[This story previously aired on Dec. 18, 2021. It was updated on Dec. 21, 2024.]
In 2004, Scott Peterson was convicted and later sentenced to dying for killing his pregnant spouse Laci and dumping her physique within the San Francisco Bay. There was a twist within the case.
In 2020, California’s highest court docket overturned Peterson’s dying sentence. In December 2021, he was re-sentenced to life in jail with out parole. Peterson’s supporters need him to be retried on all costs, and in 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project joined his struggle for a brand new trial.a number of
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“Scott didn’t get a good trial,” Peterson’s sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, tells CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti.
Janey Peterson maintains police didn’t look arduous sufficient at others or take into account a connection to Laci’s dying and a housebreaking that occurred throughout the road from the Peterson’s house. “The incorrect individual’s in jail,” she says.
Jon Buehler, one of many authentic detectives on the case, disagrees.
“There’s nothing that is come out that is made me change my view that Scott received a good trial and that Scott is the one who killed Laci,” he tells Vigliotti.
“Twenty years later, this case nonetheless holds quite a lot of curiosity,” says Jack Leonard, senior editor of investigations on the Los Angeles Times. “Mostly as a result of it stays a permanent thriller.
CHRISTMAS EVE 2002
The notorious San Quentin jail is the final cease for males on dying row in California, and the place our story begins. Because that is the place Scott Peterson stays behind bars.
For years, the Peterson homicide thriller captivated America.
SHARON ROCHA | LACI PETERSON’S MOTHER [at press conference]: Laci and her unborn youngster didn’t should die.
Peterson was in the end convicted of murdering his pregnant spouse Laci and their unborn youngster Conner. He was sentenced to dying.
But a number of questions nonetheless stay. Some individuals consider he’s harmless – that he was railroaded, even framed. Others say there isn’t a query he’s responsible.
It was simply on the opposite aspect of the identical bay in 1994, the our bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn youngster washed up on shore.
On Christmas Eve 2002, Laci Peterson was first reported lacking by her household.
Court proof
GRETCHEN CARLSON [CBS News report]: Police in Modesto, California, have a thriller on their palms. A lady who’s eight months pregnant has been lacking since Tuesday when she left house to take her canine for a stroll.
It occurred in the town of Modesto, in California’s Central Valley. Scott and Laci Peterson lived right here on a quiet residential road.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Christmas Day morning, about 9 o’clock, I get a name … I used to be a police detective at Modesto Police Department.
Detective Jon Buehler labored the case from the start.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Laci was as about as pure a sufferer as you will get.
She was about eight months pregnant when she disappeared.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: We went over to the Peterson home, which is after I first met Scott.
And the detective remembers noticing one thing odd about Scott’s conduct.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: He was slightly bit – he simply did not appear .
Before the solar rose on Christmas Day, police interviewed Peterson:
POLICE: You do not know the place Laci is?
SCOTT PETERSON: I don’t.
POLICE: You guys did not have any issues? Marriage issues?
SCOTT PETERSON: No.
POLICE: Everything’s good?
SCOTT PETERSON: Mm-hmm.
Scott advised police that Christmas Eve day he left Laci alone and went off a fishing journey. He stated when he received house Laci wasn’t there – solely their canine McKenzie.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: McKenzie’s there within the entrance yard space, the road space with a leash on that is type of muddy. And he is considering that that is type of unusual. Why would that be? His idea was that she had gone down into the park and had been strolling the canine and one thing occurred down there, abduction or one thing like that.
Police instantly began a search.
NEWS REPORT: Officers returned in pressure this morning combing the park and creek financial institution on foot and on horseback. Relatives, mates, and neighbors joined in distributing fliers and looking out the park.
But Buehler noticed no sense of urgency from Scott Peterson:
POLICE: You have any questions?
SCOTT PETERSON: No, I imply I’ve requested you a pair instances what to do, um, so I’ve the solutions to that.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Oftentimes, a sufferer who’s left behind is firing tons of questions at us. … And we did not get any of that from him.
The response from everybody else near Laci was very totally different.
SUSAN CAUDILLO | SCOTT PETERSON’S SISTER: We’re looking out we’re wanting and we will discover you.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Everybody was going loopy. Everybody was impatient.
SHARON ROCHA: Whoever has her, please, please, please, let her go. Bring her again to us…”
DENNIS ROCHA | LACI PETERSON’S FATHER [sobbing]: Please … allow us to have her again.
