Snapped: Women Who Murder - Notorious: Scott Peterson - Part 1

Episode Date: December 20, 2020

When 8 months pregnant Laci Peterson went missing on Christmas Eve 2002, her disappearance became a shocking national story. Scott, convicted of her murder 15 years ago, now has grounds for an appeal. Did Scott receive a fair trial? Season 20, Episode 1 (Special Episode)Originally aired: May 6, 2017See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. It is an incredible story. I thought it could not be this morning. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. And I've watched it unfold.

The FBI has now joined dozens of local police in dismissing persons investigation. This was an all-American family. I knew that story was big. The national media was there. All the locals were there. They became a show. They became a spectacle, really. I had nothing to do with Lacey's disappearance.

She was a pregnant mother in a relationship with a man that she adored. Two bodies found in the bay are those of Lacey Peterson and her baby. Constitution told us, Scott kills Lacey, Scott comes Lacey in the bay. Can you convince that he's innocent? He's not a guy that would kill a woman. There was critical evidence that was never presented to Scott's jury.

Could have been the key to everything. Could have led us to the murder. After serving 14 years on death row, Scott Peterson has filed an appeal. Could he get out? It's clearly not over for Scott Peterson. That's correct, John. I'm innocent. Scott killed Lacey. There was no doubt about that. Did Scott Peterson. That's correct, John. I'm innocent.

Scott killed Lacey. There was no doubt about that. Did Scott maybe do it? Probably do it. Could it, then, it must have done it? Maybe. But not beyond a reasonable doubt. Scott Peterson did not get a fair trial. It was December 24th, 2002.

Everybody's getting ready for Christmas. Families are gathering, getting ready to open, and then suddenly, the Modesto Police Department gets a call saying Lacey Peterson, a woman whose eight months pregnant, is missing. Can I see the fat? Can I help you? Yes, my daughter is in such a sport. She made much progress. She's prepared on for a walk in the park. Mrs. Doc came all with this belief shot. Jesus, let's get him to the doctor. Her daughter came up without your daughter.

Right. What is your name? My name is Ron. I'm a deaf pet. Her son is deaf. He is a deaf pet. He is on one of her departments. What's your first name? Peterson is on one of the parking platforms. I can't get that right now. I think they paid it for it.

I'm Tim Helton. I'm a retired sergeant in the Meadowsto Police Department. I'm worked for the department during the Lacey Peterson search. The initial call was that she had been out walking her dog in East Loma Park and had returned. All of Lacey Peterson's valuables, her purse, keys were all left to the house.

Her husband Scott told us that she was missing, and he gave us some information that she may have gone walking down to the park. Scott tells the Modesto police that he last saw Lacey around 9.30 that morning when he left their home to go fishing. He believes she was planning to walk their dog, Mackenzie. The Peterson dog was found wandering, was its leash.

No one knew if Lacey had taken it out for a walk, and that's how she disappeared. I'm John Bueller, one of the detectives that worked the Peterson case. East alone apart was only about a block and a half away from Scott and Lacey's house. So that was naturally one of the first places that we were going to look. The park was very important.

So immediately that became ground zero for the search for Lacey Peterson. My name is Gloria Gomez. I cover the Scott Peterson case. Volunteers and officers actually walk the park on foot that entire night looking for Lacey. While the search is underway, Modesto Police asked Scott down to the station to give a detailed picture of Lacey's day.

So today, she told you what she was going to do for the day, and we'll talk. Take the dog for a walk, and then she to go to the store to buy for Christmas morning breakfast tomorrow. She's going to make gingerbread cookies for her today. I can only imagine how Scott was feeling. His wife was carrying his child. Lacey was excited about being a first time mom

had the baby's name picked out. Little Connor had the nurse ready. The nightmare continues for friends and family as Christmas morning arrives. And Lacey is still missing. Oh, Christmas day, we were turned to the park to do an expanded search. The park's huge.

