Vigil Held in Modesto for Crime Victims

People with pained faces, wearing T-shirts bearing likenesses of missing and murdered loved ones, gathered here Saturday under a spotlight made possible by a local family that couldn’t bear to come.

Although Laci Peterson’s mother had been scheduled to speak at a vigil honoring her daughter, unborn grandson and other, less visible crime victims in California, Sharon Rocha begged off the engagement in the morning, saying she wasn’t up to it.

“It is just too fresh and too soon for her. The events of the last few weeks just made it too difficult,” said Kim Petersen, director of the Carole Sund-Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation, which sponsored the event.

Petersen noted that Rocha had made her commitment to attend the annual vigil six weeks ago, before the bodies of Laci Peterson and her baby washed up on a shoreline 90 miles away, before her son-in-law had been charged with their murders and before prosecutors had decided to seek the death penalty against him.

After consulting Laci Peterson’s family, Stanislaus County Dist. Atty. James Brazelton announced Friday that he would ask a jury to recommend that Scott Peterson be executed if he is convicted of murdering his wife and their unborn child.

Family members have not said whether they support capital punishment in the case.

“It’s really a very hard thing. There are no winners or losers. Six months ago we were all one big loving family and now we’re talking about life or death for someone,” Laci Peterson’s stepfather, Ron Grantski, told the Modesto Bee after meeting with prosecutors.

“There’s another family involved,” he said. “We’ve lost our daughter and they’ve lost a son. It’s horrible. We have our ups and downs. One day you think you can handle it and the next day you’re a basket case.”

Addressing a crowd of about 300, Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden did not directly discuss the Peterson case, which has brought national attention to this Central Valley town of about 200,000 residents.

“I’m proud of this community, of what we do and how we stand together,” Wasden said.

Modesto has made headlines in other high-profile cases, most recently the disappearance two years ago in Washington, D.C., of resident Chandra Levy, 24, amid speculation about her relationship with former local congressman Gary A. Condit.

Kim Petersen read a short statement on Sharon Rocha’s behalf in which she thanked the community, the news media, law enforcement and the volunteers who spent weeks scouring a wide swath of California for Laci Peterson.

“She wanted to be here so much,” Petersen said.

The crime victims’ vigil has been held in Modesto every year since 1999, the year that a woman and two teenage girls disappeared during a trip to Yosemite National Park.

Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli, 15, both of Eureka, and Silvina Pelosso, 16, of Argentina, were missing for almost a month before their bodies were found.

Modesto became the staging area for the investigation after Carole Sund’s wallet was discovered there.

A hotel handyman, Cary Stayner, was later convicted of their murders and sentenced to death.

Carole Sund’s parents established the foundation that hosts the vigil to honor her and to raise money for families of other crime victims who want to offer rewards leading to their safe return or the victims’ bodies.

Her mother, Carole Carrington, said Saturday that, while watching what the Peterson family is going through brings back bad memories for her, the intense publicity the recent case has generated “has to help. It makes people more aware.”

Francis Carrington, the father and grandfather of the murdered woman and teenager, said he sympathized with Sharon Rocha for declining to attend the vigil.

“There is no way you can understand something like this. You just need time to cope,” he said.

Part family picnic, part memorial and part plea for help, the event featured children singing patriotic songs, a barbecue and friends and relatives carrying posters of murder victims and individuals who have been reported missing.

Booths offered fingerprinting, DNA testing and information about personal safety, while two cars were set up to teach children how to escape if they are ever locked inside a vehicle’s trunk.

The nature of the event meant that, even as people were wandering around eating hot dogs, tears were never far from the surface.

But Tav Williams, whose father, Sacramento lawyer Larry McNabney, was murdered by his secretary and wife two years ago, said it was part of the healing process.

“When something like this happens, your trust in people is robbed from you,” Williams told the audience as she related her experience. “But when I look at the community that showed up here today, you guys are a source of inspiration.”