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
Scott is pathologicial. But think about it, now that he has admitted to the world that he and Laci "discussed" the other woman, it is one step closer to passing that Polygraph.
I can't deal with this guy, Doc. Something is very wrong with him.
sw
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.
Interesting speculation, spec! So you think this may be one way to PASS a poly? Hey, this guy is so devious you just might be correct!
Did she call Amber? Did she know the woman's identity?
Laci didn't keep this bottled up inside of her. NO WAY!
Remember she is the same girl who physically had it out with another girl when she was a teen?
NOOOOO. Laci threatened to LEAVE Scott, and he killed her. She was going to get the house, alimony, child support and the child. She was going to fianancilly destroy him. AND then, he killed her.
Why did Scott say SHE KNEW! WHY? We don't know everything...
sw
If I were him and I didn't do it, that would be among the first possibilities that occurred to me.
I can see who has the keys to the gun safe in your family...
Mrs. Slim would fill me fulla so much lead, she wouldn't need Scotty's cement to make me a boat anchor.
He told the police on the 24th of December about the affair. Sharon Rocha, last night told Greta on Fox that a week ago on Friday, Scott was still denying the affair to her on the phone.
What a liar! I am sure Scott never told Laci about the affair. I mean, his inappropriate romantic relationship. He knows Laci is not coming back, so he can lie all he wants about what she knew.
Does he think it makes him look better?
How dumb can he be? The possibilities Laci ended up dead over this are legion.
The only part of the polygraph he is going to have a problem with is, "did you kill your wife"? But then again, he's such a pathological sociopath that he just may pass.
I bet her family is going BALLISTIC over his new revelations.
sw
Oh yeah, Doc. You're reading my mind. Husband's needs, my ass!
sw
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