The Peterson Challenge
Solved in timeline format with corrections and citations.
Motive - Financial, emotional, physical and sexual freedom
Means – Scott was physically able to easily overpower Laci and he also had the element of surprise; by all accounts Laci did not have suspicions of Scott’s homicidal tendencies
Opportunity - Over 12 hours, from 8:30pm on the 23rd to after 9am on the 24th
Undisputed Facts:
1. Laci was murdered
2. The murder was premeditated
3. Laci’s body was recovered in the very spot where Scott and Scott alone admitted to have been “fishing” alone at the exact time she goes missing.
4. Scott predicted Laci’s disappearance in the Amber conversations days before she actually disappeared; and indirectly during his media interviews and initial video interview with Brocchini (see below).
Timeline:
In chronological order per your request, even though it was not in order as the challenge was presented.
Prior to December 23rd:
Scott ‘predicts’ that Laci will go missing in the Amber conversations, days before it actually occurs. Testimony – Amber tapes, prior to December 24th : “I lost my wife”
Scott makes anchors in the warehouse and leaves a huge mess of cement evidence behind. If he was making fence posts at his house, the mess would be at the house and not the warehouse. You do not mix cement 10+ miles away from where you use it because it would set before you got there. The amount of missing cement roughly corresponds to the underwater behavior of the body.
December 23rd – Amy cuts Scott’s hair. Scott invites Amy over for pizza and agrees to pick up papa’s basket at Vella Farms. If Amy accepts the offer, Scott simply kills Laci after Amy leaves. He has over 12 hours of opportunity so it’s not like Amy being there for an hour or two would have made any difference. Agreeing to pick up the basket only demonstrates that he thought he would have time to do that the next day. There is no evidence that he had previously committed murder and disposed of a body so it probably took a little longer than he thought, not allowing him time to pick up the basket. When he realizes that on his way home from the marina, he creates the mock phone call to Laci asking her to pick it up for him, which:
1. Creates the illusion of his thinking that Laci was still alive, reinforcing his alibi; and
2. Provides an excuse for not picking up the basket; and,
3. Confirms psychopathic tendencies in making false promises.
If he was innocent – and not a psychopath, why did he promise to pick up the basket and not do it? He didn’t “forget” because he called Laci. Why didn’t he call hours earlier when he knew he would not be able to pick it up in time? He was only “fishing” for about an hour, it’s not like something unexpected happened and he was stuck out on the water for any great length of time, longer than he planned. The traffic being worse than he said he thought was not a factor, he still would not have had time driving at 55pmh and leaving the marina at 2:17pm. If he had simply decided to go fishing instead of playing golf, he would have called someone earlier to pick up the basket, at the latest before leaving the warehouse. He made no calls that day until he staged the call to Laci, which was introduced at trial as not being typical behavior for Scott; He usually made numerous calls throughout the day. Not that day, he was busy. Not fishing, when he got back he didn’t know what bait he was using or what he was fishing for.
Morning of December 24th around 7-8am
Scott smothers or strangles Laci in the master bedroom of their home while Laci is getting dressed. In the process and from her body lying on the bed, a body shaped depression is left on the comforter (photo in evidence and that is not the way a ‘Martha Stewart” kind of gal makes a bed). She is wearing the pants and bra she is later found in and no other article(s) of clothing have any bearing on the case, except possibly the blouse that Scott later takes out of the hamper, scrunches up and shoves in a drawer once he realizes that her clothing might become an issue, demonstrating consciousness of guilt. During the brief struggle Laci cuts Scott’s knuckle and a small amount of his blood is transferred to the comforter. Scott retrieves the blue tarp from the shed, spreads it out on the bedroom floor next to the bed and puts Laci on top of it and rolls it up around her body. This not only contains forensic material but also provides a convenient means of dragging the body out the house and into the truck, all without leaving behind any forensic evidence, if any existed.
Since they live together there is not going to be any suspicious forensic evidence, such as there would be in a case involving a third party whose forensics would not be expected at the residence. There was nothing to clean up so there was no evidence of any clean up. McKenzie is in the house or backyard throughout the ordeal and would not have barked if Scott and Laci were making physical contact with each other, something that is common among married couples. A dog is not capable of distinguishing the difference between a playful hug and a smother.
Either Laci turned on the TV before he killed her or Scott turned it on to cover
up any screams. He wasn’t really “watching” MS, he happened to hear a few words,
there’s a difference. While dragging a dead wife around the house it would not
be uncommon for anyone, including a psychopath to notice and remember a few
words from one of her favorite shows.
Physical Evidence at the Home:
Scott’s blood from Laci’s defensive knuckle wound on their comforter.
