Amy Sharee Rocha

Witness for the People:  Penalty Phase

November 30, 2004

Direct Examination by David Harris

HARRIS: Amy, looking up at the screen at 302 D, is that your sister Laci Peterson?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: And was Laci older or younger than you?

ROCHA: She was older by six years.

HARRIS: So as the two of you growing up are you kind of the tag-along for her?

ROCHA: Yeah, pretty much.

HARRIS: Can you tell us what it was like when you were young growing up with Laci.

ROCHA: Well, we spent time together at our dad's on the weekends and I just always remember looking up to her as an older sister. She was always like a lot of fun to be with specially when she had her friends over I'd want to tag along and join with them.

HARRIS: And as you grew up yourself did you want to be like Laci?

ROCHA: Yeah, I looked up to her a lot. Yeah.

HARRIS: How? Could you describe for us in what ways you want to be like her.

ROCHA: She just taught me a lot. And especially as I got older I saw how much she did for our family and,

HARRIS: Why don't you go ahead. There's some Kleenex right there. Take a moment. I'm going to have some pictures marked.

JUDGE: 303.

HARRIS: There's six.

JUDGE: A through F.

HARRIS: There's six. 303.

JUDGE: A through F.

GERAGOS: A through F?

HARRIS: Amy, let me show you these three 303, A through F. Just look through those briefly and see if those are pictures you've seen before.

ROCHA: Yeah.

HARRIS: Okay. And do these accurately depict your sister in these photographs?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: I want to start to show you 303A.  What do we see in that photograph?

ROCHA: That's just our family. This is at Brent's college graduation.

HARRIS: Who's the, who are the people in the photograph?

ROCHA: Well, starting to the left it's Sharon and then Brent and my dad is next to him and Laci is below and then myself and then Brent and Laci's grandma, Sharon's mom is on there.

HARRIS: And your dad's the one in the cowboy hat in the back?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: When you were talking about growing up kind of being a tag-along,

ROCHA: Hm-hmm.

HARRIS: In looking at this picture, would that be one of the time periods we're talking about?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: Showing you 303 B, what do we see there?

ROCHA: This is myself and Laci and my brother Nathan. This is at Laci's rehearsal dinner before her wedding the night before her wedding.

HARRIS: And 303 C, is this another photograph from there?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: The picture that we see there of Laci, that big smile, is that pretty much what you'd see on Laci all the time?

ROCHA: Hm-hmm. Yes.

HARRIS: Tell us about Laci's personality, what was she like?

ROCHA: She was just very outgoing and always fun. She was just entertaining, like fun to be with. She always liked to laugh and just have a good time.

HARRIS: When you say entertaining, did she do, was she like the life of the party?

ROCHA: Yes, and she did a lot of entertaining at her house, especially like our family holidays and she would just have birthday parties and different things at her house.

HARRIS: When you were talking about how you wanted to grow up and be like her, did Laci like to cook?

ROCHA: Hm-hmm, she loved to cook and she was very good at it.

HARRIS: Tell us about that.

ROCHA: Well, she could cook about anything. She would always try different recipes. And I cooked with her a few times and I didn't really do much cooking, just watched, cleaned up and acted like I helped.

HARRIS: Did she try to teach you to cook?

ROCHA: Yeah, she would teach me how to cook. I was probably just watching most of it, but, yeah, she taught me.

HARRIS: Did she like helping other people?

ROCHA: Hm-hmm, yes.

HARRIS: Did she eventually become a teacher?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: Was that something that she seemed to enjoy as well?

ROCHA: Yeah, she seemed to enjoy, it, yeah.

HARRIS: Let me show you 303 D. What's this one of?

ROCHA: This is a picture of Laci's bridal shower and I'm on the left and my grandmother, she's passed away now, but she's in the middle, and then Laci.

HARRIS: Now after your grandmother died did Laci kind of take on additional roles and duties in the family?

ROCHA: Yeah, she pretty much filled her shoes.

HARRIS: What did she do?

ROCHA: She pretty much just filled in and took over the holidays and made sure all of our family got together just as we always did with our grandparents.

HARRIS: How are the holidays now that Laci's gone?

ROCHA: They'll never be the same.

HARRIS: I want to talk to you about a particular birthday that you had talking about events.

ROCHA: Hm-hmm.

HARRIS: Do you have kind of a favorite birthday that Laci helped you out with?

ROCHA: Yeah, it was my 21st birthday.

HARRIS: What happened on your 21st birthday?

ROCHA: She just had myself and like all my girlfriends over for little appetizers and drinks and we all went downtown to have dinner, but she just made that birthday really special.

HARRIS: How did she make it special for you?

ROCHA: Well, first she had like all her hard work into it and just made it perfect and then she did a great job.

HARRIS: Was that the kind of person that Laci was?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: Showing you 303 E. It's kind of hard to see in that one, but who are the people in this photo?

ROCHA: This is Laci, myself, at Brent and Rose's wedding.

HARRIS: And it looks like she's there giving a thumbs-up signal?

ROCHA: Yeah, I think she was just running around dancing or something.

HARRIS: Would you say Laci was fun to be around?

ROCHA: Yeah, a lot of fun.

HARRIS: And you talked about what she did for you on the 21st birthday. Actually, let me just put up the next picture, 303 F, who are these individuals?

ROCHA: Starting at the left it's Laci and then Rose and Antonio, our nephew, and myself.

HARRIS: Did Laci talk to you about becoming a mom?

ROCHA: Hm-hmm. Yeah.

HARRIS: Was she looking forward to that?

ROCHA: Oh, yeah, she was really excited.

HARRIS: How so?

ROCHA: I mean, she had everything ready. She was so prepared. Just going to her house, the nursery was perfect, she was just really ready and all planned for it.

HARRIS: Did she seem to want to be a mother?

ROCHA: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: Now I want to take you to Christmas Eve of 2002. Do you remember getting called, being told that Laci was missing?

ROCHA: Yes, I do. By Scott.

HARRIS: What started going by your mind?

ROCHA: I think, at first I was just really confused and I just thought, well, she has to be with one of her friends or over at her mom's because there was a real quick conversation. So I just remember thinking so strange, just being confused. And then I think I talked to maybe again and I remember talking to my mom or my mom and my dad, and then after that just getting more worried and as like time went on.

HARRIS: When Laci wasn't found on the 24th did you keep looking on the 25th?

ROCHA: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: Did you keep looking on the 26th?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: And she wasn't found then?

ROCHA: No, she wasn't.

HARRIS: Can you describe for us how you were feeling during that time.

ROCHA: Scared. I don't know how to describe it, it was just the weirdest, the worse thing you can think about. It was like a nightmare.

HARRIS: At some point in time in April did you find out that Laci and Conner had been found?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: Tell us how you felt.

ROCHA: Well, it was horrible the way I felt. The way I felt was horrible. I don't know how to explain like I felt. It was like the worse thing. I mean, the worse way to find out.

HARRIS: How did you feel when you found out that your sister wasn't going to be coming home again?

ROCHA: I don't know. I mean, I had to explain like how I felt. It was like just worse. I mean, I can't obviously, we've had holidays without her, but I just can't imagine like for the rest of my life going on without her.

HARRIS: Do you miss your sister?

ROCHA: I miss her a lot, yeah.

HARRIS: Do you miss not getting to meet Conner?

ROCHA: Yes, I do.

HARRIS: Will you always miss having your big sister back?

ROCHA: Yes.

HARRIS: The People have no other questions.