Scott Peterson, the California salesman who murdered his wife and unborn child, says he was a “horrible person” for having an affair just weeks before the killings, but for the first time since his 2004 conviction he has publicly maintained his innocence.
Peterson, 49, is serving a life sentence without parole for his role in the death of his wife, Laci Peterson, who disappeared from her Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002 while eight months pregnant with their son, Connor.
Peterson, who was incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California, recalled having an affair with Amber Frey, a single mother and masseuse, just weeks before the murders as a “terrible mistake.”
“It’s horrible. I was a complete jerk for having sex outside of marriage,” Peterson said, according to People magazine, a week before a three-part Peacock documentary series about the infamous case aired.
In “Confronting Scott Peterson,” the 49-year-old convicted murderer tries to get the public to denounce the “so-called investigation” that sent him to prison.
Peterson argued that police and prosecutors in the 2004 double murder trial ignored clues and used only circumstantial evidence.
Lacey disappeared in December 2002 and her body washed up in San Francisco Bay four months later, not far from the body of her unborn child, Connor, which was found a few days later.
Two strands of Laci’s hair, taken from a pair of pliers found on Peterson’s boat, were key evidence used to convict him of her murder.
According to SFGate, prosecutors allege Peterson dumped Laci’s body in San Francisco Bay and weighted it down with concrete anchors.
Peterson had claimed he was fishing in the bay on the day Laci went missing.
Peterson said he regrets not testifying during the trial, but is now willing to testify after 20 years.
“But if I have the opportunity to show people the truth and they accept it, that’s the greatest thing I can accomplish right now, because I didn’t kill my family,” Peterson said.
During the five-month trial, prosecutors characterized Peterson as a man who regretted becoming a father and killed his wife to get out of their marriage without paying child support.
“He didn’t want to be a father, he didn’t want to pay child support, he didn’t want to pay his spouse, so he thought this was a way to get out,” former Modesto police detective John Buehler says in a preview of the documentary series.
“It was so disgusting and so disgusting,” Peterson said, according to People magazine. “I truly regret cheating on Lacey. My childish lack of self-esteem, my selfishness in going on a trip somewhere, being lonely that night because I wasn’t home, and there are people who want sex to make me feel good.”
His sister-in-law, Jenny Peterson, claims Lacie witnessed the robbery across the street and confronted the robbers before engaging in a fatal confrontation with them.
“Scott lied about cheating, and that was infuriating,” Janey Peterson told the outlet, “but he wasn’t charged with infidelity, he was charged with murder.”
The Los Angeles Innocence Project took on Peterson’s case in January, arguing that new evidence proves he did not commit the murders.
Peterson appeared in a grainy video call wearing a white hat in a prison break room.
He was sentenced to death by lethal injection, but the California Supreme Court overturned the sentence in 2020.
