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CNN SATURDAY MORNING NEWS
Report: Scott Peterson Linked to 1996 Missing Student Case
Aired January 18, 2003 - 09:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the case of Laci Peterson, the missing pregnant woman in California, there are new revelations about her husband, Scott Peterson.
CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us now from Modesto, California, with the very latest on that. Hi, Paul.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
There are more twists and turns here on the West Coast today in the case of Laci Peterson. This morning, "The Modesto Bee" is now reporting that Scott Peterson, Laci's husband, is now being looked into as a possible link, as the headline says, to a missing student. Kristin Smart, who is from Stockton, that's just up the road from Modesto, was 19 years old when she disappeared on May 25, 1996.
Scott Peterson was also a student at the time. He was 24 years old, and they were both attending Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. And according to this "Modesto Bee" article, sheriff's deputies there confirmed that Scott Peterson is being looked into as a possible link to this missing girl.
As for the Laci Peterson story, you may recall here in Modesto the family had put on a unified front for a long time, and in fact Laci Peterson's parents had often said that there was absolutely no way that they could ever think that Scott Peterson could be a suspect in this case, and that this was a perfect marriage.
Well, earlier this week, Modesto police told Laci's parents they believe that he was having a relationship with a woman who also lives here in the central valley.
And now a family spokeswoman for the Petersons -- for, we should say, Laci Peterson's family -- has said that they are no longer thrilled with what's going on with Scott Peterson, and they think that he lied once and he may be lying about other things.
KIM PETERSON, FAMILY SPOKESWOMAN: Laci's stepfather asked Scott if he had a girlfriend. Scott told him no, and Ron believed him. Now, however, they believe that he has lied to them about this and possibly other things as well.
VERCAMMEN: And now as we also look at this, they had a command center, a volunteer command center set up here in Modesto, the town rallying behind these efforts to find Laci Peterson. That command center has now been shut down.
And also, they were going to set up another command center in Los Angeles. There was thought that if Laci Peterson was put in a car, perhaps they should just blanket the Los Angeles area with flyers and get some sort of bearing on what might be going on down there, maybe someone would turn up some new information. But that command center won't be set up in Los Angeles this weekend.
So the latest here in Modesto, "The Modesto Bee" is reporting that they are now looking into Scott Peterson, Laci Peterson's husband, in a possible link to the disappearance of a Stockton girl in San Luis Obispo County, and that was seven years ago.
I'm Paul Vercammen reporting live from Modesto. Now back to you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Paul, let me ask you real quickly, obviously this is very devastating for the family of Laci Peterson. Any reaction from them about this latest possible link to Scott Peterson? And how did police go to Scott for that particular case on the missing student?
VERCAMMEN: This just hit the paper this morning at 6:00 West Coast time. We have not had a reaction yet from Laci's parents. Obviously later in the day we will attempt to contact them and see if we can get anything on it. But right now, this story is hot and fresh off the presses.
COLLINS: Are police mentioning at all how they went to Scott Peterson for that case in particular, specifically what led them to him?
VERCAMMEN: My -- it -- I will make a conjecture here. They're both from the central valley, if you will, I-99. It's not uncommon for students from, let's say, all of these farming towns, Modesto, Turlock, Stockton...
COLLINS: Right.
VERCAMMEN: ... to head to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. He was there at the time she disappeared. Perhaps they are looking into the possibility that they had struck up a friendship, being from the same neighborhood or area. So I believe that that's where they first derived a link. And as often they do in law enforcement, any unsolved cases, they try to establish ties.
COLLINS: All right. Paul Vercammen, of course we will wait to hear more on that. Thank you.
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