Scott Peterson /// Part 2 /// Episode: 246 | Forensic Files

Heat. [music] [music] Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever
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enough of the business. >> All right, Captain. Everybody, gather around, grab a share, grab a beer. Let's
talk some true crime. >> [music] [music] [music] >> Yes. Um, my son-in-law Paul, he went
playing golf morning at 9:30. My daughter's been missing since this morning. She's 8 months pregnant. She
took her dog for a walk in the park. >> Mhm. >> The dog came home with just a leaf shop.
>> The dog came back without your daughter, >> right? >> Okay. What does your address say, sir?
>> Well, and my >> is that where is that where she >> It's over at Baloma Park is where she
went for the walk. I can't remember. >> What's your cell phone number, sir? In case you get disconnected.
>> It's um um 404. >> Uhhuh. Uh she can't believe that a little more. >> Okay. So what's the address where she
lives and she's missing from her address? >> Are there between and drive? >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Is that a house or what is your name? >> My name is Ron. I'm >> okay. What is your name?
>> G R A N S K Y. >> R A N P S K I. Her husband Scott Peterson is on his way over the far title.
>> What's your stepdaughter's name? >> Scott Peterson. >> No. No. Your stepdaughter?
>> Lacy Peterson. >> Lacy. P E R S O N. Right. >> P E R S O N. >> And she's white, black, Hispanic, Asian.
>> Uh, she's Portuguese and white. >> How old is she? >> She's 26. >> What time did she leave the house and
come back? >> That we don't know. We just got a call from our son-in-law said he left the 20
at 9:30 to play golf. He worked at home >> about a half hour ago. Nowhere around.
>> Okay. When you walk up the dog, >> walked in and that park went down. >> Yeah.
>> Yes. 100 over there, you know, by the by the task. Okay. >> That's on. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Absolutely. >> And she's 8 months pregnant, you said. >> Pardon? >> She said she's 8 months pregnant.
>> Yes, ma'am. [music] [music] >> [music] >> On February 5th, 2003, Lacy Peterson's family, they step up
their criticism of their son-in-law, Scott Peterson, saying that he sold his pregnant wife's car and he was
considering selling the couple's house. Well, and like you always say, when somebody goes missing, when the family
stays in the area, that that's a sign of something. >> Yeah. More importantly, I think when
they leave the area, that's what always scares me. Especially when a person is is just lost,
>> you know, because especially when you have a child that goes missing, usually
the thought of the mother and the father is typically we don't want to move. We don't want to change our phone number.
We don't want to do anything be that will pre prevent our son or daughter from coming home.
>> Meaning that given the opportunity, if their son or daughter who is being held
captive has a window of time that's even 3 minutes long, if they can dial a phone
to call me and tell me where they might be or if they get away on foot or if they get away somehow from their captor
that they would return home at the very least. >> Right. And this um this husband
um is so worried about his wife, so worried about his unborn child that he he sells her car and he's so worried. So
he's thinking that maybe he should sell the house. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. And so what we do know for a
fact is he did sell their car, her car. Um, I don't can't say for certain, Captain,
but it might just be her family and her her parents that were saying that he was
considering selling the house. I don't know that that's fact, but still selling her Land Rover is a strange thing to do,
I would think. One, and then two, I don't really have a date for when this occurred. I don't know if we know the
exact date of when it did occur, but what was later reported at some point was that the nursery room, remember that
for the baby, the expected baby for Connor Peterson, >> they had already painted the room blue.
They had already decorated the room. It was sitting there waiting for the baby's
arrival. >> Mhm. >> Only thing that room was missing was the baby. And guess what? when his baby and
wife went missing at some point, he then starts to use that room for other things. I believe it was he used it for
storage or some point. He altered the room at some point. What I'm pointing out here is these are actions of a man
that I don't think is expecting these two to return. >> Right. And to play devil's advocate, his
reasoning is that the cops have my truck and I need a truck for work. So, I had to sell her Land Rover, which is pretty
much a truck, and he had to get a new truck. >> Yeah. Claiming he couldn't do his job or
whatever he needed his vehicle for using the Land Rover. And >> yeah, I I mean, I get it. But here again
is another situation of a guy that seems to have an answer for everything. And >> or if he doesn't have an answer, he
makes one up and then changes it later. >> No, that that's exactly what I mean. He's squirming and and weasling his way
out of what the truth is. The truth is he couldn't get further from Lacy and Connor fast enough is really what I
believe. And I again I don't have the date for this but I I have in my notes it was roughly like five weeks into the
disappearance, 6 weeks into the disappearance. At some point his words >> he's saying things like
>> at some point we have to move on. You know we >> Right. >> Right. Again, this is this is an
individual that that >> as opposed [snorts] to the mom saying Lacy's mom saying there'll never be
closure. There'll never be moving on from this. >> You know, that that's the huge
difference, right? >> And that's what I meant yesterday when I don't think, >> you know, I don't think I don't care
what his professor in high in college said about, you know, he was a model student. He was intelligent. I would
have loved to have a whole room full of Scott Petersons. I don't find this guy to be
>> dick noses. >> I don't find him to be intelligent at all. At least in the grand scheme of
this crime. >> I don't think I really don't think he thought that he was going to have to go
through this scrutiny that he was going to be under the microscope. I think he thought that if he set it up properly,
>> narcissist. Yeah. that at some point that they would just believe that she was abducted and everybody else would
move on. >> That he would move on and they would move on. Now we have February 10th. This
is when Lacy Peterson, this was her expected due date. It comes and it goes. And then February 17th, Scott Peterson's
mother, Jackie, she tells the Associated Press her family believes kidnapper kidnappers abducted Lacy Peterson with
the intentions of holding her captive until she delivered the baby. >> Yeah. And and one of the reasons why
they thought this was there was three women in Modesto that went missing, pregnant women that went missing from
that area and in a radius of I believe like 90 mi to 100 miles, there was there has been eight missing uh pregnant
women. Well, the whole case is going to take a turn, Captain, because on April 13th, 2003, the remains of a late term
male fetus were found on Richmond's Point Isabel Regional Shoreline north of the marina where Scott went fishing the
day Lacy disappeared. The next day, a partial female torso missing its hands, feet, and head were found in the same
area. Now later these bodies are in fact identified to be LA Lacy and Connor and
autopsies were performed but due to composition decomposition the exact cause of death could not be determined.