Photographs of the bed show it to be flattened in the middle in the shape of a small body, indicating that Laci may have been laid there after the bed had been made. Laci kept a “Martha Stewart” quality house and would not have left the bed that way. To Scott, with the messy warehouse, it would not appear unusual. Either: Laci made the bed before she was killed and Scott messed it up with her body; or, Scott made the bed in a hasty and sloppy manner after he killed her, which would be consistent with him being a “slob” (slob is in the trial transcript in reference to Scott, pertaining to his leaving the duffle bag on the floor in the spare bedroom).
Scrunched up rug, caused by Scott dragging Laci’s body out the door. If it did bind in the doorway as suggested, Scott could have easily pushed it back with his foot to close the door. Or, he may have simply left the door open and pushed the rug back in later, forgetting to straighten it out completely, not thinking anything of it. He had much more important things on his mind at the time.
Cadaver Scent – Suggests that Laci was carried to and left in a vehicle that day (reference “bots dots”), unless she flew away. The trail ends at the Marina at the precise location where Scott launched his boat.
Citations:
“Valentin told the Detectives at command center that Merlin indicated Laci left in a vehicle, not on foot, because Merlin was pretty dedicated to always going back and checking those Bott Dots as they traveled through the neighborhood.” The trail led from the house to the warehouse to the marina.
Judge Delucchi: I tell you what, there's a pointer. Can you go to the board and just keep your voice up, Ms. Anderson, so the jury can hear you. We'll do it the old fashioned way, we'll use a pointer. Show us the direction now where the scent took the dog.
Eloise Anderson: I scented her here. She made a circle, lined out on her line, went down here, down here, down here, down to this pylon. That's where she gave me the first end of trail. I stood for a minute just to see if she would try to locate more trail, she turned, went this way, went down there, turned around, came right back and stopped and gave me another hard end of trail indication.”
Eyewitness Testimony – A neighbor saw Scott loading Laci into the truck:
“Around 10am on
December 24, 2002, the morning of Laci Peterson’s disappearance, a neighbor
witnessed Peterson load a tarp-wrapped bulk into his trailer-truck. Peterson
said good morning and told the neighbor that he was going fishing, and that the
tarp held large umbrellas he would store at the warehouse.”
8:40-8:45. – Scott checked the weather on the computer while Laci’s lifeless body lies wrapped in the blue tarp in the master bedroom. He was already committed to dumping the body in the bay but still wants to know the weather conditions. Don’t you ever plan a picnic and then check the weather before you leave to determine what to expect? What to wear? I’ll even take it a step further and add that Laci used that computer primarily so it’s entirely possible she had the butterfly and shopping sites as her home page; or, that those were “pop-up” ads or any number of other possibilities, including Laci saving them to her favorites. Yahoo provides content specific to a user’s surfing habits, so if Laci used that computer often and visited shopping and butterfly sites, it would acknowledge that and those are the types of popup ads and menu selections that would appear on that computer.
9:30am - 10:00am – Loading the Truck. Scott drags her tarp-wrapped body out to the truck, scrunching the side door rug in the process. The rug may have become stuck in the door, in which case Scott would have simply pushed it back with his foot. It would have been difficult to straighten properly though, while dragging a body. He probably planned to do it later and just forgot, or didn’t think it was important.
He gets the umbrellas and stacks them on top of her tarp-wrapped body. Given the dimensions of the truck bed, the umbrellas and small body fit with room to spare; you can stack things up in the back of a truck without them falling out, especially something like umbrellas, which tend to cling to the sides of the truck if expanded a little. Why else carry them around in the back of the truck all day; if not to conceal a body and provide a reason for loading things into the truck? Those umbrellas had absolutely no reason for being in the truck that day.
The body was not in the toolbox and if rigor mortis proved to be any inconvenience, Scott simply bent or broke the small limbs into whatever positions he required. Since Laci was wrapped in a tarp, it’s unlikely that any limbs were sticking out. Riga mortis will stiffen but not move post-mortem body parts. I doubt he rolled her in the tarp with her legs and arms protruding at right angles.
That blue tarp is the same one the detectives
later found doused in gasoline from the leaf blower that Scott used to eliminate
any possible lingering DNA material. There was testimony at trial that the tarp
was not tested because the gasoline would have eliminated any forensics. The
tarp was wrapped around the body to contain the forensics and the umbrellas were
placed over it to conceal it and afford an excuse for loading something into the
back of the truck.
It probably only took about 10-15 minutes to load the body and umbrellas into
the truck but he could have done it any time during the 82 minute window from
logging off the computer at 8:45 until just before he left at 10:08; I’m
guessing it was probably closer to 10:00 since that’s when the neighbor reported
seeing him loading something into the back of the truck but that’s not critical.
