A Deadly Game (11 page)

Grogan interjected, redirecting the conversation to the importance of a timely search. There might be evidence of a stranger entering the home, then cleaning up to eliminate signs of an attack. He also explained that searching Scott's place of business, his vehicles, and his computers might provide clues of a stalker, or even Laci's possible involvement with another man. Scott listened intently, nodding his head as if agreeing with the comments. From his demeanor, the investigators assumed he would agree to the searches. Producing waivers that eliminated the need for a warrant, the detectives asked Scott for his signature.

Scott read the papers intently, then looked up. "You don't expect me to sign these right now, do you? I'm going to have to consult with an attorney before I sign anything."

Grogan shrugged. "Have you retained an attorney?"

Handing back the waivers, Scott replied, "I've made some calls but have not hired anyone yet."

At that point, Sergeant Ron Cloward entered the room and interrupted the exchange. He needed an article of Laci's clothing to use in the canine search. Scott allowed him to take Laci's brown hairbrush, a pink Jones of New York slipper, a pair of Ralph Lauren sunglasses, and a brown eyeglass case. Cloward also retrieved an item of Scott's, a green and blue slipper from the Gap.

"Are you writing down the items that you're taking?" Scott asked.

"Yes," Grogan replied.

As a uniformed officer prepared the slip, Scott interrupted, sliding some papers across the table to prevent the cop from scratching the wooden tabletop as he wrote. As Detective Brocchini noted, it was just like Scott's behavior with Laci's Land Rover: However disengaged he may have seemed from his wife's disappearance, he was clearly eager to protect property that had value to him. As the detective made another note of Scott's "unusual concerns," Cloward offered Scott his receipt for the borrowed items, and Scott readily accepted.

Around 4:30, Jackie and Lee Peterson arrived at the house.

Scott's mother had just left the news conference. She was complaining about Chief Wasden's comment that it would be strange for Laci to go walking without her cell phone. "Everybody knows Laci's cell phone had been dead for weeks," she griped. "So why would she be taking it on walks with her?"

When I read this in the police report, I wondered why Jackie was interpreting this comment as an indictment of her son. She was already feeling the need to protect him. Was this because she knew something about Laci, or simply because she had done it so often in the past?

Brocchini knew that Laci's cell phone was dead. He had checked it the previous evening. If what Jackie Peterson was saying was true, he asked, "then why did Scott leave a message on that cell phone Christmas Eve?"

"I was just repeating what other people said," she snapped. As the afternoon wore on, more officers were dispatched to 523 Covena to assist with crowd control. They were setting up wooden sawhorses to contain the growing throng when a woman ran out of the house across the street, screaming that she'd been robbed. Susan Medina excitedly explained that she and her husband, Rodolfo, had just returned from their holiday in Los Angeles to find their home ransacked. Officers Fainter and Meyers followed her to investigate.

The point of entry was clearly the south side of the Medinas' home at 516 Covena, where a set of French doors had been kicked in. A shoeprint was visible on the right door below the handle. Drawers were open and closets tossed throughout the dwelling. Rodolfo Medina told the officers that a personal safe in the master bedroom, which had been concealed by maroon bedsheets, was missing.

A hammer and a glove were found inside the master suite; the burglar had apparently used the hammer to crack the safe. A hand truck stored inside the owner's tool shop behind the house was now on the porch. The intruder must have used it to transport the safe to the front of the house. In the backyard, police found items taken from the toolshed, including an air compressor and a gas-powered leaf blower. A number of power tools were missing.

Officers wanted a list of people who knew about the Medinas'

holiday plans, and the names of businesses and persons who had been to the residence. They fingerprinted family members before leaving. This burglary would become important to Scott's defense in the months to come.

Across the way at the Peterson residence, an attorney named Ross Lee was meeting with Scott in a rear bedroom. When Lee emerged, he introduced himself as Tradecorp's corporate attorney, and told the officers that he had referred Scott to a criminal lawyer, Kirk McAllister.

