Netflix’s 'American Murder: Laci Peterson': Where is Scott Peterson now?
Netflix’s latest true crime entry American Murder: Laci Peterson has been taking the streaming giant by storm, landing in the top spot of their Global Top 10 ranking. The offering also made it to Netflix's Top 10 shows in the Philippines.
Directed by Skye Borgman, the three-episode mini series centers on the infamous Scott Peterson trial that took place in 2004 for the chilling murder of his own wife Laci.
The case traces its roots on Christmas Eve in 2002, when 27-year-old Laci was reported missing from her home in Modesto, California, while eight months pregnant with her first child.
It was her husband who reported her disappearance to the police. He reasoned that he went fishing at the Berkeley Marina that morning, and when he returned home, Laci was nowhere to be found.
The incident remained a hot topic in the media for several months as Laci's loved ones searched for her whereabouts, and things escalated further when her remains were finally found a year later in April on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
The corpse was described to be so decomposed that it was no longer recognizable. Her head, arms, and most of her legs were missing.
The remains of her and Scott's unborn son, whom they had planned to name Conner (or James), were discovered a day earlier when a couple walking their dog found the decomposing body of a full-term male fetus.
They were discovered less than two miles from the marina. Police officers, who were already getting increasingly suspicious of Scott's claims, put him behind bars five days later and charged him with two counts of murder.
During the investigations, it was found that Scott had been engaging in an affair with a massage therapist named Amber Frey, who had informed police of their relationship after discovering his involvement in the issue.
She claimed that she had no knowledge that Scott was married as he had told her that he was single. She further disclosed to authorities that Scott said he was a widower two weeks before Laci's disappearance, prompting police to consider this as an indication that he was planning to kill his wife.
Scott's trial for Laci's murder started in June 2004 and lasted five months. Despite lacking evidence to conclusively link him to the crime, prosecutors still convicted him through circumstantial evidence, reasoning that he had plausible motives to kill Laci such as being tired of their marriage, wanting to continue his affair with Amber, among others.
Where is Scott Peterson now?
After his arrest and conviction, Scott, now 51, remains at the California State Prison in Corocoran to this day, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
In August this year, Scott engaged in an interview for the first time in 20 years to talk about the murders of his wife and unborn son, where he maintained his innocence in perpetrating the crimes.
"When (Detective Al) 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 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," he recalled.
"There’s no blood, there’s no struggle, there’s no nothing like that, and yet, they continued to focus on me. It was so clear what was happening," he added. "They had this assumption, I think it’s called confirmation bias, where they only look at evidence which supports their their bias, and that’s what they did."
The interviews were shown on the three-episode docuseries Face to Face With Scott Peterson, which premiered on Peacock.
Netflix's American Murder: Laci Peterson features interviews with Laci’s friends, as well as Scott’s relatives and the law enforcement officers who worked to resolve the case. Each episode lasts about an hour.
Watch the trailer below: