Tapes Reveal Scott Peterson Lying to Amber Frey About His Marriage

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 1, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Tapes Reveal Scott Peterson Lying to Amber Frey About His Marriage

by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
August 13, 2004

Redwood City, CA (LifeNews.com) — During Amber Frey’s third day of testimony in the Scott Peterson double murder trial, the jury heard tapes of conversations between Peterson and his mistress, in which he confessed to lying about his travels and his marital status.

Frey, upon finding out that Peterson was not only married but possibly connected to his wife’s disappearance, went to the Modesto police who provided her with a telephone recording device. Some 300 calls between Peterson and Frey were recorded.

On January 6, less than two weeks after Laci disappeared, Frey confronted Peterson about having lied about his marital status.

"The media has been telling everyone that I had something to do with her disappearance," Peterson told Amber Frey in the Jan. 6, 2003, call. "So the past two weeks I’ve been hunted by the media. … I know that I am, you know, I’m destroyed."

Later, Frey said "So, you know, you and I…"

"Are destroyed," Peterson finished her statement.

Peterson also told Frey that while he had been telling her he was in Europe, he was actually in Modesto helping police search for his wife.

"You’ve been calling … having conversations with me when all this is happening?" Frey asked.

"Yeah," Peterson replied, to which Frey asked, "Really? Isn’t that a little twisted, Scott?”

Peterson told Frey that in the morning, he felt hopeful about finding Laci, but at night he began “to lose faith."

Frey also challenged Peterson about what he had told her a month earlier, when he said he had been married but “lost” his wife.

"How did you lose her then before she was lost? Explain that!" Frey demanded.

"There’s different kinds of loss, Amber," Peterson replied.

"Then explain your loss," Frey said.

"I … I can’t to you now," replied Peterson.

When Frey asked Peterson why she should not be afraid of him, he said “I am not an evil person. … I would never hurt anyone."

Peterson had told Frey his favorite movie was “The Shining.” The thriller, starring Jack Nicholson, is about a writer who murders his wife and son.

In his conversations with Frey, Peterson did not let on that he knew of Laci’s whereabouts.

"Our hope, and it’s a sad hope, is that … well, I mean we need a tip. That’s why we have such a big reward. We just hope that someone is holding her for her child and that we can, you know, get her back with a tip," Peterson told Frey.

"What if she’s found dead?" Frey asked.

"My God, don’t say that," Peterson replied. When Frey persisted, Peterson said, "All our questions are answered and then we can find the bastards that did it."

Frey also questioned Peterson repeatedly as to whether Laci’s unborn child was his, and when Peterson did not answer, she assumed it was because he was not the father, Frey testified.

The prosecution has been attempting to put forth a case based on Scott Peterson’s erratic behavior, affair, and alleged secret purchase of a fishing boat that could have been used to dump Laci’s body into the San Francisco Bay.

Prosecutors consider the timing critical because on December 6 the woman who introduced Peterson to Frey said she confronted him about being married. Peterson told Frey and her friend that he had "lost" his wife.

Geragos claims that the prosecution has no murder weapon, no eyewitnesses, and a case built entirely on circumstantial evidence. He has put forth explanations for Peterson’s strange behavior as well as theories that a satanic cult or men with a tan van abducted Laci on the morning of December 24, and attacked investigators for doing sloppy work and focusing on Peterson exclusively.

Scott Peterson has pleaded innocent to the double murder charges. The case has received national attention and spurred the passage of numerous unborn victims laws.

The laws allow prosecutors to charge criminals with two crimes when they kill or injure an unborn child as a result of attacking a pregnant woman.

Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, has become and outspoken advocate of Unborn Victims Laws, both for individual states and the entire nation.

President Bush signed a federal Unborn Victims of Violence Law in March. Rocha had voiced her support of the bill, and had criticized members of the Senate, including presidential hopeful John Kerry, who returned to Washington from the campaign trial to vote against the bill.

According to the National Right to Life Committee, 30 states have unborn victims laws, most recently Kentucky and Virginia, and 18 cover mothers and their unborn children.