CNN.com - Detective: Peterson visited bay several times before body found

By Harriet Ryan
Court TV

Scott Peterson Story Tools

MODESTO, California (Court TV) -- Two weeks after his pregnant wife went missing, Scott Peterson made three suspicious trips to the bay where her body was ultimately found, a detective testified Thursday morning.

Modesto Police Detective Al Brocchini, the lead investigator in the disappearance of Laci Peterson, said surveillance teams tailed Peterson to the San Francisco Bay January 5, 6 and 9.

On each occasion, Peterson parked at the Berkeley Marina and "stared into the bay" for a few minutes before driving away, the detective told Superior Court Judge Al Girolami.

Peterson never took his own SUV on the trips and on two occasions rented vehicles immediately before setting out for the hour and a half-long drive, the detective testified. He also said that, when Peterson discovered police were following him as he returned from the Bay January 6, he began "driving erratically" in an effort to lose them.

Peterson is accused of killing his wife in their home and then dumping her body in the bay December 24. Her remains and those of the couple's unborn son washed up on the bay shore in April. Peterson insists he was on a fishing trip in the bay when his wife vanished and had nothing to do with her murder.

The description of Peterson's brief and strange bay visits was not the only damaging testimony the detective offered Thursday, his third day on the witness stand at Peterson's preliminary hearing.

The detective also related the account of Shawn Sibley, a business associate of Peterson and the matchmaker for his extramarital relationship with masseuse Amber Frey. Sibley told the detective that, when she met Peterson at an agribusiness conference in October, he told her he was single and begged her to set him up with one of her friends.

Sibley told Brocchini she agreed "as long as Scott was serious."

"Serious about what?" prosecutor Rick Distaso asked.

"A relationship," Brocchini replied.

On December 6, a few weeks after Frey and Peterson began the affair, Sibley learned from a colleague that Peterson was married and confronted him, the detective testified.

According to Sibley's account, he told her he was a widow.

Defense attorney Geragos, left, cross-examines a witness Thursday.

"He said, 'Look, I'm not married. I lost my wife. Let me break it to Amber,'" Brocchini said. Sibley recalled Peterson sounding "extremely upset like he was crying," the detective said.

He later called back and said he had told Frey the truth: that he was a widow, the detective said.

Brocchini also cast doubt on the efforts of Peterson and his family to search for his wife. His parents and siblings established a separate tip line after becoming frustrated with the direction of the police investigation. Peterson, however, promised to turn over tips from the line to investigators.

But Brocchini tested the pledge by calling in a real tip Modesto police had received. That tipster said Peterson was spotted driving his truck and boat in the direction of the marina at 3 a.m. December 24. According to the tipster, there was a bundle in the boat. Brocchini posed as the tipster, but no one from the Peterson camp ever called to follow up, nor did they pass on the information to police.

Peterson listened intently to the detective's testimony and occasionally passed notes to his defense lawyers. Lead attorney Mark Geragos tried to downplay his client's visits to the marina, pointing out that on Jan. 5, the first day Peterson drove to the bay, the local paper had published a story about dive teams searching for his wife in the water.

"If there was that article, it wouldn't look that suspicious, would it?" Geragos said. The lawyer said detectives "would rather just come to the conclusion that it is suspicious because he's returning to the scene."

Peterson's defense also attacked police handling of a hair found on pliers in the bottom of his fishing boat. An FBI examiner previously testified the hair matched Laci Peterson's genetic profile. Brocchini acknowledged that investigators did not even see the hair until February 11, a month and a half after the crime.

Geragos also grilled the detective about the number of hairs found. Initial police reports indicate officers collected a single hair, but later two hairs were found in the evidence envelope. Prosecutors claim the single hair broke in half in the envelope, but Geragos said that theory was "made up" after the defense began asking questions.

"One hair went in," Brocchini said.

"And two hairs came out. Is this a magic envelope?" Geragos replied.

The cross-examination of Brocchini is to continue Thursday afternoon.