Body of Crime | Murder in Modesto: The People v. Scott Peterson

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📚 Books 📚
📖 A Deadly Game By: Catherin Crier
📖 For Laci By: Sharon Rocha
📖 Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson By: Keith Ablow
📖 Blood Brother By: Anne Bird
📖 Witness By: Amber Frey
📖 Presumed Guilty By: Matt Dalton (though we did read this book, it was biased)

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Creators & Guests

Host

Crystal Garcia

Host

Jose Medina

What is Body of Crime?

Body of Crime is a true crime podcast for crime lovers. Join hosts, Crystal, Joe, and Alicia as they present cases and dissect each body of crime. Rather your love is to hear true crime stories, research, debate, and / or even attempt to solve some of the world’s most intriguing cases, we have you covered. Get ready to put your detective hats on and take some notes – you never know which mysteries will get messier with each case!

Welcome fellow true crime enthusiasts to today's case file murder in Modesto the state versus Scott Peterson Episode 2 in this second episode of part 5 of the six part series We will dive headfirst into the trial culminating this deep dive into the legal proceedings that found Scott Peterson guilty And eventually sentenced to death.

Welcome to body of crime, your go to true crime podcast, where we plunge head first into the gripping world of criminal mysteries. Join your hosts, Jose Medina, Crystal Garcia, and Alicia Anaya, as we deliver the full stories, immersing you in the heart of each case. With spine chilling cases, in depth analysis, captivating interviews, and a comprehensive examination of the evidence.

Embark on a thrilling journey with us as we explore bone chilling cases. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or a fresh face in the genre, we guarantee to keep you on the edge of your seat. So put on your detective hat, grab your notepad, and get ready to dive into the thrilling world of Body of Crime.

Outside court, Sharon Mocha was composed and greeted by some applause from court watchers. But in the courtroom, she unleashed a skit. gathing attack on the man she used to consider a son. She called Scott Peterson a selfish, heartless, spoiled, self centered coward. And it was when she became the voices of Lacey and Connor that many people in the courtroom began to cry.

Quote, I hope this echoes through your head for all eternity. Lacey was thinking, Scott, why are you killing me? What are you doing? I loved you. I thought you loved me too. Scott, I want to live. I don't want to die. Scott's parents never heard Sharon speak. They left after shouting at the first speaker, Lacey's brother Brent Rocha, who told Scott that he was an arrogant, spoiled rich kid and a loser.

Brent continued, quote, You are evil and still have the readiness to commit evil. I went to buy a gun from the beginning. I knew you were guilty. I didn't kill you myself for one reason. So you'd have to sweat it out as six members of Lacey's family took turns yelling at Scott. He showed no emotion aside from once shaking his head.

No of the original 18 jurors and alternates. 13 of them returned to court today as Judge Alfred DeLucchi followed their verdict and sentenced Peterson to death. On June 1st, 2003, Scott Peterson's trial began in Redwood City in San Mateo County, nestled between San Jose and San Francisco, a short distance from where Lacey and Connor had been found.

Because of the distance, most parties participating in the trial relocated to Redwood City with an expectation that they would be there for the next six months. The trial ran Monday through Thursday, with Fridays off so that families could travel back to their homes for the weekend. The Petersons not only supported Scott, but they blamed the Rochas for Scott being on trial.

The relationship would dissolve and go from cordial. To being distant, and then to being outright conflict with Lee and Jackie Peterson acting out passive aggressively. Muttering insults under their breasts whenever out of earshot of reporters, accusing witnesses directly of lying when loitering around the courthouse.

The judge began to lose patience with both families and at one point removed them from their assigned seats in the front of the court when Lee Peterson threatened Brent Rocha, Lacey's brother, with his wife's oxygen tank. Jackie had been suffering lifelong. Breathing difficulties. And she had to use an oxygen tank to breathe everywhere.

She went, the prosecution began the trial with opening statements from Rick disaster, who intended to paint a picture of Scott as a deliberate and calculated liar who meticulously plotted the murder of his wife for months before murdering her. He boldly told the jury that Scott's alibi had changed from golfing to fishing.

He hadn't known what kind of fish he was fishing for. But later recalled Sturgeon. He recalled finding the unopened fishing tackle in the front seat of the truck. He would lie about having a girlfriend, but the biggest lie yet was that he had not murdered his wife. He had coldly pretended to search for her, knowing where she was the entire time, and she would eventually be found in the same Bay where he had said he had gone fishing on the day that she disappeared.

Disasto would make a mistake. He would claim that Scott was wrong about the Martha Stewart episode that he claimed to have watched with Lacey the morning that she disappeared. It had turned out that the detectives had not watched the entire episode and had missed the part of the show where she did speak about making meringue cookies.

The defense would eat this up with Gregos. In showman's fashion, playing the episode on a television screen for the jury. Not once, but twice. He would also play it during break, watching it three times. Unfortunately for the defense, this would prove disastrous when it is determined that the meringue cookies are mentioned at 9.

48am. This proves that Scott had not left the house at 9. 30am like he had claimed. And that the window of opportunity for something to happen to Lacey had been severely shortened. When the cell phone tower data for Scott's cell phone news showed that Scott had made a call at 10. 08 AM as he left the neighborhood, that time would be further reduced to only 10 minutes, giving Lacey only 10 minutes to make the bed.

