Going West: True Crime - Laci Peterson // 45

Episode Date: November 20, 2019

On December 24, 2002, a pregnant woman disappeared after a normal morning at home while her husband was supposedly out fishing. 4 months later, her body is found in the same area her husband went fishing he day she disappeared. But is he guilty of her murder? This is the case of Laci Peterson. Cases Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/15/us/scott-peterson-trial-fast-facts/index.html http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5595358/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/witness-peterson-ordered-adult-tv/#.XdB8qS2ZNPM https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/THE-PETERSON-TRIAL-Who-was-Web-surfing-Dec-24-2729173.php https://www.foxnews.com/story/peterson-testimony-returns-to-computers http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,646370,00.html https://www.scottpetersonappeal.org/scotts-boat.html https://www.modbee.com/latest-news/article3096438.html https://alibiapple.wordpress.com/2018/09/18/til-death-do-us-part/ https://www.thoughtco.com/amber-frey-ex-mistress-scott-peterson-971137 http://pwc-sii.com/CourtDocs/Pexhibits.htm https://www.cbsnews.com/news/da-attacks-laci-sighting/ https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/expert-fetus-expelled-from-laci-peterson-s-body-after-her/article_7fb42bd1-f393-5574-b166-2a63708d3daf.html Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Heath, and I'm your other host Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. Today we have a case that some of you may know, but personally I didn't know the details until I started researching it, and I think this is the wildest time I've had researching a case thus far. But before we get into it, we wanted to give shout-outs to those who gave us five star reviews on Apple Podcasts this week. So thank you so much to Anthony from Virginia and Sammy from San Diego, California. In a big thanks to Nike from Los Angeles, California and Joey were not sure where you're from, but thank you. Big thanks to Wendy from Cole Chester, Connecticut and Matt from Del Rey Beach, Florida.

In a big thanks to Floria from Singapore and Josephine from Germany, and last but not least, Nicole were not sure where you're from, but thank you for the review. And if you guys want to shout out on the show Make sure you go over to Apple Podcasts leave us a five-star review But make sure you leave your name and your location also big shout out to Juliana and Samantha Those are our newest patrons if you guys want to join our patreon go to patreon.com slash going west podcast You'll get access to bonus episodes right now. We have seven up there and they're really crazy cases. So make sure to check that out. All right guys This is episode 45 of going west. So let's get into it 26 year old Lacey Peterson was reported missing on Christmas Eve 2002 by her stepfather. As authorities searched for Lacey, her husband became the prime suspect.

I met Scott Peterson, you have been for 20th 2002. Scott told me he was not married. We did have a romantic relationship. He just doesn't seem like the guy whose wife is missing. Whoever has her, please, please, please let her go. Finger back. We love her so much. We love her. We love her.

We love her. Please, can you remember her? We love her. We love her so much clothes, however bad. It's the case that continues to captivate the world. infamous death row inmate Scott Peterson was charged with the murders of his pregnant wife Lacey and their unborn son Connor, whose bodies washed up on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. Lacey and her unborn child did not deserve to die. Are you in any way connected to Lacey's disappearance? I had nothing to do with Lacey Rocho was born on May 4, 1975 in Modesto, California to parents Sharon and Dennis Rocho

after they had their first child Brent, who was about four years older than Lacey. Lacey was raised on her parents' dairy farm in the nearby town of Escalon, California. Since childhood, Lacey helped out on the farm with the animals as well as gardening alongside her mom Sharon. But also during childhood, Lacey's parents divorced, so Sharon was the one who took care of Lacey and Brent after their move back to Modesto. The kids usually spent most of their time with her, but on the weekends they got to see their dad at the dairy farm. Both Sharon and Dennis remarried, and all four parents were involved in the kids' lives. Lacey was a cheerleader at Thomas Downey High School, and hoped to eventually work with

plants, thanks to her early adoration for plant life at the dairy farm. So once she graduated in 1993, she went on to attend Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo to study ornamental horticulture, which explores growing, arranging, and tending to decorative plants and flowers. So during Lacey's second year of college in 1994, she would often go to this restaurant in town called Pacific Cafe because one of her friends worked there, so she would visit the friend and eat and just kinda hang out, and she would then meet one of her friend's co-workers named Scott Peterson, a San Diego native who dreamed of being a pro golfer, and Scott also attended Cal Poly and was studying agricultural business. Lacey thought that he was cute and decided to give him a phone number,

to which he later called her and asked her on a date to go deep sea fishing. Although Lacey got seasick during the date, it went really well and they really hit it off. After two years of dating, the couple moved in together and finished out their college career. After graduation, Lacey Rocha became Lacey Peterson when she married Scott in San Luis Bispo. But before they were even married, Scott had already had an affair with two other women, which Lacey was unaware of. But to her, she was in a happy and supportive marriage, and they even started their own

business together when they opened a sports bar in the San Luis Vespo area called the Shaq in 1998. It didn't do very well at first, but began to pick up a little bit after their first year of business. But, regardless, they decided that they didn't want to have a bar after all, so they sold it after two years and picked up and headed to Modesto, which again is Lacey's hometown, and they bought a three-bedroom house with the hopes of starting a family of their own. So before starting their family, they were still focusing on getting their careers in order, so at this time, Lacey decided to pursue teaching and began working as a substitute teacher,

but only part-time. She really took pride in making a nice home for her and Scott and did all of the cooking and cleaning and she was a real homemaker. After their move to Modesto, Scott got a reliable and pretty well-paying job in his field at a company called Trade Corp, which specializes in crop nutrition and sustainable fertilizer.

