Potential New Development in the Laci Peterson Double Murder Case
Potential New Development in the Laci Peterson Double Murder Case
The Los Angeles Innocence Project Requests DNA Evidence for Review
Twenty-two years ago, in one of the most captivating Christmas crime cases in modern U.S. history, Laci Peterson, a 27-year-old mother-to-be, was reported missing by her stepfather, Ron Grantski, and her husband, Scott Peterson (30).
What made this case so captivating for the nation?
Laci was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with her and Scott’s first child. He was a boy named Connor.
What Happened?
It was Christmas Eve 2002, and Scott had called Sharon, Laci's mother, to see if Laci had gone to their home since they were scheduled to have Christmas dinner that evening. He reported that she had been out walking their dog, and a neighbor found the dog the next morning walking outside the Peterson home, trailing its leash. So, he started making calls to her friends and family to see if anyone had seen her or heard from her. The day before, December 23rd, Scott and Laci had gone to visit Laci's sister at the salon where she worked, which was around 5:45 pm, and Laci's mother spoke to her on the phone around 8:30 pm.
After that time, the last person to see or hear from Laci was her husband.
Scott claims that he left his home on Christmas Eve morning to go fishing around 9:30 am and that is the last time that he saw his wife.
The bodies of Laci and her baby were discovered on April 13th and 14th of 2003. The baby's body was found first on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay by a couple out walking their dog. It was reported to be badly mutilated. The following day, Laci's badly decomposing body was found. She was found only a few miles from the Berkeley Marina, which is where Scott had told authorities he had been fishing on Christmas Eve, and only a mile from the body of their child. Her body had been decapitated and was missing limbs.
Laci was reported missing on the prior Christmas Eve.
Police arrested Scott Peterson on April 18, 2003, the same day that his wife and son’s bodies were identified. When authorities arrested him, he had dyed his hair, had $15,000 cash on him, his brother’s I.D., and multiple cell phones. He was charged and arraigned on first-degree murder charges on April 21st.
The Evidence
Upon investigation, it was revealed that Scott was having an affair with his massage therapist, Amber Frey. Her bombshell press conference marked a turning point in the public’s perception of the case. An affair is never a good thing, but it is not also an indicator of murder, but the Peterson case was almost entirely based upon circumstantial evidence. She went on to testify and provide recordings of her phone calls with Scott Peterson as a witness for the prosecution. You can read those transcripts here.
Scott had claimed that he was leaving on a fishing trip for sturgeon or striped bass the day that Laci went missing, but he failed to take with him the necessary fishing rods, lines, and other things required for such a trip.
Another concerning bit of evidence was that Scott claimed Laci was wearing a white top and black pants when he last saw her, but when her body was found she was wearing khaki pants.
Scott’s sister had reported that Laci was wearing khaki pants the night before her disappearance.
On Scott’s brand new boat, the recovery of a strand of black hair on a pair of pliers resulted in a mitochondrial DNA profile of hair that was consistent with Laci’s DNA. A loaded .22 caliber pistol was also confiscated from Peterson’s truck.
Nearly a year later, on December 19, 2003, Laci’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against Scott for the deaths of Laci and Connor, but they later dropped the suit on April 30th, 2009.
From June 1, 2004, to November 3 of the same year, Scott Peterson was on trial for the first-degree murders of his wife and unborn son. On November 12, the jury found him guilty, but there had been a delay due to one of the jurors, Fran Gorman, being discovered researching the case on her own. She was subsequently replaced by a woman named Richelle Nice.
Scott Peterson was sentenced to death on December 13, 2004. He has always maintained his innocence.
The New Request for Evidence
Fast forward to 2024, twenty years later, Scott Peterson is back in the news cycle. The Los Angeles Innocence Project, which is in no way affiliated with The Innocence Project (confusing, we know), has stepped in to aid Scott in proving his alleged innocence. Up until this point, Peterson’s attorneys have been focused on overturning his death sentence, which was successful as of 2020.
In a statement to NPR, the Los Angeles Innocence Project said it"represents Scott Peterson and is investigating his claim of actual innocence."
Peterson’s legal team filed a discovery motion regarding evidence related to his case, according to records at the San Mateo Superior Court. His attorneys also filed a motion for DNA testing, as well as a motion to seal some court records. They're the first new court filings in his murder case in a year.
The direction of their focus is on an alleged burglary that happened near the Peterson home around the same time as Laci’s disappearance. Scott’s sister-in-law, Laci’s biological sister, has reportedly stated that Laci witnessed the burglary and then confronted the burglars, who then killed her. According to a filing by the Los Angeles Innocent Project, "New evidence now supports Mr. Peterson's long-standing claim of innocence and raises many questions into who abducted and killed Laci and Conner Peterson.”
“Paula Mitchell, the director of the LA Innocence Project, said she found ‘deficiencies’ while reviewing the discovery of Scott Peterson's case and sent a letter to Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero on Nov. 14, 2023, ‘seeking informal production of numerous specific items of post-conviction discovery,’ according to a declaration included in the filings.
The letter ‘includes private identifying information concerning numerous citizens, potential material witnesses, and possible suspects -- as well as sensitive investigative leads relating to Mr. Peterson's claim of innocence-information that was referenced throughout various police reports, tip sheets, and other investigative materials from both the prosecution and the defense that I reviewed,’ she said in her declaration.”
People Magazine has reported that Laci’s sister Janey, who is now an attorney, has adamantly supported Scott Peterson and his claims of innocence.
“She has pointed to a burglary committed across the street from the Petersons’ home on the same day Laci went missing.
In a 2023 interview with PEOPLE, Janey, now an attorney who has advocated for her brother-in-law, said an evidence claim was filed last April that features a startling document: a signed exhibit from a person claiming to have heard a man confess to being part of the burglary that took place that day. According to the person who signed the exhibit, one of the burglars said that the other burglars killed Laci.
The redacted exhibit, shared with PEOPLE, claims the confessed burglar said Laci had confronted the burglars after having caught them wheeling out a safe. The other burglars then killed Laci and later dumped her body in the bay after supposedly seeing on the news that Scott had been fishing there, the person’s signed statement says.”
Janey Peterson passed the bar exam in 2023, and she claims that the support of Laci’s family is behind Scott.
“Our family is living our lives with this weight of injustice over it,” Janey told People.“And you can't ignore it. All of us in the family and we feel the weight of this injustice.”
Where do we go from here?
The organization says its mission is "to exonerate the wrongly convicted; free the wrongfully incarcerated; uncover and remedy past misuse of forensic and other scientific evidence in the courtroom," and push for improvements in the criminal legal system, including standards for using forensic evidence in the court.
This organization is not affiliated with The Innocence Project, and they have released a statement on their website that reads: “On January 18, 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project filed motions seeking DNA testing and post-conviction discovery on behalf of its client, Scott Peterson. Any and all inquiries about Mr. Peterson’s case should be directed to the Los Angeles Innocence Project, a non-profit organization wholly independent of the Innocence Project.”
This is a developing story and we will keep you updated.
I highly doubt this