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Press Conference Concerning Laci Peterson Disappearance
Aired December 30, 2002 - 17:34 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We expect to hear from the chief of the Modesto Police Department on the Laci Peterson case. Let's go there now.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and that has not been completed yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Currently, today we've 24 officers that are assigned on the search teams and they've been dedicated to contacting the rest of the 290 registrants and sex offenders that we've been trying to catch up to and just talk to. They've completed 155 of those. There's a few on the list that we haven't been able to locate yet but they're continuing to work on those.
They're following up -- some of the leads, as Doug mentioned, the 500 leads that have come in. We have been prioritizing those and taking those and doing follow-up on those as well. The dive team has completed one of the ponds out at the Mapes (ph) ranch area near the river. They also went ahead and went into the San Joaquin River under the bridge and checked that area. They completed a section of a slew, which is just south of Highway 132 near the San Joaquin River Bridge. And the last I heard they were out of the water to take a break and then they were going to be back in the water to try to finish that area as well.
The helicopter today covered the Delta Mendota Canal, which runs out in the west county area. They covered the Delta Mendota. They've also finished the California Aqueduct, running from 580 all the way to the St. Louis reservoir. Weather permitting they're going to move into the east county and start covering the rural area and also the reservoirs in that area.
And we're just continuing to follow up. We've had a lot of volunteers out there. We completed the entire northeast area in the city limits of Modesto, covering residential areas and currently doing the northwest section as we speak. There is a map out at the command post. We've been highlighting the areas that we have completed on the search. And if you would like, you're welcome to come to the command post later to get a photo of that map just so you can see what has been searched and what hasn't. And I think that's about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ron Cloward, C-l-o-w-a-r-d, Sergeant. All right. I'll take questions now.
QUESTION: Can you talk about the quote about the surveillance video? What is it that you hope to get from that and can you tell us what time -- I mean when do you believe she was in that store? And what are you hoping to get from that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's some difficulty in the video itself. We had received information that Laci may have been in that store on Christmas Eve. And that's what we're trying to confirm. At this point, we have not been able to confirm that. But we have officers checking it out. One of the problems that's a -- we have to review it on real time and it's several hours long.
QUESTION: Do you have a timeframe in which she may have been seen in that store?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't.
QUESTION: It is Christmas Eve and not the day prior to that, the same day she went walking?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe it was the same day, yes.
QUESTION: Were they open at 6:00 in the morning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what time they were open, Craig. I don't have -- that's one of the things we're following through right now, is trying to get, first of all, view the video and hopefully we'll have that information before too long.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the biggest things is that we're trying to do it like we mentioned yesterday -- is we're trying to do an extensive search of not just Stanislaus County but any other possible areas that we may see something disturbed or whatever. We want to check those aqueducts. We want to check the water flows, the wetlands and that's what we started two days ago and we're trying to finish that up.
QUESTION: Is the feeling that she was dropped somewhere, she would have moved, gone through the rivers?
O'BRIEN: All right, we're going to leave it at that. That was Chief Roy Rosdan (ph) along with one of his sergeants. We're going to listen to one more answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not ruling anything in. We don't have any leads to believe that anything like that has happened or any foul play but we're not going to rule it out.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, one of the things that I'm confirming today that we have that. We can't talk a whole lot about it. The investigators want us to hold off before we discuss the receipt any more. But the only thing I'll mention today is that we do have that in our possession.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
O'BRIEN: All right, that's the chief of the Modesto Police Department giving us an update of the disappearance of Laci Peterson, a 27-year-old pregnant woman who disappeared Christmas Eve, continuing the search efforts in and around north-central California, addressing questions from reporters there. We will be keeping you posted, of course, on that story as details come in.
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 December 30, 2002 - 17:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We expect to hear from the chief of the Modesto Police Department on the Laci Peterson case. Let's go there now.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and that has not been completed yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Currently, today we've 24 officers that are assigned on the search teams and they've been dedicated to contacting the rest of the 290 registrants and sex offenders that we've been trying to catch up to and just talk to. They've completed 155 of those. There's a few on the list that we haven't been able to locate yet but they're continuing to work on those.
They're following up -- some of the leads, as Doug mentioned, the 500 leads that have come in. We have been prioritizing those and taking those and doing follow-up on those as well. The dive team has completed one of the ponds out at the Mapes (ph) ranch area near the river. They also went ahead and went into the San Joaquin River under the bridge and checked that area. They completed a section of a slew, which is just south of Highway 132 near the San Joaquin River Bridge. And the last I heard they were out of the water to take a break and then they were going to be back in the water to try to finish that area as well.
The helicopter today covered the Delta Mendota Canal, which runs out in the west county area. They covered the Delta Mendota. They've also finished the California Aqueduct, running from 580 all the way to the St. Louis reservoir. Weather permitting they're going to move into the east county and start covering the rural area and also the reservoirs in that area.
And we're just continuing to follow up. We've had a lot of volunteers out there. We completed the entire northeast area in the city limits of Modesto, covering residential areas and currently doing the northwest section as we speak. There is a map out at the command post. We've been highlighting the areas that we have completed on the search. And if you would like, you're welcome to come to the command post later to get a photo of that map just so you can see what has been searched and what hasn't. And I think that's about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ron Cloward, C-l-o-w-a-r-d, Sergeant. All right. I'll take questions now.
QUESTION: Can you talk about the quote about the surveillance video? What is it that you hope to get from that and can you tell us what time -- I mean when do you believe she was in that store? And what are you hoping to get from that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's some difficulty in the video itself. We had received information that Laci may have been in that store on Christmas Eve. And that's what we're trying to confirm. At this point, we have not been able to confirm that. But we have officers checking it out. One of the problems that's a -- we have to review it on real time and it's several hours long.
QUESTION: Do you have a timeframe in which she may have been seen in that store?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't.
QUESTION: It is Christmas Eve and not the day prior to that, the same day she went walking?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe it was the same day, yes.
QUESTION: Were they open at 6:00 in the morning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what time they were open, Craig. I don't have -- that's one of the things we're following through right now, is trying to get, first of all, view the video and hopefully we'll have that information before too long.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the biggest things is that we're trying to do it like we mentioned yesterday -- is we're trying to do an extensive search of not just Stanislaus County but any other possible areas that we may see something disturbed or whatever. We want to check those aqueducts. We want to check the water flows, the wetlands and that's what we started two days ago and we're trying to finish that up.
QUESTION: Is the feeling that she was dropped somewhere, she would have moved, gone through the rivers?
O'BRIEN: All right, we're going to leave it at that. That was Chief Roy Rosdan (ph) along with one of his sergeants. We're going to listen to one more answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not ruling anything in. We don't have any leads to believe that anything like that has happened or any foul play but we're not going to rule it out.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, one of the things that I'm confirming today that we have that. We can't talk a whole lot about it. The investigators want us to hold off before we discuss the receipt any more. But the only thing I'll mention today is that we do have that in our possession.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
O'BRIEN: All right, that's the chief of the Modesto Police Department giving us an update of the disappearance of Laci Peterson, a 27-year-old pregnant woman who disappeared Christmas Eve, continuing the search efforts in and around north-central California, addressing questions from reporters there. We will be keeping you posted, of course, on that story as details come in.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
