Laci Abducted by Cult?

May 23 -- It's a theory that sounds like a script from a 1970s horror flick, but the idea that Laci Peterson could be a victim of a satanic cult was in fact part of the police investigation before her body was even found.

Modesto authorities aren't talking about the satanic cult theory, but early on in the investigation police briefly looked into the idea after receiving an anonymous tip, according to a man who was questioned in the case.

Modesto furniture store owner Bill Austin says police investigating Laci Peterson's disappearance contacted him in January and asked him about a possible cult connection.

Store Owner: Police Responded to Cult Call

"Early in the investigation, one of the detectives called me on the phone. He said he had received a phone tip about a cult that was operating out of my building," Austin said.

Austin says he told the detective he knows nothing about cults and doesn't believe one is operating out of his building. He said he never heard anything more about the cult from police after that initial phone call.

The defense team for Scott Peterson, Laci's husband, who has been charged with murdering her and the couple's unborn child, have publicly raised the possibility of a cult connection.

Scott Peterson's high-profile defense attorney, Mark Geragos, told People magazine in its June 2 issue that he is working on a number of scenarios for Laci's death, including one in which members of a satanic cult abducted her in a brown van.

In the People interview, Geragos also suggested a link between Laci's Dec. 24, 2002 disappearance and the unsolved case of another pregnant woman, Evelyn Hernandez, who went missing on May 1, 2002 and also later washed up in San Francisco Bay. Geragos said that both dates mark holy days on the satanic calendar.

But Richard Ofshe, author of Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria, says organized satanic cults are a complete myth.

"I think you'd be better off suggesting Saddam Hussein really did it," Ofshe told ABCNEWS.