Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Police Impound Scott Peterson's Truck, Boat

Aired January 03, 2003 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, up first on CNN, the latest on the search for Laci Peterson, the pregnant woman who vanished on Christmas Eve. Police in Modesto, California are now trying to backtrack the steps of her husband, but they are not saying he is a suspect.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Modesto, California. Ed, would it be fair to say, though, that the investigation is focused on the husband right now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, police will tell you that it is not just necessarily focused on the husband, but the tone of the briefing that police here in Modesto had yesterday and a lot of it -- much of it focusing on them trying to create this time line of what Scott Peterson was doing between December 23 and December 25 gave a lot of us the impression that they were spending a lot of time focusing on this.

What police do say here, publicly, is that what they want to do is corroborate the story that Scott Peterson has been telling police, that they want to be able to dismiss him as a possible suspect in this case officially, but they just don't have the kind of quality information that they feel they can do that with.

So what they're asking the public to do is that if you saw him on December 23 -- between December 23 and December 25, and his 2002 Ford F-150 bronze pickup truck pulling his 14-foot aluminum boat with a small outboard motor, he says he took that truck and boat on a fishing trip on December 24. So if you have seen that truck between those days, police want to hear what you have to say.

His parents and mother-in-law say that they are confident that he had nothing to do with his (sic) disappearance, and Laci Peterson's mother trying to bring the focus back to her daughter, saying -- talking directly to whoever abducted her in her opinion, and to bring her home safely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON ROCHA, MOTHER OF LACI PETERSON: We've been through so much these last days that I'd like to make a plea to the person or persons who have my daughter. I would like -- I would hope that you would have some compassion in your heart that if this was your daughter or your sister or your mother, would you want them to live in the fear and terror that my daughter has been living in? And if it was your mother or your sister or your daughter, would you want them to have the heartache or the pain that we have been going through? Please bring our daughter home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Obviously, the family feeling the stress of the situation. Authorities here saying yesterday that they grow more fearsome as days go by. Ten days now since we've seen Laci Peterson on the day before Christmas.

Now, asked yesterday if Scott Peterson has been cooperating with investigators, police here saying that he is cooperating, but to a certain degree. So they couched it that way. They also say that forensic evidence has been taken from the truck and the boat and has been sent off for analysis. But police here won't say exactly what type of evidence they're looking at in that truck and boat -- Carol.

LIN: They're still getting tips on the tip line, aren't they? Have any of those panned out?

LAVANDERA: They have, so they have had over 1,100 tips that have been phoned in. They say that some have been credible, some are not. A lot of things that kind of help in the investigative process in terms of being able to clear things that they are looking at and that sort of thing. But there hasn't been anything that has been just the kind of huge piece of evidence that really goes a long way to solving this situation.

LIN: All right, a lot of work to do there. Thank you very much, Ed Lavandera, reporting live in Modesto. Now if you have any information, police can really use your help in this case. Please call the Modesto Police Department at area code (209) 342-6166.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 3, 2003 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, up first on CNN, the latest on the search for Laci Peterson, the pregnant woman who vanished on Christmas Eve. Police in Modesto, California are now trying to backtrack the steps of her husband, but they are not saying he is a suspect.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Modesto, California. Ed, would it be fair to say, though, that the investigation is focused on the husband right now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, police will tell you that it is not just necessarily focused on the husband, but the tone of the briefing that police here in Modesto had yesterday and a lot of it -- much of it focusing on them trying to create this time line of what Scott Peterson was doing between December 23 and December 25 gave a lot of us the impression that they were spending a lot of time focusing on this.

What police do say here, publicly, is that what they want to do is corroborate the story that Scott Peterson has been telling police, that they want to be able to dismiss him as a possible suspect in this case officially, but they just don't have the kind of quality information that they feel they can do that with.

So what they're asking the public to do is that if you saw him on December 23 -- between December 23 and December 25, and his 2002 Ford F-150 bronze pickup truck pulling his 14-foot aluminum boat with a small outboard motor, he says he took that truck and boat on a fishing trip on December 24. So if you have seen that truck between those days, police want to hear what you have to say.

His parents and mother-in-law say that they are confident that he had nothing to do with his (sic) disappearance, and Laci Peterson's mother trying to bring the focus back to her daughter, saying -- talking directly to whoever abducted her in her opinion, and to bring her home safely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON ROCHA, MOTHER OF LACI PETERSON: We've been through so much these last days that I'd like to make a plea to the person or persons who have my daughter. I would like -- I would hope that you would have some compassion in your heart that if this was your daughter or your sister or your mother, would you want them to live in the fear and terror that my daughter has been living in? And if it was your mother or your sister or your daughter, would you want them to have the heartache or the pain that we have been going through? Please bring our daughter home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Obviously, the family feeling the stress of the situation. Authorities here saying yesterday that they grow more fearsome as days go by. Ten days now since we've seen Laci Peterson on the day before Christmas.

Now, asked yesterday if Scott Peterson has been cooperating with investigators, police here saying that he is cooperating, but to a certain degree. So they couched it that way. They also say that forensic evidence has been taken from the truck and the boat and has been sent off for analysis. But police here won't say exactly what type of evidence they're looking at in that truck and boat -- Carol.

LIN: They're still getting tips on the tip line, aren't they? Have any of those panned out?

LAVANDERA: They have, so they have had over 1,100 tips that have been phoned in. They say that some have been credible, some are not. A lot of things that kind of help in the investigative process in terms of being able to clear things that they are looking at and that sort of thing. But there hasn't been anything that has been just the kind of huge piece of evidence that really goes a long way to solving this situation.

LIN: All right, a lot of work to do there. Thank you very much, Ed Lavandera, reporting live in Modesto. Now if you have any information, police can really use your help in this case. Please call the Modesto Police Department at area code (209) 342-6166.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com