A Deadly Game (7 page)

As Grogan caught up on the details of Laci's disappearance, other investigators hit the pavement. Detective Jon Buehler knocked on Karen Servas's door just before noon. Servas, the Petersons' next-door neighbor, had already told police how she'd discovered McKenzie the previous morning. Now she gave her official report.

Around 10:30 that morning, about the same time that the other neighbors, Amy Krigbaum and Tara Venable, had heard a dog barking, Servas was backing out of her driveway. She spotted the golden retriever standing near the street. Checking his tags to make sure it was McKenzie, she decided to take him home.

The Petersons' front gate was locked, so Servas circled around to the second gate near the swimming pool. Seeing nothing unusual, she left the dog in the yard. She did notice that his leash was very dirty, so much so that she went back into her own home to wash her hands before getting back in her car to go run errands. She recalled a man walking near her car at the time, but noticed nothing unusual or alarming about him.

Concerned for Laci's safety, Buehler pressed Servas for more information. From what he'd learned about her family and life, it just didn't seem likely that she would simply leave home without notice.

Servas described her relationship with Scott Peterson as warm and friendly. She and her ten-year-old son were frequently invited to swim in the Petersons' pool; from time to time, Scott helped her with chores and repairs around her house. She described the couple as active and upbeat. They enjoyed entertaining at their home and appeared to have a good relationship. Servas had last seen Laci and Scott on Sunday, the twenty-second, when they told her that their baby was a boy. They were planning to name him Conner.

When he finished with Karen Servas, Detective Buehler joined Al Brocchini to check out several homeless encampments along the south side of Dry Creek Park. The area was a scattering of small tents, with clothing hanging from the trees, bags of rubbish, old wet mattresses, and plastic tarps amid the camping supplies and broken-down barbecues. When nothing appeared to be related to Laci's disappearance, the officers left the area and went their separate ways.

At 1:00 P.M., Buehler joined Grogan and Doug Mansfield, an agent from the California Department of Justice, at the division office. Scott Peterson's polygraph was scheduled for that afternoon, and Mansfield was there to assist with the test.

As the men talked, Buehler received a phone call. Scott Peterson had changed his mind, claiming that his father, Lee, suggested the exam wasn't a good idea.

It was one of many promises Scott would make during the case that he failed to keep. I suspect that Scott never intended to take the polygraph, and that his father merely provided the perfect excuse when he advised him against it. Scott never seemed concerned that he would have to face up to his lies, sometimes only hours after making them. Whatever new problem he'd created for himself, it seemed his only concern was to put off any reckoning just a little longer.

Knowing that Scott was at police headquarters attending a press conference that afternoon, the officers walked over to confront him in person. Once inside, Grogan strode over to Scott Peterson and introduced himself. Grogan said he'd just been assigned as lead investigator in the case, and wanted to familiarize himself "with him and members of Laci's family." Whether or not Scott decided to take the polygraph, Grogan added, there were additional questions the detective needed to ask. Scott didn't have to agree to an interview and was free to leave, but his assistance would be appreciated. Scott said he would stay, telling Grogan that he wanted to help.

Scott followed Grogan, Detective Buehler, and Agent Mansfield to an interrogation room to talk. Some of the rooms had audio and video facilities, but since Scott had already completed a taped interview with Brocchini, Grogan chose a regular conference room. This was likely a misstep on Grogan's part. From the start, I've believed that Scott's own words-and his inconsistencies-were the most damning things against him. Every time Scott was recorded, his words and mannerisms would come back to haunt him. Sadly, taped interviews have become especially critical today, as the public has grown increasingly suspicious of the police. Once upon a time, when an officer took the stand, his uniform gave him instant credibility. Nowadays, it seems that police testimony is considered suspect until substantiated by clear forensic evidence or audiovisual corroboration. At trial Grogan would rely on his notes, but if this interview had been on tape, I believe his testimony would have been unimpeachable.

Scott was asked to give the officers some background about his relationship with Laci. He told them about meeting her at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. They were married on August 9, 1997, and moved to Modesto two years ago. Laci was pregnant with their first child, a boy.

Scott appeared to be close to Laci's family; he referred to Sharon Rocha as "Mom." But Laci's biological father, Dennis Rocha, who lived in Escalon, California, had little contact with the family. Scott described his wife as "outgoing," and told the investigators that she'd recently left her job as a substitute teacher in the Sylvan School District. He gave the police the names of two of her closest friends, Stacey Boyers and Renee Tomlinson.