A couple of years went by and they felt settled in enough to start a family of their own. It was now summer of 2002 and Lacey was 27 and Scott was 30 and they were expecting a baby. The due date was February 16, 2003 and they were expecting a boy who they planned to name Connor. As I said before, Scott had previously cheated on Lacey before they were married. We're not sure of any infidelity happening once they got married, and that is until Lacey was about

six months into her pregnancy, when Scott heard about a 27-year-old massage therapist named Amber Fry from his business associate, Sean. Scott told Sean that he was single and was interested in beginning a long-term relationship, So she set up a blind date between Scott and her friend Amber. This happened in early November 2002, so just about three months before Lacey, his wife, was going to give birth to their child. A few weeks later, on November 20, Scott and Amber met at the Elephant Bar in Fresno, California for their first date, and Fresno is about two hours south of where Scott lived in Modesto. Before heading to a Japanese restaurant for dinner, they dined on strawberries and champagne and talked about their lives, but Scott left out all the details of his marriage to Lacey. Amber says that she felt butterflies the whole night and that she thought Scott was perfect.

So, after dinner, Amber and Scott went to a karaoke bar where they both sang and then slow-danced for the remainder of the evening. Afterwards, they went to Scott's hotel room and spent the night together. So, Shawn wasn't aware that Scott was married, because they had only met more recently at a convention in Anaheim, California. As far as Sean was concerned, Scott was very single, and Scott joked about other women and dating a lot, and while out to drinks with some other business associates in Anaheim, Scott joked about putting horny bastard on his business card to help him meet women. So we're already getting kind of a sense of who Scott Peterson really is. And Amber actually had a daughter who was almost two years old and Scott knew about her. He would even sometimes include her on their dates together, which is really strange considering he's cheating on his pregnant wife with her.

Because you would assume that he was cheating because maybe he wanted to mess around with someone who is younger, more casually, yet here he is with a woman who has a child and is the exact same age as his own wife. Since Amber didn't know about Lacey, and in fact, Scott told Amber he had never been married. Scott said that for things giving, he would be on a fishing trip in Alaska. When in reality, he would be spending it with his wife and family. Things started getting pretty serious between Amber and Scott as the rest of the year went on. He even took Amber's daughter shopping for a Christmas tree and spent time at their house cooking for them. But things would come crashing down when on December 6, 2002, Sean, the woman who introduced Scott and Amber, found out that Scott was married. Sean was really upset by this, and of course, because she had no idea that Scott was cheating

with Amber. Especially since she was Amber's best friend, she wanted to make sure this relationship didn't go any further. So she told Scott that she was going to tell Amber if he didn't mess up. To which Scott explained that his wife had died, and he didn't want to tell Amber because it was hard for him to talk about. A few days later, Scott told Amber that yes, he had been married, but he lost his wife, and this would be the very first Christmas without her, but that he was very much ready to

be dating again. So, Scott is basically a huge piece of shit, and the fact that he's telling both Sean and Amber that he lost his wife is incredibly eerie considering what's to come in this story. Scott and Amber stayed together and even attended one of Amber's Friends Christmas parties on December 14, 2002, where Amber introduced Scott as her boyfriend. That evening, Scott mentioned to Amber that he wasn't interested in having children, but that he would love to help her raise her daughter. And to go even further, he told Amber he was considering getting a vasectomy so he couldn't have kids, which made Amber upset since she really hoped to have more children in the future. And I'm really not sure exactly where Scott told Lacey he was during all these consistent outings with Amber, but I'm assuming he said that he was probably on business trips.

I'm not sure the general dynamic of their relationship, but since he was gone so often, and you know, I'm going to be here tonight, I'm going to be here tonight, I wonder if she did get a little suspicious at all. A week before Christmas, 2002, Lacey and Scott Peterson went to Carmel, California with Scott's parents and spent the weekend together. That would be the last time that they would see Lacey again. On December 23rd at 5.45pm, Lacey and Scott went to Salon, Salon, which was a hair salon that Lacey's sister Amy worked at. Amy cut Scott's hair as she always did. Scott told Amy of his plans to go play golf the following day.

And after they got home, Sharon, Lacey's mom, called the house and spoke to Lacey for a little while at about 8.30 pm. The following day was Christmas Eve, and Scott apparently left around 9.30 am to go fishing. He later stated that before he left, Lacey was doing her usual routine of eating cereal and watching TV. He said she was watching Martha Stewart make meringue. He also stated that he assumed Lacey would walk the dog and clean the house while he was

gone. Early that afternoon, Scott left this voicemail on Lacey's phone. So just a recap, Scott says, hey beautiful, I just left a message at home, it's 2.15, I'm leaving Berkeley, I won't be able to get to Vella Farms to pick up that basket for Papa. I was hoping you would get this message and go on out there. I'll see you in a bit sweetie. Love you bye. So to clarify, Berkeley is about an hour and a half away from Modesto. So I'm not sure why he traveled that far to go fishing on Christmas Eve by himself, but it's possible that was his usual spot, and I also

read that if you're going to do saltwater fishing, that Berkeley is the closest place to do it, so that's not that strange. When he says that he won't be able to get the basket for Papa, he's referring to this conversation that he had with Lacy and her sister Amy the night before while he was getting his hair cut. So while Amy was cutting his hair, he offered to pick up a fruit basket that Amy had ordered for their grandpa's Christmas present. And he had told Amy that he would be golfing at a course near the farm where the fruit baskets were. Vella Farms is located in Modesto,

but Scott didn't go golfing at all. He actually went to the Berkeley Marina to go fishing. So it's a little odd that he called Lacey at all. He actually went to the Berkeley Marina to go fishing. So it's a little odd that he called Lacey at 2.15 pm saying he couldn't pick up the fruit basket because he was in Berkeley, because even though he would eventually be returning to Modesto to go home, he knew at least as of that morning that he would be going to Berkeley for much of the day. And since he would have a three hour driving trip total for the day, it's weird he wouldn't have told her this earlier of the day. And since he would have a three hour driving trip total for the day, it's weird he wouldn't have told her this earlier in the day. Because when he left the house when

