'M GERALDO RIVERA, AND I THINK I'VE DISCOVERED A SHOE-BOMBER!!"

"pssst...pssst...Geraldo! Wrong story, buddy!"

[texasbluebell]

Oh gawd, how can anyone smile at the the thought of murder of your wife and baby!.... I saw that too, a smile when discussing the biggest tragedy one can go thru in a lifetime...

His mood has been totally inappropriate for someone who's wife and almost-born son are missing.

Say he didn't do this--what are the odds that he would behave this way?

[Freedom2specul8]

FReepmail. :)


I just can't imagine what her friends are going through after hearding SP speak in public. (If they heard it)

[Freedom2specul8]

You sure remember a lot of details about her..

[freedom loving butterfly]

Futhermore, through ABC he has a national forum, a great opportunity for him to appeal to whomever is responsible for her disappearance, why didn't he say Diane let me just ask anyone out there who may know anything about what happened to my beloved WIFE, please contact....If his wife was kidnapped, make an appeal for some communication to facilitate her return, whatever you want, whatever it takes, just let her go.....He's seems to just except that's she's gone forever. Ho Hum.

Also, no mention of his baby that was due to make it's debut in a week's time. It's his boy, yet he makes no mention of looking forward to becoming a father and how he looked forward to the birth.

[Devil_Anse]

Thanks for your post.

New possible defense to use at Scott's trial (the trial is in my mind only at this point): "Scott was a battered husband."

Oh, the humanity!

[wimpycat]

The secret to any good Geraldo impression is to remember that Geraldo likes to get personally involved and assert his masculinity (i.e. telling Charles Manson he could kick his ass).

[maxwell]

We might be surprised how many people are like that when the wife is pregnant.

Yeah, or maybe they were swingers.

[Space Wrangler]

True enough, and I really hope you're right, but it will take a long time for an arrest unless her body is found. He did it, I'm almost sure, as are the cops as well, but like Denzel Washingtons' character in Training Day kept saying, "it's now what you know, it's what you can prove." Although I would LOVE to know what all LE knows at this point.

[bonfire]

Yes, I WOULD be suprised because that's absolute crap!

[freedom loving butterfly]

Re the battered husband defense, remember when OJ tried to garner sympathy in his supposed suicide note (just before he went on the run) about how Nicole got physical in their fights and he often felt like a battered husband. Those hot tempered women can be dangerous.

[texasbluebell]

The Laci Rocha I knew would have beat the crap out of him with blunt objects, screamed at the top of her lungs for hours, and then thrown him out of the house. And that was the normal Laci, not the eight months pregnant, emotionally unstable Laci that Scott would have faced.

Thanks for confirming what a lot of us are saying. Very interesting post too.