| RICKAMORTI1 NATIONAL ENQUIRER September 23, 2003 Don Gentile Bloodhound sends investigators off in the right direction! One of the key witnesses in the Laci Peterson case is a dog- a 4 year old bloodhound named Merlin. Merlin and his handler, Cindee Valentin, helped search for Laci last Dec. 26, two days after she was missing. And the dog gave the cops the first hint she may have been the victim of foul play. "Following Laci's scent, Merlin stopped in his tracks at the end of the Petersons' driveway, rather than continue to LaLoma Park one block away, where her husband Scott claimed she'd gone to walk the family dog." "The bloodhound instead set off in the opposite direction toward Yosemite Blvd." said a source close to the case. "It told cops, Laci left in a car and not on foot." Merlin continued to follow Laci's scent for several miles before losing the scent. "The dog stopped at a dumpster on Yosemite, where it is possible some physical evidence may have been dumped," said a detective assigned to the case. Peterson's defense attorneys want to know how good a dog Merlin is. They have filed papers with the court seeking complete backgrounds on Valentin and the bloodhound, though their credentials seem impeccable. Valentin is a volunteer trainer and dog handler in the Costa County Sheriff's Reserve Division. Merlin is her personal dog, and has worked with her on numerous cases. "Cindee Valentin is a highly trained individual in search and rescue and in evidence handling," Contra Costa Sheriff's spokesman, Jimmie Lee, told the NE. In addition to training dogs for Contra Costa Sheriff's office and the California Rescue Dog Assoc., Valentin teaches seminars in the training of guide dogs, rescue and cadaver searching dogs. RELATED STORY HOME INDEX LACI DOG INDEX TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST |
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