# 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:** 5
### Author:  [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/81 "2003-04-22T17:53:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by regurgit8 \*
> \*\*It takes more than just being media-savvy.
>
> You have to love your child (or whoever) enough to actually do all these things.
>
> . \*\*
I’ve got a **major** problem with this statement. Are you saying that all of the poor, lower class families that didn’t get media attention when their loved ones went missing just _didn’t love them enough?_ Wow, that’s one **hell** of a blanket statement. :mad:
And **Margo** you said that you think the interest is because she was pregnant. Tell that to the families of the many other pregnant women that go missing that don’t recieve any coverage. But hey, I guess their families just _didn’t love them enough_ :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/82 "2003-04-22T17:55:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by regurgit8 \*
> \*\*It takes more than just being media-savvy.
>
> You also have to be willing to put your personal business out there for the whole world to put their own interpretation on. You have to be willing to live in a glass bowl and give up all your privacy. You have to care enough about your loved one to not just throw up your hands and say, well, there’s nothing poor powerless us can do. You have to love your child (or whoever) enough to actually do all these things. \*\*
Well if that was the case, we would still have more diverse coverage of missing persons, yet we don’t.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/83 "2003-04-22T17:57:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by regurgit8 \*
> \*\*. You have to care enough about your loved one to (snip) . \*\*
I was gonna chime in the last time some one used this phrase WRT the relatives of those who are missing.
I absolutely reject this- you cannot at all, IMNSHO, judge from outside the amount of caring some one has for their missing loved one based on their contacts with the media. I do not accept that all of those other folks we **don’t** hear about don’t love their child/relative as much as Laci Peterson’s family did Laci (for example).
Some lack resources (ability to take time off from work for example), some have a more fatalistic attitude towards life, but I wouldn’t assume that they some how cared ‘less’ about their missing than the Sharps et. al (the ‘cared less’ is implied when you use the phrase “they cared enough about their loved one”)
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### Author:  [@regurgit8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/regurgit8)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/84 "2003-04-22T18:07:04Z")
You all didn’t read my entire message. I said that there are people who HAVE THESE RESOURCES and don’t use them because they don’t care enough.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/85 "2003-04-22T18:08:21Z")
Have to agree with **wring** et al. here.
Implying that those who fail to get their story in the national media spotlight somehow care less about their missing family members is ridiculous and offensive.
People cope with awful circumstances like this in different ways. Following **regurgit8** ’s simplistic logic, people who don’t cry at funerals are not simply people who grieve in a different way; they are people who don’t care enough about the deceased.
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### Author:  [@DeskMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeskMonkey)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/86 "2003-04-22T18:15:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by wring \*
> \*\*I know that the body didn’t have a head on it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there was an intentional decapitation.
>
> :: pure speculation ahead::
>
> a rope tied around the neck with a weight, various, um biological things going on in the water, etc. body floating up high enough to um, get caught in boat propeller…
>
> I agree suicide isn’t a likely scenario, but unless further details have been released re: condition of the body, I don’t think you can be certain that decapitation was an intentional act. \*\*
\*\*Just a note that the following is hearsay. A friend at Easter dinner mentioned that she works with a woman whose husband is a forensic scientist. He knows a forensics guy involved with the Peterson case. At least that’s what she said. Believe or disbelieve at will. Me, I believe her.
I heard that she was beheaded because of the way she was wrapped in a tarp. She wasn’t decapitated on purpose, it was the way the rope was tied.
Yuck.
And I for one must say that I’m fascinated by this case. I think it’s newsworthy because it’s all unfolding right in front of us. And her family definitely kept it in the media with press conferences and rewards and whatnot. The media latched on to it because she was almost due to have a baby and if she would have been found, it would have been a great coming home story. If she were killed, it would be a tear-jerker that would keep the viewers coming back for more. There may be something to the fact that she’s a pretty white gal, but I’d say it has more to do with her family’s persistence at keeping it front and center.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/87 "2003-04-22T18:18:44Z")
**Reg** - note please, that I said “just the most recent person”.
and frankly, if you mean “they lack the resources” than use that phrase vs. “care enough” OK???
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/88 "2003-04-22T18:32:12Z")
reg: You certainly haven’t been reading what’s in the news either, apparently. Now, why would the County be providing Scott Peterson a public defender if he were, in fact, rich?
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/89 "2003-04-22T18:32:41Z")
I’m placing most of the onus on the media. YMMV
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/90 "2003-04-22T19:37:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Margo \*
> \*\*Duke, I didn’t even think of that! Shows what a devious mind I have, eh? \*\*
Well, I probably only thought of it because of my misspent years reading James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard novels and watching _Unsolved Mysteries_. Come to think of it, that _Unsolved Mysteries_ would be a pretty dangerous show in the hands of an intelligent criminal. “So, here’s an unsolved murder…and here’s why it remains unsolved…”
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/91 "2003-04-22T20:30:31Z")
Anyone want to play devil’s advocate and refute the following?
