People seem to be divided on whether they think he's guilty or not, what's everybody else's take?

This is just my thought, and I admit I did not follow this case much and am not as familiar with all the details as everybody else is. Okay, the case was highly circumstantial, but this seems to speak volumes in itself. Your wife who is 8 months pregnant, disappears, you take your sweet time to notice she's actually missing, and then can't stop saying the word missing. Everybody else is out searching, you're out playing golf, or going fishing. Before your wife disappeared, you TOLD your new girlfriend that she WAS dead and you were getting over her. Shortly after your wife is missing, you sell her car, this says you don't believe she's coming back, and if she's only MISSING, why won't she come back? And if you know she's NOT coming back, why aren't you upset about this?

Okay, the body was decapitated and the hands and feet were severed too, clearly the killer wanted to avoid identification, but it was ID'd anyway, and HOW was she ID'd for that matter? And again, for all the world can read of you, you don't care, you get arrested, and note get arrested JUST in time to be found with your appearance changed, $15,000, 4 cell phones, a gun, and Viagara on your person, go to trial, again for the most part you just don't care. You are not upset by the graphic details about what happened to your wife and your unborn son, even when you are found guilty and given the death penalty, no readable response.

Now, prosecutors don't have to supply a motive or even prove it, but I think if you're a self proclaimed 'horny bastard' who has several extra-martial affairs and are ALREADY into telling your floozies that your wife is dead, a live wife and a newborn child are going to cause a BIG cramp in you choice lifestyle. But instead he gets his mouth piece to say it was a Satanic cult, it was a prostitute, it was everything short of the Easter bunny, and none of them make any sense whatsoever.

We don't have the blade he used to dismember his wife, we don't have a crime scene, but we have a husband who has NEVER mourned the loss of his wife and child and behaved immediately after her disappearance as though he KNEW she would not be returning, or as if he had forgotten she existed in the first place. None of this says innocent in my book and I hope his appeal is denied.

I think he's totally guilty and very smug about it. It always seems to me like he's trying to keep his face from smirking.

Supernova wrote:

Okay, the body was decapitated and the hands and feet were severed too, clearly the killer wanted to avoid identification, but it was ID'd anyway, and HOW was she ID'd for that matter?

The bodies were identified by DNA.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=3134

My thoughts on Scott Peterson? I don't waste my time thinking about him in the first place.

I don't have any thoughts on him.

Shale wrote:

You bring up some very valid points.

It is just like the OJ Simpson case. Not entirely convinced of his innocence but if I was on that jury, with what I know of that trial I would have voted to acquit.

I was once on a mock jury (lawyers pay these ppl to come in and listen to their case) From the evidence presented I knew in my gut that the sleezebag was guilty - but they did not have evidence to convict. That is the problem with trials - you have to go with the facts not the feelings. [/color][/size]

the media sucks too... as soon as someone is arrested it's "he's guilty". i know i have said before that my close family member was sentenced to 3 life terms... im not saying he didnt do it.. im saying he didnt do it when they said he did. we even had him on video tape at a party. smh 27 years later, the guy is still in jail.

i also have read so much about jeffrey macdonald, which joe mcguiness wrote as guilty in order to sell more books and a tv movie. after reading the book his defense attorney wrote about the evidence that was not permitted at trial and in his appeals... i just KNOW that man is innocent.smh

i could never be a juror...but then again, maybe i would make a great one.. cause i would be analyzing every single point lol

wants2laugh wrote:

By that time, he was already persecuted in the press. What bothers me most about this case is that FIVE other pregnant women were found the same way---within a couple miles of each other. Laci was the only white woman, so she got the press. I have family in Modesto, and the majority of people there were pissed that there was little investigation/fan fare over the other women. the ppl there truly think it was a serial killer... and if so, then peterson either did them all, or he is innocent. he could have copy catted it... BUT the fact that this possibility of a serial killer was never brought up is suspect to me. since the defense never brought it up at trial, it leads me to believe that the judge kept it out and we just dont know it.

