All language subtitles for 1fgergergergtdefr

[soft dramatic music]

* *

- Scott and Laci's wedding
was quite the event.

Laci looked
absolutely gorgeous.

It really was a beautiful day.

Very much in love.

[dramatic music]

- An intense search
is underway

for a missing Modesto woman
who is eight months pregnant.

- Her husband had seen her
before he went

on a fishing trip.

- Did you murder your wife?

- I had absolutely
nothing to do

with Laci's disappearance.

- Nothing adds up because
he's a man

with something to hide.

- Police in
Modesto, California

issued an arrest warrant
for Scott Peterson.

- He faces
capital murder charges

in the deaths
of his pregnant wife

and unborn child.

- We, the jury,
find the defendant,

Scott Lee Peterson,
guilty of the crime of murder.

- I believe my brother-in-law,
Scott,

has been wrongfully convicted
of that murder.

He's been in prison
since April of 2003.

Scott has not spoken
on camera about the case

in those 21 years.

Until today.

- Why I want to speak.

I regret not testifying.

I have a chance to show people
what the truth is,

and if they're willing
to accept it,

it would be the biggest thing

that I can accomplish
right now.

Because I didn't kill
my family.

* *

- Speed.

- Rowlands, take one.
Soft sticks.

- I think the public was
so interested in this case

initially because of Laci.

This was a beautiful,
pregnant, missing woman.

How did she just fall off
the face of the Earth?

And then Scott Peterson became

the most hated man
on the planet.

His behavior,
the things that he did

and said and lied about,
but the deeper

you get into this case,
the more questions you have.

Because on the surface,
oh, he did it.

But how?
How did he do it?

And how did he not leave behind

any sort of
a trail of evidence?

And if you didn't think
Scott Peterson did it,

well, who else did it?

It's the reason
that people to this day

are talking about this case
and why some people think

that he didn't do it.

- I never dreamed
I would put these four words

in the same sentence.

Scott Peterson,
Innocence Project.

- 20 years ago,
Scott Peterson was convicted

of murdering his wife, Laci.

- Serving life without parole
after his death conviction

was overturned in 2020.

- An organization that works
to exonerate people

wrongfully convicted of crimes
is now reviewing

the Scott Peterson murder case.

- The LA Innocence Project
is taking up the effort

to set Peterson free.

- I was floored.

- It was very, very surprising.

I would say
borderline shocking.

- The LA Innocence Project
is no joke.

- Over the years,
Peterson has made many attempts

to get his case retried.

None of them have
been successful.

- The new motion
revolves around a theory

that Laci Peterson
was killed by burglars.

- There was a van found
close to Laci

and Scott's house
that has a mattress

in it that has blood stains.

They're trying to get
that mattress tested.

- This van
is of high interest.

- Could we
have gotten it wrong?

- Today, convicted killer
Scott Peterson

will attend a court hearing
via Zoom

that could allow him
to get a new trial.

[indistinct chatter]

- Good morning.

We are on the record
in the matter of

People versus
Scott Lee Peterson,

case number SC055500A.

Mr. Peterson is present
via Zoom.

Mr. Peterson, can you both see
and hear the proceedings?

- Yes, I can.
Thank you, Your Honor.

- And do we have
your consent to appear

via Zoom this morning?

- Absolutely, Your Honor.
Thank you.

- All right.
Thank you.

Counsel would like to state
their appearances,

starting with counsel
for Mr. Peterson.

- Mr. Peterson
has two objectives.

One is to get the discovery
and the DNA testing

that we're requesting
as soon as we possibly can.

- Scott Peterson
was back in court today,

seeking a new trial.

- His new attorney argued
for the release of evidence

she says should have
been made available

at the time of the trial.

- They've raised some things
that really have people

all across the country saying,

"Boy, I'm second guessing
this now."

- My feeling on that is,
where was this claim

when we were in trial?

If there was
something missing,

I see them bringing it up
and rubbing our face

in it in the original trial.

To me, it seems like it's
kind of a wild goose chase.

- I had nothing to do with
Laci's disappearance.

- There was no conviction
behind what he had to say.

- It's hard to figure out
sociopaths.

Controlling,
and that they are--

have lack of emotions,
lack of sympathy.

And Scott Peterson
shows all of that.

- Oh, it's polarizing.

You bring up Scott Peterson

to a Scott Peterson hater
and...

[growls]

- We, the jury,

find the defendant,
Scott Lee Peterson,

guilty of the crime of murder.

[all cheering]

- I'm just glad he's guilty,
because he is guilty.

- After calling him cruel,
uncaring, and heartless.

- Scott got what he deserved.

- A lot of people are invested
in believing Scott was guilty,

but if you really
get into the details,

it gets much more complicated.

- My name is Shareen Anderson,

and I am
a documentary filmmaker

and an
investigative journalist.

