'This Is A Nightmare': Laci Peterson's Family Wants Convicted Killer Scott Peterson To Rot 'In Jail For The Rest of His Life' — Following Petition To Overturn His Conviction
Laci Peterson's family is sounding off on Scott Peterson and his attempt to be a free man again.
April 28 2025, Published 1:45 p.m. ET
Scott Peterson is looking to be released from behind bars now that the Los Angeles Innocence Project is on his side – but victim Laci Peterson's family is sick at the possibility of that ever happening.
The convicted killer has spent 21 years in prison for killing his pregnant wife, but new evidence may now clear his name, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Laci Peterson's family is feeling uneasy about the possibility of her killer being set free.
A relative of Sharon Rocha, the mother of Laci, simply can't believe Scott may one day be a free man.
"This is a nightmare," she told Daily Mail. "This is something we put behind us 20 years ago, and now it's back."
She continued: "We believed then and we believe now that Scott killed Laci and belongs in jail for the rest of his life."
Scott Peterson is currently behind bars after being convicted of his wife Laci's murder.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project filed a petition in court on April 21 and presented new evidence and witness statements focusing on the theory that Laci was murdered by two burglars – Steven Todd and Donald Pearce – after she witnessed their crime, and that Scott was on a fishing trip by himself when it all allegedly went down.
“Had the jury heard this evidence, it is highly likely they would not have reached a guilty verdict," the organization said in a statement.
Days earlier, Scott's team also filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the California Court of Appeal, looking to overturn his 2004 conviction for the 2002 murders of Laci and her unborn son, Connor.
Scott's lawyers claim they even have a witness who allegedly “overheard a conversation among the burglars about Laci seeing and confronting them. This evidence exonerates Scott Peterson because it shows Laci was alive when he left home on December 24, since the burglary took place.”
According to his team, the new evidence “undermines the prosecution's entire circumstantial case against Petitioner, and shows that the jury relied on false evidence, including false scientific evidence, to convict him."
However, Rocha can't going through pain again if Scott gets his way.
Scott's team claims Laci was actually murdered by two burglars.
She said in a victim's impact statement: "... Since his conviction in 2004, he has been in court numerous times trying to get his conviction overturned. Each attempt he makes for freedom feels like ripping the scab from the wound (family's trauma).
"He continues to file claim after claim."
Rocha continued: "Time after time. I believe this is not about proving his innocence, but instead about his relentless pursuit (to be freed) from prison. When will this end?"
On Christmas Eve 2002, Laci was reported missing – almost four months later, only her torso was found along the Point Isabel shoreline in the San Francisco Bay. She was 27 years old.
Just one day earlier, two people had spotted the body of a male fetus near the same spot – later confirmed to be Conner.
Scott, 30 years old at the time, was arrested and charged with both murders days later. After he was sentenced to death in 2004, he was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2021.
Only Laci's torso was found after she had been missing almost four months.
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Scott – who has proclaimed his innocence – also believes Laci was killed by two burglars.
"There was a burglary across the street from our home. And I believe Laci went over there to see what was going on, and that’s when she was taken," he claimed in a video call interview from Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.
The now 52-year-old continued: "Todd and Pearce, the two that we know burgled the house across the street. We don’t know who else was in that burglary. We know there were others."
"There was no desire to pursue the evidence that was in front of them. It was the evidence they just decided to ignore," he said.
