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Right on track
On Thursday morning, February 27, 2003 a story by Modesto Bee reporter Patrick Giblin appeared
in that newspaper which, if true, strongly supports Scott Peterson's version of events as he recounted them in
the hours immediately following the reporting to police of Laci's disappearance.
According to the story, the wife of a three-term Modesto city councilman said she saw Laci walking her dog on Christmas
Eve morning, about 45 minutes after Scott said he left for a fishing trip.
Vivian Mitchell, wife of former Modesto city councilman Bill Mitchell, said she was standing at her kitchen sink
washing dishes at around 10:00 or 10:15 AM PST on the morning of December 24, 2002 when she saw Laci walk past
her La Loma neighborhood home with the Laci's and Scott's golden retriever, McKenzie, on its leash.
"I had glanced out the window, and the sun had come out and it was a very nice day," Vivian Mitchell
said. "It had been raining recently, so the sunshine brought out all the dog walkers."
Mitchell said Laci was wearing black and white clothing when she saw her, just as Scott had told police she was
wearing when he claims he said goodbye to her at 9:30 AM PST that morning on his way to his Emerald Avenue warehouse.
Scott told police he first went to the warehouse and then he left from there with boat-in-tow for a short fishing
trip to the Berkeley Marina some 85 miles away. Scott later told police he could not find his wife when he returned
home late that afternoon.
The Mitchell home is at Buena Vista and La Sombra avenues, about 10 blocks from the Peterson home on Covena Avenue.
"I had seen Laci walk by the house several times before," Mitchell said. "When she walked by on
Christmas Eve, I hollered to Bill, 'Oh, look, it's the lady with the golden retriever.'"
Vivian Mitchell's husband, Bill, said he went to the window and saw the dog go around the corner.
"It looked like the dog wanted to go one way, and she was going another," he said.
Vivian Mitchell said she saw Peterson heading south on Buena Vista toward La Sombra Avenue.
"She must have come from Kewin Park," she said. "The dog wanted to head toward Yosemite Boulevard.
She circled the dog around, and they headed the other way. She was short, had on a white top and dark colored trousers,
slacks,” Mitchell added. "Her hair was dark, dark colored. But later when I saw the pictures of Laci Peterson,
I thought that was her for sure."
One of Scott's and Laci's neighbors, Karen Servas, later reported finding the dog running loose in the neighborhood
dragging its muddy leash at about 10:30 AM PST. She said she placed the dog into the Peterson's back yard with
the leash still attached and closed the gate, not stopping to think at the time that perhaps something was amiss.
Scott told police that that's where he found the dog when he returned home later that day. Laci, he said, was nowhere
to be found.
On December 26, 2002, police used bloodhounds to try to find Laci and the dogs led their handlers toward Yosemite
Boulevard. At least one of the bloodhounds, however, so repeatedly led its handler to a spot in the Peterson's
driveway and alerted in such a way that its handler became convinced that Laci had most recently left the couple's
home in a vehicle, not on foot.
"He's
just been terribly mistreated...
"They're
messing with his livelihood...
"They've
run him out of his home...
"They've
made his life a living hell...
"It's
more of a harassment, that's what it is."
Lee Peterson,
talking to the Associated Press (AP) on Thursday, February 27, 2003, regarding the way Modesto police and the media
have treated his son, Scott Peterson, husband of missing Modesto woman Laci Peterson |
Police have been saying that the last time anyone other than Scott actually saw Laci was at around 5:30 PM PST on December 23, 2002 when
she and Scott left the beauty shop where Laci's younger half-sister, Amy Rocha, works. Thereafter, police say,
the last person other than Scott to have actually spoken with Laci was her mother, Sharon
Rocha, who says she had a telephone conversation with her daughter at around 8:30 PM PST on the night of December
23, 2002.