It actually runs for several miles along the creek bottom. And we didn't want to overlook anything. So it was a very thorough search. There was empathy for this unborn child. Is she out there? Did she walk the dog and fall? And is she incapacitated? My name is Ted Rollins.

I was a reporter for KTVU. Started covering the Petersen case from the moment Lacey was missing. And it was something that people were instantly attracted to. And they wanted to help, especially people in Modesto. They wanted to find Lacey Petersen. This is Christmas Day, and there was already a volunteer settle. and they wanted to help, especially people in Modesto. They wanted to find Lacey Peters. This is Chris Mistain, and there was already

a volunteer settle. This was a situation where she could be in severe danger, so could her unborn child, so there was an urgency to find her. Modesto, California, was a town of a little over 200,000 people in the central valley of California. It was a commuter town, a short drive from San Francisco itself. Lacey and Scott lived in a really nice middle-class neighborhood in Modesto, and they looked like the perfect American couple. Then went over to the neighbor's house to start my first interview. One of the things that I was looking for

was information about Scott and Lacey. What kind of marriage did they have? Did they have financial problems? Were they good neighbors? This is an extremely important time to get all the information possible. I am Debbie Volsky. My first impression of Lacey was sweet and outgoing

and she's beautiful. She was kind of like a Disney princess. Everybody we talk to, all painted skyd is the ideal guy. Nobody badmouthed him behind his back. He just seemed like the All-American boy. I mean, this guy had the looks, had the wealth, had a golf in scholarship. He had the American dream.

Everything just seemed perfect. When we didn't find her in the park and we didn't find any evidence, it was very concerning. With no leads in sight, on December 26, Lacey's family makes an emotional public appeal for her safe return. Whoever has her, please, please, please, let her go. Bring her back.

We love her so much. We want her back. Please, get her back. Let her have her back. You see anguish in the face of Sharon Rocha. Where is my daughter? That's when the panic started. On December 27th, the FBI joins the investigation

as they expand the search drastically, desperate to locate the missing pregnant woman. Search teams on horseback, in helicopters, in boats, and on foot. Given the huge enormous geographical area that we were concerned with, it was absolutely a needle in a haystack. There were constantly showing

Lacey Peterson's picture, hoping to get tips. We had a tip line that was exclusively for tips regarding to Lacey Peterson's search. If you have any information, please call the Lacey Hotline. Lacey didn't do anything that we could see that contributed to her disappearance, such as getting

liquored up, going to the bars, getting involved in drugs, running with a rough crowd or anything like that. Her car was still there. There was no evidence of forced break in in the house, no destruction of property indicating that she had a fight in the house with somebody. It was almost like she'd just vanished. The leading cause of death for pregnant women

is homicide and generally at the hands of the father of the child. So when we have a pregnant lady missing at the tail end of her pregnancy, of course the first thing we're going to look at is her husband. Me and my crew, we were all camped out at the home of Lacey Peterson to talk to family members, to try to figure out what exactly it was going on.

And there's other press there. The national media was there. All the locals were there. They became a show. When we arrived, we gave the viewers what we knew at the time, and that was who she was, her name, where she was last seen. Multiple networks gather outside the Peterson home, all competing for the attention of family members.

And then we see Scott. This is my first encounter with Scott Peterson. So the first thing I did, I walked right up to him and I said, listen, Scott, I want to know as much as I can about Lacey, your wife. And he looked at me and he started saying, all I want is Lacey to come home. And he looked at me and he started saying, all I want is Lacey to come home.

That's all I want. And I go, I understand that. But the only way the public will feel that is if you go on TV and you tell people how much you love her, how much you miss her. And he goes, you know what? I will do that someday. Then after that, he walked away, and that was it.

As a reporter, you're always hoping to make a connection. There was no connection. There was, like, a wall in front of Scott Peterson. Stop! Hey, what did you come to talk to us? He wanted nothing to do with us, especially the camera. In fact, he asked us not to take his picture. People want to hear from the husband.

