Laci Peterson Nee Rocha
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Laci Peterson nee Rocha (1975-2002) was a substitute teacher who lived all her life in Modesto, California. She was married and pregnant, and suddenly disappeared just before Christmas 2002. It has since become one of the most talked about and publicized missing person cases in U.S. history. Adding to the drama was the fact that she was seven and a half months pregnant at the time of her disappearance, and the fact that her husband was caught having an extramarital affair. Her husband, Scott Peterson, is currently on trial for her murder.
Laci attended California Polytechnic State University, where she met Scott Peterson in 1994. She was a waitress, and he was a waiter at the same restaurant. They married two years later, attempted to run their own restaurant in San Luis Obispo, California, but moved back to Modesto in 2000.
In 2002, Laci found out that she was pregnant with a boy. She and her husband decided to name the baby Connor. But on Christmas Eve of that year, she was reported missing. The last person to talk to her was her mother over the phone the day before. Her husband, Scott, said that she planned to go shopping for dinner then walk the dog through nearby East La Loma park. Scott also said that he had gone to the marina at Berkeley, California to go fishing. A neighbor claimed she saw him loading something wrapped in a large blue tarp into his car that morning, which he claimed to be 8-foot umbrellas for work. Later that day, neighbors found the family dog running loose in the neighborhood, wearing a collar and muddy leash. Scott said Lacis 1996 Range Rover sport utility vehicle was in the driveway; and her purse, keys and cell phone were on the table in the house.
By 6 PM, the police were called. An immediate search of East La Loma Park and surrounding areas was launched by police and the neighborhood. The case had additional gravity due to the fact that she was pregnant. They utilized foot searchers, all-terrain vehicles, patrol cars, sport utility vehicles, helicopters with search lights and heat sensors, water rescue units, search dogs and horseback teams. Law enforcement agencies from several counties became involved, searching both forests and waterways. They couldnt find a sign of Laci anywhere.
The police suspected foul play, as they didnt believe Laci would just vanish on Christmas Eve without contacting anybody. “That is completely out of character for her,” said detective Al Brocchini at a press conference. As is frequently the case in the murders or disappearances of married people, Lacis husband became a suspect in the case, but her family came forward to support him. Scott managed to show a receipt from the marina for December 24 (though no time is printed on it), and witnesses said they saw Laci in the park with her dog at 10AM on that day.
The police tracked as many leads as they could, with numerous dead ends. On January 4, they used sonar to scan the marina more than once, at one point telling the press they found something that might be a body. The next day, after the weather cleared, it turned out to be an old anchor. For a brief moment police believed they were onto a hot lead when it was thought that the house across the street from the Petersons had been burglarized at approximately the time that Laci allegedly disappeared. Some suspected that perhaps she had seen the burglars who then panicked and kidnapped her so she could not identify them. But police eliminated the possibility once it turned out the burglary happened later on.
Meanwhile, the police began to focus more and more on the husband, Scott Peterson. After closer inspection, the police couldnt confirm that anybody had actually seen Laci take the walk with her dog, which meant the last person to see or hear her besides Scott was her mother during the phone call the night before the disappearance. As far as the police were concerned,