In the days and weeks following Laci's disappearance, Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said several times on various
cable news TV programs that as far as the police were concerned, the timeline of Laci's disappearance began for
them not at 9:30 AM PST on Christmas Eve morning in accordance with Scott's version of events but, rather, at around
8:30 PM PST the night before when Laci's mother last spoke with her on the phone. If Vivian Mitchell's sighting
is determined to be accurate and reliable, it would seem to not-insignificantly bolster Scott's position.
Mitchell said she called the police tip line about a week after Laci's disappearance to tell them about her sighting.
But as of Wednesday, February 26, 2003 (some 64 days after Laci's reported disappearance and about seven weeks
after Mitchell is said to have called police) detectives had not called her back, she said.
"(Laci) looked very happy and smiling, and they were having a nice walk," Mitchell said. "It made
me feel bad that she disappeared then."
Mitchell said she waited a week because she assumed others also saw Laci walking her dog that morning. But as time
passed and it seemed police had not found any other witnesses who were saying they saw Laci on the morning of December
24th, Mitchell's husband and friends urged her to step forward and tell police what she saw.
Police spokesman Doug Ridenour said Mitchell and several other people reported seeing Laci at about that time.
He said investigators looked into the tips, but did not return everyone's calls.
Since the Laci Peterson disappearance case began, and as of Wednesday, February 26, 2003, police have received
more than 8,000 leads, tips and suggestions via both the police tip line at (209) 342-6166 and this web site's
Leads
and Tips form.
"Some of them have been of absolutely no value and some have been useful," said Police Chief Roy Wasden
on Wednesday. "We're continuing to follow up on every lead. But we're not able to share that information,
as it is part of the ongoing investigation."
Police say they are "confident in the direction" of their investigation. Capt. Greg Savelli, of the Investigative
Services Division of the Modesto Police Department, told KTVU TV's Ted Rowlands that his team meets every day and
it is carefully going over all of the thousands leads called into the case.
We meet every morning and discuss the goals of the case, and for that day and where we are going," Savelli
said. "We're confident in the direction of the investigation and we're going to follow all the leads we have.
That's our plan -- as leads come in, they are developed and we will follow them."
The Modesto investigator also said his team watches the local and national media reports of Laci's disappearance
with special interest.
"We are learning a lot of information from watching the media," he said. "In a sense that we want
to hear from those shows what other experts feel about what they are hearing. It's important to us to get all opinions
(on the case)."
Relevant
articles
"I
believed from the beginning that Laci was abducted for her baby," Jackie Peterson wrote in a recent e-mail
to The Modesto Bee. Staff writer Patrick Giblin takes a moment to explore that possibility in a piece that appeared
in The Bee on Monday morning, March 3, 2003.
Click
here to read it.
"Honey, promise me something. If I ever go missing without a trace, and the police are breathing down your
neck, do not, I repeat, do not, take a lie detector test. Okay?" Attorney Jonna Spilbor gave her husband that
sage advice after watching TV reports criticizing Scott Peterson for not taking a lie detector test and being more
cooperative with police. In an article that appeared on the Findlaw web site, Spilbor explains how any attorney
hired by Scott should be thinking.
Click
here to read it.
"Maybe if we had gotten what Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy had gotten, their cases were high profile, they
had the backing, maybe if we had gotten that quicker something would have came from that." The lament of a
friend of missing Albany, New York woman Audrey May Herron on the occasion of a vigil to bring attention to hers
and other cases like it.
Click
here to read about it. |
And he said his department is not too proud to ask for help if they need it from other law enforcement agencies.
"There are a lot of dedicated, experienced employees and detectives working on this case," he said. "They
are devoting their time tirelessly to solving this ... If we feel the need for assistance, we will call in assistance.
We've had help from other agencies and the federal government. We want the best people on the job. Right now, we
have a core of investigators that are very experienced and very detailed. They are doing an outstanding job."
The revelation of there having been a neighbor who may have seen Laci on the morning of December 24th and who had
called police, but with whom the police had not followed-up, prompted frustration from Scott Peterson's father,
Lee, who criticized Modesto police for focusing suspicion on his son. The senior Peterson spoke with the Associated
Press (AP) on Thursday evening, February 27, 2003.
