“Yeah, from December twenty-fourth on.”
“Did your wife find out?”
“I told my wife.”
“When?”
“In um, early December.”
“Did it cause a rupture in the marriage?”
“It was not um, a positive, obviously. It’s ah, inappropriate, but, it was not something that we weren’t um dealing with.”
“A lot of arguing?”
“No, no, um, I, I ya know, I can’t say that, that even, ya know, she was okay with the idea, but it wasn’t anything that would break us apart.”
“There wasn’t a lot of anger?”
“No.”
Sawyer was dubious. “Do you really expect people to believe that an eight-and-a-half-month pregnant woman learns her husband has had an affair and … [is] casual about it? Accommodating? Makes a peace with it?”
“Well, I, yeah, you don’t know, no one knows our relationship but us. Um, and that’s at peace with it, not happy about it.”
“Why did you tell her?”
“It was the right thing. There’s no other reason than that.” “And did you see her again after you told Laci?”
“Yes.”
“You saw Amber again?”
“I did.”
“But didn’t tell her?” Sawyer asked.
“Didn’t tell Laci?”
“Didn’t tell Amber.”
“No, no, no, yeah, that was definitely not the right thing.”
“Because again you know that people sitting at home have imagined that either you were in love with someone else, therefore you decided to get rid of this entanglement, namely your wife and your child, or, there was just an angry confrontation.”
“Neither of those was the case. It is, it’s that simple.”
“What about Laci’s family?’’’ Sawyer asked.
“They’re wonderful people. They’re obviously urn, upset with me about the romantic relationship with Amber. Urn, and they have little trust as they’ve expressed in the media to date. Urn, but I believe that they’re still looking for Laci and I would like to work with them and I think it, we’ll be together on this effort … continue to look for Laci.”
The investigators were astounded by Scott’s performance—from his claim that he immediately told the police about the affair, to the ridiculous assertion that he’d told Laci about Amber in early December, yet it caused “no real conflict” between the two of them. “Based on my knowledge of Laci through other family members and individuals close to her,” Grogan deadpanned in his report, “I found this to be very unlikely.”
After the segment aired, Scott received a call from Amber, who confronted him about his claim on the show that he didn’t love her. Scott explained that the media had cut out the part about him caring for her. “Obviously, I care about you,” he said.
Amber brought up the polygraph exam he had promised to take. Scott told her that he intended to find an examiner near her home. Amber asked about the cost of the test. Scott said about $750.
“The police do it for free,” she replied.
Scott chuckled, then told her that his phone was cutting out.
Next Scott called a company called Expert Polygraph Services of Fresno, and spoke to a polygrapher named Melvin King. Without identifying himself, he questioned King about the testing process.
“Primarily of interest to me, currently, is confidentiality,” Scott told him.
King assured him that everything was done in the strictest confidence. The polygrapher asked Scott why he was calling, and what he was looking to accomplish.
Scott told him it was personal.
“I’m gonna guess it has something to do with infidelity,” King said.
“You’re probably right on there,” Scott replied.
Thar day, Scott scheduled a meeting with his friend Brian Argain about selling his home. He also set up an interview with America’s Most Wanted for later that evening. Next, he rang his parents. Jackie answered the phone.
Scott told her that his lawyer, Kirk McAllister, and the Stanislaus County district attorney had met for dinner earlier in the week. During the meal, he said, the district attorney told McAllister that they were going to make Scott an offer. “The DA said ’If Scott tells us where the body is, we won’t kill him,’ ” Scott added.
“Oh, my God,” Jackie Peterson replied.
“Yeah, the DA thinks I’m guilty, too.”
Lee Peterson grabbed the receiver. “What were you saying about the DA?”
“Oh, he made me an offer. If I tell him where the body is, they won’t put me to death.”
“Oh geesh,” Lee responded.
Scott told his father that Kirk had to relay the offer because it is was part of his legal responsibility.
