Laci's stepdad thought alibi was 'fishy'

Peterson adamantly denied any extramarital affair and in a January phone conversation insisted he only wanted his pregnant 27-year-old wife back.

During the Jan. 16 call, taped at the request of Modesto police, Grantski told Peterson, "The police are going to be seeing you Scott and your world will be crumbling."

"My world is done without Laci and my child. We all want her back ... ," Peterson replied.

At the time of that call, Laci Peterson had been missing three weeks. During that time, her family grew more and more suspicious of her husband, Scott. Grantski said his own doubts were heightened when Scott Peterson refused to speak to him and tried to sell his missing wife's Land Rover.

The final straw was Jan. 15 when Modesto police showed them pictures of Fresno masseuse Amber Frey and explained she had been having an affair with Peterson.

At that point, Laci Peterson's family closed ranks and stopped insisting her husband of five years could not be responsible for her disappearance. He was arrested in April 2003, days after her body and that of the couple's unborn son washed up on a Richmond shore. They were discovered just a mile from the Berkeley Marina where Peterson went fishing - the alibi that Grantski didn't buy.

Although Grantski is an avid fisherman and made no secret his desire for a fishing boat, the Petersons never told him Scott had purchased one. Despite having invited him to go fishing, Scott Peterson only accepted once, Grantski said.

After that trip, either at the end of 2001 or the beginning of 2002, Peterson left his expensive fishing pole in Grantski's garage.

"In fact, it's still in my garage," he said.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Mark Geragos, Grantski admitted he never told Scott Peterson about fishing himself on Dec. 24. The prosecution has emphasized that Peterson's fishing story was unusual because his family never heard much about his enthusiasm for the hobby.

Prosecutors believe Peterson, 31, killed his wife between the evening of Dec. 23 and the morning of Dec. 24 before dumping her body into San Francisco Bay from his boat. As media interest grew around the case, Peterson deferred from the public spotlight and appeared impassive to family.

Grantksi also admitted telling police Dec. 30 that "Scott is a very serious and focused person who is not very emotional."

While Geragos used that remark to show reason why Peterson might have appeared overly stoic in the weeks after his wife disappeared; prosecutor Rich Distaso hinted that it was out of character for the normally controlled Peterson to call Frey's friend and hysterically admit being married.

Laci Peterson's brother, Brent, also testified in the double-murder trial yesterday that his brother-in-law admitted having job difficulties. The siblings stood to inherit a multi-million dollar estate from their paternal grandparents but Scott Peterson received nothing once his wife was murdered.

The prosecution continues its case this morning. Meanwhile, Frey's father continues to push for an exclusion from a gag order barring witnesses from speaking about the case so he can defend his daughter's character.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.