The Murder of Laci Peterson

[GlitchStitch]

Has anybody watched this series on Prime? I vaguely remember the case and it being reported a complete certainty that Scott killed her. I even watched a couple of those cheesy TV movies about it, Dean Cain starred in one of them!

But watching this I'm shocked that there was literally no evidence at all that he did it, and quite a bit to suggest he didn't. It's clear he was convicted on the basis of being a bit of a shit, who cheated on his pregnant wife.

Curious to see what others think about this case.

*should say 'after Laci's disappearance he sold her car'. She was merely missing at that point, only he knew she wasn't coming home.

With a case like this one, it's a good idea to apply Ocram's Razor to the story. Scott was having an affair, telling his OW that "he'd lost his wife" etc. The wife in question was pregnant and she wasn't giving him any valid reason to leave her and start a new life. She then disappeared, and her body ( and her baby's body} floated to the surface of a lake90 miles from their home, a lake that he just happened to "go fishing on" the day she disappeared.

So, who did this crime ? Some random small-time thieves who were around the neighborhood and who had no reason to kill her, drive her 90 miles and then weight her down and throw her in the lake ? Or the husband who wanted out and had told his OW that he'd lost his wife already.

Ocram's Razor says it's usually the obvious answer, and that is surely that the husband did it. Scott was convicted on multiple pieces of evidence, not just on what you saw on a TV show.

I was living in the States at the time. He definitely did it.

He sold her car while she was still “missing“ and also looked into selling the house before her body was found. That is not the behaviour of an innocent man.

I've listened to loads of podcasts about this crime. I thought The Prosecutors podcast was particularly good if you're interested, op.

He absolutely did it. Without a shadow of a doubt.

He dumped her body in San Francisco Bay, not a lake. He had his brother's passport on him when he was arrested, along with a map to Amber Frey's house and a lot of cash. I have no doubt that he did it. The death sentence commutation is largely irrelevant--no one has been executed in California since 2006.

I also read that the video which showed you couldn’t dump a body from the small dingy without it capsizing has been widely disproved (ie you would be able to get a body over the back of the boat - not from the side as the video showed). The documentary was excellent for the first few episodes was brilliant I thought but the last two were SO heavily biased towards Scott’s innocence. The strange “fan club” almost of the collection of women (including his sister in law) desperately trying to prove he hadn’t done it. The ones who didn’t know him at all - I wonder how interested they’d have been in his innocence if he’d been some unattractive older guy other than the good looking charming (sociopath) he presented himself as??

Scott's family are a strange bunch though - they believed everything he told them and even blamed Laci for making him unhappy. His mother said the cash he had on him when he was caught trying to leave the country, was money that he owed her and he was just returning it, that's all.

I know there's no scientific evidence but he told Amber this would be his first Christmas without his wife and then she goes missing on Christmas Eve? What are the chances of that?

Reminds me a lot of the Chris Watts case although he wasn't clever enough to plan ahead.

There's also a 'Faking It' episode on him. I find the series fascinating. 3 experts in body language, speech & ugh can't remember the 3rd, watch & analyse the interviews of murderers. Definitely worth a watch. Its on Discovery

The Behaviour Panel on YouTube tore him apart as well, analysing his body language during the Diane Sawyer interview. Worth a watch.

Scott's parents created the monster he became. They spoiled him rotten apparently, especially his mother, never made him take responsibility for his actions, enabled the development of his sociopathic character, and then defended him 100%, his mother dragging an oxygen cylinder to court every day to support him. Some members of the family became convinced of his guilt though, because of his behaviour after Laci's disappearance.

One of his sisters (Anne Bird) even wrote a book on why Scott is guilty!