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| LACI & CONNER MAY JUSTICE PREVAIL |
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| LARRY KING LIVE - Feb 13, 2003 - FULL STORY Hello, everyone. Welcome to LARRY KING LIVE. I'm Nancy Grace from Court TV, in for Larry tonight. Thank you for being with us. Let's go now to Laci's stepfather, Ron Grantski. He is joining us from their hometown. Hi, Mr. Grantski. RON GRANTSKI, LACI PETERSON'S STEPFATHER: Good evening. GRACE: Mr. Grantski, first of all, thank you for being with us. There are rumors circulating. I know tension is mounting. How is the condition of your family tonight? GRANTSKI: Well, we've had and heard nothing but rumors for a couple, three weeks now, so -- we're a pretty strong family, and we've become a lot stronger through this. And we're just not believing rumors. We want facts. GRACE: Mr. Grantski, when you have spoken to Scott -- first of all, when was the last time you spoke to him? GRANTSKI: I haven't talked to Scott in about three weeks. GRACE: Now, I understood from your wife, who is ill tonight, that you had reached out, that your family had reached out to Scott Peterson, and he is no longer returning calls or corresponding with you in any way. Is that true? GRANTSKI: That's pretty much true. We just had some questions that, you know -- we understand that he might have some personal problems, money problems that we don't know about. Maybe that's why he's selling the car. Maybe that's why he's -- you know, wants to do something with the house. But if we're part of the family, his family, then I think it would be, you know, a courtesy to let us know what he's doing instead of doing everything he's doing on his own. GRACE: Now, Amy Rocha -- everyone, this is Laci's sister, who is with us tonight. Amy, were you taken aback when you found out Laci's car had been traded in? AMY: Yes. That bothered me a lot. I mean, that's part of Laci, and for him to do that --I don't know how he could. Like, it's bothering. GRACE: Well, a question about the car. He has stated to a couple of news outlets that he -- through his family, of course -- that Laci never liked the vehicle, that she wanted to get rid of it. Is that true? AMY: No. She liked her car. I don't know about her getting rid of it. I know she liked her car. GRACE: You know what I find interesting, Amy? You were with Laci on the 23rd, the night before she went missing. The two, Laci and Scott, came in, and you trimmed Scott's hair. Now, was that normal? Who set that up. AMY: Oh, that was normal. I've been cutting his hair since they've moved back to Modesto, so -- it was very normal. They always came in, and I cut both their hair, so it was a normal day. GRACE: Do you recall what Laci's mood was that night? AMY : Oh, it was normal. She was tired, but it was in the evening and -- I mean, other than that, they -- normal conversation. It wasn't any different. GRACE: Amy, do you recall what she had on that night? The reason I'm asking -- there's been a lot of speculation, as you know, Amy, as Laci's sister, that she may have gone missing that night, after you trimmed Scott's hair, on the 23rd. And I'm just wondering about her clothing that night, if it has been recovered in the home, because if it was not, that would indicate to me that she did go missing that night. What was she wearing? AMY: I do remember what she had on. I don't know if they've -- I haven't heard -- I don't know if the police have found clothing. I'm not too sure of that, but I do know what she had on. She was wearing, like, a black-colored top with cream either flowers or polka dots on it. It was a maternity shirt. And like, cream- colored pants, a black coat, cream scarf. GRACE: Brent, let me go to you about discussions about the life insurance policy, the $250,000 life insurance policy. Now, I know from sources -- they have stated police came to the family, to Laci's family, and told you guys about this policy. But my understanding was that police believe there to be a single $250,000 life insurance policy on Laci. Later I heard Scott Peterson state it was a mutual policy on the two of them. Do you know the answer? BRENT ROCHA, LACI'S BROTHER: I don't, Nancy. I've heard it from Scott's end, and it seems like that insurance was purchased a while ago, but I don't have the details as to how much was on each one of them or when they were purchased. GRANTSKI: They talked about it briefly at our house. And that was a couple weeks -- they talked about it briefly a couple of weeks before -- you know, somewhere in the middle of December, they were talking about taking out insurance policies.But other than that, I don't know anything else about it. GRACE: So that's not terribly unusual. I want to ask you about the boat, Ron Grantski. How long has Scott had the boat? GRANTSKI: That's a good question. I don't know. I hadn't heard about it until, actually, that night that... GRACE: So when was the last time you guys were over at Laci's place? GRANTSKI: We were there, I believe it was the 14th or 13th of December, right in there somewhere. GRACE: And there was no boat there. GRANTSKI: No. No. No. From what I understand -- you know, here again, it's just what he tells me, so that's all I can go by. GRACE: So to your knowledge, had Laci ever been in the boat? GRANTSKI: That I don't know. GRACE: We've heard a lot of speculation regarding the draperies