As a manager and fertilizer salesman for Tradecorp, Scott traveled extensively. Although his hours were flexible, he generally left for work around 9:30 every morning. Tradecorp had wanted him to work from an office in Fresno, but he and Laci had selected Modesto because her family was nearby.

Next, Scott described the three days leading up to Laci's disappearance. He could recall nothing out of the ordinary, he said. He'd occupied himself with yard work, a little golf, and some gym time at the Tony Del Rio Country Club, eating at home, and renting movies.

On Monday, December 23, Scott arrived at his office about ten o'clock and worked until two in the afternoon. Laci went to her noon maternity yoga class, and later that afternoon Scott joined her for an OB/GYN appointment. Scott told the police that the baby's heart rate was 150 beats per minute. They'd asked the doctor to reveal the child's sex months earlier because "Laci could not wait." Scott dropped Laci at home, went to the gym from four to five in the afternoon, stopped by his office for the mail, then returned home.

Early that evening, they'd taken a trip to Salon Salon, where Laci's sister worked as a stylist. Amy cut Scott's hair while showing Laci how to trim his hair at home. Scott didn't mention that Laci had brought her own curling iron along to the salon for some individual instruction-seemingly a minor detail, yet one that would become relevant at trial in determining whether Laci was alive the next morning: The Petersons' housekeeper told police that she'd put the curling iron in the cabinet when she cleaned on the twenty-third, yet official photographs revealed that it was resting on the sink the morning Laci disappeared. Scott's defense team would use the picture to argue that Laci was obviously alive that morning, and used the iron to style her hair. Yet the prosecution was able to show that she'd actually removed it from the cabinet the night before when she took it to the salon.

After the haircut, the couple got some pizza at Mountain Mike's, watched The Rookie on tape, and were in bed at the usual time.

Scott then described the crucial morning hours on December 24. Laci was already up, he said, when he got out of bed around 8 A.M. Scott recalled that she was marinating French toast in Grand Marnier for the Christmas brunch. Remember, there was never any testimony about the contents of the Peterson refrigerator to confirm or deny this assertion. Had the officers checked the refrigerator, it could have helped to prove or disprove Scott's story about their activities that morning.

Scott told the investigators that Laci was wearing a plain white long-sleeved pullover shirt with a crew neck, and black maternity pants with an elastic waistband. Once again he repeated her schedule-the plan to walk McKenzie, go grocery shopping, then bake gingerbread that afternoon.

Despite her casual attire, Scott said, Laci was wearing a pair of diamond earrings, a gold and diamond wristwatch, and a diamond solitaire around her neck; some of the items, he said, she'd recently inherited from her grandmother. Her wedding ring was at a local jewelry store being reworked to include her grandmother's stones. The cost of this work was to be one of Scott's Christmas gifts to Laci. If there were other presents, they were never found. The police who'd checked the presents under the Petersons' tree were especially attentive to any gifts from Scott to Laci. After all, if you're planning to kill your wife, why spend money on presents she'd never open?

Scott next described Laci's normal exercise routine to the officers. She would walk in the morning after "the frost." Entering the park from the north end of Covena Avenue, she would turn right or eastbound toward the tennis courts, then complete a half-mile loop before returning home. The walk generally took about forty-five minutes, he said, and she always took McKenzie with her. The dog wasn't particularly protective of Scott, but Laci was a different story. He told Brocchini that he'd once warned the "pool guy" not to get between her and the dog. Laci didn't generally carry pepper spray or a cell phone with her when she walked. Although he'd already told Brocchini that it was unusual for her to leave the house without locking the door, he now said that Laci sometimes left the door unlocked.

It was after breakfast when Scott decided to go fishing at Berkeley Marina. He'd researched the area on the Internet after purchasing his boat two weeks earlier. When asked if Laci had ever gone fishing with him, Scott said "only once." On their very first date about eight years ago, he had taken her out on the water for a deep-sea fishing trip, and she became very seasick. Laci refused to ever go boating again. This incident would give rise to one of the most poignant statements made by Sharon Rocha during the sentencing phase of Scott's trial.

Scott told the cops he was sure he'd left the house around 9:30; Martha Stewart was on TV at the time, talking about meringue and cookies. This fact would prove embarrassing to the prosecution at trial, but would also provide a devastating time line to be used against the defense.

That Tuesday morning was his first outing with the new boat. On the twenty-second, he had obtained a two-day license and some fishing lures at Big 5 Sporting Goods. Just hours before, Scott had been unable to give Officer Evers even the sketchiest account of his plans. Now, with Grogan, he was very detailed. He would be fishing for sturgeon and striper in the bay.