The medical examiner did note that Lacy had suffered some broken ribs prior to her death. So these injuries were not
caused they were not caused after death. This is when she was alive and prosecutors suggested that she could
have been suffocated or strangled inside the Peterson home. >> Right. So, this is going to put police
on high alert because now that they found the bodies, they're going to they're actually afraid that Peterson is
going to run for the border because he is uh hanging out in San Diego golfing down there with his family. Now, I have
to admit here, watching the coverage of this investigation and as the news was breaking, you know,
I didn't want them, you know, it's it's one of those situations, and we've been through this before on other cases we've
covered, Captain. It's a situation where you hope they find something, but you also hope they don't find something, you
know, because you want Lacy to be alive. You want Connor to be alive and well. And it it started feeling to me
like [snorts] this guy was not going to get arrested, like he was not going to have to go to trial because I was
ultimately starting to get very concerned that they were never going to recover her her remains.
>> Right. >> And I remember it being early April when I really started worrying about that.
And I worried about it a little more each day as the days went on leading up to April 13th when they finally made
that discovery. And then remember, we had to wait a whole day till they found the female remains and then a whole
another day to get confirmation that that was in fact the two that they had been missing and looking for for so
long. Now, at some point, they did however uh rule this investigation a homicide investigation. They
flip-flopped from missing persons to a homicide. And I think their thought was, at least for public perception, let's
turn this up. Let's crank up the heat on this thing and let the public know that
we consider this a homicide investigation because at that moment, the public opinion of this guy was so
bad, >> was so terrible, >> he was already convicted in the public's eyes. and let's make this happen so we
can get an actual arrest warrant for this guy because like you said I think even days before they found the bodies
they were concerned that he was going to flee at some point he was going to leave
the area. Now, after the bodies are found, Scott Peterson by this point mostly have been staying in San Diego
with his family, >> Santiago. >> And allegedly, he says this is to avoid media attention.
>> Right. >> Now, Scott Peterson was ultimately arrested on April 18th, 2003. This is
near uh a golf course where he claimed to that he was going to be meeting his father and his brother for a game of
golf. >> Right. Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? Well, Scott Peterson's naturally dark
hair, dark brown hair, had been dyed blonde. >> Um, his he was driving a Mercedes Benz.
>> Mhm. >> Which was quote unquote oversted with miscellaneous items, including nearly
$15,000 in cash, >> survival gear, camping equipment, several changes of clothes, four cell
phones, and his brother's driver's license. right now, which which I can't claim that he used the driver's license
>> um to get into the golf club at at some point. Um >> you you can or can't. >> That's what they claim that he used it
for, >> right? Uh they also claimed that the hair dying and the shaving to have a
goatee was actually um at this point he hired Mark Geros to um basically be his attorney and Mark
Geros said, "Hey, we we should alter your image. That way media will leave you alone."
>> Yeah. So, I want to talk a little bit about items found with Scott in the car
or on Scott because there are some conflicting reports >> from everything I found. You know, the
above items that I mentioned, the $15,000 in cash, survival gear, camping equipment, changes of clothes, four cell
phones, >> right? >> Just think about that for a second. All that cash and four cell phones and then
his brother's driver's license. those items I can confirm that multiple multiple multiple almost every report I
read state that those items is what was found on this guy. >> Um some items that I think are
interesting that aren't mentioned in every single report. One is that Scott Peterson had his driver's license on him
as well. This might back up Scott Peterson's father's story. The story I heard was that he was intending on using
his brother's driver's license um the day before to get a San Diego resident discount at the golf course. Now for the
golf course. >> Yeah, like you said, there's we can't confirm if that actually happened or
not. Uh but on that same topic, a couple reports, and this was from one in particular was from Fox News, states
that he had his brother's passport, which is a whole >> different bag of worms than uh than the
driver's license to get the discount, >> right? >> This is, hey, can I get the discount on
crossing the Mexican border? >> Right. But I'm I'm going to just uh believe his um his father on this one as
far as the driver light driver's license is concerned. >> Some reports also state that he had 12
Viagra pills, 200 sleeping pills. >> Well, when you're watching a lot of porn, you know, and you're a little
chubby and you can't get it up, you might need to pop some pills. >> Well, the combination of Viagra pills
and sleeping pills have me very concerned. suicide [snorts] by boner. >> No, >> I think with the multiple affairs that
he had during the course of his marriage >> Mhm. >> with the excessive porn watching after
the disappearance, >> which we now know is that was the death of his wife. >> Mhm.
>> I think that we are talking about an individual that is very likely a sex addict. Um, and my concern is that the
sleeping pills are not for him. That they're for other people and he intends to use the Viagra and the sleeping pills
at the same time. Just one person in the group's going to get the sleeping pills,
right? >> Scott Peterson's going to take the Viagra pills. >> Yeah. Yeah. Instead of giving them um
Arnold Palmer or Shirley Temple or a Jack and Coke, he's going to give them the old Bill Cosby. Now, we also have in
several several statements. I don't know how it didn't work its way into all of them, but I believe this to be true.
Either a dagger or a knife was found on him. Now, >> that's what she said. >> I think the confusing thing here is that
a lot of times survival gear is mentioned and it might just be getting lumped into that. Mhm.
