Sharon Rocha
Author of "For Laci: A Mother's Story of Love, Loss and Justice"

May 18, 2006
7:30 p.m. Civic Memorial Auditorum, Fargo

Every mother’s worst fear became Sharon Rocha’s reality. On Christmas Eve 2002, she received a phone call from her son-in-law saying that her daughter, Laci, was missing. In the hours, days, and eventually months that followed, Sharon struggled to avoid accepting what no parent should ever have to face: the certain knowledge that her child is never coming home. In For Laci, for the first time, Sharon tells us what it was like to live through the long nightmare and opens our hearts to the Laci she loved: the kindergarten artist, the tenth grader who cried on her mother’s lap after her first breakup, the young woman who planned her wedding with joyful enthusiasm.

At the time of her disappearance, Laci was twenty-seven years old, seven and a half months pregnant, and a vibrant presence in the lives of everyone who knew her. How, Sharon wondered, could Laci so suddenly become a missing person? That very word missing seemed premature, somehow suspect. From that first moment, Sharon knew with a mother’s instinct that something--beyond the alarming news itself--was terribly wrong. As the world now knows, she was right. Nearly two years after that night, a jury in the State of California found Scott Peterson guilty of the murder of his wife and their unborn son, Conner.

Sharon Rocha has become an advocate for victim's rights. She has turned her grief into action and has lobbied for the passage of The Unborn Victims of Violence Bill, also known as Laci and Conner's Law. Sharon was invited by President Bush to be present for the bill's signing on April 1, 2004. Sharon also lobbied at California's State Capitol for legislation to reimburse cities that incur high investigation and trial expenses.

In honor of Laci and Conner, she works tirelessly to bring her message to others. In addition to collaborating with Thomas Downey High School in Modesto to establish the Laci Rocha Peterson Memorial Scholarship, Sharon serves on the board of the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Foundation, whose mission is to provide funds for rewards and to raise awareness on persons missing under suspicious circumstances. She was a keynote speaker at their 5th Annual Vigil of Hope. She was also the guest speaker at the Northeast Texas Crime Victims Rights Conference, the Police Executive Research Forum in New York City, the Western Region Chaplains Conference in Modesto, Bridges of Service, a support group for police officer's spouses, and the AG Leadership Training Agenda sponsored by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation held at San Quentin State Prison. In June 2005, the California District Attorneys Association presented Sharon with their prestigious Witness of the Year Award.

In December 2005 Sharon established The Laci and Conner Search and Rescue Fund, a program of the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation. The fund was established to provide financial assistance to law enforcement and non-profit search and rescue organizations for equipment and training needed for search and rescue. For more information go to www.carolesundfoundation.com.