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American Morning
Missing in Modesto
Aired February 19, 2003 - 09:07 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now more on the hunt for clues into the disappearance of Laci Peterson. Police in California yesterday actually impounded a truck belonging to her husband, Scott. They are saying he is not a suspect, but they're also saying they're not ruling him out as a suspect.
Laci vanished nearly two months ago, and was due to give birth February 10th.
Rusty Dornin joins us now from Modesto with the very latest on the investigation.
Good morning, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, dawn is fast approaching here in California. In a couple of hours, we're expecting Modesto police detectives to return to the house where Scott and Laci Peterson shared. Overnight, the house was sealed up. You can see the police car parked in the driveway. Scott Peterson was forced to spend the night elsewhere. You can also see the truck that you were just talking about, that Dodge pickup truck, that was purchased five weeks after Laci Peterson disappeared. That was impounded by police yesterday, but they did return it late yesterday afternoon.
Now, police spent about nine hours at the house collected bags and bags of evidence, covered up in grocery bags and Hefty bags. We did see a few labels on the side of the bags, even things like phonebooks and photo albums were brought out. Midway through the search, Amy Rocha was brought in, Laci Peterson's sister. She spent about an hour and a half inside the house. She was one of the last people to see her sister alive.
They said investigators will be returning a little later this morning. Meantime, Scott Peterson, Jackie Peterson, Scott Peterson's mother, has been calling news investigations complaining that the police have been harassing her son. Modesto police say that is not true, but of course she has the right to think and say whatever she wants.
Police continue to say, despite this ongoing search, that Scott Peterson is still not a suspect, but he has not been eliminated -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thank you so much, Rusty Dornin, on an early morning, indeed, joining us from Modesto, California.
Joining us now to talk about some of these latest developments, from Los Angeles, Liz Devine, a former criminalist, now story editor for the TV show "CSI," and with me here in our studios in New York, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Good morning to you both.
So, Liz, what do you think is it that led police back to Scott Peterson's home?
LIZ DEVINE, STORY EDITOR, "CSI": Well, surely a second search warrant is telling in this case. Search warrants are based on probable cause, based on a lot of tips they've been getting, and some sources say there's 500-plus. They're going back to the house looking for documentation, letters, perhaps paperwork that has to do with motives, insurance policies. They also may be further looking for evidence of violence in the home, any kind of evidence that will help either eliminate Mr. Peterson or, of course, provide that evidence that could cause them to arrest him.
ZAHN: Liz, let's say they do find blood. Will they be able to date it?
DEVINE: No, you cannot date blood. And having a little bit of blood in a home would not be uncommon. But it would be the amount of blood, if they find any, that would be telling in any case. You look for large blood stains, as opposed to very small, passive, transfer- type stains.
ZAHN: What else would help investigators? Laci Peterson, after all, lived in this home, and I don't know this for sure, but wouldn't you suspect they're going to find DNA fibers or evidence of her DNA just about everywhere in the house?
DEVINE: Oh, yes. I mean, when someone lives in a home, you would expect to find their hair and evidence of them, fibers. That sort of trace evidence is of little use in a case where the person -- the victim actually lives there.
What they would be looking for are things that seem out of place, whether it be something foreign to the home, completely, which may be what they bring the sister in to identify something that maybe doesn't seem like it belongs there, or she'd be there looking for things that were missing.
ZAHN: Was that unusual that she was there yesterday?
DEVINE: I don't think so, no. I think that the law enforcement in this case is playing very close to the vest, which is wise in a high-profile case like this. They are doing thorough searches. They did not leave the house yesterday. They sealed it off so they can come back, and make sure that they find anything that can be -- anything that can help the case. And forensics -- forensic evidence, physical evidence, is the friend to the innocent.
So if Mr. Peterson is, in fact, innocent, which you know, some sources claim, then he should be welcoming this and this kind of information, and any kind of physical evidence should clarify any question that people have. If they don't find anything, then they can look elsewhere.
ZAHN: Jeff, as a former prosecutor, you've had to use forensics evidence. You've heard Liz list some of the things they might be looking for. It has been 50 days since Laci disappeared. What kind of a disturbance factor might there be at play in this home?
TOOBIN: Obviously, the thing you most want to find in a situation like this is some sort of large bloodstain, because that is significant. That's not just like her hair or fiber, something you would expect to find in the house. But after 50-plus days, how can you reasonably expect that there will be a substantial amount of blood? It just seems almost inconceivable, especially since the house has been searched previously.
So I can't imagine that in terms of forensic evidence, there's much they could find, but I think Amy Rocha, the sister's presence, does suggests they were looking for documents, papers, memorabilia that she might know where it was or she might know that it's missing.
ZAHN: I know you have a feeling that Scott Peterson has basically been convicted in every water cooler in America just because of the way he acted. Marc Klaas was on in our last hour, an advocate for families going through things like this, and he described him as an ice man, not having the appropriate behavior of someone who had lost his wife, potentially.
TOOBIN: We all have in our minds some picture of how an innocent person looks and how a guilty person looks. And I keep thinking in this of the Central Park jogger case, where, you know, those kids were completely convicted in the news media and/or literally convicted in court, and we learned, years later, they were, in fact, innocent, and a lot of it had to do with the way they looked. I don't think you can tell much by how anyone looks. He may be guilty or he may be innocent, but it seems like the way to make that decision is based on evidence, not our perception of how an innocent or a guilty person is supposed to look.
ZAHN: When daylight breaks in Modesto, it's going to be interesting to see where the investigation goes from here. Liz Devine, thank you for getting up early for us this morning to join us AMERICAN MORNING.
We always wake you up, so you don't get any bonus points this morning.
