Last Updated on February 27, 2026
Scott Peterson is a convicted murderer.
He was convicted of killing his wife, Laci Peterson and their unborn child, Conner.
Scott was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Laci and the second-degree murder of Conner.
He was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
In August 2020, his death sentence was overturned, but his conviction for the killings was upheld.
There are many who believe Scott Peterson is innocent due to controversy in the case.
Laci Peterson Disappearance
Laci Peterson went missing on the 24th December 2002.
She went missing after taking the family dog for a walk.
The dog was loose in the neighbourhood and was twice returned to the home by neighbours.
Scott left to go fishing, and when he returned, she was not home.
She was reported as missing after Scott called her parents to check if she was with them.
He had assumed she was there, and she was unable to be found.
When police arrived, they searched their property and found her keys, wallet and sunglasses in a closet.
Scott immediately drew the attention of detectives due to his calm nature during initial interviews.
There was also the fact that he wasn’t asking questions.
Photographs emerged of him smiling and laughing at the vigil for his missing wife.
Scott first told the police that he had been golfing.
He later changed his story after police found a message suggesting he was at Berkeley.
Scott then told police he had been at his warehouse at Berkeley Marina.
He said he was sending emails before taking his boat out for 90 minutes of fishing.
Police were able to determine that he had sent emails and that he had taken his boat out from his marina.
When they first searched the property, they found a phonebook open on a page for a defence lawyer.
Whilst the detectives suspected Scott, Laci’s friends and family stood by Scott at first.
They believed that Scott and Laci Peterson had the perfect marriage.
Scott’s sister believes that he is guilty and explains why in Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother Scott Peterson Is Guilty (AD*)
Scott Peterson’s Affairs
Many believed that Scott was innocent until the Scott Peterson affair with Amber Frey was discovered.
This led to the discovery of multiple affairs that had taken place during their marriage.
This led to the loss of support from Laci’s family and the public.
Amber herself came forward to tell police of the affair after reading a newspaper article on the disappearance of Laci Peterson.
She told the police that the affair began in November 2002, and he had told her he was single.
Amber suspected he might be married, and after confronting him in December, he told her his wife had died.
He told her that he was spending his first Christmas alone.
She began working with the police to record conversations the pair had.
She did so in the hopes of getting a confession from Scott Peterson.
Amber revealed more details about their relationship in her book, Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson (AD*)
In January, Scott was interviewed on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer.
He told her that he had revealed the affair and that Laci knew about it.
The interview led to more public backlash against him after he continuously referred to her in the past tense.
At this point, Laci was still considered a missing person.
Discovery of Laci Peterson’s Body
On April 13th 2003, the body of Conner was discovered on the shoreline close to the Berkeley Marina.
He had nylon tape around his neck and cuts to his body.
The next day, Laci’s decomposed torso was found a mile further along the shoreline.
The same tape found on Conner was on her clothing.
On 18th April 2003, DNA tests concluded that the bodies were Laci and Conner.
An autopsy was conducted that noted two broken ribs on Laci.
They were unable to determine either the cause of death or the time of death from her torso.
Conner had remained in her womb until she had decomposed.
Laci’s head and missing limbs have never been found.
Scott Peterson Arrest
Scott Peterson was arrested near a golf course after authorities found a single strand of Laci’s hair on a pair of pliers on his boat.
They were able to trace him as they had placed a tracker on his car.
He told police he was meeting his brother and dad for a game of golf.
When Scott was arrested, he had dyed his hair blonde and changed his appearance.
In his car, he had clothing, camping and survival equipment, his brother’s driving licence and $15,000 in cash in his car.
Due to the evidence they discovered in Scott Peterson’s car, the police believed that he was planning to go on the run to Mexico.
He told them he was living out of his car as he could not return home due to the press attention.
Scott Peterson was charged with first-degree murder for Laci and second-degree murder for his unborn child.
Trial and Sentencing
The Scott Peterson trial began on 1st June 2004 after being moved to Redwood City.
Scott pled not guilty on both counts of first and second degree murder.
The prosecution argued that Scott had murdered Laci due to wanting to be single to date Amber and due to money issues.
He had sold her car and subscribed to pornographic channels whilst she was missing.
Peterson had also enquired about selling the house.
A number of recordings between Scott and Amber were played as evidence against him.
The defence argued there was a lack of evidence and that the fetus was too old to be Laci’s unborn child.
However, this was rebutted by a prosecution witness.
Scott Peterson was found guilty of first and second degree murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
In March 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom granted reprieves to all inmates currently on death row in California during his time in office.
In August 2020, his death sentence was overturned, but his conviction was upheld.
Scott Peterson remains in San Quentin State Prison.
Appeals
Scott Peterson’s automatic appeal was lodged in 2012.
They cited the negative publicity surrounding the case, a lack of evidence and that the judge had made errors in his judgment.
Subsequently, they called for a new trial for those and other issues as cited in Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson’s Murder (AD*)
The appeal was rejected by a 285-page response in 2015, highlighting the strength of the evidence in the original trial.
They also stated that juror issues could have been dealt with by Scott’s defence lawyer.
In 2015, Scott’s lawyers lodged a habeas corpus appeal asking for a new trial.
The attorney general refused this appeal in 2017 with a 150-page document.
He concluded that the argument of failures from his legal counsel was overruled by the evidence.
The response cited that Geragos’s performance did not affect Peterson’s constitutional rights.
He stated there was no persuasive reason offered for the court to reconsider the ruling.
Another habeas corpus appeal was lodged in August 2018, reinforcing the previous appeal with further evidence.
Scott Peterson’s appeal was successful, and his death sentence was overturned in August 2020.
There were calls for a new trial for the sentencing phase.
In October 2020, the California Supreme Court ruled that a lower court should take another look at the case.
This would be to determine whether his guilty verdict should also be overturned.
In November 2020, a judge ruled that he should remain at San Quentin prison rather than being transferred to San Mateo County Jail.
A trial in January 2021 was pushed back to April 2021 to decide if there will be a retrial on either the sentencing phase or the verdict.
In 2022, a judge refused the request for a retrial.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project became involved in the case in 2023.
They claim to have substantial evidence to present.
LAIP filed a 126-page petition in April 2025.
New Evidence and Controversy
The Scott Peterson case has been the subject of an A&E documentary.
The Murder of Laci Peterson, which included an interview with Scott Peterson.
Witnesses claim to have seen Laci alive and walking the dog.
It has been suggested that it may have been a revenge killing after Lacy disturbed a burglary.
Nevertheless, none of this evidence was presented in court.
This led to Scott’s defence team seeking a new trial with the habeas corpus appeal.
There is a popular opinion that this was a trial of his demeanour rather than a trial based on evidence.
Forensic psychiatrist Keith Ablow examines his behaviour in Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson (AD*)
However, the argument can be made that we all deal with grief and loss in different ways.
There is controversy surrounding a juror on the case.
A juror named Richelle had been harassed by her partner whilst pregnant.
She lied to the court to ensure she was picked as a juror.
When asked if she had been a victim of a crime, she had selected no in a pre-screening questionnaire.
She has written several letters to Scott about the death of the child.
Nearly half the jurors in the case have since admitted that they thought he was guilty before hearing any of the evidence of the case.
Despite sharing a surname and a similar crime, Drew Peterson and Scott Peterson are not related.
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