| It's hard searching bay, diver testifies
Prosecutors try to show why body wasn't found Wednesday, September 8, 2004 Diana Walsh and Stacy Finz, Modesto Bee & others Thick mud, strong currents, dark waters and a strong surge made it nearly impossible to locate Laci Peterson's body or anchors on the floor of San Francisco Bay, an expert diver testified Tuesday. Geoffrey Baehr, a member of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department Marine and Cliff Rescue Unit who helped search the bay in the months after Peterson’s disappearance, talked about waves and wind and his team’s inability to find her. Searching the bay water was so difficult that even when divers had a known target, they had trouble retrieving it, said Baehr, who helped lead the search effort off the Berkeley Marina and is the head diver for the Rescue Unit He described his unit as composed of 25 members, primarily commercial or highly experienced divers who respond to requests for searches, perform marine patrol, homeland security patrol off bridges. They also perform cliff rescues off of the Pacific Coast, including diving in the San Francisco Bay. Prosecutors in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial are trying to show why the body of the eight-months-pregnant Laci Peterson went undetected in the bay despite months of searching. As an experienced diver who has been diving since 1968, he has had approximately 3,000 dives and 5,000 hours under water. He was also an instructor for the National Association of Underwater Instructors and the French Worldwide Diving Federation. As both a sport and commercial diver, he has performed diving in all areas of the world. His primary dives now are in zero visibility conditions, or "black water". Baehr said he had participated in more than 15 diving expeditions between late December 2002, when Laci was reported missing, and May 2003, a month after the body of the 27-year-old missing Modesto woman was discovered on the Richmond shoreline,using a sonar device During one dive, Baehr said the crew accidentally dropped the underwater device used to detect items to the bay floor after hitting an uncharted sandbar. Even though the crew members knew exactly where the device landed, it took Baehr fourteen dives on four seperate occasions to retrieve it. Baehr also described to the jury that often, because of tidal conditions, some items may sink under the mud in the bottom of the Bay, or be covered by it. "So if something is down in the mud, covered with mud, would it make it difficult (to locate)?" Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso asked. "It makes it virtually impossible,'' Baehr responded. "And the wind and wave action makes holding the search pattern difficult. The wind in this area of the Bay after 2:00 P.M. routinely creates waves which causes scalloped (sonar) images. When this happens, the search is over for that day." The purpose of Baehr's testimony is to counter defense attorney Mark Geragos' contention that the sonar equipment used in the search is so accurate and powerful that it can find something as small as a tin can. The defense maintains that the reason searchers didn't find Laci is because she wasn't there. He says someone other than Peterson killed the substitute teacher and then planted her body in the bay long after she disappeared to frame his client. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS AUTOPSY DOGS PLIERS-DNA |
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| LACI & CONNER "The trial has to be so hard on everyone. Lets just pray that justice prevails" BEVERLY GARCIA ~ NEW YORK ~ GUESTBOOK |
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