GUILTY CA - Laci Peterson, 27, pregnant, Modesto, 24 Dec 2002 #2

[I am not Sherlock H.]

*Includes transcripts for all witnesses, hearings, and rulings from the Preliminary Hearing, Pre-Trial Hearing, Trial, and Sentencing. Some witnesses appeared more than once. The index is alphabetical. For a chronological review, with short summaries and other related developments, go to the following sections of the Timeline:

• Preliminary Hearing: Oct 2003 - Jan 2004​
• Pre-Trial & Jury Selection: Feb-May, 2004​
• The State's Case: Jun 1-Oct 15, 2004​
• The Defendant's Case, Jury Deliberations, & Verdict: Oct 6-Nov 12, 2004​
• Penalty Phase, Motions, & Sentencing: Nov 13, 2004 - Mar 17, 2005​

Transcripts Index

Thank you imstilla.grandma……. Appreciate that information being collated and clarified. Considering it all brings back so any memories, mostly sad and tragic, of having followed this case all those years ago.

Sad also that this matter continues to proliferate with the latest on this IMO well settled case.

I also hope that the LA Innocence project had been able to review all of that material as well. In detail. MOO

 

[SoWhat]

I have to agree with @SoWhat. It is reductionist to accuse Laci's family of suspecting Scott of murder based on his romantic relationship with Amber.

The first suspicious point that Laci's family emphasized is that Scott phoned Sharon at roughly 5 P.M. on Dec 24, 2002 and announced that Laci is missing. He didn't ask whether they had spoken that day, or whether Laci was already at Sharon's house for the planned family dinner. He said "missing". When asked where he was that day, first he told people he was golfing, then he changed it to fishing. It was a long gradual process of supporting Scott, out of respect for Laci, to the understanding that Laci was not coming home.

After learning that Scott lied to them about having a girlfriend, they publicly stated that they could no longer support the liar.

Sharon Rocha wrote a book about Laci and what happened to her, I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet, especially people who think SP is innocent.

 

[otto]

Sharon Rocha wrote a book about Laci and what happened to her, I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet, especially people who think SP is innocent.

I read that book years ago. Sharon asked Scott what he was fishing for, and he said sturgeon. They are bottom feeders. It sounds like Scott thought it was funny to use Laci as bait for bottom feeders. There's some truth to every lie - very true with Scott.

Was there a chapter where she spent a long time in bed - very sad? She had a vision of Laci that helped her move forward.

A book summary is available here:

For Laci Summary PDF | Sharon Rocha

Book For Laci by Sharon Rocha: Chapter Summary,Free PDF Download,Review. A Mother's Heartache and Quest for Justice

www.bookey.app

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Scott Peterson Murder Case Horrors: We Reveal the Crime Scene Photos That Sickened Jurors

As Scott Peterson pushes to be retried for the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, dueling documentaries are stirring up fresh debate about the infamous case.

radaronline.com

 

[mmeynstyn]

In the recording where he talks about selling the house, he says that he is looking to put it on the market ASAP because "there's no way if Laci comes back that we're going to stay there" That is a direct quote. He clearly, with his tone, indicates in this response that with everything that has happened, he would want them to move somewhere else, a different home, for a 'fresh start'. Turning the nursery into a storage room (which he didn't do, he just stored things there, he did not clear it out and make it a storage room, specifically) could have been his way of dealing with the missing/loss of his unborn child. Distracting himself from the room and starting to use it for something else. People handle grief and extreme emotion in a myriad of ways.

Scott told the authorities directly where he was fishing. Why would Scott, if he was the murderer, tell police exactly where he was fishing, knowing that is where he disposed of her body and knowing that they would put two and two together? A murderer isn't going to tell police they were in basically the exact same area/waters where they disposed of a body. Scott was honest with them about where he was fishing and his location because he didn't murder her and he wasn't the one that disposed of her body.

I don't know how your last points are circumstantial evidence. Scott said he watched the Martha Stewart program with Laci and it was proven that the topics on the program, about the meringue that he tells investigators about, were in fact what that episode was about on that date. He could have easily gotten up with Laci that morning and took part in her morning and what she was doing before he left.

IMO, Scott slipped up on the fishing alibi to the investigator. He already told someone he went golfing. Immediately after he told the investigator he went fishing, he brings up he was going to go golfing but decided against it (I think he mentioned weather for changing his mind, but I could be wrong). IMOO, he never had to say anything about his change of plans from golfing to fishing but he realized his mistake at that moment; so, he had to say he changed plans as he knew he had already told someone else he went golfing.

 

[Gigiky]

I believe he said it was to cold to golf. So wouldn't it be cold out on the water in a boat...

 

[Niner]

I believe he said it was to cold to golf. So wouldn't it be cold out on the water in a boat...

Especially in the S.F. Bay!! It gets darn cold!!