Mom, the floor, curl her hair, change her clothes all before leaving the house to walk the dog before Karen service returned McKenzie to the backyard at 10, 18 a. m. Grego's opening statements were extravagant. He agreed that Scott was not a good husband, but that didn't make him a murderer. He told the jury that by the end of the trial.

He would prove that Scott was stone cold innocent. He aimed to prove that Scott was very excited about being a father by the fact that he had helped build the baby's room and that Scott's fishing story was plausible since he had decorated the baby's room in a fishing theme. Sharon would later correct him.

And tell the jury that the room was a nautical theme, not a fishing theme. The trial began with the same series of witnesses being presented by the prosecution. There was Margarita Nava, the housekeeper. Fred Ucas from Trader Joe's who explained how he had helped Lacey with her shopping on December 23rd.

There were two women from the Serenity Spa where Lacey had gone to get a facial on December 23rd. Then the owner and manager of Salon Salon where Amy Rocha Lacy's sister worked at where Lacy and Scott had gone on the 23rd to get Scott's haircut. The energy from the prosecution was slow and the jury appeared bored.

Amy, Lacy's sister testified as she was the last person to see Lacy and gave a description of what Lacy was wearing the last time that she saw her sister. She also told the jury about assisting the police on February 18, 2003 during the second search warrant of Scott's home where she found the blouse that Lacy had been wearing.

dirty, scrunched up and placed in one of Lacey's drawers mixed with clean clothes. Something Lacey would have never done. On June 7th, six days into the trial, Sharon took the stand. She spoke about Scott's disconnected attitude and lack of any emotion from day one. They also played a recorded tape of conversations that she had recorded between her and Scott after she had learned about Scott's mistress, Amber Frye.

In the recording, she was yelling and telling Scott to tell her where Lacey was. Scott? Yeah, where are you? Am I just loaded up all the stuff for the LA command center? Oh, just left the volunteer center. I gave a couple interviews to the press and then, well, since you've managed to lose all of my confidence in you, what I wanna know is, where's my daughter?

I wish I knew mom. I wish I knew where she is. Yeah, you do know. You do know where she is and I want you to tell me, where is Lacey and her baby, where did you put them? Where is my wife and our child? I don't know. You killed my daughter, didn't you? No, I didn't, mom. Yes, you did, Scott. And I want to know, just let me bring my daughter home, okay?

That's all I want. I don't want anything else from you. I want you to tell me where my daughter is. I want to be able to bury my daughter. Now would you tell me where she is? Don't know where she is. I want my wife Stop lying, I'm tired of your lies. You have looked me in the eye for weeks and been mine to me.

You've looked me in the eye for years and been lying to me and to Lacey, now where is she? If I wish I knew. You don't know. Stop lying. For once in your life take some responsibility and tell the goddamn truth. Where is my daughter? I want her home mom. Shut up. Don't tell me such stupid things. You tell me where she is.

Where'd you put her? Scott, tell me where she is. I'm sorry. And you can run away. You can go do whatever the fuck you want. But you tell me where my daughter is. I'm sorry. I have every right to know where you put Lacey. We all have a right to know where Lacey Quit lying to me. Don't bullshit me. You tell me where she is.

We all want her home. Shut up. You are such a fucking liar. You make me sick Scott. Where is Lacey? Tell me where Lacey is. I want to be able to bury my daughter. Now tell me what you did with her. I want her in our childho Oh shut up. You're disgusting. Do you know there's not a person in this town who wants to see your face?

Now you tell me where she is and then you can get the hell out of here. Tell me where she is. I want my daughter, Scott. That's all I want from you. I don't care what happens to you. Mom, we all want her back. Oh god, you're disgusting. Do you have anything to say to him? If you've got anything left in you, Scott, you better tell us where she is.

I wish I knew, Ron. We all want her back. No, the police are gonna be seeing you before long, Scott, and your world is crumbling. My world is done without Lacey and my child. We all want her back and I'm sorry that you guys feel I had something to do with it. But the only important thing is getting her back.

Scott, I don't know how you can just, I don't know how you can just keep saying, we've seen pictures, we've seen other things so, you're in trouble. We want her back. We all want her back. There's no question to that. We need to find her and Connor. I've had enough of this. I don't want to talk to you anymore.

You tell us where Lacey is. Scott denied knowing, but was unemotional in his responses. Brent Rocha, Lacey's brother, testified that Scott was having trouble at work. Rose, Brent's wife, would testify to hearing Scott make a statement in December of 2001 at a time when he and Lacey were trying for a baby that he had been hoping for in fertility.

Sandy Reichard spoke about how Scott had shown her his hands on the day of Lacey's disappearance stating that he would not be surprised if investigators found blood in his truck because he'd cut his hands as he usually does. He showed her the cuts on the back of his hands. Disastos would later claim that those cuts were scratches from Lacey fighting her attacker off who may have attempted to strangle her.

Ron Gransky, Lacey's stepdad, recalled how he had been surprised to hear that Scott had gone fishing at almost 1 o'clock p. m. when most fishermen are done fishing in the early morning. When Ron had made the comment in front of the police, Scott had walked away, and they had never spoke again. Gragos would call out Ron for going fishing on the same day as Scott, insinuating that it was normal behavior.

