It was a case that drew nationwide attention. The young, radiant mother-to-be with the thousand-watt smile who disappeared mysteriously on Chrismtas Eve. The handsome young husband who seemed, to all accounts, to be a good husband and an excited expectant father. Somewhere along the line, though, something went horribly wrong, and until Laci Peterson and her unborn fetus washed up on a California beach, it was a mystery.
April 28 issue — Scott Peterson was determined to play golf Friday morning, even as forensic scientists were still figuring out whether two corpses that washed up in San Francisco Bay last week were those of his missing wife, Laci, and their unborn son. The 30-year-old Modesto, Calif., fertilizer salesman had managed to avoid the media glare by lying low 450 miles south in San Diego in his newly sprouted goatee and dyed hair. But detectives were watching his every move, tapping his phone lines and tracking him with the satellite Global Positioning System. Scott knew he was being watched—he even gave a cocky wave to the undercover cops. What he didn’t know was that the state attorney general’s DNA lab had just come up with a positive match on the bodies and was now conducting confirmatory tests. Worried that their quarry might make a dash for Mexico as soon as the news broke, detectives decided to pounce. As Peterson pulled his golf bag from his trunk at the Torrey Pines links shortly before noon, detectives swooped down and arrested him at gunpoint.
On the surface, it would seem that Scott Peterson was just arrogant enough to believe that he would never be caught. I wonder, though, what could have driven him to kill his wife? If he were unhappy in his marriage, wouldn't divorce have been a more reasonable (and certainly less violent and permanent) option? Or was Scott Peterson's arrogance enough to drive him to do something profoundly stupid? Whatever the reality, the lives of everyone in both Laci Peterson's and Scott Peterson's family have been irrevocably altered.
I'm not normally an advocate for the death penalty, but if there were ever a reason to argue FOR the death penalty, this case would be it. I'll be very interested to see what fate awaits Scott Peterson- and to find out the rest of the story.
