Scott Peterson Sells Missing Wife's Car

Feb. 4 -- Scott Peterson, whose pregnant wife, Laci, has been missing since late December, tried to sell the couple's Modesto, Calif., home, sources close to the investigation into her disappearance said.

Peterson allegedly looked into selling the home, saying he had issues with it and didn't want Laci coming back to it. The deal to sell the home was scrapped about a week after Scott first began looking into it, according to KOVR television in Sacramento, Calif.

But Peterson, 30, reportedly is driving around town in a new truck these days. He traded in his missing wife's Range Rover SUV for a Dodge pickup truck, sources close to the investigation said. It's unclear what motivated the transaction and Modesto police have not commented.

‘A Slap in the Face’

But the news is a blow to Laci's friends and relatives.

"Sharon, Laci's mom, turned to all of us and said, 'You know Scott sold Laci's car, don't you?' And we were all just shocked, absolutely shocked. And we didn't know, I didn't know what to say," Luceene Gee, who has been volunteering in the search for the missing woman, told KOVR.

"My first thought was, 'How cold.' I mean, that's a piece of Laci," Gee said.

Another volunteer commented on how the news must be affecting Laci's mother.

"I felt so bad for her, because it's just like another slap in the face for her," said Bruceene Norton. "She's grieving her child, she doesn't know where she is, she doesn't know what happened to her, doesn't know what's happened to the grandchild. And [he's] sold the car, wants to sell the house. It's heartbreaking."

Heather Sutton, a friend of Laci's, also told KOVR she found the news distressing.

"It was hard to hear that, just because I know that, just by looking at the car, it's totally Laci and by hearing that she loved that car, that was difficult for me. And maybe he has his reasons I don't know," Sutton said.

Family members held a candlelight vigil on Jan. 31 for the 27-year-old Laci and her unborn child, who was to have been named Connor.