>> Uh rope was also found in the vehicle which is probably again getting you know
>> roped >> roped into the survival gear. Um but the tricky thing here is we have a map quest
map printed off of Amber Fry's >> uh general area in which she lived in. And we have a guy who had said multiple
times that he would still like to meet her. And we have a girl, we have a lady, Amber Fry, who is maybe the number one
witness against [snorts] this individual, >> right? And I just a part of me really
wonders what his plan was because there is no way there's no way anybody's talking me out of that he that he wasn't
fleeing that he wasn't taking a one-way trip to you know this guy was going on a
permanent vacation. Well, and the way they arrested him is they they followed him and then they eventually they were
like, "Okay, we we we have to pull him over now." Uh because the second body was found. So, it wasn't like a body was
found and then he fled. But he had all the workings to at some point it I think he had a plan to leave if he decided to
take that that jump. I think I think there was a good chance that they weren't lying that that he was
planning to golf with his father and brother and then that that was aanora to to his you know one last
>> possibly. But what I'm saying is like I think we have evidence that he had it
everything's ready to go right >> and if I decide to jump whenever I decide to jump it's there. He's whenever
he needs to, he can pounce and he can jump. And I I do personally I just think that that was kind of a good buy.
>> Do you think he was going to try to kill Amber? >> I think that there's maybe more evidence that something I
think >> cuz they were still talking. >> I think if she would have agreed to meet
him somewhere >> then he would have, >> right? or if she would have invited him to her home, which I don't think would
have happened in a million years, obviously, but um I think he would have attempted something. I think he was
planning on leaving that day after the golf outing. And I also have information stating that that Mercedes Benz was, I
believe, in his mother's name, registered to his mother, >> of course. So there could also be there
could also be some help and assistance with prior knowledge of from his immediate family.
>> Right now on April 21st, 2003, Peterson was arraigned. He was charged with two
felony counts of murder with premeditation and special circumstances. The first degree murder of Lacy,
obviously, and then the secondderee murder of Connor. He did plead not guilty uh at this arraignment. Lacy's
family and the prosecution were seeking the death penalty. Now, before his arraignment, Scott Peterson was
represented by Kirk Mallister, a veteran criminal defense attorney from Modesto.
>> Kevin's father, >> I don't know who Kevin Mallister is. >> Kevin Mallister. We have then we have chief deputy public
defender Kent Faulner who also was assigned to the case. Peterson later indicated that he could afford a private
attorney and this was the famous high-profile attorney Mark Garagos. The judge changed the venue of the trial
from Modesto to Redwood City because obviously Peterson, Scott Peterson was um you know receiving increasing
hostility in this mod Modesto area. >> Scott Peterson's trial began on June 1st, 2004 and obviously was followed
extremely closely by the media and we should say by just about every media outlet you can think of. Um, Scott
Peterson's defense lawyers based their case on the lack of direct evidence and played down the significance of
circumstantial evidence. They suggested that the fetal remains were of a fullterm infant and theorized that
someone kidnapped Lacy, held her until she gave birth, and then dumped both bodies into the bay. Well, one of the
main things that they point out is probably the biggest error that the police made, and that was right after
Lacy went missing, they actually said that Scott was fishing in the Bay Area the day she went missing. This is what
his truck looks like. And so, their theory is somebody took her hostage. Uh she gave birth to the child and then
afterwards they dumped it in the same area that Scott was fishing in. >> Yeah. Gyros uh Scott's attorney
suggesting that a satanic cult had kidnapped the pregnant woman and like you said using information that they
gained from media reports could frame him by dumping the body and bodies in the bay. Now we have
>> well because there was an attack on a woman in Modesto and actually during that attack they they claimed that there
would be a murder sacrifice and they would it would be on a pregnant woman. >> Okay.
>> So there was claims of this and this was actually looked into by the police department and they found this not to
have any validity to it. The prosecution's medical experts contended that the baby was not fullterm and
actually died at the same time as his mother and eventually was expelled from her uterus kind of naturally, I guess,
is the cleanest, nicest way to say it. >> And they're they're expert on the stand.
Have you ever seen the expert this expert on the stand? >> No. And I'm going to be full disclosure
here, Captain. Um, I I did watch portions of the trial, but I I didn't have the strength to sit through the
entirety of of the trial. >> He he basically he's on the stand to say that the the baby, not even that the
baby went full term, but that the baby died weeks and weeks later. And once he couldn't really prove that,
>> the defense is stating this. >> Right. Right. the defense's star witness. At some point, he just starts
yelling, "Hey, give me a break. This is not exact science. I'm not even qualified to do this." I mean, he loses
his [ __ ] Like, it's I mean, it couldn't have gone any worse for the defense on
on this witness. >> So, unlike Peterson, the uh he's this guy is unable to squirm.
>> He's unable to lie, >> right? [laughter] >> What? Give me a break. >> Give me a break. I don't even know what
I'm doing. >> This is not even an exact science. >> Well, some other weird stuff at the
trial. >> Um, there was some weird stuff with the jury. One was removed. One member of the
jury was removed and replaced early on in the trial due to misconduct. And then later the jury foreman, which is a very
strange thing to see the foreman removed. But this wasn't really so much removed because it's requested his own
removal during the jury deliberations. >> Well, and I hate to keep cutting you off, but the the first one was there was
on the way into a courtroom, there was some talking and it was simple. That's the the dismissal of the first one. the
foreman, he he decided to go, but that was during the decision making process once once it came down to make a verdict
is when he said >> uh basically it was like a couple people thought maybe he was innocent
>> and then it got to a vote I believe of like 11 to1 and that he was like the last one. he was the one holding out
>> and he he just didn't think that they were giving it due process and going over every point and eventually um he
also made claims that he was you know some of the jury members threatening his life and that he got in uh physical
confrontations with him. Um the other jury members obviously deny that. Well, regarding the evidence itself, you know,
like we said, there was a lot of circumstantial evidence and an overwhelming amount of circumstantial
evidence that pointed against Scott Peterson. Now, as far as physical evidence goes, the only piece of
forensic evidence that was identified is that single hair that we spoke about, the strand thought to have been laces
that was found in a pair of pliers on Scott Peterson's boat. Now, this uh presented as prosecution
evidence during the trial was the fact that Peterson changed his appearance >> and purchased the vehicle using his
mother's name in order to avoid recognition by the press. More evidence. Scott added two pornography pornographic
television channels to his cable service only days after his wife's disappearance. The prosecution stated
that this meant he knew she was not coming home. Peterson expressed interest in selling the house, as we had said,
that he had shared with Lacy, sold her Land Rover. So, he he sold, as we stated, sold the Land Rover and changed
the nursery at some point. The defense had a lot of different theories as to what happened to Lacy and Connor. And
one such theory, this one I found to be uh very interesting and it's it's a little different than the satanic cult
uh theory, but this theory is that was argued was that a sex worker who was accused of stealing checks from the
Peterson's mailbox might have come in contact and murdered Lacy. Apparently, the uh Modesto police detectives said,
"This woman, we know who she is. we've identified her. She's never been a suspect in the disappearance. And
furthermore, the prosecutor would argue that the noted checks, the checks that were stolen were stolen after Lacy had
already vanished, arguing that this means that um this woman was not around, was was not there doing this item, doing
these bad deeds before Lacy Peterson went missing. [music] >> [music] [music] >> All right. Cheers, mate.
