Laci Peterson's murder, Scott Peterson's conviction are being reexamined: How 2 rival docuseries revisit the disturbing case

Scott Peterson’s 2004 conviction for the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son riveted the nation. Twenty years later, as the Los Angeles Innocence Project works to exonerate him, the case is revisited in two competing documentaries.

Between the two, Peacock’s Face to Face with Scott Peterson (released Aug. 20) and Netflix’s American Murder: Laci Peterson (Aug. 14), it’s six hours of overlapping coverage of the case.

But there are two distinct narratives: The first is Scott’s take — as he gives his first on-camera interview, from prison, in over 20 years and tries to raise doubts about his conviction. The latter is anchored by Laci’s family, featuring a rare interview with her mother, Sharon Rocha, as well as her best friends and a woman she never met: Amber Frey. Frey was dating Scott in the months leading up to Laci’s murder, unaware he was married, and her testimony is credited for helping secure his conviction.

As far as similarities between the twin projects, there are many. The docuseries feature mostly the same people, including the two former lead investigators (former Modesto Police detectives Jon Buehler and Al Brocchini), several jurors, two of Scott’s family members (Janey Peterson and Susan Caudillo) and journalists who covered the case. There are many of the same photos and home videos in the two projects, and both series are three episodes each.

What happened to Laci?

On Christmas Eve 2002, the 27-year-old, who was eight months pregnant, disappeared. The search drew national attention. Scott, who recently bought a boat and was fishing 90 miles from home that day in the San Francisco Bay, became a suspect.

Frey came forward to police, agreeing to secretly record her calls with Scott (over 29 hours of audio), who called her from Laci’s candlelight vigil, pretending to be in Europe.

In April, Laci’s badly decomposed body — and that of their unborn child, Conner — washed up near where Scott had been fishing, and he was arrested soon after. In November 2004, Scott was convicted of two counts of murder. His death sentence was overturned in 2020 and he was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In 2024, the L.A. Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization, took on his case and helped secure new DNA testing on a piece of duct tape found on Laci’s body.

What stands out in Face to Face with Scott Peterson?

Getting to hear Scott speak is the most compelling reason to tune in to the Peacock series. When Laci was missing, the fertilizer salesman granted just a handful of interviews, including the one to Diane Sawyer in 2003 in which he claimed Laci knew he was having an affair and was OK with it. Nobody has heard his side in his own words in years, especially amid the new case developments.

That said, Scott, who’s in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Calif., isn’t pressed hard in the questions by documentarian Shareen Anderson.

Here are the takeaways:

• He denied killing Laci, claiming they had a great relationship.

• He claimed he was only with Frey for sex (“I’m a total a**hole for having sex outside of my marriage”) and that she “tried to turn it into a relationship after the fact.”

• He called the prosecution’s argument that he killed Laci because he didn’t want to be married and become a father “offensive” and “disgusting.”

• He said he overheard former Detective Brocchini say on day one of the case, “It’s the husband,” and feels Modesto police ignored other tips and didn’t properly investigate the case.

• He thinks those involved in a burglary across the street around that time kidnapped and murdered Laci.

• He denied he was planning to flee the country when he was arrested in San Diego with $10,000 cash, his brother’s driver’s license, a gun, multiple cellphones, a shovel and camping gear. Scott, who had also dyed his hair, said he was visiting family.

• When he heard his guilty verdict, he “had no idea it was coming.” He had no feeling in his body and his vision was blurry.

• He regrets not letting his attorney waive time for the trial, giving the defense more time to prepare. He thought he would be freed and found it a “nightmare being stuck in county jail.”

• Peterson, who was criticized for his lack of emotion after Laci’s disappearance and during the trial, cried at the end of his interview.

Scott’s advocates also come into focus. His sister-in-law Janey Peterson (who is married to Scott’s half-brother, Joe) obtained her legal degree after Scott’s conviction and has been pushing the case forward, claiming police ignored potential evidence, including tipsters who claimed they saw Laci walking her dog, McKenzie, after the time police pinpointed her death. Scott’s sister, Susan Caudillo, also appears in the doc.

