detective owens preliminary hearing

PRELIMINARY HEARING - DAY 8
Thursday, November 13, 2003
DETECTIVE PHIL OWENS TESTIFIES

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              DISTASO & HARRIS

Pages 1274-1289

MR. HARRIS: People call Detective Phil Owen.
THE COURT: Phil Owen?
MR. HARRIS: Yes.
PHILIP OWEN, called as a witness on behalf of the People, being first duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
THE CLERK: Please have a seat and put the microphone around your neck.

DIRECT EXAMINATION
MR. HARRIS:
Q. Detective, can you go ahead and tell us your full name and spell your last name for the record?
A. Philip Owen, O-W-E-N, one L.
Q. And what is your occupation?
A. Police detective at the City of Modesto.
Q. How long have you been employed by the City of Modesto?
A. About 16 years.
Q. As your assignment as an employee of the City of Modesto as a detective, were you assigned
      to assist in the Laci Peterson's missing person investigation?
A. Yes.
Q. At some point in time during your assignment, did you receive the assignment to contact
      Laci Peterson's doctor and obtain statements from people at that office?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you contact people at that office?
A. Yes.
Q. Directing your attention to that particular -- those particular interviews, did you talk to a person
      by the name of Cheryl Smith?
A. Yes.
Q. Where is Cheryl Smith employed?
A. She's employed at Dr. Yip's office.
Q. And is Dr. Yip an obstetrician?
A. Yes. He's an OB/GYN.
Q. And that particular office, from your investigation, did you discover that that's Laci Peterson's doctor?
A. Yes, I did.

Q. When you talked to Miss Smith, did she tell you what her assignment was or what she did for Dr. Yip?
A. Yes. She was a nurse practitioner and she assisted the doctor in the visits from the clients.
Q. Did she sometime take phone calls or answer phone calls of patients?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you talk to her if she had received any phone calls from Laci Peterson?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And did she indicate to you if she had received a phone call in the relation -- relating to medical treatment?
A. Yes, she had.
Q. What did Miss Smith tell you Laci Peterson had talked about?
A. That she had called in and stated that while she was taking walks, she was having shortness of breath.
Q. And did Cheryl Smith indicate when this phone call took place?
A. Yes, she did.
Q. And when was that?
A. I have to refer to my notes for the exact date.
Q. Did you write a report based on your interview of Cheryl Smith?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Would looking at that report help you?
A. Yes, it would.
Q. If you'd please look at your report.
A. She stated that Laci called in on two dates, November 6th and November 8th.
Q. And that's in 2002?
A. Correct.
Q. Was Miss Peterson given some advice on how to handle this shortness of breath?
A. Yes, she was.

MR. GERAGOS: Objection. Hearsay.
THE COURT: Overruled.
MR. HARRIS:
Q. What was the advice that she was given?
A. She was told to walk later and to eat some food.
Q. Now, did she -- did Laci Peterson call the doctor's office twice with the same complaint?
A. Yes, she did.
Q. And that was both on the 6th and the 8th of November?
A. Correct.
Q. Did you also talk to Dr. Yip and the other doctor in the office, Dr. Tow?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And did you ask them about Laci Peterson and her pregnancy?
A. I did.
Q. When you -- starting with Dr. Yip, did you talk to Dr. Yip about when Laci first came in to be
      examined as part of her prenatal care?
A. Yes.
Q. Did Dr. Yip indicate if they went through the process of determining a due date for the baby?
A. Yes.
Q. What did Dr. Yip indicate to you?
A. That they -- based on her cycle, they were able to come up with a calendar date on when she was due.
      And then they had a follow-up with a sonogram, and based on the sonogram, they were able to come
      up with a due date. The two due dates were within a week apart.
Q. Okay. So going back through this, when Dr. Yip meets with Laci, they ask her when her last
      menstrual cycle was?
A. Correct.
Q. And from that, they were able to do some type of gestational due date?
A. Correct.

Q. Did Dr. Yip indicate to you when the due date was?
A. He said around February the 10th, I believe. Yes.
Q. So the due date is estimated February 10th?
A. Correct.
Q. And a few weeks later, do they do some type of procedure, an ultrasound, I believe you said?
A. Yes, sonogram.
Q. Sonogram? And after that, did they indicate if they were -- kept the same due date?
A. Yes. They said that the sonogram indicated the size of the baby to be close enough, within a
      week of the calendar, so they kept the due date as February the 10th.
Q. And do you recall when it was that that ultrasound was performed?
A. I believe it was the 24th. 9-24-02.
Q. Did you also talk to Dr. Yip's partner, Dr. Tow?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And did Dr. Tow examine Laci on December 23rd of 2002?
A. Yes.
Q. When you talked to Dr. Tow, did you ask about the examination of Laci Peterson on December 23rd?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And did Dr. Tow indicate to you if she examined Laci and the baby at that time?
A. Yes.
Q. What did Dr. Tow tell you?

