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*This isn't a part of the book, but Scott's death penalty was dropped last month, but he still has life without parole.

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In an about-face, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager filed a notice in court Friday saying she no longer plans to pursue the death penalty against Scott Peterson.

The notice, first reported by The Bee, says prosecutors met with Laci Peterson's family to discuss what a new penalty trial would involve.

"While the family of Laci and Conner have no doubt that defendant is guilty of these crimes and that his conduct warrants the death penalty ... the family has decided this process is too painful to endure once again."

Fladager and Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris did not respond to attempts by The Bee to reach them Friday.

The decision means Scott Peterson's sentence would remain life without the possibility of parole. It had reverted to that in August when the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence for the murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, because it said the trial judge erred by excluding potential jurors opposed to the death penalty.

Peterson still has a chance to get a new trial if his conviction is overturned.

In a separate matter, the California Supreme Court in October also ruled that a trial court must decide whether one of the jurors intentionally withheld information on a questionnaire in order to get on the jury.

The case was remanded to San Mateo Superior Court, where the original trial was held.

Scott's sister-in-law Janey Peterson said in a text that she is "Grateful that they are no longer seeking to take Scott's life, but still looking forward to getting back into the courtroom."

She said Friday the family had not yet given the news to Scott but will talk to him Saturday.

Peterson's attorney, Pat Harris, said by phone Friday he has new evidence to prove Scott Peterson innocent.

"We want to show in a court of law before an unbiased jury, without all the headlines and the craziness that went into the first trial, we want to show the evidence of who committed this murder," he said.

He said the new evidence will focus on burglars who investigators said committed a break-in across the street from the Peterson house after Laci's disappearance. Harris said he can prove that the burglary was committed the day Laci disappeared.

"He deserves another day in court," Harris said.

Erin has been covering breaking news and crime at The Modesto Bee since 2010. She is a Humboldt State graduate and resides in Oakdale.

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After meeting with family, DA drops death penalty retrial against Scott Peterson

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In an about-face, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager filed a notice in court Friday saying she no longer plans to pursue the death penalty against Scott Peterson. The notice, first reported by The Bee, says prosecutors met with Laci Peterson's family to discuss what a new penalty trial would involve.

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Scott went to the San Quentin State Prison.

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On December 13th, Scott got the death-penalty. ¨We the jury in the above titled cause fit the penalty at death.¨

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Scott was found guilty of killing Laci and Conner on November 12th. ¨We, the jury, in the above-entitled cause, find the defendant, Scott Lee Peterson guilty of the crime of murder of Laci Denise Peterson.  We the jury further find the degree of the murder to be that of the first degree¨

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In a case that became a real-life soap opera for millions of Americans, Scott Peterson was found guilty today of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Laci, who was eight months pregnant with their first child when she vanished on Christmas Eve 2002 from her home in Modesto.

Peterson, 32, was found guilty of special circumstances in murdering his wife and dumping her body into the San Francisco Bay, making him eligible for the death penalty. He was also found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of the couple's unborn son, who was to be named Conner.

After a week and a half of hostile deliberations that saw the judge dismiss two jurors on consecutive days, the jury walked into the courtroom in San Mateo County after lunch with impassive faces.

As the court clerk read the verdicts, Peterson stared straight ahead while family and friends gasped and sobbed. He then looked at each of the jurors as they were polled to confirm their decision.

Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, cried as relatives huddled around her. Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie, sitting on the other side of the courtroom, stared at the floor in disbelief. As bailiffs led her down a stairwell to the courthouse grounds, she could hear several hundred people gathered outside erupt in cheers at news of the verdict.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors, as well as family members and friends, left without saying a word to more than 100 television and newspaper journalists from all over the world who had formed a gauntlet in the hallway.

Judge Alfred A. Delucchi admonished the jury that a gag order was still in effect in the 51/2 month trial, which will continue with a penalty phase to begin on Nov. 22.

"Because of this verdict, you will be subject of much scrutiny," he said, thanking them for their diligence. "You've been a very good jury."

The jury will decide on whether Peterson should be sentenced to life in prison without parole or death by lethal injection. Second-degree murder is punishable by at least 15 years to life in prison.