Scott returned to the dining room and said he'd left a message for McAllister. He pulled up a chair at the table where his father, Lee, and his sister, Susan Caudillo, were talking with Captain Christopher Boyer. Boyer headed up the Contra Costa County Emergency Services Search and Rescue and was in charge of the canine team as-/ signed to search the area around the Petersons' home. Linda ; Valentin, a dog handler, was also present.

While everyone waited for a call from Scott's attorney, Captain Boyer interviewed Scott in preparation for the bloodhound search. Brocchini listened quietly as Scott responded to Boyer's questions. He paid close attention as Scott detailed the items of clothing he said his wife had been wearing on the morning of her disappearance-the

black maternity pants and white long-sleeved blouse with a crew neck.

"What type of shoes was Laci wearing?" Boyer inquired

Scott replied that his wife was barefoot when he left.

"What shoes does Laci normally wear before she goes walking?"

"White tennis shoes," he replied.

"Were any tennis shoes missing?"

Brocchini was surprised to hear Scott say he hadn't yet checked. Nor had he looked to see if any of her jackets were missing. This critical information could help determine whether she had gone for a walk or was abducted from inside the home.

Captain Boyer left the residence to begin the search, and Brocchini followed him outside. Boyer commented that in his twenty years of experience, this was the first time he had ever been asked for a receipt for items taken to help locate a missing person. Brocchini just nodded.

It was five o'clock before Grogan again asked Scott if he had talked to a lawyer about the search waivers. "Not yet," he replied.

Grogan then pulled some papers from his pocket and began to recite. "I have prepared a search warrant that covers your home, vehicles, boat, and place of work. The searches will be carried out over a period of a few days in a very slow and methodical way to hopefully find evidence that will aid in our investigation of Laci's disappearance."

Scott's reaction was immediate. "Where's the trust?" he demanded, looking directly at Brocchini. "Why did you fill out those forms and ask if you could search, if you already had a warrant?"

It was then that Scott accused Brocchini of tricking him on Christmas Eve. Brocchini had left his keys in Scott's car that first night, and his notebook in Scott's boat. Now Scott was suggesting that Brocchini had staged the whole thing to give him an excuse to go back and take a second look.

"Scott said I took his gun out of his car, and took his mop, mop bucket, and wet towels on Christmas Eve without telling him. I reminded Scott that he consented to the evidence search on Christmas Eve, and I apologized [that] I did not immediately tell him what I had taken. Scott agreed, but said he felt betrayed since I did not tell him about the items I took until he asked," Brocchini noted in his ongoing police report.

Grogan explained that he wasn't confident Scott would allow the search, but had wanted to give him the opportunity to consent. Scott's change of heart over the polygraph, after all, was the only behavior Grogan had to go on. Now the detective told Scott he would have to vacate the house within fifteen minutes, and would need permission to remove anything when he left.

With warrant in hand, Scott strode to the kitchen counter, grabbed a piece of paper, and thrust it at Brocchini. "Here," Scott said. It was a two-day fishing license dated December 23 and 24, 2002. He must have seen the item listed on the warrant. As the investigator placed it in his folder, the telephone rang. It was Kirk McAllister, the attorney. Scott took the call in a back bedroom. Moments later he returned, telling Detective Grogan that the lawyer wanted to speak with him.

McAllister informed Grogan that he now represented Peterson, and had informed his client not to speak further without an attorney present. McAllister knew there were questions his client should address, and Scott would make himself readily available. However, he had advised Scott not to take a polygraph.

Just before six o'clock, Scott Peterson and his family gathered their belongings and headed to the front door. Grogan stopped Scott and asked for a set of keys to his truck, home, and business. Scott handed them over, then quickly left the house. Brocchini and Grogan secured the premises, then left as well.