 

[LinasK]

Especially in the S.F. Bay!! It gets darn cold!!

Especially in December. BRRRR! It was Christmastime and not many people out on the marina to see him go dump her. I remember we all laughed about him "golffishing" and he didn't even have the right kind of fishing lures for the type of fish he claimed to be after.

 

[otto]

IMO, Scott slipped up on the fishing alibi to the investigator. He already told someone he went golfing. Immediately after he told the investigator he went fishing, he brings up he was going to go golfing but decided against it (I think he mentioned weather for changing his mind, but I could be wrong). IMOO, he never had to say anything about his change of plans from golfing to fishing but he realized his mistake at that moment; so, he had to say he changed plans as he knew he had already told someone else he went golfing.

I think he intended that his alibi would be golfing. The previous evening, during his hair cut with Laci's half-sister, he said he was going golfing and that he would pick up a gift basket for Laci's grandfather. At the same time, he already knew that he was going to murder Laci and use his new boat to put her in the water. Everything took longer than planned, so he was too late to pick up the gift basket.

He must have realized that he could be traced to the marina - worried someone saw him ??? - so he switched to fishing after already telling some people he was golfing. Then he tried to explain why he switched his story from golfing to fishing.

 

[SoWhat]

I think he intended that his alibi would be golfing. The previous evening, during his hair cut with Laci's sister in law, he said he was going golfing and that he would pick up a gift basket for Laci's grandfather. At the same time, he already knew that he was going to murder Laci and use his new boat to put her in the water. Everything took longer than planned, so he was too late to pick up the gift basket.

He must have realized that he could be traced to the marina - worried someone saw him ??? - so he switched to fishing after already telling some people he was golfing. Then he tried to explain why he switched his story from golfing to fishing.

I wonder if Scott realized it would be stupid easy to prove he wasn’t golfing that day. It would have looked very bad if his alibi was disproven. I think that Scott thought coming out with the fishing story would make him seem innocent because who would use a crime scene as his alibi? Bet he thought he was really clever.

 

[LinasK]

I wonder if Scott realized it would be stupid easy to prove he wasn’t golfing that day. It would have looked very bad if his alibi was disproven. I think that Scott thought coming out with the fishing story would make him seem innocent because who would use a crime scene as his alibi? Bet he thought he was really clever.

He still does think he's clever. I saw a clip of the new program that ID/Oxygen channel-I think is going to air on him, and in it he says he's innocent. So he's still lying from behind bars and loving the renewed attention that the narcissist is getting.

 

[sunspun]

So if he disposed of her body in the waters where he claimed to have gone fishing that day, does LE know the details of how he got her body there and ultimately into the water? I just don't think I've read details about that before. Did he (allegedly) transport her body in the trunk of his vehicle to his fishing spot? Wasn't it daytime? I'm just wondering how he managed to get her body from vehicle into boat (it was just a small boat, right?) and then overboard into the water with no one seeing anything. Especially because her body, IIRC, had been weighted down with concrete blocks of some kind that had been attached to her body somehow. And lest we forget, sadly, this was an almost fully pregnant body as well. The logistics sound challenging, to say the least, especially to have done it all with no witnesses. Maybe it was dark by the time he would have been doing all that? Or maybe there was a witness that I forgot about?

 

[katydid23]

Especially in the S.F. Bay!! It gets darn cold!!

Well, at least he knew nobody else but be stupid enough to go out in that Bay in a tiny boat like his, in December. He probably didn't see any other boats around. That story makes no sense.

His wife is 8 months pregnant with their first baby, it's Christmas Eve, and he leaves her home alone so he can go out in the frigid SF Bay in a tiny boat by himself? That story is as believable as the wife killer, Josh Powell, who said he was winter camping at night in a snowstorm with his 2 toddlers when his wife went missing.

 

[katydid23]

So if he disposed of her body in the waters where he claimed to have gone fishing that day, does LE know the details of how he got her body there and ultimately into the water? I just don't think I've read details about that before. Did he (allegedly) transport her body in the trunk of his vehicle to his fishing spot? Wasn't it daytime? I'm just wondering how he managed to get her body from vehicle into boat (it was just a small boat, right?) and then overboard into the water with no one seeing anything. Especially because her body, IIRC, had been weighted down with concrete blocks of some kind that had been attached to her body somehow. And lest we forget, sadly, this was an almost fully pregnant body as well. The logistics sound challenging, to say the least, especially to have done it all with no witnesses. Maybe it was dark by the time he would have been doing all that? Or maybe there was a witness that I forgot about?

