LOS ANGELES, May 29 (UPI) -- The controversial theory that Laci Peterson was waylaid by a lurking band of devil worshippers instead of by her own husband picked up some support in the public arena Thursday, although law enforcement personnel have long been warned to greet talk of satanic cult murders with a healthy degree of skepticism.
NBC news reported that an autopsy conducted on the remains of Laci' Peterson's unborn son, Conner, found a piece of plastic tape wrapped around his neck, possibly acting as a noose and an indication that the child may have at least been in the process of being born when he and his mother died.
The grisly discovery dovetailed with previous trial balloons, presumably leaked to the press by Scott Peterson's attorneys, that the abduction and slaying could have been the work of Satanists as part of a bloody Christmas Eve sacrifice ritual.
Skeptics argue that the material could have been simply a piece of San Francisco Bay flotsam, or perhaps was part of whatever was used to secure Laci's body to an anchor used to sink the body to the bottom of the bay.
The autopsy reports have not been released to the public, although a request to do so by media outlets will be considered Friday by Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami.
Due to a gag order imposed by the judge in the case, neither side would comment on the NBC report, although the Stanislaus County district attorney said his office would no longer oppose the release of the autopsy so it will be up to the judge to decide.
"In direct response to this latest development...the district attorney's office will be filing a motion to withdraw their opposition to the unsealing of the autopsy reports," District Attorney Jim Brazelton said in a statement.
Prosecutors have not directly commented on the report that a satanic cult is being considered as the "real killers" by Scott Peterson's defense; however the general view of law enforcement over the years is that satanic abductions and infanticide sacrifices are more the stuff of urban legends rather than fact.
Surfing the Internet turns up countless Web pages on satanic worship, including some Christian-oriented sites that warn that Christmas Eve is a big day on the satanic calendar that calls for sacrifices to be performed.
The source of that date isn't referenced, which is typical of public perceptions of Satanism, according to a 1992 FBI report that remains a major reference in the field.
The report by FBI Special Agent Kenneth Lanning concluded that there is little or no evidence that Lucifer's legions are regularly kidnapping victims for the purposes of either sexual abuse or outright murder.
"A satanic murder should be defined as one committed by two or more individuals who rationally plan the crime and whose primary motivation is to fulfill a prescribed satanic ritual calling for the murder," said Lanning. "By this definition, I have been unable to identify even one documented satanic murder in the United States. Although such murders may have and can occur, they appear to be few in number."
Lanning, who was attached to the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and has since retired, contended that while some killers might boast that they carried out a horrific crime at Satan's behest, most of these individuals likely don't belong to an organized satanic sect and are probably DSM certifiably delusional.
"Ritualistic murders committed by serial killers or sexual sadists are not necessarily satanic or occult murders," he wrote. "Ritualistic murders committed by psychotic killers who hear the voice of Satan are no more satanic murders than murders committed by psychotic killers who hear the voice of Jesus are Christian murders."
He urged police officers investigating crimes with satanic overtones to treat pentagrams and other such crime-scene evidence as they would any other clue since, "the actual involvement of Satanism or the occult in these cases usually turns out to be secondary, insignificant, or nonexistent."
A 2001 study published in the Marburg Journal of Religion found that self-proclaimed Satanists who responded to an Internet survey generally denied any knowledge of even having participated in animal sacrifices, and by and large consider themselves peaceful iconoclasts who were drawn to their beliefs primarily as a sense of empowerment and an act of rebellion against what they consider the hypocrisy of the Christian church.
"At its best, according to respondents, mature Satanism is an attractive religion, which, like all religions, provides a structure of meaning and enhances one's life," said the study conducted by University of Wisconsin philosophy professor James R. Lewis.
Agent Lanning noted that satanic beliefs appeared to be highly individualized rather than regimented, which would make it less likely that two or more believers could get together and actually pull off a homicide -- such as the abduction of a pregnant woman from a tidy Modesto neighborhood in broad daylight. It was virtually impossible, he concluded, that they would leave no clues behind and never suffer any breakdown in secrecy from conspirators who might brag to an outsider or use their knowledge of the murder as a bargaining chip if they were arrested for another crime.
"Many people do not understand how difficult it is to commit a conspiracy crime involving numerous co-conspirators," he pointed out. "One clever and cunning individual has a good chance of getting away with a well-planned interpersonal crime. Bring one partner into the crime and the odds of getting away with it drop considerably."
