| Officer Describes Search for Laci Peterson Thursday, June 17, 2004 FULL STORY A police officer described Thursday how authorities cast a wide net in the days after Laci vanished, following tips that she had been seen in a nearby park and another that she was being held captive about 30 miles from her Modesto home. Prosecutors in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial appeared to use Modesto police Sgt. Timothy Helton, at least in part, to establish that police followed other leads and didn't, as defense attorneys claim, focus solely on Peterson, ignoring other suspects. Helton testified about several occasions where officers tracked down leads, including one from the California Highway Patrol that Laci was possibly being held and abused in a home near Tracy, about 30 miles from Modesto. Police "searched five residences and they developed no leads," Helton said. Under cross examination Thursday, defense attorney Mark Geragos asked Helton if police thoroughly investigated the tip about Laci being held in a home near Tracy. Helton said helicopters with heat-seeking devices flew over the area searching for signs of life, but he acknowledged that authorities never searched the buildings on the property. Prosecutors allege Scott murdered Laci in their home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her body from his small boat into San Francisco Bay. Peterson has told police he went fishing on the bay that Christmas Eve morning and returned to an empty house. When the remains of Laci and her unborn son washed ashore nearly four months later, near where Peterson claimed to have been on his solo fishing trip, he was arrested. Geragos claims someone abducted Laci Peterson and dumped her body in the bay to frame his client after Peterson's alibi was widely publicized. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST EVIDENCE-NEWS MAGAZINES LACI'S ALBUM AUTOPSY INDEX |
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