After the jury foreman had been excused Wednesday, the jury deliberated about eight hours before reaching its verdicts today.

The 2-year-old case, which became nightly fodder for nationwide cable TV talk shows, struck a particular chord with women, some of whom made special trips from the Midwest and East to visit Modesto and drive by the green house on Covena Avenue where Laci Peterson had decorated a nursery for the son she had expected.

Women and men who followed every twist and turn explained the same fascination: She was pregnant and so pretty, and he went out and had an affair. Why didn't he just divorce her and pay child support?

Only a monster, one man said, could kill his wife on the eve of her giving birth to his son.

That the tragedy took place against a backdrop of middle America - housing tracts and big-box stores amid miles of vineyards and almond orchards - made it resonate all the more.

Laci Peterson had grown up on a dairy outside Modesto, where her father's family, the Rochas, had been milking cows for half a century. Modesto, which is 90 miles west of San Francisco, was a town caught between its farming past and suburban future.

Laci Peterson seemed at ease in both worlds. If dragging the main wasn't nearly the scene it had been when filmmaker George Lucas grew up there - a hot-rod culture captured in his film "American Graffiti" - Modesto still felt provincial. At the edge of town across the railroad tracks, the big archway still reads: "Modesto: Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health."

Laci Peterson, a feisty child with flashing brown eyes and a perfect smile, became a cheerleader at Downey High School. When college beckoned, she did what a lot of youths in the San Joaquin Valley do. She headed over the mountain to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, far enough away to feel liberated, but not too far in case she got homesick. It was there, after receiving an award as the outstanding freshman in ornamental horticulture, that she met Scott Peterson.

He was the youngest of seven children, a jock but not in the rugged sort of way. The son of a San Diego businessman who owned a crate and packing company, he grew up on the golf course. For a time, Scott Peterson entertained dreams of going pro like Phil Mickelson, his teammate at the University of San Diego High School. But as Scott's relationship with Laci grew more serious, he began to focus on a business path. After graduation, boosted by a loan from his father, he and Laci opened a sports bar, The Shack, in San Luis Obispo.

Their marriage appeared perfect to Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, who had gone through a messy divorce from her husband, Dennis Rocha. As Laci Peterson made plans for a family, she felt the pull of Modesto again. Scott Peterson left the bar business and agreed to the move. They bought a three-bedroom, two-bath house for $177,000 in an upscale neighborhood near La Loma Park.

He got a job as a fertilizer salesman, and she worked as a substitute teacher. Family and friends said she poured most of her energies into being the perfect housewife. She loved to cook and entertain, and couldn't get enough of Martha Stewart. The only hint of suburban rebellion was the small sunflower tattooed on one ankle.

The news that Laci Peterson was pregnant seemed to make her glow, her mother and younger sister said. As Christmas 2002 approached, the invitations to the baby shower were already in the mail.

Most mornings, Laci Peterson took their golden retriever for a walk in the park. On the morning of Dec. 24, 2002, the dog was loose in the front yard with its collar and leash.

Laci Peterson, four weeks shy of giving birth, had disappeared.

By his own account, Scott Peterson had left the house at 9:30 a.m. that day and driven to a marina in Berkeley. He said he wanted to go fishing in his new 14-foot aluminum boat. He returned home late that afternoon and promptly called his mother-in-law, telling her that his wife was missing.

In the days that followed, Modesto rallied to find Laci Peterson. Just a year earlier, the town had been convulsed by the murder of Chandra Levy, the local girl who went to Washington, D.C., to be an intern and had a relationship with local Rep. Gary Condit. Unlike Levy, who disappeared 3,000 miles away, the Peterson mystery was right on their doorsteps.

On foot and horseback, grim-faced dairymen, many sharing the Rochas' Portuguese heritage, combed the neighborhoods and farm fields. Family and friends set up a command center at a downtown hotel and passed out 25,000 fliers to scores of volunteers. Truckers sprinkled the fliers on their north and south routes. On shop windows and utility poles as far away as Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Mexico, there was Laci Peterson with her gleaming smile.

It didn't take long for the whispers to grow. Scott Peterson, while joining the search for his wife, was caught laughing and uttering sentiments that didn't seem to fit the portrait of a worried husband at wits end.

