Detective reveals new evidence in Peterson case
From Mike Brooks
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 11:18 PM EST (0418 GMT)
MODESTO, California (CNN) -- A Modesto police detective who investigated the disappearance of Laci Peterson took the stand Thursday to describe suspicious and evasive behavior by her husband both before and after she vanished last Christmas Eve. Al Brocchini testified at Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing that police discovered on December 9, 2002, that Peterson bought a boat and paid for it with 14 $100 bills, according to the man who sold the boat to Peterson.
Brocchini testified he later learned Amber Frey, who was having an affair with Scott Peterson, confronted him December 9 about being married. Frey told police that Peterson explained his wife was dead -- and that the upcoming holidays would be his first without her, Brocchini said.
Frey also told police that Peterson said he would be able to spend more time with her after January 26, Brocchini said.
Peterson, 31, told police he was on the boat, fishing in San Francisco Bay, the day his wife disappeared. Laci's body and that of their unborn son, washed up on shore in April, just miles from where Peterson told police he was fishing. He is charged with their murders.
The man who sold the boat to Peterson told police that it had never been used before in salt water, Brocchini testified. San Francisco Bay is salt water.
After Laci's disappearance was reported, police asked Scott Peterson directly if he was having an affair, Brocchini said. "He said no."
Peterson later publicly acknowledged that he was having an affair with Frey, a Fresno massage therapist. After learning of Laci's disappearance, Frey contacted police. Brocchini said police then began recording phone calls between the two.
Frey, a key prosecution witness, is expected to take the stand next week in the preliminary hearing, which will determine whether there is enough evidence to bind Peterson over for trial.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Brocchini said that when questioned by detectives, Peterson also said his wife -- more than seven months pregnant -- was mopping the floor when he left on his fishing trip. However, the couple's maid has testified that she cleaned the house the day before, and Brocchini said detectives smelled no traces of cleaning fluids, nor saw any signs of mopping.
Brocchini also testified about information police received from a man in San Diego, California, who sold Scott Peterson a car shortly before his arrest.
Peterson paid for the car with 36 $100 bills, and he used his mother's name when filling out the paperwork. The man said when he questioned Peterson about the name, "He said that was the name his parents had given him, kind of a 'Boy Named Sue' kind of thing," Brocchini testified.
"Boy Named Sue" is a song made famous by Johnny Cash about a man given a woman's name by his father.
After his wife's disappearance, Peterson gave police permission to search his house, truck, warehouse and boat, as well as Laci Peterson's Land Rover, Brocchini said. He also allowed police to test his hands for gunpowder residue.
Inside the truck, police found an unopened box of fishing lures, a fishing license that expired in 1999 and a loaded .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun in the glove box, the detective testified. Police also examined his cell phone to get the numbers of calls he had made and received.
Brocchini said Peterson never revealed to detectives that he had more than one cell phone number. But subsequent searches eventually turned up three cell phones, the detective said.
Under cross-examination by the defense, Brocchini admitted that Peterson told police about the gun before detectives found it. He also said that while police had swabbed Peterson's hands for the gunshot residue test, the swabs were never actually tested to determine if he had fired a gun.
Brocchini also said Peterson was cooperative during the questioning and searches of his property.
Police also found a homemade anchor in the boat, made from cement put in a bucket with a hook made of reinforcing bar, Brocchini said. CNN has previously reported that according to a source close to the case that police found evidence Peterson fashioned more of these anchors that have not been located.
In their search of the house, Brocchini said the clothes Peterson was wearing on the day his wife vanished were found in the washing machine. He told police he had washed his clothes and taken a shower after returning home, Brocchini said.
"Did he say why he washed ?" asked Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso. "He said they were wet from the bay and being rained on," Brocchini said.
After police left the house on Christmas Eve, Brocchini said Peterson called him at 2 a.m. on Christmas to ask him if they had taken his gun. Brocchini said he told Peterson that police had taken the gun into evidence -- and that it was illegal to carry a loaded gun in his glove box.
Later Christmas Day, Peterson called Brocchini again, asking him if police were using cadaver-sniffing dogs to search a park near their home. The detective said he told Peterson that the dogs weren't being used because they had no reason to believe Laci was not still alive.
In another development Thursday, defense attorney Mark Geragos raised the question of whether the FBI had made surveillance videos of Peterson after his wife disappeared. He asked Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami to order the FBI to turn over the material.
But Distaso said he knows of no such material.
"We've made multiple requests to the FBI. We've turned over everything the FBI has given us," he said.
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, Nov-07-03, 02:19 PM, (3)