It’s not just family. Former ABC News investigative reporter Mike Gudgell has been looking into the case for years, trying to tie the burglary across the street — and a burned out van found a mile from the Peterson house — to the case. (Earlier this year, the judge ruled against doing DNA testing on the mattress in the van.)

What stands out from American Murder: Laci Peterson?

The Netflix docuseries doesn’t feel like a three-hour persuasive argument for why Scott should walk free. Instead, in the Skye Borgman-directed project, which is dedicated to “Laci and Conner and the ones who left in time and the ones who didn’t,” Sharon Rocha tries to humanize her daughter, Laci.

Rocha, along with Laci’s friends, shares stories of a happy-go-lucky young woman, who talked nonstop and loved socializing. They claim she was “love bombed” by Scott with over-the-top gestures when they met, like a trip to Mexico.

The couple married young, while they were both still in college. Laci was “made to be a mom,” they claimed, but Scott decided he didn’t want kids. He eventually changed his mind but it was a struggle for her to get pregnant. Once she did, she wrote in her journal Scott didn’t show excitement when the baby moved “but I know he really was.”

Leading up to her disappearance, Scott — cheating with Frey — was frequently away, so Laci didn’t hold her annual holiday party. When her friends last saw her, the mom-to-be was “down.” She had been “sick” and having fainting spells.

Scott’s doc painted a picture of a flawed police investigation. In this series, Detectives Buehler and Brocchini revisit the case that resulted in a conviction.

In the months before the murder, Scott passed himself off as single on work trips. He told Frey his wife died before she actually did. He secretly bought a boat that he stored at his warehouse. Scott searched San Francisco Bay tides, made anchors out of cement and bought a fishing license (ahead of time) for Christmas Eve. While there were reservoirs near Modesto, he drove 90 miles to the Berkeley Marina. On the way home, he left a love-infused voicemail for his wife. When he came home and Laci wasn’t there, he washed his clothes, showered, ate pizza, emptied a mop bucket and drank a glass of milk before calling Rocha to say he believed her daughter was “missing.”

While the search was underway for Laci, from Christmas until April, investigators said he refused a polygraph. He sold Laci’s car, looked into selling their house and turned the nursery into a storage room. He frequently called Frey while Laci was still missing, claiming he was traveling and talking about how he wanted to be with her.

Viewers learn he continued to call her even after he knew she had gone to the police. Scott’s phone was tapped and it’s revealed that after he listened to a voicemail from Rocha about another body that turned up that wasn’t Laci’s, he said, “Whew.”

His truck was tracked and he drove to the Berkeley Marina to watch the police searching for the bodies. Laci’s hair was on pliers found on Scott’s boat. After Laci and Conner’s bodies were found, Scott, with his bleached hair, had a packed car, the money and four or five cellphones, making it seem like he planned to flee. They also noted the burglary across the street, which is the centerpiece of Scott’s appeal, was solved and unrelated. They said they followed up on thousands of tips — and some just weren’t solid.

Another highlight is Frey, getting a chance to set the record straight in a new interview. She made it clear, “I was not a mistress,” as she was branded amid the media frenzy over the case. Scott lied to her as well.

It was also revealed that Frey, whose life was upended, met with Rocha and Laci’s friends, who were appreciative of what she did to help Laci’s case. Frey’s attorney, Gloria Allred, also appears speaking to the importance of her testimony, which helped the prosecution.

While Scott’s speaking out in the Peacock doc is a selling point, Rocha’s new interview in this really is too.

After 20 years of living with and processing this tragedy, she admits that she didn’t always fully trust Scott, despite welcoming him into her family. She talks about how, while people may be discussing this case again now, it’s never ended for her. She shows the resilience she displayed all those years ago during the search for her daughter and as she showed up each day for Scott’s murder trial.

“He destroyed a lot of lives,” Rocha said. “I’m not going to say he destroyed our lives. He upset our lives. But I wouldn’t give him the credit for destroying our lives.”

Face to Face with Scott Peterson is now streaming on Peacock and American Murder: Laci Peterson is on Netflix.