The problem Scott has is that he wasn't a motive enough. He grew up in a very stoic family. His dad's like that. You don't emote all over the place. Lacey's husband was avoiding the media. So right away, I've had a feeling like, why is he avoiding us? That was my gut telling me something's odd here.

From everything that I saw, he acted the way any normal husband would do, it sound like killer, not to me. Coming up, a shocking twist that turns the public and Lacey's family against Scott Peterson. Here we go, here we go, here we go. Everyone knew this was going to rattle the entire case. And later, is it possible that by focusing on Scott Peterson, the police missed key evidence

that would come to light years later? There was critical evidence that was never presented to Scott's jury. Could it let us to the murder? Scott Peterson had been planning to kill Lacey. There's no way that Scott Peterson could have killed her, because he was gone by this time. I'm thinking he didn't do it. Eight-month pregnant Lacey Peterson disappears on Christmas Eve, kicking off an intensive

search in media whirlwind. Lacey's husband, Scott Peterson, was avoiding the media. So right away, I had a feeling like, why is he avoiding us? After 72 hours, police are no closer to finding the missing woman. She was a pregnant mother looking forward to giving birth to her child in a relationship with a man that she adored. It was almost like she just vanished. Three days earlier, on the same day Lacey was reported missing,

he had appeared police began forming suspicions about Lacey's husband, Scott Peterson. When the first patrol officers came out to the house to investigate the report of a missing woman, they called back to the Modesto Police Department and said, send a detective. We have a strange feeling about the husband. In a strange feeling, what is that? What is a strange feeling?

I mean, it's an emotional gut reaction. Because it's a feeling. It's not evidence. I'm Ann Bremener. I'm a criminal defense attorney. And I cover this gut, Peterson, trial, from most of the major networks. There was very limited information

that was available to us from the start. But one of the things that we learned from Sharon, Lacey's mother, was that it's a first thing that Scott did when he called hurt, as from Sharon, Lacey's mother, was that it's the first thing that Scott did when he called her. As he said, Lacey's missing. He didn't ask, oh, is she there? Did you talk to Lacey? Is she coming over?

Did she go over? He immediately went to the fact that she was missing, even though her purse was there at the house. He was very cautious. Everything was very methodical. There's no evidence. And yet they're thinking she's gone. She's kidnapped.

She's murdered, and he just wanted to do it. He remained the only suspect at that time from the beginning to the middle to the end of this case. The lead detective played me a phone message that had been left by Scott when Scott was driving back from the Berkeley marina He said he had gone fishing the day Lacey disappeared on Christmas Eve the day Lacey was reported missing Scott had called his wife

The call went to voicemail It's very beautiful. I just left a message at home I just left a message at home on Tuesday. I live for example, we'll be able to get into the zone. You can have that. I hope you will get the message and go on out there. I'll see you in a bit. We love you.

Bye. Scott leaving this message for Lacey. I guess you could look at it that, oh, this is something that what a great husband would do. But for us, when you take a look at the wording on that call and you compare it with Scott's demeanor, the flowery I love views and the affection that was present in the wording on that call didn't match up with his lack of panic when we were dealing with him. But not everyone saw Scott

Peterson's behavior as unusual. From everything that I saw, he acted the way any normal husband would do. I'm Richard Cole. I'm a journalist. I covered the Scott and Lacey Peterson case. He had treated his wife like a queen. No one had ever seen them argue. No one had ever seen them fight.

He spent the weekend before Lacey disappeared out in their backyard, planning flowers for her. She would say, you know, because she was eight months pregnant, couldn't bend over and do it herself anymore. So, Scott's on his hands and knees, planning flowers for his wife. Scott got a designer purse for Christmas. That was what was under the tree. Is this the present that a husband is about to kill his wife?

