Scott and Laci Peterson
Posted on 01/29/2003 5:30:53 AM PST by runningbear
Peterson says he told police about affair
Peterson says he told police about affair
By PATRICK GIBLIN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Modesto police refused Tuesday to comment on Scott Peterson's claim that he told them Christmas Eve about his affair with Amber Frey.
Peterson made his comment Tuesday during his first lengthy interview, broadcast on ABC Television's "Good Morning America." He confirmed the romantic relationship that Frey reported, and denied killing his pregnant wife, Laci, or having anything to do with her disappearance.
Peterson also said he told his wife in early December about the affair, and added that he continued to see Frey after telling his wife about her.
Ron Grantski, Laci's stepfather, told The Bee after Tuesday's broadcast: "It's nice to see him talking. Now he needs to talk to the police."
Police have not named Peterson as a suspect, nor have they ruled him out.
Grantski reported the 27-year-old Laci missing about 6 p.m. the day before Christmas. Scott Peterson, 30, has told police he returned from a fishing trip about that time and could not find his wife.
The televised interview captured tears from the man who has presented a mostly stoic demeanor in public since his wife was reported missing. She was almost eight months pregnant at the time; she is due to give birth Feb. 10 to a son, to be named Connor or Conner.
During the interview, Peterson said he told police about Frey when they opened the missing-person investigation on Christmas Eve.
Frey, a single mother whose 28th birthday is Feb. 10, went public Friday night about her relationship with Peterson, and said he told her that he was not married when they met Nov. 20. She said she notified police Dec. 30 after seeing Peterson in news reports.
Detective Doug Ridenour, police spokesman, said the department will not comment on what might be a six-day gap between when Peterson says he told investigators about the affair and when Frey says she told them, or on whether police investigated before Frey came forward.
Ridenour simply repeated that Frey contacted Modesto police Dec. 30. Frey has been cleared as a suspect in Peterson's disappearance, police said at Friday night's press conference.
Police had no comment on any part of Peterson's televised interview. A second part, with Scott Peterson's family, is scheduled for broadcast today.
"Good Morning America" co-host Diane Sawyer conducted the interview. ABC videotaped it Monday night in Los Angeles.
Peterson arrived home Tuesday afternoon, and declined to talk with The Bee. "I don't think I want to be interviewed," he said by telephone. "Maybe some other time."
In the ABC interview, Peterson said his affair with Frey was his only extramarital relationship, and he called it "inappropriate." He added: "It wasn't anything that would break us apart."
He said his wife was unhappy about the affair. "But it was not something we weren't dealing with."
Peterson said there was not a lot of anger, no physical altercations and that his wife had made peace with the affair.
"No one knows our relationship but us," he said.
Grantski said that if indeed Peterson told his wife about his affair, she never mentioned it to her family.
"The Laci we know would have said something to us about it," he said. "He's lied before, and this could all be a lie as well. It's his word against Laci's, and she's not here to defend herself."
Laci's brother, Brent Rocha, said Friday that Scott Peterson admitted having an affair after lying about it weeks before to Grantski. Laci's family has distanced itself from Peterson.
Peterson said on ABC that he should have been more forthcoming about the affair and that he owes everyone an apology, especially Frey's family, and his and Laci's families.
He noted that there is no proof that his wife is dead. He added, though, that the possibility runs through his mind. "It's not one that we're ready to accept, and it creeps into my mind late at night and early in the morning.
"And during the day, all I can think about is the right resolution to find her."
He cried when talking about his frequent walks in East La Loma Park with his wife. He said he last saw her as she prepared to go to the park for a walk with the family dog.
He said he continues to walk the dog in the park because it was "our time."
"But I can't get very far," he said. "I certainly can't make it to the part of the park where there's a big poster of her up."
Frey wants her life back
Frey, who has a 23-month-old daughter and works as a massage therapist in Fresno, remained in seclusion Tuesday with friends in the Fresno area.
"All she wants is to get her life back again," said her father, Ron Frey of Fresno.
He said he watched Peterson's interview, but declined to pass judgment. "I don't know the person," he said. "I have no clue if what he said is true.
"I'm just glad the man did not say bad things about Amber. The man did say he didn't love her. I can accept that."
He said he and his daughter are declining requests for interviews with national media. "I'm not a media person, I'm a dad," he said.
Frey said he spoke with The Fresno Bee last weekend because he wanted to stand up for his daughter. He said he wanted to let the public know that she was just a young woman who met someone she liked and struck up a romantic relationship, but instead became a victim.
"I've gotten calls from people crying and telling me my daughter was very brave to step forward," he said. "People are offering their prayers and saying how proud they are for her courage."
