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

[Velveeta]

I think I (maybe)understand what you're trying to say...I just don't think it's being expressed clearly, hence the confusion and misunderstandings.

[muggs]

That's the way I remember it too.

[texasbluebell]

YOU have the nerve to call me a horrible person? ROTFLMAO!

We all know you're not a horrible person, spec! I'm laughing my head off too! Yeti, you can't mean that, can you?

[Yeti]

Okay, SW. If you want, I will go back and find where I posted that the sleeping around because she was pregnant was not unheard of, and your comments about how you have to cringe when you hear it suggested that its ok.

Then I'll go back and find where you posted your fantasy about Scott punching her in the stomach and calling her fat, and my comment about advocating that brutality against women. We'll compare them side-by-side and see if you need more explanation.

Or is the above sufficient for you to comprehend the meaning of my post?

[Yeti]

OK, I'll go back and find the post(s).

[Searching4Justice]

thanks for posting that reward money donor...guess we still don't know who it is ?

[spectre]

Oh yes, Yeti means it. And so do I. Nice try, blue bell.

Yeti, do NOT ever post to me or mention my name or initials on this forum, EVER! I will in turn, give you the same advantage. Now, I'll take my leave from this thread, before I say something that will get me banned. sw

[Rusty Roberts]

Should have pointed out I was replying to I believe post 297 earlier, the post regarding those who appear to be die hard Scott did it people, insinuating that same people must also believe in wife-killing.

I would love to learn that it is not Scott,and to see Laci return. Or, worse case, Laci be found and someone else be the culprit, just don't think that's gonna happen. Wouldn't want to be in Scott's shoes though if Laci should return, after all this, man, he should run for the border at that point.

BTW, I thought I'd try a little distraction on your compass, never know though, when it might reappear ;-)

[spectre]

Once more you sick pervert! We were talking about scenerios that might have led to her death, and that was my scenerio for the fight...A speculation about how the fight occured.

I mean it...do not keep this up. Shut the F up! I'm gone from this thread and you. Understand!

[iaf97]

And to turn this conversation to a higher level....

Laci Peterson has something to teach all of us
By CONSTANCE NGUYEN


Many people have never met Laci Peterson, but feel as if they have. Most feel she is their neighbor, their friend.
Her disappearance has brought the idea of mortality to the forefront for many people who believe that youth and beauty are somehow immune to the tragedies of life.

All too often, when a tragedy occurs within the community, it fades quickly. Out of sight, out of mind.

Laci, however, has stayed with us. Perhaps because we just don't know the outcome of this yet. Perhaps because we refuse to let hope die.

She has had an impact on so many young lives because of her youth. She could be one of them. Not much older than those who sometimes view life as endless, she could be their sister or their favorite teacher who is still young enough to be "cool."

My children consistently ask if there is any news about her. In the middle of doing simple things around the house, one or another will comment on something pertaining to her and this whole distressful occurrence. She is never far from thought.

To others, the concept that she was living the American dream, things going in the order that we expect them to, makes this whole scenario unbelievably horrific.

Unlike Rebekah Miller -- a homeless woman who, while rooting through Dumpsters a few months ago, disappeared in the same general area with no one to publicly mourn her disappearance -- Laci is young and vibrant.

She has people and community that know her and need her found. Her family refuses to let her fade. They must know where she is and why.

In her disappearance she has taught my children, as well as others, I'm sure, the value of family and hope. In her disappearance she has brought to the forefront that there are still people missing that have no one to champion for them. In her disappearance she has brought a community together in a common cause.

We may never know what has happened to Laci Peterson's physical body, but we all know that her spirit is still here, living within every person who has paused to say a silent prayer for her and her baby. She lives within all who have selflessly gone out to hunt through the highways and byways for some trace.

Her spirit is with every person she has ever known and with those who know of her. She has become the symbol for all the people who have vanished. She has become a guardian of hope for all.

Make this nightmare count for something. Hold your children close. Hold your family dear. Remember time is not infinite for those you love. Cherish them. Let every day be a personal miracle, while we pray for just once more for the Peterson/Rocha family.

Even though I never had the pleasure to know her personally, I think Laci would like that.

Nguyen is a Modesto resident.



Posted: January 28, 2003 @ 05:35:11 AM PST
-

[Velveeta]

And the Laci Peterson web-site has been updated to include the interview this morning:

http://www.lacipeterson.com/whatshappening.html

[iaf97]

Thanks, already read update. Greg is doing a fantastic job on that site.

[Doc Savage]

His revelation not only distances him from the evening of December 23 when, during a violent confrontation due to Laci discovering his infidelity, he killed her, but it establishes his cover-up story by claiming that Laci was "ok" with it and that they didn't fight about it.

Translates to: Laci knew about Amber weeks before she disappeared (and I didn't kill her in those intervening weeks so why would I suddenly kill her on the 23rd?) and we discussed it and were working it out "together" (we never fought about it but discussed it like two rational human beings so it's impossible I killed her on the 23rd in the middle of a violent argument re: Amber).

This reminds me vaguely of the "Bent One". No matter that he was an established liar, people continued to believe whatever he said. You couldn't believe anything Clinton said and I would say the same for SP.

[Yeti]

You sick pervert.

I am so close to a first-ever use of the abuse button.

You are nuts, lady.

my comment #44:

We might be surprised how many people are like that when the wife is pregnant. Many husbands and wives feel uncomfortable with sexuality during pregnancy, and a fling with a sleazebag on the side is seen by the wife as a non-threatening way to attend to the husband's "needs" temporarily.

I don't "suggest" it. I just note that there are people like that.

Your post from yesterday's thread:

He probably punched her in the stomach, as he was screaming at her about how FAT she got.

You're post #293 on this thread:

But I have to cringe when it is suggested that because Laci was pregnant, Scott's "needs" had to be met elsewhere.

my post #389:

I don't understand why *some people* think that just because a pregnant woman gains weight, a man can punch her in the stomach and call her fat. Maybe in some people's world it's okay like that, but I take a dim view of it and I can't help but *cringe* when women advocate that kind of brutality against women.

Of course I went on to say "what a horrible person," and I took the "some people's world" from another poster who was intentionally obtuse about the same thing, but I think the symmetry is actually quite good.

Nobody advocated sleeping around on pregnant wives, just noted that it goes on. There are swingers, too, and I don't advocate that either.

You owe me an apology for the sleeping around insinuated smear, and a huge one for the way out of line "sick pervert" smear.

[iaf97]

How do change text to italics after I copy it from a previous post? I can't get it to work even if I go into word and copy it back.

[Yeti]

< i > insert italicized text < /i >

and it looks like this --

insert italicized text

[STOCKHRSE]

that was exactly hat was on SP's mind this morning-his trial-he was working. but i have not heard anyone articulate the logical path...and i am not going into it now..i want to watch the speech tonight without a lot of grief...but think Faustian people...

[Freedom2specul8]

"<i>Italics </i> will look like This

[texasbluebell]

#410--beautiful post. Thanks for putting it here.

[iaf97]

Thanks.