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CNN Live Saturday

Police Continue Searching for Laci Peterson

Aired January 04, 2003 - 18:15   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The search for Laci Peterson continues. Now, Peterson was reported missing from her California home on Christmas Eve. There is, of course, an extra level of concern over her disappearance because she is pregnant and due to give birth next month. Ed Lavandera is at the center of the search and he joins us now.
Ed, what the latest?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, here authorities in Modesto are wrapping up the daily press briefing, kind of giving reporters an update as to how the search is going.

And once again, the main headline, at this point, unfortunately is that there are not significant leads that have come forward so far in the search for Laci Peterson. We're told about 1,600 tips have been phoned in here to authorities. And authorities continue to say that some of those have been helpful and some haven't.

Of course, we are told by law enforcement officials that Scott Peterson, Laci's husband, did meet with investigators yesterday. That has happened several times. Authorities saying here today that he is cooperating. Several days ago, however, authorities saying that he was cooperating but only to a certain degree.

And after a couple of days ago, after authorities here released the pictures of his truck and his boat and asked for information as to where he might have been December 23 through December 25, much of the attention here has been focused on Scott Peterson.

The other part of the investigation, here of course, is the search. Since the authorities here have not strong leads they have not option but just to continue to expanding out the search for Laci Peterson all over the area.

They have brought in what authorities here described as 75 percent of the water trained search dogs in the state of California, that have been brought in. And 10 of those dogs are working the areas around Modesto, California. Six of those dogs have spent the day at the Berkeley Marina at the San Francisco Bay Area.

Of course, that his a point of major interest because that is where Scott Peterson says he went fishing on Christmas Eve, drove from Modesto here to the Berkeley Marina on Christmas Eve. And they have spent the day there searching. They have not been able to say whether or not they have turned anything up or that the dogs have detected any kind of scents. And they say they will continue to do that until authorities are convinced that there is nothing else to do here.

The broader picture here, and the point of all of this, is that authorities say they want to be able to eliminate Scott Peterson as a possible suspect in this case, but they just don't have the information to do that at this point. But, again, the searches will continue until authorities here say they've exhausted all possible ideas and all possible recourses that they have at their fingertips at this point.

Anderson.

COOPER: Ed, what do we know about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. I mean, when was the last time she was seen. I understand Scott Peterson was the one that actually called it in to police?

LAVANDERA: Well, Scott Peterson last saw her at 9:30 Christmas Eve morning. That is when he says he left the house to go fishing that day and then returned later that day. And that is when it was discovered, he discovered that she was missing.

A neighbor discovered her dog that she was supposed to have taken out for a walk that day, with its leash still on, about an hour later, and brought that dog back into the home.

Now, we've asked several times when was the last time somebody else had seen Laci Peterson. We're told that the last person to have contact with Laci Peterson, besides her husband, was Laci's mother who talked to her at 8:30 the night before Christmas Eve.

But authorities say much more information that could be released but that would be detrimental to their investigation, so they won't say much beyond that.

And by the way, since we have been reporting several times here over the last couple of days about the information that they're looking for to corroborate the story that Scott Peterson has told authorities, that he was at the marina on December 24, authorities here saying that so far no information has come forward that would be able to corroborate the story that Scott Peterson has told authorities. So far, so that was one of the points that authorities were making at the press briefing here today.

COOPER: All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks a lot. Thanks for covering the story, appreciate it.

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 4, 2003 - 18:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The search for Laci Peterson continues. Now, Peterson was reported missing from her California home on Christmas Eve. There is, of course, an extra level of concern over her disappearance because she is pregnant and due to give birth next month. Ed Lavandera is at the center of the search and he joins us now.
Ed, what the latest?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, here authorities in Modesto are wrapping up the daily press briefing, kind of giving reporters an update as to how the search is going.

And once again, the main headline, at this point, unfortunately is that there are not significant leads that have come forward so far in the search for Laci Peterson. We're told about 1,600 tips have been phoned in here to authorities. And authorities continue to say that some of those have been helpful and some haven't.

Of course, we are told by law enforcement officials that Scott Peterson, Laci's husband, did meet with investigators yesterday. That has happened several times. Authorities saying here today that he is cooperating. Several days ago, however, authorities saying that he was cooperating but only to a certain degree.

And after a couple of days ago, after authorities here released the pictures of his truck and his boat and asked for information as to where he might have been December 23 through December 25, much of the attention here has been focused on Scott Peterson.

The other part of the investigation, here of course, is the search. Since the authorities here have not strong leads they have not option but just to continue to expanding out the search for Laci Peterson all over the area.

They have brought in what authorities here described as 75 percent of the water trained search dogs in the state of California, that have been brought in. And 10 of those dogs are working the areas around Modesto, California. Six of those dogs have spent the day at the Berkeley Marina at the San Francisco Bay Area.

Of course, that his a point of major interest because that is where Scott Peterson says he went fishing on Christmas Eve, drove from Modesto here to the Berkeley Marina on Christmas Eve. And they have spent the day there searching. They have not been able to say whether or not they have turned anything up or that the dogs have detected any kind of scents. And they say they will continue to do that until authorities are convinced that there is nothing else to do here.

The broader picture here, and the point of all of this, is that authorities say they want to be able to eliminate Scott Peterson as a possible suspect in this case, but they just don't have the information to do that at this point. But, again, the searches will continue until authorities here say they've exhausted all possible ideas and all possible recourses that they have at their fingertips at this point.

Anderson.

COOPER: Ed, what do we know about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. I mean, when was the last time she was seen. I understand Scott Peterson was the one that actually called it in to police?

LAVANDERA: Well, Scott Peterson last saw her at 9:30 Christmas Eve morning. That is when he says he left the house to go fishing that day and then returned later that day. And that is when it was discovered, he discovered that she was missing.

A neighbor discovered her dog that she was supposed to have taken out for a walk that day, with its leash still on, about an hour later, and brought that dog back into the home.

Now, we've asked several times when was the last time somebody else had seen Laci Peterson. We're told that the last person to have contact with Laci Peterson, besides her husband, was Laci's mother who talked to her at 8:30 the night before Christmas Eve.

But authorities say much more information that could be released but that would be detrimental to their investigation, so they won't say much beyond that.

And by the way, since we have been reporting several times here over the last couple of days about the information that they're looking for to corroborate the story that Scott Peterson has told authorities, that he was at the marina on December 24, authorities here saying that so far no information has come forward that would be able to corroborate the story that Scott Peterson has told authorities. So far, so that was one of the points that authorities were making at the press briefing here today.

COOPER: All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks a lot. Thanks for covering the story, appreciate it.

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