Peterson Set to Answer Charges

Scott Peterson, the Modesto fertilizer salesman who is suspected of killing his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay, is scheduled to appear before a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge today to answer to charges of murder, authorities said Sunday.

Peterson, who authorities say was planning a run for the Mexican border, was arrested Friday with about $10,000 in cash and other evidence that reportedly suggested a flight risk, according to law enforcement sources. Authorities declined to comment on that evidence Sunday, but they handed out a booking photograph of the 30-year-old Peterson showing that he had dyed his hair a lighter color and grown a goatee.

Laci Peterson, 27, was eight months pregnant when she was reported missing on Christmas Eve. Her parents and other relatives have maintained a public silence since her badly decomposed remains, as well as those of the Petersons’ unborn son, washed ashore last week. On Sunday, a spokeswoman said the relatives would break their silence today.

Suspicion focused on Scott Peterson when it was learned he had been having an affair with another woman, although it wasn’t until recently that authorities formally named him as a suspect. In an interview given to Time magazine on Sunday, Scott Peterson’s parents insisted that their son was innocent and that police had “bungled” the investigation. They claimed too that investigators had discounted other possibilities for Laci’s disappearance and that their son did not intend to flee the country. They could not be reached for comment.

At a brief news conference Sunday, a spokesman for the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department said that Peterson had met with his attorney, Kirk McAllister, Saturday evening.