Family, mates – the entire neighborhood mobilized instantly to hitch the seek for Laci.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Sharon Rocha, Laci’s mother, her stepdad, Ron Grantski, her mates … her brother Brent, her sister Amy. They simply noticed this complete world coming down. They have been all the time struggling to carry again tears.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: But when it got here to Scott, he all the time would maintain again slightly bit. He would not present you all of his playing cards.
LOCAL NEWS REPORT: Officers started a search of the couple’s house late final night time …
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: We knew we needed to give attention to him from the beginning … as a result of that is the way in which you’re employed a murder.
DOUG RIDENOUR | MODESTO P.D. [at press conference]: Nobody’s been dominated out. That’s what we’re attempting to do proper now.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Because typically, there’s going to be anyone with motive and usually, the motive goes to be anyone shut.
On the morning of Laci’s disappearance Scott advised police he drove to a ship launch about 90 miles away from his house. He stated he needed to take his brand-new boat out on the water to go fishing for sturgeon, however he by no means caught a single fish. As he drove house, he known as Laci and left a message on her cellphone:
SCOTT PETERSON [voicemail]: Hey, lovely. I simply left a message at house 2:15. I’m leaving Berkeley. I will not be capable to get to Vella Farms to get the basket for Papa. I hoped you’ll get this message and go on on the market. I’ll see you in a bit, sweetie. Love you. Bye.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: it appeared like a really scripted message. … It simply it appeared phony to me.
Skeptical detectives additionally puzzled why Scott would have gone fishing within the first place. It was Christmas Eve and his spouse was eight months pregnant. Peterson advised investigators he had initially deliberate to golf that day however determined to go fishing due to the chilly climate.
SCOTT PETERSON [police interview]: It appeared too chilly to go play golf on the membership, so …
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: You received a man who … stated it was too chilly to golf, but it surely ain’t too chilly to go fishing. Are you kidding me?
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Day after day, the search widened, and the story unfold.
DENNIS ROCHA : Whoever has Laci. The reward is 500 thousand. Take the cash, convey my daughter again secure … and take the cash and go get away free.
Jack Leonard: First of all, you had a gorgeous wanting couple. Why would – a pregnant lady all of a sudden disappear when she’s received plans to be along with her household? And it was Christmas Eve, so there’s nothing else happening within the information. So, this attracted consideration, to start with, from native information, after which nationwide, after which it went international.
But hopes for locating Laci Peterson alive have been fading.
DOUG RIDENOUR | MODESTO P.D. [at press conference]: We nonetheless haven’t any important lead into discovering Laci Peterson …
SHARON ROCHA: Please do not hand over on us.
JACKIE PETERSON | SCOTT’S MOTHER: Please ship Laci again to us.
And police continued to play shut consideration to Scott Peterson.
DOUG RIDENOUR | MODESTO P.D. [to reporter]: Our discoveries in the course of the investigation have resuscitated the revisiting of the Peterson residence with a second search warrant.
They additionally requested him to take a polygraph. He refused.
Ret. Jon Buehler: Scott advised us that he would not take the polygraph … And in order that arched our eyebrows slightly bit that he would not take this factor.
GLORIA GOMEZ |NEWS REPORT]: Recently authorities launched photographs of Peterson’s pickup and boat, hoping somebody may again up his story.
Both Scott and Laci’s household stood with him.
LEE PETERSON | SCOTT’S FATHER: There isn’t any approach in god’s inexperienced earth that he’s, you already know, even remotely concerned on this factor.
SHARON ROCHA: We really feel Scott has nothing to do with it.
LEE PETERSON: We’re in search of Laci, and we’re gonna discover her.
Then it regarded like there was a break within the case.
POLICE PRESS CONFERENCE: We’re acquired a tip yesterday …
Detectives found there had been a housebreaking simply throughout the road from the Peterson house. One witness advised police she believed that housebreaking occurred the identical morning Laci disappeared.
Police shortly put that clue to relaxation.
DOUG RIDENOUR | MODESTO P.D. [at press conference]: We’re assured that we’ve got the individuals in custody for the housebreaking and they don’t seem to be linked with the lacking of Laci Peterson.
Then, a few month after Laci went lacking …
DOUG RIDENOUR | MODESTO P.D. [at press conference]: She is ready to offer a press release.