Lacey was there, he would have been getting all this fishing gear ready. So why not tell her then, hey, I'm actually going to go fishing in Berkeley so I won't be a Modesto after all. Could you pick up your grandpa's Christmas basket? You know, it just kind of seems weird to me that he would wait till later to say anything about it. Yeah, in hindsight, it seems kind of weird that he waited so long to mention it. Scott later reported that the reason he decided to go fishing was because it was too cold to golf. That day in Modesto, California, it was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius

with a 15 mile per hour wind, which is considered breezy. And I also read somewhere that golfing in the cold isn't really preferred because the ball doesn't seem to travel as far because of the air density, but it had been about the same temperature in Modesto the day before, so why even plan on going golfing at all if the forecast for the week was fairly chilly? Well, I'd say the same thing with fishing.

I've never been fishing. Do people fish when it's cold and kind of rainy because I know that it did rain a little bit on December 24th that year? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people like to go out and go fishing in the morning or at dusk. So yeah, I mean, it's relatively normal for people to fish when it's cold. So even if it's raining a little bit, that's chill, people still fish.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, if you're a fisherman, you're pretty much going to fish in any kind of weather, whether it's rainy, I mean at least for myself and my family, we would fish when it was rainy or when it was cold and typically you'd go in the morning or during dusk. I read about that too and we'll get more into fishing times and more about his fishing trip a little bit later. When Scott returned home that day, he says he didn't think anything seemed unusual even though Lacey wasn't home. He suspected that she was at our mom's house. The only thing that he felt was a little bit weird was that their dog had its leash on and the front door was unlocked when he got home. Scott then put his clothes in the washer and got some leftover pizza from the refrigerator along with a glass of milk

before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. Can I say one thing real quick? Who the fuck eats pizza with milk? I just, I don't know, that just seems really weird to me. Also, do people drink a glass of milk? I mean, I guess that was kind of in the days when got milk was really big and people thought that milk was... Oh, that's so true. Yeah, got milk was definitely a huge thing. I just think pizza and milk is a weird combination. Oh, it sounds disgusting, but he did it for some reason, and then he went to the shower and rinsed off from his day of fishing. Once he got out, he changed his clothes and then called Lacey's mom Sharon and told her that he found their golden retriever Mackenzie in their backyard with his leash still

on. He also mentioned that Lacey's car, which was a 1996 Land Rover Discovery, was still in the driveway and asked Sharon if she knew where Lacey was and Sharon had no idea. This call happened at about 5.15 pm. So Scott says the reason that he washed his clothes immediately and showered before calling Sharon is because he wasn't very concerned that anything had happened to Lacey and that he apparently always cleaned up right after fishing because he was wet and dirty, which obviously makes sense.

But the fact that Lacey's car was in the driveway and their dog had his leash on and Lacy was nowhere in the house, and she hadn't answered her phone, would probably, I mean, I'd assume strike anyone is weird. And apparently he found it strange enough to call Sharon after he cleaned up in eight, so why not just call her before? Yeah, I mean, your wife is wife is at this point eight months pregnant and she's missing, the dog has the leash on in the backyard. That all kind of seems a little strange,

but maybe he just really wasn't that concerned. Yeah, I mean I tried to put myself in this situation I was thinking if we had a dog and your car was in the driveway and you weren't in the house, I would probably be like, where is he? But I just have that natural worry. I mean, at the same time, he's cheating on his wife, so it's kind of like, does he really care that much? Where she is or what she's doing?

Very debatable. We're not sure the exact time that Scott actually got home, but he said he got home around 430. Scott reported Lacey missing from he and Lacey's home after speaking with Sharon. 30 minutes later, Lacey's stepdad, Ron Gransky, called police. Here's Ron's call. Hi, can I help you? Yes, my son loves all. He was playing all morning.

Good morning, good morning, my daughter's in this office morning. She's taken my pregnancy for thedog for a walk in the heart. Mm-hmm. The dog came all the way to the police station. And the dog came back with that. You got her? Right. Okay, what is your address, sir? Well, I'm a f***ing f***ing. Is that what she's... The office is over at the Loma Park. Where she went from the walk. What can you show me the house and then come back?

That we don't know. We just had a call from her son-in-law. She left this morning and nine thirty to fight the whole people at that home. Should we be the husband come back? That we don't know. We just had a call from our son-in-law, said he left his wife at night, there should have been a fight while people had passed home. About a half hour ago, nowhere around. Okay, so he went to up the driveway. He walked in the empty,

and that's hard to go. That's a little, little part. It's a little difficult to go. Yeah, yeah. 100 seats over there, you know, but there's kind of a place. That's on Encina. Yeah, you have last night's book. That's the movie.