Laci Peterson's mother stood by him, telling reporters that he loved his wife too much. But her father, a small, powerfully built man dressed in Wrangler jeans and roper boots, began to wonder. "I hope it's not him," Dennis Rocha said. "How can I explain that?"

The nation had become increasingly obsessed with a series of dramas and tragedies involving the famous and powerful. In the manner of "Nicole and O.J.," "Monica and Bill," "Chandra and Gary," the everyday Petersons, "Laci and Scott," became the tabloid media's new fixation.

Many of the same of celebrity lawyers, former federal prosecutors and talk-show hosts took aim on cable TV. In a bizarre twist, some of those pundits then assumed the role of main players.

Lawyer Mark Geragos, who had gone on "Larry King Live" to excoriate Scott Peterson more than once, emerged soon after as his lead attorney. Lawyer Gloria Allred, Geragos' TV nemesis who had represented the family of Nicole Brown Simpson, then entered the case.

Scott Peterson, it turned out, had been hiding a lover just down Highway 99 in Fresno. Amber Frey, a massage therapist, chose Allred to bring her out of the shadows.

Allred portrayed the 28-year-old Frey as a victim of Scott Peterson's double life. She was an evangelical Christian and hard-working single mother who had no idea that he was married. But as the media began digging into Frey's past, another picture emerged. Frey had had an earlier affair with a male stripper whose wife was seven months pregnant.

Modesto police wanted the public to know that they were tracking down 175 high-risk parolees and sex offenders who lived nearby. In truth, they were focusing almost exclusively on Scott Peterson, listening to his phone conversations with Frey, who was operating the tape machine, and piecing together a strong circumstantial case.

Then in the spring of 2003, nearly four months after her disappearance, the bodies of Laci Peterson and her son, his umbilical cord still attached, washed up on a rocky shore in San Francisco Bay. A woman walking her dog had found the remains a few miles from where Scott Peterson had told police he had been fishing.

By now, he had traded in his Land Rover for a truck and was spending more time in San Diego playing golf. What he didn't know was that detectives had hidden a radio transponder on the truck and were tracking his every move. As lab technicians made positive identifications of the leg bones and muscle tissue, the police hurried to arrest him.

Scott Peterson had the look of a man on the run, with bleached hair and a matching goatee. He was carrying $15,000 in cash and a load of camping gear when he was arrested.

As the trial moved from Modesto to Redwood City because of pre-trial publicity, the media hordes followed, creating a five-month spectacle in the heart of this waterfront community of 80,000. Each morning between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., more than 100 people clutching coffee cups and newspapers gathered in front of the San Mateo County Courthouse, hoping to be among the 27 to win a rattle ticket that would give them a seat at the trial.

Inside the courtroom, Peterson's, father, Lee, and mother, Jackie, who breathed with the help of plastic tubes connected to a canister of oxygen, took the same seat a few feet behind their son, who dressed impeccably in tailored suits and bold ties, but otherwise wore an indifferent face. On the opposite side, a few feet behind the prosecutors, sat Laci's mother and stepfather, Ron Grantski, and a handful of other relatives.

From summer to winter, more than 183 witnesses and 48,000 pages of investigative reports and other documents were trotted out before the jury. But it was Peterson's own recorded voice, in his conversations with Frey, that seemed to define the trial. In the days after Laci's disappearance, as he was still attempting to flatter and romance Frey, Peterson's approach was full of syrup. As Frey began to pepper him, at the cops' insistence, with more pointed questions about his double life, he began to sound defensive, needy and whiney.

The job of mopping up the mess that Scott Peterson had made of his life fell to Geragos, fresh from his defense of Winona Ryder, the actress and shoplifter. Tall, tan and beefy, he strode purposely into court each day exuding all the confidence and power of a popular television personality, then wrapped an arm around Scott Peterson's shoulder and set him at ease with humorous asides whispered into his ear.

A few feet away sat prosecutor Rick Distaso, an athletic former military lawyer from Modesto. He was several inches shorter, with a studious expression and small-town manner that suggested an indifference to high-profile legal jousting. Indeed, throughout the five-month trial, Distaso quietly droned on and on, steadily building a case in an unemotional tone.

