# Why is everyone so interested in Laci Peterson?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [April 20, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825 "2003-04-20T08:14:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/21 "2003-04-20T21:23:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Rockford \*
> \*\*So you’re saying that women who are abused by their husbands are personally responsible for being victims? Right. :rolleyes: \*\*
if they don’t leave or throw the guy in jail, then yes.
---
### Author:  [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/22 "2003-04-20T21:25:29Z")
Oops - I TOTALLY posted to the wrong thread. I have now reposted in the Mothman thread. Sorry all.
---
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/23 "2003-04-20T21:35:58Z")
Oh, everyone loves a good murder–look at the old newspapers and books (and I mean going back centuries), and _murder! mayhem!_ and _dirty work at the crossroads!_ have always been public catnip. Always have, always will. Doesn’t mean it’s “more important” than whatever war happens to be going on at the moment; it’s just human nature.
---
### Author:  [@El\_Gui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Gui)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/24 "2003-04-20T21:36:14Z")
I think one reason it made headlines was that it occurred in Modesto. That town was in the news during the Chandra Levy (her hometown)/Gary Condit mess. I believe Modesto also figured in the Cary Stayner murders of three women recently (a victim’s wallet was found there, discarded by the killer to confuse police).
I was in Mexico during the Xmas holidays and the missing persons case of Laci was even reported there by Mexican media! The only other reason I could figure was her pregnancy at the time.
---
### Author:  [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/25 "2003-04-20T21:39:06Z")
Because the **War on terror** is over and done with, now the media can go back to reporting on the REALLY important news:rolleyes: .
---
### Author:  [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/26 "2003-04-20T21:43:41Z")
As usual, **Eve** nailed it. It’s just great news. Even if it’s just _today’s_ news.
It’ll be something just as enthralling within weeks. It always is.
I personally am interested in it, but I’m a murder case reader. However, lately I’m more interested in the Richard Scrushy/HealthSouth debacle that’s going on here. _That’ll_ be extremely newsworthy everywhere, very soon…if it isn’t already.
---
### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/27 "2003-04-20T21:44:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by CLedet \*
> \*\*Somethings wrong with you google. I get 298,000 hits in .13 secs. That includes a fan club and someone who made pizza for him. \*\*
Different googles. Regular Google does indeed return 298,000 entries. Searching the [Google News database](http://news.google.com/) returns 1,500.
---
### Author:  [@jujuju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jujuju)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/28 "2003-04-20T23:09:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \*
> \*\*2 out of three ain’t bad. And i’ll buy your arguement once a missing black woman gains so much media exposure. Laci Peterson can go get bent, i am sick of hearing about her. Ladies, stop marrying guys who will kill you. Hopefully Scott Peterson will soon be dead, and then maybe i’ll stop hearing about this stupid case and we can get back to real news.
>
> and
>
> ## quote:
>
> ## Originally posted by Rockford So you’re saying that women who are abused by their husbands are personally responsible for being victims? Right.
>
> if they don’t leave or throw the guy in jail, then yes.
> \*\*
so, if she doesn’t come back from the grave and leave him, it’s her fault?
---
### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/29 "2003-04-20T23:19:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Monty \*
> \*\*Oh. And for all the folks who say that the media’s only interested in Blonde, blue-eyed, Whites: Laci wasn’t blonde. \*\*
His mistress is blonde.
---
### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/30 "2003-04-20T23:45:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jwhee \*
> \*\*so, if she doesn’t come back from the grave and leave him, it’s her fault? \*\*
since she can’t seem to read warning signs before hand. Her family seemed to care for her, maybe she should have left and lived with them.
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/31 "2003-04-21T00:34:05Z")
Good grief, Tars! Have you made the Guinness Book with that many asusmptions in one swoop? Everyone who’s been interviewed throughout the last four months has been saying how loving the couple’s been. Evidently, it’s only you who can see the warning signs. Share some of those signs with us, if you don’t mind.
Oh, there was a Black-haired, brown-eyed, Filipina, 12-year old who went missing in the Monterey area just a few years ago. That case hit America’s Most Wanted. So, you can buy my argument now, I guess.
---
### Author:  [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/32 "2003-04-21T00:35:31Z")
Yeah I was wondering about all the interest in her too. Yeah, I think it’s because she is a good-looking white woman who was middle class or higher.
Her pictures (and her husband’s) will sell a lot of copies of the New York Daily News.
---
### Author:  [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/33 "2003-04-21T00:36:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \*
> \*\*since she can’t seem to read warning signs before hand. Her family seemed to care for her, maybe she should have left and lived with them. \*\*
Have you had a surgeon cut a hole in your belly button so you can see and type with your head that far up your ass?? From now on, I’ll refer to it as the **Tars Tarkas** surgery.
---
### Author:  [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/34 "2003-04-21T01:13:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> since she can’t seem to read warning signs before hand. Her family seemed to care for her, maybe she should have left and lived with them.
Yeah, blame the victim.
Jesus, I don’t even know where to begin. :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/35 "2003-04-21T01:19:11Z")
One reason this has stayed in the news (among other reasons) is that the family has kept it in the news.
The same arguments were used for the exposure Elizabeth Smart received, but if it wasn’t for the families not letting the media forget we would have been on to the next news story within a day or two.
---
### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/36 "2003-04-21T01:55:57Z")
**Diane** , ditto Chandra Levy. It makes sense when it’s a case of a missing person, as the Laci case was till a couple days ago. If the families are savvy enough to manipulate the press for maximum exposure, I have to say, more power to them. Publicity worked in the case of E. Smart, though it turned out not to help in Chandra’s and Laci’s. Can’t blame them for trying.
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/37 "2003-04-21T02:15:48Z")
Let’s remember that it was Laci’s family that kept the case in the news. Scott’s family is on the “the Police are Nazis” bandwagon now.
---
### Author:  [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/38 "2003-04-21T07:50:49Z")
At least they finally stopped talking about O.J. fucking Simpson.
---
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/39 "2003-04-21T12:52:31Z")
Maybe Scott will use the “Mothman kidnapped her” defense.
I can’t believe John Kerry got that many hits.
---
### Author:  [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/40 "2003-04-21T13:20:55Z")
As much as I’d like to believe that the Modesto connection makes it an interesting newspiece, I think that’s a feeble grasp at best. I think the real underpinning of this story’s popularity lies in its marketability. And for those who doubt the pull of a beatiful white girl-next-door attraction, I’ll offer [this story](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/21/OTHER.TMP) from today’s San Francisco Gate:
> [@](#):
>
> But it is also the story of 24-year-old Evelyn Hernandez of San Francisco, who vanished last May 1 with her 5-year-old son, a week before she was to deliver a baby boy. Her torso was found in the bay three months later and identified, while her son remains missing. No arrests have been made.
>
> Hernandez’s case barely registered in the community and in Bay Area television news shows and newspapers, while the eyes of the nation seemed to be fixed on the search for Laci Peterson.
The circumstances are eerily similar. For those of you who want to read into it a racial tone, I’m sure there’s ample fodder.
I personally tend to agree with the fact that the family has done a good job keeping the media interested in the story, but there’s more than one reason this has been played up so much.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825.md?page=3)