Frey said he speaks with his daughter by phone several times a day, passing on messages, offering to run errands for her and just keeping in touch.
Not ‘Murder’ Modesto Husband Admits Affair; Denies Killing Wife
L O S A N G E L E S, Jan. 28 — Scott Peterson, the husband of the missing pregnant Modesto, Calif., woman, says he didn't murder his wife Laci, but admits she knew about his affair with another woman.
Peterson told ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer that his wife accepted his affair with Amber Frey, a single mom from Fresno, when he told her back in early December.
He says he and his wife never even had a fight over his extramarital affair, adding that he never laid a hand on Laci and hopes to find her alive.
"I had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance," Peterson said. "And you used the word murder," he told ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer on Good Morning Ameirca. "Yeah, I mean, that is a possibility. It's not one we're ready to accept and it creeps into my mind late at night, and early in the morning," Peterson said.
Peterson said he decided to speak out after a month of silence because the suspicion about his involvement in Laci's disappearance had distracted the public from the search.
He denies that his revelation of his affair led to any kind of physical confrontation with his missing wife.
Wife Not ‘OK’ With the Cheating
"You know, I can't say that even, you know, she was OK with the idea, but it wasn't — it wasn't anything that would break us apart," Peterson said.
In the one-and-a-half-hour interview with ABCNEWS, Peterson was composed at moments, and soaked in tears at others.
"In the morning I've been taking the dog down to the park where she walked," Peterson said. "It was our time. It's a way to experience her now, for me. A lot of times I can't make it very far," he said, crying. Laci Peterson's family supported Peterson when his pregnant wife went missing Christmas Eve, but news of an alleged lover has left the missing young woman's family angry and skeptical.
"There's other questions we have that if he wasn't truthful about that, it makes us wonder if he's been truthful about everything else," said Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America Monday.
Peterson, who has not spoken publicly about the case until now, has been under close scrutiny by Modesto Police since they found difficulty corroborating his alibi, and more recently when it was discovered that he had been having an affair in the months prior to her disappearance.
Laci Peterson disappeared on Christmas Eve. The 27-year-old is due to deliver a baby boy in two weeks. While Modesto authorities say they have no suspects in the case, Laci's husband has not been eliminated as a suspect yet.
Peterson said Laci told him she was taking the family dog, McKenzie, for a walk at a nearby park before she disappeared. McKenzie was later found in the backyard, trailing a muddy leash.
Peterson says he understands that police immediately looked at him went Laci went missing.
"It's turned me, one, because I'm her husband," Scott Peterson said. "And it turned to me because of the inappropriate romantic [relationship] … that I had with Amber Frey."
Scott Peterson says he never loved Frey and can't even explain why he pursued a relationship with her or why he continued it after telling his wife.
"That's a question you should have an answer to definitely, and I don't know," Peterson said.
Despite the couple's problems, Scott Peterson said there was no anger or cruelty expressed between him and Laci.
"Violence towards women is unapproachable," Scott Peterson said. "It is the most disgusting act, to me."
In a press conference Friday night, Frey admitted that she had a romantic relationship with Peterson. When she discovered he was involved in the Laci Peterson disappearance case, Frey said she immediately called the Modesto Police Department on Dec. 30.
For more information on the search for Laci Peterson, go to http://www.lacipeterson.com/ or call 1-866-Laci-Info.
Watch Good Morning America Wednesday for part two of Diane Sawyer's interview with Scott Peterson and his family.
Scott and Laci Peterson
Peterson Speaks Out In National Interview: Husband Of Missing Woman Admits Affair
(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
Thanks, muggs :)
Someone may have answered, sorry if it's a repeat. But tomorrow night Primetime will carry the full interview with SP. These GMA segments were only a portion of it apparently.
He looks so peaceful ...
If he hadn't embellished the part about going to his office first, the fishing trip would have made a little more sense.
Now he says he went to the office--okay he left home at 9:30, so maybe let's say he was at work for an hour.
He leaves work at 10:30 or 11:00 to go fishing. There have been reports that the highway that day had so much traffic on Christmas Eve that it was about about a 3 hour trip to Berkeley.
So he gets to Berkeley about what? 1:30 or 2 pm. By the time he's in the water it's maybe 2 or 2:15, and then he wants us to believe he's home again by 4:30? With another 2 to 2-1/2 hour drive in there?
He would have had to leave Berkeley about the time he just got in the water, to actually get home at 4:30!
Sorry, Scottie, it just doesn't wash. No wonder he didn't catch any sturgeon!
LOL!!!!
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