Ron was an avid fisherman, and fished multiple times a week. Scott had been fishing once with Ron, since they had lived in Modesto. Gwen Kempel, Sharon's cousin, shared much of the same, and then her husband. Harvey Kempel brought a chuckle out of the jury when he said that he had seen Scott get madder for burning chicken during a barbecue than he had seen during Lacey's disappearance.

He also talked about following Scott twice early in the search for Lacey, when he had seen Scott drive off in a direction opposite of where he was actually going. Both times, Scott had claimed to be handing out flyers, but instead, he had followed Scott to the mall, where he had parked, set for an hour, never handing out any flyers.

The second time he had followed him to the country club where Scott's parents had purchased him a 20, 000 membership instead of searching for Lacey. He had gone golfing. Karen Servis, the neighbor that had returned McKenzie, Scott's dog, back to the backyard with his leash on, recalled that it was about 10, 18 a.

m. when she had brought the dog back into the yard and had not seen anything that looked out of place. Amy Krigbaum repeated her testimony from the preliminary hearing that Scott's story had been that he had gone golfing that morning and now couldn't find his wife. Suzy Aquino, Sharon's sister, recalled being at Scott's house when the two police officers told Scott That a witness had seen Lacey crossing a footbridge.

Scott told them that Lacey would never have walked in that direction, and it was not worth checking out. Susie thought it was odd that he wouldn't want to pursue every potential tip. Matt Spurlock, a Modesto police officer, testified that he saw Scott walk outside and, in frustration, threw a flashlight onto the ground and yelled, FUDGE!

Accept the other word, obviously overwhelmed at the number of questions that were being asked of him. Regos moved to strike it from the testimony since they had not been given advanced notice of the testimony. The judge refused and regos asked for another mistrial. Philip Williams from Motherhood Maternity testified to the pants that Lacey was wearing when her torso was found.

On June 17th, Juror No. 5 had an exchange with Brent Rocha, Lacey's brother, as they came through the metal detectors. A news camera captured the video, but no audio of the exchange, and the media attempted to read their lips to determine what was said. The media thought Juror No. 5 had said, You're going to lose today.

What was actually said was, I'm getting in the way of you being in the news tonight. Two days later, Juror No. 5 was removed from the jury. Juror number five would be identified as Justin Falconer, who would engage with the media and state that the case against Scott was weak, that pregnant women are crazy, and that the prosecution's case didn't stand a chance.

There had only been three weeks of testimony, and he hadn't heard the most damning parts of the trial yet. Between June 22nd and June 29th, Detective Brocchini took the stand. Gragos tore into his investigation during cross examination. Brocchini took responsibility for not watching the entire Martha Stewart show, which Gragos was using to say that his entire investigation had been just as sloppy and unprofessional.

He was accused of leaving out a statement from one of Scott's work neighbors who owned some warehouse space next to Scott's. Apparently, Lacey had gone to the warehouse several days before she disappeared, and the woman had let Lacey use her bathroom. They were using this visit as an explanation for how Lacey's hair may have ended up on the bottom of the boat.

Brocchini was also accused of not following up on important tips, but he explained that there had been thousands of tips, and that it would have been impossible, due to the manpower constraints, to follow up on every single one, and that all credible tips had been pursued. Another mark on Detective Brocchini's testimony was an interview with one of Scott's college buddies who said Scott had once explained how he would get rid of a dead body by taping plastic bags around the head and weighing the head down with an anchor so that the body floats vertically.

The fish would eat away at the exposed neck and fingertips. And when the head is finally removed from the body, And it floats to the surface, the fish would have removed all fingerprints and the head would remain weighted down in the bottom. Brocchini replaced the plastic bag with duct tape. Which was found on Lacey's clothing and around Connor's neck.

During cross examination, he would claim to have gotten confused and had not refreshed his memory of the statement prior to repeating it for the jury. A damning piece of evidence that Detective Brochini presented was the videotape of Scott's first interview, which we've played on multiple episodes. It showed Scott's lack of concern and lack of emotion for the jury to see with their own eyes.

Brocchini left the stand beat down and feeling like he had let the Rocha family down. The media tore him apart. I'm Claudia Cowan, Fox News Channel. Um, Mark Garagos, his defense seemed to be kind of going on the offense, going after the Modesto Police Department and... I'm trying to paint the detectives and investigators as having done some sort of a sloppy police investigation and ignoring leads in what he called a rush to judgment.

And Detective Bocchini, I mean, you became a very controversial witness, and I'm wondering, you know, what, now you can speak, what is your reaction to his tactic? And perhaps, what would you say to him now? Well, I don't know what I'd say to him, but his, his tactic was effective. But, what, what I didn't like about it was what was happening in court wasn't being what was reported on TV.

And, uh, it's devastating to come home or have, you know, one of your, Family members call you from out of state and think that you're going to get fired or you're going to get arrested or you're going to, you're a terrible detective when I knew I really didn't do anything wrong. I mean, it was all being spun wrong.

