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CNN Saturday Morning News

Analysis With Marc Klaas

Aired January 25, 2003 - 09:01   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story this half hour: It is now one month since Laci Peterson's disappearance, and another woman has come forward saying she had an affair with Laci's husband, Scott.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER FREY, ALLEGED FORMER GIRLFRIEND: I am very sorry for Laci's family and the cause -- the pain that this has caused them. And I pray for her safe return as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Scott's sister says there is no way he had anything to do with Laci's disappearance. She's dismissing the affair, saying it's just a distraction to finding Laci. But Laci's family says it no longer supports him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

BRENT ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S BROTHER: I would like Scott to know that I trusted him and stood by him in the initial phases of my sister's disappearance. However, Scott has not been forthcoming with information regarding my sister's disappearance, and I'm only left to question what else he may be hiding.

SHARON ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S MOTHER: There are no words that can possibly describe the ache in my heart or the emptiness in my life. I know that someone knows where Laci is, and I'm pleading with you, please, please, let her come home to us.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

O'BRIEN: Modesto police say the woman who has come forward is not a suspect in the case, but they say Scott Peterson has not been ruled out.

For some feedback on all this, let's talk with Marc Klaas, who helps families with cases like this. His daughter was kidnapped in 1993, found murdered, and he is now a crusader on behalf of victims.

Good to see you, Marc. Thanks for being with us.

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Hi, Miles. Sure.

O'BRIEN: First of all, let's talk about the somewhat remarkable news conference, rather emotional. What were your thoughts as you watched it?

KLAAS: Which one? You mean the one with the next young lady on Scott's hit list coming down...

O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, right, Miss Frey.

KLAAS: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- You know, it's unbelievable. Last night I posed the question, how many women have to hit the skids before Scott's going to finally come out and say something here? And I guess the answer is just one more. This poor woman, she had no idea what she was getting into. What a terrible way to have your anonymity sort of displayed before the world and busted and disguise, credibility no longer exists. It's just unfortunate.

O'BRIEN: And the fact that police are saying she is not a suspect, I guess you don't have to read too far between the lines to get an idea of what is going on here,

KLAAS: Well, everybody that's been near this case has been eliminated as a suspect, including the 200 sex offenders that live in and around that community. Everybody except Scott. And I think that does say an awful lot, sure.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk about for a moment the insurance policies. Lots of confusion about that, who the policies were assigned to, who was the beneficiary, so forth. What do we know?

KLAAS: Oh, well, I -- you know, everything is speculation. Scott claimed last week that it was all a pack of lies. Well, now we know that one of those lies, the business about the affair, wasn't a lie at all. And I would suspect -- it's pretty clear, if he took out -- as the breadwinner, if he took out an insurance policy on his wife and made himself the beneficiary, then I think an awful lot of questions are raised. If, however, he took out the insurance policy on himself and named her as the beneficiary, I think it will be easily explained.

O'BRIEN: Marc, you have had such an excruciating ordeal, and perhaps forgotten by our viewers among all this is that for a time you were thought of as a potential suspect. I'm curious, take us inside what it is like to deal with that, first of all, and to know that police are looking at you. Compound that with the tragedy, and then compare that to the behavior you're noticing with Scott.

KLAAS: You know, Miles, I was very fortunate. There was a wonderful FBI agent, Eddie Fryer (ph), who came up to me very early in the case and explained that they would be running parallel investigations, looking at me, other family members, peripheral contacts, registered offenders in the community, and then the stranger scenario, and that the sooner I was able to eliminate myself, the more quickly they would then be able to focus the investigative resource.

So from that point on, I worked with everybody. I worked with law enforcement, I worked with the media. My media strategy was to talk to anybody, anytime, anywhere. I gave up everything about anybody in my family that I might have known. It's not a time to hold back information. You put all the cards on the table, hope that they will be confidential with this information, and use it to solve the investigation -- or to solve the mystery.

And that's what we're not seeing here. We're not seeing this guy come forth with the information that's necessary. Unfortunately, he has continually put his own self-interest ahead of the interest of his family members.

O'BRIEN: It seems to me too, coupled with all of that, an innocent person would willingly accept a polygraph test, an independent polygraph test.

KLAAS: You know, it's one of the most incriminating things an individual has to go through, simply because we hear time and again that they are fallible and that one can make a mistake. But it's certainly well worth the effort just to deal with it, get it out of the way, so that you can either be focused in on more, and then do what you need to do to eliminate yourself, or just be eliminated altogether, so that, again, they can move forward with an investigative force that's going to be able to solve the crime.

O'BRIEN: Did you take a polygraph?

KLAAS: I sure did, yes, and it was not an easy thing to do, but it was something that was necessary.

O'BRIEN: You seem to just -- we're running out of time. But where's it headed? You seem to think this is headed in a very specific direction.

KLAAS: Oh, I think it's headed toward Scott. And I would -- my advice to everybody out there is that if Scott Peterson comes knocking on your door, pretend you're not home.

O'BRIEN: Marc Klaas in New York City, thank you very much for being with us and joining us.