In 2013, I started
researching this case.

My initial thought was that
he was probably guilty.

I mean, he was convicted,
sentenced to death.

He deserved to be behind bars.

And it was only
when I started looking

at the evidence and the facts
that I started to question.

You can interpret a lot of the
evidence in a variety of ways.

It is a circumstantial
evidence case.

You can take one piece
of evidence

and it could be a sign
of guilt or the opposite.

And I wanted to dig deeper

and possibly make
a documentary about it,

so I reached out
to Scott Peterson.

I didn't hear back from him,
but I did hear from

someone in his family.

- Are you excited about
all the new developments

for the case?

- I think we have more hope
than we've had in a long time.

[soft dramatic music]

My name is Janey Peterson.

I'm Scott and Laci Peterson's
sister-in-law.

Scott Peterson is my
husband's younger brother.

For this case,
being 20 years old,

there are a lot of things
going on

that are very encouraging.

And I think,
in the coming year,

we're going to have a lot of
answers as to what happened.

I think I first met
Shareen Anderson in 2013.

She was interested in
doing a documentary.

I was kind of impressed with
her knowledge of the case.

She really was digging in.

We hadn't done
any interviews in years,

and Scott has not spoken
on camera

with the media about his case
since before his arrest.

* *

- Scott Peterson can now have
video visits up to 15 minutes.

I had a lot of things that I
wanted to talk to him about.

Just hearing it
in his own words,

whether it be about
the evidence

or the lies that he told.

I wanted to see how far
he was going to go

in terms of
answering questions.

This case is still a mystery.

And whether you think
he's innocent or guilty,

there's still a lot
of unanswered questions.

[tense music]

* *

OK, here we go.

- Hey there, Shareen.

- Hey, how are you?
- I'm all right.

How are you doing today?
- I'm good.

So you were convicted
of a horrible crime,

the murder of your
pregnant wife and unborn son.

Why should anyone want to hear
your side of the story?

Why should anyone care about

what you have to say
20 years later?

- If I have a chance
to get the reality out there,

I have a chance to show people
what the truth is,

and if they're willing
to accept it,

maybe that takes a little bit
of hurt off my family.

And that would be
the biggest thing

that I can accomplish
right now.

Don't trust me,
but look at the evidence.

* *

[clock ticking]

[haunting music]

* *

- How can I help you?
- Yeah, um...

- Laci's always been
a happy, outgoing person.

She and her husband are
very, very happy together.

We talked about
8:30 Monday night.

She had called to let me know
that they were going to be

over Christmas Eve for dinner.

And we said we would see
each other tomorrow evening.

He called me.

He thought she might be
at my house.

And when I answered the phone,
he said, "Mom, is Laci there?"

And I told him no.

* *

- When I got home,
I started calling friends,

and they hadn't spoken to her.
They didn't know where it was.

And then as
the hours progressed,

it's like, oh, my God,
she's not somewhere

that we know of.
So it was anxiety and panic.

- Scott said that Laci
went to walk the dog

and she hadn't come back,

and my husband--
I could only hear

his end of the conversation,
but I just remember him saying,

"I'm coming, brother."

And he hung up the phone
and walked out the front door

and got in his car.

[phone ringing]

- It's Christmas Eve.

I'm at my cabin
with my family.

[phone ringing]

When the phone rings
up here on a holiday,

it's not good news.

A sergeant said,
"Do you mind driving down

"to the city of Modesto
for this missing person?

"It's a pregnant lady.

We got a gut feeling
something ain't right."

Hey,
she's eight months pregnant.

We need to find her.

It was like 9:00 at night.

It's 90 miles, so it takes an
hour and a half to get there.

[crickets chirping]

I said, lock the house up.

Don't let anybody go in it
until I get there.

And when I get there,
introduce me to Scott Peterson.

[soft dramatic music]

When I drove up to the house,
the first thing I noticed

was there had to have been
30 people in the driveway.

- You had neighbors,
friends, and family

canvassing the neighborhood,
looking for Laci.

There was an underlying panic.
Where is she?

- They were knocking on doors,
yelling her name.

They had a helicopter up.

They had dog teams
and officers

walking in the park
looking for her.

* *

Scott was there.

I told him who I was
and what I was there for,

and I was, you know,
there to help,

and he was kind of
just nonchalant.

He didn't have any urgency
about him that I noticed.

To me, that was suspicious.

- He was just calm.
He was--

you know, he was pleasant.
He was polite.

He didn't have the near panic

that everybody else we met
after that had.

- I asked Scott
to take me in the house.

I wanted to know if there was
any sign of struggle

or a break-in.

- Scott never made any claims
that there was

a home intrusion,
that there was somebody

had broken into the house
and abducted her by force.