This case took a dramatic flip.
Ret. Jon Buehler: The first massive break we received within the case was after all Amber coming ahead.
AMBER FREY [at press conference]: We did have a romantic relationship.
THE OTHER WOMAN
SCOTT PETERSON [phone recording]: I needed to name you.
AMBER FREY: Thank you.
Amber Frey had no concept her boyfriend Scott Peterson was married with a pregnant spouse. In 2005 she advised “Inside Edition” all about their love affair.
AMBER FREY [“Inside Edition”]: He was in search of somebody to be with, somebody to spend the remainder of his life with. … You know, I used to be at some extent in my life that I used to be prepared to satisfy somebody, too.
Amber was 27 years outdated when she met Peterson. It was November 2002 – a month earlier than Laci went lacking. Amber says Scott advised her he was a widower. They dined on strawberries and champagne and she or he was starting to fall for him.
AMBER FREY [“Inside Edition”]: It was actual for me. And it felt actual for him, too.
But after a good friend noticed the Peterson story within the information, he advised Amber. And Amber known as the police.
Detective Buehler and his associate raced right down to Amber’s house.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Her recall was incredible. It was nearly prefer it was a script from a Hallmark TV present or one thing. She may bear in mind eating places they went to and what they ate. … She may bear in mind what Scott was sporting. She would bear in mind what she was sporting.
And Amber had photos.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: You know, Scott’s in a tux and Ambers in that crimson costume they’re preparing for the Christmas get together.
That Christmas get together was only a week-and-a-half earlier than Laci would go lacking. The detectives have been shocked.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: We had a man who regarded just like the man you wish to marry your youthful sister. … But now we discovered that there was that chink within the armor.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: It does not imply that he killed Laci. But what it meant to us is there was one other aspect to him that had not been uncovered earlier than.
Investigators noticed a possibility. Maybe Amber may assist them discover out what occurred to Laci.
AMBER FREY [“Inside Edition”]: They requested how I felt about tape-recording dialog with Scott … And I stated “sure.”
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: She had an funding, an emotional and a budding romantic funding on this man … I feel she noticed it crumbling in entrance of her.
The recordings would turn into a part of a damning case in opposition to Scott, however first, Amber addressed the questions on her relationship.
Evidence picture
AMBER FREY [at press conference]: Scott advised me he was not married.
AMBER FREY [at press conference]: I’m very sorry for Laci’s household and the ache that this has precipitated them.
Laci’s household turned on him.
BRENT ROCHA | LACI’S BROTHER [addressing reporters]: I would love Scott to know that I trusted him. However, Scott has not been forthcoming with info relating to my sister’s disappearance and I’m solely left to query what else he could also be hiding.
The story sparked a media frenzy.
Jack Leonard: It was big. It was wild. And it made the case even larger. … You actually had the rise of the 24-hour cable information. … You had Larry King on there interviewing authorized specialists, together with Nancy Grace.
Jack Leonard: Almost from the start, she was zeroing in on Scott.
NANCY GRACE [“Larry King Live”]: Why did he go away his spouse alone, eight months pregnant, on Christmas Eve?
Scott Peterson gave an interview to ABC’s Diane Sawyer whereas Laci was nonetheless lacking. When requested in regards to the marriage, he appeared to seek advice from Laci prior to now tense:
SCOTT PETERSON: We took care of one another very properly. She was superb – is superb.
NANCY GRACE [“Larry King Live”]: Ever heard the section a slip of the tongue?
And there was one other interview Scott gave with then-CBS reporter Gloria Gomez:
GLORIA GOMEZ: Why would you permit Laci … alone to go fishing on Christmas Eve?
SCOTT PETERSON: OK.
Scott explains that as a pair they’d totally different pursuits:
SCOTT PETERSON: We have separate pursuits. … and being, you already know, seven-and-a-half months pregnant she’s not going to wish to exit in a ship.
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But critics of Scott say probably the most shocking second could also be what occurred when Scott’s cellphone started to ring in the course of the interview. Laci was lacking and Scott would not decide up the cellphone.
SCOTT PETERSON: Want me to show that off?
GLORIA GOMEZ: Yeah, what’s that?
SCOTT PETERSON: That’s my cellphone, sadly. I assumed it was off. [Scott gets up] … Yeah, it is type of going loopy is not it.
