Sumith Prasad
Netflix’s documentary series ‘American Murder: Laci Peterson’ explores the disappearance and murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, from the POV of the Peterson family through Janey, Scott Peterson’s sister-in-law. She is the wife of Scott’s elder half-brother, Joe. Throughout the defendant’s trial, she remained with her brother-in-law along with the rest of the family. After he was convicted of killing his wife and son, Janey voiced out that Scott didn’t commit the crimes through various mediums!
Janey Peterson Never Believed Scott Killed Laci and Conner
Janey Peterson, from Sioux City, Iowa, witnessed Scott and Laci’s relationship unfold from start to end. They both dated, married, set up a home, and awaited their son, Conner, before her eyes. She was part of the Peterson family’s crate-building business in Poway, which is near San Diego, California, along with her husband, Joe. During Scott’s trial, she was seen with her loved ones in court, supporting her brother-in-law. When Scott’s mother, Jackie Peterson, died in 2013, Janey went to San Quentin State Prison to inform her brother-in-law of the demise.
“It was a hard day. Visiting in the cell, with people around you 360 [degrees], it was not a private place at all. I didn’t let myself get emotional on the way up. When I told him the next couple of hours, we really restrained ourselves. For him, it was something we didn’t want to deal with in a public way. That was very hard to do,” Janey told The Modesto Bee. Since the conviction of her brother-in-law, she started raising questions concerning various aspects of the investigation. She claimed that the Modesto Police Department did not delve into the supposed evidence that proved her sister-in-law was alive after Scott went fishing.
To support her argument, Janey referenced a mailman who didn’t see Laci’s dog, which, in her eyes, proves that her sister-in-law left her house to walk the dog after Scott left for fishing. She previously admitted that her brother-in-law’s affair with Amber Frey shocked her. However, it doesn’t mean for her that he killed Laci. “Unfortunately, Scott had an infidelity problem, and he traveled in conjunction with his work, and that created an opportunity for him. […] We make no excuse for Scott’s behavior in that sense… But unfortunately, a lot of that is being used to convict him of murder,” she told ABC News in 2021.
Janey Peterson Became an Attorney to Fight For Scott and Focus on Wrongful Convictions
To fight for Scott, Janey Peterson decided to become a lawyer. She joined California Western School of Law in 2019 and graduated from the institution with a Doctor of Law degree in 2022. She also served as a clinical intern at the California Innocence Project between August 2020 and July 2021. Then, she joined the County of San Diego’s Office of the Public Defender as a certified legal intern in January 2022. The internship concluded in April 2022. Even though she tried to pass the California bar exam the same year, Janey did not pass. In 2022, she also celebrated the wedding of her daughter, Jenna.
Janey played a key role in setting up “Scott Peterson Appeal,” a website that contains significant information concerning the case. Even after her internship, she remained in close contact with the California Innocence Project. Over the years, she has attended several events hosted by the organization. In February 2023, Janey attended the Ski Bowl XVI in Mammoth Lakes, California, with Joe. Later, in the same year, she participated in the Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, with Susan Caudillo, Scott’s sister. In May 2023, she passed the California bar exam to practice as an attorney. The lawyer established the Law Office of Janey Peterson in San Diego, where she lives with Joe. In June 2023, Janey and Joe, soon after celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary, welcomed a grandson.
Janey Peterson Relies on a Theory That Can Potentially Prove Scott’s Supposed Innocence Today
According to Janey, the burglars who broke into one of Laci’s neighbors’ houses murdered her sister-in-law. “20 years ago this week, Laci Peterson was seen alive walking her dog after Scott had left for the day. Sometime after that walk, the evidence shows she encountered men burglarizing the home across the street. Those men kidnapped her and later killed her,” she told FOX News in 2022. Janey has been relying on this theory for years, especially after building a “war room” with trial transcripts, pictures, maps, and timelines concerning the case. Ever since the trial, she gradually became the face of the Peterson family, as she regularly gave interviews to various news channels and publications.
To prove the theory, in April 2023, an evidence claim was filed with a significant document. Janey told People that the document was a signed exhibit from an individual who claimed that the person heard a burglar say the latter’s fellow burglars killed Laci. The claim was followed by the Los Angeles Innocence Project taking up the case by stating that new evidence supports Scott’s “longstanding claim of innocence” in January 2024. Janey believes that Scott did not commit Laci and Conner’s murders due to several reasons, which mainly include, according to her, “there is absolutely no physical evidence” to prove that he killed his wife.
Janey remains in touch with Scott. In 2022, a photograph that features her and Joe in a video conference with Scott from prison emerged. The conference also included Scott’s sister, Susan, and father, Lee. Janey and Joe have been visiting him in prison as well. “Our family is living our lives with this weight of injustice over it. And you can’t ignore it. All of us in the family and we feel the weight of this injustice,” she told People in 2023. Janey remains committed to proving that Scott is not a murderer, and she is awaiting a retrial that will give her an opportunity to fight for her brother-in-law’s freedom.
Read More: Lori Heintz and Stacey Boyers: Where Are Laci Peterson’s Friends Now?
