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CNN Sunday Morning
Law Enforcement Continues Peterson Investigation
Aired April 20, 2003 - 09:39 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Modesto, California, say there's still a lot of work to be done before the case against Scott Peterson will go to trial. Our Mike Brooks joins us from Modesto with the latest.
Mike, good morning.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. As Scott Peterson sits in the Stanislaus County jail awaiting arraignment on two murder charges, on either Monday or Tuesday is his first appearance, law enforcement officials here in Modesto continue their investigation. They're trying to tie up some loose ends.
One of those loose ends, Daryn, is the possibility that Laci Peterson was weighted down and thrown into San Francisco Bay. Back on March 19, a search was done of San Francisco bay using some technology called side scan sonar. Now, it shows anomalies and things on the bottom of the ocean or bay floor, whatever you're searching in this particular case, the San Francisco bay. And a source close to the investigation believes that they saw what they believed was the body of Laci Peterson, possibly weighted down with possibly cement weights.
One of the searches that law enforcement has done in this case, they recovered Scott Peterson's boat. In that boat apparently were some flakes of concrete. Now, what they'll try to do is they're going to go back to the bay and attempt to raise up these concrete weights and compare the concrete from the weights with the concrete they recover from the boat.
Also, there could be other evidence on the bottom of San Francisco bay, because as they recovered Laci Peterson's body, it wasn't totally intact so they'll attempt to go back and get more evidence to make this case even stronger than what they say they have now. Daryn?
KAGAN: Mike, I usual corner you here in the CNN newsroom to ask you your opinion on these cases and how you think they're playing. Since you're across the country, I'm going to do it this way. What do you make of the timing of the arrest, given how the bodies washed ashore and the identification of the bodies?
BROOKS: Well, law enforcement officials and chief Roy Wasden, when I interviewed him the other day, I asked him, I said, if you had not recovered the bodies, would you still have enough to go ahead with this case? And he feels that they have enough evidence to convict Scott Peterson for two counts of murder, even if they had not recovered the bodies from San Francisco Bay.
Now, some people say, well, if that's the case, then why didn't they arrest him earlier? Well, they wanted to go ahead, since the bodies were recovered, they wanted to go ahead and wait for the identification, using the DNA that they used, come back and they said yes, this is Laci Peterson, and her unborn son, Connor. They wanted to get that identification before they went ahead and arrested him.
Now, they were concerned also, Daryn, that he may try to flee. As you noticed when he, after he was arrested, he'd changed his appearance, he was near the Mexican border. And law enforcement officials said that they were concerned that he would possibly try to go to Mexico. Daryn.
KAGAN: So they made their move. Mike Brooks, Modesto, California, 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 April 20, 2003 - 09:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Modesto, California, say there's still a lot of work to be done before the case against Scott Peterson will go to trial. Our Mike Brooks joins us from Modesto with the latest.
Mike, good morning.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. As Scott Peterson sits in the Stanislaus County jail awaiting arraignment on two murder charges, on either Monday or Tuesday is his first appearance, law enforcement officials here in Modesto continue their investigation. They're trying to tie up some loose ends.
One of those loose ends, Daryn, is the possibility that Laci Peterson was weighted down and thrown into San Francisco Bay. Back on March 19, a search was done of San Francisco bay using some technology called side scan sonar. Now, it shows anomalies and things on the bottom of the ocean or bay floor, whatever you're searching in this particular case, the San Francisco bay. And a source close to the investigation believes that they saw what they believed was the body of Laci Peterson, possibly weighted down with possibly cement weights.
One of the searches that law enforcement has done in this case, they recovered Scott Peterson's boat. In that boat apparently were some flakes of concrete. Now, what they'll try to do is they're going to go back to the bay and attempt to raise up these concrete weights and compare the concrete from the weights with the concrete they recover from the boat.
Also, there could be other evidence on the bottom of San Francisco bay, because as they recovered Laci Peterson's body, it wasn't totally intact so they'll attempt to go back and get more evidence to make this case even stronger than what they say they have now. Daryn?
KAGAN: Mike, I usual corner you here in the CNN newsroom to ask you your opinion on these cases and how you think they're playing. Since you're across the country, I'm going to do it this way. What do you make of the timing of the arrest, given how the bodies washed ashore and the identification of the bodies?
BROOKS: Well, law enforcement officials and chief Roy Wasden, when I interviewed him the other day, I asked him, I said, if you had not recovered the bodies, would you still have enough to go ahead with this case? And he feels that they have enough evidence to convict Scott Peterson for two counts of murder, even if they had not recovered the bodies from San Francisco Bay.
Now, some people say, well, if that's the case, then why didn't they arrest him earlier? Well, they wanted to go ahead, since the bodies were recovered, they wanted to go ahead and wait for the identification, using the DNA that they used, come back and they said yes, this is Laci Peterson, and her unborn son, Connor. They wanted to get that identification before they went ahead and arrested him.
Now, they were concerned also, Daryn, that he may try to flee. As you noticed when he, after he was arrested, he'd changed his appearance, he was near the Mexican border. And law enforcement officials said that they were concerned that he would possibly try to go to Mexico. Daryn.
KAGAN: So they made their move. Mike Brooks, Modesto, California, 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
