Sort of like the guy who claimed he saw the DC area sniper in the parking lot of Home Depot. Here we have a clerk who claims that a pregnant woman resembling Laci Peterson came into her store, saying that she had been kidnapped and asking for help. I bet it's either a publicity stunt on the clerk's behalf, or Peterson got to her somehow to plant this "older man with a ruddy complexion" story. But who knows, maybe it's legit. If so, the clerk is a moron who possibly got a woman killed.
According to the clerk, she meant to call police, but got distracted and forgot. Even worse, the clerk didn't even have enough sense to keep quiet about what the possibly kidnapped woman told her when her alleged kidnapper appeared at the counter:
She told police the report triggered her memory of an unusual pair of customers who passed through her checkout line. The woman appeared to be in her 20s and in a late stage of pregnancy; Peterson was due to give birth to a boy on Feb. 10. The clerk said the woman was a "classic beauty" with sleek brown hair.
The woman was accompanied by a much older man with "strong features" and a ruddy complexion, the clerk reported.
After the man stepped out of line to get something he forgot, the clerk remarked to the woman that she should be wearing a coat on such a chilly day. The woman told the clerk she didn't have time to take a coat because she was kidnapped. She also told the clerk that the man had a weapon.
The clerk told police she wasn't sure whether to take the woman seriously.
When the man returned, he asked what the two talked about while he was gone, the police report says.
"She said you kidnapped her," the clerk said.
The clerk said the statement seemed to make the man angry, and she teasingly added that her husband always kidnapped her to take her to dinner. The man relaxed and laughed.
"Yeah, I guess I kidnapped her," she recalled him saying.
The clerk now says she "feels terrible". Of course, I'm sure she will soon become distracted and forget about that as well.
Posted by Neal (Nukevet) at January 31, 2003 12:42 PM | TrackBackI made a post on Jan. 5 about Laci Peterson and the post has since become a clearinghouse for rumors about the case. There's three or four people who keep posting there (I call them squatters). If you're following the case, there's some pretty interesting things to be said about it here
Posted by: michele on January 31, 2003 03:20 PMYeah, I've been following that thread. I still think the husband did it, but who knows......?
Posted by: Neal on January 31, 2003 03:34 PM