| Blood Stained Comforter Among Evidence JULY 12, 2004 A comforter apparently stained with blood was among numerous pieces of evidence seized from Scott Peterson's home in the days after his pregnant wife vanished, a police detective testified Monday. Modesto police Detective Ray Coyle testified he examined the Petersons' home for "blood spatter and blood drops" after search warrants were served on Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, 2002. Coyle said he found small spots that appeared to be blood on a comforter on the couple's bed, but did not elaborate. Detective Rudy Skultety, who was in charge of the searches, said the comforter was seized as evidence along with, among other things, two hair brushes, a vacuum cleaner and samples of Scott's hair. Skultety testified that the FBI used Luminol in the home _ a chemical that can detect unseen traces of blood and body fluids. He did not say whether anything was found. However, on cross-examination Skultety acknowledged that brown stains found in the kitchen and on a hot water heater tested negative for blood. Coyle also testified that as the search for Laci Peterson unfolded, he was charged with tracking down 390 registered sex offenders and parolees living in the area of the Petersons' home. Investigators were able to contact 285 of the 390 sex offenders and parolees, Coyle testified, adding that nothing led him to believe any of them were involved in Laci's disappearance. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos then showed jurors a list of the offenders provided by Coyle that showed most of them had not been eliminated as suspects. Coyle said the list had simply not been updated. As Peterson's double-murder trial entered it seventh week Monday, prosecutors mainly focused on the search for evidence in San Francisco Bay and at Peterson's home. Police officers testified that no evidence connected to the case, including no further human remains, were found in the bay after the bodies of Laci Peterson and her fetus washed up in April of 2003. Sgt. Rick Armendariz testified he was involved in water searches that stretched into September of 2003, but that nothing of value turned up. Armendariz said authorities were seeking any evidence or partial remains that may have been connected to the deaths of Laci Peterson and her fetus. Laci's body - just a torso - and that of the fetus washed ashore just two miles from where her husband, now charged in the deaths, claimed to have been fishing alone on the bay the day she was reported missing - Dec. 24, 2002. "As far as you know you didn't find anything of evidentiary value, correct?" Geragos asked. "On the boats I was on, correct," Armendariz said. Geragos appeared to try to show how the search techniques _ so accurate that authorities were able to pinpoint and recover items as small as beer cans and empty plastic bags _ never found any body parts or evidence related to this case. "This was so sophisticated that they could actually spot a target as small as a beer can and recover that?" Geragos asked, almost sarcastically. Prosecutor Rick Distaso objected and Geragos moved on with his questioning. Prosecutors played for jurors a nearly hour-long video, often shaky and blurry, that was taken of the Petersons' home on Dec. 26, the first day a search warrant was served there. Modesto police Sgt. Adam McGill said authorities were "looking for signs of tampering, forced entry, recent disturbances in the flower bed ... anything out of the ordinary." He said no signs of forced entry were found. Monday's testimony marked yet another shift in direction by prosecutors in the case. Two weeks ago the focus was on Peterson's affair with massage therapist Amber Frey,his alleged motive, they say, for murder. Last week testimony hung on witnesses who described where the bodies were discovered and their decomposed state as prosecutors showed jurors photographs of the corpses and of tissue and bone. Prosecutors are still making their case that Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, trucked the body to San Francisco Bay in a large tool box and plunged it overboard from a small boat. Defense lawyers maintain someone else abducted Laci Peterson as she walked the dog and held her captive before dumping her body to frame her husband. Peterson, 31, could face the death penalty if convicted. HOME INDEX LACI TRIAL NEWS SCOTT ALIBI-WITNESS LIST EVIDENCE-NEWS WIRETAPS AUTOPSY INDEX LACI'S ALBUM |
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