| TIMELINE ~ WHEN THE SEARCH BEGAN Dec 23, 2002 8:30 p.m.: Laci Peterson, more than eight months pregnant with her first child, she talks on the phone with her mom, Sharon Rocha, about Christmas Eve plans. Dec 24, 2002 Between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m.: A house across the street from the Modesto, Calif., home Laci shares with her 30-year-old husband, Scott, is burglarized. 9:30 a.m. : According to Peterson, as he was leaving for Berkeley Marina for a fishing trip, Laci Peterson was preparing to walk their Golden Retriever. 10:30 a.m.: A neighbor spots the Peterson's dog wandering alone in the neighborhood and brings the dog to the Petersons' yard. 4 p.m.: Laci Peterson's stepfather, Ron Grantski, calls Laci but gets the answering machine and leaves a message. 5:20 p.m.: Scott Peterson calls Sharon Rocha and asks if Laci Peterson is there, telling her that he came home from fishing and found the dog and her car there, but not Laci. Rocha tells him that his wife is not there. Laci Peterson is reported missing and police begin a search. THE BEGINNING Dec. 25, 2002 Local authorities launch a massive and futile search along Modesto's Dry Creek after Laci, who is eight months pregnant allegedly disappears while walking her dog on Chirstmas Eve day. Within 24 hours, all of Northern California will know the name of Laci Denise Peterson. ---------------- Dec. 26, 2002 According to the Modesto Bee, Modesto police officers arrived with a search warrant at 7:45 p.m. at the Peterson's house in the La Loma neighborhood. Yellow tape gives the ominous vision of a crime scene. Authorities were forced to obtain a warrant when Scott would not voluntarily allow them to search the home. Also, A volunteer center opens at the Red Lion Hotel. Friends and family establish a $100,000 reward for information leading to Peterson's safe return. --------------- Dec. 27, 2002 With the FBI now part of the investigation, authorities continue an intensive search in the Modesto area. --------------- Dec. 30, 2002 A steady stream of volunteers show up each day at the Red Lion Hotel, where family and friends have established a command center to assist in the search. "It keeps you going," Stacey Boyers, who helped coordinate volunteers, tells the Modesto Bee "It keeps you thinking positive." ----------- Dec. 31, 2002 Hundreds of police and volunteers search parks and rural areas for any clue about where Laci may have gone. Officials using dogs, horses, helicopters and rafts join in a huge search for Peterson. They reveal that a neighbor had found her golden retriever, its leash still attached, on Christmas Eve. Investigators also scour parks and abandoned buildings. They question registered sex offenders and paroled convicts, but still no solid leads in the case. A VIGIL WAS HELD A week after she disappeared, family and friends gather for a candlelight vigil. Police now say she was the victim of foul play. Peterson "was always a very active, positive and outgoing person and a very tough young lady, and that's why we're not giving up hope," says her friend, Kathleen Connor. More than a thousand people turned out for the event. It's later discovered that Scott was talking to Amber Frey during the vigil. ----------------- Jan. 2, 2003 Police ask the public to help verify the whereabouts of Laci's husband on Christmas Eve day. They release pictures of his pickup truck, boat and boat trailer that they have impounded. They plead for anyone who saw Scott Peterson in Berkeley to come forward. No one does. Two suspects are arrested for the burglary of Peterson's neighbor's home and police announce it is not connected to Laci Peterson's disappearance. Divers looked for Laci's body and then ruled out future searches at the Berkeley Marina. FAMILY STILL HOPEFUL -------------- Jan. 4, 2003 Aided by specially trained search dogs, investigators comb the Berkeley Marina for the first time in the search for the missing 27-year-old. They are drawn there by the fact that Scott Peterson says he was there on Christmas Eve day. ---------------------- Jan. 5, 2003 Investigators begin to fan out in their efforts to locate Peterson. A Modesto police spokesman said search teams have been sent to Merced, Tuolumne, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Alameda and Mariposa counties. Besides scouring new areas outside Stanislaus County, approximately 16 officers and five dogs took a second look Sunday at several areas within the county that previously had been searched. ----------------- Jan. 7, 2003 As the days pass, volunteers at the search center at the Red Lion Inn in Modesto continued to hold out hope that Laci will be found safe. They begin their long days with a prayer and hopes that the case will take a positive turn. ------------------- Jan. 8, 2003 Police: 2,100 Tips Received In Missing Woman Case ~ Modesto Police were back at the Berkeley Marina, using a borrowed search boat armed with an underwater camera to scour the waters below for any clues. Searchers first turned their attentions to the waters of the marina last weekend, but swift currents and murky waters hindered divers. Sonar gear did spot