"How do you follow up on a lead if you don't return someone's calls?'' Peterson asked from his Solana Beach
home in San Diego County.
"It makes me wonder about their competency,'' Lee Peterson said of Modesto police. "Here's an eyewitness
account of my daughter-in-law (being where my son said she went and at the time he said she went there) and they
don't follow up on it.''
On Friday, February 28, 2003, Scott's mother, Jackie Peterson, told San Diego's KFMB TV that she wasn't happy,
either.
"The truth is coming out finally and it validates Scott’s statements to the police that he made saying he
had nothing to do with Laci’s disappearance," Jackie said. "It’s bittersweet because all this time has
been wasted."
Scott's father said police have focused solely on his son, which is "why they ignored those sightings. They've
got a scenario (in their minds) and if it didn't fit that scenario, they didn't want to hear about it."
Lee Peterson said police investigators have put his son's job as a specialty fertilizer salesman at risk by seizing
his vehicles and computers, which are "everything he needs to hold his job. They're messing with his livelihood.
It's more of a harassment, that's what it is."
Peterson also criticized reporters for causing his son to become "virtually homeless. They've run him out
of his home," he said. Noting that his son has lost 25 lbs. since his wife disappeared, Peterson said, "He's
just been terribly mistreated through this whole thing. ... They've made his life a living hell."
Jackie Peterson says Scott doesn’t care about these latest developments. He just wants Laci home safe, she said,
adding that since investigators searched his home for a second time he hasn’t spent much time there.
"He’s not even in his house anymore," she said. "He can’t sleep there. It’s totally... it’s bankrupt
in a way. I mean, they took his phonebook, they took his new clothes that have labels on them still for evidence.
None of that makes any sense. And I’m just very... I’m just depressed because I don’t think any of this is being
done to find Laci."
On Monday morning, March 3, 2003, KTVU TV's Ted Rowlands reported live from Modesto during the FOX
affiliate's popular "Mornings on 2" program that according to his sources Modesto police did, indeed,
consider the report of Peterson neighbor Vivian Mitchell who claimed she had seen Laci walking her golden retriever
at around 10:00 or 10:15 AM PST on the morning of December 24, 2002. Mitchell's sighting, if accurate, would have
gone a long way to corroborate at least part of Scott Peterson's version of events as he presented them to police
shortly after his wife's disappearance.
Modesto
resident and retiree Vivian Mitchell points out her kitchen window toward the place where she claims to have seen
Laci Peterson on the morning of December 24, 2002.
KTVU
video stillshot |
But police had ruled-out Mitchell's sighting, according to Rowlands' report. He said his sources close to the investigation
told him that police discovered at least two other pregnant women who had been seen walking their dogs in that
same neighborhood on that same morning. There were, in fact, several such sightings reported to police, he said.
All them, he told viewers, had been ruled out as possible sightings of Laci.
By the time police received Mitchell's sighting report, they had already discovered the identities of the other
two pregnant women who had walked their dogs in the neighborhood that morning, and they had already tracked down
most of the alleged Laci sightings and determined that it was those two women witnesses had seen, and not Laci. Mitchell's sighting,
which was reported to police almost a week later, was presumed by detectives at the time to be the same as the
others, hence the reason Mitchell was never called back.
Rowlands also reported that his police sources told him the investigation is moving forward and that their plans to make an arrest are
"right
on track."
He added he's been told that "it's not a matter of if, but when" an arrest will come in the more than
two-month-long investigation.
"According to those familiar with the case that is being built," Rowlands told viewers, "an arrest
is still at least a few weeks away because, in some part, the evidence taken (pursuant to) ... the second search
warrant served at the Peterson home... that is still being cataloged. Ninety five items were taken from the home,"
he continued. "Some of them are expected to be sent to the state crime lab in Ripon, which will take time
to process. But we are being told that it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' as far as an arrest is concerned.