I never got called a liar in court. I never was accused of being a perjurer in court. But I'd come out home, they'll turn the TV on and I'd be, some guy would be saying I'm a vile little man and committed perjury over and over and over again. And so that's devastating. But as for defense, I mean, I've been doing this for 20 years almost now, and that's their job, and he did his job.

I think I'd like to add to that that at no time did I, as the chief, have any qualms about Detective Brocchini, about his, uh, standards of conduct, about the way he believes. in doing what's right. I have total confidence in him. I did throughout this trial. I did throughout the investigation. He's a man that, uh, were my family in need of a competent investigation.

I would want Al Brocchini on the case and, uh, that's never changed or wavered. He, he came out on Christmas Eve. He left his family. He went to work. He did his job and he did it in outstanding fashion. Sean Sibley, Amber Frye's friend who introduced Scott to Amber, testified to Scott's thirsty behavior. In Anaheim on October 23rd, 2002 on the day that she met him at a work conference.

She recalled how he had asked her if he should write horny bastard on the back of his name tag to help get women and she had written I'm rich instead. They had drank all night into the morning with Scott never returning to his room. His luggage would have to be mailed to his home in Modesto. Sean also recalled how she had learned about Scott being married and had confronted him on December 6th, 2002.

It was immediately before he began searching for a boat. One day before he purchased a boat for 1, 400 and two days before he confessed to Amber that he had lied about being married, but that. He had lost his wife and would be spending the holidays alone for the very first time. Amber would later testify that he had sobbed and cried and was an emotional wreck.

She had confronted him and held him while he cried. Where was this emotion for his wife? On July 9th, Lee and Jackie Peterson went on a smear campaign, talking to Barbara Walters and several other news outlets in violation of the gag order. The judge, DeLucci, would remind everyone of the gag order, but they didn't get in any trouble.

During testimony from the forensics team, we would learn that Scott's search history included maps of the Berkeley marina. And current patterns and depth charts. He had also searched information on how to beat a lie detector test. The judge played the multiple interviews that Scott had given after Amber Fry came out to include the one with Diane Sawyer, where he lies about having told the detectives of his affair with Amber Fry on day one of the investigation.

Why were you doing it? I, I can't answer. I don't know. Were you in love with her? No. I'd have to say that I respect her. And as I imagine everyone does after seeing her come out and do the press conference. An amazing character she has. Was this the first time? Are there others out there? No. There's no one else who can come forward?

No. You know, our romantic relationship. And that is a, it's inappropriate. It was inappropriate. And I owe a tremendous apology to To everyone, obviously, including Amber and her family and her friends and, and our families. Um, it should have been, it should have been brought forth by me immediately, the, the romantic relationship.

Had you told anyone? Did you tell police? Told the police immediately. When? That was, uh, the first night we were together. The police, I spent, um, with the police. You told them about 24th on.

Did your wife find out about it? I told my wife. When? Um, early December. Did it cause a rupture in the marriage? It was not, um, a positive, obviously. It's, uh, you know, inappropriate. Um, but it was not something that we weren't, um, dealing with. A lot of arguing? No. No, um, I, you know, I can't say that, That even, you know, she was okay with the idea.

But, uh, it wasn't anything that would break us apart. There wasn't a lot of anger? No. Do you really expect people to believe that an eight and a half month pregnant woman learns her husband has had an affair and is saintly and casual about it? Accommodating? Makes a peace with it? Well, I'm, yeah, I mean, you don't know.

No one knows our relationship, but us at peace with it not happy about it. Why did you tell her it was the right thing? There's no other reason than that on August 9th 2004 Amber Frye Scott's girlfriend took the stand She would testify that through August 24th 2003 she had stopped talking to Scott in mid february Amber showed up with her own high profile lawyer Celebrity attorney, Gloria Allred.

Amber's testimony was impactful to the jury, but not as impactful as the recorded conversations that she had had with Scott. The jury was able to hear the emotions that Scott and Amber shared. They were able to hear the ease with which Scott was able to conjure lies on the fly. When Lacey disappeared, he had told her that he was duck hunting with his brothers.

When he was searching for Lacey, he told her that he was in Spain and later Brussels. On New Year's Eve, he told her that he was in Paris, France, at the Eiffel Tower, enjoying a beautiful fireworks display. How was your New Year? It's good, I'm just, uh, I went to the bar now, so I came out of the alley, quiet alley, isn't that nice?

Very good. Pretty awesome fireworks there, at the Eiffel Tower. There's a mess of people all playing American pop songs, it's pretty funny.

Good. I'm glad you got

to The truth was, he was at his missing wife's vigil. And he was refusing to join the family on stage and speak for his wife and his missing son. As a matter of fact, Scott had never left Modesto during this time period at all. Sharon listened to the recorded conversations between Scott and Amber and took copious notes.

She later aligned the conversations with Scott and Lacey's reality. In her book for Lacey, she calls out some very ironic coincidences with psychological nuances that appear that Scott could be weaving truths Into his lies. For example, on June 9th, 2002, the day that Lacey finds out and announces that she is pregnant, Scott's demeanor is melancholy and down.

Lacey tells Sharon that his attitude is due to him having a midlife crisis because he is turning 30 and he is also having a child in the same year. Scott is feeling weighed down with responsibility and he is not living his best life. Scott tells Amber on one of his recorded calls that he is reading a book about a hitchhiker that goes across country.

