After her mysterious disappearance on Christmas Eve morning in 2002, the Laci Peterson case garnered global attention and resulted in residents of the greater Modesto area rallying to find the heavily pregnant Laci.
Laci and her husband Scott Peterson first met at a restaurant Scott worked at and she quickly fell in love with him. Her mom, Sharon Rocha, said she felt uneasy about how fast they were moving with their relationship. Despite her mom’s feelings, Laci and Scott married in 1997 when Laci was just 22 and Scott 24.
Laci went missing in the early hours of December 24th, 2002 while walking her dog. Scott was out on a fishing trip and when he arrived back home, the dog was in the backyard with his leash still on and his wife nowhere to be found. He assumed she was at her mom’s house but did not call her mom’s house till later in the day. Laci was reported missing that evening.
The news outlets quickly got hold of this story and began reporting, causing national attention and uproar. Her friends and family tirelessly searched and put up fliers in order to find her.
On December 30th, 6 days after Laci’s disappearance, a woman named Amber Frey, a single mother from Fresno, called police in order to inform them that she had been in a relationship with Scott since November of that year.
Frey claimed he had told her he was single and had never been married. In order to gain evidence, police began having Frey record her phone calls with Scott. The affair caused the media and family to have a sense of distrust towards Scott.
The case was labeled as a homicide in March 2003 and in mid April a body of a woman and a fetus washed up on the shore of San Francisco Bay. This was about 2 miles north of where Scott had gone fishing on Christmas Eve.
Scott was arrested on April 18th, four months after Laci’s disappearance for the murder of his wife and unborn child in La Jolla, California. Just miles from the Mexico border, he had $15,000 in his car, dyed blonde hair, multiple cell phones, and his brother’s ID, whom he looked eerily similar to.
Scott was charged with the murders of Laci and Conner, their unborn son, on November 12th, 2004. He has now served 20 years out of his life sentence. His family still believes he is innocent and is determined to get him out of prison.
Nearly 20 years after his conviction, Scott still maintains his innocence. He has just recently done his first interview in a three part docuseries, “Face to Face With Scott Peterson.” He urges viewers to take another look at the evidence to “show people the reality” of the case.