Scott didn’t return his mother’s call right away, but he did respond to a message left by Sharon.
“Hello,” Sharon said.
“Hi Mom, it’s Scott.”
“Where are you?”
“Trying to get this volunteer center to happen in Los Angeles,” her son-in-law told her. “Can’t believe they cancelled it.”
“What do you mean you can’t believe they cancelled it?” Sharon snapped.
“Why can’t we have it? We need to keep her picture out there and the Volunteer Center in Modesto,” Scott replied.
“When are you gonna give up the charade, Scott? When are you gonna call it quits and admit what you’ve done?”
“When I find my wife and child,” Scott responded flatly.
“Well, you’re the only one who knows where they are, so why don’t you fill the rest of us in so we can go get them?”
“Mom, I didn’t call you to … ” Scott said.
“Well, that’s the reason I called you,” Sharon retorted.
“Oh well …”Scott said.
“I want you to tell me where Laci is,” Sharon spoke over Scott. “I’m tired of your lies… . I’m tired of your conniving, I’m tired of your manipulation. You know damn well they’re not opening a stupid center down there, because you’ve embarrassed your family and everyone else. You have shamed this world, Scott. You have had people out looking for Laci and somebody else when you’ve known all along where she’s been, so tell me where she is. I want her back.”
“I know you won’t believe that I want her back also … that’s all I …”
“Oh, I’m sure you want her back too, yes, you’re broken-hearted,” Sharon continued. “I know that, Scott. So now, just be honest with me and tell me where she is.”
“I can’t listen to you tell me …”
“And I can’t listen to your fucking lies anymore … now get to the truth.”
The connection went dead.
Sharon Rocha was already reeling from news of her son-in-law’s dual life when Detective Grogan learned that Modesto’s mayor, Carmen Sabatino, had told reporters that the Modesto Police Department did not believe Laci’s body would be found. He then declared that the searches were being discontinued.
None of it was true, of course, and Grogan knew the mayor’s comments would be upsetting to Laci’s family. Anxious to set the record straight, the detective placed a call to the Rocha residence. When he didn’t reach anyone, he paged Kim Peterson.
Detective Buehler was at headquarters when Kim phoned back. She told the investigator that she was at the Rochas’ home, and asked him to come and assist her. Grogan and Buehler arrived to find a house full of people.
The detectives spoke with Sharon and Kim in a back bedroom. Chief Wasden had already assured the Rochas that the mayor’s announcement was incorrect, but Sharon had spent much of the day distraught over how Laci may have died.
“I explained to Sharon that based on Detective Buehler’s experience and mine, coupled with the opinion of Sharon Hagan … and evidence obtained during the search warrant, it did not appear there was a violent or bloody crime scene in the home,” Grogan wrote in his report. “I told Sharon that it was our opinion that Laci likely died after she went to bed that night and may not have awakened or been aware of what was occurring.
“Sharon’s concern was that her daughter was placed in water alive with cement attached to her based on the story she had read in the National Enquirer. 1 told her that was a very unlikely scenario.” Grogan noted. “Sharon Rocha seemed to find some comfort in the release of the information.”
Later that evening, in a brainstorming session, Buehler and Grogan drafted two lists—one cataloging reasons Scott may have elected to dump Laci’s body in a body of freshwater, the other noting reasons he might have chosen the San Francisco Bay. They hoped the exercise would help them determine where they should focus their efforts.
By night’s end, the freshwater list was ten entries long. The number of reasons Scott may have chosen the San Francisco Bay had reached forty-one. Among them:
Peterson’s statement to police that he was at the Berkeley Marina on Christmas Eve.
The pay stub from the marina stamped with a time consistent with his statement.
The cell site records showed Scott’s location at the marina.
The bloodhounds who tracked Laci’s scent at the marina.
Scott’s two-day fishing license purchased on December 20 for December 23-24.
Scott’s “whistle” on the wiretap on January 11 as he listened to Sharon Rocha’s voice mail that the object in the bay was anchor, not a body.
Peterson’s trips to the marina since December 24.
Scott’s research of the San Francisco Bay, including one map that showed how deep the currents are.
Salt water in the boat; not fresh water.
Scott calls home and leaves Laci messages as he’s leaving the bay, saying he’s going to be late.
Purchased just $13 of gas in Livermore—not a significant amount for a truck but enough to establish his whereabouts.
Over the weekend, Scott reached out again to Brent. He told his brother-in-law that he was still out of town, but he wanted to let him know that the volunteer center in Los Angeles was poised to open. His statement was met with silence.
After a few seconds, Brent asked Scott if he’d ever read the definition of a sociopath.
A sociopath, he explained, is someone with mental illness who thinks they can get away with things. “It’s you,” Brent declared. “I think you need to come clean. You are not going to get away with it.”
Scott laughed. “Brent, I didn’t do it, man.”
“You messed up, man, everything is leading to you. What did you do with my sister?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Tell us where she is at so we can bring her back,” Brent begged.