in the home. The neighbors state first thing Laci did every morning was pull the draperies open to let the sun in. A neighbor happened to notice that had not been done that entire day of the 24th. How much stock do you put in that? GRANTSKI: Well, I think -- you know, I responded to this probably three or four weeks ago, and I thought it was silly. Maybe it isn't. But she doesn't have drapes. She has blinds. GRACE: Yes. GRANTSKI: And so they might be -- you know, she might have opened the blinds. So when it came out first and they said opening the drapes -- well, you know, they don't have drapes.So maybe that's just a technicality, but -- I'll be. ... honest. I don't know about that. GRACE: I want to move forward a little bit to what's happening right now. We understand that the police are waiting on the DNA results. Have they given you any clues as to what was taken from the home and the possibility of the results? GRANTSKI: No. Not at all. GRACE: Brent, do you have any idea what was taken from the home? BRENT: No. You know, I hear rumors, like the media hears, but I don't have facts. GRACE: Have you asked Scott about it? BRENT: No. Scott hasn't been really forthcoming with information or available to ask questions. GRACE: You know, I noticed that over the past weekend, when he went to Mexico for his business trip, after that -- after he had checked out of the, I believe it was the Hilton down there, he kind of was gone. He was amorphous for about two days. Any idea where Scott was? BRENT: I know he arrived back in LA on Saturday evening, I believe. I believe someone ran into him down at the airport, but I don't know where he was prior to that. GRACE: Ron, as Laci's stepfather, what was her pattern? What were her habits? You know, a lot of women call their mothers every day or call home every night before they go to bed. What was her habit? GRANTSKI: Well, you know, you have to remember, you know, Scott and Laci, you know, lived their own lives, and they had their own lives and friends, and so forth. But if there was any kind of a function or any question, she was very close to Sharon, and she called her mother all the time or, you know, would come by and see us. So if that's what you mean by a pattern, if there was anything of any importance, believe me, Laci would have said something to her mother. GRACE: Do you feel strongly that she would have told Mrs. Rocha about an affair, if she knew about it? GRANTSKI: She would have told somebody. I've known Laci since she was 2 years old, and as she was growing up, she never had a problem telling me when something bothered her, or anybody else. So there's no doubt in my mind that if -- if Scott said something to that effect, then we would have known about it or he would have known about it. GRACE: All of you are presenting a united front, as you continue to search for Laci. Everyone in the press, everyone following this story across the country, has noticed a sharp conflict, a divergence with Scott Peterson. Amy Rocha, you were in pretty much constant contact with Laci. You spoke to her every other day or so. I was asking your dad this. Would she have mentioned it to you or another family member if she had known anything about this affair? AMY: Yes. I believe that very strongly, that she would have mentioned it. Maybe to not me, but to our mom, to one of her girlfriends. She would have said something. Like Ron said, Laci, when something was on her mind, of course, she would not be at peace with this, and so I think that... GRACE: Yes, that's what I was getting at, Amy, because what Scott Peterson said when he spoke with Diane Sawyer was that she was OK with it. I've been dying to ask you, a family member, if that is true. You know her better than anybody. AMY: I know. Yes. We all know that Laci would not just be, like, OK with it and at peace.No way. She would be so bothered. And I mean, any woman, especially how far along shewas in pregnancy, she's not going to be OK with it. She would have... GRACE: No, no, no! Let me go to you, Ron, about this alleged meeting with a realtor. Now, to your understanding, when did Scott first approach a realtor about selling the home? There's been a lot of confusion about that. GRANTSKI: Well, here again, you know, I can go by rumors, just like you've heard. I understood that it was, like, a week after. But here again, that was a rumor. I don't know if that's true or not. GRACE: Well, Mr. Grantski, this is what I don't understand. Have you put these hard questions to Scott? GRANTSKI: After the fact, after all this is done -- to be honest with you, I really don't want to talk to him. I figure it's not my job to put them to him. He should be putting them to me. BRENT: I have, Nancy. I asked him about...selling the house. Well, he says the house is too unsafe for Laci to come back to. And then my issue with that is that, allegedly, she was down in the park when something happened. How -- you know, what -- the house wasn't a place of something bad going wrong. So it doesn't make sense why he's trying to sell the home. GRACE: Well, you know, I asked his sister-in-law that the other night, why put the house up for sale? And that was the response Scott had given her, was he didn't want to live in a home where Laci had been kidnapped and, you know, I thought Marc Klaas was going to jump out of his skin because that's the first we'd heard she was kidnapped