Posted on 03/01/2003 7:57:53 AM PST by runningbear
Cementing A Case?
Police Study Cement Traces On Scott Peterson's Boat
The man who sold Scott Peterson the boat the Modesto, Calif., man says he went fishing in the day his pregnant wife disappeared, said he found traces of cement on the vessel that weren't there when he sold it.
Feb. 27 Police are looking at whether traces of cement found on Scott Peterson's boat and three containers of cement at his Modesto home could be related to the disappearance of his pregnant wife, Laci.
Investigators carried out a two-day search of the Petersons' home last week in what they said was an effort to "eliminate or connect" him as a suspect in the case.
One of the things they found in that search were containers of cement, which he said were for the people who were working on his pool. When police asked the pool workers, though, they said the cement was not theirs.
Police asked the man who sold Peterson the boat he said he was fishing on the day that his wife disappeared to look it over and see if anything was different about it. He said that he saw traces of cement on the boat that were not there when he turned the boat over to Peterson.
"I know it wasn't that way when I sold it to him," the man, Bruce Peterson, who is not related to Scott Peterson, told ABCNEWS affiliate KGO in San Francisco. "I don't know what he used it for, if he was hauling stuff or anything."
The 14-foot aluminum boat is a 1991 Sears Gamefisher, equipped with a 15-horsepower Gamefisher outboard motor. Police seized the boat, its trailer, and a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup truck shortly after Laci Peterson disappeared.
Peterson bought the boat a few weeks before his wife disappeared on Dec. 24. He said he last saw his wife at 9:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve when he left to go fishing on the boat.
Since Laci Peterson disappeared, police have searched the San Francisco Bay near Berkeley, where Scott Peterson said he was fishing. They have also combed virtually every waterway in Stanislaus County, and portions of Merced, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties, but found nothing in any of the searches.
And to go along with the story line:
Peterson's mother replies to comment
Peterson's mother replies to comment
By PATRICK GIBLIN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Published 12:55 p.m. PST Friday, February 28, 2003 Jackie Peterson said Thursday it's not surprising that a man found concrete dust in the bottom of her son Scott Peterson's boat.
The residue was likely there because of the boat's concrete anchor, she said. "It was mentioned long ago that Scott had a cement anchor."
Scott Peterson's wife, Laci Peterson, was reported missing Dec. 24. Scott Peterson told police he last saw her at 9:30 a.m. as he left with the boat to go fishing in the Bay Area and she prepared to walk their dog in East La Loma Park.
Jackie Peterson was responding to comments made by Bruce Peterson during a television interview. He sold the boat to Scott Peterson in December. They are not related.
Detectives asked Bruce Peterson to look at the boat after police seized it.
Since Laci Peterson's disappearance, hundreds of officers and volunteers have searched from Tuolumne County to the Berkeley Marina for the missing pregnant woman.
On Wednesday, Vivian Mitchell reported that she saw Laci Peterson walking her dog between 10 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. Dec. 24. She said she reported that to police but never received a return call.
Lee Peterson, Scott Peterson's father, reacted to that story Thursday.
"How do you follow up on a lead if you don't return someone's calls?" Peterson said by phone Thursday. "It makes me wonder about their competency. Here's an eyewitness account of my daughter-in-law and they don't follow up on it."
Police spokesman Doug Ridenour on Thursday confirmed that the department received the tip and said "it was appropriately handled during our investigation.
"But we have 8,000 tips," he said, "and the majority we haven't called back."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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And one other just to set off on this Saturday of news:
this image also includes on the webpage a video
Click the URL for the video clip
Nobody Ever Followed Up
Neighbors Say Police Ignored Sightings of Laci Peterson
M O D E S T O , Calif., Feb. 28 Neighbors of Laci Peterson say the Modesto Police Department ignored their report of a Laci Peterson sighting the day she went missing.
Vivian Mitchell, 78, says she and her husband, Bill, were the last people to see Laci Peterson, but she says Modesto police haven't talked to her about their Christmas Eve sighting.
"I called and told them that I'd seen whom I thought was her and it would be pretty difficult to have an identical twin and identical dog," Mitchell told ABCNEWS affiliate KGO in San Francisco. "I did think that it was strange they didn't call. I just thought they had some information that over-rode what I had seen and I just thought it was strange that nobody ever followed up," she said.
Mitchell says it took her a week to call the police, because she assumed others in the neighborhood had also seen Peterson walking her dog.