>> You know what, Captain? I have to apologize to the good folks out there. want to cheers you because my I'm doing
something's up with my throats, my voice this week. I'm battling through it. >> Um, it feels it's some heavy lifting
over here. So, I apologize if I sound terrible, [laughter] but uh I do want to circle back to the
the prosecution and the police's thought that Scott Peterson made homemade concrete anchors and that these homemade
concrete anchors were missing. And they state in court that they believe that Scott made four or five of these
homemade anchors and only one was found. The one that you had pointed out was found on the boat or in his warehouse.
It >> was on the boat. >> And they believed that these additional anchors were used to hold Lacy's body
down right underwater. And what they've found is when people do this and they anchor a body down that normally
whatever body part that they use to anchor down uh if the body surfaces that limb will be ripped off. And so the way
that Lacy was found I mean as graphic as it is I mean there's no head there's no
arms and there's no legs so it's basically a torso. And one thing that I wanted to point out, and I wanted to
make sure that I brought this up, was I had read on several blogs that people were confused why they spent so much
time at trial arguing about what was used or what would have been used to make the one anchor that they did find.
Okay, we have the defense who's saying, "Well, Scott Peterson used a like a pitcher, um, some kind of smaller item
to make the mold for this anchor that was found, >> right? These weren't it wasn't a big
anchor." A lot of people see this and think one of those big work buckets. >> Well, that's the prosecution is stating
that it was either a paint bucket or some type of bucket from Home Depot that was used to make the anchors. And the
reason why this is important is because keep in mind the only evidence that we have other than the purchase of way too
much concrete to make just one single anchor. You know, we we they know about that purchase that was made, how much
concrete he purchased, >> right? So >> where's that other >> where did the rest of it go? He he
claims that he used it on some concrete work at his home. >> Well, I think what he did was took some
sleeping pills, a little bit of Viagra, and shoved it up his ass. Well, regardless, his his statement for why he
purchased so much concrete goes against the prosecution's theory. The prosecution's theory is that he used uh
an item that was larger than this pitcher that the defense kept pointing to make the mold for the concrete
anchor. The reason why this is important is the size. The size of the anchors that he was making is important because
other than the evidence of the purchase of the concrete, the only other evidence
that we have that these ever existed are the rings that were found left on that table on his workbench, let's say.
>> And so they need the prosecution needs those to match the size of the rings. the anchors that we believe he made
needs to match the size of the rings where the defense is going to say they don't match the size of the rings
because look, he used this rather than those bigger buckets. Now, on November 12th, 2004, a jury convicted Scott
Peterson of two counts of murder. First-degree murder with special circumstances for killing Lacy and
seconddegree murder for killing Connor, uh, who she was carrying. The penalty phase of the trial began on November
30th and concluded December 13th when the jury rendered a sentence of death. On March 16th, Judge Alfred Deluchcci
followed the jury verdict, sentencing Peterson to death by lethal injection, and ordering him to pay $10,000 toward
the cost of Lacy's funeral, calling the murder of Lacy Peterson cruel, uncaring,
heartless, and callous. Mhm. >> In a later press appearances, members of the jury stated that they felt that
Peterson's demeanor, specifically his lack of emotion and the phone calls to Amber in the days following Lacy's
disappearance, indicated to them that he was guilty. They based their verdict on
quote hundreds of small puzzle pieces of circumstantial evidence that were revealed during the trial. From the
location of Lacy's body to the lies her husband told after her disappearance. >> Yeah. And from if you watch there's a
really interesting documentary on this. It's I believe a six-part series on A&E.
One of the things that everybody says, defense and prosecution, is the trial was going shitty for the prosecution.
People were bored out of their mind. The jury looked like they were falling asleep. And then when they called Amber
Fry, that's where everything changed. >> And even the day before the closing, they thought Mark Garos is a better
closer. He's going to he's going to it's going to come down to the closing argument, and Mark Garos is going to
win. >> Mhm. And for whatever reason, the prosecution, which was so boring and lack of emotion, and this whole case is
based on emotion, he came out, hit it out of the park, and Mark Geros kind of, you know, pooped his drawers right in
front of everybody. So >> we we have Geros who from public perception was kind of
guaranteed to overd deliver, >> right? >> And he did not deliver. And then we have
the prosecution who was kind of expected to hand us a a a boring statement. Um lackluster if you will and that that
individual comes out and and nails it. Really hits it home for the jury. >> Mhm. And there's some thought too, um,
you know, in regards to the foreman, um, that the jury foreman, he asked for himself to be removed because he thought
that the rest of the jury were going to try to vote him out or get him removed somehow
>> from that jury. And if I could be quoting him wrong, but I believe Mark Geros at the time thought, well, look,
they don't have enough evidence to convict him, but this is emotionally based case, so they will. So, he was
actually hoping for a hung jury. Now, if that foreman stays on there and votes not guilty, then you got a hung jury and
then you have a new trial. Mhm. >> So, and then you could then argue whether or not Amber's testimony should
be in. And a lot of people argue that, but it's pretty simple. She's a character witness,
>> right? >> And and I think by her being in there and listening to the hours and hours of
the t tapes of him talking to her and him lying to her on the phone and and the jury also gets to hear where he's
actually at when he's making those phone calls. Um, and and I think that's very damning.
