Another witness saw dog

A high school teacher says he may have seen Laci Peterson and her dog in East La Loma Park on Christmas Eve -- the day family members reported her missing.

Mike Chiavetta, a neighbor of Peterson's in the La Loma district of Modesto, said he told police that he clearly remembers seeing the golden retriever, McKenzie, at about 10:45 a.m. as Chiavetta played catch with his own dog. That time is about a half-hour after another neighbor says she returned McKenzie to Scott and Laci Peterson's back yard.

Chiavetta, a history teacher and water polo coach at Modesto High School, described McKenzie's long hair and said: "It's a pretty distinctive dog."

He said he cannot be sure, but someone may have been walking the dog along a fence next to an orchard. "I remember looking over, and, in my mind, I see a woman with a big white smock and black leggings."

Reward posters noted that Peterson was last seen wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and black pants.

"I wish I could say, 'Yeah, I saw a pregnant woman in the park,'" Chiavetta said. But he cannot be certain and told police as much, he said.

The bodies of Peterson, 27, and her unborn son, Conner, washed ashore in San Francisco Bay in mid-April. Within days, police arrested her 30-year-old husband. He is charged with double murder and faces the death penalty if convicted.

The criminal complaint accuses him of killing his wife "on or about and between" Dec. 23 and 24.

Two other La Loma-area residents say they are sure they saw a "very pregnant" woman -- they believe it was Peterson -- walking her dog the morning of Dec. 24, the same day that Chiavetta might have seen her.

Chiavetta said he clearly remembers seeing dozens of people in the park that day. He said he ran into an acquaintance and they remarked on the large number of parkgoers who, they surmised, were off work the day before Christmas and enjoying the sunshine.

Others who say they saw Peterson and her dog that day also remembered clear weather. But data at the Western Regional Climate Center show fairly clear weather in Modesto on Dec. 22 and 23, with mist setting in at about 6 p.m. Dec. 23 and lasting at least through Christmas.

Recalling a tan van

Homer Maldonado, a 59-year-old commercial painter, is among those who remembers clear weather on Dec. 24. He said he saw Peterson between 9:45 and 10 a.m., moments after he left the USA Gasoline station on Miller Avenue, about three blocks south of the Peterson home at 523 Covena Ave.

"There's no question it was her," Maldonado said. "I said to my wife, 'Did you see that woman?' She was really pregnant and having trouble with the dog."

Helen Maldonado said she was putting change in her purse and did not see the woman.

The Maldonados both said they saw an older model, tan van parked at the gas station, and said the van reeked of cigarette smoke. Homer Maldonado said the van had white curtains in the side and rear windows, and a roof rack and chrome ladder.

An older model, tan or light brown van figured in the early investigation into Peterson's disappearance. Police said they were looking for such a van -- full-sized, with one or two doors in the rear -- in connection with a burglary across the street from the Petersons' home.

Investigators said they were looking for short, dark-skinned men. Maldonado, however, in telling about his van sighting, described one of the occupants as white.

Police eventually arrested Steven Wayne Todd, 36, and Donald Glenn Pearce, 44, in connection with the burglary. Todd is 6-foot-1 and Pearce 5-foot-9; both are white with fair skin.

Police said the burglary took place at about 6:30 a.m. Dec. 26 and the duo were not involved in Peterson's death.

Last week, investigators located a brown van that Peterson's defense team claimed may have been involved in the case.

The van's occupants agreed to let investigators examine the vehicle, and it was towed to the state crime lab in Ripon, according to the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.

Several people associated with the van were investigated, interviewed and determined to not have any involvement in Peterson's disappearance, the district attorney's office said.

The defense team had access to the van on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

'I'm sure it was Laci'

Vivian Mitchell, who lives on Buena Vista Avenue about three-quarters of a mile from the Maldonado sighting, has told police that she saw Peterson walk by between 10 and 10:30 a.m. That would have been 15 minutes to a half-hour after Maldonado's sighting.

"I'm sure it was Laci on Christmas Eve morning," Mitchell, 79, said.

Mitchell said she was at her kitchen sink and saw Peterson and her dog walk east on La Sombra Avenue and then turn north on Buena Vista.

Mitchell and her husband, Bill, said they were sure it was Dec. 24, partially because the sun had come out after several days of damp and foggy weather.

Bill Mitchell, a former three-term Modesto city councilman, said he was flipping through television channels when his wife called to him.

"She said there was a pregnant lady with a beautiful dog," Mitchell, 84, said.

Some observers criticized that account because Mitchell had mentioned looking for college football, and there were no such games televised on Christmas Eve. But Mitchell later clarified that he had been searching Christmas Eve for information or previews of bowl games to be played in the next few days.

The Petersons' neighbor, the one who spotted their dog with muddy leash attached, said she returned McKenzie to his yard between 10:10 and 10:17 a.m.

That would appear to conflict with the Mitchell sighting of about the same time, about three-quarters of a mile away.

Though the neighbor initially estimated retrieving the dog at about 10:30 a.m., she soon after reconstructed her day by reviewing the time on a receipt from a store that she visited immediately after putting the dog away.

The neighbor said she also reviewed a record from using her cellular phone at the store. She said she timed more trips to the store, revised her estimate and told police immediately.

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com.

Bee staff writer John Coté can be reached at 578-2394 or jcote@modbee.com.

This story was originally published June 6, 2003 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Another witness saw dog."