AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF MODESTO AND STANISLAUS COUNTY
Two years ago the people of the United States got to know the town of Modesto very well, during "the summer without Chandra", and once again the mavens of midnight-to-midnight media coverage prowl the streets of your all-American town.
Of course, this time, their focus is on the disappearance of one raven-haired Laci Rocha Peterson, and the apparent homicide which claimed her life and that of the unborn infant, Conner. Chandra Levy, the other raven-haired beauty of your valley, was missing for much longer than Laci -- but with the discovery of her body, she too now lingers on as a homicide victim.
Does it astonish you, the good people of Modesto and Stanislaus County, that folks all over these States united feel your anguish and want to know more about these crimes ?? It should not astonish, should not surprise you at all.
We were not astonished when the citizens of your valley turned out by the hundreds and then thousands, to volunteer for search parties and leafletting, when Laci Peterson was missing. We were not astonished when the friends of Laci and her relatives did all that they could to move the searches along, and to work with the local authorities. Similarly, we were not astonished to see the many touching comments and tributes given to Chandra Levy by her friends, when she was a missing person.
We Americans have not yet become so jaded and so cynical, that we cannot relate to the anguish of the Levy family, or the sorrow felt by both the Rocha and Peterson families. We may not be able to do much about these kinds of disappearances when they happen far away, but when they occur near-by -- we turn out and we search and we look and we try to help. That's a consistent thing all around the States. We are a great people, still, and not truly hard-hearted or cruel.
But there are cruel and hard-hearted people among us. Some are monsters of unknown origin.
Others are good people who have simply seen too much of the worst side of life. Entirely too many of these folks find themselves in law enforcement, where the stress and fatigue of "the Job" takes its toll on man, woman, and especially on morale. And on moral certainty.
One of these hard-hearted individuals is Lt. Tom Monahan of the Las Vegas Police department, who is in charge of the kidnapping and murder investigation which has one Ladonna Milam, 49, as its murder victim. Although a final identification is still pending, it seems clear that Mrs. Milam was abducted from her place of employment, a hotel in Boulder City, by a guest who had booked a room there. She was murdered and dismembered and parts of her body were found in a fishing pond, approximately one day after her disappearance. Now, one Perry Carl Monroe of Alameda, California, has been arrested as the principal suspect in this murder, as it was his room at the hotel which Milam was called to, on an errand to bring him some towels. Monroe is 29.
He was discovered sleeping in his car, by California State troopers patrolling in the Fresno area: as he was already a suspect in the disappearance of Mrs. Milam, his automobile plate turned up on their list of "wants." So far, authorities have divulged that evidence discovered in Monroe's car includes a hacksaw which may have been used in the crime, and human remains. Two hands, to be specific.
Does any of this ring any bells, in the minds of criminal investigators and law enforcement ?? More than a year ago, Evelyn Hernandez -- a legal immigrant from El Salvador -- went missing in San Francisco, with her five year old son. She was eight months' pregnant at the time. Her body was eventually discovered, as it washed ashore in the bay, in July of last year. Her son remains missing. Then on Christmas Eve of last year, Laci Peterson -- eight months pregnant -- goes missing and months and months go by. Then she and her unborn son wash up on the shore in the bay area, on consecutive days in April.
Like the supposed body of Mrs. Milam, Laci Rocha Peterson was dismembered and her body mutiliated: so the crimes affecting these two women have these elements in common, with each woman --
*** gone missing, found in or near water, dismembered, and with no known enemies or antagonists, and no obvious motive !!
Add to this the fact that Perry C. Monroe was a student at the University of California ~ Davis, and as the Modesto Bee has reported, in the last week:
"Parts of dismembered bodies were discovered in a trash bin in Davis in June."
By the usual standards which apply to law enforcement, the fact that Tom Monahan is a Lieutenant in the police force speaks well of his credentials and experience: so the idea that he can be criticized for incompetence is absurd, as absurd as is his contention -- reported both by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Modesto Bee -- that the murder of Ladonna Milam has nothing to do with the disappearance of Laci Peterson !!
How could he know whether or not Perry Carl Monroe has information pertaining to the Peterson case ?? The young man is still in Fresno and cannot be extradited before July 9th !! These developments have come very quickly in California, which is out of Monahan's jurisdiction, but where two active disappearance and murder cases are on-going and in the news !!
If Lt. Monahan is capable and competent, as should be assumed about an officer of such distinction, then his comments about the Laci Peterson case can only come from being hard-hearted.