Gloria Gomez: He did not hesitate to show it off and a few would say that why, in case you’re a involved husband, in case your spouse is lacking, you already know, you’ll have that cellular phone clinging to you and each name could be an pressing name.
And then, greater than three months after Laci disappeared, in San Francisco Bay the our bodies of Laci and Conner washed up just a few miles away from the place Scott Peterson stated he was fishing.
CBS News
With the invention of the our bodies, detectives determined to maneuver shortly.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Our concern was possibly he’ll head for the border.
Authorities lastly caught up with Scott at a San Diego golf course. He advised them he was presupposed to play a spherical along with his father. He additionally had about $15,000 in money and his hair was dyed blond.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: He had his brother’s driver’s license … within the automotive with him, two or three cell telephones. And so, you already know, not the traditional stuff you’ve in case you’re taking place to the native Winn-Dixie to get groceries.
POLICE PRESS CONFERENCE: Scott Peterson has been arrested. He is within the custody of Modesto Police Department detectives.
Evidence picture
Just over a yr later in Redwood City, California, Scott Peterson went on trial. The trial had been moved about 90 miles from Modesto due to the large quantity of publicity.
Peterson had a high-priced Hollywood dream crew of attorneys led by Marc Geragos, well-known for defending celebrities like Michael Jackson.
MARC GERAGOS [at trial]: This is a capital case. I’m frightened about my consumer’s life.
Jonathan Vigliotti: What did the state say they believed occurred?
Michael Cardoza: Which a part of the trial? [laughs] They modified their story a pair instances.
Attorney Michael Cardoza additionally labored on Scott Peterson’s case. And although he was not a part of the court docket room protection crew he says the prosecutors’ idea of what Scott did to Laci was complicated.
Michael Cardoza: First, it was he killed her the night time earlier than, put her within the rug, put her within the truck, took her to the warehouse. Took her to – Berkeley and dumped her within the bay. Then later it was, “Yeah, I assume we actually do not know when she was killed, the place she was killed. But we do know he did it.” Well, come on, guys. Make up your thoughts.
But the case in opposition to Scott would get quite a bit clearer when prosecutors began enjoying recordings – those Amber Frey managed to secretly make.
AMBER FREY [phone recording]: Hello.
SCOTT PETERSON: Baby?
AMBER FREY: Yes.
SCOTT PETERSON: Hey.
AMBER FREY: Oh, my goodness.
THE DAMNING PHONE CALLS
SCOTT PETERSON [phone recording]: Amber are your there?
AMBER FREY: I’m right here.
SCOTT PETERSON: Amber.
AMBER FREY: I want you could possibly hear me. … Happy New Year.
Just about everybody who was contained in the courthouse on the time agrees it was the tape- recorded cellphone calls between Amber Frey and Scott Peterson that actually grabbed the jury:
SCOTT PETERSON [phone recording]: … I’m close to the Eiffel Tower, the New Years’ celebration is unreal.
That’s Scott Peterson – one week after Laci went lacking – on the cellphone with Amber Frey pretending he is calling from Paris when authorities say he was actually in Modesto whereas the seek for Laci was nonetheless happening.
Michael Cardoza: Amber Frey. Simply. That’s what turned that trial … It was the pretext cellphone calls that Amber Frey made to Scott Peterson.
Jonathan Vigliotti: They have been fairly damning.
Michael Cardoza: There’s no query. … That’s what modified this trial.
As jurors listened, Amber confronts Peterson about Laci:
AMBER FREY [phone recording]: I deserve to grasp an evidence of why you advised me you misplaced your spouse, and this was the primary holidays you’d spend with out her? That was December ninth – you advised me this and the way all- of-a sudden your spouse’s lacking? Are you kidding me? …
SCOTT PETERSON: I by no means cheated on you – I by no means did.
AMBER FREY: You’re married. How do you work you by no means cheated on me? Explain that one to me.
After the jury heard these calls with Amber, lawyer Cardoza says all the pieces modified.
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Jonathan Vigliotti: So, you are saying the emotion, the excessive emotion right here drowned out the information that have been launched by the protection?
Michael Cardoza: That emotion was so loud, they may hear nothing else.
And then, with crowds gathered outdoors and no cameras allowed in court docket, on November 12, 2004, a verdict: We the jury, within the above entitled trigger, discover the defendant, Scott Lee Peterson, responsible of the crime of homicide of Laci Denise Peterson.
