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In the coming months, I am going to relate tales from the police blotter of crimes, both classic and recent, that either took place in Redwood City and environs or, like today’s tale, when Redwood City played an essential part in the outcome of a criminal endeavor.
For example: although the crime in question took place in Modesto, 90 miles east of Redwood City, our city would play a vital role in how the crime saga concluded.
It was Christmas Eve of 2002 when a heavily pregnant Laci Peterson vanished in Modesto. After Laci’s disappearance was reported to police, some of the officers later said they found her husband Scott unusually calm considering the circumstances. This quickly spread doubt in some police officers’ minds. They decided to keep an eye on him.
The police began a thorough investigation, while the media blew the story into a frenzy that was soon eagerly followed by most people across the nation.
Various pieces of circumstantial evidence and the retrieval of Laci’s body (and that of the unborn baby) from the San Francisco Bay in April of 2003 led to Scott’s arrest that month. A local judge determined that due to a possible bias against Scott in the area of Modesto, the trial should be moved to a more impartial locality. The decision was made in January of 2004 to move the trial to the courthouse in Redwood City. This decision, the judge felt, meant that Redwood City was far enough from Modesto for a fair trial to take place but that Redwood City was close enough to Modesto for witnesses to be able to easily travel to the specified courthouse.
The trial started on June 1, 2004.
Redwood City was a madhouse the entire length of the trial. I well remember driving detours around downtown to avoid the beehive of media activity surrounding the courthouse. News vans and cars clogged the streets in an effort to be among the first to report new developments to a waiting nationwide audience. The eyes of the nation were on Redwood City.
The prosecution highlighted damning evidence, while the defense tried to defuse that same evidence. In late 2004 Scott was found guilty and sentenced to death.
And so the situation rested for many years.
Years later, a hearing took place in 2020 which resulted in a judge in Redwood City overturning Scott’s death penalty and changing it to a life sentence. The reason for this decision was the judge’s feeling that the original trial judge didn’t give potential jurors who opposed the death penalty a chance to put their beliefs aside in order to make a fair and neutral verdict in the trial.
“On December 8, 2021, Scott was re-sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the murder of Laci and to a sentence of 15 years for the murder of the unborn boy. He maintains his innocence.”
Do you have a story of a crime you would like to see featured in Redwood City Pulse? Email me with the details and I will attempt to highlight all the dark tales that makeup part of Redwood City’s rich history.
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