Even police investigators who aren't saying much and haven't said much throughout this investigation ... say they're
confident this case will be solved," Rowlands said.
Rowlands reported that there has been little or no sign of Scott at his Covena Avenue home in the days since the
police issance of a search warrant there on February 18 and 19, 2003. He told viewers that these days Scott is
said to be staying mostly in San Diego and San Luis Obispo. Rowlands, who did his report from the end of the block
were Scott's home is located and with the home visible in the background, also commented on the fact that the large
yellow "MISSING" sign that had been in front of the home and which had been turned into something of
a memorial where passersby had been placing flowers, candles and other items, had been removed after either falling
down by itself or possibly having been vandalized.
On Monday evening,
March 3, 2003, Gloria Gomez, a reporter for KOVR-TV, the Sacramento CBS affiliate,
did a story on San
Diego private investigator Bill Garcia.
The story was picked-up by the network and also ran on San Diego's KFMB Channel
8, the
CBS affiliate there. San Francisco's KPIX-TV, that city's CBS affiliate, also ran the story.
San Diego
private investigator Bill Garcia talks to KVOR's Gloria Gomez in a piece that also ran on San Diego's KFMB TV (Channel
8). Click here to view the piece from Channel 8's web site using your Windows Media Player.
KVOR/KFMB
video stillshot |
Gomez reported
that Garcia made what he characterized as an unusual discovery right next to the Delta Mendota Canal at a specific
location he did not wish publicly disclosed but which he said he had reported to Modesto police on Monday, March
3rd. It was an irregularly-shaped cement mix spill that was about three feet wide at its widest and perhaps three
to four feet across. He guessed it to be no more than a few inches thick at its thickest point.
He said it looked to him like someone had parked a vehicle next to the canal and was then handling or removing
from it some cement mix that was then accidentally spilled it onto the ground. He said he could not be certain
if the mix was in dry powder form when it spilled and was then subsequently rained upon and then hardened, or if
it was already mixed with water and was spilled in that form. But in either case, there was a distinct tire track
through it that looked to him like that of a smaller tire such as what might be found on a boat or some other kind
of trailer. Garcia admitted he had no way of determining it with any degree of certainty, but it looked to him
like the concrete patch had not been there very long -- perhaps two or three months, at the most.
It was interesting, Garcia said, because it was the only irregular patch or spill of concrete of any kind that
he and his associate had seen in their nearly 30 miles of searching in both directions along the canal. He added
that it was his understanding that that area of the canal had been a popular spot for disposal of bodies in the
past. The concrete patch, he said, was very near the canal's edge and just a few feet off the road in a very remote
area with virtually no nearby traffic, no houses or buildings within a reasonable distance, and where it is very
dark at night.
Patrick Giblin, staff writer from the Modesto Bee, also interviewed Garcia for his story that ran on Wednesday morning,
March 5, 2003. Giblin contacted police for their reaction to Garcia's find and he reported that Det. Doug Ridenour,
spokesman for the Modesto Police Department regarding the Laci Peterson case, said he could not comment
about any aspect of the investigation. He said police did not seek Garcia's help and became aware he was in the
area only through calls from reporters.
But Garcia told reporters on Tuesday, March 4, 2003, that he had finally heard from Modesto police that day and
they told him they would, indeed, check-out the sight and try to determine if the concrete patch Garcia found there
is in any way related to the Laci Peterson case.
"I was contacted by investigators today (Tuesday) and they said they are going to take a closer look at it,"
Garcia said.
Garcia said he had no idea if the concrete patch was related to Laci's case and he cautioned that he never said
that he necessarily thought it was. He said he simply found something that seemed worthy of police consideration
and so he reported it to appropriate authorities, as he promised in his press release he would do.
Late on Tuesday, March 4, 2003, police and representatives of the Sund/Carrington Foundation began notifying the
media that there would be a press conference on Wednesday, March 5th at 2:30 PM PST and that the
subject would be a revision in the conditions under which a reward would be given. Local media talked about rumors
that the conditions would be changed from "for information leading to a safe return" to "for information
leading to an arrest and conviction" or something similar.