If you are not comfortable with the way this fits, then Scott could just as
easily have loaded the body and umbrellas into the truck prior to checking the
weather on the home computer. Either scenario is plausible.
McKenzie is in the front or back yard while Scott is loading the truck and he could easily control the dog. Testimony was introduced at trial indicating that Scott was able to control McKenzie much better than Laci:
Rick Distaso: And what she told you about that was, you asked her, I mean, did she, was she still going to the park or, and then she kind of cut in and said, um, not that I remember specifically, but she said she always walked McKenzie with her, which was a safety feature. She didn't let her off the leash because she couldn't control McKenzie like Scott could. So I know she always kept McKenzie on the leash, or that's what she said in our conversations. And then she tells you the part that I already went over about reading this vehicle, right?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
It takes Scott about a minute to put the leash on McKenzie and leave the gate open to try to place Laci outside the house at the time of her disappearance. He took the leash off when he got home because it was the natural thing to do. Psychopaths do not have problems distinguishing analytical behavior such as removing a dog’s leash when not walking it; it’s the emotional side that they are not able to resolve. It would have appeared peculiar if he left it on and he knew that. Then he simply leaves McKenzie in the front or back yard with the gate open and drives off. He did not need to drop the dog off anywhere. He knows as any dog owner does that a dog will follow you when let loose. McKenzie probably followed the truck for a few hundred yards and then went back home. This is standard and very predictable canine behavior.
Scott drives off and checks his voice mail. He probably wanted to see if Amber had called. Driving with a cell phone is a common practice. It was probably second nature to Scott, who had a cell phone in his ear constantly, often talking to Amber. The tarp would probably not be “flapping around” with the umbrellas covering it and even if it did, having a cell phone in your ear while glancing in the rear view mirror is hardly a challenging task.
Truck Evidence – Scott’s blood from his bleeding
knuckle is found in the truck.
10:08am – Scott leaves for the warehouse with Laci in
the back of the truck, wrapped in the tarp and concealed with market umbrellas,
time confirmed by cell phone records. Dog evidence cited above indicates that
Laci did not leave the house on foot; “the dog chased the bots dots”, indicating
she either flew away or was wrapped in something like a blue tarp that prevented
the escape of skin rafts and dragged out to the vehicle and departed via the
truck.
10:20am – The
Warehouse – Scott arrives at the Warehouse, partially opens the large
rolling door just high enough to back the bed of the truck under the rolling
door and up to the boat, the partially closed warehouse door concealing his
activity. The truck does not fit all the way inside the warehouse but enough of
the bed does, enough to partially close the large warehouse door down to the
height of the bed while he is slipping out the tarp-wrapped body - the door
being partially closed conceals this activity. He slips Laci out from under the
umbrellas and into the bow of the boat. This takes about a minute. Rigor mortis
was not an issue. With a person that small, he could easily have bent or even
broken any inconvenient limbs into position. Add another minute or two if you
like; still, he had the body slipped out from under the umbrellas and into the
boat in a matter of minutes. He had from 10:20 – 10:32, 12 minutes to accomplish
a few simple tasks that take less than 5 minutes.
Scott left the body in the bow of the boat because from experience, any boater knows that the bow is the most stable area of a boat. Anyone with any boating experienced such as Scott knows that with a 200 lb. engine in the stern, adding your own weight, a body and anchors there would not be the smartest decision. Just like anyone else, this is exactly the type of analytical thought processing that psychopaths are capable of; it’s demonstrating proper emotional behavior that eludes them.
10:32 – 10:49am. - Scott is on the computer at the warehouse after sliding Laci’s body into the boat and pulling the truck out. He closes the large warehouse door the rest of the way and uses his computer for about 15 minutes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. Was it your understanding that he was on the computer from roughly 10:32 to about 10:49?
Allen Brocchini: I don't recall. I just remember it was.
In the mean time, Laci is still in the bow of the boat; Scott wants to get that computer usage record established as quickly as possible. Laci rotting away means nothing to a psychopath incapable of emotion.
10:50 – 10:55 - He screws the top on the mortise tool, providing more excuses for his extended presence at the warehouse. He didn’t do any cleaning up at the warehouse that day because there was nothing new to clean up. He didn’t think the cement mess would be an issue or he would have cleaned it up days earlier when he had plenty of time, right after making the anchors.
10:55 – 11:10 – Scott carefully opens the tarp exposing Laci’s body and uses duct tape or some other means to attach four ~10lb. anchors to each of her limbs. He unwraps the tarp just enough to gain access to her limbs, attaches the anchors and folds the tarp back over to cover her body and the small anchors, tucked tightly against her. No forensic evidence is flying around. Testimony is on record stating that the boat had salt water in it, in addition to cement residue.
