Scott Peterson Case Study

Huanchi Chen
Ms. Bonner
Forensics Period 2
14 January 2016

People of the State of California v. Scott Peterson

Scott Lee Peterson, a man who is currently a death row inmate in the state of California was convicted of murdering not only his spouse, Laci Peterson, but also his unborn child in 2002. Peterson’s early life was relatively normal though, he was born in San Diego, California, where his father was a manual labor worker and his mother ran a boutique. He attended high school there as well and eventually went to college at California Polytechnic State University where he would also work part-time as a waiter in a cafe. While working at the cafe Peterson would end up meeting Laci Denise Rocha for the first time. Laci Peterson while eight months pregnant was reported missing on December 24, 2002. At the time she was

Media and news outlets quickly picked up the story and it spread nationally. Laci’s loved ones believed that Scott was innocent during her disappearance so police didn’t look into it at first. Eventually though, plot holes and inconsistencies in Scott’s account of the situation raised suspicion. It was discovered later that Scott was involved in many extramarital affairs, his latest mistress being a massage therapists named Amber Frey. Laci’s loved ones quickly withdrew their support once they learned of his affairs and the comments he made to Frey about his lost wife 14 days before her actual disappearance. Frey worked with police to record conversations she had with Peterson through the phone hoping to receive a verbal confession but with no success. Still though, the recording were still used during the trial revealing that he claimed to have been visiting Paris during the holidays but was actually attending a candlelight vigil in California for Laci. The bodies of Laci and Conner were found on April 13, 2003 on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay where Peterson had previously been boating the day Laci