Michael Cardoza: When the responsible verdict got here again, you could possibly hear the group outdoors – whenever you have been within the courtroom – cheering. Cheering. You do not assume the jurors heard that? What type of impact did which have on the subsequent section of the trial, the dying.
Four months later, sentenced to dying, the applause was even louder.
But contained in the courtroom, it appeared to Laci’s household that Scott hardly responded.
Harvey Kemple | Laci’s Uncle: It was similar to all the time, no emotion. No nothing. The man is a particular psychopath. He is getting precisely what he deserves.
After sentencing, a few of the jurors lashed out at Peterson:
CBS News
RICHELLE NICE |JUROR [to reporters]: He is a jerk and I’ve one remark for Scott: You look anyone within the face after they’re speaking to you.
MIKE BELMESSIERI |JUROR [to reporters]: Well, Scott got here in with an incredible massive smile on his face, laughing. It was simply one other day in paradise for Scott, one other day that he needed to undergo feelings. But – he is on his approach house, Scott figures. Well, guess what, Scotty…
RICHELLE NICE: …San Quentin’s your new house.
MIKE BELMESSIERI: …And it is unlawful to kill your spouse and youngster in California.
Michael Cardoza: Juror quantity seven – Miss Nice. … Listen to what she says. … You’ve simply sentenced a person to dying and also you’re that daring in your statements? You’d assume you would be slightly introspective about that as a result of there’s nothing worse, nothing extra final, nothing extra closing than taking somebody’s life.
Michael Cardoza: Scott Peterson, I’ve no opinion on whether or not he is responsible or not responsible. But I do know Scott didn’t get a good trial. He completely didn’t.
Scott Peterson’s attorneys filed appeals and almost 16 years after his conviction, a call.
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Last summer time, as Scott sat behind bars in San Quentin, the California Supreme Court threw out his dying sentence.
Pat Harris: … The Supreme Court stated, “He goes to get a brand new trial on the dying penalty section.”
Pat Harris was a part of Scott’s protection crew within the authentic trial and he continues to signify him.
Pat Harris: They decided that the choose had made a mistake in how the jurors have been chosen based mostly on the dying penalty a part of the trial.
The results of that mistake, Scott supporters say, was that the jury was stacked in opposition to him with professional dying penalty jurors.
Peterson’s crew can also be arguing that it isn’t simply his dying sentence that was all incorrect. They say Scott deserves a very new trial to find out guilt. The purpose: that juror quantity 7 – Richelle Nice.
Pat Harris: According to one of many jurors who was interviewed, he stated that … she walked into the jury room and stated, “What are we waitin’ for? Let’s do away with this man.”
Nice declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview. Harris maintains that Nice was biased from the start and after they have been choosing the unique jury Nice was not forthcoming about her personal historical past.
Pat Harris: It’s fairly clear … that she lied to us straight to our face about her personal state of affairs.
Prospective jurors crammed out a questionnaire asking if they’d prior to now been in a lawsuit and if they’d been crime victims. And Nice checked “no”.
Pat Harris: And we have come to study that the truth is … there have been points in her personal – circle of individuals. And there have been restraining orders.
In reality, Nice was concerned in two home disputes prior to now. But prosecutors say when Nice crammed out that questionnaire she did not lie, she simply did not assume her previous experiences have been related to the questions and did not see herself as a sufferer.
Janey Peterson: Every piece of knowledge we discover out about this present day additional confirms that Scott is harmless.
Scott’s sister-in-law Janey Peterson says there are witnesses who declare they noticed Laci very a lot alive after Scott had already left for his fishing journey that day.
Jonathan Vigliotti: And you assume this is sufficient to show his innocence?
Janey Peterson: Absolutely.
SUPPORT FOR SCOTT
Jonathan Vigliotti: Where are we proper now?
Janey Peterson: This is our household enterprise … we’ve got a again workplace right here that we have devoted to the case recordsdata –
Jonathan Vigliotti: Oh, wow.
Janey Peterson – for Scott’s case.
Jonathan Vigliotti: So, that is actually the battle room, right here?
Janey Peterson: Yeah. Yeah.
And Scott’s sister-in-law Janey Peterson has been at battle. Even although Scott was solely granted a brand new trial on the dying penalty, Janey is gearing as much as show his innocence.