I have two questions pertaining to the other murders that make it look like this could be a serial thing...the other women who were murdered, who had life insurance out on them? And for how much? Scott Peterson was the beneficiary for $250,000 when Laci died, he only couldn't collect it because he'd already been convicted by then so it went to her mother instead. Did these other women have high insurance policies on them that would make it look like a spouse did it?

They haven't poisoned him to death yet?

AtownPeep wrote:

They haven't poisoned him to death yet?

I guess they got outvoted on the dynamite, eh?

Supernova wrote:

I have two questions pertaining to the other murders that make it look like this could be a serial thing...the other women who were murdered, who had life insurance out on them? And for how much? Scott Peterson was the beneficiary for $250,000 when Laci died, he only couldn't collect it because he'd already been convicted by then so it went to her mother instead. Did these other women have high insurance policies on them that would make it look like a spouse did it?

Considering life insurance as a motive is kinda weak. im not saying that ppl dont kill for money... but MOST married couples that i know have life insurance, especially those who own property together. And the spouses are usually the beneficiary. I was married, had a house at 21, and a $200,000 life insurance policy. So... if my car brakes failed adn i died, it must mean that my hubby killed me?

I now have a $250,000 policy on me and my bro is the beneficiary. so i guess if im killed then my bro did it. please.. responsible adults have insurance. does not make the beneficiary the murderer.

as far as the other women, then only news agency that reported it was the Modesto Bee... and i was told the story was buried in the back of the paper. the women were poor minorities. i doubt they had insurance. it wasnt until a pretty white girl from a "good home" got killed that ppl paid attention. those other murders are still unsolved... so as i said, either peterson did them all or he didnt do his wife. just my observation.

http://www.pwc-sii.com/Research/research/serial.htm#stories



Women Missing in Modesto Area

The idea that a serial killer is responsible for Laci's death has generally been scoffed at. People find it hard to believe that a serial killer would target pregnant women. These people might think twice if they knew how many pregnant women are missing in California, and especially from the Modesto area.

We have done some very interesting research on the number of missing women -- pregnant women -- in the DOJ records. Their disappearances are unsolved. Perhaps because no one in LE is looking for a common denominator that identifies this as a serial killer pattern. Reviewing this information might change some minds about the possibility that a serial killer is responsible for Laci's murder.

Click here to search the CA DOJ database and get updated information on a missing person in California.

4Case Stories

4Some things in Common

4Perry Monroe



Case Stories

Thousands of Californians vanish each year, far from the glare of the media spotlight. As of Dec. 31, 2001, more than 35,000 adults – 19,785 men and 15,357 women – were listed in the state Justice Department's missing persons database. Of those, more than 4,300, or about 12 percent, disappeared under unknown or suspicious circumstances. In Modesto, at least 10 women are missing, several under suspicious circumstances. They don't all get the media spotlight like Chandra Levy or Laci Peterson, but they are missing nonetheless, and perhaps there is some connection among some of them that links to a serial killer.

Evelyn Hernandez - Pregnant, found in the SF Bay, fetus not found, 5 year old son still missing

Jeannine Harms - South Bay, 42 yrs old, disappeared July 21, 2001, body not found, skull found much later in San Mateo County Update

Toni Clark - pregnant, disappears

Karen Modaffi, Last seen S.F. Lands End 1997.

Kristen Smart - San Luis Obispo Cal Poly student Freshman?

TERA SMITH ~ 16 years old, vanished ~ August 22, 1998 Source

HEATHER MARIE CARPENTER ~ 22 years old, Aug 2003 Source

Angelina Evans, eight months pregnant. She disappeared from Sacramento in late 2001, she went for a walk and never returned. Sacramento Police should have information on this missing individual.