Can you take my partner, you son? Pardon? Should you take my partner? Yes, I am. I want to do a point for me over there. So that's not so long. So the first interesting thing I notice about this call is that Ron says that his son-in-law called and he had left to go golfing around 9.30am and that was the last time that he saw

Lisi, his wife, who is now missing. This means that Scott would have had to have told Ron or Sharon or both that he went golfing that morning. So that means that he lied to Sharon and Ron about what he was doing that day. Police take this seriously right away because of the fact that Ron mentioned that Mackenzie the dog came home after Lisa took him on a walk because this implies an abduction. Here's where it gets a little more interesting. Scott had mentioned that before he left for the day, he assumed Lacey was going to bait cookies and clean and take Mackenzie on a walk,

because that's what she usually did. So the fact that Ron is telling people that he heard that Lacey had been walking Mackenzie and that Mackenzie came home without Lacey is odd. Because that means Scott would have had to have told them that Lacey had been on a walk and Mackenzie came back without her. But the dog was in the backyard

and the dog didn't just let himself in the backyard. So it almost sounds like Scott is maybe trying to set this up as an abduction. Especially because Scott later denied finding Mackenzie in the backyard at all. Even though that is in fact where Mackenzie was because after the investigation began, the Peterson's neighbor Mike came forward to police explaining that he found Mackenzie walking around the neighborhood that morning, along with a muddy leash. So he decided to return Mackenzie to the Peterson's backyard.

To make things even stranger, police arrived to the Peterson's home in Modesto, California, the evening of December 24, 2002, after the second 911 call by Ron was made. Scott opened the door incredibly calm and welcomed the police inside, but he was being pretty stingy about everywhere they went in the house, and he didn't want them to enter with their shoes on, things like that, but hey, nothing wrong with wanting a clean house, and they found Lacey's purse with her keys, wallet, and sunglasses inside, hanging in a closet with her scarves. As police continued to look around the house, they found a phone book in the kitchen.

It was open to the ad of a defense lawyer. Scott originally noted that he had been golfing that day, and that was the last time that he saw Lacey before he left the house around 9.30am. But later that evening, police interviewed him further, and Scott changed his story. He told police that he had been fishing at the Berkeley Marina. From the moment police met Scott, they were a bit confused about his reaction to the whole situation. He wasn't worried, he didn't ask them any questions, he didn't want to know what they planned to do to find his wife.

He was just being very calm, cool, and collected. Police began their search along Dry Creek Regional Park, thinking that's where Lacey could have taken Mackenzie on a walk and potentially been abducted. They had canines, water rescue teams, helicopters, and police on horseback all looking for her. Lacey's family and hundreds of volunteers helped search the area and posted flyers all over town to make sure everyone was on the lookout for her. Police didn't believe that Lacey's disappearance was her running away, especially considered

she hadn't taken any of her belongings and that she was now eight months pregnant. When police investigated the Peterson home further, they didn't discover any blood whatsoever. Lacey's disappearance made huge headlines. Everyone everywhere knew about it. Scott was doing interviews and his face was everywhere, but he was still trying to hide all of this from Amber, especially since he had previously told her that he was a widower. But just after Lacey's disappearance, one of Amber's friends showed her an article about Lacey and it included details on Scott Peterson.

She knew that this was in fact the Scott Peterson that she was dating because there was a photo along with a description of Scott's truck and job. So now Amber knows that Scott lied to her about his wife being dead, making her whole disappearance even more suspicious. Amber was absolutely horrified and scared, but she wanted to help. She immediately called the Modesto Police Department and told them about her and Scott's affair, and that's when she became a mole. From then on, all of her conversations with Scott would be recorded for police use. A New Year's Eve that year, so about a week after Lacey went missing, her family and loved ones held a candlelight vigil. At the same time of the vigil, Scott called Amber to tell her happy New Year and that he was in Paris on a business trip. During the call, Scott says, I'm near the Eiffel Tower and the New Year's

celebration is unreal. The crowd is huge. They were having trouble hearing each other because of a bad connection, so Scott told Amber that he would call her the very next day. Scott is telling Amber that he's in Paris and he sounds happy and so believable, yet he's really at a candlelight vigil for his missing wife. And the first time I heard this call, I didn't realize he wasn't in Paris, I actually believed what he said. He sounds like he's having a great time and only after when I realized that he was lying, I was so surprised and disgusted because I really thought he was in Paris. So here's a little. Oh my God. It's like been all this crazy static and stuff. I'm like, oh, so frustrated. I'm not trying to call her... Morgan.

Amher? Yes? Amher? Oh. Stop. Amher. Amher, there? Yes.

Amher? I can hear you. Hey. Yes. Okay. Are you a bottle? Okay, I'm like stay still or something. I know, I'm losing it work. How was your new year?

How was your new year? It's good. I just, I won't do far now. I came out of the alley quite early. Is that right? Yeah, it is. I can see it. Very good. There's three of the viola there. The evil power.

It's a stable, popular anywhere. Pop songs. It's a great party. I have a great place. Resolution. It's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really What was that? Should be. Should be. What should my new resolution be? Oh, I don't know.

That was my question. I didn't think of that. I'll count that I'm good. So where are you headed? Well, I don't... did you get my message? No. I was leaving. Yeah, I left you a message because I was like, well, I hope you at least get that, but, um,

I was going to, or the time was just the thing didn't work out. So, I'm probably, I was like, we're going to go later to Sean's. Are you there? Hello. Hello, are you there? One week later and two weeks into Lacey's disappearance, Scott called Amber again to finally tell her that his wife was missing. I'm telling you this, I want to be an impression to you this. But I trust my talking coach. What?

I'm sure it's why talking called me like. Why? Why would something... What are you talking about? It was a very strange time. I'll just tell you. You've been watching the news hard this weekend. No. You have been watching the news how before you had.

