Peterson detective recounts dead ends
By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
REDWOOD CITY, California (Court TV) -- In the end, the spots on the kitchen floor weren't blood, the hair in Scott Peterson's toolbox wasn't Laci's, and the police detectives' "perfect" anchor theory did not hold.
Evidence that seemed to promise insight into the disappearance of Peterson's pregnant wife often led to dead ends, a detective admitted Monday at the fertilizer salesman's murder trial.
The investigator's recounting of fruitless leads underscored the fact that even two months into the capital case, much about Laci Peterson's death remains a mystery.
Prosecutors have suggested Peterson killed the petite brunette in their tidy home, drove her in his truck to a warehouse, packed her in his fishing boat and took her to the San Francisco Bay where he threw her body into the tossing water.
But during cross-examination by Peterson's attorney Monday, the detective acknowledged that a meticulous search of his home, truck, boat and warehouse turned up no sign at all of a violent struggle and only a single strand of dark hair indicating the disposal of a body.
In his fourth day on the witness stand, Modesto police detective Henry "Dodge" Hendee recalled finding suspicious stains throughout Peterson's property when he helped execute a search warrant December 26 and 27, 2002, about two days after the 27-year-old mother-to-be was reported missing.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos ticked off a list of dark spots and smudges that drew Hendee's attention during the two-day search, including areas in the couple's bedroom and kitchen, in the cab and bed of Peterson's truck and on the door and floor of his warehouse.
The defense lawyer showed jurors dozens of photos and diagrams police made of the stains. Only the smudges in the truck cab turned out to be blood, Hendee admitted. The blood matched Peterson's DNA. He told police he had cut himself on the door of the vehicle earlier.
Other than that blood, Geragos asked, "there was no tissue-like debris observed [or] collected anywhere in that truck, was there?"
"No," Hendee agreed.
The defense is trying to convince jurors that there is no blood because Laci Peterson was abducted by a stranger while walking her dog.
Source of cement anchors?
The sole piece of forensic evidence recovered on Peterson's property was a 5- to 6-inch hair Hendee found on a piece of pliers in the bed of the boat. It is consistent with Laci Peterson's genetic profile, but the defense has suggested the DNA analysis was not precise enough and that the hair may have been transferred to the boat by police who were either sloppy or bent on framing Peterson.
Under questioning by the defense lawyer, Hendee revealed the discovery of a second hair. This one, a 7 -inch black strand, was found in tool box large enough to hold a body in the bed of Peterson's truck.
Analysis of the hair apparently proved it was not Laci Peterson's, because Hendee conceded that police later suspected it came from one of the crime scene technicians.
Geragos also grilled the lawyer about a now discredited police theory that Peterson used a water pitcher as a mold for cement anchors to weigh down his wife's body.
"It looks like a pretty tight fit," Hendee said, referring to a photo showing another detective, Allen Brocchini, holding the anchor in the mouth of the pitcher.
He acknowledged Brocchini called it a "perfect" fit, but defended that assessment, saying, "I don't think it was much of a stretch."
He said he did not learn until November 2003, 11 months after the crime, that a prosecution expert had concluded the pitcher was not the mold.
When Hendee testified under direct examination by prosecutors, he did not mention that the expert had debunked the theory and, in fact, seemed to imply Peterson used the pitcher to make four other anchors that vanished with Laci Peterson.
"Why didn't you say it was not a fit" then, Geragos asked.
"I wasn't asked the question," the detective replied.
"By the D.A.," the lawyer shot back.
Hendee agreed.
The detective also testified that police had considered trying to recreate the way they believed Peterson had dumped his wife's body from his boat into the bay. Ultimately, he said, they decided not to.
"Was the reason that you knew it couldn't be done without sinking the boat," Geragos asked.
"No," Hendee said. "If you want my opinion, it can be done."
Peterson, 31, appeared deeply engaged in the cross-examination of Hendee. He pored over police photos at the defense table and handed relevant pictures to his lawyer, who displayed them on a large projection screen for jurors.
Investigations 'complete'
A second Modesto detective, Ray Coyle, also testified Monday. Coyle first took the stand a week ago. After the defense complained that it had not received a report he used to investigate sex offenders and parolees for the crime, however, Judge Alfred Delucchi postponed his cross-examination.
Coyle said that of 309 people on the list, the police had "completed" investigations of 285. Detectives could not track down the remaining 24, he said.
Geragos pressed him on why he did not term the suspects "eliminated." Coyle replied that the term was too definitive and he could only use it with one person: himself.
"I'm the only guy who didn't do it that I'm sure of," he said, prompting laughter from several jurors.
The defense lawyer asked him about several specific people on the list, including a mentally disturbed man. Coyle said the man, whom he did not name, confessed in December 2003 to killing Laci Peterson and said her dog was the only witness. Investigators, however, determined his statements, made while he was being treated in an institution, were the result of his psychological problems.
Coyle is to continue testifying Tuesday morning.
Peterson faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering his wife and the son they planned to name Conner.