40lbs. is more than adequate weight to keep a body of that size submerged INCLUSIVE OF POST MORTIM GASSES and remain submerged but slightly drifting until a major storm washed the bodies ashore. If he used less weight, the bodies would have floated out to sea; more weight and they might have remained in exactly the same spot he dumped them near Brook’s Island, where they would have been recovered by the search teams. A live 150 lb. human only requires 10-12 lbs. of weight to sink in salt water. The human body is composed of 70% water. In the case of a 150lb. body, that remaining 30% is capable of producing at most an additional 20lbs. of positive buoyancy. With 40lbs. of weights attached, that still left the body negatively buoyant by about 10lbs. Not enough to raise it to the surface, but enough to make it light enough to move around on the bottom, which is precisely what the body did. That’s why it was not in the precise location near Brooks Island where they were searching and it also explains why the bodies surfaced where they did right after a storm. This is a case of Scott being unlucky. If he used less weight, the body would have floated and possibly drifted out to sea, never to be seen again. More weight would not have made a difference because the body became dislodged from the anchors by erosion due to tide and surge movement. The arms and legs literally wore away; or were eaten away, or both. Let’s say for the sake of argument that 40lbs. was not enough weight (although I have proven that it is). Then the body would have floated to the surface within a matter of days and either:
a). been discovered by someone; or,
b). drifted out to sea or washed ashore
Neither of which occurred.
So either the precise amount of missing cement was used to create exactly enough anchors to account for the proven movement and location of the bodies; or, some mysterious force held the body down for several months until they washed ashore. In a scientific theory with two or more possibilities, it’s the simplest version that is usually correct. Unless you can explain the “mystery force” that kept the bodies down for exactly the period of time that accounts for the damage to the bodies and all the other evidence that they were in the sea; and, where they washed up, then the anchor theory is by far the most logical, proven and generally acceptable theory.
Evidence - In the process, Laci’s hair becomes entangled in the pair of pliers. Any other evidence that needed to be disposed of — assuming any existed was dumped in the bay along with the body. A soft kill does not require any extensive “clean up” because it provides little or no forensic evidence. If Scott was smart, he would have at least cleaned up the cement residue in the warehouse. If he was smart, he might not have gotten caught. All he had to do was dump the bodies a little farther out into deeper water but it was too rough that day and Scott was not a competent enough seaman to have navigated such a small craft through the higher seas associated with the deeper water beyond the sheltered marina area.
Evidence – The huge cement mess all over the warehouse and inside the boat constituted substantially more debris than could be accounted for from the manufacture of a single anchor. If Scott was mixing cement for fence posts at his home, he would not mix it in a location 15 minutes away from the home; the cement would harden before it got it there. Cement is mixed on site, where it is going to be used — not 15 miles away. I can’t believe this was even a point of contention. Scott mixed a lot of cement in the warehouse and the only logical explanation is that he made the additional anchors. Significantly, just enough cement was missing to account precisely for the behavior of the body after it was placed in the water.
Evidence - There is cadaver scent that was not admitted at trial (reference Merlin’s bots dots) at and around the warehouse that was not admitted at trial. Laci’s scent led all the way to the marina, where it was picked up by Trimble who gave an ‘end of trail’ alert at the pylon of the very dock where Scott launched his boat on the day that Laci disappeared.
There no skin, tissue or blood found at the warehouse or in the boat because Laci was wrapped inside a tarp and any evidence that might have escaped would have been blown away or washed away at sea, except the hair that was stuck in the pliers.
Scott has plenty of time to use his computer, assemble the mortise tool and check e-mail. There was little or nothing to “clean up” except for the cement, which he would have done several days ago when he first made the anchors, had he thought that a cleanup was necessary.
Scott was at the warehouse from around 10:20am until approximately 11:22am. That’s 62 minutes, which is more than enough time to:
⳦ 10 min. – Open door, back up truck, slide body into boat, pull out truck, close door
⳦ 17 min. – Check computer, send email, read fax
⳦ 10 min. – Assemble mortise tool
⳦ 15 min. – Attach weights to body
⳦ 10 min. – Open door, hook up boat, pull out boat, close door
If Scott was not unloading and attaching weights to Laci’s body then why does he spend 62 minutes at the warehouse? Is he sitting there doing nothing for over 30 minutes? Why? He sure had plenty of time to remember to unload the umbrellas. He had papa’s basket to pick up, fish to catch; and he’s anxious to get his new boat in the water. Why sit around doing nothing for 30 minutes? Computer records limit usage to 20 minutes and it could not possibly have taken more than 10 minutes to put the top on that mortise tool. I’ve owned one and it’s not like assembling a bicycle; they can be put together in 10 minutes tops and usually not even that long for any person of average intelligence. He didn’t have any phone calls or visitors according to trial testimony - what did he do with all that extra time?
