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

[wimpycat]

Duuuuuuh! Can't do simple math this morning. If 36% of people are killed by someone they don't know, that means 64% are killed by someone they DO know, not 63%.

[Mrs.Liberty]

I highly doubt if she knew he was screwing around on her that she was "alright" with it, especially being pregnant. My ex-bro-in-law was messing around on my sister when she was pregnant, and she found out about it, and the first thing she did was call me. She was NOT all right with it.

I don't think she knew at all.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I'm a lucky guy. :)

[Doc Savage]

Unfortunately, you are correct. We should never accept anything SP says. For all we know she was in the dark right up until the evening of the 23rd. Which tends to reinvigorate my earliest speculation that she intercepted a phone call that evening. Scotty boy tells her earlier in the day about his plan to go fishing Christmas Eve. She may have thought it legit until either Amber calls on his cell phone and Laci answers unwittingly, or Amber has tracked down his LISTED number and Laci just answers the phone. Boom!

It might even be that SP had purchased an expensive gift for Amber and was obviously going to attempt to see her on Christmas Eve for a quickie prior to his "leaving" for Paris, and Laci found it on the evening of the 23rd. (Well, you have to admit that when he lies, he lies BIG!)

Accepting his word that he told her "early on" is probably just another lie but his intention is to deflect any possible discussion of having fought with her prior to the 23rd. If they didn't fight about, if Laci was "cool" with the arrangement, then Scotty boy had no need to kill her. It must have been the one-armed man!!

Which reminds me, did you ever notice that David Jannsen never wore his tie "tight"! I had heard he wrote that into his contracts!?

[Jaded]

So, if Laci knew of the affair, who did she tell? (My theory -- No one, because she didn't get a chance to).

Maybe, maybe not. Some people are more concerned with the illusion of a perfect marriage. We know, appearances are everything.

[wimpycat]

She would have at least told somebody about it. Now's the time for her friends and family to not keep their mouths shut out of "loyalty" and tell the police if she did indeed say something about it. She would have told her sister or her best friend, I'm sure. Women don't sit on information like that...not for long anyway.

I personally don't think she knew...at least not until the last minute, so to speak.

[BonneBlue]

"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???"

My thoughts exactly...theres the proof. Lets hear from the family.

[Tijeras_Slim]

He is such a liar as to defy belief.

He's also a very bad liar. I hear the clock ticking for this scum.

PS: Be sure to let us know when the new FReeper arrives! :)

[FITZ]

Remember she is the same girl who physically had it out with another girl when she was a teen?

Not the kind then who would easily accept a husband's affair.

[spectre]

Yes, Scott let his parents to out and LIE for him. They never believed there was another woman. What a perfect couple these two were, blah, blah.

Mrs. Liberty, I notice you said "ex" brother in law. Your sister called you? Of course she did! Good for her, and good for her she dumped the creep.

Laci didn't get the chance..darn-it anyway.

sw

[Devil_Anse]

Hmmm, do I detect some play words here?

You sure do! We should all look at his statements in light of that article about police statement-taking on the other thread. His statements are rather oddly framed.

Q. "Did you murder her?"

A. "I had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance."

ANSWER THE QUESTION, PUTZ!! Are you trying to tell us that someone else hid the body for you after you murdered her??!?

[twigs]

Yes, you are. I am convinced that if a wife isn't ready to do what she needs to do to protect her marriage, then that marriage doesn't mean much to her. It seems to me you have a wife who values her marriage to you. Now me, when my husband (who I utterly trust) teases me about these things, I tell him I have just two words for him--Lorena Bobbitt.

[tubebender]

of that 46%, 7% are killed by their spouse.

That's even more surreal...that is saying that only 7 out of 100 are killed by their spouse.

[twigs]

Yes, you are. I am convinced that if a wife isn't ready to do what she needs to do to protect her marriage, then that marriage doesn't mean much to her. It seems to me you have a wife who values her marriage to you. Now me, when my husband (who I utterly trust) teases me about these things, I tell him I have just two words for him--Lorena Bobbitt.

[Yaelle]

Actually, the little wheel calculator that OB's use to determine weeks of pregnancy calculate about 10 months for the entire duration. It's really 40 weeks. But according to that wheel, Laci was indeed 8.5 mos pregnant when she disappeared, and she'd be 9.5 months pregnant now, due to give birth in about 2 weeks. I will deliver my baby in the week she would have. How very sad.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Too bad it's not your LATE brother-in-law!

Cheating men are beyond my comprehension.

[justshe]

Oh, I DO like Mrs. Slim. :-)

[clouda]

If he told the police about Amber on the 24th, they would have contacted her. The Modesto police said that she contacted them on the 30th. GMA asked the police about Scott telling them on the 24th. They said they would not comment. I am sure they knew nothing about her until the 30th.

[Devil_Anse]

Now wait just a cotton-pickin' minute, Doc!!!

"Laci LOVED the idea of her husband having sex with another woman while she was pregnant."

WHO SAYS Amber slept with Scott?? Hey, don't make Amber out to be some sort of cheap trollop!!

Loved your Diane Sawyer comment!

[BonneBlue]

Early December, heh? He had to say early December. He needs to get away, as far as possible, from Dec 23rd, so her disappearance in no way, has anything to do with him! The way he speaks of it though, he almost is insinuating that she may have left on her own. He leaves to the imagination the possibility she may have needed some time alone or she decided she could not deal with the affair after all.

Let's go with the possibility that he actually did tell her in early December. She had almost 3 weeks to tell someone. She would not have kept this to herself for that length of time. She would have had to talk about it for the simple reason of getting another perspective on the situation. She would have least told a therapist or counselor if not her friends and family.