11/26/2007

The Peterson Murder Case - No, The Other One: Stupid Man Talking

I admit to following the Laci Peterson story as it happened, and I still remember my jaw dropping when I saw Scott Peterson with his beard and dyed blonde hair, denying he was running from anything ... but another missing Peterson wife? Another Peterson husband giving press conferences, pleading for the return of his wife?

Yep. Guess I'm a little late in the game, since it's already in People magazine. (Read Drew Peterson's interview here if you have a subscription to enter the People site.)

Today, the FBI joined in the search for Stacy Peterson. Stacy, Drew Peterson's 4th wife, has been missing for around 1 month and is presumed dead.

Interesting facts:

Drew Peterson is an Illinois police officer. (He resigned after Stacy disappeared.)

A former fiancee has said that after she broke off their engagement, Peterson gave her traffic tickets after then arrested her for not paying the fines.

His second wife has said that Peterson told her that he could kill her and make it look like an accident.

His third wife died, and her body has been exhumed - she died in 2004, in a death ruled an accidental drowning even though the bathtub allegedly had no water in it.

The last time that Stacy Peterson's family reportedly saw her was late in the evening on October 27th (around 11:30 p.m.).

Drew Peterson says that he last saw Stacy around 12 hours later, in the morning of October 28th.

Stacy's cell phone was last used on October 28th, at 9 p.m.

The search has expanded to using sonar technology that helps find bodies in water.

Drew Peterson has labeled himself a "media sensation," and in addition to the 5-page cover story in People, he's appeared on NBC's Today show, twice, and ABC's Good Morning America, as well as on Greta Van Susteran's show and Geraldo Rivera's ....

And, in all this media play, Drew Peterson is busy proclaiming his innocence and talking about possible scenarios to explain Stacy's disappearance. She ran off with another man. She just ran off. You get the idea.

As a lawyer, I shake my head. If there's anything Mr. DREW Peterson should remember, it is how Mr. SCOTT Peterson's taped statements were used against him by prosecutors.

And, as a lawyer, I'd like to point out that the only concrete evidence against Scott Peterson was that he cheated on his wife. There was no direct evidence that Scott Peterson murdered Lacy, and he got the death penalty. (Not that I don't think that Scott killed Lacy, I'm just talking direct evidence here.)

Drew Peterson is being very, very stupid, from a lawyer's perspective. This stuff is going to get used against him, later. Of course, the prosecutors must be loving it.

2 comments:

A Voice of Sanity said...

(Not that I don't think that Scott killed Lacy, I'm just talking direct evidence here.)

And yet the evidence of Scott's innocence is overwhelming and evidence of his guilt is totally lacking. Consider:
• A visibly pregnant woman vanishes from her home. No signs of a crime can be found - anywhere - ever.
• Her body turns up four months later, found on the shore of San Francisco Bay, a place where many other bodies have been dumped.
• Her uterus has been cut open by someone unskilled in medical procedures.
• The fetus and the placenta are both missing.
• Some distance away, the body of her child is also found.
• He shows no signs of prematurity, he is full term and he is not curled up in the fetal position.
• The fetal cord has been crudely cut.
• A piece of twine has been double knotted around his neck, not to harm him but to keep his body wrapped in plastic bags to protect it. One of the bags is found nearby.
• The mother is wearing underwear with a wear pattern which shows she has worn it for the whole period of her abduction - 111 days.
• Her clothes are still on her body, something which could not happen unless they were retied after the baby was removed. It also shows she was in the water for a day or two at most.
• Her uterus is two to three weeks post partum, showing that she lived at least that long after the baby was removed from her body.
• Although the body of the mother is simply discarded in the sea, either from the Albany Bulb or more likely from Point Isabel (it has been suggested in the Hoffman channel), the body of the baby is carefully laid on the shore at Point Isabel so it can be found and buried. This is clearly the work of someone who cared for the baby.

What part of this does NOT look like a failed fetus napping, where both mother and child have died?

Unknown said...

VofS,
Thanks so much for the comment. You made me think -- I've never heard the argument of a failed fetus-napping. In fact, I'm going to bring it up to my friend Diane Fanning, a well-respected true crime writer who wrote Baby Be Mine, involivng a murder/fetus-napping book to get her thoughts on your argument.