Scott graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business in June 1998,[10] and the Petersons opened a sports bar in San Luis Obispo called The Shack.

[17] Laci's family, including her mother and younger sister, related that she devoted much of her energy towards being the perfect housewife, and that she enjoyed cooking, entertaining and watching Martha Stewart.

He said Laci was watching a Martha Stewart TV show about meringue[27] and preparing to mop the floor, bake cookies, and walk the family dog to a nearby park.

"[30] Over thirty Modesto police and firefighters on foot, horseback, bicycles, and watercraft used canine units and searchlight-equipped helicopters to search Dry Creek and the surrounding area.

Family, friends, and volunteers set up a command center at the Red Lion Hotel to take phone calls, record developments, and circulate information.

[64][65][66][67] On April 13, 2003, two people walking their dog found the body of a male fetus on a tidal flat 37.907721841462205, -122.33678399714816] of the San Francisco Bay shore in Richmond's Point Isabel Regional Shoreline park.

[68][69] The following day, a jogger spotted a human torso in the riprap along the Point Isabel shoreline 37.8993478196052, -122.32531486069779], approximately one mile from where the body of the fetus was found.

Dr. Peterson and state forensic pathologists testified the missing organs and disarticulation were conditions consistent with a body weighted at the wrists and ankles and submerged in seawater for several months.

[76] Dr. Peterson concluded Conner had died in utero[18] and his body was expelled from Laci's decomposing corpse when the skin over the abdominal cavity ruptured due to natural decompositional processes.

[77] The discovery of Laci's and Conner's bodies changed the case status from missing person to homicide, and allowed the detectives to expand their investigation of Scott Peterson as the prime suspect.

When Detective Henry Dodge Hendee searched Scott's warehouse on December 27, he found a cement powder on the boat trailer, and five circular marks matching the size and shape of the bucket used to make the anchor.

Police and prosecutors alleged the switched car, dyed hair, money, phones, driver's license, and camping equipment indicated Peterson was trying to disguise himself and flee to Mexico.

On April 21, 2003, Peterson was arraigned in Stanislaus County Superior Court and charged with two felony counts of murder with premeditation and special circumstances, to which he pleaded not guilty.

[40][34] The prosecution called on various witnesses to establish that Scott changed his appearance, purchased a vehicle using his mother's name, and added two pornographic television channels to his cable service days after his wife's disappearance.

[105] A realtor testified that, in January 2003, Scott expressed interest in selling the house he had shared with Laci, saying he did not want her to have to live in the home if she were to be found alive.

[111] Defense lawyers argued that mitochondrial testing was not a reliable means of DNA comparison—only half of states in the U.S. allowed the practice—and further contended that Laci had, in fact, been on the boat while alive.

[112] Prosecution witness Robert O'Neill was asked to comment on Scott's claim that he had used a 90-pound bag of cement to make a single anchor and pave his driveway.

[82] Scott's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, also pointed out that no such anchors were found after a search of the floor of San Francisco Bay with sonar equipment accurate enough to locate objects as small as a tin can.

[117] The defense suggested the fetal remains were of a full-term infant and theorized that someone kidnapped Laci, held her until she gave birth and then dumped both bodies in the bay.

On March 16, Judge Delucchi followed the jury verdict,[92] sentencing Scott to death by lethal injection and ordering him to pay $10,000 toward the cost of Laci's funeral.

[127] In later press appearances, members of the jury stated that they believed Scott's demeanor—specifically his lack of emotion and the phone calls to Frey in the days following Laci's disappearance—indicated his guilt.

1, Greg Beratlis, and two other jurors, said they based their verdict on "hundreds of small 'puzzle pieces' of circumstantial evidence that came out during the trial, from the location of Laci's body to the myriad lies her husband told after her disappearance.

[135] The defense filed a response to the State's brief in July 2015, claiming that a certified dog that detected Laci's scent at Berkeley Marina had failed two-thirds of tests with similar conditions.

[155] On December 20, 2022, Judge Massullo denied Scott's habeas petition,[156] which had been based, in part, on the allegation that a juror committed misconduct when she lied about her own history of domestic abuse during jury selection.

Massullo concluded that there was no evidence to support this accusation, explaining that the juror did not intentionally conceal this information with the motive to stay on the jury, nor did she appear vengeful toward Scott in letters she later wrote him in the prison.

[157] On March 12, 2024, Scott attended a status hearing in Redwood City that had been granted by a San Mateo County judge in response to a request by LA Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that accepted Peterson's case two months prior.

On April 1, 2004, Sharon Rocha and her husband Ron Grantski were in attendance at the White House when President George W. Bush signed the bill into law.

The Act provides that, under federal law, any person who causes death or injury to an unborn child during the commission of a crime upon a pregnant woman will be charged with a separate offense.

[163][164] On October 21, 2005, Stanislaus County, California, Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne ruled that Scott was not entitled to collect on Laci's $250,000 life insurance policy, as he had been convicted of her murder.

[169][170] In September 2006, former US congressman William E. Dannemeyer (R-CA) sent a letter to the California Attorney General and other officials arguing that Laci had been killed by members of a Satanic cult, not by Scott.