The idea that a serial killer is responsible for Laci's death has generally been scoffed at. People find it hard to believe that a serial killer would target pregnant women. These people might think twice if they knew how many pregnant women are missing in California, and especially from the Modesto area.
Some members of Talk About It have done some very interesting research on the number of missing women -- pregnant women -- in the DOJ records. Their disappearances are unsolved. Perhaps because no one in LE is looking for a common denominator that identifies this as a serial killer pattern. These members have noted a few things in common. Reviewing this information might change some minds about the possibility that a serial killer is responsible for Laci's murder.
Click here to search the CA DOJ database and get updated information on a missing person in California.
Thousands of Californians vanish each year, far from the glare of the media spotlight. As of Dec. 31, 2001, more than 35,000 adults – 19,785 men and 15,357 women – were listed in the state Justice Department's missing persons database. Of those, more than 4,300, or about 12 percent, disappeared under unknown or suspicious circumstances. In Modesto, at least 10 women are missing, several under suspicious circumstances. They don't all get the media spotlight like Chandra Levy or Laci Peterson, but they are missing nonetheless, and perhaps there is some connection among some of them that links to a serial killer.
Evelyn Hernandez - Pregnant, found in the SF Bay, fetus not found, 5 year old son still missing
Jeannine Harms - South Bay, 42 yrs old, disappeared July 21, 2001, body not found, skull found much later in San Mateo County Update
Toni Clark - pregnant, disappears
Karen Modaffi, Last seen S.F. Lands End 1997.
Kristen Smart - San Luis Obispo Cal Poly student Freshman?
TERA SMITH ~ 16 years old, vanished ~ August 22, 1998 Source
HEATHER MARIE CARPENTER ~ 22 years old, Aug 2003 Source
Angelina Evans, eight months pregnant. She disappeared from Sacramento in late 2001, she went for a walk and never returned. Sacramento Police should have information on this missing individual.
Consuelo Lomeli (8 months Pregnant) last seen 05/03/2002 in Tulare: (Near Fresno) 3 daughters unknown whereabouts Source
Guadalupe Areias - (8 months Pregnant) last seen 11/26/2001 Longview WA, 1 daughter whereabouts unknown Source
Jeanette Gomez Espeleta - (8 months pregnant) Last seen 11/17/1998 Fullerton Ca Source
Ornaith Murphy (Husband also missing) - Last seen 12/16/2001 aboard her vessel Sola III which was docked in Jack London Square. Ornaith is missing with her husband Kieran Murphy. For further information refer to Kieran Murphys internet record. Jack London Square is in the Berkely/Oakland/San Francisco/Bay Area! Near the Bulb. Source
Wendy Jamie Abrams-Nishikai - Last seen 10/31/89 Berkely Police Department reporting agency Source
Amparo Aguilar - Last seen 12/20/1999 East Palo Alto (Bay Area) reporting Source
KRISTEN MODAFFERI went missing June 23rd 1997 Source
Kathy Irene Sweet, 32, had been dead only a few hours when a Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy found her nude body inside a pickup parked in a north Modesto almond orchard Jan. 14, 1998. Sweet also used the name Kathy Irene Meadows and sometimes went by the name Cindy. Her body was found in the 3900 block of Coffee Road, near the Silverwood Mobile Home Park. (January 18, 2003 by Modesto Bee)
Teiaar Nakea Rowe - Detectives said Friday they believe someone dumped Teiaar Nakea Rowe's body in a walnut orchard near here after killing her elsewhere. A farm worker came across the body, clad in only a black-and-white skirt, Wednesday morning in the orchard off Austin Road northeast of Manteca. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department reported Friday that officers had located Rowe's car in south Stockton. The 24-year-old victim was from Citrus Heights, in Sacramento. (June 21, 2003 by Modesto Bee)
Lynsie Ekelund, 22, disappeared from the family's Placentia home on Feb. 16, 2001. Source
Ruth Bender, 33, was last seen getting into a green van at the Greyhound bus station in Modesto. Source
Ruth Leamon, 37, went to a Modesto store for a Coke and never returned. Source
Rarely getting any media attention, these vanished women may never be found. One mother expresses the pain that all must feel:
When Elizabeth Smart was found in a Salt Lake City suburb, nine months after she was snatched at knifepoint from her bedroom, Lynsie Ekelund's mother sent the family a congratulatory e-mail. But inside, she seethed.
"My daughter is just as important as any other missing person out there," she said. "I should've been happier for Elizabeth Smart's family, but in my heart, I asked: 'Why couldn't it have been me?'" She pauses, choking down tears.
"I want something good to happen to my daughter."
One problem with identifying a serial killer is police departments operate in a vacuum. There doesn't seem to be any central investigative team in the state that looks specifically for evidence of a serial killer, much less one that works among different states. Our researchers, amateurs without specialized training, have noted some very obvious common factors in several of the disappearances/murders, especially with those in the area of Modesto or the SF Bay.
College: University of Berkeley, Cal Poly, and University of Davis
Health conscious: Athletic clubs, gyms, parks, running
Nurse's training
Articulate, attractive
many were pregnant or thought to be pregnant
Another common factor
is the number of bodies found in water, suggesting a fascination
with water, or with cleanliness. Our members at Talk About
It have also completed extensive research on Perry Monroe, who
is implicated in the murder of Ladonna Milan.
Milan was murdered in Boulder City, Nevada, but 29 year old Monroe lived in Alameda, California, with his parents. He was found sleeping in a car in Fresno when he was arrested. He grew up in Alameda, and attended the University of California at Davis. Monroe began a four-week road trip through Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida on June 6 and Milan disappeared in Nevada on June 22.
Las Vegas police Lt. Tom Monahan quickly enlisted the aid of Police Departments in other states to determine if Monroe was a serial killer, but just as quickly ridiculed the suggestion Monroe may have been responsible for Laci Peterson's death. He was so annoyed at the suggestion that he immediately called the MPD to tell them there was absolutely no connection. We find this very strange.
Monroe apparently used a hack saw to dismember Milan. He put her torso, arms, and legs in the fishing pond at Veteran's Memorial Lake, and the hands were found in Monroe's car. The head and feet were not found at either location.
Homicide experts initially believed Milan's killer had prior experience at handling dead things, but nothing in Monroe's background suggested he was a predator or prone to violence, according to early reports on the story.
Monroe's case was disposed of very quickly and quietly as he was committed to a mental institution.