What Cops Saw At Peterson Home

As police swarmed about his house after his pregnant wife vanished, Scott Peterson quickly produced evidence for an alibi - but authorities were suspicious and immediately began checking his story.

Among their first steps was to search the warehouse where Peterson stored the small boat he said he took on a solo fishing trip that day, the boat prosecutors would eventually charge he used to dispose of Laci Peterson's body.

Modesto Police officer Jon Evers testified Tuesday that as he and Peterson walked around the couple's home on Christmas Eve 2002, Peterson volunteered a parking receipt from a marina in Berkeley. He told police he returned from a trip on San Francisco Bay to an empty home.

"I had a quick conversation with Scott about where he went fishing," Evers testified, "and he said, 'In fact, I have a parking receipt. Would you like to see it?"'

But under cross-examination from the defense, Evers was confronted with statements he made during Peterson's preliminary hearing.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos read a transcript in which Evers said he had asked Peterson if he could prove his fishing story, and that is when Peterson produced the receipt.

"Isn't that actually what happened?" Geragos asked.

Evers said he couldn't remember.

Prosecutors allege that Peterson, 31, murdered Laci Peterson in their home on or around Dec. 24, 2002. He could face the death penalty or life without parole if convicted.

The remains of Laci Peterson and her fetus washed ashore nearly four months later, miles from where Peterson said he went fishing.

Evers was the first police officer dispatched to the home. He testified that although he didn't see "any obvious evidence of a struggle," small clues suggested that something was awry.

One was a crumpled throw rug, Evers said. That testimony came a day after one of Evers' colleagues testified that the rug, a wet mop and a pile of dirty towels in the otherwise tidy home seemed suspicious.

Later that same evening, Evers and a detective accompanied Peterson to search the warehouse where he stored the boat and found nothing suspicious.

Peterson's attorneys have accused authorities of conducting a sloppy investigation and focusing too quickly on Peterson, to the detriment of other leads.

They have asserted that someone else abducted Laci Peterson while she walked the dog. Prosecutors allege that Peterson's affair with a massage therapist drove him to kill.

By Brian Skoloff