Is going to put under the tree? Along with Scott's allegedly flowery voicemail police finds Scott's lack of emotion rather odd the golf club or the profession. Okay. It seemed too cold to go to the big club with the club, so, you know, just decided to, you know, by a journey or anything. Scott's demeanor just wasn't one of urgency. He was pretty cool, pretty reserved. The police were keeping Copies known to have all his lack of response,

you know, his lack of concern, but he was fully cooperative. He went to the police station and answered questions. How much more cooperative can he be? What concerns me the most is the fact that your dogs can call them a police car. A concern to him most is doing anything I can to further progress. I appreciate that. To brush to judgment, are we suspecting him based on evidence,

or are we suspecting him based on our feelings? Although the police believe Scott is acting suspiciously, Lacey's family maintains Scott had nothing to do with Lacey's disappearance. Lacey Peters and his family absolutely loved Scott and they wanted nothing to do with Lacey's disappearance. Lacey Peters' family absolutely loved Scott, and they wanted nothing to do with any speculation that he might have something to do with it. We believe that Scott has nothing to do

with Lacey's disappearance. They were happy couple and they love each other very much. He had a reputation of being the person that went the extra mile to help a neighbor. He had no criminal record. Pretty much everybody that we talk to, all painted Scott, is the ideal guy. All the right moves, all the right stories, world traveler, Ash, what's not to like, I like them.

As more time went by, it got less and less likely that she would be found safe. The candlelight vigil was held at Lolo Ma Park. It was heart wrenching. This community has wrapped their arms around the Peterson family and it been very moved by Lacey's disappearance. the Peterson family and it been very moved by Lacey's disappearance. He's got told police that he had a warehouse. And the boat was in the warehouse.

But the road just didn't know that he had bought a boat. That was news to them. Police went to this warehouse and they went in. Although Scott had told them about the warehouse from the beginning, in the weeks following Lisa's disappearance, police would search Scott's warehouse multiple times. There were these cement blocks that were outlined. It's almost like when you're trying to have something dry,

and it dries, but you still have the ring of cement. There were four of those, and they thought, okay, so it's clear that he made anchors, cement anchors. Where are the anchors? They weren't in the warehouse, so where were they? All these things were starting to add up, and it was starting to paint a picture to police.

Maybe Scott Peterson had been planning this for a while. This won't make headlines. It'll be a missing woman in her go away, and he'll pretend to be the grieving husband. But some believe there to be a very innocent explanation for Scott's supposed secrecy regarding the boat. There was a big deal made about whether Lacey and her in-laws knew about the boat.

I mean, do you're in Los now everything that you had up for everything that you do? He showed the police the boat right away. There's no evidence that she did or didn't know, but what's the relevance of that? The whole story about the boat was from the police side that he had secretly bought the boat as part of his plot to kill Lacey.

There was no secret boat. It was a surprise for his father-in-law, so you could say on Christmas. Guess what? We have a fishing boat. Police continued to expand the search, increasingly concentrating on the Berkeley Marina, where Scott had told them he was fishing on Christmassy. Scott, driving from Modesto to the saltwater there

in Berkeley at the Marina, probably would have taken a little over an hour. Why would you go fishing in the San Francisco Bay on Christmassy and leave your wife who was eight months pregnant, home alone, that immediately didn't make sense. It was unusual that some way would fish, San Francisco bands such a small boat.

The bacon become quite rough. Damn, if you do, damn, if you don't. Now, someone's convinced, you know, that you're guilty, everything that you do makes you look even more suspicious. that you're guilty, everything that you do makes you look even more suspicious. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready and buckle up. We've got the one and only Conan O'Brien,

making a legendary appearance on Smartless. Picture this, the iconic Conan O'Brien, puffy red hair and all, joining forces with me, and Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, it is just, it's a recipe for podcast perfection exclusively on One Re plus. We're taking you on an unforgettable journey behind the curtain.