San Francisco's KTVU-TV's Ted Rowlands talked about the change during his
daily update
on the Peterson case during the FOX affiliate's "Mornings on 2" program. He said that there was a possibility
that, along with a change in the reward conditions, there might come a reduction in the reward amount.
"As it stands now, the $500,000 reward is contingent on Laci's safe return," Rowlands told viewers. "It
is expected that the conditions for the reward payoff will be changed to accommodate information which will lead
to an arrest. It's not clear if the reward amount will remain at $500,000. There's a chance it will be lowered
because more than $300,000 of that is from a private donor who may or may not want to pay out for just an arrest."
On Wednesday, March 5, 2003, police detectives could be seen at the site of Garcia's find checking it out, as they
had told him they would.
Rowlands then reported to viewers that, according to an article in that morning's Modesto Bee newspaper, investigators
would be out at the Delta Mendota Canal area today (Wednesday, March 5, 2003) to look into a report that concrete
or cement residue was found along the water's edge.
"This was an area that was searched a few weeks ago, independently, by Laci's family," Rowlands said.
"This residue, apparently, was found by a private investigator and, according to the Modesto Bee, investigators
are taking it seriously enough to go out and take a look."
On Wednesday, March 5, 2003, police investigators converged on the area where Garcia found the cement spill near
the Delta Mendota Canal and began their attempts to determine if it is in any way related to Laci's disappearance.
Laci Peterson's family members listen and weep quietly as Modesto Police announce
that the missing person case has been reclassified as a probably homicide. From left to right, Amy Rocha (Laci's
younger half-sister), Sharon Rocha (Laci's mother), and Ron Grantski (Laci's step-father).
Photo by ART GOLUB
of the Modesto
Bee |
Meanwhile, police officials and Laci's family held the 2:30 PM PST press conference, as planned, at the Modesto
police station.
Kim Peterson, Executive Director of the Sund/Carrington Foundation and spokesperson for Laci's family read a prepared statement
in which the Foundation announced that donors of the $500,000 reward for Laci's safe return had authorized $50,000
of it to be used as a reward for information leading to her location and recovery.
At that same press conference, Modesto police announced that they now believe Laci to be the victim of a homicide.
"As the investigation has progressed, we have increasingly come to believe that Laci Peterson is the victim
of a violent crime," said Detective Craig Grogan, lead investigator.
"This investigation began as a missing person case, and we all were hopeful that Laci would return home safely,"
Grogan said. "However, we have come to consider this a homicide case."
At one point during the press conference reporters asked police spokesperson Det. Doug Ridenour about Garcia and
the concrete spill he had found. Ridenour did not address the spill but did talk about Garcia.
"We did not ask him to come into the case," Ridenour said, continuing, "nor, to my knowledge, he
never did call and ask for permission to be involved in it."
But police investigators later told San Francisco's KPIX TV that Garcia's discovery was
not being discounted and that they (police) were looking at it to assess its credibility.
After Ridenour's remarks about Garcia, Kim Petersen stepped back up to the microphone and attempted to distance
both the Sund/Carrington Foundation and Laci's family from the San Diego investigator and his search efforts. She
told reporters that she had heard from sources close to Danielle Van Dam's family that Garcia had not been the
person who found Danielle Van Dam's body and that he had nothing to do with her case.
"Well, it's just not true that I had nothing to do with the Van Dam case," Garcia said when contacted
by phone later Wednesday evening. "Anyone can certainly verify that with police down there (in the San Diego
area)."
"But it is true," he continued, "that
I'm not the one who found Danielle Van Dam's body, and I've never said I did. The circumstances surrounding my
involvement in that case were complex, and so the press often mangles it. Here we have a situation where Kim Petersen
believes she's discredited me as a liar in the eyes of the reporters who were at that press conference today. But
the alleged claim of mine, which she says I lied about, I never claimed in the first place."
