I began working in my father’s law firm at age 16. He was a practicing criminal defense lawyer and had represented many high profile clients including John Ehrlichman, Jim Brown, John Lennon, and Roman Polanski. After school I would work at my father’s law firm on Wilshire Blvd which was within walking distance of our house. After passing the California Bar, I became a prosecutor for the City of Long Beach and later for the County of Los Angeles. I spent 14 years prosecuting crime. I have filed and prosecuted just about every crime in the California Penal Code. I worked several special units as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney including hardcore gangs, domestic violence, sex crimes, public integrity, and career criminal. I then was assigned to investigate crimes surrounding the construction of the Belmont Learning Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Six law enforcement agencies failed to find crimes after three years of investigating. After six weeks of being assigned to this investigation, I presented a viable suspect to the District Attorney. This suspect was later removed from office and prosecuted on felony charges. One month later I was working for Scott Peterson investigating the disappearance of his wife. The Peterson case was the greatest injustice I have ever seen in my 27 years of practice in the criminal courts. Simon and Schuster contracted to publish my book about the case. The book is entitled Presumed Guilty, and it includes the real facts about the disappearance of Laci Peterson.
I left the case because I felt key evidence that would have been helpful to Scott's defense was being ignored by the lead counsel on the case. Most importantly, six unrelated, highly credible witnesses independently called Modesto Police to tell them they saw Laci Peterson alive and well the morning of December 24, the day after the police claim Scott Peterson had killed her. I spoke with all of them. None of them testified at his trial. After his conviction, I wrote Presumed Guilty with full support and assistance from Scott and his parents.
At the end of April 2003, soon after the arrest of Scott Peterson, I began living full time in Modesto, California, investigating the case against him. There were over 100 different police officers who took reports in what was initially a missing person's investigation. I carefully and repeatedly read through approximately 30,000 pages of police reports, dispatch logs, and witness statements all related to the disappearance of Laci Peterson and the case against Scott. All police documents were identified by a Bates number. The following relevant third party culpability evidence was never presented to Scott Peterson’s jury. These witness statements are documented in police reports, and they tell the story of what happened to Laci Peterson.
A strange van was parked across the street from the Peterson house the morning Laci disappeared. The van was there at the time Laci went walking with her dog. Two witnesses reported seeing this van at that location to the Modesto Police Department. Neither witness had seen the van in the neighborhood before. Both witnesses describe to police the same unique details on the van. Because the van had tinted windows, the witnesses could not tell if people were inside the van. Later in the morning that same van was seen speeding from a location close to where an eyewitness, Diana Campos, had seen Laci and her golden retriever walking being followed by two men who were verbally threatening and harassing her. (Bates 1734, Bates 15818, Bates 2412) Witnesses heard a woman’s screams near that same location at the same time. (Bates 1773, Bates 14815)
Laci’s body was wrapped in duct tape when it was recovered. The autopsy report stated that the victim was “missing her head, hands and feet." Her baby had been sealed in a bag with duct tape. (Officer Phillips Cross Exam 5/19/04)
The evidence seems to indicate that this was an abduction murder, not a domestic murder.
Starting at the location where witness Campos saw Laci being verbally harassed and followed by two men, three witnesses independently and separately reported to police that they saw Laci’s golden retriever running home by himself through the park with his leash still attached. (Bates 4558, Bates 2689, Bates 2392) None of these witnesses testified at Scott Peterson’s trial. Many of these important police reports were ignored. The witnesses in these reports tell the story of what was going on the morning of December 24, 2002, in the Peterson neighborhood.
Between 1999 and 2002 six pregnant women in addition to Laci were reported missing and presumed dead within 80 miles of Modesto. Two of those pregnant victims disappeared on satanic days of sacrifice, according to the satanic calendar. They disappeared within months of each other. Their mutilated bodies were both found in the San Francisco Bay. Both victims were missing their hands, feet, head, and all internal organs.
Berkeley, California, is a city on the San Francisco Bay. Laci and her baby washed up next to Berkeley. The other pregnant victim washed up across the bay from Berkeley. Berkeley is home to three major satanic cults. The largest is the Church of Satan which was founded there close to 40 years ago. Laci and Conner were found one mile down current from this satanic artwork in Berkeley. I took these photos May of 2003.
Physical evidence emerged from baby Conner's body that suggests he may have been handled outside of the womb. This includes a piece of black electric tape holding the baby's earflap folded over. That evidence, which could have contained crucial fingerprints or DNA, was subsequently discarded.
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Baby Conner had been placed in a bag sealed with duct tape. The bag was weighted down with metal. These pieces of evidence seen in the photographs disappeared after being taken into police custody. They were never presented to Peterson’s jury. The Target Products bag the baby was placed into was taken from the Richmond Bridge construction site close to where the bodies were found. This photo of the Target Product bags was taken in May of 2003 under the Richmond Bridge.