We're pulling back the veil on the world of late night and giving you an inside look into the mind of a true legend. Our episode, Rukonen, is the second of 10 special episodes exclusive to One Re plus. These episodes are the full recorded interviews from our smart list tour that was filmed in front of thousands of our biggest fans from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. You're not going to want to miss this conversation with Conan. You can listen to these episodes exclusively and add free with Wondry Plus, find Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. There was some criticism that came from a variety of different people

that we only focused on Scott from the beginning, but that's simply not true. One of the detectives told a neighbor of Scott's within one hour of when police were called out that they knew what had happened to Lacey Peterson. It was very clear to the neighbor that he was saying that Scott did. Classic tunnel vision. It wasn't just a couple of us working on this case.

We had a whole team of detectives and officers that were looking at all sorts of other things that were going on. We were checking sex registrants that were living in the area, anybody that had a history of crimes and violence that was curled out of state prison. These were all happening simultaneously when we were looking at Scott. There were a lot of very good witnesses who saw Lacey

Peterson walking McKenzie. The police interviewed all these people and they just dismissed it out of hand. They said they were all wrong. The police they were doing was got Peterson within hours. He was always their only suspect tooling. And then... On January 24, 2003, one month after Lacey's disappearance, the Modesto Police Department alerts the media that it will hold a press conference. This will prove to be one of the most shocking twists

in the entire case. Modesto Police said, at seven o'clock, they were having a press conference. We like, okay. This is good. They don't hold press conferences unless there's something big. So we're like, they found her. There's a huge tip. Maybe they have a suspect.

Maybe they're going to announce Scott's the suspect. We're in the Medesca Police Department's main headquarters. It is packed. We're a shoulder to shoulder, reported a reporter waiting to hear what Medesca Police have to say. Everyone knew this was going to rattle the entire case. Here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go. Finally, they come out. I had never expected this in a million years,

but a petite blonde comes out with all the lead detectives in the case. Miss Amber Frye will make a brief statement. Miss Amber Frye. One month after the disappearance of Lacey Peterson, Modesto police call a press conference to announce a stunning development in the case. Miss Amber Frye will make a brief statement.

A petite blonde comes out, and she's shaking, and she looks up, and then she told her story. I met Scott Peterson, November 20th, 2002. Scott told me he was not married. I met Scott Peterson, November 20th, 2002. Scott told me he was not married. We did have a romantic relationship. This girl is announcing to the world she was having an affair with Scott Peterson.

We're taking this live. This is like breaking news. I am very sorry for Lacey's family. That was shocking to us. Amber Fry took this story and made it absolutely explored. Secret that has torn two families apart. Scott's a fair with Amber Fry. The Fresno woman says Scott tricked her into believing

he was single. When she came on scene, we thought it was a big story beforehand. It went absolutely crazy. People couldn't get enough of it. Hi, I'm Amber Fry. I didn't ask for this to happen. You know, I was a young single mother. Thought I met a great guy and was excited.

I first met him in November. We hit it off really well and I was funny and charming and good looking. I asked if he had any children and he said no. And he told me he had lost his wife. Amber didn't pay much attention to television, so she really didn't know any of the media who blod that was going around with the missing case involving Lacey.

My daughter, you know, was very young and kept me busy, so the teacher just wasn't on. So I never came across it or heard anything. We were dating, and little things were starting to not feel right, like something was up. Like him talking to me when there's water running, like he's in the shower or bathroom of some sort, which just kind of was a little red flagage like why are you always talking to me with water in me. I went to a friend to ask if he could look him up and see if he found anything, whether he was possibly married or still married or just whatever

he could find. So a friend of hers told her that the guy that she had been seeing, Scott Peterson, could possibly be the husband of a missing girl from Modesto. And that's when she called our tip line. Although the public became aware of her in January 2003, Amber Frye had actually called the Modesto Police tip line almost a month earlier. One week after Lacey had gone missing, Amber gets a hold of one of my partners.