Consuelo Lomeli (8 months Pregnant) last seen 05/03/2002 in Tulare: (Near Fresno) 3 daughters unknown whereabouts Source

Guadalupe Areias - (8 months Pregnant) last seen 11/26/2001 Longview WA, 1 daughter whereabouts unknown Source

Jeanette Gomez Espeleta - (8 months pregnant) Last seen 11/17/1998 Fullerton Ca Source

Ornaith Murphy (Husband also missing) - Last seen 12/16/2001 aboard her vessel Sola III which was docked in Jack London Square. Ornaith is missing with her husband Kieran Murphy. For further information refer to Kieran Murphys internet record. Jack London Square is in the Berkely/Oakland/San Francisco/Bay Area! Near the Bulb. Source

Wendy Jamie Abrams-Nishikai - Last seen 10/31/89 Berkely Police Department reporting agency Source

Amparo Aguilar - Last seen 12/20/1999 East Palo Alto (Bay Area) reporting Source

KRISTEN MODAFFERI went missing June 23rd 1997 Source

Kathy Irene Sweet, 32, had been dead only a few hours when a Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy found her nude body inside a pickup parked in a north Modesto almond orchard Jan. 14, 1998. Sweet also used the name Kathy Irene Meadows and sometimes went by the name Cindy. Her body was found in the 3900 block of Coffee Road, near the Silverwood Mobile Home Park. (January 18, 2003 by Modesto Bee)

Teiaar Nakea Rowe - Detectives said Friday they believe someone dumped Teiaar Nakea Rowe's body in a walnut orchard near here after killing her elsewhere. A farm worker came across the body, clad in only a black-and-white skirt, Wednesday morning in the orchard off Austin Road northeast of Manteca. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department reported Friday that officers had located Rowe's car in south Stockton. The 24-year-old victim was from Citrus Heights, in Sacramento. (June 21, 2003 by Modesto Bee)

Lynsie Ekelund, 22, disappeared from the family's Placentia home on Feb. 16, 2001. Source

Ruth Bender, 33, was last seen getting into a green van at the Greyhound bus station in Modesto. Source

Ruth Leamon, 37, went to a Modesto store for a Coke and never returned. Source

Rarely getting any media attention, these vanished women may never be found. One mother expresses the pain that all must feel:

When Elizabeth Smart was found in a Salt Lake City suburb, nine months after she was snatched at knifepoint from her bedroom, Lynsie Ekelund's mother sent the family a congratulatory e-mail. But inside, she seethed.

"My daughter is just as important as any other missing person out there," she said. "I should've been happier for Elizabeth Smart's family, but in my heart, I asked: 'Why couldn't it have been me?'" She pauses, choking down tears.

"I want something good to happen to my daughter."

Some things in Common

One problem with identifying a serial killer is police departments operate in a vacuum. There doesn't seem to be any central investigative team in the state that looks specifically for evidence of a serial killer, much less one that works among different states. Our researchers, amateurs without specialized training, have noted some very obvious common factors in several of the disappearances/murders, especially with those in the area of Modesto or the SF Bay.

College: University of Berkeley, Cal Poly, and University of Davis

Health conscious: Athletic clubs, gyms, parks, running

Nurse's training

Articulate, attractive

many were pregnant or thought to be pregnant

Perry Monroe


Another common factor is the number of bodies found in water, suggesting a fascination with water, or with cleanliness. We have also completed extensive research on Perry Monroe, who is implicated in the murder of Ladonna Milan.

Milan was murdered in Boulder City, Nevada, but 29 year old Monroe lived in Alameda, California, with his parents. He was found sleeping in a car in Fresno when he was arrested. He grew up in Alameda, and attended the University of California at Davis. Monroe began a four-week road trip through Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida on June 6 and Milan disappeared in Nevada on June 22.

