Netflix fans have praised a ‘compelling’ documentary series that tells the story of an American woman who was killed by her husband while eight months pregnant.
On Christmas Eve in 2002, Laci Denise Peterson disappeared from her home in Modesto, California, with her husband Scott Peterson later reporting her missing.
The following year, the remains of the 27-year-old and those of her unborn son, whom the couple had planned to name Conner, were discovered on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
Her husband was then arrested and charged with two counts of murder.
In 2004, he was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Laci and the second-degree murder of Conner.
However, 20 years on, the case has continued to be a subject of public interest.
In 2020 Scott’s death sentence was overturned, but the following year he was re-sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Scott, who had been having an affair at the time, initially pleaded not guilty and has always maintained his innocence.
Now, the three-part Netflix series, American Murder: Laci Peterson, delves into the murder case.
It ‘utilises news clips, interrogation footage, and courtroom cameras to bring the dramatic disappearance, investigation, and trial into focus’ and features interviews with detectives, lawyers, and jurors involved in Peterson’s trial.
For the first time since Laci’s death, her mother Sharon Rocha also agreed to an in-depth interview.
After tuning in, many viewers shared their thoughts on social media.
‘Netflix’s American Murder: Laci Peterson is two hours of implying, and then inferring, and then confirming, that the husband is guilty of murder. No journey and no plot twist. And yet it’s still compelling, because Netflix are very good at making documentaries,’ user Mrkhndy posted on X.
‘I watched American Murder: Laci Peterson on Netflix. For being one of the biggest missing persons/murder cases of the last 20 years I didn’t know much about it but as usual Netflix did an excellent job on the docuseries. If you’re into true crime, I definitely recommend it 8/10,’ Christian shared.
‘Just watched the American Murder: Laci Peterson documentary on Netflix, and it’s grim,’ Phil added.
Meanwhile journalist Laura Ingle, who covered the trial, wrote: It’s a great deep dive on the case that gripped the nation over 20 years ago.’
During the original trial, prosecutors revealed Scott had told his mistress, massage therapist Amber Frey, that he’d ‘lost’ his wife and would be spending his first Christmas alone even before Laci even went missing.
The jury recommended he receive the death penalty, with a judge sentencing him to death in 2005, describing the murders as ‘cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous’.
However, after 15 years on death row, four years ago the California Supreme Court overturned the sentence due to a ‘series of clear and significant errors in jury selection’.
It was the following year he was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Laci’s death and 15 years to life in prison for the death of his unborn baby.
His lawyers have argued that Laci was killed after she stumbled upon a burglary.
Earlier this year Scott was granted a status hearing in response to a request by LA Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal advocacy organisation, which claimed it had new evidence to support his claims of innocence.
Ahead of the documentary being released, director Skye Borgman said how they wanted the series to ‘bring Laci back to people’s consciousness’.
She also spoke about her interest in the case extending beyond the shocking crime.
‘There’s this statistic that is shocking to me every time I hear it—homicide is the number one cause of death for pregnant women. Every time I say that to people, they tell me absolutely that can’t be true, but it is,’ she told Netflix’s Tudum.
‘Intimate partner violence is something that’s really overwhelming. I want people to walk away from this thinking about that in a deeper way.’
American Murder: Laci Peterson is streaming on Netflix.
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