Refereeing the case was Judge Delucchi, a short, balding, owlish man with an easy smile.

The trouble started in November 2002, Distaso said, when Scott Peterson met Frey at a bar, slept with her the first night and then started scheming to get out from under the burdens of a lousy job and a dull marriage, all complicated by a baby on the way.

In early December 2002, Scott Peterson displayed a sudden interest in saltwater fishing, Distaso said. He researched tides and currents in the bay. He bought the aluminum boat, fishing lures and a two-day fishing license. He also fashioned at least five concrete anchors.

All the while, he was continuing his affair with Frey, wining and dining her, and filling her ears with promises of an exciting life together.

Distaso said Scott Peterson strangled or smothered his eight-months pregnant wife either on the night of Dec. 23, 2002, or as she dressed the following morning. Then he wrapped her body in a blue tarp and put the 153-pound corpse in the back of his truck, covering it with the family's backyard patio umbrellas, Distaso said.

Scott Peterson drove to San Francisco Bay and loaded the body into his boat and motored out to sea, Distaso said. A strand of Laci's dark brown hair got caught in his yellow-handled needle-nose pliers. Peterson attached concrete anchors to his wife's body to sink it, Distaso said, and then he dumped the corpse overboard.

"Who'd suspect him?" Distaso asked rhetorically in court. "Everybody thinks he's the perfect husband, the perfect gentleman."

No one was more surprised than Scott Peterson when news reports about his wife's disappearance riveted the nation. Yet, even as the public mourned for his wife and held candlelight vigils in her memory, Scott Peterson was making hundreds of romantic calls to Frey.

In some of those calls, he claimed to be cavorting beneath the Eiffel Tower in Paris with friends named Pascual and Francois. In others, he talked about Europe's beautiful churches and complained that he had fallen and hurt himself while jogging on cobblestones in Paris. All the while, he had never left the San Joaquin Valley.

The case "exploded in his face," Distaso said, in January 2003, when Frey announced at a news conference that she had been his lover.

The fact that the bodies of Laci Peterson and her fetus had washed up in the area where Scott Peterson had gone fishing that day was alone enough to convict him, Distaso argued.

Geragos countered that Laci Peterson was most likely kidnapped by strangers - perhaps members of a satanic cult or homeless people at the park. They threw her into the bay to frame his client, he said. Geragos' theory appeared to fall flat; he never brought to the stand a lineup of promised witnesses who were going to buttress it.

Geragos' key witness, Dr. Charles March, proved less than compelling. March had been touted as a fertility expert who would show that Laci Peterson's son had died sometime after Dec. 24. Such evidence, Geragos said, would clear his client of wrongdoing because he had been under constant surveillance from that time on.

On the stand, however, March conceded that he may have been mistaken in saying Conner Peterson was born alive on or around Dec. 29. Geragos abruptly ended his six-day case after calling 14 witnesses. Scott Peterson was never called to testify.

In his closing arguments, Geragos urged jurors to stick to the evidence and not prejudge Scott Peterson even though he "cheated on Laci and feels like a 14-carat [expletive] for doing it."

In his closing remarks, however, Distaso surprised many in the audience by giving a passionate, forceful and coherent argument that some trial court analysts compared to a fiery church sermon.

The prosecution's case lasted 19 weeks, called 174 witnesses, and featured hundreds of tape-recorded telephone conversations between Peterson and Frey, who became a star witness for the prosecution.

Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred, said today outside the courthouse after the verdicts were announced: "I think this is justice."
Times staff writer Lee Romney and correspondent Robert Hollis contributed to this report.

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Scott Peterson Convicted in Murder of Wife Laci

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In a case that became a real-life soap opera for millions of Americans, Scott Peterson was found guilty today of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Laci, who was eight months pregnant with their first child when she vanished on Christmas Eve 2002 from her home in Modesto.

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Rick Distaso gave the final statement on November 1st, saying ¨The defendant strangled or smothered Laci Peterson the night of December 23rd or in the morning while she was getting ready on the twenty-fourth¨

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Scotts lawyer, Mark Geragos, claimed he was ¨stone-cold innocent¨

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The Unborn Victims of Violence, or the Laci and Conner law was passed on April 1st, 2004.