When he got to the warehouse, Scott said, he checked his e-mail; there was a reminder to ship a golf bag he recently sold on eBay. Scott also sent a holiday note to his employer. As he'd said before, he then assembled a woodworking tool called a mortiser- a strange use of his time for a man heading off on a fishing trip. Finally, he cleaned up the office, unloaded tools from his toolbox, and hooked up his boat. He left for the bay shortly after eleven o'clock. When Agent Mansfield asked if he'd called Laci before leaving the office, Scott replied that he "never spoke to his wife while at work."

While the timing of the e-mails could be determined, there was never any proof that Scott was cleaning or assembling tools while at his office. The prosecution would argue that he used these moments to hide Laci's body between the boat seats, then covered the boat with the brown tarp originally discovered in the back of his pickup. Once again, Scott described his drive along Highway 132 to 580 and the 1-80 North Interchange. He recalled reaching the Berkeley Marina at about one o'clock, putting five dollars into the "Iron Ranger" automated parking meter, and collecting a timed parking receipt. He loaded two fishing rods and a tackle box into the boat, but forgot the brand new lures he had purchased only two days earlier. When questioned why he hadn't brought any food or water, Scott said he knew time was limited; his main mission was simply to get the boat in the water.

Scott claimed that he'd stayed out for about an hour. Powered by a fifteen-horsepower engine, he motored northwest until he reached a shallow area along "a trash-filled island with a posting that read, NO LANDING. " He had no problems trolling for sturgeon, although he had forgotten the saltwater lures.

According to Scott, the weather turned bad and it began to rain, so he returned to the marina. While loading his boat, he ran the trailer into the dock, giving several bystanders a laugh. Once on the road, he called his wife. It was 2:15 when he left the "Hey, beautiful" message at home, then another on Laci's cell phone with the dead battery.

Traffic delays in Pleasanton and Livermore slowed his return. He wasted more time by stopping for thirteen dollars' worth of gas, duly noted on his debit card. Realizing he would never make it back in time to pick up the gift basket before four o'clock, he placed another call to Laci-again, no answer.

Driving at 55 mph because he was towing the trailer, Scott said, he arrived at the warehouse about 4:30. Quickly disconnecting the boat, he was back on the road within five minutes. Moments later, he arrived home to find McKenzie still wearing his leash and the back door unlocked.

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Scott described what he did next-an account that still doesn't make sense to me. The dark, empty house set off no alarms in the young man's mind. Instead of looking around for Laci, he had a casual snack, washed some clothes, and took a shower. Were these the actions of a father-to-be with a seriously pregnant wife who should have been home to greet him?

Before he could describe his call to Sharon Rocha, the investigators asked Scott about his overall relationship with Laci. It was good, he responded. The couple never shouted at each other or fought. They were both in good physical health. Laci took only prenatal pills; neither had any medical problems or history of mental illness. They lived on a budget and saved money by eating most meals at home. The local Barnes & Noble bookstore was a favorite haunt. Just two weekends before his wife's disappearance, the couple had stopped there to buy children's books for their unborn son.

While Scott took care of finances and paid the household bills, Laci was a "good money manager." She didn't make extravagant purchases. He added that she was pleased he'd bought the boat and become a member of the Del Rio Country Club.

When Scott laid out the family finances, however, the picture was one of a couple living from paycheck to paycheck. Scott's current monthly income was around $5,000, plus roughly $1,400 in travel reimbursements. Yet his regular expenses, as he outlined, nearly equaled his salary:

$l,250/mo.-House payment 650/mo.-Truck payment 750/mo.-Credit card payment 500/mo.-Home improvement payment 600/mo.-Food bill 390/mo.-Club payment 300/mo.-Retirement installment 240/mo.-Life insurance bill

$150/mo.-Utilities 50/mo.-Cell phone bill

The Petersons' monthly outlay totaled at least $4,880-just two hundred dollars less than Scott's salary. Their savings account hovered around $2,000. Laci had quit working and expressed no desire to resume an outside job. Although testimony at trial did not support a financial motive for murder, the young couple was spending almost everything they brought in. Their accumulated savings left little to pay for a new infant. . . especially when it became clear how much money Scott was spending on his extracurricular activities.

Asked to elaborate about the life insurance expense, Scott told police that he had a Whole Life Plan, and immediately recited his agent's name and phone number. Laci had a separate policy, but he couldn't remember the payout amount.

Although Scott traveled extensively on his own, he and Laci did vacation together on occasion. In August, Scott went to The Cliffs, a resort at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo with a friend; four months earlier, he and Laci had gone to Hawaii with another couple. The couple spent a few days in Carmel with Scott's parents just a week before she disappeared, and he described three overseas business trips he'd taken himself that year, all for corporate meetings.