KLAAS: Sure.

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 25, 2003 - 09:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story this half hour: It is now one month since Laci Peterson's disappearance, and another woman has come forward saying she had an affair with Laci's husband, Scott.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER FREY, ALLEGED FORMER GIRLFRIEND: I am very sorry for Laci's family and the cause -- the pain that this has caused them. And I pray for her safe return as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Scott's sister says there is no way he had anything to do with Laci's disappearance. She's dismissing the affair, saying it's just a distraction to finding Laci. But Laci's family says it no longer supports him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

BRENT ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S BROTHER: I would like Scott to know that I trusted him and stood by him in the initial phases of my sister's disappearance. However, Scott has not been forthcoming with information regarding my sister's disappearance, and I'm only left to question what else he may be hiding.

SHARON ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S MOTHER: There are no words that can possibly describe the ache in my heart or the emptiness in my life. I know that someone knows where Laci is, and I'm pleading with you, please, please, let her come home to us.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

O'BRIEN: Modesto police say the woman who has come forward is not a suspect in the case, but they say Scott Peterson has not been ruled out.

For some feedback on all this, let's talk with Marc Klaas, who helps families with cases like this. His daughter was kidnapped in 1993, found murdered, and he is now a crusader on behalf of victims.

Good to see you, Marc. Thanks for being with us.

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Hi, Miles. Sure.

O'BRIEN: First of all, let's talk about the somewhat remarkable news conference, rather emotional. What were your thoughts as you watched it?

KLAAS: Which one? You mean the one with the next young lady on Scott's hit list coming down...

O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, right, Miss Frey.

KLAAS: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- You know, it's unbelievable. Last night I posed the question, how many women have to hit the skids before Scott's going to finally come out and say something here? And I guess the answer is just one more. This poor woman, she had no idea what she was getting into. What a terrible way to have your anonymity sort of displayed before the world and busted and disguise, credibility no longer exists. It's just unfortunate.

O'BRIEN: And the fact that police are saying she is not a suspect, I guess you don't have to read too far between the lines to get an idea of what is going on here,

KLAAS: Well, everybody that's been near this case has been eliminated as a suspect, including the 200 sex offenders that live in and around that community. Everybody except Scott. And I think that does say an awful lot, sure.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk about for a moment the insurance policies. Lots of confusion about that, who the policies were assigned to, who was the beneficiary, so forth. What do we know?

KLAAS: Oh, well, I -- you know, everything is speculation. Scott claimed last week that it was all a pack of lies. Well, now we know that one of those lies, the business about the affair, wasn't a lie at all. And I would suspect -- it's pretty clear, if he took out -- as the breadwinner, if he took out an insurance policy on his wife and made himself the beneficiary, then I think an awful lot of questions are raised. If, however, he took out the insurance policy on himself and named her as the beneficiary, I think it will be easily explained.

O'BRIEN: Marc, you have had such an excruciating ordeal, and perhaps forgotten by our viewers among all this is that for a time you were thought of as a potential suspect. I'm curious, take us inside what it is like to deal with that, first of all, and to know that police are looking at you. Compound that with the tragedy, and then compare that to the behavior you're noticing with Scott.

KLAAS: You know, Miles, I was very fortunate. There was a wonderful FBI agent, Eddie Fryer (ph), who came up to me very early in the case and explained that they would be running parallel investigations, looking at me, other family members, peripheral contacts, registered offenders in the community, and then the stranger scenario, and that the sooner I was able to eliminate myself, the more quickly they would then be able to focus the investigative resource.

So from that point on, I worked with everybody. I worked with law enforcement, I worked with the media. My media strategy was to talk to anybody, anytime, anywhere. I gave up everything about anybody in my family that I might have known. It's not a time to hold back information. You put all the cards on the table, hope that they will be confidential with this information, and use it to solve the investigation -- or to solve the mystery.

And that's what we're not seeing here. We're not seeing this guy come forth with the information that's necessary. Unfortunately, he has continually put his own self-interest ahead of the interest of his family members.

O'BRIEN: It seems to me too, coupled with all of that, an innocent person would willingly accept a polygraph test, an independent polygraph test.

KLAAS: You know, it's one of the most incriminating things an individual has to go through, simply because we hear time and again that they are fallible and that one can make a mistake. But it's certainly well worth the effort just to deal with it, get it out of the way, so that you can either be focused in on more, and then do what you need to do to eliminate yourself, or just be eliminated altogether, so that, again, they can move forward with an investigative force that's going to be able to solve the crime.

O'BRIEN: Did you take a polygraph?

KLAAS: I sure did, yes, and it was not an easy thing to do, but it was something that was necessary.

O'BRIEN: You seem to just -- we're running out of time. But where's it headed? You seem to think this is headed in a very specific direction.

KLAAS: Oh, I think it's headed toward Scott. And I would -- my advice to everybody out there is that if Scott Peterson comes knocking on your door, pretend you're not home.

O'BRIEN: Marc Klaas in New York City, thank you very much for being with us and joining us.

KLAAS: Sure.

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