In the Scott Peterson discovery a police report documents that another Modesto woman claimed she was abducted into a brown van and raped by satanists near the Peterson home two weeks prior to Laci’s disappearance. During the rape, a satanic ritual was conducted. She was told that the group was going to murder someone on Christmas Day and that she would read about it in the newspapers. The victim identified everyone in the group by name. She told police that the group frequently stays at the Woodward Reservoir, a campground fifteen miles from Scott and Laci’s neighborhood. (Bates 4560)
A CHP report was pulled from the Scott Peterson discovery and was written by a CHP officer soon after Laci disappeared. (Bates 1506.) Officer French Modesto CHP. “Arrested male for possession of heroin. Traveling from Merced to Hayward. During search of vehicle, found a tape recorder. Recorder was a conversation of something strange. A blurp where arrestee is discussing a pregnant woman and something about taking her to a reservoir. Almost sounds like he said the name Laci.”
The group owed money on their van. I bought the note and repossessed the van into my custody in June of 2003. Stains inside the van tested positive for human blood, but there was an insufficient amount to do DNA testing.
This same group was identified in a possible abduction two blocks from Laci’s house the night before she disappeared. (Bates 2419 ) They were also identified by an eyewitness committing a burglary across the street from the Petersons' house the morning of 12/24/02 at the time Laci was on her walk. (Bates 00016) When questioned, the group admitted that they were in Laci’s neighborhood, but had driven the 15-mile distance from the Woodward Reservoir to the Peterson’s neighborhood to get parts for their van. In June of 2003 there existed 22 stores which sold auto parts on the route to the Woodward Reservoir.
According to police reports, another woman eight months pregnant was harassed by two men the morning of December 24, 2002, only five blocks from Laci’s house. (Bates 1757) The woman reported that she was harassed by these two men outside of her store for about 45 minutes. I spoke to her June of 2003. One man came into the store as the other man drove his car to the back of her store. Because of their behavior, she thought they were trying to abduct her. As soon as one of them entered the store, she ran and locked herself in a room until they left. After hearing what happened to Laci the same morning just five blocks away, she was certain they targeted her because she was pregnant. She told me the incident had a huge emotional impact on her life. The car used by the suspects was registered to two people from the airport district.
According to Modesto Police reports, there were six criminal incidents reported in Laci’s neighborhood between the night of December 23 and noon on December 24. These incidents are all documented in Modesto Police reports. The police identify four suspects in these crimes. All four individuals come from the airport district of Modesto. Why are all of these airport district criminals committing serious crimes in Laci’s neighborhood at the time she disappears? One of the suspects had a 666 tattoo across his forehead. (Bates 2392) Felons were active in Laci’s neighborhood when she disappears. These suspicious circumstances were never investigated. (Bates 4146, Bates 221)
A Modesto Police report indicates an eyewitness saw the home across the street from the Petersons burglarized the morning of December 24. (Bates 13) She identified the same brown van I had purchased as being involved.
Soon after Laci’s disappearance an inmate made a phone call from prison during which he reported to his brother that one of the men convicted in the burglary across the street from the Peterson’s house said that he had confronted Laci that morning. (Bates 15255) The tape recording of this conversation disappeared while in police custody.
The tools used by the burglars and left behind at the crime scene disappeared while in police custody.
The burglars falsely claimed the burglary occurred days later and received reduced sentences. When one of the burglars was questioned by police, the first words out of his mouth were, “I had nothing to do with the pregnant woman.” That line of questioning was never pursued by the interrogating detective. (Bates 4104)
The two men convicted in the burglary across the street from the Peterson house, Donald Pierce and Stephen Glenn, lived together in the airport district of Modesto, one mile from the Peterson home. (1407 Tenaya Dr.) At the time of Laci’s disappearance a man named EKD from Texas was also staying at this house.
The man with 666 tattooed on his forehead lived next door (1406 Tenaya Dr.)
The satanic group who promised that they were going to murder someone on Christmas Day (Bates 4560) associated with the house behind them. (417 Kerr Ave.)
The convict who made the call from prison discussing Laci lived across the street (418 Kerr Ave.).
An informant from the airport district with whom I developed a relationship during the summer of 2003 knows all of these subjects and said that they all associate with each other.
Police were so focused on Scott Peterson that they failed to make the following connections:
A white van was seen by two independent witnesses in front of Laci’s house the morning of December 24. (Bates 16, Bates 2412, Bates 15818)
A third witness saw the same van speeding away from the area where Laci was last seen walking, a woman’s coat caught in its door. The witness got a partial license plate on the van of Texas GH4. (Bates 4558 and Bates 1733)
A man from Texas named EKD was identified by police staying at the home of convicted burglars Stephen Todd and Donald Pierce soon after Laci’s disappearance. EKD was released and never questioned by MPD.
Starting on 1/23/03, the Modesto Police Department started receiving taunting phone calls from Texas. The caller claimed to know where Laci’s body parts were. ”They are spread throughout Texas” the caller said to police each time he called. Laci’s hands, feet, and head were never found. (Bates 15265, 15294)
My involvement in the Scott Peterson case vastly altered my attitude. What I learned in six months of investigation differed starkly from what the jury heard – what was either not offered or considered inadmissible. The difference is so substantial that, in my opinion, a different result would have been obtained.
At the conclusion of my book about the Scott Peterson case, Presumed Guilty, I ask the question: “What if the jury had heard about everything that I know? Would it have made a difference?”
I believe beyond a reasonable doubt that it would have.
Below is additional satanic artwork from the same location.