I have not been traveling in the last couple weeks. Why have I tried to do what I've been traveling? The girl is about 19 or 20 years old. She disappeared just before Christmas. She passed away seven in the despo with her family in mind searching for her. Okay. She disappeared and no one knows. Okay, now she's been there. Scott? And I can't tell you more because I need to be protected from the media.

And I'll not. Okay. Okay, there are amazing things. Scott, are you listening? You came to me early in December and told me that you lost your wife. What was that about? She's alive. What?

She's alive. Where? She's alive. Where? She's alive? Where? I'm in a restaurant now. I know. I know. I know. Okay, that's just weird. Why did he say she's alive and then say in Modesto?

He supposedly doesn't know what the hell happened to her yet he just told Amber twice that she was alive. Yeah, it's just so weird that he uses that language, the fact that he says the girl that I marry to, like, have some respect for your missing wife. You never answered my question, Scott. You don't, I can't, I can't see more. I think I deserve. You deserve so much better.

There's no question you deserve so much better. There's no question you deserve so much better. Yeah, and I deserve to understand and explaination of why you told me you had notched your wife, and this was the first holidays you'd spend without her. That was December 9th. You told me this, and now all the time your wife's missing. Are you questioning? Did you hear me?

I did. I got a lot of faith. I think an explanation would be a start. I know. You have to explain it to me. Yes, I do. I do. And I want to give you one. I'm listening. I can't know. I mean, you don't understand.

I don't understand the situation. Then why don't you be in on the situation and make a scene? I can't know. That's what I was. Why? It's the protect all of us. To protect all of who? Everyone about.

So where is she? That's what we are trying to find out. We have a nationwide search. I mean, it's a half million dollar reward for information made in terms of safety check. Okay, so again, you never answered my question. Why did you tell me it would be the first holidays without her? I can't.

Pretty I can't explain anymore now. I'm so sorry. You should be so angry, man. I got to hope you are. Another thing I want to know is why didn't Scott tell Amber the truth about why he lied about being a widower. Unless the answer is, because I wanted to kill her so you wouldn't know she ever existed, then he probably would have told the truth

and said that it's because their marriage wasn't good and he planned to leave her or something. But he didn't say that, because he probably never planned to leave her at all, hence her disappearance. And yes, that's my opinion coming through, but I just, I really don't understand why else he would say, I can't tell you over and over again. Like why not tell her why you lied about your wife being dead if you're innocent?

On January 24th, 2003, Amber attended a police news conference and explained her affair with Scott to the public. She told her side of the story, and that she thought that Scott was single because that's what he told her. So she was defending herself a little at this time of course because the public often attacks the mistress or the woman of the affair. But she wasn't in the wrong because she didn't know about Lacey until recently and since then she had not seen Scott.

She didn't tell the public about the fact that she was a mole for the police though. She didn't want Scott nor anyone else to find out in hopes of her getting more information from Scott, and weirdly enough, Scott reached out to Amber after the conference and said that he was proud of her for saying all those things and that she did the right thing. This was the first anyone other than Scott, Amber, and the police had heard about Scott having an affair. So originally, Lacey's parents were with Scott because obviously they didn't think he did anything wrong, they didn't know that he lied, they didn't know that he was cheating on their

daughter, so when they heard this, they turned against him. To cover his own back, Scott stated that Lacey knew about his affair with Amber while he was being interviewed by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America. He said, quote, you know, I can't say that even, you know, she was okay with the idea, but it wasn't anything that would break us apart. He teared up many times during this interview, but his tone remained very calm. He also added, quote, violence towards women is unapproachable. It's the most disgusting act to me.

When asked if he murdered his wife, Scott looks down, looks around, and then closes his eyes while saying, uh, I did not. And then he smiles and said, and you use the word murder. And right now everyone's looking for a body. Then while he is literally still smiling, he says, and you use the word murder and right now everyone's looking for a body. Then while he is literally

still smiling, he says, and use the word murder and yeah, that is a possibility. So again, this isn't my opinion coming through. I, my mouth dropped at this part while watching this interview because he straight up is smiling while he's talking about the possibility that his wife was murdered. It blew my mind. Yeah, very creepy. And I remember originally watching that part of that interview back in 2002, because my mom is super into true crime. So of course, she's gonna watch that episode.

And I remember that interview, and I remember thinking, why is he smiling during this interview? It's like a smirky smile. It's not like a happy smile. It's like a smirky smile. And here's a clip from the interview. I think everybody sitting at home wants the answer to the same question. Did you murder your wife? No, no. I just thought. And I absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance. And you use the word murder. And right now, everyone's looking for a body.

And that's the hardest thing because that is not a possible resolution for us. And you use the word murder. And yeah, I mean, that is a possibility. It's not one we're ready to accept and it creeps in my mind late at night and early in the morning. He confirmed he did have the affair. Why were you doing it? I can't answer I don't know. That's a question you should have an answer

to. Definitely not. I don't know. Were you in love with him? No. And by the way, if you guys want to see a clip of that interview, we're going to post that on our Instagram, which is at Going West Podcast. A couple of other things to point out in the interview is when Diane Sawyer says, tell me about the state of your marriage. What kind of marriage was it? Scott responds, God, I mean, the first word that comes to mind is, you know, glorious.

I mean, we took care of each other very well. Um, she was amazing. Is amazing. Then Diane said, you haven't mentioned your son and he replied, hmm, that was, it's so hard. I don't want to look too much into every little thing that Scott says, but it's kind of interesting that he says Lacy was amazing, and then corrects himself to is amazing.

