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Scott Peterson awaits arraignmentHusband of Laci Peterson kept separated from other prisoners
MODESTO, California (CNN) -- In the two days since he was arrested, Scott Peterson has met only with his attorney in preparation for his first court date Monday to face charges of killing his wife and their unborn child, a spokesman for the sheriff's department said Sunday. Peterson is living in a 6-by-9-foot maximum-security concrete cell fitted with a metal bed, 3-inch-thick mattress, and a stainless steel sink and toilet, Stanislaus County Sheriff's spokesman Kelly Houston said. Peterson is accused of killing his 7 1/2-month pregnant wife and their unborn child. His court appearance Monday will be spent scheduling a formal arraignment on charges of capital murder with special circumstances, Huston said. In the meantime, Peterson is in isolation, separated from the inmate population for his own protection. "There are folks who have an unfavorable opinion of him (Peterson) and, therefore, we've provided him with protection," Huston said. The spokesman said Peterson has no cell mate, and is escorted by deputies whenever he leaves his cell. There have been threats made by inmates against Peterson, but Huston declined to elaborate. The double homicide charge against Scott Peterson constitutes the special circumstances in the case, making him eligible for the death penalty. But, prosecutors have not yet decided whether it will seek that penalty. While their son sat in jail, Scott Peterson's parents criticized the investigation, telling Time magazine that Modesto police "bungled" the probe, misled Laci Peterson's parents and ignored evidence that did not fit their theory. Laci Peterson, 27, disappeared December 24, prompting an intense four-month search that ended Friday when state authorities said DNA tests proved two bodies that washed ashore in San Francisco Bay were the missing Modesto woman and her unborn child. Modesto Police Chief Ray Wasden said divers would return to the area where the bodies were found to search for more evidence. The site is just a few miles from the marina where Scott Peterson said he had gone fishing the day his wife disappeared. Sources close to the investigation said on March 12 and 13 investigators using sonar located something they absolutely believed was a body beneath the bay. Bad weather and ships' wakes -- the area is in the shipping lanes -- kept them from investigating further, however. If what they saw was the body of Laci Peterson, investigators said all that disturbance might have loosened the bodies from whatever was holding them down. Scott Peterson told police he had seen his wife last when he left their home to go fishing early December 24. Police verified a receipt Scott Peterson supplied from a parking lot at the Berkeley, California, marina where he said he was fishing.
Following reports that Scott Peterson had an affair prior to Laci's disappearance, his wife's family backed away from their initial support of him and urged that he fully cooperate with police. Peterson then went his own way, even showing up in Los Angeles -- nearly 300 miles south of Modesto -- at one point to pass out fliers, saying the search area needed to be expanded. In an interview with Time magazine's Jill Underwood for Time.com, Scott's parents said they know their son is innocent and accused police of misleading Laci's parents. "Our son is innocent. We know that. We've known it from day one," Lee Peterson said. "(Laci's parents) know it too," Jackie Peterson added. "They supported him fully until the police misled them and that was to divide and separate him from them." Jackie Peterson said Modesto police discredited anyone who claimed to have seen Laci after a phone conversation she had with her mother on December 23. Her husband said some of those witnesses were "prominent people." "If it doesn't fit their theory, by God, they don't want to investigate it," Lee said. "I just can't be any more emphatic than that." Laci Peterson's family, through a spokeswoman, asked for privacy for the holiday weekend and said they would make a public statement Monday. Saturday, Chief Wasden said police were "never able to eliminate Scott" as a suspect in Laci's disappearance. "It was a process of elimination," he said. "At the outset you have the universe to work from." The sheriff said investigators were "very close" to arresting Scott Peterson even before the headless body of his wife and the unborn boy they had already named Connor came ashore the DNA tests were ordered. The body of the boy, who was due to be born in February, was found April 13 by someone walking along a trail at the Point Isabel Regional Park, which sits on the San Francisco Bay. Laci's body was found washed up on rocks the next day, about one and a quarter miles from the unborn baby's body, authorities said. Those discoveries ignited fears that Peterson might try to flee the country. Peterson had lost weight, dyed his hair lighter and grown a mustache and goatee since he was last seen. "We believed that we were very close to having the information to make an arrest in this case," Chief Wasden said. "Of course, the discovery of the remains really accelerated everything forward. But the detectives were working towards that conclusion. " Moving quickly -- and before the DNA results were in -- police arrested Peterson early Friday in San Diego, where Peterson's parents live. Wasden said police had secured the warrant for his arrest a day earlier.
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