Mitchell says she remembers seeing Peterson, who was eight months pregnant at the time, between 10 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 24. That's about 45 minutes after Scott Peterson told police he said goodbye to his wife and went fishing.
It Was Frustrating
"It was frustrating when the [local] paper went on and on and they kept on reporting that 9:30 a.m. was the last anybody had seen of her," Mitchell said. "I am pretty well convinced it was her because it was just too close circumstance to be not her. What she looked like, the dog, the time element, the whole thing," Mitchell said.
Mitchell's report prompted frustration from the family of Laci's husband Scott Peterson. His sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, says she doesn't understand why Modesto police haven't focused more on reported sightings and tips.
"When this all started, there was many reports of people who had said they seen her walking," Janey Peterson told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "That's why all the posters say 'Last seen walking her dog' in that area. As time went on, it became, 'well, we cannot confirm that she had been walking her dog.' Then it became, you know, 'we believe she left the area in a vehicle,'" Janey Peterson said.
In the wake of Mitchell's claims, Scott Peterson's father, Lee, on Thursday criticized police for focusing suspicion on his son .
"How do you follow up on a lead if you don't return someone's calls?" Peterson said in a Thursday telephone call to The Associated Press from Solana Beach in San Diego County.
"It makes me wonder about their competency," he said of Modesto Police. "Here's an eyewitness account of my daughter-in-law and they don't follow up on it."
Police: We Have 8,000 Tips
Modesto Police spokesman Doug Ridenour declined comment on Lee Peterson's remarks to the AP. He confirmed that the department received the tip, and said the tip was appropriately handled. "But we have 8,000 tips," he said, "and the majority we haven't called back."
The Modesto Police Department declined a request to appear on Good Morning America, saying it's an ongoing investigation.
Mitchell said she talked to a woman when she called the Modesto police. She says the woman asked for her name, address and phone number.
The Mitchells live about 10 blocks from the home that Laci Peterson, 27, and her huband shared.
Scott Peterson, 30, told police he last saw his wife at about 9:30 a.m., before he left for the Berkeley Marina. Police still say that Peterson is not a suspect in his wife's disappearance, but he hasn't been ruled out either.
Police Search Turns Up Cement
Police removed 95 items from Scott Peterson's home during a two-day search last week. One of the things they found in that search were containers of cement, which he said were for the people who were working on his pool. When police asked the pool workers, though, they said the cement was not theirs.
Police contacted the man who sold Peterson the boat he said he was fishing on the day his wife disappeared, asking the seller to look it over and see if anything was different about it. He said that he saw traces of cement on the boat that were not there when he turned the boat over to Peterson.
"I know it wasn't that way when I sold it to him," the man, Bruce Peterson, who is not related to Scott Peterson, told ABCNEWS affiliate KGO in San Francisco. "I don't know what he used it for, if he was hauling stuff or anything."
When asked about the cement, Janey Peterson said Scott and Laci spent a lot of time on home improvement. "I know they've done a lot of work on their home," she said.
Janey Peterson says her family is waiting for a call from the Modesto Police Chief on the Mitchell sighting.
ABCNEWS affiliate KGO in San Francisco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
This is why I never thought that Laci had been at the park. The homeless there may have their many problems but they are VIGILANT. They miss next to nothing and are suspicious of anyone besides other homeless people.
thanks great link! bookmarked it.
Perhaps the wheels got broken? After all the boat and wheels were being used for something they were not intented for.
A lot of posters have focused on her being encased in a steel barrel/drum...I think bc Scott was on record for purchasing/owning one? I have a hard time believing that he would have taken a huge barrel on that 14foot boat though. Too risky...might have toppled boat over. Another poster spoke of the possibility of the barrel being towed in the water, which I thought was interesting, and a safer solution.
All in all I think the most simple solution is in order...which is yours. (if she is in the water).
Almost as if he were practising?
Premeditation all the way.
The towing would be absolutely possible, we and friends, end up towing other boats alot when they have engine probs. or run out of gas, and you can tow a much bigger boat than your own in the right conditions.
Infrared usually picks up living matter. What they would use would probably be sonar equipment which I think can be used in water and land. They used sonor in the waters of the Berkeley Bay. The sonar waves identify "like" material and the sonar waves are translated into a visual interpretation on a monitor. Therefore, if Laci were buried underneath concrete or earth in the back yard for instance. The sonar waves would detect the difference between the materials of the earth/concrete and that of a body. There would be a visual interpretation of this. Just like the anchor in the Berkely Bay. It's pretty loose...but you can see anomolies on a monitor (think titanic documentaries).
