Brocchini also talked to Brian Argain, a real estate agent and friend of Scott’s. Argain had been introduced to the Petersons by his former girlfriend Stacey Boyer. He and Scott played golf together often, and he considered Scott a good friend.
Argain learned about Laci’s disappearance when Guy Miligi, a mutual friend, called him on December 24 to say that “Laci was missing.” That first night, Argain walked the neighborhood with Scott, looking for Laci. Scott simply told him he had returned home from fishing, and Laci was gone. Argain did not press for more de-tails because Scott seemed upset.
Argain had seen Scott several times after that night, but the two never spoke about what happened. He was with Scott during New Year’s Eve vigil at Dry Creek Park on New Year’s Eve and was quite surprised when Scott would not join Laci’s brother. Brent, on the stage. He advised Scott to get in front of the cameras, but Scott insisted that the vigil was for his wife, and not for the family. Argain urged Scott to talk to the media to clear his name, but again Scott told him he didn’t like the attention because “this isn’t about me.” Argain became really upset when Brent urged Scott to come up on stage, and Scott replied, “I’m here with my friends.”
“What is suspicious to you.?” Brocchini asked Argain.
“Number one, Scott is not talking to the media. Number two, Scott’s fishing story is fishy,” Argain replied. “I’m good friends with Scott but his story isn’t making sense.”
Brocchini then contacted Guy Miligi directly. Miligi told the detective that he wouldn’t be acting the way Scott Peterson was acting if his wife were missing. Miligi explained that he would be “much more vocal” and “out in front of the press.” But he said that he wasn’t faulting his friend, and vowed to continue to assist in the search for Laci.
Brocchini also reinterviewed Bruce Peterson, the man who sold Scott the fourteen-foot aluminum boat. Peterson confirmed Scott’s claim that he didn’t want to sell him the anchors with the boat, telling the detective that he asked Scott if he could keep them because he planned on buying another boat later in the year.
As Brocchini continued down the list of Scott’s calls, Detective Grogan was meeting with Brent Rocha at the Investigative Services Bureau. Like his younger sister, Brent was attractive, with clear olive skin, thick black hair, and dark, full eyebrows. He worked in Sacramento as a project analyst for the California Department of Justice Division of Gambling Control.
The two men sat in a downstairs conference room and began to review the documentation gathered regarding the inheritance for the three Rocha children, Brent, Laci, and Amy. While the police were focusing on Scott, they had not rejected the possibility that Laci’s disappearance was linked to the family finances. Grogan wanted to get a handle on that angle, to help support or eliminate theories having to do with Laci’s inheritance.
He learned that Laci’s grandparents’ rambling ranch in the small agricultural town of Escalon had been sold in 1995. Another forty-acre tract, where Dennis Rocha still lives, housed a second residence that produced rental income. The Oakdale home of Laci’s grandfather, Robert Rocha, was currently on the market, listed at almost $500,000. The family had recently moved the elderly Mr. Rocha to a skilled nursing home in Sacramento, where he was being treated for diabetes, dementia, and heart problems. His wife, Helen, had died in 1999. Since Robert Rocha’s dementia precluded him from running the estate. Brent was appointed executor in 1999. He and his aunt, Robin, shared control of the living trust and estate, which were valued at $2.36 million in 1999.
When Helen Rocha passed away, the estate received $500,000 from her life insurance policy. Brent Rocha could have used the money as he saw fit, but chose to honor the primary goals of the trust, which were to care for his grandfather and father, Dennis. The money was currently being used for his grandfather’s care, he said.
Grogan asked Brent what would happen once his grandfather passed away. Half of the estate would go to Robin, Brent said, and the remainder would be paid to the Dennis Rocha family trust. As executor. Brent would distribute funds to his dad as needed. He cited his father’s irresponsible spending habits, and the fact that Brent had graduated from law school with a degree in tax law, as the reasons that his grandparents had appointed him to the role.
Once his grandfather died. Brent said, he planned to care for his father until his death. Then, whatever remained in the estate would be divided among Dennis’s three children. If his father were to die in the near future, the three would receive about $400,000 apiece, but that number would diminish with each passing year.
