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Laci's
Family Speaks Out
POSTED: Friday, January 24, 2003 at 3:40 PM PST
UPDATED: Saturday, January 25, 2003 at 11:52 PM PST
by Gregg L. DesElms
After more than a week of nearly complete silence from the parents and siblings of Laci Peterson, the family finally broke
its silence on Friday, January 24, 2003 -- a week to the day after closing their command center following police disclosures
that Laci's husband, Scott, had had an affair behind her back, and had taken-out a $250,000 life insurance policy
on her last summer; and a month to the day after Laci's disappearance.
Flanked
by family members, Sharon Rocha, second from right, makes an appeal for any information on her missing daughter,
Laci Peterson, during a news conference in Modesto, Calif., Friday, Jan. 24, 2003. Also shown are Laci's older
brother, Brent (far left), his wife, Rosa. To Sharon's left (foreground) is Laci's younger sister, Amy, and part
of the shirt of Laci's father, Dennis Rocha.
(AP
Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) |
In what turned out to be the first of two amazing press conferences in the same town and in the same night, and
on the eve of their scheduled appearance on the FOX Network program America's
Most Wanted
with John Walsh, members of Laci's close family, including her mother, brother, sister, sister-in-law, and father,
filed in to a packed room at the Red Lion Hotel, which had housed the now-shuttered command center, and approached
the podium to address throngs of reporters from local and national media outlets who had been waiting most of the
day for this moment.
They began promptly at 2:30 PM PST, as scheduled.
Amy Rocha, Laci's younger half-sister, stepped to the microphone first. She managed to get out only one sentence
before becoming too emotional to speak.
"The past few weeks have been the most painful time I've ever experienced," she said, choking back tears,
then stopping to try to compose herself. Family members patted her on the shoulder and offered her encouragement,
but she stepped away from the microphone, saying she could not continue.
Brent Rocha, Amy's (and Laci's) older brother, then stepped to the microphone.
"I think we all prepared statements so we could try to get our message across," he said, "otherwise
we could definitely say it from the heart, but we want to make sure that what we feel actually gets said."
He continued, "I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for being here on the one month anniversary
of my sister's disappearance. I've prepared a written statement and will not answer any questions after the statement."
With composure, he then began reading:
"One
of the things I'd like to confirm, first of all. I'd like to confirm that on January 16th, 2003, by phone, Scott
Peterson did admit to me that he was having an affair with a Fresno woman. I confronted him with the allegation
after viewing pictures of him with this woman.
I would like Scott to know that I trusted him and stood by him in the initial phases of my sister's disappearance.
However, Scott has not been forthcoming with information regarding my sister's disappearance, and I'm only left
to question what else he may be hiding.
Since Scott is no longer communicating with anyone in Laci's family, and because we have so many questions that
he has not answered, I am no longer supporting him.
I'm pleading with the person that took Laci to please disclose her location, so that my family can have Laci back.
You know that you have made a terrible choice, whoever this person is. However, as you contemplate the evil that
you have chosen, please return her to her family that loves her so much.
At this point, he could
no longer hold back tears, and with trembling voice, he continued... now speaking directly to his missing sister:
"Laci,
the last month has been the most disturbing and emotional time of my life. Your disappearance has completely changed
my life as I once knew it. I miss your beautiful smile and your fun-loving personality. Every time we were together,
I could feel the unconditional love between the both of us.
"As your older brother, I only wish that I had the opportunity to be there to defend you from the person that
decided to take you away from me. We talked about our children growing up together and spending summers at each
others' house. Now that you and Connor have been taken away from me, I realize that my children will not have cousins
to grow up with. And family events will feel very lonely without you and Connor.
"Wherever you may be, I hope you know how much I love you and how important you are to me. My search for you
will never end.
"I have two requests:
"I would like to ask for the public's continued support in finding my sister so that the person responsible
for her disappearance will receive the ultimate punishment.
"I would also like to ask Scott to fully cooperate with the Modesto Police Department.
"Thank you."
