Police kept returning to husband as suspect

MODESTO, Calif. -- They seemed like a picture-perfect couple. Family photos show Scott and Laci Peterson leaning in close and smiling, always smiling. Friends say they never argued.

But investigators looking for Laci Peterson after she vanished focused on her husband from the start, searching his home, monitoring his movements, and trying to debunk his alibi -- that he was fishing at the Berkeley Marina when his pregnant wife was last seen alive.

Scott Peterson, 30, is now in custody, likely facing double murder charges, after DNA tests identified bodies found about three miles from the marina as 27-year-old Laci Peterson and her unborn child, his umbilical cord still attached.

Since her disappearance on Christmas Eve, police had pursued nearly 10,000 tips, and looked at parolees and convicted sex offenders as possible suspects, but they kept returning to one person: Scott Peterson.

"We haven't been able to eliminate him for a long while," Police Chief Roy Wasden said. "You look to eliminate possibilities and that's what we kept doing and Scott could just never be eliminated."

The fact that no credible information was ever received on tip lines -- even when the award was boosted to $500,000 -- also kept investigators focused on Scott.

"Had anyone known about where Laci was, had any information about where she was and if she was alive, we would have heard about it," Wasden said.

On Friday, hours before the DNA test results were announced, plain-clothes agents who had been tracking Scott Peterson with phone taps and vehicle sensors pulled him over in the San Diego area and arrested him.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer said they feared Scott Peterson might try to flee. His dark hair had been bleached blond and he had a beard.

He was booked into the Stanislaus County jail late Friday and is expected to be arraigned Monday or Tuesday on two counts of capital murder. District Attorney Jim Brazelton didn't say if he would seek the death penalty.

Peterson's attorney, Kirk McAllister, did not return telephone calls seeking comment Saturday.

Authorities have refused to speculate about a motive.

Scott and Laci met in San Luis Obispo, where he worked three jobs to put himself through college.

"The moment he was with Laci, they just beamed at each other," his mother, Jackie Peterson, told the Modesto Bee. "No one else ever made my son smile like that. They did everything right."

The couple married in 1997 and ran a cafe in San Luis Obispo. They sold the place two years ago and moved to Modesto to be closer to her family.

For weeks, the couple's family and friends staunchly stood behind Scott Peterson.

"Scott is devastated," Laci's stepfather, Ron Grantski, said in January. "I know what we're going through, but he's got double. The press is questioning him, but all he wants to do is find his wife."

Days later, Laci Peterson's family severed ties with him after learning he had an affair with another woman. They publicly called on him to help police, who labeled him "uncooperative."

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