from the home. BRENT: Correct. GRACE: So your understanding -- and you asked him that question, Brent. BRENT: Yes. GRACE: You know, there seems to be so many questions hanging out there that you guys would like to ask him. When did contact cease between Scott and your family? BRENT: For me, it was about three weeks ago, short after we learned about the affair. But I don't think that's the reason contact ceased. I think it was more of his behaviors, and the way he was acting led us to believe that there's something more to this. And he just made it very difficult for us to be in contact with him. GRACE: You mean what, not answer the phone, not return messages? BRENT: Yes. We were just like another reporter. Our conversations were brief. He screened our calls, kind of avoided us. He wasn't too forthcoming. We had to pull everything out of him. GRACE: You know what? I've got to tell you something. That would break my heart, if my family was screening my phone calls at a time like this. But you have managed to ask him a couple of tough questions about the house. And what were his words, Brent, about why he wanted to sell the house? BRENT: The house? Because he said it was unsafe for Laci to live in when she comes back. GRACE: And I guess the car was unsafe for Laci to drive when she got back. BRENT: Yes. I didn't get a chance to ask him about that one. GRANTSKI: I don't know how Laci was supposed to find him, if she came back. GRACE: Well, you know, I asked that question the other night. I was attacked by a group of defense attorneys that said, you know, it's crazy to expect him to stay there. If there was a kidnap for ransom or a kidnap, they would know how to find Scott Peterson. I don't know if that's true or not, but I am noticing, Brent, that he is kind of disappearing. No one seems to know where he is. Is he with his family? Where does he stay when he's not there in the home? BRENT: Nancy, he's always gone. I think in the last week or so, he's probably been home one or two nights. He travels out of town, out of the state or out of the country for business. He's staying at friends'. He's ending up at hotels. He's just avoiding Modesto, in general, and avoiding any search for trying to find Laci. GRACE: Now, OK, I know this is floating out there, but there have been wire reports that on a couple of occasions, Scott would get flyers from the volunteer center as if he were going to go put them up, and then actually go play golf. Any truth to that? BRENT: I'm hearing the same thing. Whether it's true or not, I have not been able to verify it. But yes, I have heard the same thing. GRACE: Wow! So far, have you been happy with what police are telling you? Have they shared anything with you that you can share with us? You know, a whole country is sitting on the edge of its seat, wanting to find Laci. BRENT: Unfortunately -- well, the Modesto Police Department has been very informative and kept us in the loop. They have not told us anything that would compromise the investigation, so I really don't have anything to share, other than what's out there right now. GRACE: Did they tell you how long it was going to take for the DNA results to come back? BRENT: I don't know. Initially, I think it was 60 days. I'm not sure if there was... a deadline. GRACE: Do you recall that, Ron, about 60 days for the DNA to come back? GRANTSKI: That's correct. Yes. Yes. They had to spend some more time, so... GRACE: ...That must be some heck of a check! Well, you know, a lot of times, when they think they found something, they have to multiply the sample under a microscope. That takes a considerable amount of time. But at the outset, they suggested 60 days? GRANTSKI: Yes. Number one, they didn't say anything about a sample. They said whatever-- they had to do some more investigating, and it would take 30 to 60 days. GRACE: Any idea, Brent, as to what the items were that were seized? BRENT: Well, besides the truck and the boat, some of the things that you reported earlier are the things I'm hearing. But that's what I hear through the grapevine. I don't have that confirmed from anyone. GRACE: Before we have to go, Brent, tell me again. The search is going to be where this weekend? BRENT: It's going to be at Lake Don Pedro, about 45 miles east of Modesto. And we've been instructed and been cooperating with the Modesto Police Department on our searches, and our focus is on waterways and... GRANTSKI: Modesto Reservoir. GRACE: Waterways! Any particular reason, waterways? BRENT: They did not specify a reason. GRACE: Yes. They're probably just searching anywhere they haven't already searched. Thank you for being with us. You've got to know so many people are rooting for you and your family. Please know that. GRANTSKI: Yes, we do. We appreciate it very much. GRACE: Everyone with us tonight, Laci's stepfather, he's been front and center from the get-go, Ron Grantski, her brother, Brent, and her sister, Amy. And everyone, I want to give you this number one more time. If you know anything, if you think you know something, 209-342-6166 or lacipeterson.com HOME INDEX TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST TRANSCRIPTS INDEX MAGAZINES AUTOPSY PRELIMINARY HEARING LACI'S FAMILY LACI CONNER SCOTT EVIDENCE & NEWS |
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| RON GRANTSKI, AMY & BRENT ROCHA |
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