>> And she in regards to Amber being allowed in and at the trial, I mean, come on. She look at all the time spent
interacting with him, whether it be face to face or on the phone leading up to the disappearance of Lacy. And then
afterwards, >> right? Scott Peterson arrived at San Quinton State Prison on March 17th,
2005. He joined the more than 700 other inmates in California's sole death row facility. On October 21st, 2005, a judge
ruled that proceeds from a $250,000 life insurance policy Scott Peterson took out
on Lacy Peterson will go to Lacy's mother. >> Mhm. >> Then we have the appeals process.
captain. So, we have Cliff Gardner, this is eventually Peterson's attorney, >> stated that
>> cuz I think Mark Garos was like, I got I got to get out of this. >> So, Garos, you know, I couldn't think
>> I like Gyros a lot. I think he's very intelligent. Uh I listen to him a lot when he has a a podcast with Adam
Corolla. Um it's called uh Reasonable Doubt. So, uh, if you're interested in hearing what this guy is like, check out
his podcast. >> It can be difficult sometimes stating or, you know, telling others
that you like a defense attorney because I think that a lot of times, Captain, that
>> people, not everybody, but >> it's not hard for me. It's cuz I like to tell the truth.
>> No, I get that. And I don't have any problem with Gyaragos. actually find him
I don't know a ton about him but I do find him to be >> attractive >> very intelligent and and um
>> very good at what his role is to be >> right >> um you know I did say that I liked um I
can't think what is it Jose >> Bayz did I get his name right >> for somebody >> somebody who couldn't stand Casey
Anthony >> you know I couldn't couldn't stand that woman I can't stand you >> I can't I mean I don't even let's I
don't even get into that. >> Right. Right. >> But I do I did like her attorney >> in the role that he played. Now,
>> what I mean by that is sometimes >> people will go sometimes people identify the defense attorney with the person
that's on trial, >> right? >> And they go, "Well, that's the guy that represented Scott
Peterson, and you know what? I hate Scott Peterson, so therefore, Garos, piece of shit." Well,
>> well, yeah. And similar to like one of the things that you see is when when Scott Peterson's family is leaving after
they sentence their son to death. The the amount of people attacking his parents,
you know, like you're going to watch your son die. Like they had nothing to do with this girl's
disappearance. >> Mhm. >> They they wanted to be uh grandparents, you know. He ripped the he you know. So
I I think when people attack people like that, it's just it's ignorance. >> Right. Right. I agree. Well, so we have
the thought of some appeals because we have um his attorney, his later attorney, stating that there were
mistakes made, there was incorrect evidentiary rulings that deprived Scott Peterson of a fair trial. On July 6,
2012, his defense attorney filed a 423page appeal of Scott Peterson's sentence. Now, the state attorney general's office
filed their response brief on January 26, 2015. Then the defense filed a response to the state's brief in July of
2015. Mhm. >> This is where they claim that a certified dog that detected Lacy's scent
at the Berkeley Marina had failed 2/3 of tests with similar conditions. >> Yeah. So, one of the things we skipped
over in the trial is that they had a scent dog and that this dog magically got to the pier and picked up on Lacy's
scent. And this is weeks afterwards. And if you even buy the prosecution story, uh Lacy was never on the dock. She would
have been in a boat and then that boat would have been from the trailer put into the water. So the fact that they
went with a sniffing dog doesn't make any sense anyways. But this dog has failed multiple tests anyways.
Sometimes I see the prosecution do this where they are battling a defense that the defense just keeps coming up with
all these random ideas as to what could have happened except for their client. Their client didn't do it, but any of of
these other possibilities are a possibility, right? >> You know, they're trying to establish
reasonable doubt. And I find sometimes that the prosecution gets swept up in this
>> and does the same thing. >> They start saying, "Well, here's all the reasons why he did do it." Oh, but it
doesn't go with our story. It doesn't go with our theory, which is a dangerous waters to uh for them to be in. Now, uh
November 20, 2015, uh the defense filed a habius corpus petition claiming that a juror had lied
on her jury application and that there was evidence that neighbors saw Lacy alive after Scott left home that day
Christmas Eve. On August 10th, 2017, the state attorney general responded by appealing by to the appeal by filing a
150page document contesting the notion, disputing the claims put forward in the appeal, stating that the appeal ignored
quote overwhelming evidence that Peterson murdered Lacy. stating that the timeline of the crime was established by
the neighbor who found the Peterson's golden retriever wandering in the street when its leash was still attached before
the sightings of Lacy and her dog started coming out. Do >> you want me to break down this point
real quick? >> Yes. >> So, the idea is that roughly about 108 is when the neighbor finds uh the
Peterson dog in the Peterson's yard. She doesn't find it in the park. She doesn't
find it down the street. She finds it in the yard. She said this would happen all
the time. They might be playing outside or not playing outside but doing work in
the garden, working the yard and then the dog would be out front and she'd bring the dog back around to them. This
time it was a little different because the dog had a leash on it. So she claims that she took the dog with the leash,
put it back in the yard, shut the gate, >> left the leash on. dog is secure in the
backyard. >> Which I find strange because if I found my neighbor's dog with a leash on and it
was wandering around, I'd probably take the leash off when I put it in the backyard. That's just me. But she left
the leash on and then the then about 15 20 minutes later, the male man delivers.
Now, he said that their dog always barked at him. Whether inside or outside, the dog always barked at him.
He claims that the gate was open. [sighs] This is what I love. All these Scott Peterson supporters say
if the mailman is correct in his time, which he should be because he he's his time is based off of him scanning in
mail, which document documents the time. This would be roughly a half hour later
after the neighbor states that they put the dog in the Peterson's backyard, fenced in backyard.
>> So, what they're claiming is since the gate was open again, that this proves that Lacy was home and
this proves that if anybody opened that gate, it was Lacy. That's what they claim this proves. It doesn't prove that
at all. Yet, you don't have to be a genius to figure this out. There's so many possibilities
of why that gate was open. The gate was open, then the dog was put back, and then the the neighbor closes the gate.
