Shivangi Sinha
On December 24, 2002, Scott Peterson reported to the police that his eight-month pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, was missing. He mentioned he had last seen her around 9:30 am before going fishing. Scott left a message for Laci around 2:30 pm. When he returned home, he found their dog, McKenzie, in the backyard with the leash on, his wife’s car in the driveway, and her belongings inside the house. However, as investigations progressed, he was found responsible and was ultimately arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced for the crime. This case has been polarizing, so both Netflix’s ‘American Murder: Laci Peterson’ and A&E’s ‘Scott Peterson: The New Evidence’ revisit what transpired on the fateful day nearly 24 years ago.
Scott Was Involved in an Extramarital Affair at the Time of the Killings
The case against Scott Peterson — the son of Jackie and Lee Peterson — was mainly built on circumstantial evidence, as it lacked any direct physical evidence. There was no DNA, no blood, no nothing. What was introduced in court was thus Scott’s alleged dismissive behavior during the investigation, along with detectives’ claims that he’d been reluctant to allow searches of his boat and house. However, the defense argued he was cooperative and had given officials free rein to search his home and his phone on the day of the incident itself. Nevertheless, his affair with Amber Frey, which she had revealed to the police on January 24, 2003, was a major red flag. Moreover, authorities believed that the fact that he sold Laci’s car within months and planned to sell their house was also an indicator of his guilt.
In April 2003, DNA analysis confirmed that the bodies of an adult woman and a full-term male fetus recovered from the San Francisco Bay shore were those of Laci and her unborn child, Conner. A few days later, Scott was arrested in San Diego near a La Jolla golf course with $15,000 in cash, camping supplies, clothing, several credit cards, and his brother’s identification card in his vehicle. According to records, he had also dyed his hair blonde and grown a goatee, making him resemble his brother. Detectives alleged that Scott was planning to flee to Mexico, but Scott and his family insisted that he was living out of his car to avoid media attention and carried his brother’s ID to gain access to a golf club without issues.
Scott Peterson Was Originally Sentenced to Death For the Murders of His Wife and Son
The day Scott was arrested, on April 18, 2003, he was charged with two felony counts of murder with premeditation and special circumstances. He was transported back to his hometown and booked into the Modesto County Jail. Three days later, on April 21, he was officially arraigned at the Stanislaus County Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges, maintaining his innocence. Due to intense media attention surrounding the case, his trial was moved to San Mateo County, beginning on June 1, 2004. Among those to testify against him was his ex-girlfriend, Amber Frey, and with additional testimonies and circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution, Scott was found guilty on November 12, 2004. He was convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances for Laci’s death and second-degree murder of Conner.
On December 13, 2004, the jury recommended the death penalty for Scott, which a judge affirmed on March 16, 2005. In other words, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection and ordered to pay $10,000 for his late wife’s funeral. He was subsequently incarcerated at the maximum-security San Quentin State Prison, which is California’s only death row facility. A prison spokesperson later told People Magazine that the convict had become quite popular behind bars, even earning the nickname “Scottie-Too-Hottie.” He was allegedly well-liked by female guards and even received letters from people nationwide. In 2012, journalist Nancy Mullane observed Scott in prison and remarked that he did not appear “depressed” but looked “healthy.”
All of Scott Peterson’s Appeals For a Retrial Have Been Dismissed Until Now
In December 2003, Laci Peterson’s mother filed a $5 million civil lawsuit against Scott for the wrongful deaths of Laci and her unborn child, Conner. By October 2005, the proceeds from Laci’s $250,000 life insurance policy were awarded to her mother, and in April 2009, the wrongful death lawsuit was dropped. Throughout this period, Scott remained at San Quentin State Prison and filed several appeals to challenge his conviction and sentencing. Among them was a direct appeal against his death sentence with the Supreme Court of California in July 2012. Then, in November 2015, he also filed a habeas corpus petition to introduce new evidence in his case. Part of his argument was that several neighbors had claimed to have seen Laci alive after he had left the house on the day of her disappearance.
Scott’s petition also alleged juror misconduct, claiming that one of the jurors had lied about her alleged history with domestic violence and thus should not have been in the jury pool. The court heard arguments of his direct appeal in June 2020, during which his defense also argued that a prospective juror had been improperly dismissed and that multiple errors had occurred during the trial. In the end, on August 24, 2020, the court overturned his death sentence.
After careful consideration, the prosecutors decided not to retry Scott’s penalty phase. So, on December 8, 2021, the California Superior Court resentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of Laci and a concurrent 15 years to life for the second-degree murder of their unborn child. The allegation of the juror’s misconduct was not admitted in court. On December 20, 2022, his habeas corpus appeal was also dismissed.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project is Backing Scott Peterson in His Fight for a Retrial Today
In January 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced that it had taken up Scott Peterson’s case and filed new motions seeking additional hearings to admit new evidence and conduct DNA testing. Among the requests, the court only approved the testing of a 15.5-inch piece of duct tape found on Laci’s pants during her autopsy. Others, such as DNA testing on an alleged blood-stained mattress found in a burned van roughly 1.5 miles from Laci’s home, were denied.
The prosecution opposed new DNA testing, arguing that it had already been conducted in 2013 and 2019 and had not yielded any evidence in connection with the case. Nevertheless, the court affirmed testing of the duct tape, and in July 2024, a hearing was held to determine which agency would conduct it. Then, in August 2025, the Los Angeles Innocence Project filed a 700-page habeas corpus petition, detailing 14 claims to argue Scott’s conviction, but it was dismissed by a Superior Court judge in April 2026. The non-profit organization continues to support the convict in his bid for a retrial, with both their lawyers reportedly currently working to file another appeal. Yet, the fact of the matter is that he remains guilty for the murder of Laci and Conner, so at the age of 53, he is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.
Read More: Where is Scott Peterson’s Sister Susan Caudillo Now?
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