Monday, January 23, 2006

R.S.V.P.

In the months leading up to Laci and Scott’s wedding, the Peterson family learned that Jackie had a son, Don, whom she had given up for adoption when he was just a baby. Laci accompanied Scott when the family gathered to meet Don for the first time. According to For Laci, Laci told Sharon that she thought Don was very nice and they had invited him to the wedding. Sometime after this happy family reunion and before the wedding, additional shocking news arose. Jackie had another child that she had given up for adoption – a daughter named Anne Bird. Scott went to the family gathering to meet Anne without Laci. Although Anne and Scott seemed to hit it off as newfound siblings, for some reason, Anne did not attend Scott and Laci’s wedding. The two accounts of the reason for her absence present an interesting incongruity:

Sharon writes:
I remember Laci saying that they invited Anne to the wedding, but then explained that Anne declined because she didn’t want to have anything to do with Jackie or Jackie’s family. It isn’t what Anne wrote in her book, but it’s what Laci said – and Laci didn’t lie. (That doesn’t matter. I liked Anne’s book.)
[For Laci by Sharon Rocha, p. 43]

Anne Bird writes:
Early that summer, Jackie called to tell me about Scott and Laci’s upcoming wedding. She said she had wanted to invite me, but that Laci didn’t seem all that comfortable with the idea, never having met me. I told her I totally agreed. I wouldn’t have been comfortable either, especially since I would have found myself in a room with dozens of new relatives, relative strangers, as it were, and I didn’t think I was prepared, psychologically, for something of that magnitude. Scott later called to make sure I understood, and I reiterated what I told Jackie. “I couldn’t go even if you invited me,” I said. "Please. We’ll meet later in the year.”
“Thanks for being so understanding,” Scott said, ever the gentleman. “I’m going to make sure you and Laci meet as soon as possible. You guys are going to love each other.”
[Blood Brother by Anne Bird, p. 31]

Accepting that Laci was telling the truth does not preclude that Anne was also telling the truth…as she knew it. We don’t know whether Laci had direct knowledge of Anne’s reason to decline the invitation. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that it was passed on from Jackie to Scott and ultimately to Laci. It's evident in Anne's writing that Jackie was the conveyer (and in my opinion, the source) of the excuse that Laci was uncomfortable with Anne's attendance. In all likelihood, Jackie would not have wanted to bring her skeletons out of the closet to have them rattling around at the wedding of her favorite son, "the golden boy". She, like her son, has shown herself to be conniving and deceptive. I surmise that Jackie manipulated the situation, lying to Laci and to Anne to suit her own purposes. The version conveyed through Laci to Sharon portrays Jackie in a sympathetic light as the unfairly rejected mother, whereas Anne’s version makes Laci appear somewhat inconsiderate – more concerned with appearances than with the feelings of her future mother-in-law – while Jackie comes off as the welcoming mother and long-suffering future mother-in-law. Considering what’s been written in the several case-related books and Jackie’s behavior throughout the investigation and legal proceedings, it is apparent that Jackie is a woman to whom appearance is everything and truth matters little.

That's my interpretation. You are welcome to post your own in the comment section.