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Looking for Laci

Aired December 31, 2002 - 13:35   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: No sign, no suspects and no strong leads. And after a week, time is running out as hundreds of volunteers scour Modesto, California, for Laci Peterson. The search is at its urgency because she is due to give birth soon.
Rusty Dornin has that from the San Francisco bureau.

Hi, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's incredible that this woman could have vanished without a trace. As you said, there just are no big breaks in this case. There are a few leads, but investigators say they're not even sure whether it may relate to Laci Peterson's disappearance or not. One of them is a burglary that occurred on her street on Christmas Eve. Police are preparing a description of three suspects in that burglary, and perhaps a car, but Modesto police chief Roy Wasden warns about raising any false hopes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ROY WASDEN, MODESTO POLICE: We're working very hard to get that burglary solved. We'll be offering some reward for information in that burglary. I feel that it is critical to either confirm it's involved with Laci's disappearance or that it's just a burglary. We're continuing in all those directions at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, the police had believe that she took her dog for a walk that Christmas Eve to a local park, but now according to a story in "The Modesto Bee," the handler of a bloodhound involved in the case is saying there is a possibility she might have gotten in a car and not walked to that park after all.

Meantime, of course, the search continues in farmlands and rural areas around the Modesto area, and there are even underwater dive teams that are searching along the rivers and that, of course, brings out the worst fears for Laci Peterson's family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON GRANTSKI, STEPFATHER: We're not naive. We know it could have happened, and we are just hoping that if the worst has happened, that at least we'll get some kind of closure, that if this person's out there, that he would have a little bit of compassion. I know he hasn't shown it yet, but hopefully he will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, Kyra the thing that's especially tough for the family right now, of course, it's all through the holidays, but it's the one-week anniversary -- and I talked to the spokesperson for the Carrington Sun (ph) Foundation that deals with missing person cases, she said that one-week anniversary is really a killer for the family, in this family in particular. They're getting two or three hours of sleep every night. There is going to be a candlelight vigil this afternoon in Modesto, and they expect a lot of people from the community to show up. She was a substitute teacher in the community. A lot of students are expected to show, and of course volunteers still work around the clock. There's a half million dollar reward for any information to finding Laci Peterson, but so far, a lot of tips, but just not a lot to go on -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rusty, any sightings of Laci Peterson the day she disappeared?

DORNIN: Well, there is one unconfirmed sighting, that a clerk at a sporting goods store claims she knows Laci and claims she did come into the store, and police have been going through the tapes of that sporting goods store since yesterday, but they have not confirmed whether she indeed did go into the store or not.

PHILLIPS: Rusty Dornin from San Francisco, thank you.

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 31, 2002 - 13:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: No sign, no suspects and no strong leads. And after a week, time is running out as hundreds of volunteers scour Modesto, California, for Laci Peterson. The search is at its urgency because she is due to give birth soon.
Rusty Dornin has that from the San Francisco bureau.

Hi, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's incredible that this woman could have vanished without a trace. As you said, there just are no big breaks in this case. There are a few leads, but investigators say they're not even sure whether it may relate to Laci Peterson's disappearance or not. One of them is a burglary that occurred on her street on Christmas Eve. Police are preparing a description of three suspects in that burglary, and perhaps a car, but Modesto police chief Roy Wasden warns about raising any false hopes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ROY WASDEN, MODESTO POLICE: We're working very hard to get that burglary solved. We'll be offering some reward for information in that burglary. I feel that it is critical to either confirm it's involved with Laci's disappearance or that it's just a burglary. We're continuing in all those directions at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, the police had believe that she took her dog for a walk that Christmas Eve to a local park, but now according to a story in "The Modesto Bee," the handler of a bloodhound involved in the case is saying there is a possibility she might have gotten in a car and not walked to that park after all.

Meantime, of course, the search continues in farmlands and rural areas around the Modesto area, and there are even underwater dive teams that are searching along the rivers and that, of course, brings out the worst fears for Laci Peterson's family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON GRANTSKI, STEPFATHER: We're not naive. We know it could have happened, and we are just hoping that if the worst has happened, that at least we'll get some kind of closure, that if this person's out there, that he would have a little bit of compassion. I know he hasn't shown it yet, but hopefully he will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, Kyra the thing that's especially tough for the family right now, of course, it's all through the holidays, but it's the one-week anniversary -- and I talked to the spokesperson for the Carrington Sun (ph) Foundation that deals with missing person cases, she said that one-week anniversary is really a killer for the family, in this family in particular. They're getting two or three hours of sleep every night. There is going to be a candlelight vigil this afternoon in Modesto, and they expect a lot of people from the community to show up. She was a substitute teacher in the community. A lot of students are expected to show, and of course volunteers still work around the clock. There's a half million dollar reward for any information to finding Laci Peterson, but so far, a lot of tips, but just not a lot to go on -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rusty, any sightings of Laci Peterson the day she disappeared?

DORNIN: Well, there is one unconfirmed sighting, that a clerk at a sporting goods store claims she knows Laci and claims she did come into the store, and police have been going through the tapes of that sporting goods store since yesterday, but they have not confirmed whether she indeed did go into the store or not.

PHILLIPS: Rusty Dornin from San Francisco, thank you.

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