The Laci Peterson case- Sometimes the murderer is closer to home 

By:  Kathryn Stagg, Editor 

It was the story that took a nation by surprise. With plenty of unexpected turns, it has kept everyone guessing. A pregnant woman simply walking her dog goes missing and is later found dead. As facts of the case become more evident, it is clear it is a murder, a  murder that seems to unravel one suspect, her husband. With the case now in trial, justice will be served for the mourning relatives and friends. Sadly, it will never be served for Laci Peterson and her unborn son Connor. 

It was Christmas Eve, 2002 and Laci Peterson, 27 year old and 8 months pregnant was looking forward to spending a relaxing Christmas before the baby came with her husband Scott, 31 yrs. at their home in Modesto, San Francisco, California. It was 9:30 am and Laci told Scott she was going to take the dog for a walk and then do some last minute shopping. Laci was last seen by a neighbour in East La Loma Park at 10:00 am walking the dog. Later that day, the dog returned home alone and muddy without Laci. In fact, Laci was never seen again. 

That same day, her husband Scott was going fishing with the new boat he had recently purchased. He had tried to call Laci on her cell phone but she hadn’t answered. He came home to find her car still in the garage, her purse in the house, and the dog on the front step begging to get in. He immediately knew something was wrong and he called the police. The police started their investigation right away and the family put out a reward of $100,000.00 for any information of the safe return of Laci. 

As facts and evidence were collected, things immediately started to heat up. Within the first few days the police had a suspect, Scott Peterson. On Christmas Eve, when police first arrived at the Peterson house, they found a gun in the glove compartment of Scott’s truck. When they asked him to do tests for gunpowder residue he immediately asked if motor exhaust from an outboard motor could cause positive reading. Since he claimed he was out in the boat that day, Scott thought the tests may be tainted. It turns out that the tests would cause and positive reading could and the tests could not be done.  

Another thing that set off alarm bells to cops was when detective Al Brochini got a call at 6:30 pm Christmas day from Peterson. He asked if they would be using cadaver dogs, dogs that are used to sniff out dead bodies. In addition to the fact that this information would be of no use to him, Bronchi was surprised simply because Laci was still not considered dead. She had only been missing a day.  

Over the next few weeks, more strange behaviours were shown by Scott.  He sold Laci’s car, a move that many people felt to be weird and disrespectful to his wife and her family. From that money he bought a new truck a few days later. He also took time to clean his house from top to bottom. The evidence against Scott Peterson was piling up but the worst was yet to come. 

By January 17^th Scott was under heavy public scrutiny. The general public were blaming him left and right for the death of his wife and unborn son. Laci’s family themselves began to grow uncertain and questioned Scott’s odd behaviours. They began to question whether he had been telling them the whole story or whether he had been lying to them. Peterson’s response was, “the simple fact is I really don’t care what people think of me as long as it continues to keep Laci’s picture, description, and tip line in the media”. Unfortunately, all his behaviour did was put his picture in the news more often than hers. 

On January 24^th people all over America were shocked and appalled when an unknown woman came forward. Amber Frey spoke up and had a story to tell, of a time back in November, 2002, while at the World of Sports Café in Fresno, California, she met a very kind and handsome man named Scott Peterson who had revealed himself to be single. Amber then told a shocked public that she and Scott began a happy relationship that continued until Laci went missing. Frey insisted that she had no idea that Scott was married; she was lied to the whole time. The plot thickened as Frey explained how only days after Laci went missing Peterson reassured her constantly that they would soon be together. If the evidence piling up against Scott wasn’t enough before, this was the last piece of information to convince everyone he was the murderer. 

On April 18^th, 2003, two bodies were pulled from the waters near Modesto, California, not too far away from where Scott had been fishing the morning Laci had gone missing. They were later identified as the bodies of Laci and Connor Peterson. That same day Scott was driving in San Diego when he was arrested. Police brought him back to Modesto and locked him up, thankful to have caught him since they  feared he would try to flee across the Mexican border. Scott Peterson was charged with double murder and he now could be facing the death penalty.