According to KTVU.com on June 2, 2003, Rick Ross is reported to have called a defense team theory that Laci Peterson and her unborn son were killed by a Satanic cult both "preposterous" and "ridiculous."  

Ross told KTVU’s Mornings on @ that Scott Peterson's defense team was floating an alternative theory of the slaying based on a debunked urban myth.

"There is no chance whatsoever (the slaying was linked to a cult)," he said. "I think it's a pretty ridiculous story. I don't see anything compelling that would prove this or lead one to conclude this."

Ross said such theories were popular a decade or so ago.

"In the late 80s and early 90s, there was something called the 'satanic panic' in which there were a number of allegations about satanic cult activities -- ritual sacrifices, abductions, slayings," he said. "When the FBI looked into it and numerous law enforcement agencies looked into it, they found nothing. And so this became kind of an urban myth." no chance whatsoever (the slaying was linked to a cult)," he said. "I think it's a pretty ridiculous story.

"There is really nothing to substantiate that there are roving cults in California or elsewhere in the country that subscribe to Satanism that would do such a thing."

 On the condition of Laci Peterson's body, Ross said: "It appears the body simply decomposed underwater. There is nothing that would link it to any kind of ritual murder. I've never, even in the most preposterous myths of Satanic groups that were purported in the late 1980s heard of a strangulation with tape. This is really just very far fetched."

When asked to characterize the defense's use of the theory, Ross turned to a popular sports analogy.

"It's the equivalent of the Hail Mary Pass in football, but in this case I'd call it the Hail Satan Pass," he said.