Scott Peterson Revisited: Part One - Separating Fact from Fiction

Twenty-three years after the murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, the case against Scott Peterson is once again under scrutiny.

In January 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced that it was representing Peterson and investigating his claims of actual innocence. Since then, his attorneys have filed new challenges to his conviction, arguing that previously overlooked evidence and new scientific analysis undermine the prosecution’s case.

In July 2026, A&E aired the two-part documentary Scott Peterson: The New Evidence, produced by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, bringing many of these claims back into the national conversation.

In Part One of this two-part series, we’ll revisit the case from the beginning and examine the evidence that originally led investigators to focus on Scott Peterson.

We review the timeline surrounding Laci’s disappearance on Christmas Eve 2002, Scott’s secret relationship with Amber Frey, the investigation that followed, and the discovery of Laci and Conner’s remains months later near the area where Scott said he had been fishing.

We’ll also look at the legal history of the case after Scott’s conviction, including the California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn his death sentence, his resentencing to life without parole, and the more recent efforts by the Los Angeles Innocence Project to reopen the case.

Content warning

This episode discusses the murder of a pregnant woman and the death of an unborn child.

Sources and further listening

This episode revisits research originally presented in Episodes 71 and 72 of Once Upon a Crime in 2017, along with subsequent court rulings and the claims presented by the Los Angeles Innocence Project in Scott Peterson: The New Evidence.

Links to our original episodes:

https://www.truecrimepodcast.com/s2-ep71-the-12-crimes-of-christmas-laci-peterson-part-1/

https://www.truecrimepodcast.com/s2-ep72-the-12-crimes-of-christmas-laci-peterson-part-2/

Coming next

In Part 2, Esther and her sister, Yolanda, evaluate the new innocence claims one by one and discuss whether any of them materially change the evidence against Scott Peterson.

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