The investigators also asked Scott about visitors to the Covena home in the last week. Their housekeeper Margarita, who came Monday mornings at 9:30 and left around 2:00 in the afternoon, was the only person Scott recalled. Before her, his in-laws, Sharon and Ron, had been the last people to visit.

Scott told the officers he had never been in a fight in his life and had no criminal history. "What about all the guns?" Brocchini asked. Scott listed his weapons:

.22-caliber
 
Llama
  
semiautomatic
 
handgun
  
(which
 
Detective Brocchini confiscated)

20-gauge Browning

.22 Ruger

.223 Ruger

12-gauge semiautomatic Browning

12-gauge semiautomatic Mossberg

12-gauge side-by-side Ithaca

20-gauge semiautomatic Smith &t Wesson

Scott said he last fired a gun while pheasant hunting in November. The .22 was confiscated by Brocchini from his glove box. Scott reported the 9-millimeter Clock as stolen from his car outside a Firestone tire store in 2001. Scott sued the store over the theft, his first small claims suit, and collected seven hundred dollars from the company.

The detectives finally asked what Scott thought had happened to Laci. By then, Scott had settled on the idea that a transient had assaulted her in the park, probably because of her expensive jewelry. Recently, he told detectives, his wife had become concerned about stories of rapes and assaults in the park. She'd started thinking about carrying pepper spray on her walks, but she never did.

The two investigators tried to keep Scott talking. Did the couple have any future plans? Scott said he and Laci intended to move to San Luis Obispo when Conner began school. He wanted to buy an olive ranch. Grogan remarked that Scott seemed very poised in social settings; he must be a very successful salesman. Scott smiled and thanked him, saying it was important to have those skills in the sales business. Did Laci ever embarrass him in social situations? Not at all, Scott replied; she was actually quite helpful.

The interview concluded around 4:30 P.M., when Detective Grogan learned that Scott's parents were downstairs demanding to see their son. Grogan accompanied Scott to the waiting room. Lee Peterson told the detective they had just driven up from San Diego to help their son. Tall, slender, and slightly stooped, Lee said that Scott should not be interviewed without an attorney present. Grogan responded that his son had declined to take a polygraph that might exclude him as a suspect. Before his father could speak, Scott again refused the test.

What did Lee Peterson know? Cops sensed he was suspicious of his son.

Leaving the Petersons, Grogan returned to the bureau to compare notes with Brocchini and Buehler. The detectives found several inconsistencies in their respective conversations with the young man. Their suspicions were heightened when Brocchini added that a boat patrol officer at the Berkeley Marina reported that there'd been absolutely no rain on Christmas Eve.

It was time to put Scott under a microscope.

Grogan prepared a search warrant for Scott's home, business, vehicles, and boat. They would serve the warrants the very next day. Then, at 4:30 P.M., Brocchini's cell phone rang. It was Scott Peterson, wanting a progress report.

"Officers did a grid search last night and then repeated it today," Detective Brocchini said. "There are three dog teams there, and mounted sheriffs are coming over. The sheriff's helicopter has also searched the area with a heat detector."

"Have you used cadaver dogs yet?" Scott asked.

The detective was shocked.

"Cadaver dogs are used for sniffing out dead bodies," Brocchini explained. "Have you already given up on finding Laci alive?"

CHAPTER THREE

SCOTT AND LACI

Despite their heightened suspicions, the Modesto police had little to go on during the first few days of the investigation. But one thing was clear: They needed to know more about Scott and Laci's background. Through countless interviews with friends and family and analysis by the California Department of Justice, investigators began to stitch together a "victimology" report that would provide a look into the lives of Scott and Laci Peterson. Many aspects of this report have never before been disclosed.

Thirty years old at the time his wife vanished, Scott Peterson was born in San Diego's Sharp Hospital on October 24,1972. He was the only child of Lee and Jackie Peterson, who had married the previous year. Both of Scott's parents had children from previous relationships. When Scott was born, his father, Lee, already had two sons and a daughter from his first marriage to Mary Kamanski. Mark, Joe, and Susan lived with their mother in San Diego, but visited with their dad on weekends.

Jackie Peterson had three children from previous relationships, but she had given up two of them, Anne Bird and Don Chapman, for adoption soon after their birth, and Scott didn't learn about them until he was an adult. Their fathers' identities remain unknown.

One source close to the family told me that Jackie reportedly considered giving up her third child, John, as she had done with the previous two children. When her doctor advised against it, however, Jackie raised John as a single mother, and Lee adopted John after he married Jackie.

