| KAREN SERVAS TESTIFIES By JOHN COTÉ and GARTH STAPLEY June 9, 2004- FULL STORY and Rusty Dornin CNN A neighbor of Scott and Laci Peterson testified Wednesday that she was backing her car out of her driveway on Dec. 24, 2002, when she saw the Petersons' golden retriever standing in the street, its leash attached but its owners nowhere in sight. Under questioning by prosecutor Rick Distaso, neighbor Karen Servas said she delayed her plansto run errands, and instead got out of her car and grabbed McKenzie the dog by its leash.She said Laci's car was parked in the Petersons' driveway, but the gate was locked, so she went to another gate at the side of the house and locked the dog in the yard. The next-door neighbor testified that she found the couple’s dog, with a damp leash but with dry fur, at 10:18 a.m. the day Laci Peterson was reported missing. “The leash had - it was dirty, it had leaves and grass clippings on it,” Karen Servas testified. “It was moist.” Servas said the front gate to the Peterson home was locked and a side gate that opens to the driveway was open at least 90 degrees. She saw no one in or around the home, put the golden retriever, McKenzie, in the backyard and left, she testified. That timing would have Servas finding the dog just 45 minutes after Peterson said he left the house. Peterson told police his wife was watching the Martha Stewart show and planned to mop the floor before taking the dog for a walk -- perhaps more than a woman eight months pregnant could accomplish in such a short time. Later in the trial, prosecutors are also expected to provide cell phone records that place Peterson at home later than his stated 9:30 a.m. Servas said she returned from her errands around 11:45 and saw a package in the Petersons' mailbox. It was still there when she left for a Christmas party at 4:05 that afternoon. Servas’ testimony could provide a key anchor for a timeline the prosecution contends shows Scott lied about what he did Dec. 24, 2002 - the day his wife was reported missing. Prosecutors contend Peterson murdered his pregnant wife and unborn son, Conner, late Dec. 23 or early Dec. 24 and used a fishing boat purchased two weeks before to ferry their bodies to the San Francisco Bay. Peterson’s defense attorneys have said his wife was likely abducted while walking the dog. Peterson told police his wife was mopping the last time he saw her, and she planned to shop and walk the dog that day, a detective testified at Peterson’s preliminary hearing. Prosecutors contend cell phone records show Peterson left his Modesto home at 10:08 that morning. Coupled with Servas’ testimony, that gives his wife 10 minutes to finish mopping, change her clothes, get the dog together, go on a walk and be abducted, prosecutors contend. “All of these things are impossible,” prosecutor Rick Distaso said at a legal proceeding in January. “If those things are impossible, then this man murdered Laci Peterson.” Servas’ apparently key position in the prosecution case might have been the reason for a sometimes-testy cross-examination today by Peterson’s attorney Mark Geragos. Under questioning by Geragos, Servas acknowledged she had mistakenly testified at Peterson’s preliminary hearing last fall about the time she left her house later in the day and saw a package in the Peterson’s mailbox. Servas previously testified that happened at 5:05 p.m., but today said it happened at 4:05 p.m. But Servas said she arrived at the 10:18 a.m. figure by using a stopwatch while retracing her steps the morning of Dec. 24, 2002, and deducting that from a time- stamped receipt from a Christmas ornament purchase she made that morning. Servas said Scott Peterson called her at 8:30 that night to tell her that Laci was missing. When she told him that she had found their dog wandering the neighborhood, Scott handed the phone to a detective, she said. Afterward, Scott invited her to join him and his parents for Christmas dinner, enticing Servas -- a vegetarian -- with an offer of cheese tortellini, she said. At the Petersons' house, Servas found Laci's parents -- distraught and in tears over the disappearance of their daughter, Servas said. While she was there, Scott told her that the Modesto police had taken a gun and rags from the house without telling him, she said. Geragos also questioned her about whether she had filed a complaint with the Modesto police about him after a reporter from The Globe tabloid magazine showed up at her work. Servas acknowledge she had lodged the complaint, saying she thought Geragos’ comment earlier in the day about seeking a “mystery woman” were related to the Globe reporter tracking her. ****************************************** KAREN SERVAS HAS CHRISTMAS DINNER WITH SCOTT HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL NEWS WIRETAPS EVIDENCE-NEWS |
| LACI & CONNER May the Truth Be Told |
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| LACI & CONNER May the Truth Be Told |