Scott Peterson’s Father Thought Son Wasn’t Guilty Despite Amber Frey Affair 
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by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
August 22, 2004
Redwood City, CA (LifeNews.com) — When police investigators told Scott Peterson’s father about his affair with massage therapist Amber Frey, he did not believe it made his son more of a suspect in the case.
According to a transcript of a meeting between Lee Peterson and Modesto police obtained by Court TV, Peterson’s father rejected the idea of a secret affair as suspicious or related to Laci Peterson’s disappearance.
"I can understand someone having an affair. I mean, it’s — it’s not a good thing, but I can understand," Lee told detectives.
Police met with the elder Peterson at a San Diego-area coffee shop to break the news of the affair to family members before the National Enquirer made the information public.
"That sure isn’t proof that my son was involved in this thing," Lee Peterson said.
"If I was under the investigation and my wife disappeared, I don’t think I’d be talking about an affair I had with some other woman," Lee Peterson told the detectives. "I doubt either of you fellows would, either."
Modesto police detectives Craig Grogan and Phil Owen told Lee that Peterson had told Frey in early December that he had “lost” his wife.
"This information is very concerning if Scott told this girl before — weeks before — Laci disappeared," Grogan said.
"Maybe it’s just a dumb thing you tell a girl to — I don’t know, like guys did in the war, said, ah — you know, I’m going off to battle here and ah — that we make love before I go to battle," Lee replied.
Lee was surprised when Grogan said he had confronted Peterson earlier about the affair, as Peterson had not mentioned it to his father who was with him at the police station at the time.
Peterson also suggested that his son may have been drinking when he made the "lost" comment.
Laci’s parents took the news of the affair in quite a different manner. Susan Rocha, Laci’s mother, accused her son-in-law of murdering her daughter as soon as she found out, according to Court TV.
"You killed my daughter, didn’t you?" Rocha asked, angrily, according to another transcript of a conversation she had with Peterson.
"No, I didn’t, Mom," Peterson said.
"Stop lying. I’m tired of your lies," Rocha responded.
"Since you’ve managed to lose all of my confidence in you, what I want to know is where’s my daughter at, Scott?" Rocha demanded, according to the transcript obtained by CourtTV.
"I wish I knew, Mom," Peterson said. "I wish I knew where she is."
Despite Peterson’s repeated claims of innocence, Rocha continued to accuse him.
"You make me sick, Scott," Rocha said. "Tell me where Laci is. I want to be able to bury my daughter. Now tell me what you did with her."
The trial was delayed last week as Judge Alfred Delucchi said it there was “a potential development.”
The prosecution has been putting 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.
Peterson’s defense attorney, Mark 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 throughout pregnancy.
