Laci Peterson

[MavsFanFinley]

Not sure how many of you have followed the case of the missing pregnant woman from Modesto, CA, but there was breaking news in the case tonight.

Yesterday afternoon they found a newborn baby boy washed ashore in Richmond, CA. Today, not even a mile away, they found a body of a female that washed ashore.

The Modesto Police Department was flown in, as this was an area that they searced thoroughly about a month ago, I guess.

It's only a couple miles away from the marina where Scott Peterson, the husband that is suspected in the case, said he was fishing on Christmas Eve, the night she was last seen.

The father of Laci, Dan Rocha, told the media he hoped it was her so they could have closure. It's the not knowing that is killing them.

It should be known that nothing has been proven/tested yet, but it certainly has shaken up our town tonight.

Here's a story from the AP:

Police in Laci Peterson Case View Unidentified Body

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Police in a San Francisco Bay-area town tried to determine on Monday whether bodies of a headless woman and a fetus that washed ashore were Laci Peterson and her unborn child, whose disappearance last Christmas Eve became a national mystery.

"There was a fetus found yesterday and today there was a female body found," Richmond police officer Hector Esparza said. "It was washed up from the bay."

The baby's body was still attached to an umbilical cord, a news report said.

Asked if the badly decomposed body was that of Peterson, Esparza said: "We don't know that."

Police have found no trace of the 27-year-old since she was reported missing by her husband, Scott, on Christmas Eve, despite a huge police effort, extensive national news coverage and a $500,000 reward. She was due to have the baby in February.

Peterson was from the central California city of Modesto, and Modesto police helicoptered to the scene in Richmond, just north across the bay from San Francisco, to assist in the investigation on Monday.

Police said an autopsy would be needed to determine the cause of death of the corpses, but did not say how long that would take.

The Contra Costa Times reported that the head and legs of the body found on Monday were missing and said it was apparent that the woman had been pregnant,

Peterson's husband Scott, who has been described by police as less than helpful in the investigation, has said he learned of his wife's disappearance after he had returned late in the day on Christmas eve from fishing in the same bay where the bodies were found.

In January, Scott Peterson admitted publicly that he had been having an affair with another woman.

The Laci Peterson case reminded many of the story of another Modesto resident, Chandra Levy, who had just completed an internship in Washington D.C. when she vanished on May 1, 2001. Her skeletal remains were found more than a year later in a Washington park.

The disappearance of Levy, 24, dominated the U.S. news for much of the summer after links surfaced between the dark-haired intern and Democratic U.S. Rep. Gary Condit. The Modesto congressman lost his bid for reelection despite police assurances that he was not a suspect in her death.