Scott threatened to hang up, but Brent pressed on, accusing his brother-in-law of avoiding the family. He pointedly asked Scott why he wasn’t cooperating with the investigation.
“I have,” Scott said.
“So many things don’t add up,” Brent said. “Why didn’t you take the lie detector test?”
Scott told Brent he only telephoned to tell him about the center opening up. “If you want to call me up to accuse me of these things, I’ll take your calls, but hopefully you will find out these things are not true.”
“It’s gone too far,” Brent said, telling Scott it was time to “clean it up.”
Scott maintained that he was following the advice of his attorney.
“Since when did you start talking to attorneys?” Brent asked.
“You hire them because they know the right thing to do.”
“If you loved Laci, you’d be out there talking for her, trying to get her back. Not looking for some damn attorney that’s going to try and get you off,” Brent snapped.
“I hope you see by my actions that I am trying to get her back. The media is against me.”
But Brent had had enough. He was no longer looking for Laci, he said, because he believed that Scott “did it.”
“That’s a shame,” Scott responded. “There will be people that will help me and we will be working toward that goal.”
In their analysis of Scott’s sentiments, though, the police agreed with Brent that Scott was just “hiding behind his attorney.” As Steve Jacobson wrote, “Hiring a criminal defense attorney would perhaps be the last thing I would consider if my pregnant wife came up missing.” He then set out the real reason that everything seemed to be going against Scott: “Like the police, the media is suspicious of Scott Peterson because of his alibi story and the amount of lies he tells.
“Scott has access to many other attorneys who are working out other matters with Laci and her immediate family (will and probate). Why Scott hired a criminal defense attorney, early on this investigation to ’defend’ him has and will remain interesting.”
Scott had not set the house alarm because of the way he’d se-cured the front gate. He had received a call from Kim McGregor about an hour before he arrived home that evening, advising him that she’d just been to the house to feed McKenzie. When she went into the backyard, she found the side door open. Nobody was home, so she closed it and left.
The police later determined that the entry had occurred through an unlocked gate. A small window was broken in the rear dining room door, and one or more individuals then reached inside, unlocked the door, and entered the house.
Police found the scene inside curious indeed. The thief or thieves had emptied a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and opened some Christmas presents, along with stealing some property.
Police found the empty whiskey bottle on the floor near the bar in the dining room. According to Scott, it had been one-third full when he left for southern California. Several Christmas gifts were lying on the floor near the empty bottle, their wrapping paper ripped open. One of the gifts, a sweatshirt from Carmel intended for Ron Grantski, was gone. Another was left unwrapped on the dining room table, its colorful paper dumped in the kitchen garbage pail. Police noted that two of Scott’s jackets had been taken from a coat rack near the door. It was clear that the suspect had spent some time in the couple’s kitchen, drinking a Pepsi and eating a pear. Both items were left on the kitchen counter. Police found a used glass in the sink.
A search of the bedrooms was inconclusive; Scott couldn’t be sure if anything had been taken from the closets, but it appeared that all Laci’s jewelry was still there.
Later that week, Grogan learned that Scott’s neighbor, Kim McGregor, had been identified as the person responsible for the burglary. Another neighbor on Covena, Amie Krigbaum, dialed 911 to report seeing a white female leaving the Peterson home with a handful of items around the time the burglary occurred. She told police she saw the woman place the objects in the trunk of a white Honda and drive off.
During an interview with McGregor at headquarters, she confessed to the burglary and told police she didn’t know why she did it. Based on this, the police spent some time trying to identify or eliminate her as a suspect in Laci’s disappearance. They found no indication that she even knew the Petersons before Laci vanished.
After it was clear that McGregor was cooperating with the investigation, the police asked her to phone Scott and speak with him about the burglary. During the conversation, Scott told her not to worry about what she had done. He then advised her “not to tell anyone about it.”
The detectives asked that she call Scott right back to tell him that she’d already gone to the police with her story. Scott said he already knew that, even though the confession had only just taken place, and then admonished her “not to talk about it ever again.”
The police later reported that they found it “interesting” that Scott advised McGregor “not to tell anyone.” In one of the recorded calls with his sister, Scott had referred to McGregor as “psycho girl.” Maybe he expected such behavior from her. Then again, “this may have been a hidden defense strategy to deflect attention from himself to an unknown, mysterious burglar who may have had something to do with Laci’s disappearance,” Jacobson wrote. “Perhaps Scott realized with her confession to the police, she could not remain the mysterious burglar he had hoped.” Or, he conceded, it could have been a simple “act of leniency” on Scott’s part.
When the police formally notified Scott of McGregor’s involvement, he declined to press charges. However, a few days later, po-lice recovered a video camera behind a store not far from the Peterson’s house. It had been thrown into a fifty-five-gallon drum used by local restaurants to dump their grease. Inside the camera was a video of Laci Peterson, including footage of her at a July 4 gathering that would later hold jurors spellbound as Laci came to life in the courtroom.