Scott had a work truck with a very large metal tool box in the truck bed. According to the prosecution he placed her body in the box where it was invisible to others. He had a work space and parking space in his rented workshop that was very private. No one would notice if he wheeled a bundle to his work truck. Especially on Christmas Eve.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/the-peterson-trial-jury-shown-photos-of-boat-2743413.php

As for the boat, here is an excerpt:

Using a dramatic series of pictures, prosecutors in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial tried Wednesday to answer a large question lingering over their case -- how the body of an eight-months pregnant woman could be spirited out of Modesto and dumped into San Francisco Bay without anyone noticing it in a 14-foot fishing boat.

The photos demonstrated that the boat that prosecutors say Peterson used to dispose of his wife's body had ample room to allow a pregnant woman to lie down in various sections of the vessel. And moreover, the pictures showed how a woman's body on the floor of the boat could go virtually unnoticed when viewed from a short distance away.
The pictorial re-enactment, presented to jurors on a large screen by prosecutor Rick Distaso, featured an eight-months pregnant woman, roughly Laci Peterson's height and weight the day she disappeared, fitting easily inside the boat and a gigantic tool box Peterson kept in the back of his truck. The demonstration marked the first time prosecutors have hinted that Peterson may have used the box to hide his wife's body while transporting it from their Modesto home to a nearby warehouse, where he kept his newly purchased boat.

....SNIPPED....

The re-enactment helped prosecutors diffuse questions raised earlier during Wednesday's testimony about how a body could be kept in a boat at the Berkeley Marina in broad daylight without being noticed.
Several employees of the Berkeley Marina were called by prosecutors to show how quiet the boat dock had been on Christmas Eve, 2004, the day they say Scott Peterson towed the boat carrying his wife's body to the boat launch. Just three people paid the $5 fee to launch a boat between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27, the manager of the marina testified. Two other employees said it was quiet on Dec. 24 because of the holidays.

 

[LinasK]

Scott had a work truck with a very large metal tool box in the truck bed. According to the prosecution he placed her body in the box where it was invisible to others. He had a work space and parking space in his rented workshop that was very private. No one would notice if he wheeled a bundle to his work truck. Especially on Christmas Eve.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/the-peterson-trial-jury-shown-photos-of-boat-2743413.php

As for the boat, here is an excerpt:

Using a dramatic series of pictures, prosecutors in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial tried Wednesday to answer a large question lingering over their case -- how the body of an eight-months pregnant woman could be spirited out of Modesto and dumped into San Francisco Bay without anyone noticing it in a 14-foot fishing boat.

The photos demonstrated that the boat that prosecutors say Peterson used to dispose of his wife's body had ample room to allow a pregnant woman to lie down in various sections of the vessel. And moreover, the pictures showed how a woman's body on the floor of the boat could go virtually unnoticed when viewed from a short distance away.
The pictorial re-enactment, presented to jurors on a large screen by prosecutor Rick Distaso, featured an eight-months pregnant woman, roughly Laci Peterson's height and weight the day she disappeared, fitting easily inside the boat and a gigantic tool box Peterson kept in the back of his truck. The demonstration marked the first time prosecutors have hinted that Peterson may have used the box to hide his wife's body while transporting it from their Modesto home to a nearby warehouse, where he kept his newly purchased boat.

....SNIPPED....

The re-enactment helped prosecutors diffuse questions raised earlier during Wednesday's testimony about how a body could be kept in a boat at the Berkeley Marina in broad daylight without being noticed.
Several employees of the Berkeley Marina were called by prosecutors to show how quiet the boat dock had been on Christmas Eve, 2004, the day they say Scott Peterson towed the boat carrying his wife's body to the boat launch. Just three people paid the $5 fee to launch a boat between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27, the manager of the marina testified. Two other employees said it was quiet on Dec. 24 because of the holidays.

Good to know. I had assumed that he transported her in the boat (it was on a trailer) with a cover over it.

 

[otto]

Good to know. I had assumed that he transported her in the boat (it was on a trailer) with a cover over it.

I wondered whether he put her in the toolbox in the back of the truck at the house, or whether he wrapped her in a tarp under the umbrellas (which he later returned to his house). Did she have rigour mortis when he put her in his truck? Tarp under the umbrellas? Was she killed right after her cut-short phone call with her mother? "Soft kill" where she knew what he was doing.

If he killed her at 8:30 P.M., she was in rigour 6-8 hours later at 4:30 A.M. Leftover pizza. She might not have fit in the tool box. Did that delay Scott's schedule? Did he back his truck to the side door, drag Laci out of the house, toss her into the back of the truck, cover her with garden umbrellas, put the dog in the truck, dump the dog next to a dumpster, drive to the warehouse, get rid of the body, return to the warehouse, put the umbrellas back into his truck, and go home to report her missing?

A tarp was found hanging to dry on Scott's fence after being found soaked in gasoline from a leaky lawnmower. Gasoline destroys DNA. Was a tarp found with the bodies? I don't remember

Some wonder whether she was drowned in the hot tub, since it was still turned on in the morning (per the neighbour). I thought it was a soft kill.

