The Odd World Of Scott Peterson
STRANGE ACTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS
- Laci Peterson's sister testified that Scott volunteered to pick up a
Christmas gift basket Dec. 24 from a farm near his golf course but
never showed. Rocha called him to find out why he hadn’t run the
errand, but he didn’t answer his cell or home phone.
- On Jan. 3, he told several friends and relatives that a photo of him
with a blond woman was a fake, created on the Internet. The photo
showed him with his mistress, Amber Frey. (Sharon Rocha and Brent Rocha
also testified to this.)
- Laci Peterson's mother testified Scott used the word "missing" to describe his wife, even though by his account he’d only been trying to establish her whereabouts for less than an hour.When Sharon Rocha first spotted him 30 feet away in the park as she searched for her daughter, she called out to him repeatedly, but he did not acknowledge her.
- About an hour into the search for Laci, Sharon Rocha tried to give her
son-in-law a consoling hug, but he kept "angling" away from her and did
not make eye contact.
- At a community vigil for his wife Dec. 31, Peterson arrived late and
did not sit with the rest of the family, including his own parents, on
a stage. He told his brother-in-law, Brent Rocha, that he preferred to
sit with his friends in the audience.
- Each time Sharon Rocha asked Peterson for a detailed description of her
daughter’s activities and state of mind on the day she vanished,
Peterson would say he had something else to do and did not have time.
- (Sandy Rickard also testified to this)
- When Sharon Rocha finally talked to Peterson in February about the
morning of Dec. 24, he said the last time he had seen his wife, she
“looked so cute” curling her hair in front of a mirror. He told police
she was mopping the floor and Laci's cousin-in-law Gwendolyn Kemple
that she was watching Martha Stewart on TV.
- Sharon Rocha, Peterson and other relatives were watching a television
show about fishing as they waited for news. When the program mentioned
that shrimp was the best bait for sturgeon, Rocha asked Peterson what
he had used for bait during his alibi fishing trip. He looked over his
shoulder at her and smiled, but did not answer. A sister-in-law
volunteered that he had used lures.
- Sharon Rocha called Peterson immediately after the remains of Laci
Peterson and her unborn son were recovered. She left a message asking
him to call her immediately. He never did.
- Laci Peterson's stepfather said that, when her friends and family gave
media interviews to encourage the public to look for her, Scott
Peterson declined, saying he wanted to keep the focus on her, not him.
(Laci's brother, Brent Rocha, also testified to this.)
- Laci's brother said that Peterson did not make eye contact with him the
night the search began.
- Peterson expressed surprise at the end of the evening when Brent Rocha
said he was going to stay in Modesto to look for his sister and not
return to Sacramento.
- Months before Laci Peterson went missing, his sister-in-law asked
Peterson if he was ready for fatherhood. He replied, "I was kinda
hoping for infertility."
- As police searched his home and vehicle in the first hours after he had
reported his wife missing, Peterson told family friend Sandy Rickard
that he wouldn’t be surprised if they found his blood because he often
cut himself.
- When Gwendolyn Kemple asked father-to-be Peterson if he was looking
forward to playing backyard catch with his son, he was dismissive,
saying he had friends to do that.
- When Kemple, the wife of Laci Peterson's cousin, talked to Peterson a
couple of hours after his wife went missing, she found he had not
pursued some basic questions, including whether Laci’s purse was still
in the house and whether her coat was still there.
- Harvey Kemple, Laci Peterson's cousin, said that Scott Peterson showed
more emotion when he burned chicken at a summer barbecue than he did
when his wife vanished.
- He told Kemple and two neighbors — Tera Venable and Amie Krigbaum —
that he was golfing, not fishing, when his wife disappeared.
- One January morning, Peterson told Harvey Kemple he was going to post
fliers, but instead drove to a mall and sat in the parking lot for 45
minutes.
- While others searched for his wife, Peterson drove to the golf course
at his country club.
- On Christmas, Peterson was dismissive when police said they had a tip
that his wife had been spotted walking on a footbridge in a local park.
- He told his wife’s aunt, Susan Aquino, who was excited by the tip, that
he was sure it wasn’t Laci because she walked in the opposite
direction.
- Laci Peterson’s girlhood friend said she found Peterson vacuuming the
laundry room just 24 hours after his wife went missing. He told her, "I
just can’t keep the house clean enough."
- Both patrolmen said Peterson could not answer when asked what he had
been fishing for Dec. 24.
- After seeming to flub answers to the questions about his alibi, the
officers saw him throw down a flashlight and curse under his breath.
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that's important. You have to do the right thing.
It may not be in your power, may not be in your time,
that there'll be any fruit.
But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing.
You may never know what results come from your action.
But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
~Gandhi