“He said they’re just struggling to find anything, you know that’s why they [the police] call me and all that weird stuff they’ve done, like go down and meet with you. They call me and say, ’We’re searching the Bay again, Scott.’ They’re just trying to, you know, crack people. He [Kirk McAllister] said that if they had the stuff that they say they have, I would be hooked up right now.”
“Kirk is pretty confident you’re in good shape, though?”
“Yeah, I mean, Kirk tells me I’m playing a deadly game here. But he is pretty confident.”
“Kirk says you’re playing a deadly game?” Jackie Peterson repeated.
“Yup.”
“Geez,” Jackie sighed.
“Kirk knows if the DA thinks they have enough to arrest me and they arrest me, there’s no bail, it’s a capital case,” Scott said.
“Can you handle that with no bail?” Jackie asked.
“God, I can’t imagine being in prison, you know, for who knows how long… . But they have to have something credible to go on,” Scott said. “They won’t and they can’t, so I’m not really worried about it.”
“I don’t think they have anything, they couldn’t have,” Lee Peterson said.
“No, there’s nothing to have,” Scott replied.
“No, that’s what I mean,” Lee said.
“Yeah, okay, there’s hair and, you know, skin in our cars,” Scott chuckled. “You know, but if that’s what they think they have …”
“I just wonder if Brocchini wouldn’t plant something because he’s so intent about solving this,” Jackie Peterson chimed in.
“There’s a possibility … there’s no question,” Scott said.
“What could he plant? He doesn’t have anything.” Lee Peterson asked.
“Oh, that’s true,” Scott agreed.
Then Scott started talking about arrangements for his dog, McKenzie. To them, it sounded as though Scott intended to give the golden retriever away. When Jackie Peterson asked her son if he would miss McKenzie, Scott choked up and said he was going to cry.
In a prior conversation, Jackie Peterson indicated that she had deposited $50,000 into her son’s bank account. The two had also talked about a trip to Mexico. During that same call, Scott had also told his mother that he had spoken to the producer of America’s Most Wanted and had “kicked the guy’s ass around.” He wished he’d dealt with this producer before he’d appeared on the show with Diane Sawyer. The two agreed that Scott would become more skilled doing TV interviews as he gained more experience on camera.
“Why would a grieving husband be so proud of kicking a producer’s ass?” police wondered. “For a grieving husband who should be showing appreciation for such a show that has the desire to keep his wife’s face fresh in the minds of millions of viewers,” Investigator Jacobson noted, this was odd behavior indeed.
Jackie asked Scott if “this guy from America’s Most Wanted was going to help with the search.” Scott said he thought the upcoming show would generate more tips on the case, and said his interview went well.
“People are more likely to call in tips to the show than to the po-lice,” Jackie said, adding that the host said he passes on the tips to polic
e. But Jackie said she was not sure she wanted to do that because “you’ll never hear them again.”
Scott told his mother that when the program aired an earlier story about Laci, Brocchini went to the studio to help take calls himself.
“Huh, then what did he do with them?” Jackie asked.
“I don’t know,” Scott chuckled. “He probably threw out the ones he didn’t like.”
“Yeah, that’s what I feel about him. I wish he didn’t have such an agenda.”
As their conversation continued, Jackie and Scott lashed out at Kim Peterson, referring to her as that “little witch” and insinuating that she had discouraged the family from appearing on the show for a long time.
As part of the investigation, Detective Brocchini had contacted the producer of America’s Most Wanted. The producer told him that Scott had refused to answer a number of his questions, and had wanted a chance to edit the interview. When the program aired later in the week, it was highly critical of Scott.
The police also contacted District Attorney James Brazelton about the alleged offer to McAllister. Again, Scott was lying. There was never an “offer.” Instead, Brazelton recalled that he’d run into Kirk McAllister in the parking lot of the courthouse several days prior, and in what he recalled as a fifteen-second conversation he told McAllister “his boy might be able to avoid having the needle in his arm if he tells us where the body is so the family can have a de-cent burial.”
