Netflix puts Scott Peterson case back in the spotlight with documentary on the murder of pregnant wife Laci
The case that shocked America is being revisited in two new documentaries on Netflix and Peacock
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Twenty years after Scott Peterson was convicted of the horrific slayings of his pregnant wife and their unborn baby, one of the nation’s most sensational murder cases is back in the spotlight.
Laci Peterson was 27 years old and eight months pregnant with the couple’s son Conner when she vanished on Christmas Eve in 2002, sparking a months-long search.
That search ended in tragedy when the bodies of Laci and her unborn son washed up four months later.
Peterson was charged and later convicted of their murders in 2004 but continues to protest his innocence to this day.
Now, two decades on, two separate documentaries are shining new light on the case that shocked America, with new bombshell interviews, chilling new details and never-before-seen footage.
On August 14, American Murder: Laci Peterson will be available to stream on Netflix, providing “the definitive examination” of the murder of the “bubbly and beloved” young mother-to-be, according to a press release.
In the three part docuseries, Scott’s former lover Amber Frey, 49, breaks her silence for the first time, shedding light on her affair with Peterson all those years ago – and revealing why she was the one who called the police.
And for the first time since Laci’s death, her mother, Sharon Rocha, is speaking out about the devastating grief she’s endured over the years and what exactly she thought of her son-in-law.
Peterson himself, now 51, is also speaking out for the first time in two decades in new documentary Face to Face with Scott Peterson, airing August 20 on Peacock.
Here’s what we know about the case:
Laci’s Christmas Eve disappearance and murder
Laci was eight months pregnant when she vanished on Christmas Eve in 2002 from the couple’s home in Modesto, California.
Peterson, who reported her missing, told police he had gone fishing for the day at Berkeley Marina on a recently purchased boat and that Laci had gone out to walk their dog. But when he returned home hours later, the house was empty. Their dog was found outside, running around the backyard with its leash still attached.
The heartwrenching case that captivated millions made headline news for months alongside the War on Iraq and the hunt for Saddam Hussein.
But it was Peterson’s behavior, described as “odd” in American Murder, that caused the public to pour over the case.
While Laci’s family members tearfully begged the public for help, Peterson appeared emotionless and shunned the TV cameras.
An investigation revealed Scott had washed his clothes, eaten pizza, and showered before notifying anyone about Laci’s disappearance – behavior that raised red flags.
Four months after Laci went missing, on April 14, 2003, her body washed up on the shore of Brooks Island. Her unborn son’s body was found a mile away one day earlier.
Scott was located in San Diego a few days later and arrested on murder charges. He had dyed his hair blonde and was carrying survival gear, viagra tablets and $15,000 in cash, according to authorities.
After a five-month long trial in 2004 that drew a media circus, Scott was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
In 2020, his death sentence was overturned and he was resentenced to life in prison without parole.
But he has always maintained his innocence and claimed he was wrongly convicted.
LA Innocence Project takes case
In January 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project, a non-profit that works to exonerate people who are wrongly convicted, announced that it had taken on Peterson’s case and was investigating his “claim of actual innocence.”
The group suggests in court documents that Laci may have witnessed a Christmas Eve break-in at a house across the street and was kidnapped and killed by the burglars.
Motions were filed on Peterson’s behalf “to order further discovery of evidence and allow new DNA testing,” the group’s director Paula Mitchell said in a statement earlier this year.
The project is seeking DNA tests on materials connected to the burglary, and on tarps and a large plastic bag found at the waterfront near where the bodies were found.
It is also asking for police reports and audio and video recordings from interviews of suspects and witnesses connected to the burglary.
The court filings claim the Modesto Police Department improperly withheld materials and was too hasty in declaring that burglary was not connected to the murders.
Bombshell revelations from Scott Peterson’s mistress
Now, back-to-back documentaries are being released about the two-decades-old case.
Netflix’s American Murder: Laci Peterson will feature new interviews with detectives, reporters, lawyers, Laci’s family and childhood friends, and jurors who decided Scott’s fate.
But it’s a bombshell interview with Peterson’s former lover Frey that takes center stage.
Frey, who was having an affair with Peterson in the six weeks leading up to Laci’s disappearance and murder, speaks out for the first time in 20 years as she lays out the timeline of their affair and reveals she was a victim of Scott’s deceptions.
While authorities searched for Laci after her disappearance, Frey saw the news coverage and called the police revealing that she had a relationship with Peterson.
She said he first told her he was a widower before changing his story on December 9 – the same day he bought the boat – to tell her he was married, but that his wife had died.
Secretly recorded phone calls between the lovers, aired in the documentary, suggest that Peterson wanted a future with Frey.
“So what do you want to be together with me?” Frey asked in one of the recordings.
“For the rest of our lives I think we could care for each other,” he replied.
Laci Peterson’s mom reveals new details
The Netflix docuseries also features a rare interview with Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, who is speaking out for the first time since her daughter’s death.
“Sharon did press when Laci went missing, but she’s never sat down to do an interview for a documentary,” documentary director Skye Borgman said in a release.
“It’s not easy, after 20 years, to sit down in front of a camera. But we wanted this to be about Laci, to bring her back to people’s consciousness. Sharon wanted to talk about Laci’s spirit, and about the dragonflies that Laci loved. How Laci is still with them, and how Conner — Laci’s unborn son — is still with them.”
In one shocking revelation, Rocha claims that Peterson originally did not want to have a child.
She also revealed what she thought of Peterson when her daughter first started dating him.
“Laci was telling me all these things about Scott,” Rocha says in the docuseries.
“And I remember saying, as her mother, ‘I hope he’s not filling her with crap.’”
Now, she says: “I have learned to go with my gut feeling.”
Rocha along with Laci’s childhood friends also “speak candidly about their memories of Laci, the impact this shocking crime had on their lives, and their hopes that, in coming forward to tell Laci’s story for a new generation, they might empower other women experiencing intimate partner violence to escape a similarly tragic fate,” Netflix writes in a release.
Scott Peterson gives first interview in two decades
Peterson will also give his first media interview in more than two decades in the new Peacock documentary.
It has been billed as “an exclusive series of intimate conversations.”
“While many still believe the jury got it right, Scott’s family and experts close to the case have spent over 20 years committed to uncovering inconsistencies in the evidence, as well as finding new information around alternative theories surrounding Laci’s murder,” the producers of the series said in a release.