Peterson tackles rumors, reports

The Modesto Bee ^ | Jan 30, 2003 | Ty Phillips

[Yaelle]

What was the final conclusion? Did he go to jail?

Yeah, they finally got Dr. MacDonald. It took over 10 years, I am sure, to get him, though. He did LOTS of TV shows and interviews, always expressing his innocence. Yet his story of the way things happened was really full of holes. Another arrogant b*stard who thought he was smarter than everyone else. He practiced medicine and lived at the Marina in L.A. chasing skirts and sailing yachts while they tried to build up a case against him.

[muggs]

I bet Scott wishes he could kill John and Ken too.

[Uncle Hal]

I live in the Bay area. I keep weather data as a hobby and Grace is wrong on many counts. Where I live it did not rain that day and had not rained for several days before. Temperatures were in the 50's. If it was 30 degrees it would be snowing not raining.

[spectre]

He used nothing. He did not go fishing, IMO.

sw

[muggs]

A neighbor found it wandering around and returned it to the yard.

[Jael]

I have seen numerous news clips of dogs searching for Laci. I don't know what kind they were.

[Yaelle]

Ooh, that is creepy about the MacDonald house being left for 9 years. The coolest thing about the case for me was that they figured out that ALL FOUR FAMILY MEMBERS had different ABO blood types. I think that was about as sophisticated as DNA typing went in those days. But with the four different types, they were able to piece together from the blood all over the house what happened and in what order. And it totally contradicted MacDonald's cheesy story. I thought that was awesome, as though the poor souls were able to point to their killer from their graves.

[BonneBlue]

On John Walsh. One of Laci's friends, Stacy, spoke with Laci the night before she went missing. She said she seemed very happy and told her about her doctors appt, said everything was going normal with the baby, and wanted to wish stacy a merry christmas.

[Doc Savage]

He either sprang it on Laci on the evening of the 23rd (say 8 or 9 o'clock) as a cover story for seeing Amber and to perhaps deliver a Christmas present to her,...or he simply invented the story as a cover line, one which would supposedly place him a 100 miles away while his wife was being abducted in the park.

[tubebender]

I wondered why Scott would wrap the umbrella in a tarp to transport it.Seeing the picture made me think that perhaps some of the chemicals he hauls are no doubt caustic or leave a powdery substance in the PU that would have stained them.

[BlondieTx]

Please add me to the ping list.

[tubebender]

As I understand it and have heard it discussed, the law in California, as instructed to a jury, is that if you tell ONE LIE everything else you say can be considered a lie.

Does that apply to prosecution witnesses as well?

[shezza]

...as a cover story for seeing Amber and to perhaps deliver a Christmas present to her...

Amber was upset because he told her he could NOT spend Christmas with her because he was in Maine for the holidays...then called her from "Paris." So I don't think he saw Amber at all that day. Called her, probably, but didn't see her. He was supposed to be on the other coast. Maybe he had some other fish on the line, or maybe, as you suggest, he was establishing his "I wasn't even in the neighborhood" alibi.

[Rusty Roberts]

Correct, the Bee did not say he was drinking. They also did not print that photo of Scott smiling until several weeks after the vigil, only when things went south for Scott. Actually, the only place I ever saw anyone ever "say" Scott was holding a drink was on forums like this, which tells me Scott has been a busy little chatter bug, hasn't he? I clearly remember someone saying Scott had a drink in his had and another poster reposting the picture to point out that although he was smiling/laughing, he was holding a candle in the cup.

Now we know why he was always "responding to emails" in the Volunteer Center every day--the police had taken his computer, and it was the best access he had to follow the pulse on what people were saying. Bingo.

[Yaelle]

As I understand it and have heard it discussed, the law in California, as instructed to a jury, is that if you tell ONE LIE everything else you say can be considered a lie.

Well, that certainly happened to Mark Fuhrman, didn't it?

[Jackie-O]

If I remember correctly, the murdered wife's parents began to doubt son-in-law very quickly much like Laci's parents/family.

[BonneBlue]

I always suspected he was lurking on forums and such to get the pulse of opinion. Laci's family said he would disappear for long periods of time. He may have visited libraries or places where he could have access to a puter.

[Space Wrangler]

I would guess that he was trying to rationalize his strange (and guilty) behavior as merely a tactic to keep the case in the media by pretending to be guilty. If you think about it, not a bad idea if you're sole purpose was to keep your wife's picture up, but nobody is that smart. He told Diane Sawyer that he wasn't media savvy, and that was why he looked bad. So, he has now explained away his behavior by saying a)he isn't media savvy, and b)he is VERY media savvy. So many contradictions, what's a person to believe? My answer: GUILTY!

[Rusty Roberts]

However, the temp was 30 degrees that day, was he dressed for fishing on such a cold, wet day, on the spur of the moment? Plus, you need special bait for sturgen: smelt and so on, no sign he purchased any at this point. That small boat on such a cold day on the water--just how the heck was he dressed--big difference in what you were to go work a few hours in the office and what you wear to go fish in SF Bay on a 30 degree day.

[vikingchick]

Thanks again, runningbear, for all the posting and pinging you've been doing on this story.