CHARMING THE PSYCHOPATH
WITH his devilish grin and devastating good looks, Scott Peterson is the most lusted-after man on America’s Death Row.
His mailbag at California’s infamous San Quentin prison bulges with twisted marriage proposals from sick women who began to lust after him following his high-profile trial in 2003.
Peterson was also the inspiration for the character played by Hollywood hunk Ben Affleck in the 2014 movie Gone Girl.
But looks can be deceiving.
Because Peterson, now 43, is a cold, calculating deviant who deserves his fate – to be executed by lethal injection. HORROR: Cops move Laci’s body after it had washed up on shore
This is a man who took out a life insurance premium when he found out his wife, Laci, was expecting his child – a boy they’d already agreed to name Conner.
This is a man who made secret phone calls to his bit on the side, attractive Amber Frey, as he attended a vigil for his then-missing wife.
And this is a man who was arrested seemingly in the nick of time, as he sat in a car weighed down with a killer’s tool kit as he stalked his next victim.
In the end, Peterson wanted a return to his bachelor ways, free from the obligations of his impending family life.
But now he rots in isolation, waiting to die.
It’s no wonder Laci’s poor mother, Sharon Rocha, screamed with rage when she addressed him in the courtroom shortly before his death sentence was passed in March 2005.
She’d told him: “You deserve to burn in Hell for all eternity!
“Were you proud? Did it give you a sense of accomplishment?
“You tossed her away like garbage. She was not your possession to get rid of, she was my baby.
“I entrusted her to you. You betrayed me and you betrayed Laci.
“I’ll never know my grandson. Would he have
his family, Scott Peterson was the ‘perfect husband’ who, with his stunning wife Laci, was about to welcome a baby boy into the world.
But smiling psychopath Peterson was actually a ‘world-class liar’, leading a double-life and dating a blonde massage therapist behind Laci’s back.
His murderous web of deceit was only revealed when Laci’s dismembered body washed up on the shore – along with that of her unborn son… long, dark eyelashes? Would he have her dimples? Would he like school or sports? Would he cry when he has his picture taken with Santa? What would be in his Easter basket? “You are a monster.” Besides occasionally fidgeting in his chair, Peterson showed little emotion during his trial.
At one point he even laughed out loud when a lawyer made a joke about car salesmen.
If he felt one shred of guilt over the grisly deeds he performed, this well-educated former university student didn’t show it.
Events had begun to unfold on Christmas Eve 2002.
According to Peterson’s version of events, he’d headed out to Berkeley Marina for a fishing trip.
He’d left Laci – fresh from painting Conner’s nursery pastel blue as part of a nautical theme – to walk their pet golden retriever, McKenzie.
When he returned to their shared home in Modesto, California, Laci was nowhere to be found and the alarm was raised.
Cops didn’t know that eight-months pregnant Laci, 27, was already dead, her corpse weighed down in the ocean.
Laci’s family organised a vigil and initially stood by Peterson, despite rumours of his potential actions spreading like wildfire.
To the Rochas, Scott was a loyal and loving husband. Laci’s younger sister, Amy, told how she hoped to find a man just like Scott one day.
But as the weeks passed and the search intensified, Peterson’s behaviour began to seem more and more odd.
He stormed out of press conferences when asked probing questions and let his phone ring during interviews.
Surely a man desperately searching for clues about the whereabouts of his wife would want to take a call which might offer hope?
While police and volunteers combed the countryside for clues, Peterson sulked in his sister Anne’s apartment, watching TV and porn channels.
Then, on January 24, 2003, the mask slipped entirely.
Amber Frey approached