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Summary: H.R.1997 - 108th Congress (2003-2004)All Information (Except Text)

Shown Here:
Public Law No: 108-212 (04/01/2004)
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on February 26, 2004. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 or Laci and Conner's Law - Provides that persons who commit certain Federal violent crimes (conduct that violates specified provisions of the Federal criminal code, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, or specified articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) ) and thereby cause the death of, or bodily injury to, a child who is in utero shall be guilty of a separate offense. Requires the punishment for that separate offense to be the same as provided under Federal law for that conduct had that injury or death occurred to the unborn child's mother (or in the case of a UCMJ violation, to be such punishment as a court-martial may direct, which shall be consistent with the punishments prescribed by the President for such conduct had that injury or death occurred to the unborn child's mother).

Declares that such a separate offense does not require proof that: (1) the person who committed the offense knew or should have known that the victim of the underlying offense was pregnant; or (2) the defendant (or accused) intended to harm the unborn child. Prohibits imposition of the death penalty for such an offense.

Bars prosecution under this Act: (1) of any person for conduct relating to an abortion for which the consent of the pregnant woman (or a person authorized by law to act on her behalf) has been obtained or is implied by law or for conduct relating to any medical treatment of the pregnant woman or her unborn child; or (2) of any woman with respect to her unborn child.

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H.R.1997 - 108th Congress (2003-2004): Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004

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Summary: H.R.1997 - 108th Congress (2003-2004)All Information (Except Text) (This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on February 26, 2004. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

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The trial was relocated from Modesto to Redwood CA, and was set to start on January 26th, 2004.

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The trial ended on November 18th, and it was approved for an actual trial.

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Scotts preliminary hearing started on October 29th.

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Laci and Conners funeral was on August 29th.

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Laci and Conners memorial was on May 4th, what would've been Lacis 28th birthday.

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Scott had his arraignment and couldn't get bail, and could also be facing the death penalty.

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Lacis due date came on February 10th, 2003.

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Laci and her son, Conner were found on April 13th and 14th, 2003.

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May 30, 2003 -- Laci Peterson's head and parts of her limbs were missing and plastic tape was wrapped around the neck of her child, according to the full autopsy and coroner's photographs exclusively seen by ABCNEWS.

According to the autopsy, the skin of the child was not decomposed at all, though the right side of his body was mutilated, and the placenta and umbilical cord were not found with the body.

The autopsy said that the cause of Laci Peterson's death was undetermined, and there was no evidence of man-made wounds, despite the fact that her head and all or part of her limbs were missing.

Peterson's body was so badly decomposed it barely looked like a body after it was found in San Francisco Bay last month. However, the autopsy report showed her cervix was intact.

Experts are divided over whether the new revelations about the condition of Laci Peterson's body and that of her child will help prosecutors or attorney's representing Laci's husband, Scott, who has been charged in the case.

On Thursday, sources close to the investigation told ABCNEWS the sealed autopsy report indicated a piece of nylon tape was looped around the child's neck when it washed ashore last month, and that there was a laceration or tear on the tiny body.

There also was tape on Laci Peterson's lower torso, outside her clothing, when her body was found April 14, a day after her baby's remains were recovered, the sources said.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden told Good Morning America that the limbs and head were probably removed before Laci was put in the water.

Baden, the former chief pathologist for New York City, said it could not be determined from the autopsy how the baby came out of Laci's body.

"It does tell us that the baby was in the womb for many months after Laci was in the water and Laci in fact protected the baby until the baby came out shortly before the bodies were found," Baden said.

He said the tape on Laci's body and a cement bag that was found washed up on the shore near the baby could be important evidence.

"If any of that matches cement or duct tape that they've come in contact with in removing stuff from Scott's place of work or place of residence, that's heavy evidence," he said.

Defense Strategy

Legal experts say that the autopsy leaks, along with recent statements from Scott Peterson's lawyers including one that Laci might have been killed by a satanic cult, could be part of a strategy by the defense to create doubts in the minds of prospective jurors even before the case goes to trial.

