| WHO IS SCOTT PETERSON? |
| GOD BLESS LACI & CONNER |
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| From: JUDYW10 Apr 25, 2003 I agree that it's easier to call the various children brother and sister. Thinking it over I guess John would be a step brother to the original Peterson children. Unless he is Lee's child also, then he'd be a half brother like Scott. ====== Peterson's friends saw no hint of a criminal path Friday, April 25, 2003 In his high school yearbooks, Scott Peterson displays his "pulverizing" golf swing and tells his classmates to"watch for me" after his 1990 graduation.The young man who led his golf team to an undefeated season in 1990 was hoping his golf swing would bring him fame. Instead, at age 30, he's become known as a philandering husband, arrested with $15,000 in cash, survivial gear and various credit cards, and charged with murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and the unborn son they planned to name Conner. Former classmates and others who watched Peterson grow up here wonder how the well-mannered youth they knew could be suspected of committing such a chilling crime. "I am having a very difficult time with this," family friend Joan Pernicano said, choking back tears. "The scary thing to me is if someone as responsible, as caring and as loving as him could do this, then any of our sons could do it." Peterson has denied any role in his wife's Christmas Eve disappearance. Her fate was unknown until her remains and the remains of their unborn son washed ashore near Richmond almost two weeks ago. Peterson was arrested a week ago in La Jolla, an exclusive beach area near the northern San Diego County suburbs where he grew up and where his parents and four of his siblings still live. Peterson, who was born Oct. 24, 1972, in San Diego, is the youngest of seven children. But he is the only child born to Lee and Jackie Peterson after they married in 1971, according to family friend Eric Salzmann. The other six children- four boys and two girls- were from Lee's first marriage and Jackie's prior relationships. "Scott was kind of raised as an only child," Salzmann said. "Most of the other kids were older and were out of the house." By all accounts, the family was a close one that shared a love for hunting, fishing and golf. "As soon as they could fit a golf club in Scott's hand, he was out golfing with them," Pernicano said. "He also loved fishing." In 1975, Lee and Jackie Peterson started their own business, San Diego Crating & Packing. Their children occasionally worked for them. Lee Peterson's son Joe runs the Poway-based business today. The packing company provided a comfortable lifestyle for the family. They lived in Scripps Ranch, an upscale suburb east of La Jolla, while Scott Peterson attended elementary school. He took piano lessons with his mother and joined Pernicano's Cub Scout troop. "Scott was just a good kid who didn't get into trouble," Pernicano recalled. "My kid was in the canyon lighting bonfires, but Scott wasn't that kind of boy." When Scott entered fifth grade, she said, the Petersons moved to another northern San Diego suburb, Rancho Bernardo, and then to Rancho Santa Fe, where they had a one-story house with a guesthouse and pool in back. "We had little remote control boats we raced in their pool," Salzmann recalled. Peterson's parents sent their son across town to University of San Diego High School, a private Catholic school adjacent to the college. Peterson joined the school's golf team, playing the first two years inthe shadow of Phil Mickelson, who would become a top PGA player. Mickelson has said he doesn't remember Peterson. But the high school's golf coach, Dave Thoennes, has said Peterson stepped in to take over as the team's leader after Mickelson graduated in 1988. Peterson was twice named the team's most valuable player and was named three times to the San Diego Tribune's All-Academic Team. While one teammate remembered Peterson as arrogant and a loner,others said they recalled him as outgoing and helpful. "He always went to all the little dances and functions," former teammate Brian Tasto said. "He had good character, good friends and came from a good family." Tasto said Peterson was never "hot headed," nor did he show signs of a "serious temper." "He never hung out with a bad crowd," Tasto said. "Everybody asks if there is some underlying issue, and the answer is no. That is what creates the shock for us." After graduation, Peterson went to Arizona State University on a partial golf scholarship but stayed only a short time. (this story has been disputed, see above link)) Salzmann said Peterson missed his parents. They had moved to Morro Bay, and he moved back in with them. His parents declined to be interviewed because, they said, their son is "in legal jeopardy." In earlier interviews, though, Jackie Peterson said her youngest child moved out after six months. Scott Peterson began working three jobs to put himself through Cuesta Community College and then California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. He was working as a waiter at the Pacific Café when he met Laci Rocha, the young woman from Modesto he later married. The two moved in together and were living in a one-bedroom house in San Luis Obispo when Salzmann visited in 1997. They had a barbecue, and he remembers "Laci was more outgoing than Scott was." He dined at the restaurant the couple opened in San Luis Obispo and attended their outdoor wedding at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort in San Luis Obispo County's Avila Valley. "They were real happy together," Salzmann recalled. "There were the perfect mix." The couple moved to Modesto two years ago so Laci Peterson could be closer to her family, and Scott Peterson went to work for a Spanish company as a fertilizer salesman. By most accounts, both were looking forward to the birth of their son. Then, Laci Peterson disappeared. Police discovered Scott Peterson had taken out a $250,000 insurance policy on his wife, and a Fresno woman came forward to say she'd had an affair with Scott Peterson. Peterson's friends began to wonder about the smiling youth they had met in Cub Scouts, on the golf course or at "Uni High." "All of this that has come out has really created a shock," Tasto said."How could you believe that such a normal, nice guy who had a lot going for him could end up falling into this trap and be accused of a double murder?" HOME INDEX TRIAL EVIDENCE & NEWS STORIES ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS GOLF DIGEST GOLF STORY SCOTT'S INDEX SCOTT'S AFFAIRS |
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| May 27, 2003 Hearing |
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