Laci knew very little about the trust. She had spoken to her brother about three weeks before her disappearance and was told that she would probably not receive anything for a minimum of three years, until she turned thirty. And even then she might not receive a penny until after her grandfather and father had both passed away.
Brent described his sister as fun, outgoing, happy, determined, and strong. He was not aware of any problems in her marriage to Scott. He knew that she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and believed that both she and Scott were excited about having a baby. Scott did whatever Laci asked him to. Brent said, although he acknowledged that he saw the couple only infrequently.
“What do you think could have happened to Laci?” Grogan asked.
Brent said his first thought had been that she was abducted or assaulted by a homeless person. But he said that scenario seemed more unlikely as time passed. Once it became clear that her disappearance wasn’t linked to the burglary across the street, he theorized that maybe someone had taken her for the baby or as part of a sexual crime.
Brent told Grogan that he didn’t think Scott was capable of hurting his wife. He also said he doubted that either Dennis Rocha or Ron Grantski could ever harm Laci.
Instead, Brent told Grogan about Laci’s old high-school boyfriend, telling the detective that Kent Gain had been verbally abusive during their relationship. He admitted that he had not seen Kent in seven years, but found it strange that Kent had not turned up to assist in finding Laci. Brent indicated that he did not know where Kent was living or what he was doing now.
Brent also raised the possibility that Laci may have been harmed because of her vocal opposition to a proposed street project planned for her neighborhood.
Amy Rocha was in the lobby waiting to speak to Grogan next. As she followed the stocky lead investigator down the stairs to the conference room. Amy explained that she and Laci were half sisters. They shared the same father, but Amy’s mother was Nancy Galati of Escalon.
Amy’s complexion was fairer than Laci’s, her reddish-brown hair not as thick or dark as her sister’s. A cosmetologist at Salon Salon in Modesto, Amy was six years younger than Laci. As he had with Sharon, Dennis Rocha left Amy’s mother, Nancy, when Amy was just two. Amy lived with her mom until 1998, in her junior year of high school, when she moved in with her dad.
During her childhood. Amy, Brent, and Laci had stayed with their father on weekends. Amy first met Scott while she was in the eighth grade, when Laci was invited to teach Amy’s cheerleading squad a new cheer, and she brought Scott along. She and Laci had grown close after Laci returned to Modesto in 2000.
Amy described her sister’s relationship with her husband as a good one. The two seemed very much in love, she said. She never heard them argue, and Laci had never confided anything negative about Scott to her. She characterized Laci as easily excited, a “talker” who was often “antsy” and “high energy.” Scott, however, was calm and relaxed. He never appeared stressed or ruffled, and al-ways seemed “laid-back.” Amy also described Laci as “a little spoiled.” She usually got her way by asking for things nicely, but wasn’t a brat. “She got anything she wanted because Scott tried to give it to her,” Amy explained.
Grogan asked her about Laci’s visit to Salon Salon on December 23. Scott had an appointment with her to get his hair cut after work that day. Laci and Scott arrived at around 5:30 and stayed for about an hour.
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That day. Amy said, her sister was wearing a pair of cream-colored maternity pants and a black top with flowers. Laci sat on one of the salon’s cherry-colored couches talking, while Amy cut Scott’s hair. The two discussed Laci’s brunch, planned for Christmas Day. Laci would be serving French toast, and she and Amy were both looking forward to having their grandfather and brother at the gathering. They agreed to chip in for a special gift basket of almonds, crackers, trail mix, and fruit from the local Vella Farms fruit market for their grandfather.
When Amy called in the order on December 23, she was told that the basket wouldn’t be ready for pickup until noon the next day. Since the shop was closing early on Christmas Eve, the clerk said, the order would have to be picked up by three o’clock.
Scott offered to swing by to get it, since he would be going by there on his way to the Del Rio Country Club to play golf. Amy warned him that he would have to be at the store between twelve and three.