"The defense wants to try to get out as much information as possible to instill reasonable doubt that there might be other people involved in this other than their client," said criminal law expert Leonard Birdsong, a professor at Barry University School of Law in Orlando, Fla.

"I haven't been involved in the investigation, but having done some defense work in my time, if you have something that might help you instill reasonable doubt, I would certainly try to float it," he said.

As for the autopsy report itself, it does not have to indicate a cause of death to be a strong piece of evidence in a murder trial, even if it is only one more piece of circumstantial evidence.

"The autopsy doesn't have to have, for instance, a bullet wound in the head in order to know that if somebody threatened somebody, they have done things to them in the past, they make up stories to explain where they were supposedly on the night of the incident, people saw them going to the location, people saw them coming back," said law professor Richard Kling of the Chicago Kent College of Law.

However, because the autopsy does not say how Laci Peterson died, the prosecution will still have some work to do to make their case, he said.

"Somebody is going to have to come in and testify that what caused the death is a-b-c, blunt instrument, stabbing, shooting," he said. "More significantly, somebody's going to have to talk about the manner of death - they're going to have to classify it either as an accident, or a homicide or suicide and they're going to have to do that somehow."

Family Outrage

The grisly new details could fuel speculation as to whether the baby ever lived outside the womb, which defense attorneys could use to undermine the prosecution's case against Scott Peterson, Laci's husband and the father of the child they had planned to name Conner.

The prosecutors handling the case said Thursday that since the autopsy was starting to be leaked to the media, the whole report should be released. They filed a motion late Thursday to unseal the autopsy.

Kim Petersen, a spokeswoman for Laci Peterson's family, said on Thursday that the family would trust the prosecutors' judgement about whether the full reports should be unsealed, but they were horrified by the leaks of details from the autopsy reports.

However, Superior Court Judge Al Girolami ruled tonight that both autopsy reports should remain sealed and said releasing the information could prejudice public opinion before the trial.

The judge also indicated that he may issue a gag order preventing both sides from speaking to the media.

Unanswered Questions

While the defense and prosecution dispute what the latest revelations might mean, experts also appear divided.

When asked what the tape on the bodies might mean to the case, Robert Pugsley, a law professor at the Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, told ABCNEWS Radio: "This 8-month-old fetus was the direct intended victim, as well as the mother, of the homicidal activities of the murderer.

"This is a clear indication that the state is perfectly justified - indeed, I think, obliged - to pursue the double-homicide case which they've already laid," he said.

But Dr. Robert Goldberg, a forensic pathologist in Marietta, Ga., said Thursday that there are a lot of unanswered questions involving the tape, making it too early to tell if it means the baby was killed, or who the killer is.

"It could have been picked up as some artifact in the water," Goldberg said. "The child could have been dead before this occurred, and this could just be a connection to keep the child weighted down."

Royal Oakes, a Los Angeles-based attorney, told ABCNEWS the tape revelation could present possibilities for the defense.

"A defense attorney's strategy, faced with this kind of bizarre evidence, is essentially going to be, 'What does this have to do with my client? What evidence is there that Scott Peterson did these things?' " Oakes said.

Prosecutors Dismiss Defense Theories

Laci Peterson, 27, of Modesto, Calif., was eight months pregnant when her husband reported her missing on Dec. 24. Scott Peterson, 30, was arrested April 18 and is being held without bail on two counts of murder. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Scott Peterson has acknowledged he was having an affair with a massage therapist, but he insists he never hurt his wife or the baby. His attorneys have suggested the pregnant woman may have been kidnapped and killed by a satanic cult. If there was evidence that the baby might have been born, that could be used to support the theory.

But investigators do not believe Laci was killed by a satanic cult, or that her baby ever lived on its own. "The autopsy in its entirety would not leave as much room for speculation," one source told ABCNEWS.

However, a defense source maintained the tape was tied around the baby's neck, the cut on the body appeared to have been made intentionally and the condition of the child was not consistent with a so-called coffin birth, in which a fetus is expelled from the body of a woman who died while pregnant.

ABCNEWS' Chris Vlasto, Taina Hernandez and Mike Gudgell contributed to this report.

