After going missing at eight months pregnant with her first child, Laci Denise Peterson became the focus of a widely publicized murdeɼ investigation in the United States. On December 24, 2002, she was supposedly last seen alive.
Scott Peterson, her then-husband was found guilty of first-degree murdeɼ in her deἀth and second-degree murdeɼ in the kἰlling of their unborn son Conner. Peterson has been incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison since his conviction.
On August 24, 2020, his Deἀth sentence was overturned. On December 8, 2021, he was resentenced to a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Laci Peterson Autopsy Photos:
On Christmas Eve of 2002, at age 27 and eight months pregnant, Laci Peterson vanished. ABCNEWS has exclusive access to the full autopsy and coroner’s images, which show that Laci Peterson’s head and limbs were gone and that plastic tape was wrapped around the neck of her kid.
Laci Peterson, who was 27 years old and eight months pregnant, disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002. Her remains and those of her unborn child, Connor, were found in the San Francisco Bay in 2003, four months after she went missing. https://t.co/37gtS1bgEq
— ABC News (@ABC) May 14, 2021
The autopsy revealed that the child’s skin had not dec0mposed at all, despite the fact that his right side had been dἀmaged and that neither the placenta nor the umbilical cord had been located. Despite missing her head and possibly all or some of her limbs, the autopsy concluded that Laci Peterson dἰed of natural causes and found no signs of intentional injury.
A poorly decomposed b0dy identified as Peterson’s was discovered in San Francisco Bay. The autopsy results, though, showed that her cervix was unhἀrmed. The new information on Laci Peterson’s and her child’s b0dies has experts divided on whether it will aid prosecutors or attorneys for Scott Peterson, Laci’s husband, who has been charged in the case.
Sources close to the investigation told that the confidential autopsy report revealed the child’s little b0dy had a puncture or rip on it and that a piece of nylon tape had been looped around its neck when it came ashore last month.
A day after the remains of her daughter were discovered, Laci Peterson’s b0dy was discovered on April 14. There was tape on her lower torso outside of her clothing.
In an interview with forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden speculated that the b0dy of Laci had been dismembered before being dumped in the ocean. The autopsy did not reveal how the baby exited Laci’s b0dy, a former head pathologist for New York City.
Baden said:
“It does tell us that the baby was in the womb for many months after Laci was in the water and Laci in fact protected the baby until the baby came out shortly before the b0dies were found”.
He mentioned that the tape found on Laci’s b0dy and the cement bag that washed up near the infant could be significant pieces of evidence. He said:
“If any of that matches cement or duct tape that they’ve come in contact with in removing stuff from Scott’s place of work or place of residence, that’s heavy evidence”.
The autopsy leaks, along with recent statements from Scott Peterson’s lawyers including one suggesting Laci may have been kἰlled by a satanic cult, have been interpreted by legal experts as part of a strategy by the defense to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of potential jurors even before trial begins.
A criminal law professor at Florida’s Barry University, Leonard Birdsong said:
“The defense wants to try to get out as much information as possible to instill reasonable doubt that there might be other people involved in this other than their client”.
He continued:
“I haven’t been involved in the investigation, but having done some defense work in my time, if you have something that might help you instill reasonable doubt, I would certainly try to float it”.
Even if the autopsy report cannot definitively pinpoint the kἰller, it can nevertheless provide as compelling circumstantial evidence in a murdeɼ prosecution. Richard Kling, a professor at the Chicago Kent School of Law, said:
“The autopsy doesn’t have to have a bullet wound in the head to know that if someone threatened somebody, they have done things to them in the past, they make up stories to explain where they were supposedly on the night of the incident, people saw them going to the location, people saw them coming back and so on.”
You can read about other people’s autopsy results that we’ve covered recently in the posts below:
- Shanann Watts Autopsy Photos: The Reality of Her Dea†h
- The Dark Reality of MLK Autopsy Photos and Report
- Examining the Last Moments of Stephen Smith Autopsy Investigation
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