Trying to understand the timeline of the evening ...

Laci has a doctor's appointment, Scott accompanies her (not the norm). Scott has a hair cut with Laci's half-sister. Scott invites her to their house for pizza, she declines. Scott and Laci order pick-up pizza. They arrive home. Laci takes the ranch dressing out of the fridge for the pizza.

3 slices? How many pieces of pizza did they eat? Who left the dressing out?

Laci was sitting on the bathroom bench, looked "so cute" curling her hair, practicing what her sister in law showed her that evening. Why did Scott mention that?

Laci's fitted maternity shirt was uncharacteristically tossed into the laundry basket. Her torso was wrapped with duct tape, as though he could prevent the baby from leaving her body.

"Rigor mortis appears approximately 2 hours after death in the muscles of the face, progresses to the limbs over the next few hours, completing between 6 to 8 hours after death. [10] Rigor mortis then stays for another 12 hours (till 24 hours after death) and then disappears."

Methods of Estimation of Time Since Death - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf

Forensic pathologists are essentially required to estimate the time since death (TSD) to assist in death investigation by limiting the investigation period and thus helping narrow down the number of suspects in homicide cases. TSD also provides valuable information in establishing the timeline...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[otto]

6-8 hours after death, the body is in full rigour mortis. It lasts 24 hours.

If Laci died at any time before 2 A.M. on Dec 24, 2002, she would have been too stiff to be put into, or taken out of, the truck toolbox. Scott arrived at his warehouse around 10 A.M. Dec 24.

I think she died before she ate pizza. Laci phoned her mom when she got home, after Scott's haircut, around 8:30-9:00 P.M. on Dec 23. Her mom was on another call. Laci's stepsister was invited for pizza, but declined. Scott was in the clear - her family wouldn't be looking for her until 24 hours later.

I think the market umbrellas traveled from Scott's shed to his warehouse, and back to his shed, to camouflage Laci's body. At the warehouse, Laci was put in the boat. Anchors were attached to her body, leaving Laci's hair in needle nose pliers.

Scott drove to the deserted Berkeley Marina, navigated his boat over to Brook's Island, and probably unloaded Laci, except the anchors. Then he went to the middle of the channel and dropped the anchors. He didn't want bodies bobbing in the water off Brooks Island.

Scott Peterson Keeps Using Discredited Theories To Proclaim His Innocence

For 20 years, Peterson’s supporters — now including the Los Angeles Innocence Project — have relied on baseless claims and shaky witness accounts to try to prove he didn’t kill his wife and unborn son.

www.huffpost.com

 

[Knox]

I wonder if Scott realized it would be stupid easy to prove he wasn’t golfing that day. It would have looked very bad if his alibi was disproven. I think that Scott thought coming out with the fishing story would make him seem innocent because who would use a crime scene as his alibi? Bet he thought he was really clever.

Scott seriously miscalculated how Laci going missing would play out. IMO, he thought he would play the grieving husband and garner sympathy from everyone around him. She would never be found and eventually he would be free to move on. He was so coddled in life, successfully everyone around him, he was used to being belived. Why wouldn’t everyone buy his story about what he did the day Laci went missing?

He could never have envisioned the national media attention Laci would attract. That attention and the currents in the bay were his ultimate downfall, not Amber Frey.

Anyone who believes he’s innocent and can find alternative explanations for his statements and behavior, need to do research on patterns of denial, JMO.

 

[otto]

Scott seriously miscalculated how Laci going missing would play out. IMO, he thought he would play the grieving husband and garner sympathy from everyone around him. She would never be found and eventually he would be free to move on. He was so coddled in life, successfully everyone around him, he was used to being belived. Why wouldn’t everyone buy his story about what he did the day Laci went missing?

He could never have envisioned the national media attention Laci would attract. That attention and the currents in the bay were his ultimate downfall, not Amber Frey.

Anyone who believes he’s innocent and can find alternative explanations for his statements and behavior, need to do research on patterns of denial, JMO.

Scott knew two things about Laci. Christmas was her favourite holiday, and boating made her seasick. In Sharon's book, I think she points this out, that he murdered her on her favourite day, and left her skull in a place where she will always be seasick.

The fact that Laci, a 27 year old pregnant suburban housewife and teacher, was announced missing on CNN online news on Christmas day got everyone's attention. It's odd that Scott didn't anticipate that a Christmas day disappearance ~ while her husband is golfing or fishing, would capture international audiences.

CNN on Christmas morning, and it was all over the forums and talking-head shows (e.g.:Nancy Grace) for 2 years and again now 22 years later.

Where's his lawyer - the one who put a rowboat on the courthouse steps - Geragos? He was paid a lot of money by Scott's father to get Scott out of jail.

Does Geragos have a comment about Scott Peterson's predicament today?