Pat Harris: Janey is the center and soul of the – the case.
Janey Peterson: I’m not speaking about feelings. I’m speaking about proof. Everything on this board is a reality. … there is not any state of affairs of guilt for Scott.
Much of the case for Scott, she says, comes right down to the timeline – what occurred the morning Laci disappeared.
Janey Peterson: If Scott Peterson is responsible, what time did he commit this crime? … He’s on dying row for the homicide of his spouse and youngster. And nobody has ever stated what time he did this crime, how he did this crime, or the sequence of occasions of how he carried out this crime that matches the proof.
Janey Peterson [pointing to evidence board]: Basically, the day begins on the left aspect…
According to Scott, that morning he and Laci had breakfast and watched Martha Stewart.
POLICE: You bear in mind what half you noticed?
SCOTT PETERSON: … cookies of some kind – they have been speaking about what to do with meringues.
Scott advised police Laci advised him she was going to wash the home after which stroll their canine, McKenzie. He advised them that he left the home round 9:30 a.m. He stated he went to a close-by warehouse the place he had an workplace and despatched an e-mail from his laptop, earlier than setting off along with his boat to the Berkeley Marina.
The prosecution argued that Scott had killed Laci someday earlier than he left the home that morning.
Janey Peterson: The state asserts that – Scott murdered Laci and that he loaded her physique in his pickup, drove it to his warehouse.
But if Laci was seen alive after Scott left the home, Janey says the prosecution’s case falls aside.
Janey Peterson: There’s an abundance of proof that exhibits that Laci was alive when he left for the day.
CBS News
Jonathan Vigliotti [pointing at evidence board]: What does this present right here?
Janey Peterson: The pink squares are all of the individuals within the neighborhood who reported seeing Laci or McKenzie that morning.
Janey says most of those witnesses reported the sightings between 9:45 and 10:30 within the morning – after Scott stated he left the home. She says a lot is dependent upon these witnesses, however the protection by no means known as them to defend Scott at his trial.
Jonathan Vigliotti: If so many individuals noticed Laci, declare to have seen Laci after that time … Why did not the protection convey them to the stand in order that we may hear from their mouth what they noticed?
Janey Peterson: I feel there have been – a number of components that performed into it. … you had individuals who, as time glided by, thought that possibly what they noticed wasn’t related to the case.
Pat Harris: There’s been quite a lot of criticism as a result of we did not name some witnesses who noticed Laci that day.
Scott Peterson’s lawyer Pat Harris.
Pat Harris: The authentic thought course of on the time was … quite a lot of the witnesses who noticed her did not have nice – reminiscences or had contra – have been contradicting one another.
Police Detective Jon Buehler says not one of the witnesses have been really certain in the event that they did the truth is see Laci.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: There have been three women within the neighborhood, two of which have been pregnant on the time … and two of them having canines strolling within the neighborhood … So, it might be actual simple for anyone to mistakenly see a kind of three women as being Laci.
Still, Janey Peterson says there’s a witness who helps show Laci was alive after Scott left that morning. It was the mailman.
Janey Peterson: What the mailman stated is that, after I glided by the Peterson home the morning of December twenty fourth, I glided by there between 10:30 and 10:50. … the gate was open, and McKenzie was not on the property.
Janey says that is as a result of Laci was out strolling McKenzie. If McKenzie had been house, she argues, he would have barked on the mailman – as a result of he all the time did.
Janey Peterson: … this canine, particularly, barked at that mailman each single day, whether or not he was behind the gate or in the home.
Jonathan Vigliotti: So, what you’re saying is throughout this time, Laci had McKenzie they usually have been –
Janey Peterson: On a stroll.
And based on Janey, if Laci was out strolling her canine, then Scott – who was in his workplace sending an e-mail – couldn’t have killed her. But when it got here time to testify, the mailman did not have a transparent recollection and stated “nothing out of the odd” occurred that day.
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Maybe extra importantly to a brand new protection case although, is what Janey believes really occurred to Laci. Instead of Scott killing his pregnant spouse, she says it is extra possible it was these burglars who robbed the home simply throughout the road.
Janey Peterson: There’s too many unanswered questions on that housebreaking to set it apart.
