On Christmas Eve 2002, Laci Peterson, eight months pregnant, vanished from her home in Modesto, California. Her husband, Scott, said he had spent the day fishing on San Francisco Bay, ninety miles away. This film sets that story against the record: his recorded police interview that night, the boat nobody in the family knew about, the cement on the trailer, the calls Amber Frey recorded for the police, his television interviews, the GPS trips back to the marina, and the April storm tide that returned Laci and Conner just over a mile from Brooks Island. It follows the case through the 2004 verdict, the 2020 appeal, the 2021 resentencing and the 2026 ruling on his latest petition. The 3D scenes are illustrative reconstructions; details are approximate. No graphic images are shown.
Sources: People v. Peterson (California Supreme Court, 2020); the recorded calls and the police interview as trial exhibits; Stanislaus County District Attorney; AP; NBC News; CNN; ABC7; KOVR-TV (CBS13); ABC News.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open
00:45 Christmas Eve
03:54 The Boat
06:32 The Tapes
10:23 The Tide
12:13 The Verdict
SOURCES / CREDITS
Recorded call, Scott Peterson to Amber Frey, Dec. 31, 2002 (trial exhibit), via Dead To Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99DvcOivYak
Recorded call, Amber Frey and Scott Peterson, Jan. 6, 2003 (trial exhibit), via Dead To Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmIIZohr-1c
Police interview of Scott Peterson, Modesto, Dec. 24-25, 2002 (People’s Exhibit 68), via Crime Vine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh2fiUbn2mU
Rocha family press conference, Modesto, Dec. 2002 (news footage), via Carol DaRonch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3OgM3wtFd4
Amber Frey statement, Modesto Police press conference, Jan. 2003 (news footage), via Carol DaRonch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b_oIILhVgA
Modesto Police press briefing, Dec. 29, 2002 (news footage), via Carol DaRonch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRBh_FCUhzY
KOVR-TV (CBS13 Sacramento) interview, Jan. 2003, via CBS News Sacramento: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ycm-E7lQwA
ABC News interview (Diane Sawyer), Jan. 2003, via Infinity TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VGi_HBF1to
Candlelight vigil for Laci Peterson, Modesto, Dec. 31, 2002 (news footage), via Carol DaRonch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbvAljFCH08
The search for Laci, Modesto, Dec. 26, 2002 (news footage), via Carol DaRonch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS7N5-Qgyvc
Photo: Rupert Clayton, CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooks_Island_from_SS_Red_Oak_Victory,_2014_04_13.jpg
Supreme Court of California, People v. Peterson (S132449): https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S132449.PDF
Stanislaus County District Attorney: https://www.stanislaus-da.org/pdf/news/2026/press-release-05-12-2026-SPeterson.pdf
Music: Mixkit (Echoes, Staring at the Night Sky, The Journey, Unforgiven, Rebecca on the Shore, Ode to Loneliness): https://mixkit.co/free-stock-music/
People’s Exhibit 68, taped interview with Det. Al Brocchini and Scott Peterson, Dec. 24/25, 2002 (Scott Peterson Appeal channel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da6P4YcM-Cg
NBC News / AP, Det. Craig Grogan’s testimony (2004): https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5993580
AP via Sun Journal, jurors view Peterson’s boat (July 2004): https://www.sunjournal.com/2004/07/28/jury-sees-petersons-boat/
San Francisco Chronicle, Peterson trial coverage: his job at Tradecorp U.S.A. (2004): https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/THE-PETERSON-TRIAL-Credit-card-debt-takes-2736606.php
San Francisco Chronicle, bodies found on the Richmond shoreline (April 2003): https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bodies-of-fetus-woman-found-by-bay-Cops-2655242.php
NBC News, Peterson resentenced (Dec. 8, 2021): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/scott-peterson-convicted-killing-pregnant-wife-laci-re-sentenced-life-rcna7909
AP via Court TV, Peterson resentenced to life (Dec. 8, 2021): https://www.courttv.com/news/scott-peterson-resentenced-to-life-term-in-wifes-2002-death/
CNN, Scott Peterson timeline (via KTVZ, Jan. 2024): https://ktvz.com/news/national-world/cnn-national/2024/01/20/scott-peterson-timeline-key-dates-in-the-murder-case/
ABC7 News, Los Angeles Innocence Project plans appeal (Apr. 29, 2026): https://abc7news.com/post/scott-peterson-murder-case-los-angeles-innocence-project-plans-appeal-new-evidence-rejected-judge/18990780/
Narration: Voice Studio Aiden. Recorded participants retain their original voices.
3D reconstructions are illustrative; details approximate. Skies, scanned surfaces and props: Poly Haven (CC0), https://polyhaven.com
Sound effects: Mixkit (Sound Effects Free License).
Maps: Natural Earth and U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line shorelines (public domain); place locations © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
3D figures posed from the Microsoft Rocketbox avatar library (MIT licence), https://github.com/microsoft/Microsoft-Rocketbox
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