Las Vegas police Lt. Tom Monahan quickly enlisted the aid of Police Departments in other states to determine if Monroe was a serial killer, but just as quickly ridiculed the suggestion Monroe may have been responsible for Laci Peterson's death. He was so annoyed at the suggestion that he immediately called the MPD to tell them there was absolutely no connection. We find this very strange.

Monroe apparently used a hack saw to dismember Milan. He put her torso, arms, and legs in the fishing pond at Veteran's Memorial Lake, and the hands were found in Monroe's car. The head and feet were not found at either location.

Homicide experts initially believed Milan's killer had prior experience at handling dead things, but nothing in Monroe's background suggested he was a predator or prone to violence, according to early reports on the story.

Monroe's case was disposed of very quickly and quietly as he was committed to a mental institution.

wants2laugh wrote:

http://www.pwc-sii.com/Research/research/serial.htm#stories



Women Missing in Modesto Area

The idea that a serial killer is responsible for Laci's death has generally been scoffed at. People find it hard to believe that a serial killer would target pregnant women. These people might think twice if they knew how many pregnant women are missing in California, and especially from the Modesto area.

We have done some very interesting research on the number of missing women -- pregnant women -- in the DOJ records. Their disappearances are unsolved. Perhaps because no one in LE is looking for a common denominator that identifies this as a serial killer pattern. Reviewing this information might change some minds about the possibility that a serial killer is responsible for Laci's murder.

Click here to search the CA DOJ database and get updated information on a missing person in California.

4Case Stories

4Some things in Common

4Perry Monroe



Case Stories

Thousands of Californians vanish each year, far from the glare of the media spotlight. As of Dec. 31, 2001, more than 35,000 adults – 19,785 men and 15,357 women – were listed in the state Justice Department's missing persons database. Of those, more than 4,300, or about 12 percent, disappeared under unknown or suspicious circumstances. In Modesto, at least 10 women are missing, several under suspicious circumstances. They don't all get the media spotlight like Chandra Levy or Laci Peterson, but they are missing nonetheless, and perhaps there is some connection among some of them that links to a serial killer.

Evelyn Hernandez - Pregnant, found in the SF Bay, fetus not found, 5 year old son still missing

Jeannine Harms - South Bay, 42 yrs old, disappeared July 21, 2001, body not found, skull found much later in San Mateo County Update

Toni Clark - pregnant, disappears

Karen Modaffi, Last seen S.F. Lands End 1997.

Kristen Smart - San Luis Obispo Cal Poly student Freshman?

TERA SMITH ~ 16 years old, vanished ~ August 22, 1998 Source

HEATHER MARIE CARPENTER ~ 22 years old, Aug 2003 Source

Angelina Evans, eight months pregnant. She disappeared from Sacramento in late 2001, she went for a walk and never returned. Sacramento Police should have information on this missing individual.

Consuelo Lomeli (8 months Pregnant) last seen 05/03/2002 in Tulare: (Near Fresno) 3 daughters unknown whereabouts Source

Guadalupe Areias - (8 months Pregnant) last seen 11/26/2001 Longview WA, 1 daughter whereabouts unknown Source

Jeanette Gomez Espeleta - (8 months pregnant) Last seen 11/17/1998 Fullerton Ca Source

Ornaith Murphy (Husband also missing) - Last seen 12/16/2001 aboard her vessel Sola III which was docked in Jack London Square. Ornaith is missing with her husband Kieran Murphy. For further information refer to Kieran Murphys internet record. Jack London Square is in the Berkely/Oakland/San Francisco/Bay Area! Near the Bulb. Source

Wendy Jamie Abrams-Nishikai - Last seen 10/31/89 Berkely Police Department reporting agency Source

Amparo Aguilar - Last seen 12/20/1999 East Palo Alto (Bay Area) reporting Source

KRISTEN MODAFFERI went missing June 23rd 1997 Source

Kathy Irene Sweet, 32, had been dead only a few hours when a Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy found her nude body inside a pickup parked in a north Modesto almond orchard Jan. 14, 1998. Sweet also used the name Kathy Irene Meadows and sometimes went by the name Cindy. Her body was found in the 3900 block of Coffee Road, near the Silverwood Mobile Home Park. (January 18, 2003 by Modesto Bee)