On the call, he tells her that he has always been weighed down with responsibility and has never experienced that kind of freedom. Scott is burdened with responsibility and wants to be free. On one of the calls where he supposedly is in Brussels, Mackenzie can be heard barking in the background. He tells Amber, The effing dog keeps barking.

I want to kill it. Lacey gave the dog to Scott during their first Christmas together. He now wants to distance himself from everything about Lacey. On January 4th, 2003, Scott says that he doesn't have the vocabulary to express his feelings for her and likens that to a painter who can paint a picture of a person and truly express that person in the painting.

Because he lacks the words, he cannot tell Amber who he really is. He wants to tell Amber who he is truly and what he has done, but he can't. On another call, Scott tells Amber his favorite movie is The Shining. It's a movie of a man who goes mad and tries to kill his wife and his son. In another recorded conversation, Scott tells Amber love doesn't mean that people can be together forever.

Scott doesn't believe love is enough. Amber asks Scott how he is doing this New Year's, since it would be the first time without his wife. Scott responds, happy at times, sad at others. Scott isn't grieving the loss of his wife and son. He is coping. When Amber says, I knew that this holiday was going to be a tough one, Scott responds with, well, I don't think about it.

Scott is blocking Lacey and Connor's existence from his reality. The only thing keeping him tied to Lacey now is the investigation. On January 6, 2003, Scott interprets a poem from Amber reading, my hands around your waist, you know, like the anchors for people. Is Scott subliminally thinking about what he's done to Lacey and feeling unconscious guilt?

When talking to Amber about the burglary at the Medina's and stating that it may be a possible lead in the case, he says, Across from the house where she disappeared, there was a robbery. Scott doesn't say our house. He also implies that she disappeared from the house and not the park. Another subliminal slip up.

On January 7th, 2003, after searching the house and warehouse, Amber asked if the detectives had found anything, and his response is no. Otherwise, I wouldn't be, you know, free. Why does Scott think that finding something would implicate him and not some other bad actor? Does he know that anything found will point directly to him?

On February 8th, 2003, Scott tells Amber, You know all the answers to all the things you want to know. In response to her constant questioning and quizzing him for facts. Is this a soft confession? When Detective Craig Grogan took the stand, rumors started circulating that the prosecution might be in trouble since Dave Harris, who had been doing all of the questioning, was replaced by Birgit Flattiger.

Truth was, Harris had gotten sick and since Birgit had been prepping the witnesses, she was the best person to fill in. He was on the stand for eight days. Craig shared how big the case had gotten. There were 42, 000 pages of discovery, 10, 000 tips, 115 audiotapes, 193 sightings of Lacey in 26 states, Canada, France, Italy, and even the Virgin Islands.

300 officers had been involved in the case. 90 separate agencies had participated. Craig himself had interviewed more than 300 witnesses. When asked why he had made Scott the prime suspect, Grogan stated that, 1. He had not been the one to report Lacey missing to the police. Two, he was the last person to see her alive.

Three, his alibi changed multiple times and didn't make any sense. Four, he went fishing in the bay, but left his fishing tackle in the truck unopened. Five, the bodies turned up in the bay where he said he had been. One of Grogan's call outs was that Scott had never inquired about any of their searches.

After Lacey and Connor were found, before they had been identified, Scott never called to see if it was Lacey and Connor. When asked why the search had turned to the Berkeley Marina, Grogan had a list of 41 reasons, and this is what they included. The ticket Scott handed over the day that he had gone to the Berkley Marina, putting him on the scene.

The gas receipt for 12 of gas that Scott stopped to get on the way home from the Berkley Marina. A small amount of gas considering he was running late for dinner. The cell phone towers pinged him at the marina. The dogs tracked in the direction of the marina and on site at the marina had indicated a presence of Lacey around the launch site where Scott had launched his boat.

Scott had taken the tarp to the marina, wrapping the pool umbrellas. It was later found covered in fertilizer. Scott had stated and claimed to be at the marina. Scott had purchased a freshwater boat and placed it in... Saltwater. There was no saltwater found on his fishing line. His fishing tackle mostly remain unopened and in the front seat of his truck.

He went through the trouble of making a makeshift anchor instead of spending 30 to purchase one after buying an expensive boat. During a wiretap call, he had let out a whistle of relief when the divers in the marina had found a large anchor and it had not been Lacey's body. You have one unheard message.

First message. Hi Scott, this is mom. It's about quarter to one. Just wanted to know, I just got a... Call from Ron, Ron Cloward. He's at the marina and it was a boat anchor. Of course, we knew it wasn't Lacey, but I just wanted you to know, um, I'm going to call your house in case you don't get this message first.

Bye. Message erased. Scott had rented multiple rental cars and drove to the marina on several occasions without engaging the divers or the investigators. He would remain on site to see where they were searching and then leave. Scott's alibi switched between golfing and the marina. Scott told Amy that he would be golfing the next day and changed plans unexpectedly.

The boat was a secret that no one in the Rocha or Peterson family knew about. Scott loaded the pool umbrellas in the morning to take to the warehouse, took them all the way to the marina, and then returned them to his house and placed them back in the backyard. They had searched surrounding lakes and had not found any evidence of Lacey or Connor.

