In the Peterson case, victim advocate groups from all over California offered their expertise to help Laci Peterson's family keep the story in the news, the pressure on the cops, and the American public wanting more.
Marc Klaas, father of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old girl who was abducted from her Petaluma home in 1993, started a foundation and has offered his services to dozens of family members who have lost loved ones to violence. And he knows what it takes to attract media attention.
"Pretty white girls get the attention first," Klaas told the Associated Press last week.
That brutally honest assessment is based on experience and history.
The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation -- formed after the deaths of Yosemite tourists Carole Sund, her daughter, Juli, and their family friend Silvina Pelosso in 1999 -- quickly offered a $500,000 reward after Laci Peterson was reported missing Dec. 24.
In contrast, a small group of Houston's friends launched searches for her and named a memorial scholarship fund in her name, but not one organization with the resources to help came forward.
It's time for that to change, so that the light shines on the unsolved mysteries of others whose lives were just as valuable as Laci Peterson's.
Chip Johnson SFGate April 28, 2003
