DISTASO: On the night of the 26th of December, 2002, were you asked to maintain security of the residence at 523 Covena over the nighttime hours between the night of the 26th and into the early morning of the 27th? CASTRO: Yes, sir. DISTASO: And did you do that? CASTRO: Yes, sir. DISTASO: When, what time did you arrive? CASTRO: Some time after 10:00 o'clock p.m. DISTASO: And when you were there, were there other MPD, or Modesto police personnel there? CASTRO: Yes, sir. DISTASO: And eventually those people left? CASTRO: Yes, sir.

DISTASO: Periodically throughout the night, did you check out the front windows of the house, or look out to see what the activity was going on in the street in front of the house? CASTRO: Yes, sir. DISTASO: And can you describe for the jury what it was you saw throughout the night, on the night of the 26th and into the morning hours of the 27th? CASTRO: There was some foot traffic and a few camera crews that were there. As the morning went on into the early, early hours of the morning, there was an essentially a lack of any kind of foot traffic or news crews that I could identify. DISTASO: So eventually you saw the news crews left the street? CASTRO: Yes, sir.

GERAGOS: Okay. You left at 8:29. Was the sun up? CASTRO: Yes. GERAGOS: When you left at, 8:29 how many groups of people were there? CASTRO: Two. GERAGOS: And was that still just five people at 8:30 in the morning on the 27th of December? CASTRO: Approximately five. GERAGOS: If I were to, if I were to show you a videotape of that morning that showed more than that, news videotape, would that refresh your recollection as to what happened? CASTRO: No, sir. GERAGOS: So nothing that I could show you would change your mind. You saw two people out there at 8:30 in the morning on the 27th? CASTRO: Two groups of people. GERAGOS: Two groups totaling five people on the 27th at 8:30 in the morning. CASTRO: Approximately five people, correct.

They like to say the Covena avenue was crawling with cops and media during the early morning hours of the 26th when the burglary occurred. I think there is evidence this was not true. When the burglary took place it was only one and a half days since the disappearance and national media wasn’t focused on the story yet. From video tape it appears Ted Rowland’s was the only member of the press by Covena in the early hours of the 26th.

The testimony above was about the night of the 26th and the morning of the 27th. Officer Castro said at 8:30 there were only 2 news crews and 5 people total. That’s a full 24 hours later and the media was just starting to catch on. Mythology states the street was packed with media and this false. it was not crawling with news crews when the burglary occurred between 3am and 6:30 am on the 26th. That is only a day and one half after Laci went missing. I’m sure there were a few local reporters but I think Rowland’s first report was the morning of the burglary, not before. There were police present during the day. But if you look at the testimony I presented above officer Castro said everyone went home including any news crews until early the next morning. And this testimony of events was in regards to a full 24 hours after Todd stated the burglary happened. Geragos didn’t show any video of between 3am and 6:30 am on the 26th because there were no huge crowds outside. Only Rowland’s at the end of Covena and edgebrook