Grogan and Brocchini then joined Captain Boyer and the other dog handlers in Dry Creek Park, and Grogan listened as Boyer detailed his current findings. Based on the dogs' behavior, he believed that Laci had left the residence in a vehicle, not on foot. After the dogs picked up her scent, they ran right down the middle of Covena Avenue following the trail, rather than tracking on the sidewalk. The primary tracker, a bloodhound named Merlin, started at the Petersons' house, then headed north on Covena Avenue, west on Edge-brook Drive, and then south on Highland Drive. At Santa Barbara Avenue, he turned east until he reached La Loma Avenue. The animal went to the rear of a check-cashing establishment at the corner of La Loma and Yosemite Boulevard, then continued westbound on Yosemite. He stopped in the area of Santa Rosa Avenue, where he turned south.

At that point, Merlin's handler, Cindee Valentin, wasn't sure if the dog was still following the trail. The dog's behavior was now different from when he had the earlier distinct alert, she told Grogan. A deputy lieutenant with the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department, Valentin had joined the Search Dog Steering Committee of the State's Office of Emergency Services a year ago. The agency was responsible for the development and publication of statewide guidelines for all search and rescue dogs in California. Valentin worked as a horse trainer before expanding to professional dog training in 1991. Her unique background also included positions as an evaluator and trainer for several state certifying agencies for working dogs.

Valentin explained that the dog tracking Laci "ran in a manner consistent with a vehicle trail as opposed to a trail left by a person that was walking." Grogan asked Valentin to take Merlin to Scott's warehouse. Valentin agreed, but requested that the pair start at a nearby intersection. She wanted to see where, if at all, Merlin would pick up Laci's scent.

At 9:30 P.M., Detective Brocchini, Lieutenant Valentin, and Merlin were standing at the intersection of Kansas Avenue and Emerald, about three miles south of Scott's business. Valentin herself did not know where Scott's business was. Brocchini watched as the animal sniffed Laci's sunglasses case to pick up the scent, walked around in a circle on Emerald Avenue, then after only a few seconds began trotting south on Emerald.

Brocchini followed Valentin and Boyer as they chased Merlin through the intersection at Kansas. The dog's tail was up as he trotted at a steady pace down the center of the street. Merlin ran into the parking lot of a Laundromat on the southeast corner of Kansas and Emerald, slowing slightly, then trotted back onto southbound Emerald. Merlin continued south on Emerald to Loletta, when Brocchini asked Valentin to stop the dog.

The dog was then returned to the initial starting point. Again he ran south through the intersection, following the exact route he had just taken. The officers stopped Merlin on southbound Emerald near Loletta. The dog handler told Brocchini that there was no doubt in her mind that Merlin was following Laci's strongest scent. That scent was leading him southbound on Emerald. The dog was tracking away from Scott's business, not toward it.

He asked Valentine and Boyer to explain what the "strongest scent" would be if Laci had been driven to a location, remained at that site for an hour or more, then was driven away. They explained that the most recent scent, when Laci left the location, would be the strongest. Lieutenant Valentin then asked Brocchini to take her to the business. She explained that she needed to have a starting place or a stopping place when conducting a bloodhound scent search to testify in court.

Brocchini took Valentin and Boyer to the parking lot of Scott's warehouse at 1027 Emerald, and showed them suite B. The detective watched as she let Merlin out in the center of the parking lot and walked him toward Scott's place of business. Once the dog neared the suite, his tail immediately went up, indicating that he had picked up Laci's scent.

Merlin immediately began trotting eastbound away from the business, down the north driveway. The detective trailed Valentin and her dog east through the parking lot, and followed as the dog again took off southbound on Emerald right down the middle of the street.

The group continued south past Kansas Avenue until they reached the intersection of Emerald and Highway 132. Merlin slowed down at the intersection, appearing to have lost Laci's scent. Deputy Boyer explained that a large intersection with heavy traffic such as this one sometimes mixed up the scent. Valentin said it would take the dog a short time to relocate the scent.