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CNN Live Saturday
Divers Comb San Francisco Bay
Aired May 17, 2003 - 14:18 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: To the Laci Peterson case now. Divers are combing the San Francisco Bay for a second day, looking for possible evidence. The bodies of Peterson and her unborn child were found along the shore last month. CNN's Rusty Dornin is now live in Richmond, California, with the very latest on this. Hi, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, divers have been out since for about four hours now with some sights scanning sonar equipment. They did have some problems this morning. They actually lost one of the side scanning sonars in the water yesterday and had to go back and look for that, but they have been in the water for a few hours. We are expecting them to stay here most of the day. There is a number of agencies involved here, a number of police agencies, including the Coast Guard and the FBI.
But looking at the back of this dive boat, you can see there are some lines coming off the back. Apparently, that's what FBI dive team uses. They use surface air rather than going in with tanks. They don't have to keep coming back to the surface. The divers are down on the bottom. It's only about eight or nine feet deep out there during low tide, and they are literally going line over line, hand over hand, reaching out, feeling the bottom of the bay to feel --- to see if they can feel any objects.
Now, the reason why they are in this area of the bay, this is south of the island where Scott Peterson told police that he did go fishing the day his wife disappeared. They talked to a USGS scientist who did claim that the winds before her body washed ashore came from the southwest and blew the body across the bay along to the beach here in Richmond, California.
Now, that is one theory. There are some other theories out there by other sonar experts that believe that across this channel, near the shipping channel, an object was spotted in March, they believe, was a body. It disappeared after a huge storm. They believe it may have wrenched the body from the weights that were holding it down on the bottom of the bay, and that is where some believe that the body -- or excuse me, the remains, or concrete blocks or weights, remains of Laci Peterson might be. And there is a team that is launching out there to take a look out there.
So they are looking at a couple of different places, but it's a huge area here. Very difficult to cover. This area --- the divers in a day could perhaps cover an area the size of a tennis court. So it's not an easy task. The divers say they're going to be on this for at least three days -- Heidi. COLLINS: Wow, it is a huge waterway, Rusty.
I'm also wondering, you mentioned that the divers are actually using their bare hands to feel along the bottom of the bay, but they are also using that side scanning sonar. How difficult will it be even with that high-tech equipment to actually find something on the bottom?
DORNIN: Well, the side scanning sonar is very accurate. It can even pick up maybe the something size of something of a two-pound coffee can and of course, it can see through the murkiness and the muddiness, but it depends on the bottom. The bay is very smooth so they tend to get a good signal back. But the problem is, if it's weights or perhaps her remains that have been covered by mud, from turbulence, from boating, if it's perhaps near the shipping lanes, the problem is if it's covered with mud, the sonar cannot pick up what's underneath that mud and silt, which is one of the reasons the divers have to feel with their hands in the silt. So it's a very difficult, painstaking job and it's going to be very difficult to find something down there.
COLLINS: All right, at least three days, you say. Rusty Dornin live from Richmond, California. Thanks, Rusty.
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 May 17, 2003 - 14:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: To the Laci Peterson case now. Divers are combing the San Francisco Bay for a second day, looking for possible evidence. The bodies of Peterson and her unborn child were found along the shore last month. CNN's Rusty Dornin is now live in Richmond, California, with the very latest on this. Hi, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, divers have been out since for about four hours now with some sights scanning sonar equipment. They did have some problems this morning. They actually lost one of the side scanning sonars in the water yesterday and had to go back and look for that, but they have been in the water for a few hours. We are expecting them to stay here most of the day. There is a number of agencies involved here, a number of police agencies, including the Coast Guard and the FBI.
But looking at the back of this dive boat, you can see there are some lines coming off the back. Apparently, that's what FBI dive team uses. They use surface air rather than going in with tanks. They don't have to keep coming back to the surface. The divers are down on the bottom. It's only about eight or nine feet deep out there during low tide, and they are literally going line over line, hand over hand, reaching out, feeling the bottom of the bay to feel --- to see if they can feel any objects.
Now, the reason why they are in this area of the bay, this is south of the island where Scott Peterson told police that he did go fishing the day his wife disappeared. They talked to a USGS scientist who did claim that the winds before her body washed ashore came from the southwest and blew the body across the bay along to the beach here in Richmond, California.
Now, that is one theory. There are some other theories out there by other sonar experts that believe that across this channel, near the shipping channel, an object was spotted in March, they believe, was a body. It disappeared after a huge storm. They believe it may have wrenched the body from the weights that were holding it down on the bottom of the bay, and that is where some believe that the body -- or excuse me, the remains, or concrete blocks or weights, remains of Laci Peterson might be. And there is a team that is launching out there to take a look out there.
So they are looking at a couple of different places, but it's a huge area here. Very difficult to cover. This area --- the divers in a day could perhaps cover an area the size of a tennis court. So it's not an easy task. The divers say they're going to be on this for at least three days -- Heidi. COLLINS: Wow, it is a huge waterway, Rusty.
I'm also wondering, you mentioned that the divers are actually using their bare hands to feel along the bottom of the bay, but they are also using that side scanning sonar. How difficult will it be even with that high-tech equipment to actually find something on the bottom?
DORNIN: Well, the side scanning sonar is very accurate. It can even pick up maybe the something size of something of a two-pound coffee can and of course, it can see through the murkiness and the muddiness, but it depends on the bottom. The bay is very smooth so they tend to get a good signal back. But the problem is, if it's weights or perhaps her remains that have been covered by mud, from turbulence, from boating, if it's perhaps near the shipping lanes, the problem is if it's covered with mud, the sonar cannot pick up what's underneath that mud and silt, which is one of the reasons the divers have to feel with their hands in the silt. So it's a very difficult, painstaking job and it's going to be very difficult to find something down there.
COLLINS: All right, at least three days, you say. Rusty Dornin live from Richmond, California. Thanks, Rusty.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