For me, it was
pretty much immediate

that there was foul play here,
for the simple reason

that Laci didn't lead
an at-risk lifestyle.

When you have somebody
like that that goes missing,

the first place you look
and the first place

you have to clear out
is the person

closest to the victim,
and that was her husband.

[tense music]

- In the driveway, I saw
in the back of his truck,

he had four or five
big outside umbrellas,

and they were all
wrapped in a blue tarp.

He said, "Well,
I was going to store them

for the-- you know,
for the winter at my shop."

- We've got patio umbrellas

that he said he was going to
take over to the warehouse,

but ended up
back at his house.

- I noticed
the washing machine

had all these rags on it,
and I thought that was odd.

What Scott told me
was he went fishing.

Said, "It started to rain
when I was out there fishing,

and so I was wet, so
I wanted to wash my clothes."

He went right to the washer,

took these rags out,
and took his clothes off,

and put them in the washer.

When I searched his truck
after he told me

his clothes were all wet
from fishing,

his jacket in the truck
was not wet at all.

To me, he's just
making excuses for evidence

that we're finding or seeing.

It didn't make sense,
anything he was telling me.

- From day one,
the police investigators

made it abundantly clear
that they had one suspect.

You know, they went with
the top hit statistically.

It's likely to be the husband.

And it was the person
they had in front of them.

You don't commit
a violent crime

without getting
your hands dirty,

and yet there are
no defensive wounds.

There's no murder weapon.

There are no witnesses
of any crime,

and there's no crime scene.

They have nothing.

* *

- There was something
about him from the beginning,

and I think investigators
thought that.

Scott Peterson was an oddball,

and he had this
beautiful missing woman.

What happened to her?

* *

- Christmas Eve,
did you feel that

they were
already looking at you?

- Definitely
Detective Brocchini was.

When Brocchini took a
first walk through the house

with the other officers,
I don't think

they knew that I was near them

when one of them, you know,
said, "Oh, yeah,

"we know what's going on here.

It's the husband."

And then he realized
I was there

and kind of turned around.

* *

- I took Scott back
to my office.

[light switch clicks]

I actually videotaped the
husband of a missing person.

* *

- Brocchini's questions
were not questions.

They were accusations.

He had made up his mind before
he even arrived at our home.

- I told Scott,
I have to eliminate you

as being involved in her
disappearance or anything.

And I said,
"And I know eventually

"you're not going to like me
very much because

that's just the way
this happens."

* *

And it turned out
he didn't like me very much.

- Oh, he's right there.

- And this is Laci.
Can you tell she's pregnant?

Look at that stomach.
It's really sticking out.

- Aw, that's mean.
- That's not mean.

That's being nice
because it's not.

[soft dramatic music]

- One of the most
confounding things

about the behavior
with Scott Peterson

is how much friends
and family all loved him.

He and Laci Peterson were
sort of this perfect couple

who everyone said
had a great relationship.

- OK, I was hoping
both of you guys

would wave to the camera now.

Both you guys
wave to the camera now.

- [chuckles]
- Whoo-hoo, hi.

- Chasing after him.
- I think I finally--

- In the early stages
of the investigation,

we really couldn't find
anything wrong with him.

If you're a father,
he's the kind of guy

that you want to marry
your daughter.

- Scott and Laci
met at college

at San Luis Obispo.

- As I understand it,
they had kind of

a casual meeting at this party.

- What was your first
impression of Scott?

- I was very impressed.

He'd had a dozen roses for Laci
and then a dozen roses for me.

So, of course, I was impressed.

- I thought
he was a great guy.

It was almost a joke of, gosh,
does he have a brother?

- They went
everywhere together.

He did everything for her.

He's always been a gentleman.

I've never heard him
raise his voice or anything.

- Scott wanted us
to meet Laci.

They actually
cooked dinner for us.

I remember him introducing Laci

as, "Meet the future
Mrs. Peterson."

And I just went, "Oh.
Nice to meet you."

[chuckles]

* *

- The things that I relish

are, you know,
I can see Laci's smile

when she was doing her hair
in the morning of the 24th.

You know, the way we shared
a bowl for cereal

because we were lazy
to do two bowls of cereal.

[chuckles]

Just those little things
are still with me.

[soft dramatic music]

* *

* *

It's hard to explain
what was going on.

It's just so out of
any experience

that anyone should ever
have to have.

- He is leaned back.

I mean, he is more comfortable
in that chair

than I'm comfortable
talking right now.

- I'm just trying
to keep it together,

trying to get
the search started,

trying to deal
with the police.

There was no time
to fall apart.

I couldn't let that happen.

- I noticed that
a couple times,

he was talking about Laci
in the past tense.

- I didn't say nothing to him.

I was just keeping track.

- Want to make
little meringues?

- Oh, that would be nice.

