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Scott Peterson suspects burglars killed his wife Laci during first prison interrogation since his arrest 20 years ago
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Scott Peterson suspects burglars killed his wife Laci during first prison interrogation since his arrest 20 years ago

In his first on-camera interview since he was convicted of murdering his wife 20 years ago, Scott Peterson maintains his innocence and shares his theory about what really happened to his pregnant wife.

“Why do I want to speak? I regret not testifying,” Peterson said in Peacock’s new three-part series Face to Face with Scott Peterson“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 could accomplish right now – because I didn’t kill my family.”

Laci, 27, was eight months pregnant when she disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Peterson reported her missing after she reportedly returned from a solo fishing trip to find their Modesto home empty. Laci’s body, along with that of her unborn child, Conner, washed up on the shore near Peterson’s fishing spot four months later.

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(Left to right) Scott Peterson and Laci Peterson

Scott Peterson and Laci Peterson in a photo from the docuseries “American Murder: Laci Peterson.” (Thanks to Netflix)

After he was arrested near the Mexican border with bleached hair and his brother’s passport, prosecutors unearthed a mountain of evidence against him. A police K9 unit picked up Laci’s scent at a Berkeley boat ramp where Peterson claims he went fishing, and found the woman’s hair caught in the teeth of a pair of pointy-nosed pliers on Peterson’s boat.

Peterson was convicted of Laci’s murder in 2004 and was back in the news after the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced it would hear his latest appeal for a new trial.

“There was a break-in across the street from our house,” Peterson told the filmmakers via video call from Mule Creek State Prison. “And I believe Laci went over there to see what was going on, and she was taken.”

There was a burglary near the Peterson home around the time Laci disappeared. However, one of the convicted burglars testified that the burglary occurred on December 26, 2002, rather than December 24, the day Laci disappeared.

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Scott Peterson on trial

Scott Peterson listens to Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris during a hearing in San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City, California, on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Peterson made his first appearance in San Mateo Superior Court since he was sentenced to death there more than 17 years ago for the murders of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. (Andy Alfaro/The Modesto Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (Andy Alfaro/The Modesto Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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Journalists and legal experts interviewed in the documentary series said witnesses told police they saw a suspicious van near Peterson’s Modesto home on Dec. 24. One witness even claimed to have seen a pregnant woman being forced into a van.

The burglary was not mentioned during Peterson’s 2004 trial. The convict cites this as evidence that police failed to produce evidence during the investigation that might have exonerated him.

“There are so many cases where there was evidence that didn’t fit the detectives’ theory that they ignored it,” Peterson maintained.

Peterson even claims that detectives working the case assumed he was guilty from the moment they searched his home.

“When (Modesto Detective Al Brocchini) first walked through the house with the other officers, I don’t think they knew I was around when they said, ‘We know what’s going on here — it was the husband,'” Peterson alleged during his jailhouse interview. “Then he realized I was there and he turned around.”

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Scott Peterson and Amber Frey pictured in a car

Scott Peterson and Amber Frey pictured at a Christmas party on December 14, 2002, before Laci Peterson’s murder and before Frey knew Scott Peterson was married. (California Supreme Court, San Mateo County)

However, Brocchini and former Modesto police officer Jon Buhler told the filmmakers that they did not withhold any evidence or investigate possible leads in the case.

“He was kind of nonchalant — he had no urgency,” Brocchini said of his first meeting with Peterson. “To me, that was suspicious.”

Peterson, who had several extramarital affairs, quickly became the prime suspect in the case of his wife’s disappearance.

Brocchini said a voicemail Peterson left for his wife at 2:15 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2022, telling her he loved her and would see her “right away” was meant to cover his tracks, hours after he killed Laci and dumped her in the San Francisco Bay. “For me, it was really meant to be heard,” said Brocchini, who said the voicemail was “cloying.”

Peterson, however, said the heartfelt messages were typical of his relationship with Laci, and suggested that officers who questioned the intent of the voicemail must have had “very sad marriages.”

“We loved each other, we enjoyed each other,” he said in his prison interview. “We were great friends.”

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Scott Peterson's yellow-handled pliers, in which police say they found hair from his murdered wife

Prosecutors say police removed Laci Peterson’s hair from the teeth of these pointed-tip pliers, which were found on the boat of her husband and convicted murderer Scott Peterson. (California Supreme Court, San Mateo County)

“Every moment is so tangible,” Peterson said of his last memories with his wife. “I’m still there, and the smells and the lights, the sounds of saying goodbye to Laci. And then my family was gone.”

Amber Frey, Peterson’s mistress, went to the police when she heard about Laci’s disappearance. Peterson, the man she thought was her boyfriend, had previously told her he had never been married, but changed his story and said he was a widower.

Laci was missing her head and three limbs. A forensic pathologist determined that she had not been dismembered, but her body had likely disintegrated due to the conditions at sea after she was anchored.

Prosecutors argued that the homemade concrete anchor Peterson used for his boat was easy to copy. They suggested he had made more and used them to hold his wife’s body to the seabed.

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Scott Peterson smiles at vigil

Prosecutors said these photos of a smiling Scott Peterson were taken during a vigil for Laci Peterson on New Year’s Eve in 2002. The jury found at the end of his 2004 trial that he killed her days later. She was more than 8 months pregnant with their son, Conner. (California Supreme Court, San Mateo County)

After Laci’s disappearance, Peterson allegedly told Frey that his wife was alive and pregnant, but that she had disappeared. Frey began recording her phone conversations with the suspected killer in an attempt to help police.

Last week, those recorded conversations aired for the first time in a new Netflix documentary, American murder: Laci Peterson.

“So what, do you want to be with me?” Frey asked Peterson in one of the recordings.

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“I think we can take care of each other for the rest of our lives,” Peterson replied.

In May of this year, Peterson’s defense team requested DNA testing on a bloodstained mattress found in the bed of a burned-out van near Peterson’s Modesto home the day after Laci disappeared. In the past, the LA Innocence Project says, only a sample of the mattress has been tested. Now, they want the entire mattress tested, claiming that advances in DNA technology could find DNA that would support their client’s claim.

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But a judge ruled in May that a piece of duct tape found on Laci’s body could be retested, along with a dozen other pieces of evidence. It’s unclear whether the mattress will be among the items tested.

Lara Yeretsian, one of Peterson’s attorneys during his first trial, remains hopeful that her client will be acquitted.

“This is not the end,” she said in the docuseries. “It’s just the beginning, and at least we have one victory.”