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CNN Live Today
Laci Peterson Still Missing, Body in Bay Area Not Yet Identified
Aired April 15, 2003 - 11:01 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We would like to hear the very latest on what you know.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Heidi. It's scheduled to get under way any minute. We don't know if we're really going to get any definitive answers (UNINTELLIGIBLE). There is no clear indication that this actually is Laci Peterson. There is just some coincidences and some similarities.
We want to give you a little locater -- a look at what has been happening here in the San Francisco Bay regarding this investigation. This is the area that Scott Peterson, Laci Peterson's husband, claims that he went fishing the day that she disappeared -- December 24.
This is north of the Berkeley Marina along the San Francisco Bay. You can see the city in the background. And this whole area stretching north to Richmond along the beaches here. You can see the riffraff along the beaches. There's another camera crew there.
This is where the body was discovered yesterday. And about a mile farther down the beach, searchers had been looking for a body there about a month ago, but it was a couple walking their dog that discovered a full-term baby with an umbilical cord attached on Sunday.
It was after that the Modesto Police Department was called as a courtesy to come up here, take a look at these bodies, and it was the local authorities that have been conducting the testing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF NORMAN LAPERA, EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK POLICE: I think from the beginning, as I have mentioned, that we thought because of the nature of where we found -- the location where we found the victim -- and the fact of the notoriety of the case involving Modesto, it was prudent to notify Modesto Police Department regarding this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: Now, the body -- apparently, the woman -- was so very badly decomposed. They have been claiming that it will be difficult to do any kind of identification over the next couple of days, but we don't know what we're going to hear in this press conference.
Laci Peterson, of course, disappeared on December 24. She was eight months pregnant -- scheduled to have her baby on February 10. Her husband, Scott, has neither been ruled in nor still ruled out as a suspect. He has not been in the Modesto area over the past few weeks. There have been reports that he's been down in San Diego staying with his family.
His mother did issue a statement to reporters saying that they hope the body here is not that of Laci Peterson. Also meantime, the court has remained sealed -- the search warrants in this case -- the search warrants on Scott Peterson's house and his boat and his car. They are refusing to open those, claiming that this could be a death penalty case because Laci Peterson was pregnant. It would be a double homicide -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Rusty Dornin, thank you so much for the latest developments on that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired April 15, 2003 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We would like to hear the very latest on what you know.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Heidi. It's scheduled to get under way any minute. We don't know if we're really going to get any definitive answers (UNINTELLIGIBLE). There is no clear indication that this actually is Laci Peterson. There is just some coincidences and some similarities.
We want to give you a little locater -- a look at what has been happening here in the San Francisco Bay regarding this investigation. This is the area that Scott Peterson, Laci Peterson's husband, claims that he went fishing the day that she disappeared -- December 24.
This is north of the Berkeley Marina along the San Francisco Bay. You can see the city in the background. And this whole area stretching north to Richmond along the beaches here. You can see the riffraff along the beaches. There's another camera crew there.
This is where the body was discovered yesterday. And about a mile farther down the beach, searchers had been looking for a body there about a month ago, but it was a couple walking their dog that discovered a full-term baby with an umbilical cord attached on Sunday.
It was after that the Modesto Police Department was called as a courtesy to come up here, take a look at these bodies, and it was the local authorities that have been conducting the testing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF NORMAN LAPERA, EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK POLICE: I think from the beginning, as I have mentioned, that we thought because of the nature of where we found -- the location where we found the victim -- and the fact of the notoriety of the case involving Modesto, it was prudent to notify Modesto Police Department regarding this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: Now, the body -- apparently, the woman -- was so very badly decomposed. They have been claiming that it will be difficult to do any kind of identification over the next couple of days, but we don't know what we're going to hear in this press conference.
Laci Peterson, of course, disappeared on December 24. She was eight months pregnant -- scheduled to have her baby on February 10. Her husband, Scott, has neither been ruled in nor still ruled out as a suspect. He has not been in the Modesto area over the past few weeks. There have been reports that he's been down in San Diego staying with his family.
His mother did issue a statement to reporters saying that they hope the body here is not that of Laci Peterson. Also meantime, the court has remained sealed -- the search warrants in this case -- the search warrants on Scott Peterson's house and his boat and his car. They are refusing to open those, claiming that this could be a death penalty case because Laci Peterson was pregnant. It would be a double homicide -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Rusty Dornin, thank you so much for the latest developments on that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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