Teiaar Nakea Rowe - Detectives said Friday they believe someone dumped Teiaar Nakea Rowe's body in a walnut orchard near here after killing her elsewhere. A farm worker came across the body, clad in only a black-and-white skirt, Wednesday morning in the orchard off Austin Road northeast of Manteca. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department reported Friday that officers had located Rowe's car in south Stockton. The 24-year-old victim was from Citrus Heights, in Sacramento. (June 21, 2003 by Modesto Bee)

Lynsie Ekelund, 22, disappeared from the family's Placentia home on Feb. 16, 2001. Source

Ruth Bender, 33, was last seen getting into a green van at the Greyhound bus station in Modesto. Source

Ruth Leamon, 37, went to a Modesto store for a Coke and never returned. Source

Rarely getting any media attention, these vanished women may never be found. One mother expresses the pain that all must feel:

When Elizabeth Smart was found in a Salt Lake City suburb, nine months after she was snatched at knifepoint from her bedroom, Lynsie Ekelund's mother sent the family a congratulatory e-mail. But inside, she seethed.

"My daughter is just as important as any other missing person out there," she said. "I should've been happier for Elizabeth Smart's family, but in my heart, I asked: 'Why couldn't it have been me?'" She pauses, choking down tears.

"I want something good to happen to my daughter."

Some things in Common

One problem with identifying a serial killer is police departments operate in a vacuum. There doesn't seem to be any central investigative team in the state that looks specifically for evidence of a serial killer, much less one that works among different states. Our researchers, amateurs without specialized training, have noted some very obvious common factors in several of the disappearances/murders, especially with those in the area of Modesto or the SF Bay.

College: University of Berkeley, Cal Poly, and University of Davis

Health conscious: Athletic clubs, gyms, parks, running

Nurse's training

Articulate, attractive

many were pregnant or thought to be pregnant

Perry Monroe


Another common factor is the number of bodies found in water, suggesting a fascination with water, or with cleanliness. We have also completed extensive research on Perry Monroe, who is implicated in the murder of Ladonna Milan.

Milan was murdered in Boulder City, Nevada, but 29 year old Monroe lived in Alameda, California, with his parents. He was found sleeping in a car in Fresno when he was arrested. He grew up in Alameda, and attended the University of California at Davis. Monroe began a four-week road trip through Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida on June 6 and Milan disappeared in Nevada on June 22.

Las Vegas police Lt. Tom Monahan quickly enlisted the aid of Police Departments in other states to determine if Monroe was a serial killer, but just as quickly ridiculed the suggestion Monroe may have been responsible for Laci Peterson's death. He was so annoyed at the suggestion that he immediately called the MPD to tell them there was absolutely no connection. We find this very strange.

Monroe apparently used a hack saw to dismember Milan. He put her torso, arms, and legs in the fishing pond at Veteran's Memorial Lake, and the hands were found in Monroe's car. The head and feet were not found at either location.

Homicide experts initially believed Milan's killer had prior experience at handling dead things, but nothing in Monroe's background suggested he was a predator or prone to violence, according to early reports on the story.

Monroe's case was disposed of very quickly and quietly as he was committed to a mental institution.