- This is going to be
our glue.

- The phone records
show him leaving

his house after 10:00.

- He bought that boat
on December 9th.

He told me that this was
going to be his maiden voyage.

- He's telling me it was
a that morning decision,

but he's got a fishing license
dated for the 23rd and 24th.

Then he left and went
to the Berkeley Marina.

He told me, here's the tag
where I paid the boat ramp.

In Modesto, we are
surrounded by reservoirs.

He could have drove 10 miles
to put his boat in the water,

but to drive 90 miles
to put his boat in the water

in the Bay, that's crazy.

- The great thing
about cell phone records

is it can show movement,
and in Scott's case,

the movements that he claimed
to us

were substantiated by
the cell phone evidence.

And so when it came
to him leaving the house,

going over to his warehouse,
loading the boat,

driving up to Berkeley,
launching the boat,

his story matched up
with the evidence

from the cell phone records.

- He is describing where he is.

- Later in the afternoon,

he called Laci,
left her a message.

- This message he leaves Laci
is like they're newlyweds.

I mean, it's gooey
and it's, "I love you, honey,"

and, "I can't wait
to come home and see you."

To me, it was really meant
for me to hear it.

- Oh yeah,
that was common with us.

I mean, you know,
she would call me cutie.

I would call her beautiful.
Absolutely.

We loved one another.
We enjoyed one another.

We were great friends.

And they opined
that it was too sweet

of a message for
a married couple or something.

I bet they have really sad
marriages if they think that.

Frankly, I feel bad for them.

- One of the questions
I have is,

why did you want to get Ron
a boat as a Christmas gift?

- I really loved
the idea of grandparents,

and I wanted him to have
a relationship with Connor.

And part of that
would be fishing

because, you know,
Ron really enjoyed it,

and I knew he'd be going
all the time.

It'd be something to kind of
bring us together as well.

* *

- You know, I didn't have
any concerns

when I got home
because I just thought,

"All right,
Laci's with her friends,

or she's at her mom's house,
helping her cook,"

which would not be uncommon.

So I really wasn't thinking.

I was jump in the shower,
put on some clothes.

And then when I called
over there and found out

Laci was not at
her mother's house,

then yeah,
I started to get concerned.

- He's telling me
how concerned he is

about Laci being gone,
but what does he do

when he gets home?

First thing he does is go
and dump the mop bucket.

Then he goes and takes all his
clothes off and washes them.

Then he went
and ate some pizza.

Then he went
and drank some milk.

He took a shower.

He listened to his voicemails
on his phone, got dressed,

and he's really concerned about
all these concerning things.

And then he finally
calls Laci's mom.

- Yeah, yeah.

- He said, you know,
it sure would be nice

to get some grief counselors
for the family.

And I'm thinking BS,
because he knew.

Those were all red flags to me.

He's really concerned,
but what does he do?

Nothing concerning.

- Yeah, I know
there's this narrative

that I wasn't concerned
or something.

But there were so many times
when I was on the edge

and just trying to hang on.

I was surprised to read that
in their reports

and totally reported falsely
about my mood.

[static buzzing]

[soft dramatic music]

- During normal part
of an investigation,

one of the things you do
is they call it a canvass.

You go to neighbors' houses
and you interview them.

We knocked on a lot of doors.

We followed up
on tips of other people.

Karen Servas,
she was a next-door neighbor

to Scott and Laci,
lived immediately

to the south of their house.

- On December 24, Karen Servas
spotted Mackenzie, their dog,

running around with
his leash on outside the gate.

- Christmas morning,
I went and interviewed her

for probably an hour or more,

and she knew the dog
shouldn't be unattended,

so she put it in the fence
in the back area of the house,

and then she left.

She went to a retail store
in downtown Modesto

and made a purchase.

Well, she still had
the receipt,

and the receipt
was time stamped.

Through that receipt, we were
able to backtrack drive time

and narrow it down
to when she found the dog

at about 10:18 in the morning.

With Scott claiming that Laci
was there at the house

when he left,
whatever happened to Laci

happened before 10:18
in the morning.

- When you found the dog,
I believe

the leash was still attached.

- Correct.
It was.

- Meaning that most likely Laci
had gone by that point.

- Yeah, that would probably
be the case.

- Because of Karen Servas,
10:18 is that magic number.

Anything after 10:18
didn't matter

in terms of the investigation.

- They drew the conclusion
that the dog in the street

meant Laci was already dead.

[tense music]

- She was a great witness and
provided information for us

that took us to a place where
we could eliminate other people

from having abducted her.

The only one person that would
not cooperate all the way

and help us exclude himself
was Scott.

[somber music]

* *

- These are items from
the actual volunteer center.

Buttons.

It's kind of surreal we still
have some of this stuff.