11:22 – Scott leaves for the marina. Driving 90 miles at 55mph = 1hr. 38 min. 10 sec. (T=D/S) driving time, Scott arrives at the marina at 1pm.
BROCCHINI: Shit I don’t know. Tuesday, time 12:54 on December 24th, but expires oh okay, expires 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Okay so you got there at 1:00.
PETERSON: I got there at one?
BROCCHINI: Yeah about one.
1:00 – 2:15pm - Marina – There are no other people using the boat launching facilities that day and even if there were, no one is going to go peeking under a boat cover in someone else’s boat to see what’s underneath it. It takes Scott only a few minutes to park the car and return to the boat so he is not worried about anyone searching around his boat while leaving it docked unattended for several minutes. Had Scott been a better seaman he might have been able to navigate the rougher seas outside the sheltered marina area and dumped the body into deeper water where it may never have been discovered. He was just not a competent enough captain to navigate the rougher seas outside the sheltered marina in such a small craft.
Scott launches the boat, motors out near Brook’s Island, dumps the body, returns and leaves the marina. It’s about 2 miles to Brook’s Island so at a speed of about 20 knots, it takes approximately 6 minutes each way. That leaves almost an hour to find a location and dump the body along with any other evidence overboard. He had to kill a little time or explain why he went out in a boat for only 12 minutes so he had a lot of time to inspect the boat and dispose of any incriminating evidence. He failed to notice the tiny strand of hair stuck in the pliers.
Evidence – Testimony was provided that only 3 people, including Scott purchased a launch ticket at the marina on the 23rd, 24th and 25th.
Evidence – Laci’s scent found at end of dock at marina:
Eloise Anderson: When you have asphalt in this kind of situation and you have an area that can tend to be windy, you may find that you're going to have scent over on the vegetation versus right on the asphalt where you have a lot of traffic. So I walked Trimble forward and I asked her to check in this area where there was some vegetation. Could you see that? This area. Come on. This area right in here. I think I'm losing my laser. I asked her again to check for scent and she gave me a no scent indication, no trail indication. I took her over to this side, again, at a choke point, and I repeated the process. I created, or I approached it as a completely new trail as though this trail I had never done, I rescented her on the article and I asked her to locate scent. She was about in here, she moved that way, circled back around, took a straight line all the way out up to this pylon right there, stopped, checked out over the water, the wind was coming into her face so that would be a natural thing for her to do would be to check out over the water into the wind, turned around and gave me end of trail indication. I stood for a minute to see if she would move on or if she would stick to that end of trail, where am I. She turned, went along this side, went down about three feet down the corner of this, I'm losing my laser.
Judge Delucchi: I tell you what, there's a pointer. Can you go to the board and just keep your voice up, Ms. Anderson, so the jury can hear you. We'll do it the old fashioned way, we'll use a pointer. Show us the direction now where the scent took the dog.
Eloise Anderson: I scented her here. She made a circle, lined out on her line, went down here, down here, down here, down to this pylon. That's where she gave me the first end of trail. I stood for a minute just to see if she would try to locate more trail, she turned, went this way, went down there, turned around, came right back and stopped and gave me another hard end of trail indication.
Evidence – Bodies recovered in close proximity to Brooks Island, the place were Scott and Scott alone was “fishing” the day that Laci disappeared.
Evidence – Time stamp from parking machine confirms time of arrival.
Evidence – Cell phone call confirms time of departure.
2:17pm
– Scott is driving home, leaving a cell phone trail. The first time he makes any
calls that day. Why? All day and not one call. That’s not like Scott from all
the testimony presented at trial, which indicated that he made numerous calls
every day. It was Christmas Eve so caller activity is lower than usual but
that’s primarily because most people are with their family. Scott doesn’t even
call his pregnant wife, not until after he dumps her body.
4:00pm – Scott returns to the warehouse, drops off the boat, cleans up what - if any bits of evidence he may see and drives home, leaving the market umbrellas in the back of the truck.
Evidence – The market umbrellas are still in the back of the truck. He sees them yet again while backing up the boat after having seen them at least twice at the marina while launching and retrieving the boat. They have been in the truck all day now, obstructing his rear vision and getting battered around in the back of the truck. Why doesn’t he unload them? By Scott’s own admissions, he only had three things to do all day:
Only three things to do the entire day and he “forgets” to do two of them! And the umbrellas are massive — impossible to miss as well as causing a rear visibility obstacle in the back of the truck. There is no rational explanation for those umbrellas being in the truck all day, except to conceal Laci’s body and provide an explanation for loading something into the truck.