And then she said, and she understood that our agency was investigating a guy named Scott Peterson, and she was wondering, Amber, if this was the same guy that she was dating. And I'm sitting across from the lead detective with one desk between us, and so I can see his expression, and I know that something big is up. The detectives asked if we could meet, I can see his expression, and I know that something big is up.

The detectives asked if we can meet, and I said, yes. I was on pins and needles, feeling scared. Scott told me he's in Europe. He's, you know, way on a trip. I just learned that he has a missing wife, and he's not in fact in Europe. He's actually in Modesto. She wanted to cooperate, she wanted the truth, and she actually showed us that Scott wasn't this perfect guy

that everybody had been painting for all this time. I don't know how long I sat there and cried. I was in shock. Um, couldn't tell you how much time passed. At that point, they had asked if I would be willing to record our conversations. And I said, yes. We stopped at Radio Shack to pick up a recording device

to attach to Amber's cell phone. And in the midst of putting all this stuff together, Amber gets a call from Scott. ... ... ... ... Hello. Amber.

Yes. I was fumbly, I was shaking. I was just so nervous. There was just so much to remember. Because my truth was, he was in Europe. I'm trying to find a way to hold you are. That's pretty easy to do. Okay. And she was perhaps one of the greatest little actresses

I've ever seen in my life. She was able to engage in a conversation with him like we weren't even on the planet. You know, I always call you, I tell you, you're special. I need a better takeover for a special. You know, it's just a sort of something. All right, we have to get there, okay? Thank you.

It was challenging, because I would get off the phone with him, and then just, you know, and then I immediately called Jon and say, oh my gosh, this is what he's telling me. Over a period of weeks before we finally had her cease the phone contact, Amber recorded over 29 hours of phone conversation with Scott. Before introducing Amber to the world at the press conference, the Modesto Police had arranged a meeting with Scott

supporters, Lacey's family, to deliver the shocking news. And they brought with them a photograph of Scott and Amber together. And when they showed that photograph to Lacey's mom, she looked at it and turned to them and said, why did he have to kill her? And at that moment, Lacey's family absolutely turned on Scott Peterson. It pretty much unraveled after that.

The moment Amber Frye came out, immediately Lacey Peterson's family had their own press conference. I want an only focus is to find Lacey and to bring her home to us. I love my daughter so much. I miss her every minute of every day. Sharon Rocha got right up there and said, we no longer support Scott Peterson. We want him to tell us what happened to Lacey. We were shocked to find out that he'd been having an affair

and we felt that if he had not been truthful about that, that possibly there's other things he needs to talk to us about. There was anger, there was frustration, there was betrayal. Everything you could think of, that family was feeling at that moment, and we were all airing it live. Now we had a huge story. Huge. They were convinced that Scott was

responsible for Lacey's death. They shut down their volunteer center. They stopped doing searches. He was having a affair. He didn't want to be public, because his wife was missing. But it doesn't make him a killer. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Did you murder your wife? I get word that Scott's getting ready to talk to the media. He realized that he had to come forward and talk to the media and explain what was going on because of the cloud of suspicion that has been circling him since this all began. I really felt like he was thinking, hey, I am charming.

I can talk my way out of anything. And I'll get the public back on my side. And I thought I have to get this interview. I have to. I was calling him every day, multiple times a day. I asked him for an interview and he always said, oh, yeah, I'll talk to you at some point, but just not today.

I get a call and I see my phone. It says Scott Peterson on it. So I pick it up. I said, hey, Scott. He said, hey, Gloria, I want to give you a little interview. And I said it up. I said, hey, Scott, you said, hey, Gloria, I want to give you a little interview. And I said, great. And I can't even tell you how excited I was.