something unusual in the waters, but by the time divers entered the water, they could not locate what it might have been. If police found anything new on Wednesday at the Marina, they were not saying. --------------- Jan. 9, 2003 After days of coming up empty in their search for Laci Peterson, the Modesto Police finally may have a clue as to what happened to the missing woman. A sonar search of water at the Berkeley Marina turns up a submerged object that may indicate a human body. But police say inclement weather and fatigue among the divers is preventing them from retrieving the object or investigating it any further until the weekend. -------------- Jan. 10, 2003 Expert divers, veterans of many Bay water searches, question the decision to delay the recovery of whatever lies at the bottom of the Berkeley Marina. Meanwhile, tension rises in Modesto. When asked if he still supports his son-in-law, Laci's step- father -- Ron Grantski -- says he does, but adds "God Help Us" if Scott is involved. -------------- Jan. 11, 2003 On what was suppose to be a day of great joy as she celebrated her baby shower, Modesto authorities admitted they had moved no closer to solving the mystery of what happened to Laci Peterson. A search of the Berkeley Marina, where authorities had found an object using side-scan sonar, an object that might be a body, turned up an old anchor and no clues as to what happened to Peterson.In Modesto, the news re-vitalized friends and family at the Peterson search center, but a friend who spent the day with Scott Peterson said Laci's husbandwas worn out and emotionally fragile. BABY SHOWER ------------ Jan. 15, 2003 Modesto Police admit that they are fighting an uphill battle in their race to find Laci alive. The 27-year-old Modesto woman has been missing now for more than three weeks and the Stanislaus County sheriff said he believes it's very unlikely that she was being held somewhere against her will. "The more time that goes by, the greater chance we have of not finding the victim alive," Stanislaus County sheriff's Sgt. Bill Heyne tells the Modesto Bee. "And the more time that goes by, if the victim is dead, the less chance we have of solving it." --------------- Jan 16, 2003 Modesto police tell Laci Peterson's family Scott was having an affair and that he had taken out a $250,000 life insurance policy on her, according to one of Laci's family members. Laci's family severs ties with Scott. ---------------- Jan. 17, 2003 On a day of fast breaking developments, the focus in the case becomes squarel aimed at Scott Peterson. It begins on Thursday night when Peterson breaks his silence and gives a few brief comments to a pair of television reporters. Hours later, the Modesto Bee hits the streets with a story saying investigators have told Laci's family that Scott was having an affair and had taken out a $250,000 insurance policy on her. The family also was allegedly shown pictures of Scott with another woman. With the story still evolving, Peterson calls Ted Rowlands of KTVU and says the Modesto Bee story was a "bunch of lies." He denies he had anything to do with his wife's disappearance. At 4 p.m., another bombshell. Through a spokeswoman, the family confirms they've seen the pictures and ask Scott to cooperate with the police. A volunteer search center at the Red Lion Hotel is closed. ------------------ Jan. 18, 2003 As suspicion of Scott grows, authorities investigate his whereabouts in connection with the disappearance of a San Luis Obispo woman in 1996, when Scott and Laci Peterson lived there. Authorities later determine he had nothing to do with the second missing woman .Kristen Smart ---------------- Jan. 19, 2003 Scott Peterson brings search for his missing wife to Los Angeles, where he and his family distribute fliers to volunteers at a west Los Angeles hotel. --------------- Jan. 23, 2003 Laci's family says Scott told authorities he had been involved with another woman. ----------------------- Jan. 24, 2003 One month after Laci Peterson disappeared, Amber Frey, a massage therapist from Fresno, comes forward and confirms she had an intimate romantic relationship with Scott Peterson. ----------- January 27, 2003 Scott Peterson Reacts To Alleged Girlfriend's Comments Jan. 28, 2003 In a televised interview, Scott Peterson admits he had a relationship with Frey and that he had told his wife about it. "It wasn't anything that would break us apart," he says. January 31, 2003 Police Investigate Possible Laci Peterson Sighting HOME EVIDENCE-NEWS INDEX TIMELINE PAGE 2 TIMELINE - PAGE 3 TIMELINE - INDEX KCRA - TIMELINE |
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| FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS LACI & CONNER |
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| SHARON & RON |
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| SEARCH OF DRY CREEK |
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| POLICE SEARCH HOUSE |
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| LACI |
| SCOTT |
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| SCOTT'S BOAT |
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| CANDLELIGHT VIGIL |