By Christmas morning,
the police had issued

a press release
that Laci was missing.

My stepmother had actually
worked in public relations.

And she said, "Well,
I can send out a wire,

to news agencies."
And she distributed that.

And that's one of the reasons
that this case was covered

by national news so quickly.

- Police in Modesto,
California are still looking

for a missing pregnant woman.

- Her name is Laci Peterson.

- Laci Peterson.
- Laci Peterson.

- Laci Peterson.

- Laci Peterson is
eight months pregnant.

- And she has disappeared
without a trace.

- This was a media firestorm.

Within days,
the national media

had taken this story
and ran with it.

And instead of maybe two or
three other reporters outside

of Scott's house,
it became the entire street

was filled with
satellite trucks

and members of the media
from across the country.

There was a universal
like, yes,

let's cover this again
tomorrow.

Let's go down,
back down to Modesto.

- From talking to the family
and friends of the family,

this is completely
out of character for her.

- No concrete leads.
- No trace.

- Desperate for
a break in the case.

- Where is she?

And it's really overwhelming
to realize

how many places there are
to look.

[indistinct radio chatter]

- Search teams on horseback,

in helicopters, in boats.

- We're looking
just to make sure

that we cover all areas.

- Still,
nothing has turned up.

- Whatever way
you can help us,

we appreciate it.

- Somebody has Laci,
and we hope

that person is watching and
will bring her back to us.

- Checking the backyards
and checking the alleys,

checking the garages.

- We don't know her personally,
but we had to do something.

- Somebody knows
where she is, and she's OK

and she can come home safe.

* *

- She's considered
a high-risk missing person

under suspicious circumstances.

- The Modesto
Police Department,

it's not what they said.

It's what they didn't say.

- Nobody's been ruled out.

- The criminal investigators
were very quick

to try to take control
of the media interest

in this case and the narrative.

- Is Scott Peterson
a suspect or is he not?

- They're not calling him
a suspect,

yet they're not
ruling anyone out.

- They clung to their theory
that it's the husband

right out of the gate.

- Police are focusing on
the husband to some degree,

but they say
he isn't a suspect.

- Her husband was the last
person to see her alive,

so that's where the
investigation has to start.

- It almost became
what should have been

looking for Laci
became looking for Scott.

People were calling me up.
Where is he today?

What is he doing today?

- Of course, I am.

- He is not in any way,
shape, or form

involved in her disappearance.
It's just not a possibility.

- No motive, no family history.

They were doing awesome.

Looking very forward
to having their baby.

- You know, so many people
pointed out your behavior.

He acted weird
or he didn't cry.

- They're saying it
because I was unwilling

for the first few weeks
to go in front of a camera

and give them
the terrible emotions

I was feeling.

* *

- Of course, with the
media attention to this,

we were also getting tips,
some credible

that had to be looked into,
some completely off the wall.

* *

- The tip lines were up
to about 850,

and none of them
have panned through yet.

- Police in Washington State
are investigating

a possible sighting of
missing California woman

Laci Peterson.

- The 27-year-old
expectant mother may have

been shopping at a local

sporting goods store
on Christmas Eve.

- But as everything
started to be cleared out,

there was no parolee
that did this

because we accounted for
where they were.

There was no sex registrant
that had done this

because we were able to account
for their whereabouts

and alibi them out.

It started to narrow the focus
on Scott

because we still weren't able
to clear him yet.

- Most of our family
did not really

have any indication how much
the police were leaning on him.

Scott's consensus was
it doesn't matter.

I didn't do anything.

When the dust settles,
I'm going to be fine.

* *

- We wanted to go look
deeper into the house,

because if there was
an abduction,

we want to find out.

We knocked on the door,
and we're like, "Hey,

"Scott, maybe she was
abducted from your house.

"Maybe she had a boyfriend
you didn't know about.

"We would really like
to get into her computer,

maybe search the cars,
search the shop."

And then we just hand him
this form.

Just sign right here
and we can do all of that.

And he picks it up,
and he's like,

"You don't expect me to sign
this without a lawyer?"

And I'm like, "Scott,
we got a search warrant.

"You got to get out.
We're going to do it anyway."

- He just denied us
the ability to try

and do more things
that would clear him

if he didn't have anything
to do with this.

Scott looks
at the search warrant

and he says to Al,
"Al, where's the trust?"

It just seemed like
a misplaced concern

when he should have
been concerned more

about where she is
and is she going to come back.

[dog barking]

- For the record, as well,
it is 12/26 of '02.

It's now 19:56 hour.

- Scott did not deny
the police access

to his home, his vehicles,
or his warehouse

the night
that Laci went missing.

And then they showed up
two days later

with a search warrant.

- I called in
some other detectives.

We wanted to look deeper
into the house.

Of course we're going to find
his fingerprints,

Laci's fingerprints.

