| Sources: Peterson Investigation 'On Track' March 3, 2003 Sources say the Modesto police were 'right on track' for an arrest in the case of missing schoolteacher Laci Peterson, adding that authorities have discounted an alleged sighting of the woman on the day she disappeared. KTVU's Ted Rowlands reported Monday that sources close to the case have told him that 'it's not a matter of if, but when' an arrest will come in the more than two-month-long investigation. Laci Peterson disappeared without a trace on Christmas Eve day. At the time, her husband, Scott, has told investigators he was on a day fishing trip to the San Francisco Bay Area. Police have yet to clear Scott Peterson in the case. Rowlands was also told that a reported sighting by neighbor Vivian Mitchell was taken seriously when first reported early in the investigation, but that the report has been ruled out. Apparently, there were two other pregnant women walking their dogs in the same vicinity that morning and police believe Mitchell saw one of them. When Mitchell's report came to light last week, it sparked an angry and emotional response from Scott Peterson's father, Lee. "How do you follow up on a lead if you don't return someone's calls?" Peterson said in a Thursday telephone call to The Associated Press from Solana Beach in San Diego County. "It makes me wonder about their competency," he said of Modesto Police. "Here's an eyewitness account of my daughter-in-law and they don't follow up on it." Modesto Police spokesman Doug Ridenour told The Modesto Bee that several people reported seeing the missing woman that morning. He said detectives investigated the reports, but didn't return every tipster's call. Vivian and Bill Mitchell told The Bee they saw Laci Peterson at about 10 a.m. or 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 24, wearing white and black clothes and walking with a golden retriever. The Mitchell home is about 10 blocks from the Covena Avenue home where Laci Peterson, 27 and nearly eight months pregnant, disappeared during the day. "I had seen Laci walk by the house several times before," said Vivian Mitchell. "When she walked by on Christmas Eve, I hollered to Bill, 'Oh look, it's the lady with the golden retriever."' Bill Mitchell, who served three terms on the Modesto City Council, said he saw them go around the corner as he went to the window. "It looked like the dog wanted to go one way, and she was going another," he told The Bee. Vivian Mitchell said she reported the sighting to Modesto Police about a week after Laci Peterson disappeared, but never heard back. Scott Peterson told police he last saw his wife about 9:30 a.m. as he left on a fishing trip. Peterson's father said police have focused solely on his son, which is "why they ignored those sightings. They've got a scenario and if it didn't fit that scenario, they didn't want to hear about it." Lee Peterson said police investigators have put his son's job as a fertilizer salesman at risk by seizing his vehicles and computers, which are "everything he needs to hold his job. They're messing with his livelihood. It's more of a harassment, that's what it is." RELATED STORY - VIVIAN MITCHELL DIES HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT EVIDENCE-NEWS ALIBI-WITNESS LIST PRELIMINARY HEARING |
| THEY'VE TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF SO MANY LACI & CONNER |
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