A. Dr. Tow said that the heartbeat of the baby was strong, was approximately 150, and that it was a
      viable baby, and that if the baby was to be born on that day, that, with some assistance, they wouldn't
      stop the delivery and the baby would be born viable.
Q. As part of your interviews with the members of the doctor's office or employees of the doctor's office,
      did you also talk to a Corina Ramos?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And what was her assignment or occupation there?
A. She answered the phones.
Q. Did you ask her if she received any phone calls on December 24th of 2002?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you ask her if she received any phone calls on that date about Laci Peterson?
A. I did.
Q. What did she tell you?
A. She said she had not received any phone calls on that date, the 24th.
Q. Did the -- did she indicate if the doctor's office was open or what their hours were on the 24th?
A. Yes. They worked a half a day that day because of the holidays.
Q. After the doctor's office closed, what did they do in terms of receiving messages?
A. They put the phone on an answering machine.
Q. Did you talk to another employee by the name of Stacey Josephson?
A. I did.

Q. And was she assigned to check those messages after the holidays?
A. She was.
Q. And when you talked to Miss Josephson, did she tell you if she checked the recorder to see if there
      were any messages involving Laci Peterson or from Scott Peterson?
A. Yes, she told me she checked and that there were no phone messages from Scott Peterson or
      anyone regarding Laci.
Q. Did you learn from your interviews with the doctors and staff that a Pap smear had been taken
      from Laci Peterson?
A. I did.
Q. And were you assigned to try and track down that sample potentially for evidence purposes at a later date?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. Were you able to track down that sample?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you obtain it from some particular business?
A. Yes.
Q. What business was that?
A. Unilabs.

Q. And after you obtained this sample from Unilabs, did you submit that to the Department of Justice?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Prior to doing that, did you do anything with it?
A. I recovered the sample from Unilabs, I took it to our property room, it was booked, and with a
      note to go to DOJ as soon as possible.
Q. And when you say "it was booked," do you take it in the same condition that you received it, or did
      you do some type of bagging or evidence handling procedure with it?
A. Yes, I placed it in a evidence envelope and sealed it, signed it and dated it.
Q. And did you assign that particular item a particular number?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. What was that number or reference?
A. I would have assigned it a number one, that report.

MR. GERAGOS: I'm sorry. Which report?
THE WITNESS: It's the report I did under --
MR. GERAGOS: Does it have a Bates stamp on it in the lower right?
THE WITNESS: Not mine. Sorry.
MR. GERAGOS: No? May I approach? Thank you.
MR. HARRIS:
Q. Moving forward -- moving forward in time and directing your --
A. I'm sorry. Let me correct that. It would have been labeled as P -- P6.

THE COURT: P as in Peter?
THE WITNESS: P, as in Paul, 6.

MR. HARRIS:
Q. Moving forward in time, after that particular item was booked and submitted to the Department
of Justice, were you contacted on April 14th of 2003?

A. Yes.
Q. And after being contacted, did you go to some location over in the Bay Area?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Could you tell the Court where it was that you went?
A. I went to Point Isabela.
Q. I'd like to have marked --

THE COURT: 126?
THE CLERK: There's several. Starting with 126. 126 to 133. (Whereupon, People's Exhibits 126
      through 133 were marked for identification.)
MR. HARRIS:
Q. Now, detective, I'm going to put this chart up here, and we'll start kind of in reverse order. Looking
      at what's been marked as People's Number 133 for identification, do you recognize that?

A. Yes, I do.
Q. And can you tell the Court what that is?
A. That is a aerial photograph of the Berkeley/Richmond area. It shows in the lower right corner, shows
      the Berkeley Marina. Further up, it shows Golden Gate Fields. Further on the right, it shows Point
      Isabel. And then to the left is Brooks Island. And above that is Richmond.
Q. Starting with what you were first talking about, the Berkeley Marina, that's in the lower right corner
      where there's some -- some things that kind of stick out in the water. Is there a notation that indicates
      Berkeley Marina there?
A. Yes, on the map it said Berkeley Marina.
Q. And then there's a -- moving counterclockwise of the aerial photograph, is there a box that indicates
      where you went to on this particular date on the 14th?
A. Yes. It's identified as -- on the map as Laci Peterson recovery site.