100 points if you do it Bagdad Bob style 😃
Taken from today’s NY POST…
1. Cops found concrete in his boat, and 2 5-gallon drums of concrete in his house.
2. Washed his clothes as soon as he returned home from fishing.
3. His house reeked of bleach when cops searched it.
4. Peterson blames chlorine in a swimming pool for his hair color, yet they found the hairstylist in San Diego that did it.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/92 "2003-04-22T20:46:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by World Eater \*
> \*\*Anyone want to play devil’s advocate and refute the following?
>
> 100 points if you do it Bagdad Bob style 😃
>
> Taken from today’s NY POST…
>
> 1. Cops found concrete in his boat, and 2 5-gallon drums of concrete in his house.
>
> 2. Washed his clothes as soon as he returned home from fishing.
>
> 3. His house reeked of bleach when cops searched it.
>
> 4. Peterson blames chlorine in a swimming pool for his hair color, yet they found the hairstylist in San Diego that did it. \*\*
1. amount of concrete in boat not specified but neither item is unusual for some one who works in construction type field (I believe the concrete item was mentioned in the press a long time ago and it was noted that it was related to his job.
2. I don’t find that at all unusual. Grubby after fishing, not suspecting anything specific (“Oh, she’s out again, maybe at a neighbors”).
3. Again a subjective statement “reeked” of bleach, the phrase has no specific level attached to it, nor is it totally unusual for a house to smell of bleach (garage that doesn’t have laundry facilities, yes, house, no). If it could be determined that the bleach level indicated several gallons used in a short period of time, no. But I used bleach once in our kitchen as a cleaner and Snookie commented when he came home the place ‘reeked’ of it.
4. Chlorine from pool can damage hair, could have been that after it’d been damaged he chose to color it to minimize how bad it looked.
(again, noting that I am not necessarily saying that he’s not guilty).
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/93 "2003-04-22T20:54:47Z")
That’s fine, thanks, I just hadn’t heard a response to these claims. Didn’t know about him being in construction, most likely because the media is quick to point out concrete was found, but not to offer a simple explanation of it’s presence.
I _still_ haven’t heard one BB style, but I’ll let that slide. 😃
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### Author:  [@Margo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Margo)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/94 "2003-04-22T21:16:32Z")
Lezlers,
You might be careful how you post, because it looks like you attributed something to me that I never said:
“But hey, I guess their families just didn’t love them enough”
I never said that, and I never agreed to that. I did say that I thought the interest was because she was pregnant, until Scott’s family had their interview, I had no idea that another pregnant woman had been found dead in the same area. Why didn’t we hear about it? Her five year old is still missing, that is horrendous. I was simply offering my opinion, I never said it was fact.
Margo
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### Author:  [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/95 "2003-04-22T21:19:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> amount of concrete in boat not specified but neither item is unusual for some one who works in construction type field
IIRC, he is a fertilizer salesman.
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### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/96 "2003-04-22T21:34:25Z")
Because she has nice legs and a good head on her shoulders.
Well, at least she _did_.
Is it too soon to be making disgusting jokes?
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/97 "2003-04-22T21:39:01Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Diane \*
> \*\*IIRC, he is a fertilizer salesman. \*\*
He sure is. 😛
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/98 "2003-04-22T21:50:04Z")
Fuck, what I meant to say was…
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Diane \*
> \*\*IIRC, he is a fertilizer salesman. \*\*
Yeah, well I ain’t buying his shit.
\
[sub]The good ones always come 34 seconds after you post[/sub]
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### Author:  [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/99 "2003-04-23T00:35:16Z")
Regardless of the mechanism behind the media’s fascination with the white, rich, and pretty, I’m wondering what effect that phenomenon leaves on our collective psyche. Subconsciously, do we start viewing the murder of white folks as more gasp-worthy than we view the murder of non-whites who live in less prestigious neighborhoods? Does excessive media coverage of the Elizabeths, Jon Benets, and Lacis of the world send the tacit message that these people are more important than the Temekas, Sun Yins, and Joses that also go missing and get murdered? Are we becoming hypersensitized to foul play done by the hands of one group while becoming desensitized to the same actions done by another?
I’m not here to argue about _why_ the phenomenon exists, but personally I think you’d be a fool to dismiss the importance of race and class. The media will report what it thinks its audience wants to see, and I find the idea of the Smarts having to beg for airtime hard to swallow. Jon Benet’s parents probably didn’t have to woo the media very hard, either. Something tells me that one press conference was really all it took to get the media to latch on to their stories and run with it full steam ahead. Would the media latch on to the same stories if the players were not as rich and not as WASPy? Doubtful.
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### Author:  [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-interested-in-laci-peterson/169825/100 "2003-04-23T00:43:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NurseCarmen \*
> \*\*
>
> Is it too soon to be making disgusting jokes? \*\*
Yes.
**Margo** ,
I realized after I posted that, that you may take it wrong. I had no intentions of attributing that statement to you, it was aimed at **regurgit8** , I’m sorry for the confusion.
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