Store Tapes Studied for Laci Peterson Sighting

Police in Washington state are reviewing surveillance tapes from a store where a clerk reported that several weeks ago a pregnant customer had said she was being kidnapped.

The clerk, who said she forgot to call police, later wondered if the woman was Laci Peterson and notified police Saturday.

Police in Longview said Thursday that they have not finished reviewing the surveillance tapes to determine if the customer might have been Peterson, who disappeared from her Modesto home on Christmas Eve.

The clerk told police that a pregnant woman who looked like Peterson came into her store with a much older man.

When the man stepped away from the counter, the woman said she had been kidnapped and asked the clerk to call police.

The clerk told police she meant to report the incident immediately, but was waylaid by other things and it slipped her mind.

Weeks later, she saw television news stories about Peterson’s disappearance and remembered the encounter, she said.

By then, however, she couldn’t remember whether it had happened before or after Christmas Eve.

“That’s the problem. She’s not sure,” said Longview police Sgt. Dan Jacobs.

“We’re going to look at tapes and see if we can see anything,” he said.

Modesto police said they had not been formally notified of the possible sighting and had no plans to head north to investigate it.

“We’ve got too many leads down here that appear more substantial,” said Det. Doug Ridenour.