The marina had deep water currents that could potentially wash the remains of Lacey and Connor out into the ocean to be lost forever. Scott had searched for current charts of the bay prior to getting the boat. Scott didn't clean up the warehouse where he had made the anchors, leaving evidence of potentially four additional anchors that were made there.

He asked detectives not to share info about the boat, particularly with his employer. He paid cash for the boat. Scott had not registered the boat. Scott purchased a boat cover, but the boat was stored inside of the warehouse. It was also left in the shed with a leaky blower. Scott drove erratically and evasively to and from the marina to avoid being followed.

Christmas Eve was a particularly good day to dump a body, with low attendance at the marina due to the holidays. Scott had researched other areas and boat launches. Scott was having financial problems, but purchased an expensive boat. Scott had heard about some missing Russian bodies that had been lost in the bay for years before being recovered.

Scott has a gun in the glove box, which is a crime in California, without proper permitting, which he didn't have. Scott had said that he had washed his clothes immediately upon returning home because they were wet, but the jacket he said that he wore while fishing was in the truck and it was dry to the touch.

Scott had cuts on his knuckles with evidence of blood in his truck. Scott didn't have a good reason for changing his plans from golfing and fishing, but was seen at the marina by witnesses and may have been forced to change his alibi. He stated that he just wanted to get the boat in the water. His fishing tackle was not for saltwater.

Scott didn't know what he was fishing for. Scott had described the island where he fished next to. Scott said he wanted to test the boat as it had never been used in the ocean. Scott said it rained in the bay, which made him wet, but the harbormaster said it had not rained at all. Craig also shared with the jury that Scott had denied having an affair with Amber, even after being shown the photos of the two of them together.

On September 16th, 2004, Dr. Brian Peterson, no relation, forensic pathologist, testified that Conor Peterson was not birthed before Lacey's death, but expelled from her decaying body, representative of the preserved condition of the body. Lacey's uterus had not returned to normal size. Indicative of birthing on October 5th after detective John Buehler's testimony.

The prosecution was finally ready to rest. They had presented 174 witnesses.

So let's start off first with the relationship of the Petersons and the Rochas, because right off the back, you start to see the animosity building in the Petersons. I think initially they thought that Scott was going to be. Exonerated and as the trial started going on and and then the witnesses started coming forth and they start to speak their piece The Petersons are taking it personally.

I've kind of asked myself a question a few times and that is Rather or not. He openly admitted to anybody in his family what he had done and if anybody in his family actually truthfully believes That he's innocent. There was a phone call from Jackie Peterson to her son That was recorded on the wiretap that says there was a time when I was told to deny, deny, deny.

And I encourage you to also deny, deny, deny, not just to the reporters and not just to law enforcement, but to family members. You need their support. Scott doesn't come from a family with values around the truth. Right, not only that but Scott's father in the past He had changed his name in order to avoid debt collectors when he wasn't paying his bills So the family is not above lying about who they are and what they're about So it's almost like instinctual over there yeah, even when they present the evidence of Scott's affair with Amber his father tries to Make excuses for him.

Oh, he must've been drunk. Oh, it must've been a one night stand. And even Jackie will say it was just a one night stand, which is in alignment with their family values of not being truthful. And I think this is important because there is animosity building between them as their lies are unraveling and they're seeing their son kind of spiraled further and further down the rabbit hole of the truth.

I think they're becoming frustrated. They're being called out. The reason that I was thinking about that is mentally trying to put yourself in each family's position to understand maybe where they're coming from. And so in a case where you truly believe That that family member is innocent. If you feel like the spouse's Family has completely turned and is almost advocating against them I can see where you might be like I ain't giving you nothing.

I can see where you might be like I don't want nothing to do with you. I don't want you around. Like I can see where that can happen in that case where you truly do believe that that person is innocent. And I really, really have a hard time after looking at all the evidence and looking at the testimony and all of that in believing highly more likely that he was guilty as opposed to innocent.

Even for a family member. It's very easy though for families to become blind to the truth. Especially when part of them psychologically wants to believe their child. Family members are going to give their family members the benefit of the doubt a lot more than anybody else. Even when the evidence shows that It's more likely that they did it and I think Jackie and Lee Peterson don't care They don't care whether he did it or not.

They don't want their son to go to jail from what I've seen It becomes a very selfish Plight for them. Yeah, it does the whole family And in no way, shape, or form does it even come off as them even caring that she's gone, that she's murdered. And this was supposed to be a member of their family now. And so, if you think about the very base of, you know, psychology when you're talking about, like, self preservation, I believe that in a situation where one person's fighting for, justice of the other and one person's fighting for the life of the other that there's going to be a line drawn in the sand and Some people are gonna straddle it some people are gonna stay on one side and some people are gonna stay on the other side And sometimes people change sides when they start learning certain things and I don't feel like that happened For either of these families, you know, minus when the information came out about Amber Frye, because I believe that the Rochas were honestly trying to be supportive of Scott, even though there was things that were making them think twice, I think that they were being very supportive until they had evidence.