An aside...If Laci were buried in the back yard wouldn't the dogs have picked up her scent on first search, or maybe even second? I am pretty sure they would have at least on first search.
I could see that happening quite easily, but I do not think it was in the Bay, I think it was in a secluded spot where the waters were calmer & no current to deal with. Most likely a lake.
BODY TROUBLE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOO COOL: Scott Peterson showed a suspicious lack of emotion when talking about his unborn son, the expert says. - ABC
January 30, 2003 -- Embattled hubby Scott Peterson yesterday tried to convince America he and missing wife Laci had a "glorious" marriage - but his body language undermined his message, an expert says. "He's a cold, cool cat. He's definitely not telling the whole truth," said Manhattan body-language guru Mary Dawne Arden, after watching Peterson on ABC's "Good Morning America," at The Post's request.
"The way he sits, with his legs spread, his hands on his knees, facing Diane Sawyer, what he's saying is, 'I'm the king of the mountain.' "
An air of deception was definitely not the image Peterson, a 31-year-old Modesto, Calif., man whose wife vanished on Christmas Eve, hoped to get across in the second of a two-part interview with Sawyer.
He wanted people to believe he was happily married to his wife, although he's admitted cheating on her.
"God, the first word that comes to mind is, you know, glorious," the manure salesman said when Sawyer asked him about his marriage.
"We took care of each other very well, she was amazing," he said before adding, "[She] is amazing."
Peterson, whom police have not ruled out as a suspect, was supported by his parents and siblings.
"He's the gentlest person I ever knew," his dad, Lee, said.
But according to Arden, Peterson was not convincing because he smirked, dropped his eyes and showed too little emotion.
"The way he was talking was very superficial," she said. "I don't see any real grief when he's talking."
Peterson tried to portray his marital relationship as strong by recalling one of his first dates with his wife.
"We were driving down the highway and, for no reason, I was just smiling the biggest smile," he said. "She asked me, 'What the heck are you smiling about?' The only [reason] was because she was there."
Peterson welled up with tears when Sawyer asked him about the nursery that awaited little Connor, the unborn baby boy Laci was carrying.
"That door is closed until there's someone to go in there," he said.
But that didn't sway Arden.
"If somebody asks you about your baby that's missing, there would be some emotional reaction on your face," she said. "He's stonewalling."
Peterson said that last time he saw his wife was at about 9:30 a.m. Dec. 24, before he left for a solo fishing trip.
When Sawyer pointedly asked him why he would go fishing on Christmas Eve, leaving his pregnant wife behind, he said, "My day was open to, you know, either play golf or go fishing."
"Throughout, there was no emotion on his face," Arden said. "His words didn't mesh with his body language."
I had wondered about that also .That boat is a dingy it seemed odd..but perhaps the cost was a cause
Does this seem strange to anyone but me? He never mentioned his wife at work? What about insurance forms ?Never spoke of becoming a dad? Lacie never called him there and said "tell him his wife called"?
What kind of man never tells anyone he is going to be a dad?
How about the girl knew him from her work. Possibly another massage therapist? They conveniently don't say who's workplace.
I used to think that freepers were computer geniuses...The first time I posted a picture I thought who says you can not teach an old dog new tricks
Congratulations
I don't think it can be done, and I have a 14' boat.
This has crossed my mind also. I have some boating experience -- a lot more than Scott does -- and I don't think I could do it.
The problem with all the reports that are carried in the Enquirer is that, while certainly intriguing, virtually none of them seem to be substantiated with names or other verifiable facts. I know the Enquirer has been doing a fairly good job lately of getting their information right, but it's still very hard to know how much of this is just wild rumor.
The other problem I have with it is that, even if all of this is true, virtually every one of Peterson's acts -- virtually every one -- can be explained *without* him being guilty.
If he had premeditated the crime as methodically as we accuse him of doing, he would have known he could not collect on the insurance or sell the house.
Also, it does not seem so strange to me that he might wait an hour or so before reporting her missing. Or that he might take a shower, etc. To the contrary, if he had premeditated it, I think he would have *not* done those things; he would have come home and immediately called the police. For most people, it can take time for a situation to sink in.
I do think he's guilty, but there is nothing here yet that would cause me to vote "guilty" if I was on a jury. The police better have more than this.
(Btw, thank you rb!)
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