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

[Types_with_Fist]

She found out through a cell phone call, cell phone bill, or credit card statements.

I think - after seeing Scott's reaction to all of this - it's just as likely that she and her family and Scott's family never knew anything at all. He may just be cold and calculating enough to plan her murder, catch her by surprise, kill her and dispose of her body. Why he did it, we may never know. None of a psycho's reasons are ever reasonable.

[Texas Mom]

Normally, when a woman finds out her hubby is having an affair, she tells someone. Her sister, best friend, mother, etc. She cries on someone's shoulder and that person agrees he is the sorriest SOB in the world....you know the routine.

Wrong. Maybe some but the majority of woman won't. Especially a family member or close friend because they don't want them to be mad at her husband. UNLESS she is planning on leaving him over the affair and then she will tell the world but if she wants to keep her marriage together she won't tell anyone. Believe me, I was there 35 years ago and to this day no one in my family or close friends knows about it.

[Neenah]

Little Connor, with his tuft of black hair, his pudgy little hands up to his mouth, almost put together whole.

Floating in this nice warm place, listening to Mommy's heart beat.... now it is beating faster....Little Connor moves....the beating is faster and louder.....now it is hard to breathe...something is wrong ....

Little Connor's eyes close, and he can't hear the beating heart of Mommy anymore. Mommy ! I can't hear you ! Mommy !

[Devil_Anse]

Good points. I think you are very brave for having handled it by yourself. Must have been a very lonely place to be!

I begin to think that we needn't speculate as to whether Laci told anyone, I begin to think she didn't know at all, and if she ever found out, she was gone before she ever had a chance to contact anyone.

[Freedom2specul8]

"Scott being the self-centered egotistical "I never do anything wrong" man would NOT be able to accept Laci screaming about what a low-life he is. Yes he deserved everything I think she said to him, but rather than accept the CONSEQUENCES of his actions I think he would do whatever it took to shut her up."

Excellent post..I think you just pegged SP for what he really is..

[landerwy]

And do you think SP will admit to an affair where all they did was eat cookies and drink punch?

[Arthalion]

The only hard part about helping with the search was realizing that I was looking for a body. But even if I hadn't known her, the simple fact that an 8 month pregnant woman was missing in an area I grew up in and knew well would have caused me to volunteer. The fact that I'd known her just drove the point home.

It's honestly hard to describe my feelings about this whole thing. I'm sad and angry that anyone would hurt any pregnant woman, and the fact that her husband did it just sickens me. Still, it's been over 12 years since I had any feelings toward her, and over 10 years since we've spoken, so it's all distant enough to keep it from hurting too badly. The sense of loss is still there though, knowing that a good and honest person has lost her life to a person she should have been able to trust.

Every night, I hug my wife and children a little tighter, and a little longer than I used to.

[Freedom2specul8]

Oh Neenah...

[suzyq5558]

I was also there 13 yrs. ago i did confide in my sister about the affair we both wanted to kill him!
the marriage did not survive it. later i also told my mom and im glad i did i really needed the support.
my ex was very smooth and charming and goodlooking, people believed every lie he told em including that i was a drug addict and crazy which i wasnt ,well maybe a bit crazy:) he was also very abusive to me over the yrs. but i was convinced it was my fault i was doing something wrong. getting away from him was the hardest thing i ever did in my life but i did and iam a better person for it and have a husband who loves me and a set of twins who are my pride and joy most of the time:)suzyq

[texasbluebell]

That just sums it all up. I can hardly say a word after reading that.

[Yeti]

Now that I know she's been proven capable of getting violent over a man, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Laci and Scott may have gotten into a fight that resulted in fisticuffs and he may have hit her and knocked her down, causing her to hit her head maybe, and then he took his chance and either finished the job, or just panicked and concocted this whole story to cover up for it.

But you reject out-of-hand the possibility that it was a fight with another woman, which is the most obvious analogy to what happened in high school.

[Devil_Anse]

Well...he HAS, hasn't he? (Vision of Scott being held in a headlock, panting, choking out the words, "I admit to an affair, I am too honest to hide it.")

"Okay, okay! We drank cookies and ate punch and then smoke came out of her jumblies and..."

[Rusty Roberts]

Hey RG, keep your eyes pealed, there might be some company soon south of the border soon ;-)

[Freedom2specul8]

"Every night, I hug my wife and children a little tighter, and a little longer than I used to. "

I think a lot of us do this...

If we could only create a bubble to keep our loved ones in.. to protect them from the evil world. I just don't understand why good people have to suffer..I never will understand it.

[wimpycat]

But you reject out-of-hand the possibility that it was a fight with another woman, which is the most obvious analogy to what happened in high school.

Yes, I do reject it out of hand, because there is nothing that has come out so far to suggest it. Show me a different girlfriend who has a flimsy alibi for her whereabouts on 12/23-12/24, someone who the police can't eliminate, then I'll consider it. I told you I'm going with the probable, not the improbable. The lying husband, whose credibility further crumbled this morning, is still the most probable.

[Yeti]

There's no way she'd put her parents and siblings through this. I just don't see it.

I could imagine her leaving, nut I would expect a note. And maybe a call to mom. But the real teller on that one is her driver's license. I can imagine her leaving it all behind and running off with the "real dad" leaving her purse, phone, car, etc... but she would take her driver's license and probably some cash.

If the DL is in the purse with everything else, she didn't run off.

[landerwy]

jumblies???

[monkey]

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.

Interesting numbers. I think the general conception is that the spouse is far more likely (statistically) than they actually are.

[suzyq5558]

what a vision i had HAHA it was the jumblies... tehetehe

[Yeti]

This was a 27 year old woman who had friends so close that they kicked out their husbands and had sleepovers from time to time...

Interesting.

If Laci slept around and Scott let it slide because he was ashamed or something, maybe she would tolerate his behavior, too.

He did cryptically say(I heard a snippet on the radio awhile ago)"You don't know...Nobody knows our relationship but us."(approximately)

I really think some of his secrets might have to do with Laci's behavior, not his. It would be difficult for him to clarify, since telling about it would shame him, shame Laci, shame Laci's family, and seem to indicate a more plausible motive for him to murder her.

Cheerleader, huh?