Two new documentaries delve into dueling perspectives on what happened to Laci and her child

GORY details from the autopsies of Laci Peterson and her child still raise big questions about how they were killed over twenty years ago — and who may have done it.

Laci Peterson’s husband, Scott Peterson, is serving a life sentence for the double murder of his wife and child but has always maintained his innocence.

It took months for the dismembered body of Laci Peterson, 27, to wash ashore in San Francisco Bay, California after she went missing on Christmas Eve of 2022 — while eight months pregnant.

At first, investigators could not be sure the corpse they had found belonged to Laci.

The body was missing its head and several parts of its limbs, according to court testimony.

It had evidently been in the ocean for a significant period of time, because it was bloated and partially eaten.

An autopsy could not reveal the cause of death due to the state of the body, but the coroner noted that there were no clear signs of man-made wounds.

He also added that the woman’s cervix was intact, indicating she had not given birth vaginally.

A piece of nylon rope was wrapped around the bottom half of the body that prosecutors later said was most likely used to weigh the corpse down to the seafloor.

A later DNA analysis confirmed that the body belonged to Laci Peterson — but the identification only led to more questions.

ONE PREGNANT WOMAN, TWO BODIES

Her corpse was discovered on the rocky shore on April 13 — just a couple miles away from where the body of her child was found a day earlier.

His right side was mutilated and his umbilical cord was missing, according to the autopsy report reviewed by ABC News.

Photos showed that something was wrapped around the child’s neck, such as a piece of twine or plastic — a fact defense attorneys pounced on to assert more doubt in the jury’s minds.

Scott’s lawyers argued that a burglar had entered the couple’s home and killed Laci while he was out fishing.

Finding the child separated from his mother helped Scott’s lawyers establish doubt and argue that a potential burglar may have committed the crime.

But the body of Conner — as the couple had said they planned on naming the baby — had decomposed much less than the body of his mother, pathologist Brian Peterson testified during Scott’s trial as reported on Oxygen.

Defense attorneys posited that this could mean the baby was born and had died after Laci, but most experts disagreed.

Conner’s age was between 33 and 38 weeks based on bone measurements but estimation was inexact because of the state the body was in, forensic anthropologist Alison Galloway said during the trial — making it unlikely the baby was born before dying.

Peterson said the difference in decomposition meant the child had been protected inside his mother’s womb for months before becoming separated from her more recently.

“Truly, I believe that for whatever reason Laci met her demise, it was her death that caused the death of [the baby],” Peterson said during the trial.

The doctor also said that he did not believe that tape or rope had been tied around the child’s neck, as defense attorneys argued, but had instead become entangled around him later.

Peterson added that there were no signs of strangulation such as bruising or lacerations on the baby to indicate that he had died after being born.

TOP SUSPECT

Investigators had quickly zeroed in on Scott as the primary suspect in Laci’s disappearance but had little to go on until her and Conner’s bodies washed ashore.

There were many signs pointing to Scott.

The bodies were found in the same bay area where Scott told police he had gone finishing on the day she disappeared.

Scott has been having multiple affairs with other women, police learned, including a woman named Amber Frey who eventually told investigators about her relationship with Scott.

The husband had told her he was a widower when they began dating, raising concerns that he not only killed his wife but had planned the murder long before.

Police learned that Scott called his girlfriend before calling police to report Laci’s disappearance and said they felt like he showed little sadness at his family‘s killings.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors went back and forth on the possibilities for five months before ending the trial.

HUSBAND FOUND GUILTY

Scott was arrested on the same day that police received DNA confirmation that the bodies belonged to the Petersons.

His trial played out amidst intense public scrutiny that included having to replace a juror who had allegedly researched the case outside the courtroom.

The jury took nine days to find the 32-year-old guilty of both murders in 2004, and the convicted killer received a death sentence the next year.

While he waited on death row, Scott appealed his sentence in 2012 on the basis of improper jury selection — and won the case in 2020.

The California Supreme Court upheld Scott’s convictions but overturned his death sentence after finding evidence that jurors were selected in part due to their feelings on capital punishment.

In 2021, he was resentenced to life without parole.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Earlier this year, Scott shocked the world again when it was announced that the Los Angeles Innocence Project was taking on his case.

The group helps people who claim they have been wrongly convicted to appeal their decisions.

Scott’s perspective and his work with the Innocence Project are featured in a new documentary — Face to Face with Scott Peterson premiering on Peacock on Tuesday.

Netflix debuted a dueling documentary this week centering on Laci’s experience and the perspectives of her loved ones in American Murder: Laci Peterson.