Brent then stepped
away from the microphone. Family members asked Amy again if she was ready to give her statement. Still emotional,
she declined, whereupon Sharon Rocha, Laci's mother, stepped to the microphone.
She immediately began reading from her prepared statement, crisply and with deliberateness.
"I
would like to thank all of you for being here today and for respecting our request last week for some time to spend
alone with our family. We appreciate your support of our family's search to find Laci.
"I want to thank Kim Petersen, with the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation, who has been working with all of
you and relaying our wishes to not conduct interviews last week. We had a very difficult time last week.
"I also want to thank all of the volunteers, the police department, fire department, Brad Saltzman and everyone
at the Red Lion Hotel, the chaplains at the police department, all of my friends and family, the hundreds of thousands
of people who have visited Laci's web site with their prayers, and everyone who has been involved with the
search for Laci. The support we've received from everyone has been our salvation."
Becoming emotional
at this point, her voice began to tremble and the pace of her speech slowed a bit. She continued:
"Since
Christmas Eve, our one and only focus has been to find Laci and bring her home to us. I love my daughter so much.
I miss her every minute of every day. I miss seeing her. I miss our talking together. I miss listening to the excitement
in her voice when she talks to me about her baby. I miss not being able to share with her the anticipation of her
approaching delivery date. I miss listening to her talk about her future with her husband and her baby. I miss
sharing our thoughts and our lives together. I miss her smile and her laughter and her sense of humor. And I miss
everything about her.
"Someone has taken all of this away from me and everyone else who loves her. There are no words that can possibly
describe the ache in my heart or the emptiness in my life.
"I know that someone knows where Laci is, and I'm pleading with you, please, please, let her come home to
us. You can send an anonymous letter to the police department, or you can make an anonymous phone call to the police
department tip line at area code (209) 342-6166. (Or anonymous messages may be sent using our Leads
and Tips form.)
"If someone out there has observed or possibly discovered, on their property, anything unusual or suspicious,
no matter how minute or insignificant it might seem to you, please call the police department. This may be the
missing link to finding Laci.
"Please keep looking for Laci and help us end this nightmare.
"Thank you."
And with that, the
family members walked, single file, away from the podium and out of the room. Uncharacteristically, no questions
were shouted by reporters as they left, nor were any voices heard. Except for the occasional clicking of camera
shutters, there was silence.
Friday at
the Red Lion Hotel, Laci Peterson's family makes an emotional appeal for her safe return. Pictured from left to
right, Brent Rocha, Sharon Rocha, Amy Rocha, Dennis Rocha.
Photo
by BART AH YOU
of the Modesto Bee |
Three and a half hours later, at 6:30 PM PST, the Modesto Police Department had its own, unexpected news conference.
In the hours between the Rochas' news conference and that of the police, press speculation about what the police
could possibly want to release to the press ran wild. As it turned out, what actually happened at that press conference exceeded
their wildest expectations. Read about it here.
The Rochas spoke publicly
again the next day on the FOX Network's America's Most Wanted (AMW) television program.
Laci's segment on the AMW program was short. In it, members of her close family made an impassioned appeal for
her return. Her stepfather, Ron Grantski, said that when police met with them on January 15, 2003, they were shown
four photographs of Scott with Amber Frey, the woman police alleged at that time was Scott's girlfriend (a fact
which Frey, herself, confirmed in a
stunning press conference
on January 24, 2003). At the same time, Grantski said, the family was told by police about Scott's having taken-out
a $250,000 life insurance policy on Laci. Grantski did not say if police thought Laci knew about the policy. Police
will not confirm the life insurance policy part of the story.
Modesto Police Det. Doug Ridenour also appeared on the AMW program. He said one reason investigators quickly discounted
the possibility that Peterson had left voluntarily was that most all of her belongings were still at the house,
"her cell phone and those types of things that she would have probably taken with her if she had intentionally
left," he said.
The program aired on Saturday evening, January 25, 2003 at 9:00 PM PST on the FOX Network.
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