As if he realizes saying was is kind of incriminating since this is just one month after her disappearance, and no one knows what happened to her at this point. Instead of just sticking with was, because maybe it feels natural since she's been gone for weeks, he felt the need to correct it immediately. And the fact that he uses was when talking about both Lacey and his unborn son, it's worth mentioning. Lacey's February due date came and went and she was still nowhere to be found. Two more months had passed and on April 13, 2003, a couple was walking their dog along the San Francisco Bay when the dog came upon the body of a male fetus on the shore.

The baby's embilical cord was still attached but was torn. There was also nylon tape around his neck and a large cut on his body. Just a day later, another person stumbled upon a body just a mile from the location of the baby's body. This time, it was a decomposed body that was barely even recognizable to be a person. Its head, arms, and most of the legs were missing. Four days later, on April 18, DNA testing returned, confirming that the bodies found were those of Lacey and her unborn son Connor. Lacey's cervix was intact, meaning that she had

died before giving birth, but they were unable to determine when exactly she died. She had two cracked ribs, but the forensic pathologist wasn't sure if this had happened pre or post-mortem. Her unborn son Connor's skin hadn't reached a stage of decomposition because of its protection in Lacey's uterus. The doctor had concluded that Connor had been expelled from Lacey's body, but wasn't sure if he was alive at the time he was birthed, or if he was dead. The forensic pathologist was also unable to determine their cause of death, and it probably makes it even more difficult because as Heath pointed out to me earlier, there's a lot of sharks and other sea life in the San Francisco Bay that could have gotten to them as well. The day that the DNA results came back on the bodies, police arrested Scott Peterson for their murders. At the time of his arrest, Scott was on his way to a golf course near his Modesto home,

and he told police that he was on his way to meet his brother and dad to play golf. When they searched Scott's Maroon 1984 Mercedes-Benz, they found camping equipment, lots of clothes, viagra, $15,000 in cash, four cell phones, a laptop, his driver's license, and his brother's driver's license, all stuffed into a few duffle bags. At this time, his hair was bleach-blown from his usual natural dark brown hair. He stated that he did this so he could go to the grocery store and live a normal life since everyone thought he was a murderer. Many people are suspicious that he died his hair so that he could escape, but he did speak with police with blonde hair, so law enforcement knew that he was blonde. It was just a recent change.

But many people believed that he was looking to potentially flee to Mexico anyway because he knew that bodies had been found in the Bay and that he would be indicted for the crimes if they turned out to be Lacey and Conners. And I've actually seen photos of these Duffle bags and it's just a couple Duffle bags stuffed with a bunch of things that are kind of suspicious. And just like Heath said, it's very possible that a few days before when Lacey and Conner's

bodies were originally found that it hit the news saying that it could be their bodies. Because that kind of thing happens all the time where it says, you know, bodies found could it be this person. So I'm sure that Scott did hear about that and maybe he said shit, like it's over. If in fact Scott is guilty of these crimes, I think it's awfully suspicious that he has all these things packed up and is pretty much ready to go. Well, Scott's dad Lee defended him saying that he had his brother's license so that he could get a discount at the golf course, and that he had all the stuff in his car because he was living out of it thanks to the media making him feel unsafe at home. In fact, just a month after Lacey disappeared, he considered selling the house, and he even sold Lacey's land rover.

When Scott was arrested, he refused to take a polygraph, which is looked at as very suspicious, but it's also very much recommended by lawyers. In his preliminary hearing, Scott pled not guilty to two counts of murder with premeditation. Since absolutely everybody knew about this case, they placed a gag order on the jurors so that no one was allowed to read or watch anything relating to it so they wouldn't be biased. The trial was then moved an hour and a half out of Modesto to San Mateo County.

Just over a year later, on June 1, 2004, Scotts trial began. Amber took the stand in August to once again explain her side of the story. They also played the recordings between Amber and Scot. In late August, it was discovered that someone had been on the Peterson's computer

at 8.40 AM on December 24, searching for an umbrella stand decorated with sunflowers and a fleece scarf from Gap. Within two minutes, they also looked up the weather in San Jose and checked Scott's email. It was well known that Lacey loved sunflowers and she even had one tattooed on her ankle. This messed up the prosecutor's theory that Lacey had been murdered either late December 23rd or very early December 24th.

But this new evidence that someone was looking up items that Lacey would have looked up could prove that she was alive just 45 minutes before Scott supposedly left for Berkeley. It was also determined that the episode of Martha Stewart-Making Mirangs was on the TV the morning lacy disappeared. I don't know that Scott would be looking up these items, but I don't know why Scott's email was checked and then so was the weather in San Jose. Lacy had no plans to visit San Jose, but since Scott's email was used, this could mean that he was checking the computer or that lacy was and then Scott hopped on to check his email in the weather. he was checking the computer or that Lacey was and then Scott hopped on to check his email on the weather. Maybe he originally intended on going fishing in San Jose, which is also

connects to the San Francisco Bay and then ended up going to Berkeley instead, so that's definitely possible too. It could have been both of them. Or like we've said before, if in fact this was Scott that committed these crimes, was he looking up these things to make it appear that Lacey was still alive, but then going on his email because I'm not sure if Lacey would have had his email password and or why she would even want to check his email, but it's possible. Well, I guess the defense didn't use this saying. See, Lacey had to have been alive that morning because she was looking up these things that she loved, and Scott didn't say, oh, I saw her looking these items up.

