I frequently see the Medina burglars called too stupid to be able to get away with abducting Laci, keeping her hostage, murdering her, and disposing of her in the Bay. Really? Just how smart does one have to be?
Not very smart when the police have their sights steadfastly trained on another suspect. Not very smart at all when the cops don't even check out your made-up alibis when you're arrested for the burglary that precipitated Laci's demise. Not very smart at all when the cops cease all efforts to find your 3 accomplices to the Medina burglary and identify the van used. Not very smart at all when the cops make it clear that people should keep their mouths shut about Todd and Laci. Not very smart at all when the cops don't even check out Laci sightings.
These burglars weren't under surveillance like Scott was -- they didn't have their phones tapped, or their girlfriends taping their calls, or their friends spying on them, or their homes under video surveillance, or teams of undercover agents following them everywhere they went. They didn't have police searching their homes and vehicles with cadaver dogs. They were under the radar; no one was paying any attention to them.
Another thing I frequently see is the claim that burglars don't commit murder. Just what code of ethics do burglars live by that they won't do harm to another person? Certainly not the one that allows them to rob and steal and to use drugs. And I often see, Why would they keep her hostage? Folks, get over the notion that these are nice people.
Where did they keep her hostage? The park and the Covena neighborhood were searched in those early hours and days, but the airport district certainly wasn't. When the cops did go into the airport district, it wasn't until January 2, and they only searched Pearce's shack and trailer and the house across the street where Todd was. What about the homes of the 3 accomplices? What about the homes of friends? What about having moved her already -- ah, maybe Tom Harshman did see Laci after all. Yea, right out in broad daylight, and he reported it, and no one followed up on it for months.
Maybe they moved her to Tracy. We know what effort was put into following up on that tip -- what a joke! The MPD left it up to the San Joaquin Sheriff's deputies, and when Mears wanted to go into the compound, he was told it was too dangerous. And that even after the FLIR sensors detected human life in the out buildings.
They didn't get away with abducting Laci and keeping her hostage because they were smart -- they got away with it because the MPD was too glued on Scott. That's luck, not brains.
As for disposing of her body, How smart do they have to be to know where to put Laci once they offed her? Or perhaps she died of neglect. By that time, as determined by Conner's age at death, they would have had to have been blind, deaf, dumb, and severely challenged mentally to not know where Scott went fishing and where they were searching in the Bay. TV stations regularly carried footage of the cops searching at the Bay; and the Modesto Bee had detailed coverage. They had vehicles -- Pearce had a car and a van was used in the burglary. Anywhere in the vicinity of the Berkeley Marina would have done just fine, and the east shoreline has several places of access by vehicle along the shoreline at nighttime. If you don't believe me, just use maps.google and see for yourself.
So get over the notion that the burglars are too stupid to pull this off -- it didn't take smarts; it just took luck -- the good luck of having the MPD instantaneously fixate on another suspect, Scott Peterson.
The very sad thing about tunnel vision is that it prevents cops from seeing what is right under their nose.
