Scott Peterson Shares Details of the Day He Last Saw His Wife Laci Alive: 'Little Things That Are Still with Me' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Laci and Scott Peterson.Photo:Modesto Police Dept/ZUMAPRESS.com

Modesto Police Dept/ZUMAPRESS.com

In the nearly two decades since his conviction in theheinous double murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son Conner,Scott Petersonhas remained tight-lipped about the case.

But, in this week’s PEOPLE cover story, Peterson, now 51, finally breaks his silence about the murders and his memories of the morning he last saw Laci alive.

Sitting in the noisy dayroom of Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Calif., and speaking over a grainy video call, Peterson — his demeanor calm and friendly, his hair long and tousled — discusses the details of the hours before he claims his wife vanished on Dec. 24, 2002.

His expression turns somber when he shares “the things that I relish” from that final morning when he claimed he left the couple’s home in Modesto, Calif., to go fishing 90 miles away in the San Francisco Bay — then returned home to find Laci missing.

Peterson, speaking from Mule Creek State Prison, in the Peacock documentary.Peacock

Peacock

“I would see Laci smile when she would do her hair on the morning of the 24th, and the way we would share a bowl for cereal because we were too lazy to do two bowls,” he says inFace to Face with Scott Peterson, a new three-part docuseries premiering on Peacock on Aug. 20. “Just those little things are still with me.”

In the documentary, the former fertilizer salesperson — now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole — still denies any involvement in the disappearance and death of Laci and the child she was carrying.

Laci, shortly before her murder in December 2002.ZUMA Press/ZUMAPRESS.com

ZUMA Press/ZUMAPRESS.com

“I regret not testifying [at my trial],” he says. “But if I have a chance to show people what the truth is, and if they are willing to accept it, it would be the biggest thing that I can accomplish right now—because I didn’t kill my family.”

Four months after Laci’s disappearance sparked a massive search effort, Laci and Conner’s decomposed bodies washed up roughly two miles from where Peterson claimed to have been fishing in the San Francisco Bay on the day she vanished.

Peterson—who had recently dyed his hair blonde—in his mugshot, shortly after his arrest on April 18, 2003.Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office/Getty Images

Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office/Getty Images

He was arrested in La Jolla, Calif., with $15,000 in cash, a baggie filled with Viagra tablets, camping gear and four cell phones in his car. Police believed that Peterson — who they learned had been entangled in an extramarital affair with a Fresno, Calif., massage therapist namedAmber Frey— was preparing to flee to Mexico.

“I don’t understand that at all,” says Peterson, whose original death sentence was overturned in 2020 on a legal technicality. “I just want to be clear — I was never running from the police.”

“This past Saturday somebody made a mention [of the anniversary] and I was stunned,” says Peterson in the documentary that offers candid details about Peterson’s life behind bars. “A guy I never would expect to show humanity, a guy I was working in the kitchen with that day, brought it up.”

source: people.com