"But I don't believe Kim said it to be mean," Garcia added. "I believe she wants to protect Laci's
family from opportunists and others who don't have their best interests at heart. It's too bad she didn't take
the time to understand what we're about before speaking out against us. But I certainly am not upset with her or
angry about it. We've seen this sort of thing before. She's just doing her job as she sees it."
On Thursday, March 6, 2003, Scott's mother, Jackie Peterson, declared to reporters that the Modesto police decision
to reclassify Laci Peterson's disappearance as a homicide will keep people
from looking for her, adding she believes that her daughter-in-law still may be alive. She said police have run
the investigation as a homicide case from the beginning.
"It's sad they made the announcement because it takes away hope," she told the Modesto Bee by telephone
from her home in San Diego county. "I would hope that if I were missing for a month or two, people wouldn't
stop looking for me."
Peterson added that she's afraid that thousands of fliers around the state will be torn down now that police have
said publicly that they believe Peterson is dead.
"Please don't stop looking for her," Jackie Peterson added.
Det. Doug Ridenour, spokesperson for the Modesto Police Department said on Thursday, March 6, 2003 that officials
realize that some family members may not understand why police made the change in classification.
"It's difficult because they don't know everything investigators know," he said.
Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold would not comment on the classification change.
"It's still in the investigation stages," he said.
Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff said that, generally, changing the designation of a case does not
significantly alter investigators' approach.
Modesto Bee seeks warrant information
March 7, 2003
Ssks court to unseal files
Click here to read the story
March 10, 2003
Warrant targets identified
Click here to read the story
March 13, 2003
Judge protects envelope
Click here to read the story |
"Proceeding with a homicide prosecution without a body is difficult but not impossible," Orloff said,
adding that in recent years, his office has won convictions in two cases of that nature.
"It all comes down to, can you circumstantially prove that the person is no longer living?" Orloff said.
"There's no pat formula. You have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person was killed. It's kind of
like common sense in a way."
Absent a body, prosecutors can present witnesses who may have seen the body or heard statements about the death,
Orloff said. Prosecutors also can introduce forensic evidence such as blood traces, he added.
Merced County District Attorney Gordon Spencer agreed that the change in classification of the investigation from
a missing person case to a homicide investigation is relatively inconsequential in situations like this.
"Practically, there is no difference," he said, "but when the family is holding out hope, you don't
want to do a homicide investigation when there's a chance the person may be alive. That's more of a media thing."
Officials with the state Department of Justice crime lab in Ripon would not comment on what progress they might
have made on evidence in the Peterson case. They previously have said that they had evidence that would be examined
in the serology lab, which analyzes blood, saliva and semen.
Crime lab officials also would not say if they are looking at the patch of spilled concrete mix that
private
investigator Bill Garcia
reported finding on a path along the Delta Mendota Canal. A small-sized tire track similar to the type of tire
one might find on a boat or small camper trailer marked the concrete, Garcia said.
"We are working on the evidence given," said Manuel Valencia, a spokesman for the state attorney general's
office, which runs the Ripon lab. "I can't comment on the concrete or any other evidence."
Mayor Carmen Sabatino, quoted in The New York Times on Tuesday, March 4, 2003, commented on why the Police Department
has spent so much on the Peterson case in comparison with similar cases.
"We have spent the money on Laci because of the media," Sabatino said. "It is not the city that
determines what the media considers a story."
"We have reached the point of diminishing returns," he continued. "How many more places can we search?
The question is, how do you turn off the faucet? You certainly don't do it when the national media is around."
Det Ridenour said on Thursday, March 6, 2003 that the Peterson investigation has cost the department more than
$250,000 in overtime, probably making it the city's most expensive case ever.
Late on Wednesday, March 5, 2003 this web site updated its front page to reflect the change in reward criteria. And
on Sunday, March 9, 2003, the downloadable poster/flyer PDF files were also updated.
|