Otherwise, right, right. I agree with that. I will say at the beginning of the prosecution's case, the jury felt that the prosecution was struggling. They were struggling to present their case. Dizastos did a terrible job. He was very boring. His voice was very monotone. They didn't enjoy him talking. Where, as opposed to Gregos, was very, he was showy, and he was exciting, and his voice was booming, and he would crack jokes, and so they found him a lot more entertaining.

And so at first, that's probably why When juror number seven was dismissed while he was like the prosecution has no case He'd been three weeks into the trial and they were still looking at disasters as being a disaster You know the press actually made the mistake of actually calling him that writing his name that way in the newspaper because he was struggling to really Communicate what they were going to prove now.

Greg goes made grand promises. He said, I'm going to prove that Scott is stone cold, innocent. He actually said that. That is a chess move in the realm of some mental judo. Because you put in everybody's mind that they're going to see that by the end of everything. And so mentally, you put something in their subconscious that it's coming.

Right. And you're 100 percent right about that. And the jury will talk about that in their, the jury put together a book. Called we've jury. Yeah, and in their book they talk about that specifically and they say Greg goes put this grand statement out And then every time we heard him talk we were waiting for that to happen.

Exactly. Yeah Yeah, and so they waited and they waited and they waited Even in closing testimonies, they're still waiting for, where is he going to prove Scott innocent? He never came through with that promise. And so that made them feel like he didn't execute on the initial promise of proving that he was stone cold innocent.

And at the end, one of the jurors says, what he did was he proved that he was stone cold guilty. So it, it'll be backfired on him. Between all of the testimony, some of the testimonies that really stood out that I want to kind of highlight one was Sharon Rocha's testimony. And I believe that was very important for everyone to hear because up until then, Lacey didn't exist for the jury.

Sharon was able to tell about Lacey who she was as a person and she'd be started to become real kid who had done these Things who had went to college who had graduated who had gotten married and as they're telling this story They're showing pictures of Lacey and they're showing who she was and who she is and and all the life that she shared and so this made Lacey real and not just A body that had washed ashore.

It gave the jury the opportunity to get to know Lacey, right? Another testimony that was impactful to this case was amber fry's testimony. Not so much what she said Or what she testified to, but the tapes were damning. Oh, 100%. The other one that I just kind of want to, um, just kind of briefly highlight is care and service.

And the reason for that is because that has been one of the most highly debated pieces of. Is Scott guilty? Is Scott not guilty? Is the timeline with when Scott Peterson left the house, and when she would have had to have gone missing based on when she put the dog back into the yard. And so, if you take everything into consideration with Lacey being pregnant, and the story that he gave, and all of those things, and even outside of anybody's story, If you just take a look at the timeline alone of when he was near the house where his cell phone was pinged and the time where the dog was put away, they gave you 10 minutes and that would mean that something would have had to have happened to Lacey.

Within 10 minutes and she completely disappeared after him leaving, right? So how probable is that and that's with the evidence. So that's without anybody's Shozy theories or any of that. That's a pretty small Timeline. Yeah, that is very small. Back to Amber Fry's testimony with the tapes. One thing that I wanted to share is that in listening to those tapes, that one thing that it showed was how crass and how completely disengaged Scott was with the investigation.

Just because it was days after his wife had been missing, like by the 26th of December, he had called Amber Fry 16 times. And then he can so easily lie and there's no sadness in his voice and he can laugh and joke and continue to flirt with his girlfriend while his wife is missing and he's refusing to go into the news.

And you know, I think he used that as an almost like a therapeutic thing for him during this process. I think it allowed for him to laugh with somebody that doesn't know anything about him really. It allows for him to get those lovey dovey words from somebody. Like he's gaining something from that. It's completely selfish.

Has nothing to do with Amber Frye. It's all about him in those moments, but it's providing him something to get him through. What's happening during this time frame, right? A lot of people will say that Scott didn't act the way a husband would act if he was missing his wife and his child. He doesn't just not act that way.

He also doesn't ask questions that a normal person would ask, like, what's going on with the investigation? What have you learned? If you listen to what Sharon does and Sharon's aggressiveness with the detective, she calls him every day, two or three times a day. What's going on? Have you found anything?

Who have you talked to? I heard this tip. Have you checked it out? She's prompting the investigation as opposed to Scott is just allowing the investigation to go its course. Right. And he's never even asking about the results of anything that they look into. And so when you see the list of all the reasons as to why they focused in on him with everything that they had heard and all the tips that had come in, you really understand that they didn't target him.

They weren't, oh, he just picked him, you know, first day and just knew it was him. No, like... He was showing some serious red flags from, you know, the beginning to when they really were honing in on him. And I'm sure during some points, the detectives were hoping he was going to be rolled out. Yeah. I think they wanted that to be the case because they felt for Sharon and part of Sharon's not wanting to come to terms that Scott may have been involved was the fact that if she came to that realization, that would mean that she would lose.

A son Scott called her mom almost in every phone call even to the very end. He called her mom So she knew in her mind if she went there She would lose a son in addition to a daughter and a grandchild, right? when lacy's mom aligned What was coming out in the tapes with the things that she remembered?

the element about that that I think is very important is that even for Positions where You're going in as an undercover detective or you're in a war zone and you're in a position where you need somebody to believe something of you. They teach you to have elements of the truth in there so that it's easier for you to remember the story that you're trying to sell.

