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The
Laci Peterson
Volunteer & Command Center
POSTED: Friday, January 17, 2003 at 5:20 PM PST
UPDATED: Sunday, January 26, 2003 at 2:04 PM PST
At the volunteer
center up to 200 people a day sign up to help hand out fliers, posters, buttons and ribbons, like these above.
Photo
by Joan Barnett Lee
of The Modesto Bee |
| NOTE: The information that immediately
follows explains when and why the command center at the Red Lion Hotel closed. If you've come to this page to find
out if a new command center has opened in
its place, click here to skip down the page. |
MODESTO, CA -- Shortly after her disappearance on December 24, 2002, Laci Peterson's friends and family established
a volunteer/command center at the Red Lion Hotel in Modesto, California from which the volunteer civilian
effort to find her was being coordinated. The center operated daily from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. PST, distributing
flyers, posters and ribbons; and generally getting word about Laci's disappearance out to the community and the
local and national press.
On Friday, January 17, 2003, the Laci Peterson Volunteer and Command Center closed permanently.
Though the command center was not scheduled to be closed until at least the third week of January, friends, family
and volunteers there were shaken by January 15th's police confirmation that Laci's husband, Scott Peterson, had
been having an affair with a Fresno, CA woman; and that he had taken out a $250,000 life insurance policy on his
wife sometime last summer. Believing that there would be an onslaught of press and others coming to the center
subsequent to this revelation, and knowing that it would distract workers from the task at hand, the family decided
to close the volunteer & command center a week or so earlier than originally planned.
"We feel we had accomplished our goal, which was to get Laci's picture out there and get information to as
many people as possible," said Kim Petersen, a spokesperson for the family. "We decided we were going
to close it next week, but due to recent developments and increased media attention, we closed it today."
Petersen (no relation to the Peterson family) is the Executive Director of the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial
Reward Foundation
which put up part of the $500,000 reward that is still being offered for information
leading to Laci's safe return.
The
Search for Laci Continues
"We ask that you please continue to do all you can until we find Laci," Petersen said, adding that farmers
should search their fields and barns, hunters should look in the woods, and Realtors should check empty houses
on their lists -- all in an effort to find any possible evidence of Laci's whereabouts. Police have said that they,
too, are continuing to follow-up leads and to search of areas surrounding Stanislaus County.
The command
center at the Red Lion Hotel was empty Friday.
Photo
by ADRIAN MENDOZA
of The Modesto Bee |
"Although Laci has not been located yet, our search effort will not stop," said Brad Saltzman, general
manager of the Red Lion Hotel in Modesto, who had been organizing the volunteer centers.
"We will continue to search for Laci and her baby boy."
In the meantime, the family is sensitive to the disappointment of the roughly 2,000 volunteers who have, at one
time or another, donated their precious time and talents during the past weeks to help find Laci.
"Volunteers have had a mixture of emotions," Petersen said. "It's very difficult when you close
something like this, when they've put their heart and soul into it."
The family of Laci Peterson wishes to thank everyone who has helped so far. But the task is far from over. Only
the gathering place is gone. We still need everyone's help to discover Laci's plight. Please don't quit now!
This web site will continue to be an ongoing source of information regarding the search effort, and you are encouraged
to stop by this site often and to stay
in touch.
Please download
a "missing" poster
and print-off a few copies for distribution at work or in your neighborhood. If you have any information about
Laci's disappearance or what might have happened to her, please use our confidential tip form.
Click here to learn more ways that you
can help
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Sund/Carrington
Foundation
to Coordinate Search for Now
Effective January 21,
2003, and in the absence of the now-closed, original command center, the staff at the executive offices of the
Sund/Carrington
Foundation,
in Modesto is attempting to coordinate search and volunteer efforts for the family.
The foundation's office is not equipped to handle the kinds of crowds that the original command center at the Red
Lion Hotel had handled, so please don't just jump in the car and head over there on a whim!
But if you give them a call at the phone number shown below, they will at least be able to provide you with some
guidance and a few suggestions for how you can help. And you'll also be able to pick up flyers and posters, there,
for distribution in your neighborhood or at work.
Of course, you may also download and print-out flyers and posters right from this web site, if you like. Click
here to learn more about that.
And if you're looking for other ways to help, click here.
The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation offices are located at:
Sund/Carrington
Foundation
1508 Coffee Rd., Suite H
Modesto CA 95355-3181
PHONE: (209) 567-1059
Please click here to obtain a map and/or driving
directions
to that address.
Click here to learn more about the Sund/Carrington
Foundation.
And don't forget to read and sign our new guestbook!
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