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What’s Happening in the Scott Peterson Case Today? Every 2024 Update
The L.A. Innocence Project has theorized that mother-to-be Laci Peterson was kidnapped and murdered after witnessing a burglary across the street from her home.
A new true-crime special is coming exclusively to Peacock as convicted killer Scott Peterson maintains his innocence in the 2002 double murder that captivated the country.
Peterson, 51, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of his pregnant wife, 27-year-old Laci Peterson, and the couple’s unborn son, Conner. Laci disappeared from the couple’s Modesto, California home on Christmas Eve 2002, four months before her and Conner’s bodies were discovered along the shores of the San Francisco Bay.
Scott Peterson, whose extramarital affair and financial troubles were widely publicized during the investigation, was ultimately found guilty of first- and second-degree murder. He was sent to San Quentin’s death row in 2005 before his sentence was commuted to life in 2021, and he continues to deny any role in his wife and son’s deaths.
Scott Peterson will give his first interviews in decades on the new three-part Peacock docuseries, Face to Face with Scott Peterson, premiering Tuesday, August 20, 2024.
What's happening in the Scott Peterson case today?
While Scott Peterson was originally sentenced to death, it was commuted to a life sentence in 2021. He is carrying out his life sentence in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.
On January 18, 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project (L.A.I.P.) took Peterson on as a client and filed several motions on his behalf. L.A.I.P. Executive Director Paula Mitchell appeared in a San Mateo courtroom, stating that Peterson had “a claim of actual innocence that is supported by newly discovered evidence,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Mr. Peterson’s been waiting for 20 years for police reports and audio recordings and video recordings that should have been provided,” said Mitchell. “We are eager to get our investigation underway.”
One of the main points of the bid for a new trial was a burned van discovered on Christmas Day — one day after Laci Peterson was last seen alive — about one mile from the Peterson home. Inside, one investigator reported, appeared to be a mattress with possible bloodstains, according to the L.A. outlet.
The L.A.I.P. theorized someone might have abducted the expectant mother as she walked her dog in the La Loma neighborhood on Christmas Eve. The organization further claimed they had proof from the van’s owner that the vehicle had no mattress before it was stolen.
Prosecutors, however, argued that physical evidence connected to the van had been tested in previous years and yielded no results. They said that a new trial would only further inflict undue suffering onto Laci’s loved ones, calling the petition a “fishing expedition,” according to San Francisco Bay’s KRON-TV.
Related to the van theory, it’s the advocacy group’s assertion that investigators looking into Laci Peterson’s disappearance were so laser-focused on the husband as a main suspect that they disregarded a burglary that took place across the street from the Peterson home around the time Laci vanished.
An exact date for the burglary couldn’t be determined, as the homeowners were out of town between December 24 to 26, 2003.
In May 2024, San Mateo County Judge Elizabeth M. Hill denied new testing for the mattress but allowed re-testing on a piece of duct tape found on Laci Peterson’s pants when she was found dead, as reported by Oxygen.com. The tape, according to the L.A.I.P., “was folded over onto itself” and contained the presence of human D.N.A., though “no D.N.A. profile could be obtained” at the time.
Attorneys on both sides agreed to the testing, which will be conducted by the Redlands-based lab Pure Gold Forensics, according to The Modesto Bee.
Were burglars responsible for Laci Peterson’s murder?
On July 16, 2024, Scott Peterson appeared virtually from prison in the courtroom, where attorneys continued to present new evidence in Peterson’s latest hearing. Mitchell claimed there were jailhouse phone calls with “critically important information” supporting the theory that Laci Peterson was kidnapped and murdered after witnessing the alleged burglary.
During the initial investigation, Scott said he was fishing on the San Francisco Bay some 90 miles from home when his wife disappeared.
According to court documents filed by the L.A.I.P., correctional lieutenant Xavier Aponte made sworn statements that he listened to recorded phone conversations from January 2003 — days after Laci Peterson vanished — between brothers Shawn Tenbrink and Adam Tenbrink, according to KRON-TV.
“Adam stated that ‘Laci Peterson had seen Todd and other [sic] committing a burglary in the neighborhood,’” as stated in court filings.
Attorneys said the men were referring to Steven Todd, who was charged with the burglary in January 2003.
Another unnamed associate made statements that Todd called him from inside the burglarized home and “asked him to help him get a heavy safe out of the house,” L.A.I.P. officials wrote. A second confidential jailhouse informant stated in June 2024 that he bounced around several California prisons and collected independent statements from men allegedly tied to the Modesto Hardcore Skinheads that “Laci Peterson was killed by their ‘homeboys’ who were ‘doing burglaries’ using an ‘old white trash van.’”
Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Ahnna Reicks called the claims “jailhouse rumors.”
“They’re asking for anything and everything but the kitchen sink,” Reicks said of Peterson’s legal team, according to NBC Sacramento affiliate KCRA-TV. “How is that reasonable?”
In ongoing hearings, Peterson’s attorneys have requested approximately 600 items of materials they say weren’t submitted by prosecutors during the initial trial. Mitchell said they comprise “a mountain of exculpatory evidence” that “was never tested and doesn’t exist, suppressed, or lost, or gone missing.”
Mitchell added that the District Attorney’s Office “flatly refuses to comply,” according to the Sacramento affiliate.
Reicks maintained that just because Peterson’s team wanted the items “does not mean they get it.”
A judge has 90 days to rule on the decision.
Laci Peterson’s loved ones respond to Scott Peterson case update
During the July 2024 hearing, prosecutors read a statement by Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha, in her own bid to keep Scott Peterson behind bars, as published by KCRA-TV.
“Laci was murdered by the man she loved with all her heart,” the statement read, in part. “The man she trusted to love and protect her.”
Rocha said her former son-in-law’s “numerous” attempts to obtain his freedom felt like “ripping the scab” each time.
“Laci’s family and friends have also been in prison imposed by his selfish acts. We will never be released from our prison, regardless of what happens in the future,” the release continued. “Laci and Conner are gone forever. Our lives changed because he murdered them. Why is he allowed to pursue having his conviction overturned time after time with evidence other courts have already denied? This is not justice for Laci and Conner. He is guilty of murdering them. When will this end?”
Laci Peterson’s loved ones expressed “tremendous relief” in late 2022 when lower courts upheld Peterson’s conviction. His lawyers at the time alleged that one of the jurors, Richelle Nice, failed to disclose a history of domestic violence before sitting for the trial. However, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ruled that Nice did not commit juror misconduct, according to CBS News.
More about the case, including Scott's version of events, will be featured in the three-part true-crime special Face to Face with Scott Peterson, premiering Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, exclusively on Peacock. The series will also air on Oxygen on Monday, November 25 at 8/7c.
