Scott & Laci Peterson's Home

Author: Jewls Krueger

On December 24, 2002, 27 year old Laci Denise Peterson disappeared from her home in Modesto, California, while eight months pregnant with her first child. Her husband, 30 year old fertilizer salesman Scott Peterson, was ultimately convicted of murdering both Laci and their unborn son Conner. The case became one of the most widely followed criminal trials in American history and continues to generate legal challenges more than two decades after the crime.

Scott and Laci Peterson

Laci Denise Rocha was born on May 4, 1975 in Modesto, California, the younger of two children born to Dennis Robert Rocha and Sharon Anderson. Her parents ran a dairy farm outside Escalon, California before divorcing in 1977, and Laci was raised primarily by her mother in Modesto. She graduated from Thomas Downey High School and attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where she majored in ornamental horticulture.

Scott Lee Peterson was born on October 24, 1972 in San Diego, California, the son of Lee Peterson, a crate packaging business owner, and Jacqueline "Jackie" Latham, who owned a boutique in La Jolla. After graduating from the University of San Diego High School in 1990, Scott briefly attended Arizona State University hoping to make the golf team before returning to California to attend Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. In 1994, he transferred to Cal Poly to study agricultural business.

Scott and Laci met at Cal Poly in the mid-1990s. They married at the Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort in San Luis Obispo on August 9, 1997. After Scott's graduation in June 1998, they opened a burger restaurant called The Shack in San Luis Obispo. In 2000, they sold the restaurant and moved to Laci's hometown of Modesto to start a family. On October 2000, they purchased a three bedroom, two bathroom bungalow at 523 Covena Avenue for $177,000 in an upscale neighborhood near East La Loma Park. Scott took a job as a regional fertilizer salesman, while Laci worked as a substitute teacher. In the spring of 2002, they announced they were expecting their first child, a boy they planned to name Conner.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is the quintessential time for the American family to come together. "It's a Wonderful Life" plays on the Lifetime channel while mom and dad wrap gifts in the glow of the Christmas tree lights. This was everything 8 month pregnant Laci Peterson ever wanted, unfortunately it would never become reality.

Instead of celebrating on Christmas Eve of 2002, Laci Peterson was reported missing in the afternoon by her husband Scott Peterson after he returned from an impromptu fishing trip near the San Francisco Bay. According to Scott, he had left the home around 10 a.m. to drive to the Berkeley Marina, roughly 90 miles from home, and go fishing on a small aluminum boat he had recently purchased. He returned home in the late afternoon to find their dog McKenzie loose in the backyard and Laci's purse, keys, sunglasses, and car all still at the house. At approximately 5:15 p.m., Scott called Laci's mother Sharon Rocha to ask if Laci was there. When Sharon said Laci was not at her house, Laci's stepfather Ron Grantski reported her missing at 5:17 p.m., and the Modesto Police Department arrived at the home shortly after. Massive ground and air searches by police and volunteers began immediately.

Scott's Affair with Amber Frey

On December 30, 2002, just six days after Laci's disappearance, 27 year old Fresno massage therapist Amber Frey contacted the Modesto Police Department and told them that she had been dating Scott Peterson since November 20, 2002, and that Scott had told her he was single. Frey agreed to cooperate with investigators and began recording her phone conversations with Scott. In those calls, Scott repeatedly lied to Frey about his whereabouts, including telling her on December 31 that he was on vacation in Paris when he was actually attending the candlelight vigil for Laci in Modesto.

On January 24, 2003, Frey went public with the affair at a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred. Suspicion, which had already been quietly building around Scott, now shifted decisively toward him as the primary suspect.

The Investigation and Arrest

For nearly four months, Modesto police continued a massive land, water, and aerial search across central California, aided by hundreds of volunteers and a $500,000 reward. On April 13, 2003, the decomposed remains of a fetus washed ashore at Richmond's Point Isabel along the San Francisco Bay. The next day, April 14, 2003, the decomposed body of a young woman washed ashore roughly a mile away. DNA testing confirmed the bodies were Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner. They had been found just a few miles from where Scott had claimed to be fishing on Christmas Eve.

On April 18, 2003, Scott Peterson was arrested near a golf course in La Jolla, California, close to his parents' home. He had dyed his dark hair bright blonde and grown a goatee. Investigators searching his car found roughly $15,000 in cash, his brother John's driver's license, four cellular phones, camping equipment, multiple knives, a shovel, and a pack of 12 Viagra tablets, leading investigators to believe he had been planning to flee to Mexico. Peterson was charged with two counts of murder and driven back to Modesto, where he was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail.

The Trial and Conviction

Peterson pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and hired high profile Los Angeles defense attorney Mark Geragos. Due to the intense media coverage in Modesto, the trial was moved 90 miles west to San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City. Jury selection began on March 4, 2004, and testimony began on June 1, 2004 before Judge Alfred Delucchi. The lead prosecutor was Rick Distaso of the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office. On August 10, 2004, Amber Frey took the stand in what many considered a turning point in the trial, and the jury heard her recorded phone conversations with Scott.

On November 12, 2004, after less than seven hours of deliberations across a jury reconstitution, Scott Peterson was found guilty of first degree murder in the death of Laci and second degree murder in the death of Conner. On December 13, 2004, the jury recommended the death penalty. On March 16, 2005, Judge Delucchi followed that recommendation and sentenced Peterson to death.

Recent Developments

Peterson has maintained his innocence throughout, and his case has continued to move through the courts. On August 24, 2020, the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence, finding that Judge Delucchi had improperly dismissed prospective jurors during jury selection. That October, the same court also ordered a review of his underlying convictions after finding that Juror Number Seven, Richelle Nice, had failed to disclose her own past involvement in legal proceedings on her jury questionnaire.

On May 28, 2021, the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office announced it would not seek to reimpose the death penalty, and on December 8, 2021, Peterson was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In late 2022, Judge Anne-Christine Massullo of the San Mateo County Superior Court denied his petition for a new trial based on the alleged juror misconduct, ruling that Nice's responses had been the result of good faith misunderstandings, not bias.

In January 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced it had taken on Peterson's case, investigating what it called a "claim of actual innocence." As part of that renewed effort, a California judge has granted access to previously undisclosed evidence, including permission to conduct new DNA testing on a piece of duct tape recovered from Laci's pants at the time of her autopsy. Peterson is currently held at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.

The Laci & Scott Peterson House Today

The three bedroom, two bathroom bungalow on Covena Avenue where Scott and Laci Peterson lived at the time of Laci's murder still stands. It is located on a quiet residential street near East La Loma Park in an upscale neighborhood of Modesto, California, about 90 miles east of the San Francisco Bay Area. In the weeks and months after Laci's disappearance, a large public memorial was placed outside the home by neighbors and mourners.

The home remains a private residence. Please be respectful of the current occupants and the surrounding neighborhood, stay on public streets and sidewalks at all times, and do not attempt to enter the property or interact with any residents or neighbors.