Q. All right.
A. And there's a yellow dot.
Q. And does that particular spot represent the location that you went to on the 14th of April?
A. Yes, it is.
Q. Showing you the next photographs, starting with People's Number 128 and 129, can you describe
       for the record what 128 is?
A. 128 is an aerial photograph of Point Isabel, which includes the shoreline and Costco, which is
      right near there.
Q. All right. And is 129 a closer up, somewhat moving-in view of the aerial photograph from 128?
A. Yes, 129 is looking in a northern direction and is a closeup of Point Isabela.
Q. Now, looking at that particular photograph, People's Number 129, towards the center of the photograph
      there is some type of driving circle, a concrete circle that's there?
A. Yes.
Q. And to the left of that circle are there some trees?
A. Yes.
Q. If you were to follow out going to the left in that particular photograph from the trees towards the
      shoreline, is there a small kind of yellow dot on that particular photograph?
A. Yes.
Q. What is -- what is that yellow dot in the photograph representative of?
A. The yellow dot is actually a yellow tarp that was used to cover the body.
Q. And that's the body of Laci Peterson?
A. Correct.
Q. Now, showing you what has been marked as People's Number 126, is this again a closeup or a
      more closeup aerial view of the Berkeley Marina?
A. Yes, it is.

Q. And looking at this particular photograph, towards the -- somewhat of the top center portion of this,
      does that indicate where the boat ramps are at the Berkeley Marina?
A. Yes.
Q. Showing you People's next in order, Number 127, do you recognize this photograph?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. And is that a more closeup view of those same boat ramps from the Berkeley Marina?
A. Yes, it is.
Q. Now, detective, when you went to that area that's depicted on the photographs, the aerial photographs
      up there, did you observe the body of Laci Peterson?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Observe the condition that it was in, how it was clothed?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Were you assigned to go to the autopsy that occurred?
A. Yes, I was.

Q. Now, looking at the next two photographs that you have in front of you, is there a photograph that
      depicts the location and condition of Laci Peterson as she was found on the 14th?
A. Yes.
Q. Which item number is that?
A. 130 shows the condition she was at the high watermark on Point Isabel, and Number 131 shows
      a closeup of the abdomen area of Laci.
Q. Now, the 131 photograph, was that taken at the autopsy?
A. Yes, it was.

Q. And did you witness the autopsy?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. When the body was found -- when Laci's body was found, did you notice if there was any tape around
      the body or tape about the body?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Can you describe for the Court that?
A. There was a piece of duct tape that was attached to the groin area of the pants.
Q. And about how long, if you could estimate, was that piece of tape?
A. 12 to 18 inches.
Q. And does that -- is that visible in Photograph Number 131?
A. Yes.
Q. At the autopsy, did you examine or look at the pants?
A. I did.
Q. And were you assigned to do some follow-up with regards to those particular pants?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. I want to go back through this. The pants that was found on Laci Peterson's body on the 14th of April,
      can you describe those to the Court?

A. The pants that I found on her were a tan-colored pants with a drawstring, a zipper and a button,
      that had a pin tuck on it.
Q. And is that some type of sewing or fabric term?
A. Pin tuck would be like a sewed stitching like almost a crease on the front of the pants that would
      run the length of the legs.
Q. Did you examine those pants to see if there was some type of maker's tag?
A. I did.
Q. And did you find one?
A. Yes. It was identified and labeled as Motherhood, with a number, which was a style number of the pant.
Q. Did you contact representatives of Motherhood Maternity to find out if they had those pants still?
A. Yes. I contacted Philip Williams, who is the asset protection agent, and asked him if I could somehow
      obtain a pair of pants or a photograph of the pants based on the style number that I had.
Q. And were you supplied a photograph?
A. I was.
Q. Looking at the next in order, I believe that would be People's Number --

MR. GERAGOS: 132.
MR. HARRIS: Q -- 132?
A. Yes.
Q. Is that the photograph that you were supplied of the pants that were found on Laci Peterson?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you also obtain an actual pair of pants from Motherhood Maternity?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you compare the actual pants, the photograph, with the maker's tag that you found in the pants
      on the body of Laci Peterson?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And did they match?
A. They did.
Q. And the color of those pants, were they also tan?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you also talk to the authorized representative from Motherhood Maternity about whether Laci or
      Scott Peterson had an account?
A. I did.
Q. What did they tell you?
A. They stated that they had records showing Scott and Laci Peterson had an account with their business.
Q. And did they indicate if those particular pants that are depicted in that photograph, Number 132, had
      been purchased under that account?
A. Yes, they did.
Q. What did they indicate?
A. Stated that they had a sales receipt showing that those style of pants with that style number was
      purchased from the Modesto store under that account.
Q. Belonging to either Laci or Scott Peterson?
A. Correct.
Q. Now, the photographs before you and the aerial chart up there, do those accurately depict the areas
      that they represent?
A. They do.

MR. HARRIS: People have no further questions.

Court recessed at 3:50 p.m.

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