This is about the missing pregnant woman in Modesto, California. She vanished Christmas Eve day, when her husband said he was fishing alone in Berkely Harbor.
To sum up: he has been the picture of perfect husband, both before and after her disappearance. However, the police now reveal that they have photographs of him with a girlfriend and evidence that he took out a quarter of a million dollar insurance policy on her right after she became pregnant.
Counting down to his arrest . . . 5, 4, 3, 2 . . . .
OK, I know that taking out a life insurance policy on someone is a big red flag when the person comes up missing/dead soon after, and I’m certainly not saying that this guy is above suspicion.
Just for argument’s sake, though, what’s horrible about taking out a life insurance policy on your wife soon after she becomes pregnant (aside from the fact that now she’s missing and may be dead)? I mean, it seems like a smart precaution; I don’t know if Laci was pulling in any income, but presumably the idea is that now that there’s a child in the picture, there would be a bigger financial burden for the remaining spouse if one of them died, so the life insurance could help take care of the kid.
I thought the situation stunk (stank?) from the beginning, even though I hate when I jump to conclusions like that. Where did the photos of the girlfriend come from (I can’t seem to open your link). What a drag.
auntie em, someone here at work made that exact point about the life insurance. I’d say that if a policy was taken out on both parents, it would be one thing, but if it was on just her, then it doesn’t look so good. The article doesn’t specify which was done, however.
I thought about that, too, but then thought about the possibility that there may have been a life insurance policy on him all along, you know, since he’s the “Man of the Family” and all. Maybe the idea was that if she died while they were still childless, he’d be fine, but if HE died, children or no, she should be “taken care of”.
I find it a bit strange that the picture of Scott at the VIGIL for his MISSING PREGNANT WIFE shows him grinning from ear to ear, one of the brightest smiles I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure I’d be able to muster that sort of joy if my husband were missing and presumed dead.
ITA, Jar, especially when you contrast him with the rest of her family. They are all haggard, distraught, obviously grieving. He looks like he just won the lottery.
Kalhoun, the article doesn’t state where the police got the photos, but it does state that Peterson and the woman are “posing” together. It’s possible you may not be able to open the article because the site is getting a lot of traffic. This is big news here in the bay area of California.
I thought it was really strange that the rest of the family was so adamant that he had nothing to do with it. How could they possibly know that unless THEY had something to do with it?
I don’t think the insurance policy is that suspicious. I used to work for a life insurance guy and it’s pretty common to add policies for a new addition to the family (as well as if you get a new house or job, any major change like that.) Also…he doesn’t get the money until they find a body (or some other proof of death), does he? If he did do it, why did he hide the body so well that he won’t be able to collect?
The whole girlfriend thing though…smooth move, loser! :rolleyes:
So what if he’s smiling in the one picture they chose to print? How do you know that he wasn’t crying his eyes out in the thirty billion other pictures they chose not to print? Smiling and laughing while surrounded by many others who are NOT close friends and family (not to mention members of the media who want to ask questions and snap shots) is not unusual nor strange. A lot of the time it’s a perfectly normal sign of discomfort and confused emotions–which is what happens when your pregnant wife is missing, there’s media attention and, despite doing all that you can to find your wife, you know that you’re going to be automatically considered a suspect because you’re the husband.
Which isn’t to say that he isn’t guilty, nor is it to say that anyone in this thread was prejudging him solely on that one photo. But I don’t think it’s fair to say that smiling while you’re under immense pressure is strange.
As for the pictures of him posing for another woman: maybe I missed it in the original article, but were they naked in those pictures? Kissing? Screwing? Did the police interview the woman in the photos; and if they did, did she say that the husband and she were having an affair?
The way the police work in the U.S., they seem to never solve the crime unless they can pin it on the spouse/closest relative. Then they report that 90% of all murders are commited by the closest relative, based on the ones they’ve solved, which justifies them focusing all their energy on the spouse.
I don’t know if he did it or didn’t, but like FauxPass, I think a lot of this is premature.
FauxPass, I understand that people smile nervously while under pressure,but have you seen this picture in the link provided? It looks like a bride on her wedding day. It isn’t a nervous smile, or a half smile, or a reassuring smile, it’s a big, wide, toothy smile.
Yea, I’m getting chills looking at that picture too. He looks happy. You add the fact that he was having an affair (while his wife was pregnant no less–way to live up to your responsibilities asshole) with the life insurance and his apparent lack of an appropriate grief response, and he starts looking like a good suspect. On that, I think, we can all agree.
Unless they got a weird photo where he looked happy for a moment because somebody said something that caught him off guard - I don’t think I’ve ever been to a funeral where I didn’t laugh at least once - and the cops are trumping up a friendship into an ‘affair’ because they think he might cave.
If I were to take 150 photographs of YOU at a similar event, I absolutely guarantee one or more of the photos would show you smiling a big, toothy smile. Even at a funeral, you’ll smile to greet people, smile a little joke, smile when someone tells you something has been accomplished or completed. Perhaps a whole bunch of people had just arrived and he was saying “Hey, I’m so happy you came! Thanks for your support!”
With enough still photos to pick and choose from I could prove anything about anybody, using the standards of evidence you’re using.
Who knows, maybe he is guilty, but so far there’s no EVIDENCE being presented. As I recall, everybody was positive Richard Jewell was the Olympic Park bomber, too. I mean, how CONVENIENT that he was there at just the right time, huh?
jarbabyj, I did see the photo in the linked news story, but photos of one instance in time does not a whole story tell. I’ve a friend, for instance, who does not smile more than a thin-lipped offering no matter how humorous he finds the joke/situation. So assuming the opposite might be true ain’t no big thang for me.
Anyway, please don’t think I’m attacking you for finding it odd; I would just hate to see this thread devolve into a summary condemnation of the guy based on questionable circumstantial evidence. (Which, once again, isn’t to say that you were headed that way, but other might jump on the wrong bandwagon and set it aflame in the process.)
They should just throw him in a bear pit, and then maybe i can watch the news without hearing about this story. Other people go missing and die too, local news…
