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CNN Live Saturday
Divers Inspect San Francisco Bay
Aired May 17, 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: More than a month after the bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son washed ashore, police divers are spending this weekend combing the bottom of San Francisco Bay, again, hoping to retrieve some fresh evidence in the case. The question is what exactly are they looking for? And what have they been finding. CNN's Mike Brooks joins us, trying to get some answers on that.
Good evening, Mike.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Anderson.
The divers were back in the water today after a second day of searching. It started about 7:30 this morning, it ended up at about -- about an hour and a half ago, when we saw the last divers get out of the water and get back in a boat and head to shore.
But they did leave behind two orange buoys, Anderson. And that's where they're going to concentrate tomorrow. Now, there have been two areas where they have been concentrating their search for some potential evidence. That is the area we were able to see just off of Point Isabelle where we are right here.
And there was also another area that they're concentrating on, where they're still out there right now. That is an area just north of Brooks Island. Brooks Island is that island you can see right there. And up into the shipping channel, just to the right of Brooks Island, and around that point is where they're also using side-scan sonar to look for potential evidence.
Now, sources tell us that one of these side-scan sonar experts was up in that area right around March 14. And what he saw there, Anderson, was what he believed could be the torso, it would appear to him to be a torso, of a human body.
Now, it's believed that possibly Laci Peterson was weighted down and thrown into San Francisco Bay. And that's why they're concentrating in that area there.
Now, earlier we were able to see divers in the water just off shore here. Now the reason they were also concentrating there, an expert from the U.S. Geological Survey said that about a week prior to the discovery of her body, that washed ashore here at point Isabelle, a week prior to that there was a strong storm. And the winds coming from the southwest, that he believes the winds coming from the southwest pushed her body in fairly shallow water here and it washed ashore. So, that's the reason they're concentrating in those two areas.
Anderson?
COOPER: Now, in particular, they're looking for a variety of things obviously, any other remains of Laci Peterson that would be out there still, but I would imagine those would be very difficult to find. But then in particularly they are also looking for these anchors, is that correct? Or what they think might be anchors?
BROOKS: That's correct. One of the searches that they did early on in the case was of Scott Peterson's warehouse that he uses for his agricultural business. And there they found, with the boat, one anchor. But apparently on the floor of this storage facility, there are also some spots that they thought had been maybe three or four other anchors. So, what they're trying to do, they're going back out and trying to find those anchors they can't account for.
Like I said, this one side-scan sonar expert believes that those anchors were used to weight her body down. And if they do recover those, it would almost be a smoking gun, if you will. Because they could take those anchors, compare the material that is made up of the ones that they find here, hopefully, and then the other ones that they found there back at the scene back at the warehouse and compare the two. And if they come up as a match then that would almost be a smoking gun for investigators and prosecutors.
Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Mike Brooks, thanks very much.
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 - 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: More than a month after the bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son washed ashore, police divers are spending this weekend combing the bottom of San Francisco Bay, again, hoping to retrieve some fresh evidence in the case. The question is what exactly are they looking for? And what have they been finding. CNN's Mike Brooks joins us, trying to get some answers on that.
Good evening, Mike.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Anderson.
The divers were back in the water today after a second day of searching. It started about 7:30 this morning, it ended up at about -- about an hour and a half ago, when we saw the last divers get out of the water and get back in a boat and head to shore.
But they did leave behind two orange buoys, Anderson. And that's where they're going to concentrate tomorrow. Now, there have been two areas where they have been concentrating their search for some potential evidence. That is the area we were able to see just off of Point Isabelle where we are right here.
And there was also another area that they're concentrating on, where they're still out there right now. That is an area just north of Brooks Island. Brooks Island is that island you can see right there. And up into the shipping channel, just to the right of Brooks Island, and around that point is where they're also using side-scan sonar to look for potential evidence.
Now, sources tell us that one of these side-scan sonar experts was up in that area right around March 14. And what he saw there, Anderson, was what he believed could be the torso, it would appear to him to be a torso, of a human body.
Now, it's believed that possibly Laci Peterson was weighted down and thrown into San Francisco Bay. And that's why they're concentrating in that area there.
Now, earlier we were able to see divers in the water just off shore here. Now the reason they were also concentrating there, an expert from the U.S. Geological Survey said that about a week prior to the discovery of her body, that washed ashore here at point Isabelle, a week prior to that there was a strong storm. And the winds coming from the southwest, that he believes the winds coming from the southwest pushed her body in fairly shallow water here and it washed ashore. So, that's the reason they're concentrating in those two areas.
Anderson?
COOPER: Now, in particular, they're looking for a variety of things obviously, any other remains of Laci Peterson that would be out there still, but I would imagine those would be very difficult to find. But then in particularly they are also looking for these anchors, is that correct? Or what they think might be anchors?
BROOKS: That's correct. One of the searches that they did early on in the case was of Scott Peterson's warehouse that he uses for his agricultural business. And there they found, with the boat, one anchor. But apparently on the floor of this storage facility, there are also some spots that they thought had been maybe three or four other anchors. So, what they're trying to do, they're going back out and trying to find those anchors they can't account for.
Like I said, this one side-scan sonar expert believes that those anchors were used to weight her body down. And if they do recover those, it would almost be a smoking gun, if you will. Because they could take those anchors, compare the material that is made up of the ones that they find here, hopefully, and then the other ones that they found there back at the scene back at the warehouse and compare the two. And if they come up as a match then that would almost be a smoking gun for investigators and prosecutors.
Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Mike Brooks, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