Several of these women were all 8 months pregnant when they disappeared, those we can assume were connected with a serial killer, the rest, I'm not sure about. Of course then it becomes a question of did the killer KNOW how far along they all were? And if he did, HOW did he know? Because how by chance do you just happen to find so many women who are all the same amount of time along? After a while I stop believing in coincidences and if a guy is specifically targeting women 1 month from their due date, how would he go about doing that? Also, I notice several of those women mentioned are listed as 'never seen again', so does this mean their bodies were never found or just 'not alive'? Because if their bodies weren't found, how can we determine that it WAS a serial killer, and that they all met the same grisly end? The problem is there are more questions than answers, and most likely will always be.

yeah.. but the possibility of a serial killer leads to reasonable doubt... and reasonable doubt leads to a not guilty verdict.

true that theses women were primarily from several areas, Scaramento, Modesto, SF.... but truck drivers have been known to be serial killers before... perhaps that is his truck route? perhaps he works in the medical field and bounces from hospital to hospital.

finding an 8 mos pregnant woman isnt that hard... those women are going to be really big and look it. PLUS, and i had no idea never having had a baby.. there is a big controversy in the pregnancy world over how long a women is pregnant and "how many weeks" is a month.... i thought it was the most ridiculous argument ever.. because months are 4wks plus so many days... some women say "3 mos" but are actually 13 weeks.. its soooo retarded!!!

wants2laugh wrote:

yeah.. but the possibility of a serial killer leads to reasonable doubt... and reasonable doubt leads to a not guilty verdict.

true that theses women were primarily from several areas, Scaramento, Modesto, SF.... but truck drivers have been known to be serial killers before... perhaps that is his truck route? perhaps he works in the medical field and bounces from hospital to hospital.

finding an 8 mos pregnant woman isnt that hard... those women are going to be really big and look it. PLUS, and i had no idea never having had a baby.. there is a big controversy in the pregnancy world over how long a women is pregnant and "how many weeks" is a month.... i thought it was the most ridiculous argument ever.. because months are 4wks plus so many days... some women say "3 mos" but are actually 13 weeks.. its soooo retarded!!!

This all may be true, but whoever killed Laci knew when and where to strike because there was only 10 minutes between when she went outside to walk her dog and was last seen, and when the dog came running up to the neighbors with its leash covered in mud. We don't know how many people would know her exact schedule, when she would be out, when there would be an opportunity to strike, but few people are going to know that as well as her husband. And maybe he's just a conscienceless sociopath, albeit NOT a murderer, but it seems that he never once expressed any concern about his son's welfare, or even for that matter, excitement at being a father, I guess it just couldn't be squeezed in between all his affairs. But in my opinion, a guy whose wife who's about to pop disappears, and he doesn't care about her OR the kid and doesn't worry about them coming back, he either did something to her or knows what did happen.

Also, this Monroe guy, if I'm reading this right, was only charged with one murder. Maybe just nobody connected the dots, but if he didn't kill the other women, then that leaves room for a second theory about a serial killer. We don't know how many of the pregnant women's bodies were found and how many weren't, but I'm just guessing of the ones who were found, the ones who still had their fetuses, the DNA probably wasn't tested to see who the father of them was. Now, Scott Peterson is already a self proclaimed 'horny bastard', maybe he was a Sperminator as well, and maybe he DID kill all of those women. It would certainly give him experience in knowing how to clean up the crime scenes and destroy evidence before he got to Laci, which would explain why there never was a crime scene found for her murder. Also it would go to motive, if any of those other women were pregnant with his kid, they could demand child support, and he'd be ruined, but if the babies and their mothers go away, then his life remains good until the next problem pops up. It's a theory, and a slightly MORE believable one than Satanists kidnapped and sacrificed Laci and Connor, and then threw them in the water instead of burning them or eating them or whatever's new in Voodoo Vogue.

many killers stalk.. you know that.. and one of the women on that list took a walk and never returned. proves that should you walk a dog, it should be an attack dog with really big teeth LOL

He prob. did off his wife, but he's sitting in jail on some true bullshit. They didn't prove he did it, they couldn't prove he did it, therefore.....he should've been acquitted. I never have been and never will be a fan of convicting somebody based on pure emotion. Just because he cheated on his wife isn't enough to send him to jail. You should send two thirds of the world's male population to jail if that's the case.