| Scott Peterson told mistress's friend he was unmarried, witness says Tuesday, June 29, 2004 By Brian Anderson -CONTRA COSTA TIMES and Stacy Finz , Diana Walsh, Chronicle Staff Writers A little more than two months before his wife vanished, Scott Peterson was flirting and talking about sexual positions with a woman he had just met at a sales conference in Anaheim -- who later set him up with a mistress -- witnesses told jurors on Tuesday. The exchange occurred over dinner in October 2002 after a daylong session at an Anaheim fertilizer trade show, Eric Olsen said. Olsen said he had traveled with Peterson to the convention held in Disneyland, so they could set up a booth to promote their fertilizer products and network with people in the agricultural industry During the event, Peterson and Olsen were introduced to another conference participant, Shawn Sibley, by Olsen's friend, David Fernandez. The four went to dinner one night, and Peterson and Sibley seemed to hit it off, Olsen and Fernandez testified. Olsen, who Peterson had hired to sell fertilizer about four months earlier, said his boss openly a sked personal questions of , Shawn Sibley, that made him and Fernandez, uncomfortable. Both men said Peterson's conversation escalated into a sexual discussion that made them uncomfortable, prying into Sibley's relationship with her fiance. "Scott was trying to figure out how committed Shawn was," Fernandez said. "Scott and Shawn had a conversation that I believe was not appropriate for a married man and an engaged female," Olsen said. Appearing nervous and speaking softly, Olsen told jurors that Sibley called him Dec. 2 to ask if Scott was married. She was going to set him up with a friend and wanted to know whether he was in fact available.. He told Sibley to ask Peterson. At the time, Peterson managed Tradecorp USA, a fertilizer distributor. Police believe Sibley learned of the marriage in December after earlier setting up Peterson with her friend Amber Frey. Both Olsen and Fernandez said they finished their meals and left Sibley and Peterson. Peterson later asked Sibley at that conference to set him up with one of her friends, investigators have said. He told her he was not married, police said. During cross-examination Peterson's lawyer, Pat Harris, tried to show that there was nothing unusual about a few young people, after a long conference, letting their hair down. "Let me get this straight: The four of you are sitting at this sales convention having drinks and dinner and discussing sex?" "Yes," Olsen said. "And Shawn Sibley was participating just as much as Mr. Peterson?" "Yes," Olsen responded. Scott met Frey, a single mother and massage therapist from Fresno, several times. Sibley told police she arranged the meeting only after Peterson professed his commitment to having a long-term relationship. When Sibley became suspicious that Peterson was married, she confronted him by telephone and the Scott began hatching his murder plan, prosecutors have indicated. Scott told her not to tell Frey and that he would talk to her, police said. Peterson told Frey on Dec. 9, 2002 that he had lost his wife and that he would be spending his first holiday season without her. The two continued their relationship through Dec. 24 when Laci Peterson was reported missing. Laci and the baby she was carrying turned up dead along the Richmond shoreline in April 2003. Police arrested Peterson days later and charged him with two counts of murder. Prosecutors have said in court papers Frey was Peterson's motive to kill his wife. It was not the only account of a Peterson conversation that police would examine in their investigation of the case. In his final day on the witness stand, Modesto police detective Al Brocchini said he talked to a one-time Peterson friend who said the man once described how he would dispose of a body. The man called police the day after Peterson's arrest, recounting a conversation in which Peterson said he would duct tape a plastic bag around the head of the victim and sink the body in the sea, Brocchini said. Fish would eat away the neck and other body parts, making identification as well as finding the killer nearly impossible, Brocchini said he was told. Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, wiped away tears as Brocchini discussed the tip while Rocha's partner looked down and shook his head. Peterson sat straight-faced at the defense table. But like thousands of others in the case, Brocchini said, the man's story didn't seem to hold water. "I don't know if it was false," he said. "I couldn't corroborate it. I didn't put a lot of stock in it." Brocchini, who came under fire last week for admitting that he had left crucial information out of his report, also said Tuesday that he did so because it was in another report. The information was turned over to defense attorneys like that in countless other pages of reports, he said. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS AUTOPSY |
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