Netflix 's latest true-crime docuseries puts the murder of Laci Peterson under the microscope. While seven months pregnant with her and husband Scott Peterson's first child in December 2002, housewife Laci disappeared from the family home in Modesto, California. Fertiliser salesman Scott subsequently reported her missing, but local investigators spotted foul play almost immediately despite just circumstantial evidence.
In the first quarter of 2003, her remains and those of their unborn son Conner washed up on the shores of San Francisco Bay, which lead to Scott's arrest on a golf course in the April. Police found him wearing dyed blond hair and his car was apparently "overstuffed" with random items like $15,000 cash, Viagra tablets, survival gear, camping equipment, changes of clothes and four different phones. They theorised that he was planning to flee the country and pass over the Mexican border.
Tangible evidence escaped the prosecutors, so they were forced to rely on circumstantial evidence such as the husband's indifferent behaviour. With the help of witnesses, it was suggested that Scott's motives could've been marriage deflation; pressure building from his wife's pregnancy ; an ongoing affair with a masseuse, and financial issues. His trial, overseen by Judge Nancy Ashley, began at Stanislaus County Superior Court under charges of murder with premeditation and special circumstances.
Scott pleaded not guilty, while proceedings continued at San Mateo County. The jury ultimately convicted Scott of both first-degree and second-degree murder in the November of that year. He was sentenced to death via lethal injection four months later as well as fined £10,000 to contribute to Laci's funeral.
Scott was placed into California's only remaining death row, San Quentin State Prison, on March 17, 2005. Fast-forwarding to the summer of June 2020, Scott's direct appeal to his conviction was finally heard at California Supreme Court. Two months later, his death sentence was overturned.
Instead, he was handed life imprisonment without parole. In the October, the killer was transferred to Mule Creek State Prison and there he remains. American Murder: Laci Peterson is available to stream on Netflix from August 14.
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