Amy went to work on Christmas Eve, but left early. When she arrived home some time after three o’clock, she found a message from Vella Farms on her machine: It was three o’clock and no one had come to pick up the basket. Around 3:45 P.M. she tried to reach Scott on his cell phone. When he didn’t answer, she called Scott and Laci’s home number, but again got no response. She then drove to Vella Farms, collected the basket, and returned home.
Some time after five o’clock, she received a call from Scott. “Is Laci there?” he asked. “Is your sister there?” When Amy told him no, he announced, “I can’t find her, I got home, and she’s not there.” She said Scott sounded “frantic and excited.”
After she hung up. Amy checked her answering machine and heard two messages from him. “Call me back as soon as you get this. I’m looking for your sister,” he said on both messages. Amy canceled plans with her father, and began calling local hospitals. When she talked to Scott later that night, he claimed that he’d gone fishing that day. She was surprised, since he had told her the night before that he would be golfing at Del Rio that day. Amy had no idea Scott had bought a boat until she heard about his fishing trip that day, and she told Grogan she was sure her sister would have told her if she knew that Scott had purchased a boat.
After establishing Amy’s whereabouts on the day of the disappearance, thus eliminating her as a suspect, Grogan laid out the photos of Laci’s jewelry and asked Amy if anything seemed to be missing. The only item Amy could identify as missing was a pair of diamond earrings that she had seen her sister wearing.
“Based on Amy’s statements, it appears the jewelry that Scott Peterson claimed Laci was wearing on the morning of December 24, 2002, while mopping the floor, is in fact in Laci’s jewelry box, which Modesto Police Department collected as evidence,” Grogan wrote in his report.
That evening, Scott returned home and dialed Amber before turning in for the night. He had to rush to get packed, he told her, be-cause he was off to Madrid.
“What’s in Madrid?” Amber inquired, as the tape rolled in the recorder.
“That’s where the production office is,” Scott explained. “I’ll be saying hola a lot more, instead of bonjour.”
“So how are you doing this New Year?” Amber asked. Scott had claimed this would be his first New Year’s alone.
“Um … happy at times, sad at others … ”
“Yeah, I just yeah, you know, I just know you, that this was gonna be a hard holiday for you.”
“No, I don’t think about it,” Scott told Amber. “You go to sleep now. I miss you. And I’ll see you soon, huh?”
CHAPTER TEN
JANUARY 5, 2003
When the shift of officers arrived at 5:00 A.M. on January 5, there were four cars parked outside the Peterson home. They included Laci’s Land Rover Discovery, which was outfitted with a covert poHce tracking device, and a nondescript gray Subaru.
The surveillance team trailed Scott as he left the house shortly before eight, dressed casually in blue jeans and a blue shirt. He drove the Discovery to the Red Lion, where search volunteers had gathered. He stayed there for about two hours before joining another man to distribute Laci posters in Moose Park and at several churches around town. In the interim, police observed, Scott had changed his clothes; he was now wearing a blue sweater with white stripes and a blue-and-yellow ribbon pin. just before eleven, he headed home in the Discovery.
He emerged from the house again about ninety minutes later, hi-stead of taking the Land Rover, he jumped into the gray Subaru and headed westbound on Highway 132.
With no tracking system to aid them, the officers anxiously followed Scott in their unmarked vehicle. He drove westbound on Highway 580 toward the coast, passing under Highway 680.
It was exactly 2:00 RM. when Scott, thinking he was in the clear, drove into the parking lot of the Berkeley Marina. At a press conference the night before, the Modesto police had announced that search teams would be at the marina the following day, and officers would be combing the shoreline and waters of the San Francisco Bay for clues concerning Laci’s disappearance. But Scott didn’t stop to speak with any of the searchers. Instead, as the officers watched, he drove around the boat launch area.
While Scott’s defense team would make light of this at trial, I thought I’d never seen a more classic case of a criminal returning to the scene of the crime. At no time did Scott park and walk down to the search sites. Nor did he stop to thank the officers who were braving the bay to look for Laci. Instead, it was reasonable to conclude, he was gauging their progress.