4:45-5:15pm – Scott returns home to a dark empty house on Christmas Eve, takes the leash off McKenzie, eats pizza, drinks milk, calls Amber, showers, washes his clothes, checks his messages, changes clothes and THEN finally at 5:15pm decides to call Sharon Rocha and tell her that Laci is missing. This still leaves time for another opportunity to stage a curling iron scene or a mopping scene if anyone thinks either of those events are pertinent to anything and did not occur earlier.
Scott using the term “missing” is yet another one of his predictions of Laci’s demise. Together with the Amber tape “lost wife” statements; the past tense media statements; and the “but Laci” statement in the initial police video investigation, Scott consistently and under varying circumstances reveals his prior knowledge of Laci’s death.
The Investigation:
The mop – He probably put it there to make it look like there was some activity by Laci that day; or, he may have used it to clean up something that he thought might have been suspicious: mud prints or any number of non-forensic things. Laci might have been mopping the night before. There could be any number of reasons for the mop being where it was and why, none of which would tend to infer guilt or innocence; it’s just a mop and a bucket. Scott never volunteered any information about the mop or bucket, he was asked about them. Of course he would make up some story, he lied constantly. The only mention of bleach was by an investigator who later said he was mistaken.
Cadaver scent – Led from the house to the
warehouse to the end of trail at the marina, although the former was not
introduced at trial (reference bots dots and Merlin). There was no cadaver scent
in the toolbox because he didn’t put her there.
Tarp and Boat Cover – Doused in gasoline by the
‘leaky’ blower. Whether or not it destroyed forensics, it proves consciousness
of guilt. Why else would Scott crumble up the boat cover and tarp, move them
into a
storage shed and pour gasoline on
them? What other possible explanation could there be for bringing the boat cover
home instead of leaving it in the boat? The boat cover was seen in the back of
Scott's truck on the 24th by
Brocchini and then found
under the "leaky" leaf blower during his search on the 26th. When did Scott
use the leaf blower? It had to be after he got back from "fishing" because the
boat cover is there and the leaf blower is on top. If it was leaking fast enough
to drench a boat cover in 2-3 days it would have ran out of gas if it was
leaking any time before that. Those blowers only hold a gallon or two. So why
and when, while desperately searching for his missing wife did Scott use the
leaf blower?
Curling Iron and Bench in Bathroom – Either Laci practiced the fun flip that Amy
had taught her the night before or Scott staged the scene in an attempt to
create the illusion of Laci’s living presence that morning. Scott had over 12
hours of opportunity so he could have easily set this up. Either way, the
curling iron and bench in the bathroom do not infer guilt or innocence; it’s
just a couple of things commonly found in a bathroom, nothing more. He does
mention “How cute Laci looked sitting on her bench curling her hair the way Amy
showed her the night before”. This means Scott either observed Laci curling her
hair the night before prior to killing her; or, he made it up to demonstrate a
living presence of Laci in the house that morning. So either he lied outright
and staged the whole scene, which is something he does constantly; or Laci
practiced what she learned from Amy when she got home and Scott lied about when
she did it. Scott lies constantly so there is no way of knowing for sure one way
or the other. However no interpretation of either scenario suggests any
inference of innocence.
Karen Servas may have been mistaken about what time she put McKenzie back in the
yard but she did find McKenzie in the street some time that morning, by any
interpretation of the testimony. And she does put the dog back in the yard and
close the gate. The exact time she found the dog and whether the gate was open
or closed or ajar is not germane to any inference of guilt or innocence. Just
for the sake of argument, what difference would it make if she found McKenzie an
hour later? That would still only give Laci an hour and twenty minutes to change
her clothes, put on her jewelry, mop the floor, curl her hair, use the computer,
put the leash on the dog, go outside and get abducted. It does not fit. And who
goes out on a 40 degree morning with no jacket, no cell phone, no shoes, no
PURSE??? From strictly an evidentiary standpoint, Laci would have had to leave
the house clad only in bra and pants. It just could not have happened that way,
not by any stretch of the evidence or the imagination. She left in the back of
Scott’s truck, wrapped in the blue tarp.
When Karen called, Scott handed the phone to the detective. To do otherwise with
a live lead would be incriminating; what else could he do? Hang up? Also, Scott
was assuming that her statement would help confirm his story about not being
there when the dog was found and Laci went missing. All he was trying to
establish at that point was that Laci was alive that morning and walking the
dog.
After Scott realizes that the time provided by Karen does not afford adequate
time for Laci to have done everything he said she did, Scott asks Karen to
double check her timeline, hoping for a change that will better substantiate his
statements. Then she does check her timing meticulously but it does not work in
Scott’s favor.
