What Happened To Laci Peterson? ‘American Murder’ Director Opens Up

Practically 20 years later, the case of Laci and Scott Peterson is again within the highlight due to a brand new Netflix docuseries, “American Homicide: Laci Peterson.”

Scott Peterson was convicted of the murders of his spouse and their unborn baby, whom they deliberate to call Conner, in 2004. He pleaded not responsible and has maintained his innocence since.

The case obtained widespread media consideration as authorities looked for Laci Peterson for months — and as particulars of Scott Peterson’s extramarital affair surfaced throughout the search.

Skye Borgman, the collection’ director, tells TODAY.com that from the second she began speaking about doing a documentary in regards to the case, she needed it to be targeted on Laci Peterson.

“It’s at all times actually necessary to me to place the sufferer ahead, and Laci Peterson, I believe, has been overshadowed many instances by Scott Peterson and what’s happening with him,” Borgman says. “And I simply actually needed to be sure that that we did our job and put Laci ahead, and put Conner ahead as effectively.”

The opportunity of the collection began to come back collectively as soon as her staff began revisiting the case, together with wanting into potential members and researching the story, Borgman says.

“It simply began changing into clearer and clearer that this was a extremely related story to inform, regardless that it occurred 20 years in the past,” she says.

Borgman, who has directed documentary phenomenons like “Kidnapped in Plain Sight” and “Woman within the Image,” mentioned one of many largest obstacles of tackling the Peterson case was determining what had grow to be city legend over the previous 20 years, and what had really occurred.

“The largest problem, actually, was simply difficult these reminiscences and people expectations and people concepts of what we assume we all know,” Borgman says. “Scott was convicted 20 years in the past. Laci disappeared 22 years in the past.”

“I believe it has gotten slightly bit like that phone sport, proper? Any individual says one thing, after which it grows, after which it grows, after which it grows, after which the information simply begin to get slightly bit muddied,” she provides. “So I needed to return and inform the story from a fact-based perspective.”

The three-episode collection options interviews with Laci Peterson’s family and friends, Scott Peterson’s household, plus investigators, attorneys and journalists who coated the case on the time.

One individual is lacking from the collection: Scott Peterson.

Borgman says her staff was in touch with him in jail, however he declined to take a seat for an interview.

“I don’t assume our collection is lacking something by not chatting with Scott,” she says. “I imply, our primary focus was Laci, and we needed to maintain it that method.”

A separate documentary about Scott Peterson, “Face to Face with Scott Peterson,” is ready to premiere on Aug. 20 on Peacock, which options his first interview in 20 years.

Borgman says she has solely seen the trailer for the Peacock collection, and says its focus seems to be extra about Scott Peterson’s potential innocence within the case.

“Plainly their perspective may be very completely different from our perspective, and that he’s claiming that he’s harmless and that’s the story that they’re telling,” she says. “Actually, our story actually is way more Laci-centric, and actually is in regards to the investigation on the time, what was occurring, and Scott’s habits on the time … we talked to individuals from most sides.”

Borgman says the case is a part of American historical past, and she or he thinks there’s worth in citing an older case when intimate companion violence nonetheless impacts a big proportion of girls. The Nationwide Institute of Well being estimates “as many as one in 4 girls and one in 9 males are victims of home violence.”

“It is a very American story. We’re speaking to audiences that won’t have heard about Laci Peterson earlier than and citing this situation, that’s clear in all three episodes, of intimate companion violence, and it’s an enormous, large situation for girls,” she says.

Borgman factors to a “stunning” statistic: Pregnant usually tend to be murdered than to die of obstetric causes.

“So I believe that’s worthwhile, to place these tales on the market in a method that youthful audiences are seeing them — individuals who perhaps have by no means heard of Laci Peterson earlier than, or who’ve forgotten about what precisely occurred with Laci.”

Borgman reiterates that the staff behind the doc labored to make sure that viewers would really feel like they knew Laci Peterson by the tip of the third episode.

“It was actually necessary to us, and it was actually necessary to her household, to have Laci be current, and to have Laci be the forefront of the story,” Borgman says.

This is what to know in regards to the true story of Laci Peterson’s demise, and Scott Peterson’s conviction.

What occurred to Laci Peterson?

Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when she was final seen in her dwelling in Modesto, California, on Christmas Eve in 2002. Scott Peterson instructed his spouse’s family and friends, and later investigators, that he had been out fishing within the Berkeley Marina that day, and returned dwelling to search out their canine on a leash of their yard, with no signal of his spouse inside their residence.

Legislation enforcement started trying to find Laci Peterson, and Scott Peterson cooperated with authorities as they started an investigation into her disappearance. He additionally spoke with a number of media retailers as weeks ticked by, with no signal of Laci Peterson.

The case shortly engulfed right into a media sensation in January 2003, as particulars of Scott Peterson’s affair turned public. Amber Frey, a therapeutic massage therapist from Fresno, California, instructed reporters she had been courting Scott Peterson, and had no concept he had a spouse or was anticipating a household, in accordance with NBC Bay Space.

In April 2003, the our bodies of Laci and Conner Peterson washed ashore within the San Francisco Bay, 4 months after she disappeared.

Scott Peterson was arrested in San Diego days after their our bodies have been found, and he was later charged with two counts of homicide. He pleaded not responsible to the costs.

Scott Peterson’s trial started in June 2004, and following the five-month trial, jurors convicted him of first-degree homicide within the demise of Laci Peterson, and second-degree homicide within the demise of his son.

The identical jury that convicted him beneficial he be sentenced to the demise penalty, and a decide sentenced him to demise in 2005.

The California Supreme Courtroom overturned his sentence in 2020, writing in a ruling {that a} “collection of clear and important errors in jury choice” undermined his proper to an neutral jury throughout his trial.

Scott Peterson was later resentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole in 2021 after Stanislaus County District Legal professional Birgit Fladager introduced she wouldn’t retry the penalty part of the trial, in accordance with NBC Information.

The California Supreme Courtroom didn’t overturn his conviction within the ruling, and he was later denied a request for a brand new trial in 2022.

Scott Peterson is at the moment serving his sentence at Mule Creek State Jail, in accordance with the California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and he nonetheless maintains he was harmless within the crime.

His case was taken up by the Los Angeles Innocence Venture earlier this 12 months, and his attorneys have argued in courtroom that a number of items of proof have been suppressed throughout his trial, and that new supplies ought to be offered in courtroom to show his case.

A decide dominated in Might that just one piece of proof — a chunk of duct tape discovered on Laci Peterson’s pants — ought to bear new DNA testing, in accordance with NBC Information.

“American Homicide: Laci Peterson” premieres on Netflix on Aug. 14, and “Face to Face with Scott Peterson” is ready to air on Peacock on Aug. 20. (Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, the father or mother firm of TODAY.)