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CNN Sunday Morning

Laci Peterson Still Missing

Aired January 19, 2003 - 11:12   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: Laci Peterson has been missing for almost a month now and there are allegations of infidelity being leveled against her husband, Scott.
CNN's Paul Vercammen is live now from Modesto, Calif., with the latest on that.

Hi, Paul.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning, Heidi, Scott Peterson is no longer in Modesto. In fact, when you drive by his house it is clearly vacant and there are cards are all over his door from various reporters from around the world trying to get in touch with him.

He is expected to surface in Los Angeles today as part of a campaign to distribute Laci Peterson's flyers and get them out and around Southern California, just in case someone there might know something about her disappearance.

Meanwhile, detectives, investigators scoured bodies of water and searched land in and around the Modesto area yesterday; they turned up nothing. And as every day goes by and Laci Peterson is still missing, all of it is weighing heavily upon the people of Modesto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): The breakfast table talk in Modesto is sprinkled with heartache.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just sick. I'm just sick.

VERCAMMEN: Laci Peterson, pregnant mother, is still missing after vanishing on Christmas Eve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just hurts me, though, you know. Because I'm a mom, you know, and I can't imagine. I mean, I would feel horrible if that was my daughter.

VERCAMMEN: Modesto police have told Laci's family they suspect her husband Scott was having an affair with a Fresno area woman. Scott has told the press the allegations are a bunch of lies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can no longer put them on power poles...

VERCAMMEN: A friend of Laci Peterson who helped spearhead the volunteer effort to find the woman is devastated.

Is there, in light of some of these latest allegations, a sense of betrayal?

TERRI WESTERN, VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: Yes. That's exactly how we feel. Disappointment, betrayal, but, you know, I think everybody is feeling that, not just us.

VERCAMMEN: In the restaurant, Laci Peterson's disappearance is more terrible news for Thomas Harris; he's lived in Modesto all his life.

THOMAS HARRIS, MODESTO RESIDENT: This is about the third time we've hit the national spotlight in the last two or three years, whatever it's been, since the Yosemite murders and the Chandra Levy story and now this. Not good, not the way to be put on the map, I guess, but we're there.

VERCAMMEN: Many Modesto residents dream someday soon the conversation will turn to how Laci Peterson was found alive, a mother of a baby boy, that's what they're hoping.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And still hoping.

And in turning over every stone, investigators in Modesto reportedly talked with officials in San Luis Obispo County, where seven years ago a Stockton girl, then 19-year-old Kristen Smart, had disappeared.

But San Luis Obispo County sheriff deputies say that there is absolutely no evidence linking Scott Peterson, who was a Cal Pol at St. Luis Obispo student at the time, and the disappearance of Kristen Smart back then.

Reporting like from Modesto, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

COLLINS: All right, Paul. Thanks for the update.

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 19, 2003 - 11:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Laci Peterson has been missing for almost a month now and there are allegations of infidelity being leveled against her husband, Scott.
CNN's Paul Vercammen is live now from Modesto, Calif., with the latest on that.

Hi, Paul.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning, Heidi, Scott Peterson is no longer in Modesto. In fact, when you drive by his house it is clearly vacant and there are cards are all over his door from various reporters from around the world trying to get in touch with him.

He is expected to surface in Los Angeles today as part of a campaign to distribute Laci Peterson's flyers and get them out and around Southern California, just in case someone there might know something about her disappearance.

Meanwhile, detectives, investigators scoured bodies of water and searched land in and around the Modesto area yesterday; they turned up nothing. And as every day goes by and Laci Peterson is still missing, all of it is weighing heavily upon the people of Modesto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): The breakfast table talk in Modesto is sprinkled with heartache.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just sick. I'm just sick.

VERCAMMEN: Laci Peterson, pregnant mother, is still missing after vanishing on Christmas Eve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just hurts me, though, you know. Because I'm a mom, you know, and I can't imagine. I mean, I would feel horrible if that was my daughter.

VERCAMMEN: Modesto police have told Laci's family they suspect her husband Scott was having an affair with a Fresno area woman. Scott has told the press the allegations are a bunch of lies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can no longer put them on power poles...

VERCAMMEN: A friend of Laci Peterson who helped spearhead the volunteer effort to find the woman is devastated.

Is there, in light of some of these latest allegations, a sense of betrayal?

TERRI WESTERN, VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: Yes. That's exactly how we feel. Disappointment, betrayal, but, you know, I think everybody is feeling that, not just us.

VERCAMMEN: In the restaurant, Laci Peterson's disappearance is more terrible news for Thomas Harris; he's lived in Modesto all his life.

THOMAS HARRIS, MODESTO RESIDENT: This is about the third time we've hit the national spotlight in the last two or three years, whatever it's been, since the Yosemite murders and the Chandra Levy story and now this. Not good, not the way to be put on the map, I guess, but we're there.

VERCAMMEN: Many Modesto residents dream someday soon the conversation will turn to how Laci Peterson was found alive, a mother of a baby boy, that's what they're hoping.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And still hoping.

And in turning over every stone, investigators in Modesto reportedly talked with officials in San Luis Obispo County, where seven years ago a Stockton girl, then 19-year-old Kristen Smart, had disappeared.

But San Luis Obispo County sheriff deputies say that there is absolutely no evidence linking Scott Peterson, who was a Cal Pol at St. Luis Obispo student at the time, and the disappearance of Kristen Smart back then.

Reporting like from Modesto, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

COLLINS: All right, Paul. Thanks for the update.

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