REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- A relative of Laci Peterson's was so disturbed by Laci's husband's behavior in the days after her disappearance that he followed Scott Peterson at least twice, according to testimony Wednesday.

Harvey Kemple, who's married to Laci's mother's cousin, said he became suspicious after Peterson told him on Christmas Eve that he'd been golfing before coming home to find his wife missing. Peterson told Kemple's wife and police he was fishing all morning.

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"I was very suspicious from that first night," Kemple said on the stand Wednesday, adding that he followed Peterson twice in January -- once to a mall parking lot where he sat in his car and once to a Modesto golf course.

Another witness, Amie Rachel Krigbaum, who lives across the street from the Petersons, said Scott Peterson told her, as well, on the evening of Dec. 24 that he was golfing all day.

"I just remember him telling me that he tried to call her all day and he was golfing. He was distraught," Krigbaum said.

It's the second week of testimony in Peterson's double-murder trial. Prosecutors contend that Peterson killed his pregnant wife in their Modesto home, then drove her body to a marina in Berkeley about 90 miles away and dumped it from his small boat, using the fishing trip as a cover story. Peterson says he came home to find his wife missing -- his lawyers speculate someone abducted her while she walked in a nearby park.

The remains of Laci Peterson and her fetus washed ashore in April 2003, several miles north of that same marina.

If convicted, Peterson, 31, could face the death penalty or life without parole.

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Kemple said he found Peterson's behavior strange, but he acknowledged under cross-examination that his own behavior could have been seen as unusual.

"Did you think you following him and sitting in the parking lot staring at him was odd," defense attorney Pat Harris asked.

"Fair statement," Kemple replied. A burst of laugher erupted in the courtroom from the gallery and the jury box.

Kemple also acknowledged that he, along with numerous others, hounded Peterson with the same questions that first night.

Kemple said Peterson paced in the driveway, talking on his cell phone, as he questioned him about his day.

"A lot of people were constantly coming up to Scott Peterson asking him over and over ... the same questions, right?" Harris asked.

"By all means," Kemple said.

Harris hinted Peterson may have simply been distracted when he told Kemple he'd been golfing.

Kemple also said he didn't tell police about the golfing remark until six months after Laci Peterson vanished when he was interviewed by a detective.

He later testified about how Peterson didn't seem upset about his wife's disappearance.

He recalled a July Fourth barbecue at the Petersons' home when Peterson left food on the grill too long. Kemple used that day to gauge Peterson's emotional state.

"I saw more reaction out of him when he burnt that damn chicken than when his wife was missing," Kemple said.

"No more emotion than he's showing right now," he added, glancing over at Peterson who stared at the witness stand.

Harris and Kemple continued the heated exchange for several minutes, with Harris raising his voice and pacing around the podium, until the judge asked the two to stop talking over each other.

"Damn right," was Kemple's reply to many of Harris' questions.

Harris jokingly referred to the nearly 20-minute exchange as "the burnt chicken fiasco."

Five witnesses testified Tuesday, including Laci's stepfather Ron Grantski. They agreed Peterson was emotionless throughout the search for Laci as he shunned friends and family who tried to help.

Prosecutors have tried to portray his indifference as the attitude of a guilty man, but defense attorneys have attempted to show Peterson rarely displayed emotion publicly, and that he was in a state of shock that evening.

Harvey Kemple's wife, Gwendolyn, testified she told police that on the morning of Dec. 25, 2002, the day after Laci vanished, Scott Peterson "did nothing" as others gathered at the house distributing fliers and searching the nearby park as they had done the evening before. She said Peterson seemed indifferent and did not appear to be panicked.

However, on Tuesday, Laci's brother, Brent Rocha, testified that Peterson actually left the house, drove to his warehouse to retrieve duct tape, and returned to help post fliers throughout the neighborhood that same day. The two accounts of Peterson's actions conflicted.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos attacked Gwendolyn Kemple's statements in an apparent attempt to show inconsistencies.

"Why did you tell police he did nothing?" Geragos asked.

"I didn't see him doing anything," she said.

"Are you as sure about this as you are about everything else?" Geragos pressed.

She hesitated and appeared puzzled.

"Yes," she replied.

Later, Peterson neighbor Karen Servas testified she found the Petersons' dog, McKenzie, wandering in the middle of the street wearing a muddy leash at about 10:18 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2002.

She said she put the dog in the Petersons' backyard and went shopping.

Servas said she didn't view Peterson as emotionless the next day as the search resumed, but more "like he was in shock."

Peterson claims he left the house at around 9:30 a.m. on that Christmas Eve and didn't return until that evening. He said Laci was preparing to walk the dog when he left.