Cops Suspected Scott Early On

Just like his in-laws, police were almost immediately suspicious after Scott Peterson reported his pregnant wife missing.

Within hours of responding to his home Christmas Eve, 2002, police summoned a detective — an uncommon practice for a missing persons case, Modesto Police Sgt. Byron Duerfeldt testified Thursday.

Duerfeldt said after receiving the call at about 6 p.m., he first went to a park near the Petersons' home where friends and family had gathered to search for Laci Peterson. Her husband told authorities she had been preparing to walk the couple's dog in the park when he left for a solo fishing trip that morning.

Duerfeldt said he met briefly with police officers there before heading to the couple's home.

"I wanted to make sure that Laci wasn't inside the house, that she wasn't in the backyard somewhere," Duerfeldt testified.

He would soon think differently.

Duerfeldt said he talked to officers who already had entered the house and briefed him on whether they found anything "unusual or suspicious.

"Based on what they told me, I felt it was necessary to have a detective respond," Duerfeldt said.

He was stopped before explaining further because he's not allowed to testify about what others told him.

Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home, then dumped her body from his small boat on San Francisco Bay. His attorneys have speculated someone else abducted her while she walked the dog. They have accused authorities of focusing too quickly on Peterson and ignoring other leads, a detail highlighted Thursday with Duerfeldt's testimony.

When the remains of Laci Peterson and her fetus washed ashore nearly four months later, just two miles from where Scott Peterson told authorities he had been fishing alone, he was arrested.

Duerfeldt's testimony was followed by three more police officers who described the search for Laci Peterson in the park and surrounding neighborhood.

The capital murder trial expected to last up to five months concluded its second week of testimony Thursday.

"Chaotic. Emotional," Duerfeldt said in describing the scene that developed at the Petersons' home that first night.

He said he was peppered with questions from friends and family.

"I was the source of a lot of emotions, questions and anger," he said, adding that Scott Peterson never approached him.

A detective later took over the investigation, Duerfeldt said.

Also Thursday, Peterson neighbor Susan Medina testified about a burglary at her home sometime between Christmas Eve and Dec. 26.

Medina said she and her husband left their home on Dec. 24 around midday. When they returned, their home had been burglarized.

Defense lawyers have hinted that the burglars may have been involved in Laci's disappearance, but prosecutors hammered home the point that the Petersons' dog was found wandering alone in the street before the Medinas left their home, indicating Laci met her demise prior to the break-in.

Police recovered much of the stolen property, arrested two men in the case and ruled out any connection to Laci's disappearance.

Medina later testified she saw "nothing unusual" in the neighborhood that morning.

"You didn't see anybody drag anything out of the (Peterson) house? You didn't see anybody load anything into a truck?" defense lawyer Pat Harris asked.

"No," Medina replied.

"You could see directly what's going on at the Petersons' house in the driveway?" Pat Harris asked.

"Correct," she replied.

Medina said Peterson visited her house with an investigator hired by his former attorney several days after Laci vanished.

"He was crying and he was really upset at that point," she said.

Many of Laci Peterson's friends and family have described Scott as unemotional and indifferent in the days after his wife vanished. They also say that behavior made him suspicious in their eyes.

Prosecutor Dave Harris tried to imply that Peterson conjured up the tears for affect.

"The defendant starts to cry for you?" he asked.

Defense lawyers objected to the tone and the prosecutor moved on with questioning.

Testimony was set to resume Monday with additional police officers taking the stand.