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Homicide victims usually know killer
The Modesto Bee ^ | Posted: January 28, 2003 @ 04:50:10 AM PST | Patick Giblin

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


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: lacipeterson; scottcheaterson
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To: spectre
Good to see you too spec...hope all is well.
361 posted on 01/28/2003 2:16:08 PM PST by Rheo
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To: Jrabbit
I thought it was Lee Peterson that said that he talked to Scott a couple of times Dec 24th on his cell phone. I believe it was Laci's stepdad who also fished that day but not with Scott.
362 posted on 01/28/2003 2:17:20 PM PST by BonneBlue
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To: Devil_Anse
Your slip is showing; so to speak!
363 posted on 01/28/2003 2:17:23 PM PST by landerwy
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To: BonneBlue
Thanks for the info. I thought I remembered somebody else going fishing that day.
364 posted on 01/28/2003 2:19:09 PM PST by Jrabbit
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To: Jrabbit
Scott's Dad only said that he talked to Scott on the phone. I remember he did not say what type of phone, what time, or whether he knew where Scott was when he talked to him. I wanted the interviewer to ask those questions sooo badly but she didn't. What I don't remember is who did the interview.
365 posted on 01/28/2003 2:19:15 PM PST by iaf97
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To: wimpycat
Your theory about a jealous girlfriend just doesn't do a thing for me

Well, I am getting exasperated, wimpy. "My theory"

See, that wasn't MY theory, I didn't come up with it, I don't advocate it, it isn't "MY THEORY." As I have said ad-nauseam in response to this and other posts, it is one of several possibilities, consistent with the facts, that has not yet been solidly ruled out.

I don't know. Do a search for yeti on this thread and reread my posts with any significant body. I say over and over and over, "I don't know"... "Many possibilities not ruled out" ... "open mind to all the possibilities" etc... etc...

And you are like "Then show me a boyfriend." As if I am just sure that's what happened, as if I could show you a boyfriend, as if we all know all there is to know about the case. And as if you somehow know that there was NOT a boyfriend. I have said that I don't know a dozen-plus times, while you not only seem to think you *do* know, but credit me with thinking wrongly that I *do* know. And I don't.

If the police or the tabloids show me a boyfriend, I will let you know.

I'm not afraid of being wrong. You just do your thing, and let me do mine, OK?

Okay. But if one of "my" four theories turns out to be right, I get to do the Yeti vicory dance, and you have post over and over how smart I am.

366 posted on 01/28/2003 2:20:32 PM PST by Yeti (Deal?)
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To: iaf97
Thanks. I got dads, step-dads and phone calls confused. It would have been interesting to know what time he did talk to Scott that day.
367 posted on 01/28/2003 2:21:38 PM PST by Jrabbit
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To: wimpycat
Oh, and one of my four theories is that Scott did it.
368 posted on 01/28/2003 2:22:41 PM PST by Yeti (I think that's fair.)
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To: Texas Mom
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.

I've never been there but I can't imagine I would tell anyone either if it would ever happen. Of course, my close neighbors might know something was wrong because there would be one heck of an argument.

369 posted on 01/28/2003 2:22:56 PM PST by muggs
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To: iaf97
The last time I saw Lee Peterson, he was a guest on Greta. He said he talked to Scott in the morning as Laci was preparing for her walk and again while Scott was fishing. I remember the show because Lee Peterson said that during both conversations they talked about what each was going to do for Christmas eve.
370 posted on 01/28/2003 2:23:46 PM PST by BonneBlue
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To: Rheo
I'm well, dear friend.

Soooo, we find ourselves with different views this time, LOL. Darn it, Rheo, we just don't have a whole cast of characters to work with. Help me out here!

sw

371 posted on 01/28/2003 2:25:26 PM PST by spectre (spectre's wife (Hire Mark Fuhrman))
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To: Velveeta
No. Usually the husband of the person giving the party is away and the other husband's take the kids for the nite. I never ever would have considered kicking my husband out of the house ...at least until I found out....:) Usually the kids had an event that the fathers wanted to go to anyway.
372 posted on 01/28/2003 2:27:03 PM PST by iaf97
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To: Jrabbit
LOL! Dads, step-Dads, who's married to who..THIS is one blended family situation.

sw

373 posted on 01/28/2003 2:28:57 PM PST by spectre (spectre's wife (Hire Mark Fuhrman))
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To: Yaelle
"Violence towards women is unapproachable" What the heck does THAT mean?
Especially when said with eyes closed.

My Vote is it was a "Freudian Slip"
he cannot "approach" the subject?
374 posted on 01/28/2003 2:30:42 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: iaf97
...at least until I found out....:)

Same here...then he just might have tire tracks on his back

375 posted on 01/28/2003 2:31:08 PM PST by Velveeta ((Please sign the Missing Adult Alert petition! http://www.PetitionOnline.com/adalert/)
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To: BonneBlue
Thanks for refreshing my recollection. Now I know why I was surprized that the time element wasn't nailed down. It was Greta and legally she usually slips in the right follow up and does so ever so calmly.
376 posted on 01/28/2003 2:31:45 PM PST by iaf97
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To: spectre
My initial confusion was why is Laci's moms name not the same as the step-dad and where Amy fit in? I guess Amy is Laci's dads daughter with his now wife? LOL-I'm still confused!
377 posted on 01/28/2003 2:32:32 PM PST by Jrabbit
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To: Jrabbit
I'm confused too, because I heard Amy refer to Sharon Rocha as *Sharon* and not Mom.
378 posted on 01/28/2003 2:36:19 PM PST by Velveeta ((Please sign the Missing Adult Alert petition! http://www.PetitionOnline.com/adalert/)
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To: Devil_Anse
I think the confusion may be that Amy Rocha saying that everything seemed fine between them at the Salon, but that someone else noticed that Laci left to get the car (perhaps in a huff) as Scott was finishing up. Someone posted on that thread that it might have been bc she was pregnant and uncomfortable.
379 posted on 01/28/2003 2:37:40 PM PST by Queen Jadis
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To: spectre
LOL..our views are probably the same..it isn't looking good for Scott.

We also have no real facts either...we have media accounts and Scott's weird behavior.

It is reasonable to think that Scott told Laci about the affair if you consider that everyone thought her marriage perfect, she would want to avoid her family hating him if they were working it out...and from this article it sounds as if she didn't discuss Scott:

''I remember one of her girlfriends said when the girls would get together, they'd complain about their husbands, but Laci never did.''

The financial motive that we are reading about has it been proved?..when exactly and what are the details of the life insurance?....can find no record of this bankruptcy on Pacer, who confirmed the $25k membership, etc.

Laci's step dad went fishing on Christmas yet for Scott to do so is proof he killed her.

I think Scott probably did it....just haven't seen facts yet that support it without asking other questions...Scott seems to be right in this statement...lol

Make me the biggest villain in the world if you want to, as long as it keeps her photograph in the press," he said. The simple fact is ... I really don't care what people think of me as long as it continues to keep Laci's picture, description, tip line in the media," he said

380 posted on 01/28/2003 2:45:07 PM PST by Rheo
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