More than two decades after his arrest for the 2002 Christmas Eve murders of his wife and unborn son in a case that captivated the country, Scott Peterson is revealing how he thinks his family was killed in a bid to clear his name.
Peterson opens up about the case in a three-part docuseries on Peacock called "Face to Face with Scott Peterson," maintaining that he had nothing to do with the murders. In his first interview on camera in 21 years, he gives his theory on what happened.
"There was a burglary across the street from our home," he says in the series, per E! News . "And I believe that Laci went over there to see what was going on, and that's when she was taken."
The burglary, which was not brought up during Peterson's trial, has been a point of contention for years. His team claims the crime happened on Dec. 24, the day Laci vanished, while police say it happened on Dec. 26.
"There are so many instances where there was evidence that didn't fit the detectives' theory that they ignored," Peterson alleges in the docuseries, per E! News. "People want the answer they believed in to be the answer."
Laci, 27, went missing from her home in Modesto on Christmas Eve 2002 when she was eight months pregnant and while Peterson was in the midst of an extramarital affair. Her body and the baby's, his umbilical cord still attached, washed ashore months later in the San Francisco Bay near a location where Peterson had told investigators he was fishing the day they disappeared. Peterson bought a boat and researched ocean currents, prosecutors said.
During trial, prosecutors argued that Peterson killed his family so he could walk away from his marriage without paying spousal and child support. Peterson called the accusation "so offensive and so disgusting."
"It's horrible," he says in the series, according to People . "I was a total a-hole to be having sex outside our marriage."
"I certainly regret cheating on Laci, absolutely," he added. "It was about a childish lack of self-esteem, selfish me traveling somewhere, lonely that night because I wasn't at home. Someone makes you feel good because they want to have sex with you."
A jury found Peterson guilty in 2004 and sentenced him to death. California's highest court overturned the sentence in 2020 after it found that jurors had been improperly screened and dismissed because of their perceived biases against the death penalty. He was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Peterson sought a new trial, arguing that a biased juror may have tainted his original trial, but was denied in 2022.
Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Innocence Project took up the case and filed several motions in a push to get Peterson exonerated. They believe Laci was abducted while walking her dog.
In May, a California judge ruled that evidence in the case should undergo new DNA testing.
Attorneys wanted 14 pieces of evidence retested for DNA, most notably a mattress found in a burned-out van connected to a burglary near the Petersons' home, a hammer and a glove found near a neighbor's home. The judge ruled that testing methods had not advanced enough to reveal new evidence that would change the conviction on all but one item: a piece of duct tape found on Laci's pants.
Peterson's attorneys said previous testing on the tape revealed the presence of human DNA, but no DNA profile could be obtained. New testing could yield previously unobtainable results.
"I regret not testifying [at my trial], but if I have a chance to show people what the truth is, and if they are willing to accept it, it would be the biggest thing that I can accomplish right now -- because I didn't kill my family," Peterson says in the series.
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