- Scott's fibers, his clothes,
everything around in the house,

you know, that belonged to him
showed that he was there.

- But it also shows
that nobody else was.

There was no forced entry
into the house,

no stranger intrusion,
no evidence of

a bloody crime scene cleanup.

- But at the foot of the bed,

there was a spot of blood
that later

was determined to be
from Scott.

- Maybe it was related
to Scott harming Laci.

Maybe it wasn't.

There was nothing conclusive
that showed

that anything violent
in there happened.

I mean, I guess the best thing
that you could say

about the house search
was it eliminated

somebody else coming into
that house and abducting Laci.

[dramatic music]

I think it's called
confirmation bias,

where they only look
at evidence

which supports their bias.

[tense music]

* *

- After that, we drove over
to the warehouse.

* *

Near the boat was
a flatbed trailer

that was used for hauling
bags of fertilizer

and agricultural products.

And it was on that
flatbed trailer

that the cement powder rings
and residue was found

consistent with
somebody making

several different
concrete anchors.

- There was one anchor
that was in the boat.

Looks like
he made five anchors,

but we only found one.
Where are the other ones?

- There are reports
that there is evidence

that I made five weights.

I'd definitely dispute that

because there's no evidence
of that because

the only reason I made one
was to go fishing.

* *

- There was
a needle nose pliers

that was found in the bottom
of the aluminum boat,

and it had a hair
that was wrapped up in it.

Laci could not be excluded
as a donor of that hair.

Maybe the hair came off
of Scott's clothing,

but the fact that it was
entwined in the pliers

suggests that it wasn't.

If you're going to wire tie
four homemade concrete anchors

onto four limbs
and you're going

to submerge somebody,
you might be using

a needle nosed pliers
to do it.

In addition to that,
there was concrete residue

along the inside edge
of the boat

that would be there
if somebody was rolling

a weighted body

with homemade concrete anchors
out of the boat

and into the water.

There were so many pieces
of circumstantial evidence

that painted the picture.

At this stage of
the investigation,

we didn't have anything
that helped with a motive,

but then we got some
pretty important information,

and that kind of broke a
different leg of the case over.

[phone ringing]

- I'm just in
the detectives bay,

and we had two gals
answer the tip phones.

So I'm standing
behind one of them,

and she's typing,
"Scott Peterson

is my boyfriend."

So I said,
"Let me talk to her."

And she says,
"My name is Amber Frey,

and I'm dating
Scott Peterson."

* *

- That's just-- wow.

That really surprised me.

There was no indications
there were trouble

in the marriage
or anything like that,

and we had no indication
that there was

another side to Scott.

* *

[soft dramatic music]

* *

- Amber said
that she was dating

a guy named Scott Peterson,
and she learned

that he was involved
in this case

and she had information for us.

It was the October before
Laci went missing.

A friend of hers had been
at this convention

down in Anaheim,

and Scott had been there
representing himself

that he was single.

He had written on
his name tag "horny bastard,"

obviously trying to find
some new conquest.

He's charming and he's gracious
and he's polite and he's funny.

One thing led to another,
and she said,

"Well, I have a friend
named Amber Frey.

"She lives in Fresno.

Maybe you guys
would be a good fit."

And in November,
Scott gets a hold of Amber,

and he meets her
down in Fresno,

and they just start this
whirlwind romance.

* *

- I asked her, "Does he know

you're calling me?"
"No."

I said, "Do not tell him
you're calling me."

So we get in the car
and we drive to Fresno.

Sat down with her.

She tells me
he calls every day.

So I go in the RadioShack
right next door.

I said, "I'm going to buy you
a cassette recorder,

and I'm going to show you
how to use it."

And it ain't even five seconds
I plug it in.

[phone ringing]

And there her phone ringing.
It's him.

- Now things were starting
to take shape.

Now we were seeing
a completely different side

of Scott Peterson that he,
up until that point,

had successfully kept hidden.

- We taped something
like 29 hours

and 15 minutes of wiretap.

- He constantly lied
to her about, "I'm in Europe,

I'm in Paris, I'm in Alaska."

- We continued to monitor
the phone calls

that she was having with Scott
until it got to the point

where it really didn't look
like we were getting much more.

So we thought we'd turn up
the heat a little bit on that

and have her be
a little bit more

confrontational on her calls.

- Scott had told her
in December that same day

that he bought the boat that
he had actually lost his wife

and this was going to be his
first Christmas without her.

- He's lying about things
he doesn't need to lie about.

That's how pathological he is.

* *

- With Amber coming forward,
I felt we had a motive.

He just didn't want to be part
of this domestic life.

He didn't want to be a father.

Didn't want
to pay child support.

And he just wanted out of it
to just start enjoying

life in a different direction.