McAllister replied, “That’s an attractive offer, but Scott doesn’t know where she’s at.” Brazelton said he’d never discussed the case with Scott’s lawyer over dinner. In fact, he had never formally met with McAllister to discuss the case.
As the police noted, Scott reacted to all this talk of the death penalty with a startling lack of emotion.
The police were also puzzled by Lee Peterson’s question to his son about whether his attorney thought he was in “good shape.” “Apparently, there is more to know about Scott Peterson’s involvement with Laci’s disappearance, which would have prompted that question,” Steve Jacobson wrote. “Scott responded back that his attorney told him he’s ’playing a deadly game here.’
“I know that Kirk McAllister is a very respected, seasoned criminal defense attorney. If, in fact, he made this comment to Scott, it indicates the seriousness of what he knows Scott’s involvement to be and the consequences of playing such a game with law enforcement,” Jacobson continued. “In an effort to have his client stop ’playing the game’ or to show him the seriousness of the ’game,’ Kirk tells him it will have the ultimate consequence, that being death.”
As Jacobson noted, McAllister’s remarks elicited a series of “self-serving” statements from Scott. “Not once do you hear Scott becoming upset, or adamantly proclaiming his innocence,” Jacobson wrote in the report. “Instead, what is heard is his concern for being in prison ’for who knows how long.’ Scott even has to be reminded by his dad that the police would not plant any evidence because there is none. And Lee Peterson is right, the police would be unable to plant a body because one can’t be found, and chances are, it never will be.”
Scott’s comments about McKenzie “indicated that Scott and his dog would be parting ways.” “There appeared to be a strong bond between Scott and his dog, one in which Scott says brings tears to his eyes as he watches him at the sliding glass door,” Jacobson also noted. “Yet, while grieving from the loss of his wife, he will now be separated from his dog for an undetermined amount of time but will be afforded the opportunity later in life to get the dog back. I ask the question, where is Scott going?”
Based on everything they had heard so far, Jacobson noted, “Scott may be contemplating two things: (1) being arrested and jailed for a ’long time’ or (2) fleeing the United States of America in an attempt to avoid prosecution. Scott has shown more genuine emotion from the separation of his dog than the loss of his wife, Laci Peterson.”
Faced with no other choice, the police decided to meet with the district attorney and try to persuade him to file a case—or, at the very least, to stop Scott Peterson from leaving the country.
Early on January 29, the police recorded a call between Scott and his Tradecorp supervisor abroad. When his boss asked whether he would be attending a Tradecorp meeting in Mexico in the coming days, Scott said he would be there.
The call indicated that Scott might not be attempting to flee the jurisdiction, but was simply attending a conference south of the border. Still, detectives contacted Scott’s boss and asked that he cancel any future trips for his employee.
That same morning, the second half of Scott’s taped Good Morning America interview was broadcast. This time, Scott was shown seated with members of his immediate family. After viewing the program, Scott called his brother Mark.
“I think I may have, and it’s entirely possible I told them wrong about the girlfriend on air.” He was acknowledging that he had lied in saying that he’d told the police about Amber. Scott believed that Sawyer picked up on the discrepancy because she announced after the interview that police sources were disputing the statement.
“So, I screwed up,” Scott said.
“Did you correct it today?” Mark asked.
“No, no I didn’t.”
“So, you misanswered [sic]. Is that what you are saying?”
“I must have. I did not tell the police about her that night.”
That day, with no attorney present, Scott sat down at his home for a series of additional media interviews. During the tapings, he addressed the $250,000 life insurance policies he said that he and Laci had taken out on each other when they purchased their home two years earlier. He reiterated that this was done long before Laci disappeared.
Real estate was also on Scott’s mind. Later that day, he also spoke to his friend Brian Argain for a second time about the sale of 523 Covena. Brian suggested that Scott speak with his attorney to find out if he and Laci were both on the title. If so, he might have to get the court’s approval before selling the house.