Did she not close the gate well enough? We don't know. Did the Did the gate have
a bad latch, and that's why it was open in the first place? We don't know. But what we do know is that when Scott
Peterson comes home, guess who still has a leash on? So it's if if if Lacy was there and she reopened the gate, then
why would she take off the leash of the dog? I mean, they think they claim that this is proof that she was alive uh at
10:30, 10:45, and I I think it's proof of nothing. Well, >> it's just proof that the the gate was
open. >> People get confused. You know, if you go to certain websites, you watch certain
documentaries, things are skewed in a certain way, showed under a certain light at a different angle. It's easy
for somebody to flip sides and think, "Hey, this person might be innocent or this person might be guilty or or so on
and so forth." >> Well, >> it gets tricky. But here's here's what I think that we
>> Well, hold on. But what I was going to say is, but if you're Scott Pearson and
you're lying to everybody and you've been lying to everybody for a really long time and you're lying to your
parents and you're lying to your sisters and you're lying to whoever, your brothers, whoever you're lying to, lying
to the world, then there's a part of you, you know, if you're his father, you want to believe him. You want to believe
that you raised somebody better than this, right? And and so I I feel bad for them
because they're trying to prove that he's innocent. >> Well, back to the the whole dog thing
and the neighbor placing the dog in the fence that occurred at what time? >> They thinkoughly [clears throat] 10:15
10:18 10:20. So let's say in the window of 10:15, 10:20. What I think that people are failing to
recognize here is that remember the statement of 11 witnesses stated that they saw Lacy Peterson with their dog
walking her dog. >> Mhm. >> Okay. And remember those statements. The statements that I found do not
specifically name Lacy Peterson. They state I saw a woman and her dog or a woman matching Lacy's description and a
dog matching that description. >> Right. The other issue here that's very difficult is if the neighbor found the
dog by itself places the dog in the fence between 10:15 and 10:20. Any of those sightings,
any of those witnesses that come forward and say that they saw the dog with Lacy
after 10:20 >> did not see Lacy >> did not see Lacy and did not see the Peterson's dog.
>> Right. Unless Unless Here's what happened. She let the dog out, right? And then she went and stole
another dog that looked just like her dog and walked that dog. That's probably what happened.
>> Well, I think ultimately what happened is I think the jury got it right. I understand that all they had was
circumstantial evidence. I see what I believe to be a mountain of circumstantial evidence. I know that it
is called into question uh my next statement here, but I do believe that it's likely Scott Peterson told his
in-laws that he went golfing that morning and then later he's saying that he went fishing instead. I don't think
that this guy was smart enough to understand or to believe that he was going to have to answer the amount of
questions that he was going to have to to come across. I don't believe that he thought he would be investigated as
early into this as he actually was. And I think at some point he squirmed when when presented with the idea that he was
golfing and he had to prove where he was. Well, guess what? Fishing still proves that I didn't kill my wife. That
in the window that I'm going to lead you to believe that my wife was murdered, um
I wasn't here or available or with her during that time because I was fishing. And here's my proof that I was fishing.
Here's my launch ticket. Here's the receipt for that. And I think this was absolutely premeditated murder. I think
he planned to kill her before he purchased that boat. I believe that she likely didn't know about the boat and
persons close to her and him didn't know about the boat. I think he pre he premeditated the murder of his wife and
his to be son. And he did this I think I think I don't think he did this for Amber. I don't think he did this because
he wanted to be with Amber. I think he just did this for himself. >> And what [clears throat] I mean by that
is I think I think all this all this stuff, you know, the the purchasing online by Lacy that morning. I think so
what he he took her debit card or credit card and he bought something on a website that he knew that she shopped
on. >> Yeah. >> That's not hard to do. Yeah. >> He turns on Martha Stewart while he's
preparing things to to take it to San Francisco Bay and he listens to what's going on and says, "Ah, I remember
Martha talking about this and this and this while Lacy was watching it that morning." And then he conveniently goes
into work where he's picking up his boat, >> transferring the body at some point from
the truck to the boat, taking the body out into the water, tossing it over the side of the boat. At the trial, at the
trial, we have the defense that says, "Oh, the prosecution uh took out a boat that was uh similar to um Oh, no, no,
no. I'm sorry. I got this backwards. The defense stated, "We we have a boat, same
exact boat as Scott Peterson's, took it out to the bay and using the weight of Peterson as an example and the weight of
Lacy as an example, trying to toss that body over into the water, made the boat capsized. Therefore, Scott Peterson
could not have done it in that small of a boat." M >> the prosecution fired back and stated,
uh, well, let's do let's use Scott Peterson's actual boat and go out there and conduct the same test. And the
defense quickly let that slide. They didn't want to see that happen because I don't think that they believe the the
show that they put on, much like the show that Scott Peterson was putting on this whole time. I think he fabricated
this alibi. I think he did things to make it look like Lacy was alive longer than she was and that he was gone at the
time that she disappeared. >> He likely he likely after driving off with her body either in the truck or you
know >> he he he might have even had the dog with them and releases the dog on the
side of the road a couple blocks away >> hoping the dog walks home, returns home
and the neighbor finds it. And then we have this situation of of his boat that that he's keeping at the warehouse.
>> Mhm. >> You know, I I really think he had a he had a place that he could go and he
could conceal moving that body very briefly into that boat and then he goes out onto the water on what day?
Christmas Eve. Why? He's not expecting to see anybody else out there and he doesn't want to see anybody else out
there. Well, just to play devil's advocate, defense did present the idea that he saw somebody out there. They
claimed that there was eyewitness that saw um Scott Pearson in a boat and that there was nothing in the boat. Um that
was false because we know that we had he had fishing equipment. He also seriously
had a tarp in his boat. But this credible eyewitness that they bring up in all these documentaries and say that
once he gets to trial, you had this information. You could have called him in the first trial. You didn't. I think
they didn't because I think this guy was full of [ __ ] He saw a guy in a small boat because again, it's a freshwater
boat and you're in saltwater. And that was kind of funny. And you're wearing camouflage clothes and I don't think
this guy saw that. Also, this idea that there's these satanic killings and that they're going to take a mother and take
the baby and blah blah blah. There's no evidence of that. So, uh, come up with something a little bit better. Now, the
missing pregnant women. Hm, that's kind of an interesting theory. I love how they say there was eight of
them. They don't tell you what happened to the eight of them. how one was found,
one was not found, one was found dead, one was found alive. And yes, there was somebody from Modesto, pregnant woman
that she was found. She washed ashore. They did not find her baby. And same scenario, it was a torso.