- Scott met Amber
on November 20th.

On December 9th,
he buys the boat.

Then we find out that
he's searching the tides

for San Francisco Bay.

- From an
investigator's standpoint,

Scott Peterson looking up tides
in the San Francisco Bay

means where should I dump
my dead wife after I kill her.

- He buys his
fishing license beforehand.

He buys his boat beforehand.

It's starting to look
premeditated to me.

- Then you start thinking
in terms of,

"Well, how do you
actually kill her?

The physical evidence and
the circumstantial evidence

indicated that Scott likely
killed her that morning.

Wrapped her,
dragged her through the house,

loaded her in the truck,
covered her with

the patio umbrellas,
drove to the warehouse,

drove up to Berkeley Marina,
dumped her in the water.

She was weighted with the
homemade concrete anchors.

Made the staged call
to Laci's cell phone.

- Hey, beautiful.

I just left you
a message at home.

- Came back,
washed his clothes,

ate some pizza,
drink some milk,

took a shower, called Sharon.

Where's Laci?
She's missing.

And so this is kind of
the theory

that we put together as far
as what actually happened.

You're trying to find logic
in Scott killing his wife.

Well, the only logic
I can see is twisted logic.

The fact that he didn't want
to be a dad,

didn't want
to pay child support,

didn't want to pay spousal.

And this is the way he thought
about getting out of it.

[tense music]

- They said
that you killed Lacey

because you didn't want
to be married

and you didn't want
to be a father.

- That's so offensive.
It's so disgusting.

I just don't get
that argument.

It's just absolutely not true.

I certainly regret
cheating on Laci.

Absolutely.

It was about childish lack
of self-esteem,

selfish me
traveling somewhere,

being lonely that night
because I wasn't at home,

and, you know,
someone makes you

feel good because they want
to have sex with you.

That's what that was to me.

- Why did you keep talking
to Amber Frey

after Laci disappeared?

- I was searching
for my family.

I wanted the search
to continue.

Stay in contact with Amber,
I thought,

and she wouldn't get
into the picture,

complicate it,
ruin the search for Laci.

- His number one goal
is don't let Amber Frey

come out of the woodwork,
because once she's out,

they'll just think that
he had something to do

with Laci's disappearance.

It would focus
the attention on him.

- The search for Laci
is going to stop as soon as

the police officers
or the public know that

I was having sex
with another woman.

The knowledge of her
was a time bomb.

- And that fear that he had
absolutely came to fruition.

- "The National Enquirer"
somehow got a copy of a photo

of Scott and Amber together.

- When I found out that Scott
was having an affair,

it was very disappointing.

I was shocked.
I was mad.

I think there was a huge shift
in public perception

when my brother-in-law's
adultery was revealed.

- As soon as Amber Frey
did come out,

it changed dramatically.

It went from where's Laci,
this is a mystery,

to Scott.

- For Laci Peterson's family,

there is fear, anger,
and now disappointment.

- A real rift
seems to have developed

between her family
and her husband's family

or her family
demanding answers.

- He's not acting like
a husband

who's missing his wife.

He's not working
with the family--

our family, at least.

- Investigators add Scott
has been less than cooperative.

- We'd love for him
to cooperate to that end,

to try to eliminate him
from the investigation.

- You know, we were starting
to have a concern

when Scott's infidelity
became public

because it felt like nobody's
looking for her alive anymore,

and that just wasn't
an acceptable resolution.

We felt like it was
getting to the point

where the police were focused
solely on Scott.

[tense music]

There was a point where
our family did hire

an investigator
named Gary Ermoian.

- Right across
the street to our left

at 523 Covina
is Laci and Scott's home.

I'm Gary Ermoian.

I'm a private investigator,
and I've worked here

in Modesto, California
for about the last 40 years.

* *

Scott and his family hired me

to begin the investigation
regarding Laci.

Modesto Police Department
was starting

to focus on Scott as a suspect

with regards to her
being a missing person.

We, of course, wanted to treat
the case at that point

as a missing person case
and do everything

that we could to try to make
a determination

what happened
to this young woman.

- Scott Peterson had left home

sometime shortly after
10:00 a.m. that morning.

And the evidence shows
that Karen Servas

was putting that dog
in the Petersons' backyard

and closing the gate
around 10:18 a.m.

Because of that,
the police believe

he murdered his wife
on the morning of the 24th,

sometime before 10:18 a.m.

- If anyone is seeing Laci
alive in the neighborhood

after that point in time,
Scott is innocent.

* *

- Almost everybody I found
that had information

I found
by canvassing neighborhoods.

I talked to
several individuals

who recall seeing Laci
walking her dog

after 10:00 in the morning.

- In 2002, December 24,
it was in the morning.

We went around,
delivered gifts

to friends and relatives.

