Scott Peterson's Words Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine
Though he maintains his innocence, Scott Peterson has been behind bars for more than 20 years for the murder of his wife, Laci, who was pregnant with their unborn son, Conner. Over that time, he has given multiple interviews that don't exactly shift suspicion away from him.
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00:00Though he maintains his innocence, Scott Peterson has been behind bars for more than 20 years
00:05for the murder of his wife, Lacey, who was pregnant with their unborn son, Connor. Over
00:09that time, he has given multiple interviews that don't exactly shift suspicion away from
00:13him.
00:14Scott Peterson was arrested on April 19, 2003, just a few days after Lacey's body was found
00:19in the San Francisco Bay. Months before he was detained, Scott was questioned at the
00:22police station in Modesto, California. On December 25, 2002, the day after Lacey went
00:27missing, a former fertilizer salesman was pressed about his relationship with his wife
00:31and her pregnancy. He said,
00:33"...we spent hours preparing for the child, the nursery, everything. And we will have
00:36our boy."
00:37Scott had reportedly lied about his wife and son to multiple people, including Amber Frye,
00:42with whom he was having an affair at the time of their disappearance. In the 2024 Netflix
00:46docuseries American Murder, Lacey Peterson, Frye says that when she met Scott in November
00:502002, he said he had never been married, had no children, and didn't plan on having any.
00:55The pair met at a bar after being set up by her friend, who met him at a work convention
00:58a few weeks earlier. John Buehler, a retired Modesto Police Department detective, said
01:03in Peacock's 2024 face-to-face with Scott Peterson documentary series,
01:07"...and Scott had been there representing himself that he was single. He had written
01:11on his name tag, horny bastard."
01:13In 2017, A&E released an interview with Scott for its six-part documentary series titled
01:19The Murder of Lacey Peterson. A few months before it hit airwaves in August, Scott had
01:23spoken by phone with his sister-in-law, Janie Peterson, who also believes he is innocent.
01:28Scott appeared to blame law enforcement for the death of his wife and unborn son, saying,
01:32"...I wasn't the last one to see Lacey that day. There were so many witnesses who saw
01:35her walking in the neighborhood after I left. The police failed to find my family."
01:39In his first public remarks in decades, Scott spoke about the case and once again asserted
01:43his innocence — in almost the same words — in Peacock's face-to-face with Scott Peterson.
01:48"...I wasn't the last one to see Lacey that day. There were so many credible witnesses
01:54who saw her walking in our neighborhood."
01:58Netflix's American Murder, Lacey Peterson includes conversations Scott had with Amber
02:01Fry, in which he made promises of a future together.
02:04"...and I was traumatized by the death of my children."
02:08When face-to-face director Shereen Anderson spoke to Scott in Mule Creek State Prison
02:12for the series, he appeared to deflect blame onto Fry.
02:15"...stay in contact with Amber, I thought, and she linked it into the picture, complicated,
02:22ruined the search."
02:23Fry was reportedly unaware that the man she thought was her boyfriend was already married
02:27with a child on the way. Her testimony was a key part of the case against Scott, since
02:31the prosecution had little direct evidence to work with. Instead, it painted him as a
02:35man motivated to get rid of his wife to make way for a new life with Fry.
02:39In face-to-face with Scott Peterson, Scott spoke about his last moments with Lacey.
02:43"...I could see Lacey's smile when she was doing her hair in the morning of the 24th.
02:48The way we shared a bowl for cereal."
02:53Some see statements like that as a ploy to gain sympathy. Court TV anchor Ted Rollins,
02:57who appeared in both Face to Face and American Murder, described his experience interviewing
03:01Scott, saying,
03:02"...he's an odd dude. He meant to stick our shoes off. He was very orchestrated. His answers
03:06were totally rehearsed, very scripted."
03:08In January 2024, Scott, with the help of the Los Angeles Innocence Project, filed new motions
03:13for DNA testing and other evidence examinations. Rollins did acknowledge the possibility that
03:18new DNA evidence could exonerate Scott. In particular, a piece of duct tape found on
03:22Lacey's remains that contains DNA that was never identified. But the court TV reporter
03:26still placed the blame for Scott's conviction squarely on him and his, quote, "...whole demeanor."
03:32Two people have claimed that Scott Peterson admitted to killing Lacey, though their credibility
03:35has also been questioned, given what a media circus the case became. In her 2008 book I'm
03:40Sorry I Lied to You, The Confession of Scott Peterson, author Donna Thomas said Scott admitted
03:44to his crimes during one of the many times she visited him at San Quentin Prison. She
03:48quoted him as saying,
03:49"...I took my arm and put it around her neck. I used my right hand to cover her mouth. She
03:53fought hard, but it was nothing for me."
03:55As the Modesto Bee notes, the book includes various assertions that conflict with Thomas'
03:59previous self-published work, in which she claims she had an affair with Scott. In 2003,
04:04Scott's former cellmate, James Jimbo Suarez, spoke to the tabloid The Globe and said the
04:08convicted murderer had also confessed to him. Suarez claimed that Scott admitted to hitting
04:12Lacey on the head with a club.
04:14Teacher and author Lynn Crosby, who wrote in The Globe and Mail, said Suarez's claims
04:18do not add up. His story is an obvious fallacy that begins with his lack of credibility and
04:23ends with his motivated narrative. Suarez was sentenced to life behind bars for kidnapping
04:28and assaulting his girlfriend with a deadly weapon.
04:34For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org