So the the the cops made a huge mistake by stating where Scott Peterson was because if somebody did do this killing,
you got a perfect place to end up the body. >> Mhm. >> And then you get to frame this guy. So
then the other thing too, and I think this needs to be looked at more, is the prosecution claims that the burglary
took place on the 24th or took place on the 26th and not on the 24th. Well, they actually
can't prove that. And based on reporters that on the 26th, the Scott Peterson neighborhood was filled with media. So,
we're talking about the house that's right across the street and the people right across the street. You would think
that robbers are not going to break into a house when there's tons of media sitting around on the 26th. So, I think
that's something, you know, if you want to argue that point, I I might listen to you a little
bit. But, let's start with December 9th. You get caught. You're dating a girl. You're married. You're having a child
and you're dating somebody and you get caught and you tell that person lie upon lie upon lie and then you go, "Oh, by
the way, I was married, but guess what happened to her? She went missing." Oh, when did she go missing? Right before
Christmas. It's going to be my first Christmas without my wife. Doesn't say that she was pregnant. Still, again,
another lie. And is he a fortune teller? You know what are the odds that he tells
somebody his wife went missing on the 9th and then on the 24th she goes missing?
The defense likes to say, well, you know, on the 24th that Lacy got her hair done and Scott actually invited the
hairdresser back to the house. And so that proves that he wasn't planning on killing her that night. That
doesn't prove nothing. come over to the house, watch some football with us, eat some pizza. I'm gonna kill her in her
sleep. Anyways, I think he probably then they went back. They're watching TV, eating pizza. He probably put a little
sleeping pills in in her drink. She passed out. He suffocated her. I think he had two tarps. I think he put her on
one tarp, but lined it with the other tarp. So the tarps uh the tarps were touching, but only one tarp was touching
the body. I think he then wrapped her body up in that tarp. I think he put her in the truck uh and had two tarps. And
then on Christmas Eve, he decides to take three umbrellas, two giant three giant umbrellas from their backyard and
store them at his work warehouse. What is the point of that? cuz I have to cover up the fact that I'm taking a body
and put it into my truck. And then what does he do? He he stages it like you said. Oh, let me put her bench out. You
know, they they claim that the bench and the and uh her putting out the bench and
having her curling iron and all that stuff proves that she was alive on the 24th. Maybe she was alive on the 24th.
Maybe he drugged her on the 24th. Maybe he suffocated her on the 24th. or maybe he staged it. It doesn't prove she was
alive. It just proves that somebody in the house moved the bench, that somebody in the house put a curling iron out,
that somebody in the house turned on Martha Stewart. It does not prove that Lacy was alive. You can't say, "Well,
Scott watched Martha Stewart, so she was alive." No, no, no. It proves nothing. It just proves that that Scott watched
Martha Stewart. And then he pulls out a bucket, puts some cleaning supply in it, probably
bleach, cleans up the place, then puts the bucket outside, takes the dog, puts it on a leash, opens up the gate. I
don't even think he dropped the the dog off anywhere. I think he just opened the
gate knowing that the dog is going to make its way outside the gate. He then takes Lacy's body, his unborn child's
body that's wrapped up in a tarp. He goes um to his warehouse where the boat that
nobody knew existed. No proof that anybody knew about this boat and he had anchors made. And one of the
big things that people point out is he had this saw that was ordered and it showed up that day and he looked up
instructions and he assembled the saw. Well, it was a wood saw, right? But this is a guy that takes a freshwater boat
and puts it in salt water. He doesn't give a [ __ ] if it's a wood saw or if it's a metal saw. And I think he used
this saw. The reason why he had to put it together is cuz he had to finish the anchors he was making. So he makes these
anchors, which we have proof that he has one in his boat that's tied to nothing.
That proves that's evidence that it wasn't being used for an anchor. It was going to be used for something else. And
maybe when he gets out there again, he has a tarp. He has um so he has her body in the tarp. She's in and she's now
either in the back of his truck or she's in the boat. And maybe there was a eyewitness that saw Scott and maybe he
didn't see anything in the boat, but maybe the boat wasn't packed up yet. And that that's my only explanation for that
where the guy just didn't see >> what do you know what time the witness states he saw
>> roughly roughly the same time that uh I mean there was a bunch of eyewitnesses
that actually saw Peterson at the dock. And that's because this guy that's supposed to be this avid fisherman and
this guy that has a boat. He was so bad at backing up the boat to put it in the water that people were like whoa. And
we're talking about a small boat. So again, lie after lie. You also then say, "I didn't want to go
golfing because it was windy and rainy and okay, you don't want to go golfing, but you want to go boating when it's
when it's windy and rainy." So then you get out there, she's in the boat now. You have your little homemade anchors
that you got from Home Depot and you tie tie her limbs up and you get her out of the boat and you're gone for
about an hour and a half and then you decide, hey, I'm going to call her. I established that I'm gone because what
you're trying to establish is that she went missing and you weren't there. Not that she was murdered, that she went
missing and you weren't there. So you call her, "Hey honey, I forgot to pick up that thing. Can you pick it up? I
know you can't because I killed you, but can maybe you can pick it up for Papy or
what the ever the [ __ ] you said." And then you get back and then you're like, "Oh, I got to take a shower. I'm going
to put my clothes in the washer because I need to have them washed because it might have some evidence on it." Oh,
that bucket of cleaning supplies that I claim that you're going to mop the floor. No, I'm going to dump that out.
So, you do that, then you call. Oh, time goes by. You think you'd be going, "Hey,
we have a party to go to. What the hell's going on? Where's she at?" You don't call 911. You claim that you're
talking to the neighbors. You claim you're going to the park. Then you go and you tell the police officers, "Our
marriage was fine," which was a [ __ ] lie because you have a fair. It's just lie upon lie upon lie upon
lie. And I mean, I could keep going on and on and on. It's like, it's just ridiculous. And then their bodies are
found miles from where you were at. >> One mile. How do you explain that? You sell her car. How do you explain that?
