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Were Burglars Behind Laci Peterson's Murder? Scott Peterson's Defense Team's Theory, Explained
Scott Peterson was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson.
It was a gruesome double murder that captured the world’s attention in the early 2000s — and it’s still ongoing.
In 2004, Scott Peterson was convicted for killing his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner. Scott Peterson, who was sentenced to life in prison, has always maintained that he didn’t do it, and now The Los Angeles Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group known for exonerating wrongfully convicted criminals, has joined his team.
In its efforts to clear Scott Peterson, the defense has sought to connect the dots between a December 2002 burglary that occurred near the Petersons’ home at the same time Laci vanished. But why? Here's what to know about this particular claim:
What is the burglary theory in the Scott Peterson crime?
Scott Peterson, then 30, became the prime suspect in 27-year-old Laci’s murder after his affair with massage therapist Amber Frey was exposed.
After going missing on December 24, 2002, Laci and Conner’s remains were found in April 2003 in San Francisco Bay just miles from where Scott had gone fishing on Christmas Eve.
Scott was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. His death sentence was overturned in 2020 after the California Supreme Court found that the trial judge made jury selection errors. But his conviction was upheld, and he's currently behind bars serving a life sentence.
However, his defense team argues that someone else could have killed his wife and unborn son. The burglary theory proposes that Laci was abducted and tossed into a van while walking her dog the afternoon of December 24, 2002.
According to the January filing, multiple witnesses allegedly saw Laci, who was eight months pregnant, walking her dog in her neighborhood. That’s significant, the defense claims, because it would mean she was still alive after Scott left to go fishing.
The L.A. Innocence Project suggests in its filing that two people who burglarized a home across from the Petersons’ house, and not Scott, could have been the killers, KRON4 reported. The defense team also specifically asked to test a bloody mattress found in a burned van in the Modesto, California area the morning after Laci Peterson disappeared, according to ABC7, arguing it would help back up the burglary theory.
However, the mattress in the van was tested in 2019 and showed no blood, so the judged ruled in May not to allow DNA testing of the item.
Janey Peterson, Scott’s sister-in-law and an attorney, has supported the burglary theory. She told PEOPLE that an evidence claim was filed in April 2023 that features a signed exhibit from a person claiming to have heard a man confess to being part of the Christmastime burglary.
The same man, per the document, alleged Laci confronted the robbers after witnessing them wheeling out a safe. The defense has argued that the burglars feared being exposed and could have abducted and killed Laci to silence her.
“That’s always been our theory,” Janey Peterson has told PEOPLE. “There’s always been evidence that points to the burglary, but it’s all either been a couple degrees of hearsay or whatever."
The killer burglar theory was used in Scott’s trial by his defense and was rejected during an appeal. Authorities have steadfastly insisted that the robbery likely took place on December 26. That was two days after Laci Peterson was last seen, according to a 2007 report by the Modesto Bee.
The precise date of the robbery is unclear since the owners of the home were traveling from December 24 to 26. Additional doubt surrounds the burglary theory because the thieves have additionally denied involvement in the crime.
Watch the three-part docuseries Face to Face with Scott Peterson, streaming August 20 on Peacock, to learn more and listen to Scott Peterson's first interviews in decades. The series will also air on Oxygen on Monday, November 25 at 8/7c.