Scott saying McKenzie is Protective of Laci – It’s a well-established fact that
Scott knew would come out by numerous people who knew them sooner or later;
better to say it himself than to get caught in yet another lie (reference trial
transcript supra).
Laci’s Clothing - Scott had to invent something to create the illusion of Laci
being alive that day so he remembers what she wore the previous day, something
easy for him to repeat consistently. Scott never thinks the bodies will be
recovered so he has no reason to suspect that her actual attire will ever become
known. Most of the jewelry Scott says she is wearing is later found in the home
according to the trial transcripts. The only jewelry missing were her
earrings - yet according to Scott she was wearing half her jewelry collection! He
says this to portray her as an easy target for thieves to support his claim that
she was abducted by transients for her jewelry. This is further evidence of
consciousness of guilt, since it was later proven that she was not wearing the
jewelry. Why else would Scott lie about the jewelry she was wearing?
Duct Tape - The duct tape could have been floating in the bay and attached itself to Laci; duct tape retains its adhesive properties for long periods of time, even underwater. It also could have been one of the things Scott used to affix the anchors to Laci’s body. We know Scott kept duct tape in the warehouse because that's where he went to get it when they were putting up fliers. The tape found on Laci’s body did not match the tape found at the warehouse but it is a fact that Scott is no stranger to duct tape. He could easily have used a different roll to attach the anchors to the body and disposed of whatever might have remained in the bay.
Replies to Your
Questions:
Bodies decomposing under water emit gases.
These gases rise to the surface. Water dogs detect these gases at the surface.
Feel free to research.
I’m not sure why this is important since it’s not even disputed that the bodies were in the bay for 3-4 months, by all accounts of the testimony. However, there’s any number of explanations, the most likely of which being they were searching in the wrong place because the post-mortem gasses caused the body to become more buoyant and drift away from the initial position near Brook’s Island where they were focusing their search efforts.
The bay is a massive body of inclement water with virtually zero visibility (source?)
Is there really a question as to the size and visibility of the SF bay? I’ll look all that up if you tell me why it’s important. I know the visibility is close to zero from personal experience and from the testimony presented at trial: “the divers could not see their hands in front of their face and had to grope through the mud”. As to size, hundreds of square miles? Thousands? Does it matter? Finding a tiny anchor buried in mud would be akin to the needle in the haystack axiom. I am a certified diver and even in good visibility it’s difficult to locate and recover small objects underwater; in a bay under those conditions it’s nearly impossible.
Is Scott in a hurry or not?
Sometimes. He’s in a hurry when he’s sliding the body out of the truck and into the front of the boat with the warehouse door partially open. He’s in a hurry to close the warehouse door and check email to establish a reason for his extended presence there. After that, he’s not in any particular hurry, he has plenty of time.
Is he brilliant or dumb?
Neither. Scott has probably slightly above average intelligence. He makes a lot of stupid mistakes, like not cleaning up the cement but it’s his first murder, it’s almost impossible to think of everything. A murderer gets only one chance to do everything and can not make a single mistake, the police have as much time as they need and a lot of experience knowing what to look for. That’s why so few murderers get away with their crimes. There is always something that gives them away. In Scott’s case there was much more than usual; not that that makes him any less intelligent, he just made more mistakes or was not planning on all the intense scrutiny the case ended up receiving.
What is the complete story on the tarp?
Scott used the blue tarp to wrap Laci’s body and carry it out of the house, into the truck and slide it into the boat. Once in the boat he partially unwrapped the tarp and attached the anchors, then wrapped her back up. At the marina, he put the boat cover over the tarp, much like he put the umbrellas over the tarp in the back of his truck. A body will slide pretty easily on a slippery tarp so all he had to do was lift one end of the tarp up and in one forceful move, ‘bump’ her out of the boat – think of a trampoline. After that, he might have dragged the tarp in the water for a while to get rid of any evidence, then took it home and doused it in gasoline from the leaf blower. The leaky gas not only demonstrates further consciousness of guilt but would serve to remove or kill any lingering DNA evidence that may have remained. Conversely, why would he cover OUTDOOR umbrellas with a tarp? If there was no body, there was no need for a tarp and certainly no rational reason for putting it back in the storage shed and dousing it with gasoline.
Your theory has to reasonably explain how and why everything is where it's at at the end of the day.
I believe that has been accomplished. If I have left anything unaccounted for, please bring it to my attention and I will respond directly or fit it into the timeline, whichever you prefer.
You label Scott as a "psychopath," and "incapable of emotion" and yet you explain his "innocent" actions with terms and phrases like, "natural thing to do," "not uncommon," "common practice," "logical thought process," "routine," "like any other day". Is he normal or not?