John was six years old when Scott was born. At the time, Lee worked for a trucking company, and Jackie had a small dress boutique. Before Scott's arrival, the family was somewhat estranged. However, the new baby became a focal point for their love and attention, and was said to have reunited the "fractured family"-a phrase that would be used many times in Scott's trial.

Scott's half-siblings, John and Susan, would later testify about those early years. They were both thrilled to have a little brother. He was carried around so much that family members joked about being afraid that "he might not learn how to walk." Scott's childhood nickname, Scooter, captured his upbeat charm perfectly. Always smiling, always quiet and well behaved, Scott apparently could do no wrong. John could think of only one incident where the boy displayed a temper. At age four, after a light spanking by his father, Scott left the room. A moment later he came back and punched his father in the stomach.

That was the only memorable disturbance in Scott's gentle demeanor until Christmas Eve 2002.

When the fair-haired boy turned four, his family moved to Scripps Ranch, a neighborly middle-class suburb in northeast San Diego. Scott's father began a shipping and packing business nearby, and his young son would often accompany him on deliveries. Witness after witness described their close father-son relationship. Together they enjoyed fishing and pheasant hunting on the weekends, and from the age of five Scott went along with his father to the local driving range to learn golf. He practiced with a special sawed-off driver his father made for him. Lee had saved the homemade club in the basement of the family's home as a memento of those days. By age seven, Scott joined the Peterson clan on golf outings at a local country club. Yet he rarely made it to the eighteenth hole, opting instead to take his small fishing pole to a nearby river.

Lee described Scott as a happy, "shiny" baby who rarely cried. His own childhood hadn't been as bright as the one he gave his children. Lee's grandmother had immigrated to the United States from Lithuania, settling in Minnesota, where the family lived without running water. Just as Scott accompanied his father on deliveries, Lee had followed his mother on her housekeeping jobs. As a young man, he joined his father on his rounds repairing typewriters. Lee eventually joined the business.

Lee wanted his family to enjoy a better lifestyle, and for years he had struggled financially to make it happen. The family finally turned the corner when they moved to Rancho Santa Fe. When Scott was ten, the family headed to Poway, an inland city of about 50,000, where he attended Painted Rock Middle School. He went on to the University of San Diego High School, a Catholic preparatory school set high above the city overlooking the Pacific Ocean. While there, Scott honed his passion for golf. When he got his driver's license at sixteen, his parents rewarded him with a used Peugeot sedan.

Police learned that Scott had at least two high school girlfriends. The first was Stephanie Smith, who began dating Scott when he was a senior and she was in the tenth grade. When the police interviewed Stephanie, she described how Scott had lavished her with gifts and flowers. He picked up the tab on all their dates, and even presented her with a special ring for Valentine's Day.

The two had been dating for nearly four months when Stephanie heard rumors about a classmate named Dawn Hood. Friends were saying that Dawn had been seen driving Scott's new car and holding hands with the young man.

When Stephanie confronted him about the rumors, however, she found his response hard to believe. Dawn and he had swapped cars, he said, so she could try out his new wheels. When pressed, Scott vehemently denied there was anything going on with Dawn. The two were just "friends."

Stephanie asked about the hand-holding.

"I hold hands with lots of my friends," he responded.

"That was the last straw," Stephanie told the police. She asked Scott to return the items she had given him, and immediately called it quits. Not long after, Scott began seeing Dawn Hood exclusively.

The police also located Dawn, who confirmed that she and Scott had dated for about eight months, beginning in the spring of 1990.

They were "health freaks," she said, and refrained from alcohol and drugs. She and Stephanie both described Scott as a gentleman.

Dawn told investigators that she performed community service for one of her high school classes, and that Scott frequently accompanied her to a facility for children with disabilities. Scott also did volunteer work at a homeless shelter as part of a school course.

Dawn and Scott broke up in the fall of 1990, when Scott moved to Arizona to attend college. Dawn remembered Scott as "a loner." Her family was friendly with Scott while they were dating, and he sometimes stayed with her parents, even when Dawn wasn't there. Dawn had never noticed any violent or strange behavior during the entire time she knew him, and she couldn't imagine that Scott had anything to do with his wife's disappearance.

Scott spent one semester at Arizona State University, but he told police that he'd grown disillusioned with the school after deciding he didn't like the golf coach. The facts are probably quite different. One of his teammates was the now-famous golfer Phil Mikelson. When reporters asked him about his relationship with Scott, he couldn't really remember him because they were never "in the same league." Phil was a rising star; Scott was not. It is far more likely that Scott retreated to Cuesta Junior College in San Luis Obispo when he realized that a PGA career wasn't in his future.