You you dye your hair. And and I understand that there's this idea that if there's um a point of evidence,
but it also points to guilty or innocent that you're supposed to go to innocent.
But how many times are we supposed to do that? If it's a hundred times, are we supposed to do that 100 times? No.
Absolutely not. Does you being a liar, does that make you a murderer? No. Does Does you having an affair make you a
murderer? No. You lie a million times. Uh maybe you are a murderer. You're a narcissist for one. And and I think
here's where people get it wrong. When people sit there and say, "Well, the media did this to him." And the No, no,
no, no, no, no, no. He did it to himself. He's the one that chose to have an affair. He's the one that chose to to
lie to the girl that was his girlfriend. He's the one that then told her that his
wife went missing. He's the one that lied to everybody over and over and over and over and over and over and over and
over and over again. Right. And he so he did this to himself. The media didn't do this to himself. I do
think the cops messed up a little bit. They were searching in the bay for her body. Then they find the bodies. You
know what you need to be searching for? The anchors. Because the anchors, that's
your murder weapon, right? She might have been suffocated beforehand, but those those anchors that that is a nail
in his coffin. That's to me definitive proof. I think they could have found those anchors. Uh I think they could
have proved all along the way. You know, people have these things where they go, "Let Lacy
knew about the boat." No, there was no proof that she knew about the boat. There was just proof that she went and
took a piss at the warehouse. Um, they could have they could have tested the cleaning supply that he dumped out.
Was it bleach? There's all the speculation that people smelled bleach afterwards.
Is it And if it was bleach, does does that mean he's trying to cover something up? Um,
I don't know. I Nancy Grace, which look, you can hate her for a lot of the stuff
she says about other cases. Fine, I'll hand you that. But one of the things that she said which I thought was very
interesting was this case was you you wake up, right? You go to work, it's a sunny day, beautiful day out, you
go to work, it's time for lunch, you come outside, branches all over the place, leaves on the ground, puddles
everywhere. Did it storm? Did it not storm? You didn't see the storm. You don't you didn't physically see that
it stormed, but you can see by the evidence that it did. And I think in this case, that's why he was found
guilty and that's why he got the death penalty. I don't think he got the death penalty
because he killed Lacy. It's he killed Lacy and a baby. The baby was about to be born.
You know, that's why he got the death penalty. >> Well, you have to wonder, too, you know,
when people make all these little arguments, you have to wonder, did he purposely buy the boat with the fishing
gear for the depth finder because he needed to dump them deep enough that they may not ever be
recovered, >> right? He also looked up currents, current patterns the day before. And the
thing here is Scott Peterson, thank God he got the death penalty. And hopefully his is a situation where they do in fact
execute him. California is not very good at following through with that part of the penalty phase. But
you know who he reminds me of and who he would have went on to be like had he not
got caught. Because again, I don't think he did this to be with Amber. I think he
did this for himself. I think that if had he got married again in another town, in another state somewhere, a
decade or two later, >> Mhm. >> he would have done the same thing to that person as soon as he decided it was
no longer working for him. And this would be a pattern he would continue to repeat time and time again. He reminds
me very much of the individual Felix Veil that we discussed so many cases ago. >> Well, no. And I think the thing though
too is a lot of people go, "Look, he's claiming he's innocent. He's he's telling his family he's innocent.
The reason why he's staged or was trying to stage that his wife went missing is that he couldn't be man enough to
say, "Look, I'm having an affair. I don't want to be married. I don't want to be a father. But he couldn't be a man
and say that. Well, that's kind of weird. You know, if you have a child, you should want to be
a father. But he didn't have the guts to say that because it would make him look
like a pile of [ __ ] right? And I understand that his his [clears throat] uh family want to defend
him and all this stuff, but how many points of evidence do you need that your son is one of the biggest piles of [ __ ]
that ever [music] walked this earth? >> [music] >> All right, I'm exhausted. [laughter]
>> That makes two of us. >> Take a nap. >> All right, if you would like to find the
full archive of True Crime Garage, plus exclusive bonus episodes of True Crime Garage Off the Record, you can do that
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anything, check out the blog. I mean, if you don't agree with us on some things or you have some questions about cases,
check out our blog. Uh, that's it's it's kind of on fire. And that's all happening at true crimeg.com.
We'll see everybody back here in the garage next week. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter. Don't litter.
[music]

Scott Peterson /// Part 2 /// Episode: 246

Part 2 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

On December 24th, 2002 - Husband and father to be, Scott Peterson left home at 9:30am. He was planning on a short fishing trip but first he would have to go into work. When Scott left home his wife Laci was watching television. She was planning to do a little house cleaning and then take the dog for a walk. Later that day Scott returned home to an empty house. His wife’s vehicle and purse were still at the house but Laci was nowhere in sight. Scott reported his wife as missing and told police the family dog came home with its leash still on but no Laci...Beer of the Week - Blackberry Daze by Anchor Brewing Garage Grade - 3 and a half bottle caps out of 5

Brief Summary

The episode details the Lacy Peterson case, focusing on Scott Peterson's actions, the investigation, and the trial leading to his conviction.

Key points

Lacy Peterson's Disappearance. Lacy Peterson goes missing while walking her dog, raising immediate concerns.
Scott Peterson's Actions Raise Eyebrows. Scott Peterson sells Lacy's car and considers selling their house, alarming her family.
Scott Peterson's Arrest. Scott Peterson is arrested near a golf course, raising suspicions about his intentions.
Charges Filed Against Scott Peterson. Scott Peterson is charged with two counts of murder, pleading not guilty.
Defense's Controversial Theories. The defense proposed theories including kidnapping by a satanic cult and a sex worker.
Conviction and Sentencing. On November 12, 2004, Scott Peterson was convicted of two counts of murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

When somebody goes missing, the family staying in the area is a sign of something.

Discussion on missing persons and family behavior.

5:32WatchJul 21, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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