Right. And so I'm pretty sure that Him having hints of the truth in there with the stories that he was giving was part of him trying to maintain a story that was believable and allowed for people to be on his side. Yeah, and I also think that that was something that he didn't just learn. I think that that's something that he kind of.

Incorporated into who he was in all the lies that he told, because he told Hundreds of lies in just a small time span that we know of him He was lying a lot longer before then and probably a lot longer after. I believe lying was part of his character. I think he was doing it when he was young. Yeah, I agree.

I agree. So I don't think there was a portion of time where he just, like, became this liar. I think he was doing it the whole time. Right. And you see it when he's in college and he's cheating on Lacey. You see it then. Well, not even then. I'm pretty sure that when he was younger, there was, there was small lies.

So yeah. Lies that you wouldn't think were significant. But so I think that his character was formed very early on with, with that. Another one of the testimonies that was really impactful is Craig Grogan, the detective and his 41 reasons why they looked in the marina. And that was very damning. And that was very impactful to the jury as well.

The jury really looked at that and said, man, these are, these are all great reasons, you know, why they continue to search the Marina. And even though they didn't find the bodies, the bodies washed ashore and they were found by a third party. It gave a focus on the Marina and why they continue to dig and dig and dig in the Marina.

Um, another testimony that was very impactful was the testimony of Brian Peterson and Conor's birth. And that was important because the defense was trying to prove that Conor had been born and then put into the marina after the fact. And they actually had a fertility specialist that came on and talked on their behalf as an expert.

And the... Cross examination ate his ass up because he didn't know what he was talking about when they started applying pressure. He asked the prosecution Hey, can you guys cut me some slack and the jury laughed at him cut you some slack He didn't do any of his own measurements. He didn't do any of his own examination He didn't do any of his own research all he did was go off of the research that had been done by the Prosecution and then tried to tell a story about the due date of the baby He wasn't that type of a doctor.

He was a fertility doctor So that sucks. Yeah, that was the the defense's their key thing if they could have convinced the jury That the conception date of connor was earlier something that we know from the fbi's body farm and from Numerous cases where they discuss the condition of bodies In water, so water can accelerate the decomposition of a body, but that can change if the body is placed in anything, or if it's in something like a vehicle, it can protect the body enough to slow the decaying process, and sometimes even 40, 50 years later, they can have a very preserved body.

And so I say that because it's not unreasonable and 100 percent likely that if a pregnant woman is placed in water and as her body's decaying or her body's decomposing that the baby's protected. It's inside of something. And so the baby's not going to be released from the body until the body is decomposed to a point to where the baby is released.

Right. That's called a coffin birth. Right. Now, the other piece of information that really pushed hard on the jury was the forensics testimony, where they showed the pictures of Lacey and Connor. And that picture would also be displayed during closing arguments. It would be a picture of Lacey when she was alive, and then a picture of Lacey's body when it was found.

And that would be the last picture that the jury would see as they were going into deliberations. And I'll tell you that in almost 100 percent of cases, and probably likely 100 percent of them, there is always a struggle between both sides of what photos to allow the jury to see, and what photos not to allow them to see.

And that will be a... Big struggle and the reason is because when you learn all about somebody, so you learn all about Lacey, it humanizes her, you get to know her, you get to know the kind of person that she was, and you know that she doesn't deserve this. Then to see a picture of what she looks like based on what somebody's done to her, it's a...

Very critical chest move and so anytime that the defense is trying to have things thrown out You will always see that they're trying to have very gruesome pictures throwing out or pictures that make their case harder Because now it places this, you know, the devil horns on the person's head Like, you're a despicable person.

How could you do this? Right. One of the things that the jury, um, had stated was that they continued to look for emotions from Scott. They continued to look to see if Scott had any type of an emotion. Scott never shed a tear when they showed the body of Connor. Peterson never shed a tear when he showed the remains of, of Lacey never reacted in any kind of way in any type of an emotional way throughout the entire trial to anything that anybody said to anything anybody did.

He just sat there stoic with his deadpan stare. And that's how he sat for the six months of the trial. People do respond in different ways to things that they experience. And that is 100 percent normal, but your body physically has certain reactions when you experience things. And those are very difficult to.

mask. And so if he was having any type of emotional reaction, something should have been seen. He should have been, you know, moving around in some way or getting uncomfortable, maybe getting sick. Like there's so many different things that could have occurred beyond him crying and none of those happened.

So it wasn't just that that was like the one thing that they were looking for and expecting nothing like that occurred. That was Any type of response to what happened to his wife and son and even if you're on trial for the murder of somebody whose life you didn't take so if indeed he was innocent and he was sitting in the trial and listening to all this information telling himself like I'm innocent, you're still definitely going to have an emotional trauma.

Reaction even more. So if you're being wrongfully convicted as well, right? As we close out the prosecution's case in Lacey and Peterson's trial We learned that although the prosecution team started off very slow and with very low confidence We find that as it begins to culminate it begins to pick up steam the jury begins to sway Away from the defense and more towards the prosecution.

In our next episode, we'll be covering the defense and the sentencing. And it's not something that you're going to want to miss.

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