In the short term, however, the camera revealed to the police that Kim McGregor hadn’t been truthful with them. They ordered her back to headquarters for a second interview and warned her to come clean—-or else. Faced with the threat of prosecution, McGregor admitted to stealing the video camera and Laci’s Social Security card. She said she had taken the camera from the dining room and the Social Security card from Scott’s dresser. She could not explain why, but admitted that when she awoke the following morning and realized what she had done, she decided to dispose of the evidence as quickly as she could. She’d forgotten about the Social Security card, but later found it and turned it over to police.
McGregor told police she was fascinated by the case and wanted to learn more about Scott and Laci. After leaving headquarters, the police wiretaps captured Kim calling Scott again to alert him that Detective Brocchini had asked her to take a polygraph. Kim felt Brocchini was trying to use her to get information from him, and she didn’t know what to do.
“Taking the polygraph shouldn’t be a problem for you,” Scott said.
McGregor was scared and wanted to refuse the test. Scott said she could, but explained that police “will think something is up and they start to look you know, looking at you harder, you might as well do it. I think they will be fair to you.” To the police, the implication was clear. Scott, too, was avoiding the polygraph not because he thought the police would entrap him, but because he knew he would fail the exam.
The wiretap also captured another telling moment. On January 20, Scott played back the voice mail message he’d left for Laci on her cell phone on Christmas Eve, alerting her that he would be arriving home late from the marina. He listened to it twice, then saved it again. “Perhaps Scott is keeping his recollection fresh by re-viewing his messages,” Investigator Jacobson wrote in his report.
That weekend, Scott learned that the police had contacted Amber and were requesting that she submit to a polygraph.
“When do you plan to take a polygraph with me?” Amber asked Scott during a phone conversation.
Scott said he still intended to take the test, but it would be a “clean” test from a private company because police polygraphs are “dirty.”
In a subsequent conversation, Scott told Amber that he’d been sick to his stomach after this call. She shouldn’t have to do anything for Al Brocchini, he raged; “he’s disgusting, and he shouldn’t even set eyes on you.” Scott was also upset because he felt that Amber didn’t trust him, and that she believed he was involved in Laci’s disappearance.
Amber said she’d heard things on the news.
“What, all of the other people I’ve killed?” Scott groused.
Interestingly, during the investigation, the Modesto police were contacted by detectives in San Luis Obispo investigating the disappearance of one of Scott’s fellow Cal Poly students, a woman named Kristen Smart. A six-foot-one blond, Smart was last seen on May 24, 1996, in the company of a male student at the college. When they realized that Scott had been attending Cal Poly at that time, the police investigated the possibility that Scott might be linked to the nineteen-year-old’s disappearance. Speculation about a possible connection was also being discussed in the media. I was surprised to learn later that members of Scott’s own family were privately wondering the same thing.
Amber said she didn’t believe those stories, but she did find it interesting that Scott had a life insurance policy on Laci. She also asked him why Scott’s dad was still denying their affair and telling the press that the pictures of Amber and Scott did not prove anything.
Scott said he didn’t know, but he advised Amber that he was just down the street from her, and that he shouldn’t be driving much further that evening.
Amber invited Scott to her home.
“What was that?” Scott asked
.
Amber didn’t repeat the offer. Scott sounded as though he was crying; to the police, the emotion seemed to be forced.
“Is it just because of me that you are crying?” Amber asked.
“It’s just because of what’s happening to you,” Scott told her.
“In a very obvious manner, Scott wants Amber to invite him over to her place,” Jacobson wrote in his summary of the conversation. “A very unorthodox move for a grieving husband who has been denying having a girlfriend. Not hearing the offer, Scott begins to act as if he’s choked up and won’t be able to drive much further. Amber asks Scott to call her when he finds a place to sleep. It’s not what Scott wants so he begins to cry a little louder, telling her how much he cares for her and that he won’t be able to think about her once he finds a motel. Amber doesn’t offer her place a second time, and Scott terminates the call. Immediately after hanging up, Scott checks his voice mail. While listening to his voice mail mes-sage, lasting fifty-two seconds, Scott is never once choked-up, blowing his nose, coughing, crying, or making any other sound effect that would indicate that he was so severely upset that he couldn’t continue to drive home.”
To Jacobson, this was “yet another obvious deception … an at-tempt I believe was geared at getting Amber to let him come over.” He noted, “This once again goes to show the character of Scott Peterson and the real reason he chooses not to take the polygraph test or cooperate with law enforcement.”
When Scott called Amber the following day, January 20, she told him that the National Enquirer had been asking questions.
“God dammit!” Scott replied. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry, baby.”
Amber admitted that she’d given police the photos of the two of them together. Scott told her that the Enquirer hired a private investigator because they tried to hire his own private investigator.
“I see you’re back to wearing your wedding ring,” Amber noted.
A Deadly Game Page 27