Gloria Gomez was one of only four journalists Scott selected for interviews. So was Ted Rowlands. I was happy and relieved to be honest that he allowed me to do one of the interviews. Peterson wanted to do the interview at his house, which I thought, this is cool. I get to coincide the house.

He was in total control of the interview. He restricted to one camera, and he made us take our shoes off, which was very strange. I'm like, OK, I've never done it in an interview with no shoes off, which was very strange. I'm like, OK, I've never done it in an interview with no shoes on, but OK. My photographer knew, like, time was of the essence. So he's moving quick. He's setting up his gear.

You're just glancing around, looking around, and then it's going through your mind. It's like, was she killed here? The kitchen area, there was a chalkboard where they, I guess, they wrote messages back and forth or maybe notes of maybe groceries or whatever, but on the chalkboard was Mary Christmas. And I thought, wow, I wonder if Lacey wrote that.

And I wonder if that's like her last message. A month after Lacey's disappearance, in just a few days after Amber Fry has come forward, Scott Peterson gives four highly coveted television interviews. Is he doing it to save face or to keep the search for Lacey alive? This is the time to really kind of catch him off guard. I knew that sitting down with him, making him answer questions, was going to be the key to solving this case.

There are a lot of suspicions out there that you had a girlfriend. Your response to me is that you had no comment either way. Why didn't you just come clean then? Well, glad you asked the question. It simply wasn't appropriate to comment on it. It's just not important to comment about that. I'm glad that Amber came forward. Let me turn that off.

Yeah, what is that? That's my phone. Unfortunately, I thought this. Oh, then I'll say answer that question again. OK. The phone rings during our interview, which I thought was interesting because it's been over a month, your wife's been missing. Any phone call could be the phone call to say,

we found Lacey, she's safe. Yeah, that's kind of going crazy, isn't it? Okay. And I thought, wow, if your wife is missing, you think you'd want to take every phone call. What does he do? He turns off the ringer and keeps interviewing. How do you feel, though, that, you know,

the Rocha family says they can't trust you. They're wonderful people, the Rocha family. You know, okay. Question my, my models and my poor decision making. That's fine, but don't stop looking for Lacey. She's out there somewhere. It was really a no-win situation for him

because no matter what he said or how he said it, people were going to dissect it and say, oh, obviously he's guilty. Look at the way he says that. And you can be the key to finding them. I put it out there, you know, next to the camera. You're looking at the camera. Well, it's a plea to the audience.

Go ahead. That's why we're doing this. That's really all I think I have to say. The more he did it, the more people picked away at it. Obviously, the red ship ahead of the emperor was inappropriate. And it told Lacey about it in December. It did definitely not look very European. It was obviously not a positive thing.

While Peterson may have tried to control the interviews themselves, he could not control the media coverage on them afterwards. Afterwards, you suggest to ordinary people like myself that his wife was, and I'm quoting, okay with it, that he was having an affair, and I think that's a glaring lie. The problem Scott has is that he wasn't a motive enough. Doesn't work real well on television. I saw what everybody else saw on the interview. After you told Lacey, you continued to see Amber. Was that also the right thing to do? No. No. And then even after Lacey went missing,

you continued to romance this girl? No. After he did the interview, he immediately called me and was like, I didn't say that. I'm sure you watched it, but they cut me off, I didn't say that. I'm sure you watched it, but they cut me off. I didn't say that. So, I mean, he was dishonest about that too.

But not everyone in the media is so quick to write off Scott Peterson. As soon as Amber Fry stepped onto the scene, it explained everything to me why Scott Peterson was acting the way he was. Why didn't he want his image on television? Well, because he had a girlfriend. If I were in the same position and I had a mistress,

I would certainly be tempted not to tell the police and have it all come out, and then your wife comes out. And you say, oh, I've just destroyed my family. Amber Fry was the explanation for all of this. And for me, unlike everybody else, I'm thinking he didn't do it. Two months after Scott's interviews and well-passed his wife's due date,

Lacey and Connor's fate remains a mystery. Hope for their discovery is dim. The case basically slowed down because the search for Lacey was turning up nothing. There was nothing that tied Lacey's disappearance to Scott. They had no physical evidence. They couldn't arrest him, so this case really wasn't going anywhere. Until what happened next and that changed everything.

