Scott Peterson Kin: Focus on Laci

ByABC News via logo
January 19, 2003, 9:09 PM

Jan. 20 -- The family of Scott Peterson is backing him up amid increasing suspicions that he is not telling all that he knows about Laci Peterson, his pregnant wife who has been missing nearly a month.

"We have just tried to remain and keep our focus on praying for Laci's safe return, and doing everything we can to make sure people are watching for her," Scott's sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, told Good Morning America Monday. "As her due date approaches, we need to expand our efforts and keep looking."

Last week, Peterson's husband Scott, a 30-year-old specialty fertilizer salesman, became the object of increasing scrutiny when his wife's family said police presented them with "very recent" photos of him and a girlfriend.

"Two weeks ago, Laci's stepfather Ron Grantski asked Scott if he had a girlfriend. Scott told him 'no' and Ron believed him," Kim Peterson, a family spokesperson said at a press conference Friday. "Now, however, they believe he has lied to them about this and possibly other things as well."

Family Knows Nothing of Pictures

But Janey Peterson said that Scott Peterson's family knew nothing about the alleged pictures of him and a girlfriend.

"We have no knowledge of that," she said. "We haven't seen the pictures, and both our family and Laci's family have not wavered from our stance that Scott had nothing to do with Laci's disappearance. So we need to keep our focus on looking for her and bringing her home."

Scott Peterson, who denied allegations of a girlfriend in an interview with San Francisco-Oakland television station KTVU, said he intends to establish his own volunteer center soon in Modesto to follow up one established by the Carole Sund-Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation.

That center closed Thursday after three weeks distributing thousands of fliers across California and establishing a $500,000 reward fund.

The 27-year-old Modesto woman was eight months pregnant and expecting her first child when she disappeared on Christmas Eve. Scott Peterson said he last saw his wife about 9:30 a.m. on the day of Christmas Eve, when he left to go fishing at the Berkeley Marina. He said his wife told him she was taking the family dog, McKenzie, for a walk at a nearby park.