So Scott didn't even use that to defend himself, which is why I think it's more likely that it was Lacey. Because I also think that it's possible that Lacey was killed between 9 and 10 a.m. or so, because the issue with this search on the computer when it came into trial is that the prosecution stated that she was killed either early that morning or late the night before. So now it's like, oh well, she could have been on the computer almost at 9 am, meaning she would have had to have been alive, but I don't necessarily think that takes down their

whole theory. That's very true. I mean, it's very hard to establish timelines in this whole situation since we really don't necessarily think that takes down their whole theory. That's very true. I mean, it's very hard to establish timelines in this whole situation since we really don't know the truth. And it's very possible that Lacey was alive and she was looking those items up and she had been killed a little while after that. And then that would still make sense for the people who believe that Lacey was abducted from a walk because she could have looked those things up in the morning and then gone out on a walk and then gotten abducted from there. So I don't think that this really

says that much. It either says that she was alive at 840 or it says that Scott was pretending to be her at 840. One thing that we do have is a map of Scott's cell tower pings from December 24th, though, and his call at 2.17pm to Lacey Peterson shows that he was in Berkeley at the time of the call. Going back to his calls earlier in the day, at 10.08am, he placed a call to his voicemail and his phone pinged in Modesto. Then at 11.48am, he received a call from his dad Lee while he was on a clear route to Berkeley.

Then, no calls are made or received until about 2.12 pm when he called his voicemail. At 2.14 pm, Scott called his home phone, apparently trying to call Lacey. Three minutes later, he called her cell phone and left the message we played earlier for you guys. So we do know that he was in fact in Berkeley, not San Jose, during his time out. Lee, Scott's father, mentioned later that they had spoken a couple times that day, and Scott didn't mention anything about going fishing, even though Scott called him on the way to the marina.

Many local fishermen are suspicious of Scott's story because they say that the somewhat treacherous waters of the San Francisco Bay is a terrible place for a small, four-person aluminum boat to fish in. Not impossible, just not wise. Also, Scott stated originally that he wasn't sure which fish he was looking for, and then later said that he was fishing for sturgeon, which can very often be 100 pounds or more and up to six feet long. So that's not something you would really want to do by yourself or in that kind of boat unless you were more experienced.

Also, local fishermen say that they would never launch around noon like Scott said he had and that they would have done it at the crack of dawn like Heath said earlier. They also were confused by Scott's fishing gear. Police found that on December 24, Scott had an ultra-light stream fishing pole, a heavier pole, and a homemade concrete anchor that weighed a gallon. They found two unopened lures in Scott's truck, which they found out aren't often used when fishing for sturgeon. Sturgeon fish rely on their great sense of smell, so you would use bait to reel them in. And the light stream rod they found would never be used to catch sturgeon. In Scots defense, he clearly isn't a pro-fisher, but as we know, Lacey and Scots first date

was deep sea fishing, so it's not shocking that he'd be looking for sturgeon because many do. It's very sought after fish. Maybe he just likes to sometimes fish for fun and doesn't really know what he's doing. Well, Lacey and Connor's bodies were found just two miles from where Scott said he fished. And although Scott had been fishing since childhood,

he didn't do it very often. He had a permit for the year of 1994 and then two day permits in July 1999, October 1999, August 2002, and then December 23rd and 24th. So other than this trip on Christmas Eve 2002, he hadn't fished in four months, and before then it had been about three years. So why did he decide to go that day? On Christmas Eve alone, when his pregnant wife is at home alone. And to top it off, Scott bought his fishing boat the very same day that he told Amber that his wife was dead and this would be his first Christmas without her, which was on December 9th, two weeks before Lacey went missing, and he didn't go fishing until the day that she disappeared.

We already mentioned earlier that he told Lacey's parents that he went golfing that day when he called them asking them if they knew where Lacy was on December 24th before she was reported missing. We also mentioned that he originally told police that he went golfing that day. He also told his neighbor, Amy, on the evening of December 24th that he had spent the day golfing when we know that isn't true because he was in Berkeley on a boat, and she testified this at his trial. So why would Scott lie about where he is?

Maybe because he didn't want to seem suspicious if he were fishing all day far away after his wife disappears. But he told the first lie when he told Lacey's parents that he was golfing before they even reported her missing. When he supposedly didn't think anything had happened to her, it's not like he was at a strip club or with Amber, he was fishing. So why would he lie about doing an activity that he reportedly openly enjoys? There was a lot of debate regarding if it would have been possible for Scott to dump Lacy's 153-pound body over the boat without it capsizing.

Scott's defense attempted this and the boat capsized, but the video was never shown to the jury because the judge didn't allow it. Likely because it had been done by Scott's defense who obviously didn't want it to be possible. But at the same time, the boat was pretty small and the San Francisco Bay can get a bit treacherous. So, it definitely makes sense that it could have capsized, but a local fisherman also commented that he has the same boat as Scot and has caught 150 pounds sturgeon in the same bay all by

himself and didn't capsize, so it seems like both scenarios are possible. Just a recap, Scott Peterson stated that on the morning of December 24th, 2002, he left the house at 9.30am to go fishing while Lacey was at home watching Martha Stewart. That evening, they planned to spend Christmas Eve at Lacey's parents, so Scott states that he was free to do whatever he wanted with the day. That morning, there were a few sightings of Lacey, which also messed with the prosecution's story because they believed Scott had murdered Lacey at some point before 9.30am.

