| LACI & CONNER "Words cannot express the pain that I feel over the senseless death of Laci and Conner." LINDA GARCIA ~ California ~ GUESTBOOK |
| Scent dogs inconsistent at marina
Animal's handler tells of effort to track Laci Peterson's smell October 20, 2004 Two dogs came up with opposite results when they tried to find Laci Peterson's scent at the marina her husband visited the day she vanished, a dog handler testified Wednesday. The attorney for accused murderer Scott Peterson contends that is because the pregnant Modesto woman was never there, suggesting Wednesday that transients placed her body in a channel leading to San Francisco Bay close to where her remains were found. Authorities have dismissed his account that his wife, almost eight months pregnant, planned to walk the dog that day, pointing to witnesses who said she felt dizzy and nauseated during walks weeks earlier. But a prosecution investigator, called as a defense witness Wednesday, testified that a Modesto man said he had seen Laci Peterson walking at least five times. They included once with her dog in the park in October 2002 and at least three other occasions in the neighborhood, as late as two weeks before she disappeared. A dog handler testified Wednesday that his dog, TJ, failed to pick up Laci's scent at the Berkeley Marina on Dec. 28, 2002, as the dog tracked along the access route to the ramp Peterson said he used to launch his boat four days earlier. That testimony by Ron Seitz, an Alameda County Sheriff's Department volunteer, contradicted the results of a handler who worked her dog in the area a short time later. Eloise Anderson, another volunteer dog handler, testified earlier that her Labrador retriever, Trimble, picked up Laci's Peterson scent and followed it onto a pier that runs along the boat ramp. Seitz and Anderson used different articles to prime their dogs. Anderson used Laci's sunglasses and their case, while Seitz used a slipper. The slipper, he testified, seemed to have less chance of scent contamination, such as being handled by another person. Trailing dogs, including his own, "are accurate probably 70 to 80 percent of the time," Seitz said. He also indicated it was "very probable" Laci Peterson's scent could have been transferred to the marina if she had ridden in her husband's truck and he later drove to the marina alone, and opened a door or window. "Is it true that Laci Peterson often rode in that truck?" Geragos asked Seitz. "I asked (authorities at the marina) that question and was not given an answer," Seitz replied. Prosecutor Dave Harris, in a tedious cross-examination that had one juror furrowing her brow and shaking her head during the questioning, pointed out the defense had put forward multiple theories: -Laci Peterson's scent had never been there. -Her scent was there, but transferred from her husband's vehicle. -The scent item had been contaminated and Trimble was picking up someone else's scent, perhaps Scott Peterson's. HOME INDEX LACI CONNER SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST AUTOPSY DOGS WIRETAPS LACI'S FAMILY DUCT TAPE GAG ORDERS |
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