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Grocery
store clerk reported Laci sighting;
report later discredited by police
POSTED: Thursday, January 30 at 11:53 PM PST
UPDATED: Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 2:20 AM PST
LONGVIEW, WA -- A cashier in a Longview grocery store told police there that she may have seen Laci Peterson in
December, a few days after her reported disappearance from her Modesto, CA neighborhood on December 24, 2002. The
information came from a police statement obtained by the Longview Daily News and reported on Thursday, January
30, 2003.
The 45-year-old Sinnet's Market Place cashier said that late in the week of January 19, 2003 she had seen a CNN
report about Laci's disappearance. The cashier said the news report jogged her memory and suddenly she recalled
having waited on an unusual couple at the Commerce Avenue store very near the end of December.
She said the female member of the couple appeared to be in her late twenties, was in a late stage of pregnancy,
and had Laci's "classic beauty" and sleek, brown hair. The woman was accompanied, she said, by a much
older man with "strong features" and a ruddy complexion.
The cashier said the couple bought the sort of food that could be eaten easily on a trip, such as containers of
yogurt. After the man stepped out of line to get something he had forgotten, the cashier remarked to the woman
that she should be wearing a coat on such a chilly day.
The woman told the cashier she hadn't had time to take a coat because she had been kidnapped.
"This is serious," the cashier recalled the woman saying. "I was kidnapped. Call the authorities
when I leave."
She added that the woman said the man had a weapon.
The cashier told police she wasn't sure at the time whether to take the woman seriously.
The woman then quickly put some candy on the counter, signed her name to a check and gave it to the cashier, telling
her to fill out the rest for the price of the candy.
The cashier told her she wasn't allowed to do that. The statement does not indicate whether the cashier looked
at the name or address on the check.
The woman hurriedly completed the check, but the cashier had no time to ring up the purchase because the man returned.
He took the check and insisted on paying cash for the candy along with the rest of the groceries.
He then asked what the women talked about while he was gone.
"She said you kidnapped her," the cashier told him.
That made the man angry, she said. But then she teasingly added that her husband always kidnaps her to take her
to dinner. The man then relaxed and laughed.
"Yeah, I guess I kidnapped her," she recalled him saying.
After the couple left, the police report indicated that the cashier unsuccessfully tried to find a phone book obtain
the telephone number of the police department. Then, the report stated, she "became distracted and forgot
about the incident." The report adds that she stated she feels terrible about it now.
Late on Thursday, January 30, 2003, Longview police told the throngs of reporters that were by then contacting
them from all over the country that they had collected all of the store's security video tapes for the month of
December 2002 and were beginning to review them. According to Longview Police Detective Sgt. Dan Jacobs, it was
not known how long it would take to go through the tapes, but he said that if it appears that a woman matching
Laci's description can be identified on any of the tapes, they will contact the Modesto Police Department.
When contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday, a manager at the grocery store said he didn't have any information
and hung up the phone.
Late on Thursday, January 30, 2003, Bay area TV news stations were reporting that the Modesto Police had stated
that they were very skeptical of the report. But they await the results of the Longview Police Department's review
of the video tapes.
There was no reaction or public statement from either the family of Laci Peterson or of her husband, Scott.
To read the original Longview Daily News story, click
here.
UPDATE
LONGVIEW, WA -- Police
said late Friday, January 31, 2003 that a report stating that Laci Peterson was spotted in a local supermarket
is unfounded.
Detectives reviewed over 45 hours of surveillance tapes from Sinnet's Market Place grocery store from December
24, 2002 (the date of Laci's disappearance) through January 19, 2003 (the date of the grocery store clerk's call
to police).
"We did not see anybody that looked like Laci Peterson," said Detective Sgt. Dan Jacobs.
Jacobs said he and Detective Tim Deisher watched every tape from the camera aimed at the clerk's checkstand during
the hours she worked.
Jacobs said the tapes are such good quality that he could recognize people he knew, but he saw no one resembling
Peterson.
"Our hearts go out to the family of Laci Peterson," said Longview Police Chief Bob Burgreen. "We
had hoped that this could possibly be a break-through lead, but we now believe that is not the case."
Kim Petersen, Executive Director of the Sund/Carrington Foundation, who is acting as spokeswoman for (but isn't
related to) the family, said the family never took the Longview story seriously.
"It didn't make sense from the beginning," she said. "I mean, how many times does a pregnant woman
walk into a store and say she's being kidnapped. How could you forget something like that?"
Laci's stepfather, Ron Grantski addressed the false report at the candlelight observance on Friday evening, January
30th. He said that although the woman was wrong, he appreciates that she wasn't afraid to contact the police.
Parts
of this story were compiled from
copy from the Longview
Daily News
and
the Associated Press
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