The whipping cream

Sharon Rocha and others tried very hard to make the case that Laci was very tired and worn out in the days preceding December 24, and therefore not likely to have taken McKenzie for a walk that morning.

Yet, Sharon thought nothing of asking her daughter to stop by the store to pick up some whipping cream on her way over for dinner.

ROCHA: No, I thought about calling her. I went to see a movie later or early afternoon with a friend of mine. And many times Laci would come with us. I would ask her to join us, but I didn't call her that day because I knew she had been having problems. She wasn't comfortable. She wasn't comfortable sitting for long periods of time. She was in the later stage of her pregnancy and she just wasn't comfortable so I decided not to call her. 

DISTASO: And you were expecting her at your home for dinner? 

ROCHA: At 6:00 o'clock that evening, yes. 

DISTASO: And what time did you get home on the 24th where you were home and kind of getting the dinner ready and that kind of thing? 

ROCHA: I don't remember exactly what time it was. I'm thinking the movie was around 1:00 or so, so it was probably 3:00, 3:30 when I got home. I remember at one point when I was getting things, putting things together, I realized I didn't have whipping cream so I asked Ron to call Laci and to stop on her way over and pick that up. 

DISTASO: And to your knowledge did Ron do that?  

ROCHA: Yes, he did. And there was no answer, so he left a message for her to do that, 

DISTASO: Okay. 

ROCHA: asking her to pick up the whipping cream.

The first oddity is that she had Ron call Laci, instead of calling herself.  The second oddity is that she didn't just ask Ron to go down and pick some up at Save Mart.  As you can see on this map, Save Mart was just a few blocks away for Ron.  He'd only worked half a day and spent a few hours relaxing while fishing -- surely he could make a quick trip to the store to buy some whipping cream.

Laci wasn't expected until 6 p.m.  I checked to see if Save Mart closed early on Christmas Eve.  Every locality I've ever lived, grocery stores close early on Christmas Eve.  I checked online, and it seems that Save Mart has a habit of closing at 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve.  Did Sharon not know this?  Because it would have meant that Laci couldn't just pick it up on the way to dinner -- either she or Scott would have to go somewhere earlier than that to get it.  This is only important in the context of Sharon claiming that Laci was so tired that she couldn't possibly have walked McKenzie that morning, and here she is asking Laci to pick up whipping cream for her when the store was just a few blocks from where she and Ron lived.

The other oddity about the story is that Sharon doesn't seem concerned that Laci didn't call back to confirm that she would be bringing the whipping cream to the dinner.  It seems that if it didn't cause her to worry about her daughter whom she claims was so tired and worn out, she would have at least wanted to know for sure if she would have the whipping cream to top her "great chocolate pie."

I think the real truth is that Sharon knew very well that Laci wasn't so tired that she couldn't walk the dog that morning, but there was no way to get out of the whipping cream message because it was on Laci's telephone recordings that night for Brocchini to hear.

Regardless of the truth about Laci's true physical condition, I think it's tacky for Ron to call Laci to get whipping cream instead of going down to the store himself to get it.  No wonder Scott made him look bad for not doing enough, if he wasn't willing to run such an easy errand for Sharon, especially since his family were the other guests coming over that night.