Woman vanishes on walk

Modesto police and firefighters carried out a massive and futile search along Dry Creek on Wednesday for a woman who is eight months pregnant who disappeared Christmas Eve while walking her dog in East La Loma Park.

By nightfall, there was still no sign of Laci Denise Peterson, 27, who left her home on Covena Avenue about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

She was last seen in the park about 10 a.m. Peterson was reported missing shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday, after her husband returned home from a fishing trip to the Bay Area, police said.

Police said they do not believe Peterson decided to leave without contacting her family.

"That is completely out of character for her," Detective Al Brocchini said Wednesday at a press conference.

By Wednesday night, police still had no clue as to Peterson's whereabouts. Her family has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to her safe return.

Before leaving Tuesday morning, Scott Peterson said his wife indicated that she planned to go grocery shopping and walk the dog, according to police.

Officers located people who said they saw her in the park about 10 a.m. Karen Servas, a neighbor, said she spotted the Petersons' golden retriever about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, his leash attached and muddy. Servas said she returned the dog to its yard, not realizing there might be something amiss.

Police said Scott Peterson tried calling his wife on his cell phone when he finished fishing but was not able to reach her. When he arrived home, he said he found her purse in the house and her sport-utility vehicle in the driveway.

He started contacting neighbors and family members, and then called police, officials said.

Scott Peterson and others began searching the park. The Petersons' home is only about a block and a half from a footpath leading into the park.

Lt. Bruce Able said he and a half-dozen officers went into the park almost immediately, despite the darkness.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department provided two pilots and its helicopter to fly a search pattern up and down Dry Creek, using its giant searchlight. A heat-sensing device also was used.

Able said Modesto officers worked on the case through Tuesday night, returned to the park for another search at daybreak Wednesday and followed up with the most thorough search in early afternoon, with officers walking side by side through the park. They searched from the El Vista bridge downstream to Beard Brook Park, south of Yosemite Boulevard.

In all, Able said, about 30 officers were involved in the search, including six Modesto firefighters who navigated Dry Creek in an inflatable raft and using water-rescue gear. Three police officers on horseback, two on bicycles and some canine units also were involved.

Police checked homeless encampments along the creek, although an officer said many of the homeless had fled, probably because of all the activity.

Police as well as volunteers also fanned out through the La Loma neighborhood, checking alleys and yards.

Friends, family members and neighbors taped missing-person fliers to utility poles and asked nearly everyone who walked or rode past whether they had seen Laci Peterson.

The Petersons have lived in the neighborhood about two years, and friends described the missing woman as cheerful and friendly.

The search involved friends like Jeff Tomlinson of Hughson. He and his wife plan to hold a baby shower for the Petersons in a couple of weeks. Tomlinson said the Petersons are expecting a boy and already have the baby's room ready.

"She's a fun-loving girl," said Tomlinson. "She's always smiling and joking with you."

He was among the friends choked up over the disappearance. "All our families are just getting rolling together."

Laci Peterson, formerly Laci Rocha, grew up in Modesto and graduated from Downey High School in 1993. She and Scott met while students at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. She works as a substitute teacher.

Peterson is described as 5-foot-1, about 140 pounds, white, with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes. She has dimples on both cheeks and a tattoo of a sunflower on her ankle. She was last seen wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and black pants.

Police ask anyone with information about Laci Peterson's whereabouts to call 572-9500.

This story was originally published December 26, 2002 at 9:20 AM with the headline "Woman vanishes on walk."