The night of April 12th, there was a very intense storm in the San Francisco Bay area. The next morning, April 13th, a couple was walking their dog and they saw something strange along the shoreline, something along the rocks. They called police four months into the investigation. Body of a child, almost full term, is discovered on the shore outside the area where Scott had been fishing.

There's a huge tip. Me and my crew head out there, and sure enough, they're confirming. It's the body of a fetus, a baby. And so, as I'm getting ready to go live, I'm literally on the phone with sources, getting as much information as I can about this. The next day, April 14, the body of a adult female was discovered in the same general area. No head, no arms, no legs, just a female torso.

Intense interest just ignited again, and people believed that this was likely Lacey, and this unworn child, which they'd named Connor. Investigators are trying to determine if the body is found in the San Francisco Bay belongs to missing Modesto woman Lacey Peterson, and the baby she was pregnant with when she disappeared. This case was now back on the front pages.

You had that sick feeling in your stomach that this was going to be Lacey and Connor. Here we have the bodies recovered near the Berkeley Marina in the area where Scott had been. It was pretty evident at that point that at least to me that he was probably going to be responsible for their murder. MUSIC No word yet on whether the two bodies found in the bay are those of Lacey Peterson and her baby. The lab results could come any time now.

The big question now is, where is Scott Peterson? Constance surveillance on Scott was being done at that time. Scott's hovering around San Diego. There always was the concern that Scott would try to take off possibly across the border in the Mexico and then it was gonna be a whole new set of problems to bring him back. So is there processing the DNA evidence to try and link these two bodies together and to Scott, we're preparing our arrest warrant. And arrest was coming and was coming soon. On the 18th of April, 2003, we finally received verification that the DNA on the two bodies

that were found confirmed it was Lacey Peterson and her onborn son Connor. And that's when he arrested Scott. And that's when we discovered all the things that he had in that car. When Scott was arrested, he had nearly $15,000 in cash with him. He had a backpack with knives and water purifier. He had an axe. Died his hair, come and orange, hish blonde. And he had a goatee.

He looked a lot different. Every place he went, people said, oh, it's got Peterson. So he was hoping to disguise himself. He was trying to get away from the media. He was being followed by private detectives. He had snorkeling equipment. He had backpacking equipment.

He had neckties, dress shoes. He had dress shirts. He had shorts. All packed into that car. Which suggested to me that he was planning on leaving. And he could have certainly gone across the border. Was Scott planning to escape across the border? Or was there a more innocent explanation

as to why he was headed south? There was never any indication he was going to Mexico. His life in Modesto had been destroyed. And so he went down, spend time with his parents in San Diego. His family had an explanation for everything that Scott was found with. But in totality, he's in San Diego near the Mexican border,

and he has all of this with him. It sure did make it look like he was ready to run. I had sources with the Modesto Police Department. I got word. He was going to be arrested. We had graphics with Scott's picture. Boom, with the word arrest on it. That's how prepared we were.

The Medesco Police whipped up a media frenzy through lies and leaks and it kept the reporters on their side. They created this atmosphere of hatred focused on Scott Peterson. Finally, that phone call comes. So I go in the air and I break the news. Scott Peterson's been arrested.

This is just the beginning. We haven't even got to the trial yet. Scott Peterson is charged with the murder of his wife and unborn son. In convinced that he's innocent? But will he get a fair trial? There was more media at this case than there was at O.J. Simpson. It was a mob. It was a lynching.

Amber Fry knows she's a reluctant celebrity. I'm a stupidity. That jury hated him. I'm just a bit better than you are. Scott, who is going down.