| Police Continue Search Of Peterson Home Detectives Gather More Evidence Inside Home February 19, 2003 Modesto police continued their two-day search of the home of missing Laci Peterson Wednesday, saying they are saying they are trying to "eliminate or connect" her husband in their investigation into her Christmas Eve disappearance. Investigators arrived just after 9 a.m., and immediately began putting up police tape to keep media crews at a distance. The search came after police said they made new unspecified findings in the case of the 27-year-old substitute teacher who vanished on Christmas Eve. "Discoveries during the investigation have necessitated the revisiting of the scene," said Modesto Police Detective Doug Ridenour. He did not elaborate and said the search warrant application was sealed by court order. Throughout the day, detective teams wearing rubber gloves measured the home's driveway, yard and front side, while others gathered more evidence inside. Detectives seized about 12 more bags and boxes of possible evidence from the house shortly after 2 p.m., adding to nearly 45 seized Tuesday. Investigators carried out dozens of sealed bags of items from the home, including a Super Bowl key card, a telephone book, a binder with photos and Viagra. They also drove away with Scott Peterson new truck to search it as well. For most of two days officers with a search warrant have taken over the modest house owned since October 2000 by substitute teacher Laci Peterson, 27, and her husband, Scott. "We are serving a search warrant, so anything we take out of here potentially could be connected to some type of crime later on, so we have to be considerate of that and methodical," Modesto Police Department spokesman Doug Ridenour said. Laci Peterson's sister, Amy Rocha, spent a couple of hours inside the house with police, but it was not immediately clear what role she may have played in the search. Later, Rocha spoke and said she hopes Scott Peterson will now cooperate completely with the police and the investigation. "There's obviously something that is not letting investigators let Scott go as a suspect," Rocha said. "So obviously they must have some reasoning behind it." Laci's Father, Dennis Rocha, also released a statement saying: "I'm glad they're looking in the right direction. I know he did it. They just need to take their time and do it right." Ridenour also said again that Scott Peterson is neither a suspect nor has been ruled out as one. Ridenour wouldn't call the Peterson house a crime scene and said he didn't know if Peterson had a new attorney since his first, Kirk McAllister of Modesto, withdrew from the case when Peterson appeared on ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28. Suspicion publicly has focused on Scott Peterson since he acknowledged last month that he had an extramarital affair with a Fresno woman. Laci Peterson's family, who once supported him, have heated up their public campaign against him, calling on him in recent weeks to tell police more. The search has turned Covena Avenue in a modest neighborhood of single-story homes into a spectacle rivaling those of the 1999 disappearance of three women in Yosemite National Park and the 2000 vanishing of Washington, D.C., intern Chandra Levy, also from Modesto. All four women were eventually discovered murdered, though no one was ever arrested in Levy's case. The Laci Peterson case has attracted the nation's attention through extensive media coverage and there is a $500,000 reward for information leading to finding the missing woman. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT SEARCHES OF HOUSE EVIDENCE & NEWS WIRETAPS |
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