Research Paper- The Scott Peterson Case
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 9:00AM The murder of Laci Denise Roch Peterson was a very famous murder case. The case was one of the most talked about murder cases in my life-time. The case formed around her husband, Scott, as the murderer. There was a lot of evidence from the case that pointed “the finger” at Scott. Some of the evidence was not actual physical evidence but, things he said. Scott also had a possible motive to kill his wife, Laci. The case was a very important case for even future cases.
Laci and Scott Peterson were a happily married couple, or so everyone thought. They owned a restaurant together in a nearby town of where they lived. Everyone from Lacis’ family liked Scott just as if he were family. The couple lived in a quiet suburb in Modesto, California. Laci and Scott were expecting their first child. They were going to name him Conner.
The murder of Laci Peterson was a highly discussed murder case. She went missing in 2002. December 23rd was the last time anyone had talked to her. When she disappeared, she was seven and a half months pregnant with their first child. The last two people that talked to Laci before her disappearance were her mother Sharon Rocha and her half-sister Amy. While talking to them, Laci did express some anxiety; mostly about the baby coming.
On December 23, 2002 neighbors of the Peterson’s discovered Lacis’ Land Rover SUV in the driveway. In the house, was her purse containing her key and her cell phone. At 6PM that night Lacis’ mother called the Modesto Police Department to report her daughter missing.
Where was Scott Peterson, you may ask. Scott was conveniently away on a fishing trip. At first, the Modesto police did not identify Scott as a prime suspect in the disappearance of Laci. This was because Lacis’ family and friends maintained their faith in his innocence.
There were several press conferences and vigils to address the disappearance of Laci. Scott was always reluctant to talk about the disappearance about his wife to the press. At one point, the press asked him if the police even considered him as a suspect. At that time, he stormed out and made a huge scene.
Laci was eventually found by a couple walking their dog on April 13, 2003. The body was badly decomposed. The body was well persevered though. Along with the body was a late-term fetus. The body was found on the San Fransico Bay shore in Richmond’s Point Isabel Region Shoreline Park. This location was not too far from where Scott went fishing on the day of Lacis’ disappearance.
There was a great amount evidence collected during the investigation. Pliers found on Scott’s fishing boat was the only piece of evidence that the prosecution presented. In the pliers, it contained a strain of Lacis’ hair. Laci was sunk to the bottom of the San Francisco Bay with cement anchors. Investigators found a flatbed trailer in a warehouse that Scott owned. They discovered that this was the place he kept his homemade cement anchors. They later found the molds that he used to make the anchors.
The words and actions made by Peterson were the most alarming to police, and made him look more like the suspect. Of course, when he stormed out of a press conference, this was one of the red flags. However, the times that he talked to police, family, and friends, there were several inconstancies in his stories. His story never made sense when put together with all the other stories.
On January 17th is became known that Scott was having extramarital affairs. One of the affairs Laci knew about. However, the most recent affair was with a single mother Amber Frey. Laci did not know about this one. Amber informed the police about the affair right after seeing the news of disappearance of Laci on the evening news. She told the police that she was on a date a few weeks before the disappearance of Laci. At that time he told her that he was a widower. It would also be his first holiday without his beloved wife. Keep in mind that she didn’t disappear until December 23rd 2002.
After Amber informed the police, they asked her to record some of the phone conversation that she had with Peterson. This is where she began to learn the truth of Laci. Although not learning about her disappearance. At this time the Rocha’s withdrew their support of Scott Peterson because they were so angry by what he said during the conversations. This meant, to them, that he had already planned to kill Laci well before she disappeared. Amber Frey became an important key piece to the case because she was willing to tape the phone conversations. There was never a confession to the murder from Scott over the phone though. The phone conversations didn’t reveal a whole lot of information, but more inconsistencies in his stories. Peterson even made one of the phone calls to Amber while he was attending a candle light vigil for his missing wife.
The case was coming to an end when Scott was arrested on April 18, 2003. He was found at a golf course in LaJollay, California. He claimed that he was meeting his father and brother there for a game of golf. His hair was dyed blonde. There were many things found in Scott’s vehicle that told police that he was fleeing. He had $1500 in cash, four cell phones, and great amount of camping gear, a gun, a map to Amber Frey’s workplace. He also had his brothers’ drivers’ license. The police soon assumed that he was going to flee to Mexico.
Scott Peterson was sentenced the death penalty by lethal injection in 2005. He still remains on death row in the San Quentin Prison while the case in appealed. He still claims his innocence of killing his wife.
After the death of Laci and her unborn son it lead to the United States Congress to pass the Unboarn Victims of Violence Act. The act is widely known as, the Laci and Conner/s law. The law stated that even a fetus could be counted as a separate human. Therefore anyone that killed a mother and a fetus would be charged with killing two people. And in most cases punishment would be more severe.
In conclusion, the exact cause of the death of Laci Rocha Peterson was never determined. The case of the disappearance of Laci Peterson was a high profile case. There was a lot of evidence that pointed to the husband, Scott, into killer her.
