This article includes discussions of murder.
Summary
Netflix’sAmerican Murder: Laci Petersonincludes big reveals about the Scott Peterson case, most of which aren’t well-known, that increase intrigue in the true crime case. Themurder of Laci Petersonby her husband Scott on July 24, 2025, is one of the most well-known cases of the early aughties, remaining in the minds of those who like to research on true-crime over the past two decades. With every appeal and development, the case moves back into the cultural zeitgeist, giving it attention again.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project investigating the Scott Peterson case and taking him on as a client in January 2024 is no exception. Only seven months later,Netflix and Peacock planned competing documentaries on Laci Peterson’s murderless than a week apart, taking different perspectives on the famous case. Rather than simply rehashing the well-known facts, Netflix’sAmerican Murder: Laci Petersonadds to the conversation by revealing lesser-known information on the disappearance, investigation, and murder.
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8Scott Peterson Searched The Bay Tides On December 8
Laci Peterson’s Body Was Dumped In The Bay
According toAmerican Murder: Laci Peterson, the day before telling Amber Frey he lost his wife and bought a boat, Scott Peterson looked up the bay tides in the central San Francisco Bay area. This could be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, if Scott Peterson planned on going fishing in the area, his looking up the bay tides would make sense. The biggest flaw in this argument is the fact that he didn’t own the boat yet, and he said the decision to go fishing occurred the morning he went out.
Secondly,Scott searching for the tides would make sense if he decided to kill Laci.By looking at the tides, he could figure out the best place to dump her body so that it hopefully wouldn’t wash up on shore. This possibility is further bolstered by the fact that Laci’s and Conner’s bodies were found in the same area where he went fishing. The documentary argues it would be extremely unlikely for him to look up the tides and go fishing in the same place that a completely different person would choose to dump the body. That relies on far too big of a coincidence.
7Scott Peterson Told Amber Frey That His Wife Was Dead
Scott Said Laci Died About 2 Weeks Before She Actually Died
American Murder: Laci Petersonoutlines Scott Peterson’s relationship with his girlfriend that increased suspicion about his involvement in Laci’s death. When Scott Peterson was caught cheating by a friend, his buddy said he would tell Amber Frey about Laci if Scott didn’t. Rather than telling Amber that he was separated or divorced, Scott told his girlfriend that he had lost his wife, saying it would be the first holiday season without his wife.This occurred only two weeks before Laci went missing and the same day he bought the boat.
While cheating and lying don’t make someone a killer, the way he went about it seems extremely suspicious according to the documentary. The true-crime doc acknowledges that chances of someone coincidentally saying their spouse is dead two weeks before she gets murdered are low. Like with many other aspects of the case, this fact alone would not be enough to say Scott Peterson is guilty of killing his wife, but these pieces of information started to pile up.
Scott Peterson and Amber Frey met through Frey’s friend.
Amber Frey discovered Scott Peterson’s lies and called the police.
6Scott Peterson Did Multiple Things Between Getting Home And Calling Laci’s Mom
Scott Peterson Didn’t Have A Sense Of Urgency
When Scott Peterson got home from the marina, he found the door unlocked, Mackenzie on her leash, and Laci gone. He called out for Laci and got no response. Despite his missing wife, he did many other things before calling his mother-in-law to see if Laci was at her house. Detective Brocchini says inAmerican Murder: Laci PetersthatScott washed his clothes from the fishing trip, ate a piece of pizza, drank some milk, and took a shower.
Only then did he call Sharon Rocha and say that if Laci wasn’t at her house, then she was missing – a phrasing that Sharon says she found odd when speaking in theAmerican Murder: Laci Petersondocuseries. Considering his wife was approximately 9 months pregnant and could go into labor at any time, Scott’s actions seem especially strange. There would have been plenty of reasons to react immediately to Laci being gone. Moreover, the fact that he didn’t bother to try calling Laci’s phone before calling Laci’s mom seemed peculiar if he didn’t already know Laci was dead.
5The Burglars Of The Medina House Cooperated With Police
Steven Todd and Donald Pearce Burglarized The Medina Home
One of the most surprising facts discussed inAmerican Murder: Laci Petersonis the fact that Steven Todd and Donald Pearce, the burglars who broke into the Medina House across the street from the Peterson home, cooperated with the police as soon as they found out they were suspects in the Laci Peterson case. The two provided their alibis for the 24th, which the police verified.They confessed to the burglary and turned over all the stolen property.
