Scott Peterson Breaks 20-Year Silence & Admits To Being 'Horrible' To Wife Laci... But Swears He Didn't Kill Her!

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

The Laci Peterson murder is getting a lot more press all of a sudden!

Wednesday marks the premiere of the Netflix special American Murder: Laci Peterson, and less than a week later Scott Peterson will have his chance for a rebuttal in a three-part docuseries on Peacock called Face to Face with Scott Peterson. So… what’s new in the case??

As a refresher since it’s been so long…

27-year-old Laci Peterson disappeared just before Christmas in 2002, reported missing by her husband Scott. She was eight months pregnant with their first child at the time. Detectives immediately suspected foul play and specifically Scott. One later said in a TruTV interview that the guy just “didn’t seem like a man who was crushed or even greatly disturbed by his wife’s disappearance and possible death.” America was obsessed with finding Laci, though everyone feared the worst. Then, as the search/investigation continued, we learned Scott was having not one, but three extramarital affairs.

In April 2023, four months after the disappearance, a couple walking their dog along the shore of San Francisco Bay found the body of a full-term infant. The next day the dismembered body of a recently pregnant woman — missing the head, arms, and most of the legs — was found. A few days later DNA testing identified the remains as Laci and her son Connor. Some evidence suggested the baby had been born — and was murdered alongside his mother — though that’s never been verified for sure.

Investigators found evidence suggesting Scott had created multiple homemade anchors, which were now missing. They believed he used them to weigh down her body in the Bay. They were following his movements, and found he had driven to San Diego — close to the Mexican border — after the bodies were found. They apprehended him and found he had dyed his hair blonde and was carrying $15k in cash, camping gear, four cell phones, and two driver’s licenses, one of which belonged to his brother. It looked very much like he was planning to go on the lam.

Cops also spoke to his most recent affair partner, a massage therapist named Amber Frey. She told them just two weeks before Laci went missing, Scott told her he was a widower — and that this would be his first Christmas without his wife. That was a lie at the time — but of course, it ended up being true. All of this was incredibly suspicious and helped feed a national fervor for the story. (It’s also understood to be the inspiration for the book and film Gone Girl, though that story clearly goes in a very different direction.)

Despite a lack of direct evidence, there was enough circumstantial evidence to convince a jury Scott was guilty. He was convicted of the murders of Laci and Connor in November 2004.

And now after 20 years, he’s breaking his silence…

But ahead of the Peacock doc, People got a special sneak peek on Tuesday. And Scott’s quotes are… something else.

Speaking from Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California, where he’s serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Scott continues to deny he had anything to do with his wife’s murder. He claims in the “so-called investigation” police and prosecutors ignored serious leads because they only had eyes for him. And he now thinks he might have helped himself if he’d testified in court — to keep from being convicted on the story the DA was telling:

“I regret not testifying [at my trial], but if I have a chance to show people what the truth is, and if they are willing to accept it, it would be the biggest thing that I can accomplish right now — because I didn’t kill my family.”

Thanks to his rampant cheating, the prosecution were able to paint a portrait of a man who wanted out of his marriage — and was willing to commit murder to avoid a messy divorce and child support. Scott abhors that description, saying:

“That is so offensive and so disgusting. I certainly regret cheating on Laci, absolutely. It was about a childish lack of self-esteem, selfish me traveling somewhere, lonely that night because I wasn’t at home. Someone makes you feel good because they want have sex with you.”

Sorry, does anyone else feel like he’s still eschewing responsibility for this? He’s making it sound like a one-time thing, one dark night of the soul. The affair with Amber went on for months.

Also, telling a woman you’re a widower… right before you become a widower? Scott wants everyone to believe the lies and the cheating were the extent of it, and that none of it means he’d ever have hurt Laci:

“It’s horrible. I was a total a-hole to be having sex outside our marriage.”

These are definitely things he should have said at the time. In fact, it’s exactly what Tyler Perry told Ben Affleck to say in Gone Girl. Just sayin’. It’s been 20 years, and all of a sudden he thinks he has some way to convince everyone he’s a victim here?

Scott’s sister-in-law Janey Peterson is still his biggest defender. She told People regarding the affairs:

“Scott lied about cheating and that was upsetting. But he wasn’t charged with infidelity. He was charged with murder.”

Hmm. We have to say, we aren’t buying this so far. But we’ll certainly be interested to see more from the doc, which will also cover the appeal backed by the Los Angeles Innocence Project last January. We’ll all get another chance to decide for ourselves if we believe this man.

Are YOU going to watch??

[Image via ABC News/Peacock/YouTube.]