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

[Doc Savage]

I have to agree spec. I admit that my first inclination in this case was that Laci had "suddenly" discovered his infidelity either through intercepting a phone call or love note and that in the ensuing argument Scott lost control and killed her. Manslaughter.

Early on I resisted the idea that she had threatened to leave him and that he saw the future of alimony and child support payments etc. in a blinding flash and decided to get her out of the way. But I think your right. She threatened to divorce him and he killed her. But to me this suggest a degree of premeditation. I suspect the cops see it that way too!

He strikes me as a spoiled brat who got pretty much whatever he wanted as a child and couldn't relinquish that role as an adult. The Country Club membership, the gourmet dining bit, the "extravagance" of "keeping" other women. I guess he saw his future as being hell and she was going to be the cause of it and he just couldn't allow that to happen.

You have to be one very callous and manipulative individual to leak fake tears on TV knowing that you "dumped" the bodies of your wife and baby into a watery grave where you're sure her family will never find her!

[BonneBlue]

I can't wait until I hear the family's reaction. By the way, Diane is continuing her interview with Scott Peterson tomorrow morning.

[FoxGirl]

Laci didn't keep this bottled up inside of her. NO WAY!

Unless he threatened her NOT to tell!

[Devil_Anse]

From the article: "It (the affair) was not a positive, obviously...but it was not something that we weren't dealing with," Peterson [said.]

Now there's a clear, concise statement.

[clouda]

Tomorrow we get to see Scott sobbing, as he tells Diane that he walks the dog every morning to feel closer to Laci.

[wimpycat]

Actually, I think he's lying when he says Laci knew about the affair since early December. I think he's lying, unless someone in Laci's family comes forward and says she told them about it.

I do not think she knew about it...until 12/23. There could be a grain of truth about what he said...he may have told Laci about the existence of Amber, but if he did that, he would have BS'ed her about it, maybe said that Amber was dating one of his friends and he was with them, or something like that.

[BonneBlue]

I just another clip of the interview and Scott is talking about the possibility of "Murder". He is smiling and his eyes are constantly shifting down and to the left as he is speaking. But the smile? Oh gawd, how can anyone smile at the the thought of murder of your wife and baby! I would be sobbing. Who is he think he is fooling?

[spectre]

I just heard Scott say that "finding her body is not a possibility we're ready to accept".

All I kept thinking was, "of course not Scott, you hid her pretty good, didn't you, you low-life, scum of the earth."

I want to hear from her family.

sw

[BonneBlue]

It is interesting he chooses the words "at peace".

[tubebender]

" Nearly 7 percent of victims were killed by their spouses."

Stranger is more than 5 times as likely as that.

That is not what I have been reading here . Can someone research why the discrepancy.

[Devil_Anse]

He says he told the police about the affair right after she went missing. He and his attorney know darn well that the police will not come out and pick this apart now, confirming or denying it.

He says he told Laci about the affair "in early December." He and his attorney know darn well that Laci is not here to confirm or deny that.

It's easy to "come clean" when there's no one there who can call you on any, um, slight inaccuracies.

[Velveeta]

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

?????Yeti, are you male or female?

[BonneBlue]

"he tells Diane that he walks the dog every morning to feel closer to Laci."

He knows she is dead.

[twigs]

ACtually, her baby is due February 10. She was not 8.5 months pregnant when she disappeared as the media reported. More like 7.5 months.

[Devil_Anse]

No, you're not wrong to feel that way.

Yes, it is quite likely that Laci and the baby are dead.

But she was in fact not due to give birth until Feb. 10.

[wimpycat]

The article says 36% of victims don't know their killers. That means 63% of victims DO know their killer, and 46% are actually related to their killer in some way; of that 46%, 7% are killed by their spouse. So you're not 5 times more likely to be killed by a stranger. Almost 2 out of 3 times, a person is killed by someone they know.

[spectre]

He told the police about the affair right after she went missing?

Is that before or AFTER Amber called the police?

Let's see, who do I believe, Amber or Scott???

sw

[Tijeras_Slim]

?????Yeti, are you male or female?

Married or divorced? :)

[twigs]

Mrs. Slim would fill me fulla so much lead, she wouldn't need Scotty's cement to make me a boat anchor.

You have a good wife!

[Yaelle]

He did not tell Laci about the affair. Here is the proof. If Laci and LE really knew about the affair from the start, what the heck reason would he have for not telling the family members who asked him???

Also, I am as pregnant as Laci, and I can tell you that if I were told back in December that my husband were having an affair, with the additional pregnancy hormones, I would have been a basket case, crying for hours, all my family would have known something was wrong, and that is normal for a pregnant woman (even for a not-pregnant woman, of course, but especially so for a hormonal woman about to give birth to his CHILD, feeling round and maybe unattractive, and hearing that hubby is out doing some slender chick).

He is such a liar as to defy belief.