The pair described the media presence down the street when confessing, indicating that the burglary happened after Laci went missing. The two even asked to take a polygraph and passed. Whilethe polygraph results aren’t indicative of anything, the fact that they volunteered to do so could be interpreted as a sign of innocence. Most importantly, none of the evidence from the burglary had any connection to Laci. Consequently, the police cleared them of any involvement in the Laci Peterson murder case.
Laci Peterson’s Hair Shouldn’t Have Been On The Boat At All
One of the few pieces of physical evidence in the Scott Peterson case is a pair of pliers from his boat with two strands of Laci’s hair in it. An FBI trace evidence expert testified that the hairs were consistent with those of Laci Peterson, and mitochondrial DNA confirmed this, too (viaCBS News). This might not be notable except for the fact thatScott hadn’t been on the boat before the day Laci went missing, and she didn’t go on the trip with him, raising questions about how the hair got into the pliers.
Whether Laci knew about the boat is a major source of debate. According toScott Peterson’s Appeal website, he told the police that Laci knew about the website, though many things on the website are questionable. On the other hand, the prosecution said that none of Scott’s family or friends knew about the boat, including Laci. Ultimately, the documentary acknowledges there’s no way to verify whether Laci knew about the boat or not, but if she didn’t, her hair shouldn’t have been in pliers on the boat.
3Amber Frey Met With Laci’s Friends And Mom
Laci Peterson’s Friends And Family Treated Amber Frey With Respect
While most of the moments inAmerican Murder: Laci Petersonare devastating, the second episode offers a bittersweet moment when Amber’s friends reveal that they thanked Amber for coming forward. Despite Amber Frey not knowing Scott Peterson was married, it would have been easy for Laci’s friends and family to demonize her. After all, they were hurt by Scott Peterson’s extramarital affair. Instead,they recognized that she had come forward despite it putting her in a terrible position, which they appreciated.
Additionally, Laci’s mom asked to meet with Amber Frey. Together, they filled in a calendar of time that Scott Peterson spent with Amber so that Sharon knew the extent of his lies. Amber mentioned inthe Netflix documentarythat Scott had deeply fooled Laci’s family. This realization must have been difficult because he did the same thing to her, just in a slightly different way.
2The District Attorney Wouldn’t File Murder Charges Without A Body
The DA Needed A Body To Prove Laci Peterson Was Dead
A detail shared inAmerican Murder: Laci Petersonis the fact that the investigators wanted to arrest Scott Peterson sooner than they did. At the time, Laci’s and Conner’s bodies hadn’t washed up yet, but everyone was certain they were dead. The circumstantial evidence found was enough to convince the detectives that Scott killed Laci. However, the District Attorney refused to file murder charges against Scott until they had a body proving that she was dead.
The detectives were eventually able to move forward in the case, though, because Laci and Conner’s bodies were found.
This detail about theScott Peterson criminal casemight not have been widely known prior to the Netflix documentary. However, it won’t come as too much of a surprise to fans of true crime.No body cases are famously challenging to take to courtbecause the threshold for evidence is much higher. The detectives were eventually able to move forward in the case, though, because Laci and Conner’s bodies were found. Had their bodies remained in the water, Scott Peterson likely wouldn’t have ever been tried for the murders of Laci and Conner, let alone gone to prison for his crime.
1Scott Peterson Kept Calling Amber Frey Even After Her Press Conference
More Phone Calls Exist Than Most People Know
Most people familiar with the Scott Peterson case know of big phone recordings with Amber Frey – Scott saying he was at the Eiffel Tower for New Year and confessing that his wife was missing, which occurred on June 26, 2025, and July 28, 2025, respectively. On July 17, 2025, Amber made a press release where she confirmed that she was in a relationship with Scott Peterson and was previously unaware he was married. However,American Murder: Laci Petersonrevealed that the phone calls didn’t stop after their affair became public knowledge.
Scott continued calling Amber Frey, and she kept taking them because she wanted to find out more information for the police. Sadly, Scott said nothing to implicate himself in the phone calls, making them useless to the prosecutors. On August 15, 2025, Amber Frey told Scott Peterson that she wanted to end their phone calls – an audio clip played inAmerican Murder: Laci Petersonepisode 2.