“We were only there approximately five minutes before we left” on Scott Peterson’s trail, the surveilling officers wrote in their report. By this time, Peterson was driving erratically. As the cops headed back on 580 toward Modesto, “Peterson was driving extremely fast. He was driving in and out of traffic at approximately eighty-five to ninety-five miles per hour in heavy traffic.”
Scott raced past San Leandro and sped along Highway 580 through Livermore. “Peterson exited in Livermore and went to a Chevron,” the report continued, and “drove up to the gas pumps as if to get gas. Peterson kept driving past several vacant pumps and got back on the freeway.”
The game was on. Suddenly the cops were on notice: Scott was playing to win.
“Peterson then took another off ramp and drove through two gas station lots before finally stopping. It appeared Peterson forgot which side the gas tank was on and drove in circles until he properly pulled up next to a gas pump.
“Peterson went into the gas station,” the report continued, but noted that something had changed about his attire: Scott was no longer wearing his blue-and-yellow ribbon.
Once he was back in Modesto, Scott slowed down, obeying the speed limit. By 3:35 he was back at his house on Covena Avenue, where he remained for an hour before climbing into another car with a male driver and driving to the Del Rio Country Club.
Back at headquarters, Brocchini was working the phones. His first call was to Renee Garza, who had known Laci since kindergarten. Renee and her husband, Brian, still socialized with the Peter-sons. Renee told Brocchini she’d never sensed any problems in the Petersons’ marriage, and that Laci spoke as though she and Scott had a “very good sex life” and a great relationship.
About two years ago, Laci had stopped taking birth control pills and bought an ovulation kit in hopes of conceiving a child. Renee remembered the day that Laci excitedly phoned to tell her, “I think I’m pregnant.”
Brocchini asked if Renee had discussed the case with any of Laci’s other friends. She said she had. After the candlelight vigil on New Year’s Eve, she invited their friend Rene Tomlinson to her home. The two agreed that it was troubling that Scott was shying away from the media, a sentiment that many friends now shared.
A short time later, Brocchini reached Laci’s maid of honor, Heather Richardson, on her cell phone. Heather quickly dispelled rumors that Laci had been dating another man. She was certain that Scott was the father of the couple’s unborn child
. The last time she heard from Laci was either December 23 or 24, when Laci left a holiday greeting on her voicemail. After Laci’s disappearance, Scott told Heather that Laci had gone to bed around 9:00 P.M. on December 23, and that when he left to go fishing the next morning she was wearing her diamond earrings and her grandmother’s watch.
“What’s your gut feeling?” Heather asked, turning the tables on the detective.
Brocchini explained that he was keeping an open mind. Still, he ex-pressed concern that he had been unable to eliminate Scott as a suspect.
In a subsequent call, Brocchini asked Heather’s husband, Mike Richardson, to help the investigation by asking Scott about his activities on Christmas Eve. Mike agreed, and in mid-January he talked with Scott. Scott told Mike that after reading an article saying that sturgeon were running in the bay, he’d decided to go fishing Christmas Eve. Scott remembered speaking with five people at the marina that dav.
Despite the efforts of the Modesto officers and Scott’s own private investigator, none of these people was ever located. By now, the police suspected that Scott had changed his alibi from golfing to fishing after he realized that he’d been sighted at the marina that afternoon. Detectives were convinced that he’d made the decision during his ride back to Modesto that day, then quickly placed “cover-up” calls to Laci, leaving messages for his wife at home and on her cell phone.
Mike told Brocchini that Scott didn’t appear worried about Laci being found in the San Francisco Bay. As for the fishing boat he’d recently purchased, Scott told Mike Richardson that he’d planned to surprise his father-in-law, fellow fisherman Ron Grantski, with it after Christmas. This seems to be the first and only time Scott ever floated this story. In all the thousands of documents and countless interviews I’ve conducted in covering this case, I never heard anyone suggest there was any real camaraderie between Scott and Ron. They were not fishing buddies. The whole thing was another one of Scott Peterson’s lies.
A Deadly Game Page 19