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Autopsy: Laci Peterson's Head Was Missing

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May 30, 2003 -- Laci Peterson's head and parts of her limbs were missing and plastic tape was wrapped around the neck of her child, according to the full autopsy and coroner's photographs exclusively seen by ABCNEWS.

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Scott was arrested on March 18th.

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Lacis case was reclassified as a homicide at the beginning of March.

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Scott got a search warrant on his and Lacis house, his truck and a storage locker.

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Connie Chung had an interview with Sharon and Amy, Lacis sister.

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Connie Chung's Interview with the Rocha Family

CNN's CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT
Aired February 12, 2003 at 8:00 PM EST

CHUNG: Fifty days after Laci Peterson, 8 1/2 months pregnant, disappeared from her Modesto home, the closest thing to a new development is that someone vandalized the office of her husband, Scott Peterson. As far as police are saying publicly, they have no more leads to the vandalism than they do to Laci's disappearance.

Police were at Scott Peterson's home for about 10 minutes last night, but have still not said whether he is or is not a suspect in the disappearance.

Joining us tonight from Modesto from Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, Laci's brother Brent, and her sister Amy.

Thank you so much for being with us.

SHARON ROCHA, MOTHER OF LACI PETERSON: Thank you.

AMY ROCHA, SISTER OF LACI PETERSON: Thanks.

CHUNG: Sharon, I remember so vividly when you were speaking before a battery of microphones about Laci and crying. I'll tell you, I started crying, and I think everyone out there was crying. How are you holding up? I know this has to be so difficult for you.

S. ROCHA: It's extremely difficult. We just take it one minute at a time. I know every day brings something new to us, but I literally take it one minute at a time. One minute, I can have a smile on my face and the next minute, I'm crying. I think about her all of the time, all of the time.

CHUNG: Sure. Brent, I know that you wanted more information from Scott Peterson. You want him to be more forthright. What do you think he has not told?

BRENT ROCHA, BROTHER OF LACI PETERSON: I don't know what he has or has not told. I'm not privy to that information. What I do know is that he hasn't been as forthcoming as we would like to see him. And, from our perspective, he has not cooperated with the Modesto Police Department to the extent that we would be happy with.

CHUNG: Do you believe that he's actually concealing information?

B. ROCHA: I have no reason to believe that he is or is not concealing information, no.

CHUNG: I'm wondering, Amy, when did you begin to doubt Scott Peterson? Was
it before or after you learned about this affair?

A. ROCHA: It was more after I learned about the affair. That just made me -- it's hard to believe, because he hid that from our family and we didn't know. And he had a chance to tell our family the truth in the beginning about that and he didn't. So, yes, my family has changed after that.

CHUNG: Sharon, Scott Peterson did a number of interviews. He acknowledged the affair, but he also said that Laci was OK with it. Do you think that was true?

S. ROCHA: No. I don't think that Laci knew about the affair. I really -- I really don't believe that she knew about it.

Laci was the kind of person that -- she was a happy, upbeat person. We would have noticed a difference in her attitude, in her behavior. Whether she said anything to anybody or not, there would have been a definite and obvious difference in her attitude. And if she had known about it, I truly feel that she would have told somebody. If not have said something to me, she would have said something to at least one of her friends. And nobody was aware of it.

CHUNG: Sharon, did you question anything else you heard coming out of Scott Peterson's mouth when he did these interviews?

S. ROCHA: There was just a couple of things. That was one of the things that was questionable to me.

And another was that he had told the police on the night of December 24th that he had had an affair. We were a little concerned about that, because we had asked him about it a couple of days after Laci had disappeared and he had denied that to us.

CHUNG: So, you do believe that there is some level of duplicity there?

S. ROCHA: Yes. There's been a difference in some of his answers to the same questions.

CHUNG: Brent, when you watched these interviews with Scott Peterson, did they make you angry?

B. ROCHA: Oh, yes, Connie.

Those interviews really bothered me, to see him say some of the things that he said. But, at the same time, I was very happy to see him talking to the media, because there were numerous things that he said that were not true or accurate. And I think that was the positive result of those interviews.

CHUNG: Such as?

B. ROCHA: Inaccuracies such as when he told police about the affair. There was also a few other local channel interviews that he did -- and just quite a few things he misstated himself on or gave different answers from what he previously said before.

