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

[bonfire]

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.

Sounds like a declarative sentence to me.

[Rheo]

Wonder if this is the same dumpster?

But at 5 p.m. when officers released the bloodhound in front of the Peterson home, the dog did not go to the dirt path.

Instead, the hound led police to houses around the corner, then south to Yosemite Boulevard and eventually to Santa Rosa Avenue near E.&J. Gallo Winery.

Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies, who supplied the bloodhound, concluded the search when the dog began nosing around some Dumpsters.

Then this:

Unlike Rebekah Miller -- a homeless woman who, while rooting through Dumpsters a few months ago, disappeared in the same general area.

[blondee123]

Please re-add me to ping list, somehow got dropped. thanks

[blondee123]

I also think that she is not in water but on land

Nah, too much chance of her being found on land, unless he crated her up & shipped her somewhere. But, in the deep ocean & weighted down, she'd probably never be found.

[blondee123]

highly doubt if she knew he was screwing around on her that she was "alright" with it

Besides, most people don't tell their spouse about an affair til months or even longer "after it is over" not while still in progress!!

[blondee123]

Let's go with the possibility that he actually did tell her in early December. She had almost 3 weeks to tell someone

Don't know if this has been brought up & I have a hard time believing him & also his actions are not of a grieving man, but didn't her father ask him right after she disappeared, if he had a g/f? Why would her father think that, if they appeared to have such a wonderful marriage?

[blondee123]

Diane frustrates me. For that matter most reporters frustrate me with the lack of thorough followup questions. Why didn't she ask Scott what does he think happened to Lacy?

Because, I will bet he only agreed to be on her show if he was given liberty to approve what questions she would ask him.

[runningbear]

I still have you on the list and ping you....hummm, not sure why you don't get pinged... I will make sure when I ping ya, your name is there... ;o)

[runningbear]

If edited, scotty boy; welcome to TV broadcasting, where sex, lies and video tapes sells! Part 2 this morning...ABC channel..

[Devil_Anse]

I'm sure you would probably agree that in a discussion such as this (and on Greta Van Susteren's show), of this subject matter, it is unavoidable that Clinton's name would come up. I mean--people are discussing lying, sleaze, infidelity, sham marriage, risky behavior, and promiscuous and nasty sex habits. How could Clinton NOT come up?

It would be like discussing wood and leaves without mentioning trees. It would be like discussing police without mentioning laws. It would be like...discussing moral compasses without morals! It couldn't be done!

[Devil_Anse]

Don't you guys get it? (I'm being facetious--I KNOW you get it!) Scott can say whatever he wants at this point, as to what he told the police! He KNOWS the police will not come out and confirm or deny his accounts of "what he told them."

If it ever comes up at a trial of Scott (if there is such a thing), suppose Scott's side never asserts at the trial that he dutifully told the cops about Amber right away. Then that will most likely be a tangential issue of which the judge wouldn't allow the prosecutor to bring in evidence.

If, OTOH, at trial, Scott testifies, and says things like, "I dutifully told the police right away, 'Officers, I was cheating on my wife with Amber Frey,'" THEN the prosecution could attempt to give the lie to this statement. Now, how would they do that? They would be in the position of proving a negative. They might parade forward every policeman Scott ever talked with about this disappearance. But it would be a mess--with a lot of tangential witnesses, and probably an impatient judge glaring at the prosecution for bringing forth so many witnesses just for that one relatively small point.

And if Scott never takes the witness stand, the problem will never come up, and he will not be caught in this lie in any meaningful way--except of course in the court of public opinion, and he's already hanged in THAT "court" anyway!

[Devil_Anse]

That is an intriguing thought you posted--about Rebekah Miller.

But I am thinking there's a crucial difference. Apparently Rebekah Miller was going to the dumpsters voluntarily ("dumpster-diving," I think they call it.) I would bet a lot of money that Laci never went near any of the dumpsters in that area! I think the analogy fails b/c we are comparing one person who was rooting through dumpsters, and got snatched away and presumably killed--with another person who was nowhere near the dumpsters, but who might have been killed and dumped in one of them, or have had something with her blood, etc., dumped in one of them.

[clouda]

MPD confirms Scott did not tell them about Amber. Amber notified them.

[Devil_Anse]

AHA! I'm glad to have been wrong in my assertions that they wouldn't confirm or deny! Keep digging, Scott!

[clouda]

Scott also told Diane that the blinds were down that day. He said Laci opened them in the summer, but not in the winter. She did not want to let the cold in.

[Devil_Anse]

In summer, but not in winter? Oh, brother--he must have been studying on THAT explanation for quite a while. It still sounds lame--and easily checkable.

Hey, where's all this good new info coming from? I wanna go there!

[clouda]

GMA-I am in NJ

Scott said on the morning of Dec. 24th he loaded his truck with the big umbrellas to take them to his warehouse. That is what the neighbor saw.

[BunnySlippers]

Scott is doing interview with Diana Sawyer Good Moring America. 7 am every time zone.