The day Laci disappeared, December 24, the owners left to go on a visit round 10:30 within the morning. Scott Peterson and his crew consider that Laci really confronted the burglars and one thing unhealthy occurred. To show it, they level to what they name the “Aponte tip.”
Janey Peterson [pointing at evidence board]: This is the Aponte tip … that was the decision that was overheard by Lieutenant Aponte at Norco Prison.
Lieutenant Xavier Aponte was a corrections officer. He known as in a tip a few cellphone recording he had heard a few month after Laci disappeared.
Janey Peterson: And he stated he had an inmate who was on the cellphone along with his brother in Modesto discussing the truth that Laci had encountered the burglars throughout the road from her home.
Modesto Police Department
Janey Peterson: When we heard this, all of us thought, “Wow, possibly – possibly this’ll give us some solutions as to what occurred to Laci.”
But bear in mind, police dismissed the housebreaking early on:
DOUG RIDENOUR | MODESTO P.D. [at press conference]: We don’t consider right now that there is any reference to the lacking of Laci.
Here’s why:
Pat Harris: The police discovered who did it. … They requested the culprits, “Well, when did you do that?” And the 2 gents that have been arrested stated, “Oh, it was – December twenty sixth, the day after Christmas.”
Not on December 24, when Laci went lacking, however two days later. Peterson’s protection is not shopping for it.
Pat Harris: On December twenty sixth, there was a line of media … reporters standing outdoors the Peterson house up and down that road. There isn’t any approach in hell you could possibly burglarize a home with all these individuals standing on the market.
But police say the burglars broke in by way of a again door on the twenty sixth, out of sight of the road and any reporters who could have been there.
As for the tip about an inmate cellphone name from jail, prosecutors say the cellphone name is simply rumour. Still, Peterson’s lawyer says if Scott will get an opportunity at a brand new trial, that housebreaking will probably be entrance and middle. And so will their idea of the crime: that Scott Peterson was really framed for his spouse’s homicide.
Janey Peterson: What higher option to get out of bother than go put the physique the place the husband was?
WAS SCOTT PETERSON FRAMED?
In a 2017 A&E documentary, Scott Peterson spoke in regards to the second he heard the phrase “responsible.”
SCOTT PETERSON [phone recording]: I used to be staggered by it. I had no concept it was coming.
SCOTT PETERSON [phone recording]: … and I simply had this bizarre sensation that I used to be falling ahead.
Those ideas appear starkly totally different from courtroom experiences that describe Peterson as “impassive.”
JUROR [at press conference]: Scott had no emotion on his face, Scott was being Scott.
And based on his lawyer, that lack of outward emotion damage Scott from day one.
Pat Harris: I feel the most important downside I’ve is … what I name the “he did not act proper” proof. There isn’t any such factor as the best way to act. There’s no playbook on the best way to act when your spouse has been murdered. … No matter what you do, whenever you’ve constructed the narrative in your thoughts that he is responsible, no matter Scott did was gonna be interpreted by way of the lens of he is responsible …
Pat Harris: It was a horrible investigation from the primary minute.
Harris says authorities had tunnel imaginative and prescient. He claims they by no means checked out different potentialities, and even the logic of their very own theories.
Pat Harris: We did an experiment which we filmed.
The protection crew loaded weights into a ship.
Pat Harris: We took the precise weight – We had the boat, related … We recreated it, did a video. And certain sufficient, when the physique was dumped over, the boat flipped. We had a video of this. The choose refused to let it in.
But the Supreme Court stated that the choose was appropriate to not let it in. They stated the protection had used a distinct boat, a distinct motor, in numerous climate, and one in all their very own workers who stepped on the aspect of the boat to let in water and permit the boat to swamp. They even identified that the unique choose supplied the protection an opportunity to redo the experiment with the unique boat and somebody who was not a protection worker. But the protection declined. Still, Janey says if given an opportunity, the protection will current different exonerating proof.
Janey Peterson: We have an ongoing investigation that we do not talk about publicly. But I assure you that Scott won’t ever be convicted of capital homicide once more in a court docket of legislation.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Some of probably the most damning proof is the place Laci and her unborn youngster have been discovered. They washed up very near an space the place Scott Peterson was fishing. Are you saying that is simply coincidence?
Janey Peterson: I’m not saying it is a coincidence. I’m – I might argue it was on objective.
Jonathan Vigliotti: On objective?
Janey Peterson: On objective.
