Police Surveillance Could Be Scott Peterson’s Alibi, but Judge Won’t Review It

The new forensic dating places Laci Peterson’s death between December 28, 2002 and January 5, 2003. By that window, court records show police had Scott Peterson under formal surveillance: physical tailing, GPS trackers, and pole cameras at his Modesto home.

On Monday, San Mateo County Judge Elizabeth Hill denied the Los Angeles Innocence Project’s request to even present the new evidence in court. The group has been representing Peterson since January 2024 and filed the habeas corpus petition in August 2025.

The petition rests on three claims.

The first is the fetal biometry analysis, which uses the development of Conner’s body to estimate the date of death. Prosecutors at the original trial fixed the murder on Christmas Eve 2002, the day Laci disappeared from the home she shared with Scott. The new analysis places the deaths anywhere from December 28 to January 5, when police were already tracking him.

The second is a reworked alternate-suspect theory. The original defense argued Laci had interrupted a burglary at the Medina home across the street. Investigators at the time dated that burglary to December 26, two days after she went missing.

The new account, based on more than 50 witness interviews, places the burglary on December 24. The petition says Laci was seen confronting men in an orange van after Scott left for his fishing trip. The van was later found burned nearby with a blood-stained mattress inside.

The third claim involves tide and current modeling. The petition argues the currents make it physically impossible for Laci’s and Conner’s bodies to have drifted to the Richmond shoreline from the spot in San Francisco Bay where Scott said he was fishing.

Hannah Brown, the LAIP’s deputy director, said the ruling demonstrates “a profound misunderstanding and misapplication of the law applied to habeas corpus petitions” and that “strong exculpatory evidence was disregarded as ‘inadmissible’ which is not the correct legal standard.” The group plans to file in a higher court.

The original case was almost entirely circumstantial. Scott was having an affair with Amber Frey, who he had told he was a widower weeks before Laci vanished.

He had quietly bought a boat. He bought cement that prosecutors said matched anchor weights.

When he was arrested in San Diego in April 2003, he was carrying his brother’s ID, thousands of dollars in cash, survival gear, and his hair was freshly dyed blond. Laci’s and Conner’s bodies washed ashore that same month, near where Scott had said he was fishing.

He was convicted in November 2004 and given the death penalty. The California Supreme Court reversed that sentence in 2020. He was resentenced to life without parole in 2021. He’s 53 and incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison.

The Los Angeles Innocence Project is a separate organization from the national Innocence Project, which has publicly distanced itself from the case. A previous LAIP appeal was rejected by the California Court of Appeals in June 2025. An A&E docuseries titled “Scott Peterson: The New Evidence” was announced in March 2026.

Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, has said publicly for more than 20 years that she believes Scott killed her daughter.