The following comes from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and was published on July 1st, and is quoted here in the public interest:
<< Monahan scoffs at recent media speculation that attorneys for murder suspect Scott Peterson -- whose wife, Laci, disappeared in December and turned up dead in the San Francisco Bay -- may imply that Monroe was the "real killer" when they go to trial in Modesto. Laci Peterson's body, like Milam's, also had its head and feet cut off.
<< Monahan dubbed a link between the Milam and Peterson murders as an "absurd theory." Monahan was so peeved by the insinuation, he recently picked up the phone and called Modesto police.
<< "I wanted to explain to them there was nothing to suggest there was anything in common with these two cases," Monahan said. >>
Two women, without known enemies, are each abducted and murdered and then mutilated in a ritualistic fashion: both of their bodies are found in or near water; and from news reports it is clear that Perry C. Monroe has the means and the desire to travel all around the country -- and was in several different States including North Carolina, in the weeks prior to the murder of Mrs. Milam. What is truly absurd is the contention that there is nothing worth investigating here, when the investigation of Ladonna Milam's murder is going forward so quickly !! Only in Hollywood fantasies does a bright young man "snap" and suddenly become a serial killer and ritual mutilator. In truth, it happens over a long time, although the signs of such a change may be well-hidden from his closest friends and family, for years.
Lt. Monahan is way out of line, with his comments on whether or not the travels of Perry Carl Monroe might have links to the disappearance and murder of Laci Peterson. Unless he has a hotline to Monroe's innermost thoughts, and memories, he cannot know for sure if this link is "absurd" or not.
In prior news reports, there was a story which had a Laci look-alike spotted at a grocery store near the Washington-Oregon state line, on or about December 31st. She was with a man, and she told the store clerk she had been abducted, when the man stepped away for a moment. The clerk was busy and didn't think on the incident until many days later ....
Finally -- a young woman who closely resembled Laci Peterson, an eighteen-year old by the name of Kristen Modafferi from North Carolina, went missing in San Francisco during the summer of 1997. She was doing a summer school course in photography at the University of California, and she just disappeared.
Kristen Modafferi went missing on June 23, 1997.
Ladonna Milam's body was discovered on June 23, 2003, and she may have been killed in the early hours of the night or late on the 22nd of June.
Then again, such a coincidence is simply "absurd," isn't it ?
The people of Modesto and Stanislaus County have shown their true nature, in their care and concern for both Chandra Levy when she was missing, and by searching for Laci Peterson when she went missing last year. As people they have given unselfishly of their time, their resources, their emotional energies and their money. Now they must bear the costs of a very sensational trial with Scott Peterson being accused of the most vile acts -- murdering and dismembering his wife and killing his own unborn son -- and all that this entails for the area of Modesto.
Does it not stand to reason, that EVERY possibility, every link no matter how tenuous, every lead which can shed light on the foul deeds done to Laci and Conner be checked ? What else do the authorities have to do with their time ?? Why should the people of Modesto and the valley allow a distant police official to scoff at their pain and their emotional distress ?? He does not know what they have endured, and he has to be focused on the grisly work assigned to him -- which isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination -- so why make it more complicated ??
People around this country think of northern California as a prime destination for travel and tourism, because of the many parks, the natural beauty of the land, the scenic vista of wine country and the redwoods and the cultural treasures of San Francisco. These disappearances, these bizarre and ritualistic killings or murders, cannot help the area with travel and tourism at a time when people are already fearful and scared.
Lt. Tom Monahan has a case to crack, and it appears to be cracking open on its own: he could be helpful in the matter of Laci Rocha Peterson or he could be completely silent.
Calling the possiblity of links between Monroe and the murder of Laci Peterson "absurd" without having checked them at all, comes fairly close to obstruction of justice -- in spirit if not in fact -- and that sort of thing does not become an experienced and veteran police officer. And experienced and trustworthy are qualities that Las Vegas' Lt. Monahan must have, if he is entrusted with such a difficult and gut-wrenching case, as is the disappearance and ritualistic murder of Ladonna Milam.
The people of Modesto and the area have shown their bona fides, and they deserve the best efforts of their public servants, at every level, in this bizarre case: and it may be that other unsolved murders will be cracked, if only seasoned investigators like Monahan will limber up their imaginations, study up on Satanic ritual murder, and -- stop worrying about what is or is not "absurd." Perhaps that will take a miracle, but then, these are the days and the times when miracles are expected.
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The picture which displays below shows that Kristen Modafferi bears a striking resemblance to the late Laci Rocha Peterson:
