Peterson Disappeared Only Weeks From Delivery
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, police in Modesto, California say they now suspect foul play in the Christmas Eve disappearance of a pregnant woman. Twenty-seven-year-old Laci Peterson was only weeks from delivering when she was last seen at her home. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Modesto and following this case very closely. Ed, they have looked high and low, had hundreds of volunteers out looking for this woman, and still no sign?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No sign, and no apparent -- no apparent hard leads that police are sharing with us at this point. Investigators here meeting at the police station here in downtown Modesto, all the investigators that are working on this case, coming together as part of their daily meeting at this hour to compare notes as to what has been found out at this point. There are 100 officers working this case, and turning a lot of attention to finding Laci Peterson. She has -- as you mentioned, Carol, she has been missing since December 24. Her husband last saw her at 9:30 in the morning as he left the house to go on a fishing trip by himself that day. He told police that Laci had planned to walk the dog and then do some last-minute shopping. About an hour later, her relatives found the dog with its leash on just kind of walking around in a nearby park near their home here in Modesto. There have been thousands of leads, hundreds of volunteers who are searching that wooded area, who are volunteering their efforts to try to find Laci Peterson. We understand that the investigators have also questioned about 100 sexual offenders, parolees, even homeless people here in the Modesto area trying to find any kind of information, any kind of leads that they might be able to pursue. We're also told that police here have received over 1,000 tips, some credible, some not. But that's what they continue to work through at this point. Police saying that her husband is a suspect in this case, but they do couch that by saying that that is just one of the many things that they're looking at at this point. So perhaps not to put too much weight on that police statement at this point, but police are meeting behind closed doors this morning here, and they are scheduling a briefing for 2:30 Pacific time later on today -- Carol.</s>LIN: Ed, we are going to be talking with one of the detectives in the case shortly. But I'm just wondering, do you know if they have at least been able to verify the husband's alibi?</s>LAVANDERA: Well, they were able to find -- he had told police that he had gone to the Berkeley Marina in the Bay area, which is about 85 miles away from here. He was able to produce and give to police a receipt, I guess, that you present whenever you go into this marina, that he had gone there on Christmas Eve day, so he has been able to give that to police at this point to verify that -- they think so far that he was there on that day fishing, as he has told police.</s>LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Ed Lavandera, following this case for us. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com