By day’s end, Scott was on the phone to the Modesto PD complaining that members of the press were banging on his door. When the cops arrived, there was no one in the area. The police learned that a radio shock jock had been outside Scott’s home earlier, with a bullhorn, screaming out an offer of $64,000 to Scott if he would take a polygraph. Other reporters had also been on his property, rattling his gate in attempts to speak to him. By the time cops arrived, they had all dispersed. Detective Grogan was alerted to the situation, but his attempts to reach Scott by phone failed.
When Scott finally returned Grogan’s call, the detective let it be known that he’d seen his interview with Diane Sawyer.
“You’ll probably see it um … they caught me answering a question about that I told you about a girlfriend, but it’s not true, we both know that,” Scott said.
“Okay,” Grogan responded. “Well, I understand there was a circus of media over there at the house too, and bullhorns … ”
“Yeah, we had a couple of shock jocks here screaming with the bullhorn.”
“All right. Well how are you doing?”
“I’m losing it. I miss her …” Scott choked up. “I got so much to say that I haven’t been able to function at all, haven’t called adult friends, just … I can’t even talk but I’m trying. But I’m just a mess without her.”
“Well, there is a lot of stuff going on right now,” the detective sighed. “With the press and ah, I mean it looks like most of that stuff is kinda turning the wrong direction on ya.”
“I know it, you know I did the press and every question I answered today I gave the website, the phone number, I didn’t see any of it, but I’m guessing they didn’t put a damn thing in there. It’s just unbelievable. They’re not helping me find my wife. And I know the dogs you brought out, they’re looking for her right now. Yeah, they need to be, I need them so bad to be looking for her. Ah … I need her back. Tell me there’s some leads, tell me something the
re, to look for.”
“Well, I’m not telling ya that there’s anything that’s pointing any direction … right now, that is, somewhere other than you.”
“No.”
“I mean … you and I both know what happened to Laci.”
“Do you know what happened to her?”
“We both do.”
“Craig, I need to know what happened to her. Are you telling me you know what happened to her?”
“Scott, I mean let’s be serious with one another.”
“Well I know where we’re looking for her. And I think we’re probably gonna find her over there in the bay.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a matter of time.”
“Craig, I had nothing to do with Laci’s disappearance. Hey, ah, I’m gonna go.”
“Scott, what I’m offerin’ ya is an opportunity here to end all of this nonsense.”
“I’m gonna go find her, Craig.”
“Why don’t you come back here and sit down with me and tell me what happened.”
“I’m not involved in my wife’s disappearance. We’re gonna find her. And I need your help doing that and I just hope your depart-ment’s following leads. I want to find her, that’s all there is to it. Yeah, I’m going now. Bye.”
As January came to a close, the police were forging ahead with a renewed focus on Scott. By now, they had received 5,800 tips on the case. Scott, meanwhile, had sold Laci’s Land Rover to Robert’s Auto World for $7,500, and purchased a 2002 white Dodge truck.
Two women also came forward claiming affairs with Scott Peterson while he was married. Police found both Janet Ilse and Katy Hansen’s claims credible. In addition, a third woman calling from the Las Vegas area was also claiming an affair with Peterson. While researching this book, I have heard references to other women— including a few members of the “mile-high club” who became intimately acquainted with Scott while flying overseas—but to date the reports have never been confirmed.
As Brocchini sought more information on the alleged affairs, Grogan sat down with Sharon and Amy Rocha to look through Laci’s jewelry once again. The detective wanted to learn if either woman noticed any items absent from the collection. Both agreed that the only piece that appeared to be missing was a pair of one-carat diamond stud earrings Laci typically wore. Their claim was in stark contrast to Scott’s statement that his wife had been wearing several valuable pieces when he last saw her on Christmas Eve.
A Deadly Game Page 30