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Murder suspect's strange behavior may be linked to cocaine use

Jessica VanEgeren  —  7/04/2008 1:34 am

While the search warrant that led to last week's arrest of Adam Peterson does not provide a motive for the stabbing death of Joel Marino, it does suggest Peterson used cocaine and that the drug may have caused paranoid, aggressive behavior.

The warrant does not directly link drugs to the Jan. 28 crime. It gave police permission to take DNA samples from Peterson that led to his arrest on June 26.

Signed in Washington County, Minn., on June 25, the warrant was obtained by The Capital Times late Thursday afternoon. The document details the trail of evidence and eyewitness accounts from the time Peterson purchased a backpack prior to Marino's death up through a period of out-of-character behavior that led to a psychological evaluation at Meriter Hospital in Madison, after which time he moved to live with his mother in Grant, Minn.

According to the search warrant, an officer with the Madison Police Department was first made aware of Peterson's strange behavior on March 7. Peterson's twin brother, Eric, had called police to a downtown residence on South Bassett Street, which was not the brothers' official residence, because of concerns over his 20-year-old brother's behavior. The officer was greeted by Eric, who, according to the search warrant, told the officer that "Adam would most likely be hostile to police and did not know they had been called."

The officer noted upon speaking with Adam that "his eyes were very wide open." Eric then informed the officer that Adam's behavior had gotten worse over the past few days and that he was "confused about who he is, and becomes hostile when others ask him about this."

Eric went on to tell the officer that "he believed there may be recreational drug use involved in Adam's recent past and believed those drugs were cocaine." Eric also told the officer that "Adam was much more paranoid when he was doing drugs."

Another roommate told police that Adam was usually shy, a personal characteristic that had changed over the course of a few days into a mean, aggressive streak. The other rommate said that on March 6, Adam inexplicably swept the items off of a coffee table, then began to pound a wall and kick a couch with "wide-open eyes and clenched teeth."

Adam agreed at that point to go to Meriter Hospital for a psychological evaluation, the warrant said, and denied at that time that he was taking any medication.

Another detective stated in the warrant that, in her experience, people who are drug-addicted sometimes pawn or sell their own possessions to obtain money for drugs, trade their own possessions for drugs, or report their possessions stolen, as Adam had done on two separate occasions. Peterson first reported his laptop and MP3 player stolen eight days before Marino's death on Jan. 28. He again reported his laptop stolen Feb. 25, less than a month after the killing.

The warrant does not explain what led police to close in on Peterson in their investigation, but they have said previously that his name was on an internal list of people who had exhibited strange behavior.

In addition to providing a glimpse into Peterson's changing personality, the document also outlined how three people identified Peterson in a photo lineup several days before police arrested Peterson in Washington County, Minn.

One of the individuals, a man who initially contacted police after a sketch of the murder suspect was released on March 16, told police he believed the man in the drawing had worked at Capitol Centre Foods downtown. Police knew from prior conversations with Eric that Adam had worked at the grocery store from Nov. 9 to Dec. 7, 2007.

A neighbor who saw a man near Marino's house soon after the January stabbing also identified Peterson from the photo lineup.

Peterson officially was charged with the stabbing death of Marino on June 26 after police said his DNA matched DNA found on the weapon, a backpack, and hair fibers from a stocking cap found near the scene. Bail has been set at $1 million.

Jessica VanEgeren  —  7/04/2008 1:34 am