A tough time to be a father
Dennis Rocha says he knows he is living "every parent's nightmare."
His daughter, Laci Peterson of Modesto, is missing. Peterson, 27 and eight months pregnant, disappeared Christmas Eve, more than four weeks ago.
"You don't want to be in my shoes," Rocha said Tuesday at his Escalon ranch. It is the base for his tractor, dump truck and water truck service.
He talked easily about his daughter, describing her "bubbly personality," open and loving to everyone. He spoke with difficulty about her husband, Scott.
The Rocha side of the family believes that 30-year-old Scott Peterson was having an affair and lied to police about it, according to what the family said it learned from Modesto police detectives last Wednesday.
The family also claims to have learned from police that Peterson last summer took out a $250,000 life insurance policy on his wife.
In a brief interview Friday with San Francisco-Oakland TV station KTVU, Peterson called The Bee's report on the affair and life insurance "a bunch of lies." Police have neither confirmed nor denied the information.
Rocha said the family remains convinced: "He was questioned early on, and he said 'no.' Then it came out he had one (affair). It showed he lied."
Laci Peterson's mother and stepfather, Sharon Rocha and Ron Grantski, and brother and sister, Brent and Amy Rocha, were unavailable for comment Tuesday, kept from the media by family spokeswoman Kim Petersen.
"All media requests must come through me first," said Petersen, executive director of the Modesto-based Carole Sund-Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation. "And I'm not granting media requests at the moment."
Strangers helping Rocha survive
The case has attracted intense national interest. Rocha said good wishes from people around the country are helping him survive.
"It's like therapy," he said. "I hear from strangers who say they are thinking of Laci and the family. I feel like I have hundreds of new brothers and sisters, and it's comforting."
Rocha has mostly stayed out of the media spotlight, deliberately, he said.
"I show my emotions," he said, adding that he is afraid that he might say or do something that would cause problems either for the family or for the investigation.
Some days he copes, he said. Other days he feels like crawling into a corner and crying.
He said he spends much of his time in his game room. In it, a pool table is covered by personal items, including several photos of Laci.
He picked up a large, framed photo and remarked on her beauty and smile.
"How could someone do this to her?" he asked. "How could they harm someone so nice?"
Scott Peterson said he last saw his wife at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 24, as he left for a solo fishing trip out of the Berkeley Marina and she prepared to go for a walk with their dog.
Law enforcement has searched high and low in Dry Creek and Tuolumne River regional parks, along waterways and in reservoirs. Family members started a reward fund that has grown to $500,000 for her safe return and they have managed to get posters out between Washington state and Mexico.
Not being able to do more has frustrated Rocha.
"It's out of my hands and in the hands of the Modesto police and the FBI," he said. "They will do their very best. They will capture the person who did this."
Peterson, in brief comments Tuesday to The Bee, said he is looking for a new site for the volunteer search center formerly housed at the Red Lion Hotel in Modesto. The center closed last week.
"We still have volunteers who are searching for her. Currently we're working on finding a facility for it. When we have something, we will let everyone know," Peterson said.
At his home, Peterson met with his boss, Eric Van Innis executive director of Tradecorp. Peterson is a salesman for the specialty fertilizer company.
Innis is visiting from Portugal and told reporters that he and the company support Peterson "100 percent."
"He has the spirit of a guy who is going through a difficult situation," Innis said. "He's doing his best."
Bee staff writer Ty Phillips contributed to this report.
Bee staff writer Patrick Giblin can be reached at 578-2347 or pgiblin@modbee.com.
This story was originally published January 22, 2003 at 8:05 AM with the headline "A tough time to be a father."