A California man infamous for murdering his pregnant wife has spoken out for the first time in 20 years.
Scott Peterson, now 51, killed his wife Laci Peterson when she was eight months pregnant with their son in 2002. He had been married to Laci for five years when she disappeared on December 24, 2002, after walking their dog.
Peterson said from jail that he remembers his wife’s “smile” the day she disappeared. He also said he regrets not having testified at her trial.
“If I have the opportunity to show people what the truth is, and if they are willing to accept it, that would be the greatest thing I can accomplish right now, because I did not kill my family,” the convicted killer said.
Scott Peterson, now 51, killed his wife Laci Peterson when she was eight months pregnant with their son in 2002.
He broke his silence on the murder at Mule Creek State Prison in California in an interview conducted by video call for a Peacock documentary
Laci, 27, was eight months pregnant with her first child when she disappeared. Her remains, as well as the fetus of her unborn son (whom the couple had named Conner), were found in different locations in the San Francisco Bay Area more than three months later.
Since he was arrested and convicted of double homicide more than two decades ago, Peterson has never spoken about it.
However, she broke her silence on the killing at Mule Creek State Prison in California in a video interview for a Peacock documentary.
Peterson spoke about the details of the final hours before his wife “disappeared” and the things he would “enjoy” about that day.
‘I saw Laci smile when she was combing her hair on the morning of the 24th, and the way we shared a bowl of cereal because we were too lazy to serve two bowls,’ she says in the documentary: Face to Face with Scott Peterson.
Peterson, who previously worked as a fertilizer salesman, is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
He still denies any involvement in Laci’s disappearance or the death of her and her unborn child.
Laci, 27, was eight months pregnant with her first child when she disappeared.
Prosecutors told the court that Scott wanted to escape married life and did not want the responsibility of becoming a father.
Peterson agreed to participate in the documentary to appeal to the public and further reaffirm his innocence.
The convicted killer wants to share his side of the story and the “so-called investigation,” as he calls it.
He says officers and prosecutors ignored important leads and relied on circumstantial evidence to make their case during the 2004 trial.
“I regret not testifying (at my trial),” he says. “But if I have the opportunity to show people what the truth is, and if they are willing to accept it, that would be the most important thing I could accomplish right now, because I did not kill my family.”
Peterson also broke his silence about his extramarital affair in the documentary.
There was a third person involved in his 2002 marriage – a woman who became a key part of detectives’ case against the keen golfer and father-to-be.
Amber Frey, now 49, was unwittingly Scott’s lover for weeks before he killed his heavily pregnant wife Laci, and she cleverly maintained their relationship while helping police nab Peterson as a suspect in the chilling murder case.
Amber Frey, now 49, has spoken out about her days as Scott’s lover in 2002.
Scott Peterson and Amber Frey, photographed together at a Christmas party on December 14, 2002
Now, a large number of their intimate telephone conversations have been made public.
Frey, who at the time was a single mother to her young daughter, revealed that she had just finished school in California when one of her friends told her there was a “handsome guy” looking to “meet the one” and introduced her to Peterson.
Speaking about the new Netflix series ‘American Murder: Laci Peterson’, Amber said of her new blossoming relationship with Scott: ‘We started talking on the phone.
‘I thought he was handsome, he had a very nice smile, he was very down to earth. He was interested in my life and my daughter, and he was sweet to her.
“We laughed a lot and had good conversations.”
During their courtship, which she says began around November 2002, Amber asked Scott if he had ever been married, and he said no.
In the new trailer for the docuseries, the detective in charge of the case, Jon Buehler, suggested that Peterson committed the murders because “he didn’t want to pay child support or spousal support, and that’s how he was going to get out of it.”
Laci and Scott Peterson married in 1997 and found out they were expecting a baby in 2002.
Peterson was sentenced to death, but the decision was overturned in 2020 by the California Supreme Court.
Peterson is currently seeking a new trial in the deaths of his wife and unborn child and his case is being re-examined by the Innocence Project of Los Angeles.
Laci was first reported missing by her husband, who initially claimed she had been playing golf, when he returned home in Modesto, California, to find it empty and her dog running around the backyard dragging its leash.
However, Peterson told his neighbor a different story, claiming he was fishing 90 miles away on his recently purchased boat at Berkeley Marina.
He reported Laci missing to the police and called his mother-in-law to tell her that his pregnant wife was nowhere to be found.