They declare that Peterson was really framed for the homicide, and the actual killer or killers held on to Laci’s physique, finally dumping it into the San Francisco Bay.
Janey Peterson: Her physique wasn’t taken to the bay December twenty fourth. The bay wasn’t sealed off as against the law scene. …There are a number of factors of entry on to the water, 24 hours a day. I feel they took Laci, had Laci, realized the nationwide consideration that this case was getting, realized they have been in bother. What higher option to get outta bother than go put the physique the place the husband was?
Jonathan Vigliotti: Who is that they on this state of affairs?
Janey Peterson: Well I – I can not get previous the housebreaking.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: The two burglars that have been concerned in that each advised constant tales that have been backed up by different impartial witnesses.
Evidence picture
Detective Jon Buehler, one of many authentic investigators, says burglars had nothing to do with Laci’s homicide. And the concept that Laci was kidnapped in broad daylight in that neighborhood simply would not make sense.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: Well, how come no one noticed Laci get kidnapped? … no one noticed an abduction in broad daylight the place a woman had a canine, and the canine could be barking, and a woman could be screaming. Tell me how that’s going to occur as a result of I do not see it.
As for the concept that Scott was framed …
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: What is the probability that anyone goes to abduct Laci, after which rapidly, the media has intense scrutiny and a focus to it. And then they’ll take her 90 miles to San Francisco Bay, and they’ll put her in the very same space that Scott stated he was fishing in? All the whereas we’re doing searches up there, all of the whereas that the media is camped out over there, that you’ve cops and deputies and different companies over there wanting into this.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: You wish to attempt to make that stretch with me that anyone goes to drive from Modesto to Berkeley to take a physique on the market within the midst of that? Well, I assume potential. But you already know, there’s nonetheless those who consider the earth is flat, too.
The District Attorney will not be commenting on the protection’s theories, however at Peterson’s trial, opposite to what the protection argued, prosecutors laid out their comparatively clear idea of the crime: that Laci had been murdered within the house both the night time earlier than or the morning she disappeared. And they centered on all of the falsehoods Peterson had advised.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: We knew that he was capable of lie pretty simply.
Everything from the massive lies he advised to Amber Frey …
SCOTT PETERSON [phone recording]: It’s fairly superior, fireworks there on the Eiffel Tower.
SCOTT PETERSON [phone recording]: I’ve – I’ve lied to you that I’ve been touring.
… to the little lies prosecutors say he advised in regards to the morning Laci vanished. Remember he stated he left house round 9:30 a.m.:
POLICE INTERVIEW: OK, so then about 9:30 you left?
SCOTT PETERSON: Mm-hmm [affirms].
But that Martha Stewart phase on meringues he talked about watching with Laci?
SCOTT PETERSON: We have been watching her favourite present, “Martha Stewart.”
That did not come on till 9:48 a.m.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: You should dismiss a lot circumstantial proof on this case to consider that Scott did not do that.
Ret. Det. Jon Buehler: In a circumstantial proof case turns into like an enormous rope. It’s received strand after stranded after strand. And whenever you get so many strands weaved collectively on this massive rope, this rope may be very, very sturdy.
Buehler stays as assured as he ever was in Peterson’s guilt. But Scott’s defenders are simply as assured.
Jonathan Vigliotti: So, are you saying he is harmless?
Pat Harris: Yes.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Or – you’re.
Pat Harris: Yes.
Pat Harris: Oh, he is harmless. … I might wager my life on it.
Evidence picture
While the case nonetheless performs out in court docket, we’re left with an nearly unspeakable tragedy: the homicide of 27-year-old Laci and her unborn child, Conner —– and you need to marvel what is going on by way of Scott Peterson’s thoughts as he sits in jail just some brief miles throughout the bay from the place their our bodies washed ashore.
On Dec. 8, 2021 Scott Peterson was resentenced to life in jail with out the opportunity of parole for the deaths of his spouse and unborn youngster.
In 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project took up Peterson’s struggle for a brand new trial.
Since then, a California choose has granted his protection crew entry to beforehand undisclosed proof in addition to permission to do extra DNA testing.
Produced by Chuck Stevenson. Michelle Fanucci is the event producer together with Ryan Smith. Emily Wichick is the sphere producer. Lauren Turner Dunn is the affiliate producer. Richard Barber is the producer-editor. Phil Tangel is the editor. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
