About Laci: Laci Denise Rocha was born on May 4, 1975 at Doctor's Medical Center in Modesto, CA. Sharon and Dennis then brought their baby girl home to her older brother, Brent, age: 4, and their ranch-style home on the Rocha's large 365-acre dairy farm in Escalon, Ca. Laci's parent's split when she was 1, and by the time she was 2, they divorced. Sharon then moved to nearby Modesto with the children, where she met her now long-time companion, Ron Grantski. Ron eventually moved in w/ Sharon and the kids, and became like a 2nd father to Laci and Brent. Dennis also remarried, and had another daughter, Amy, when Laci was 6-years-old. While Laci preferred life in the city w/ her mom, Brent decided at age 9 to move to Escalon w/ his dad full time. Laci visited her dad on the farm on the weekends and loved having such a big family. Laci was an energetic, happy, & bubbly little girl who was enthusiastic about life. She had a passion for gardening, softball, dancing and singing. She loved all animals.
Laci attended Thomas Downey High School in Modesto, where she participated in cheerleading, basketball and softball. Her outgoing personality made her popular with many students. Her teachers remember her as a great student, with a vibrant personality who was always in a good mood. Laci made long-lasting friendships with a close-knit group of girls, some of whom she had known since elementry school and middle school. During her teens when many teens pull away from their parents, Laci remained very close to her parents -- especially her mother, Sharon who was like her best friend. Laci had two serious boyfriends in high school. The second of which she dated for amost 3 1/2 years, named Kent Gain.
After graduating in 1993, Laci was accepted at, and chose to attend California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Kent moved w/ Laci down to Morro Bay where they rented a small house. Laci majored in ornamental horticulture, which included landscape design, hothouse production, and floral design. She joined several clubs, managed the campus plant shop and became an honorary sorority member. She was a very strong student and her attention to her studies paid off early when she was given the department's award for outstanding freshman student.Laci had dreams of one day opening her own specialty plant shop, as she explained it, with herbs as well as plants and flowers. By the end of her freshman year, Laci and Kent parted ways.
Laci met her future husband, Scott, during the spring of her sophmore year at a local cafe near campus. They immediately started dated. In the summer of 1994, she called her mom to tell her she'd met the man she was going to marry. When Sharon came to visit soon after, Laci took her to the Pacific Cafe, where Scott greeted them both with roses: red for Laci and white for mom. The couple moved in together in around Christmas in 1995, and got engaged the following December. Three years after they started dating and before either of them graduated, the two got married on Aug. 9, 1997, at the Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. It was the picture-perfect setting, decorated with floral bouquets that Laci helped arrange. The newlyweds honeymooned on the island of Tahiti. Laci graduated the following December, and Scott one sememster later. The couple soon opened "the Shack," a tiny restaurant that became a popular hangout for students. Running the restaurant was a lot of hardwork, and after a year they both became tired of it. They sold it in early 2000 and decided to move back to Modesto, so Laci could be closer to family following the death of her paternal grandfather the previous year.
Back in Modesto, Laci & Scott bought a green ranch-style three bedroom home on Covena Ave. With Laci's taste and Scott's handiwork, they painted the walls, tiled the bathroom, decorated the interior, and turned it into a charming bungalow with Pottery Barn appeal. She reconnected with her old high school pals and also started to make new friends. To help reconnect with old friends, Laci would throw sleepovers at her house, when Scott was out of town, and invite all her girlfriends over like they did when they were younger. She also became even closer with her mother, now that they were living in the same town. Not only were they mother and daughter - but also best friends. Laci began exploring a number of entrepreneurial ideas, including the possibility of producing her own mustard, opening her own specialty plant store, and teaching an etiquette school for children. She finally settled on something that would instead give her both joy and flexibility: substitute teaching. Scott and Laci also found time to entertain friends at their home, regularly hosting dinners, barbecues and martini parties. Laci had a passion for cooking and lived for entertaining at her house. Her life was great, but something was missing. Laci wanted nothing more than to be a mother. And in June of 2002, Laci's wish came true. She found out that she was expecting a baby, and was due in February. She enrolled in a prenatal yoga course and attended Lamaze classes with Scott. Once Laci found out she was having a boy, she immediately got hard at work decorating the nursery in a nautical theme, and she and Scott decided to name the baby Conner.
Laci was ecstatic about becoming a mom and was eagerly awaiting Conner's arrival when she was reported missing on Christmas Eve 2002. Scott said that Laci wasn't there when he came home from a solo fishing trip to the Berkeley Marina, 90 miles away. He reported that the car was in the driveway and, the dog in the backyard with his leash attached. A frantic search began for Laci that night and lasted for 4 1/2 more months. Then on April 14th, 2002, her family & friends' worst fears came true. Lacis' body washed ashore along the San Francisco Bay, just 1/2 mile away from where Scott claimed to have been fishing the day she went missing. One day earlier, the body of a nearly full-term baby boy had washed ashore just a half-mile north of where Laci 's had. Four days, later, on Good Friday, it was announced that the bodies had been postitively identified as those of Laci and her son Conner. Scott was arrested that same day near the Mexican border, and charger with the murder of his wife and unborn son. The long process of trying him ensued, and on November 12, 2004 justice was served as a jury of Scott's peers found him GUILTY of two counts of murder -- 1 count of first degree for Laci, and 1 count of second degree for Conner. He was later sentenced to the death penalty, and now awaits execution on San Quentin prison's death Row. Laci and Conner will be forever loved, mourned and missed.
Laci's Favorite Thing's:Sunflowers, dragonflies, ladybugs, gardening, gourmet cooking, fine wine, Martha Stewart Living, Christmas, Neil Diamond, dinner parties, animals, kareoke, MAC lipsticks, birthdays................
Thanks to Micaela for this image :)Myspace Cursors