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 February 19, 2003 - 09:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now more on the hunt for clues into the disappearance of Laci Peterson. Police in California yesterday actually impounded a truck belonging to her husband, Scott. They are saying he is not a suspect, but they're also saying they're not ruling him out as a suspect.
Laci vanished nearly two months ago, and was due to give birth February 10th.
Rusty Dornin joins us now from Modesto with the very latest on the investigation.
Good morning, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, dawn is fast approaching here in California. In a couple of hours, we're expecting Modesto police detectives to return to the house where Scott and Laci Peterson shared. Overnight, the house was sealed up. You can see the police car parked in the driveway. Scott Peterson was forced to spend the night elsewhere. You can also see the truck that you were just talking about, that Dodge pickup truck, that was purchased five weeks after Laci Peterson disappeared. That was impounded by police yesterday, but they did return it late yesterday afternoon.
Now, police spent about nine hours at the house collected bags and bags of evidence, covered up in grocery bags and Hefty bags. We did see a few labels on the side of the bags, even things like phonebooks and photo albums were brought out. Midway through the search, Amy Rocha was brought in, Laci Peterson's sister. She spent about an hour and a half inside the house. She was one of the last people to see her sister alive.
They said investigators will be returning a little later this morning. Meantime, Scott Peterson, Jackie Peterson, Scott Peterson's mother, has been calling news investigations complaining that the police have been harassing her son. Modesto police say that is not true, but of course she has the right to think and say whatever she wants.
Police continue to say, despite this ongoing search, that Scott Peterson is still not a suspect, but he has not been eliminated -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thank you so much, Rusty Dornin, on an early morning, indeed, joining us from Modesto, California.
Joining us now to talk about some of these latest developments, from Los Angeles, Liz Devine, a former criminalist, now story editor for the TV show "CSI," and with me here in our studios in New York, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Good morning to you both.
So, Liz, what do you think is it that led police back to Scott Peterson's home?
LIZ DEVINE, STORY EDITOR, "CSI": Well, surely a second search warrant is telling in this case. Search warrants are based on probable cause, based on a lot of tips they've been getting, and some sources say there's 500-plus. They're going back to the house looking for documentation, letters, perhaps paperwork that has to do with motives, insurance policies. They also may be further looking for evidence of violence in the home, any kind of evidence that will help either eliminate Mr. Peterson or, of course, provide that evidence that could cause them to arrest him.
ZAHN: Liz, let's say they do find blood. Will they be able to date it?
DEVINE: No, you cannot date blood. And having a little bit of blood in a home would not be uncommon. But it would be the amount of blood, if they find any, that would be telling in any case. You look for large blood stains, as opposed to very small, passive, transfer- type stains.
ZAHN: What else would help investigators? Laci Peterson, after all, lived in this home, and I don't know this for sure, but wouldn't you suspect they're going to find DNA fibers or evidence of her DNA just about everywhere in the house?
DEVINE: Oh, yes. I mean, when someone lives in a home, you would expect to find their hair and evidence of them, fibers. That sort of trace evidence is of little use in a case where the person -- the victim actually lives there.
What they would be looking for are things that seem out of place, whether it be something foreign to the home, completely, which may be what they bring the sister in to identify something that maybe doesn't seem like it belongs there, or she'd be there looking for things that were missing.
ZAHN: Was that unusual that she was there yesterday?
DEVINE: I don't think so, no. I think that the law enforcement in this case is playing very close to the vest, which is wise in a high-profile case like this. They are doing thorough searches. They did not leave the house yesterday. They sealed it off so they can come back, and make sure that they find anything that can be -- anything that can help the case. And forensics -- forensic evidence, physical evidence, is the friend to the innocent.
So if Mr. Peterson is, in fact, innocent, which you know, some sources claim, then he should be welcoming this and this kind of information, and any kind of physical evidence should clarify any question that people have. If they don't find anything, then they can look elsewhere.
ZAHN: Jeff, as a former prosecutor, you've had to use forensics evidence. You've heard Liz list some of the things they might be looking for. It has been 50 days since Laci disappeared. What kind of a disturbance factor might there be at play in this home?
TOOBIN: Obviously, the thing you most want to find in a situation like this is some sort of large bloodstain, because that is significant. That's not just like her hair or fiber, something you would expect to find in the house. But after 50-plus days, how can you reasonably expect that there will be a substantial amount of blood? It just seems almost inconceivable, especially since the house has been searched previously.
So I can't imagine that in terms of forensic evidence, there's much they could find, but I think Amy Rocha, the sister's presence, does suggests they were looking for documents, papers, memorabilia that she might know where it was or she might know that it's missing.
ZAHN: I know you have a feeling that Scott Peterson has basically been convicted in every water cooler in America just because of the way he acted. Marc Klaas was on in our last hour, an advocate for families going through things like this, and he described him as an ice man, not having the appropriate behavior of someone who had lost his wife, potentially.
TOOBIN: We all have in our minds some picture of how an innocent person looks and how a guilty person looks. And I keep thinking in this of the Central Park jogger case, where, you know, those kids were completely convicted in the news media and/or literally convicted in court, and we learned, years later, they were, in fact, innocent, and a lot of it had to do with the way they looked. I don't think you can tell much by how anyone looks. He may be guilty or he may be innocent, but it seems like the way to make that decision is based on evidence, not our perception of how an innocent or a guilty person is supposed to look.
ZAHN: When daylight breaks in Modesto, it's going to be interesting to see where the investigation goes from here. Liz Devine, thank you for getting up early for us this morning to join us AMERICAN MORNING.
We always wake you up, so you don't get any bonus points this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