But these witness sightings would make Lacey alive at 9.30am. One witness stated they saw a very pregnant woman fitting Lacey's description walking in the neighborhood between 9.45 a.m. and 10. a.m. But a bloodhound indicated to police that Lacey left her home in a vehicle and not on foot. I'm not sure how this was indicated, but that's what it said in the Modesto paper. It's definitely worth mentioning that Lacey and Scott didn't live in the safest area. There was actually a robbery that occurred at 6.30am the morning of December 24th in the house directly across the street from them.

But the robbery wasn't discovered immediately because the owners of the home weren't there. So there's a lot of speculation that the robbery actually occurred on the 26th. But many state this wouldn't be possible because there were so many police cars and news vans outside of the Peterson home as of December 25th that a robbery simply couldn't have occurred on the street at that time. Many theorized that Lacey was abducted during her walk because, one, Mackenzie the dog was running loose in the neighborhood, indicating that she could have been taken while on a walk with him.

And two, they didn't live in a safe area so she could have witnessed a crime or just been taken by someone with bad intentions, who then later dumped her in the San Francisco Bay. Since many people saw Lacey walking that morning, she absolutely could have been on that walk. But here's the thing, everyone claims to have seen her around the early morning. And even though Scott says he left around 9.30 a.m., I checked his phone records. At 10.08 a.m., Scott placed a call to his voicemail while still in Modesto,

meaning that at 10.08 a.m., he was either still home or had just left his house. Then, at 11.44 a.am, he was in the general vicinity of Livermore, California, when he received a call from his dad, which is just an hour away from his home. We know that cell towers have a range of 5-10 mile accuracy. So, at 11.44am, he was either about 45 minutes or an hour and 15 minutes give or take away from his house. No one witnessed Scott exiting his driveway, so the whole I left around 9.30am thing is

just Scott's word. But Seltauer's proof that he could have been home around 10.30. Meaning that Lacey very much could have taken Mackenzie on a walk, come home, and been murdered by Scott. And Scott could have then let Mackenzie the dog loose to turn the whole thing into an abduction. Of course, that last bit is just a theory as we have no evidence of that really happening. But we know the Acrust District neighbors were out of the house that morning and day, so

unfortunately we don't have proof of what time Scott really left. But I think the cell tower pings are very interesting. Also, Scott stated he launched after 12 p.m., which makes more sense with this timeline because the marina was an hour and a half away from their home. We know that Scott was definitely not home around 10.30 a.m., which would still make sense because of the cell towers. but around 1030 to 1045 AM, one of the Peterson's neighbors finds Mackenzie roaming the streets as they're leaving their home. That's when they put the dog into the Peterson's backyard, noticing Scott's truck was gone, but Lacey's car was still in the driveway.

After five months on trial, Scott Peterson was found guilty of first-degree murder for Lacey Peterson and second-degree murder for their unborn child Connor. Scott was sentenced to death due to the horrific nature of this crime. Earlier this year, in March 2019, Gavin Newsom, who is the governor of California, released over 700 inmates on death row so they could just live out the life sentence instead because he believes that the death penalty is immoral. This also released Scott Peterson of his death sentence for the remainder of Governor Newsom's tenure as governor, which ends in 2027.

And we actually just covered the murder of Polly Class a few episodes ago, and her killer was also amongst the 727 prisoners who no longer required the death penalty under Newsom's tenure. Scott Peterson is currently 47 years old and resides in the San Quentin State Prison in California where he will remain for the rest of his days, unless someone can prove that without a doubt he did not commit these crimes. Before we let you guys go, we just wanted to give you our personal opinions of what we think likely happened. So, I think this case just has way too many coincidences for Scott to be innocent.

What are the chances that he decides to go fishing the very day that his wife goes missing, and then the body ends up in the same bay that he was fishing in that very day. Why did he lie about golfing if he had nothing to hide? Why did he tell his girlfriend Amber that his wife was dead and then immediately buy a boat when Lacey was in fact very much still alive? I just have so many questions and watching interviews of Scott doesn't help. He just remains so calm and he never seems crushed or distraught about the disappearance and potential death of his wife and unborn child, which to me just seems like an unimaginable reality.

I would assume he would be incredibly distraught, but again, I can't judge someone else's emotions or reactions. He smiles at inappropriate times and was caught lying on countless occasions about very simple things. On the other hand, I'm not sure how there is an evidence of her murder unless he strangled her inside their home which wouldn't have taken very long and then put her in his truck and drove her to Berkeley and dumped her in the bay. I'm not sure how he would have gotten her body on the boat without anyone seeing, but at the same time, someone would have had to have done that considering her body was found in the bay. I think it's pretty wild that they sentenced him to death without any physical evidence, but I definitely agree that the circumstantial and interpretive evidence is incredibly strange. I personally believe that

Scott murdered Lacey Peterson and their unborn son Connor. But I don't know that he should have gotten the sentencing that he did without us having more information. I personally believe the same idea that Daphne does and I believe that Scott Peterson is guilty. I believe that he killed his wife. There's just too many lies, too many manipulations going on in this case for me to believe that he didn't. And I know that there's probably some people out there that believe that he is innocent. And to those people, obviously this is just our opinion. And we try to remain unbiased in these situations, but obviously emotions can get in the way when we're doing this much extensive research on a case.

So my opinion is that Scott is guilty, but we would love to hear what you guys think. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode. And just a quick announcement, our episodes will now be coming out on Tuesdays. So next week we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Please let us know what you guys thought of this case and what your opinions are of what happened to Lacey Peterson by checking us out on Instagram at GoingWestPodcast.com and on our posts let us know what you guys think or check us out on Twitter at GoingWestPod.

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