- After we left our house
delivering presents,

getting gas, I noticed
a beautiful young lady,

very pregnant.

She was struggling
with the dog,

a golden retriever.

And I asked my wife,
"Did you see

that pregnant lady?"

- I said,
"I hope she doesn't fall."

And we just went on
about our business.

* *

- Another sighting that we had
was from Frank Aguilar,

who was driving down
La Loma Avenue.

- It was Christmas Eve
that morning

between 10:00 and 11:00.

She was walking, like,
towards the park.

Her dog's like
a golden brownish retriever.

- The house on the left,
which is

on the corner of Buena Vista
and La Sombra,

is the home
of Vivian Mitchell.

- I was standing right here
and washing some dishes

when I could see her
walking across the street.

The dog was a beautiful
golden retriever.

- The next sighting
is right here by the park.

Diana Campos
had just came to work.

She saw a woman walking
a golden retriever dog.

She was certain that it was
about 10:45 in the morning

when she came down here
to smoke

because she was
going onto shift.

* *

We started
to put together a pattern

based upon the observations
of these individuals

and the time periods
that they remember.

After all, she was someone
who would stand out.

Not only was she
a beautiful young woman,

but she was pregnant,

and she had a large
golden retriever dog

walking alongside her.

And it was pretty obvious
to me

I could put together a path
that she had taken.

* *

- Oh, the police
never came out here.

* *

- People complain
that they didn't feel

as though investigators were
taking them seriously

or even responding
to their tips.

- I talked to a sergeant,
told him what I saw

and who I saw.
Laci Peterson.

But no one called or came over
and talked to us at all.

- The next morning,
my neighbor says,

"Hey, did you hear about
that lady was missing?"

I told him, I said "Yes,
and I bet you I know

what color clothes she had on."

- Who was last seen
wearing black pants

and a white pullover shirt.

- She had black pants on
and a white blouse.

- She was wearing
a white shirt and black pants.

- I don't believe that
Modesto Police were following

the same leads as I was.

The police, I believe,
were already focused on Scott.

* *

- So I wasn't the last one
to see Laci that day.

There are so many
credible witnesses

who saw her walking
in our neighborhood.

I've recently learned
that one of the reports,

the person came down,
talked to the police

at their command center,
and the police told him,

"No, you're wrong.
You did not see her."

Just dismissed him
without even looking into it.

It's devastating to learn
that kind of stuff.

[indistinct chatter]

- A status conference
is underway

for Peterson right now.

- His new attorney argued
for the release of evidence

she says should have
been made available

at the time of the trial.

- We spent a lot of time
trying to suss out

what, frankly, are
very alarming deficiencies

in the discovery
that was provided

to the defense
at the time of trial.

Mr. Peterson
has been waiting 20 years

to find some of these
police reports

that should have
been provided.

- Our family is very relieved
that the Los Angeles

Innocence Project came on board

to help find
all the things that were

ignored by the
Modesto Police Department

and not followed up on.

To have an
innocence organization

take his case,
finding out that they would

also be filing
a discovery motion,

and that we might have
more answers.

- Thank you all.
OK. We'll be in recess.

Thank you.

- I think the police
decided very early on

that Scott was guilty,

and I think if the Modesto
Police Department

properly investigated
Laci's disappearance

and followed the evidence,
we would not be here.

Scott is innocent.

I'm not afraid of the truth.

I just hope people
start listening.

- The missing woman's
apparently perfect marriage

may not have been so perfect.

- Why didn't you tell
the police

right away about Amber Frey?

- I'm only left to question
what else he may be hiding.

- He looked like
a narcissistic, lying killer.

- I had people spit on me
at gas stations.

I've received death threats
on the phone.

- The female adult body
was discovered

late this morning by a woman

walking the shoreline
at Point Isabel.

- After months of suspicion,
her husband, Scott,

is tonight in police custody.

- I have no doubt
that Scott did this.

We investigated everything.

- There's so much evidence
in this case

that the police did not
initially follow up on.

- A week after
Laci goes missing,

a Croton watch is pawned.

- There had been
a burglary next door.

- There's blood on a mattress
in a van that was burned.

I believe this is bullshit.

- Why would you not want
the jury to know everything?

- The information we were
given in that courtroom

only leads to the
decision we came up with.

- The dramatic verdict,
guilty of murder.

- As the dust settled,
everyone started

to realize
this doesn't feel like

it was a powerful,
compelling case.

- And that's where
organizations

like The Innocence Project
comes along.

- The LA Innocence Project

says new evidence
now supports Mr. Peterson's

long-standing claim
of innocence.

- There are
so many instances where

there was evidence that didn't
fit the detectives' theory.

They just assumed
she was dead.

But what if they talked
to these people

and they found out
where she was

and they learned information
from them

which could have
brought her home?

* *