I am assuming that you received the psychopath analysis I sent in my last email to you by Dr. Grayson. There is absolutely no doubt that Scott is a psychopath or sociopath. Although they are lacking in all of the areas defined, such as empathy and emotions, psychopaths are fully capable of making typical rational decisions in other analytical areas, just like normal people. I’ll go back and review this now and clear up any inconsistencies that I may have overlooked.
My Challenge to the Petersons:
Now here’s a little challenge for you. No timeline necessary, just try to explain why any normal innocent individual would do the following:
• Why did Scott put the umbrellas in the truck and unload them right back where they were in the first place? He saw them in his rear view mirror at least TWICE at the warehouse, FOUR TIMES while backing in and out around the marina and yet again when he left the house; And then, as if that isn’t incriminating enough,
• In his initial video statement to the detective Scott says: “you know, but Laci” when asked why he didn’t’ unload the umbrellas?
BROCCHINI: Uhm, those umbrellas, they, were they in your car before too?
PETERSON: Put them in this morning, my intent was to leave ‘em at the warehouse.
BROCCHINI: And so you took ‘em to Berkeley with you?
PETERSON: Yeah. I forgot to take ‘em out.
BROCCHINI: So you put the umbrellas in there this morning?
PETERSON: Um hum.
BROCCHINI: Because you were gonna store ‘em at the ware house?
PETERSON: Yeah but I didn’t.
BROCCHINI: What did you just forget?
PETERSON: Um hum. Ah I, I even saw ‘em in there when I locked the door.
BROCCHINI: Um hum.
PETERSON: You know, but Laci.
This is another HUGE faux pas of Scott’s that must have gotten by the detectives. Scott says he intended to unload the umbrellas at the warehouse when he dropped off the boat - “but Laci”. Why? By his own statements, Scott did not know Laci was missing when he was at the warehouse dropping off the boat. He forgot to unload the umbrellas because he was too upset about Laci being missing before he gets home to find out she’s missing? No way! He didn’t even think anything was wrong when he got home – he took a shower and ate pizza and washed his clothes. Scott is aware of Laci’s disappearance before he gets home. This is all but an outright admission of guilt and it was never even mentioned at trial. Either the prosecution missed it or they had so much evidence they didn’t need it. You will never be able to account for this by any logical or rational means consistent with innocence.
ᐙ How did Scott predict Laci’s disappearance to Amber before Laci went missing: “I lost my wife”
ᐙ How can you account for the bodies being recovered where Scott and Scott alone was “fishing” at the precise moment in time that Laci went missing?
ᐙ Why was Scott unable to answer simple fishing and bait questions by first responding officers? He was able to go into great detail about almost everything else.
ᐙ Why did Scott first say that Laci ate cereal twice, then changed it to toast after Sharon questioned him about her eating cereal twice in their taped conversation?
ᐙ Why does Scott go fishing without bringing food or water? Not even a soda. I’ve been boating for 30 years (and Scott has been a “lifelong fisherman”) and you never go out to sea - however briefly without bringing along at least a few bottles of water, let alone a candy bar or something. Scott specifically said he brought no food or drink with him on the boat and hadn’t eaten all day. Why? What was “pudge boy” so excited about that day that he forgot to eat?
ᐙ
Why does Scott say Laci is “Missing” in his first call to Sharon on the 24th?
ᐙ
Why all the past tense
references and corrections regarding Laci and Connor during his televised
interviews?
ᐙ Why did Scott tell three different people he was playing golf that day? In fact, it was the first three, almost like he was first going to use golf as an alibi and then changed it to fishing after giving it a little more thought and getting a glimpse of what he had actually gotten himself into. Let’s say for the sake of argument that Scott is not a psychopath and capable of emotion - even then, no one is so upset that they tell 2-3 different people they were golfing when they were really fishing.
ᐙ Why choose fishing over golfing because of the weather? I am a golfer and a boater and would much rather golf on a cold day than go out in a freezing cold wet boat. You can’t say he didn’t know any better because Scott had been fishing and around boats most of his life. A small boat on a cold day is a wet and miserable experience, which is why there were no other small boats launched that day. A scratch golfer like Scott does not hold a golf club too tight or hit many thin shots, which slightly sting your hands on a cold day. Look at all the tournaments that are held in temperatures in the 40s. Cold inclement weather would be the last reason to opt for a wet boat ride over a round of golf.
ᐙ Why did no one claim the $500,000 reward for information leading to Laci’s safe return? A jailhouse informant quickly claimed the $1,000 reward for information about the Medina burglary.
The Petersons reply can be viewed HERE
Discuss the Peterson case HERE