CHUNG: Sharon, you had been so supportive of your son-in-law, Scott Peterson, until you found out that he indeed had had an affair. Do you believe that Scott Peterson is capable of doing something terrible to your daughter?

S. ROCHA: The way they were as a couple, we would never be able to believe that. They were just so loving towards each other. They were always happy together. And there was no indication that there was ever any kind of a problem between the two of them.

CHUNG: Sharon, if there's anything you'd like to say, we'd love to give you the opportunity. If Laci happens to be listening out there, what would you like to say to her?

S. ROCHA: I'd like to tell her that I love her very, very much, and I miss her tremendously, and I want her home. And we're looking for her and not to -- not to give up, that we're still searching. We'll never give up looking for Laci.

CHUNG: And do you have anything you'd like to say to Scott Peterson, because I know you have not been in contact with him?

S. ROCHA: No, not at this time.

CHUNG: All right, Sharon, Brent, Amy, we so appreciate your being with us.

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Connie Chung's Interview with the Rocha Family

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Connie Chung's Interview with the Rocha Family CNN's CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT Aired February 12, 2003 at 8:00 PM EST CHUNG: Fifty days after Laci Peterson, 8 1/2 months pregnant, disappeared from her Modesto home, the closest thing to a new development is that someone vandalized the office of her husband, Scott Peterson.

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Sharon is on the phone with Scott, saying she knows he killed Laci, but he keeps denying it, saying ¨I dont have any remorse¨ ¨I didn't do anything¨

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Amber Frey had a press conference about her and Scott's affair.

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Sharon realized Scott killed Laci.

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National Enquirer was going to post an article about Scott having an affair with Amber Frey.

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Red-hot romantic photos obtained exclusively by The ENQUIRER could land Scott Peterson on death row!
They show smiling Scott - who swore to cops he was a faithful husband - fondling and passionately embracing his secret lover Amber Frey just days before the murder of his pregnant wife Laci.

The issue that goes on sale Friday features eight pages of Laci Peterson coverage, chronicling the affair that cops believe led to Laci's murder, revealing Laci's final showdown with Scott days before she vanished Ã¢Â€Â¦ and much more.

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THE AFFAIR THAT LED TO LACI'S MURDER | National Enquirer

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Red-hot romantic photos obtained exclusively by The ENQUIRER could land Scott Peterson on death row! They show smiling Scott - who swore to cops he was a faithful husband - fondling and passionately embracing his secret lover Amber Frey just days before the murder of his pregnant wife Laci.

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Sharon saw Scott as a free men for the last time on January 14th.

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Amber Frey comes to the police about Scott's affair with her, which he denied having.

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Lacis reward went up to $500,000.

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Rene Tomlinson(family friend) told Scott that everyone was on his side because police wanted to do a polygraph and he rejected, he replied with ¨You're making me feel bad¨

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A press conference is held to talk about Lacis disappearance since they havent found her yet, has $125,000 reward.

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Laci goes missing on December 24th, 2002.

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Sharon talked to Laci for the last time while planning their xmas eve party.

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Scott meets Amber Frey, who he had an affair with, she didn't know he was married.

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Scott started showing red flags when Laci was around 2 months pregnant.

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Laci and Scott finally get pregnant, but he didn't want kids. ¨kind of hoping for infertility¨(they were having trouble getting pregnant)

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Scott has an affair right after Laci moves for a job.

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Laci graduates from college in December 1997.

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Laci and Scott get married on August 9th , 1997.

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Laci and Scott get engaged in December 1996.

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Laci and Scott move in together in December 1994.

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Sharon(Lacis mom) was skeptical about Scott, thought he was too good to be true, but met him anyways. ¨I was delighted that she was falling in love, but I had concerns¨

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Laci met Scott Peterson at the Pacific Cafe where he worked.

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Laci graduated high school in 1993.

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At 7, she had a grapefruit sized tumor in her stomach, causing an infection and had to get it removed.

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Laci Rocha was born on May 4th, 1975. ¨Laci arrived right on time, on her due date of May 4th, 1975¨

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For Laci by Sharon Rocha
Published by Crown publishing in 2005