The Peterson Case: One Year Later

It was a year ago that the Modesto Police Department got a frantic Christmas Eve phone call from Scott Peterson reporting that his pregnant wife, Laci, was missing from the couple's home. In a matter of weeks, Laci Peterson and her fate would become the subject of hundreds of hours of national broadcast news.

Video: Bob Moore Talks About Peterson Case According to Modesto police investigators, Peterson allegedly killed his wife some time late Dec. 23 or Dec. 24 and then drove her remains several hours to the San Francisco Bay, where he dumped her body in the waters off the Berkeley Marina. Laci Peterson's partially decomposed remains and those of her unborn son, Connor, washed up on the shores of a nearby Richmond park in April.

Just days after their discovery, Scott Peterson was arrested in San Diego and charged with two counts of capitol murder. He will spend this Christmas Eve in a small solitary cell at the Stanislaus County Jail and be visited by his parents. According to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's website, Peterson will be treated like all other inmates and will receive a special dessert with his Christmas meal -- a cookie.

On Monday, Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, filed papers arguing that the Modesto Police had failed to pursue a "genuine investigation of Laci Peterson's disappearance" last Christmas Eve, and asked that the double-murder charges be dropped.

In a 12-page argument filed with Stanislaus County Superior Court, Geragos maintains the murder charges against Peterson are groundless, and stated that "police -- from the very beginning -- decided that their job was to put Scott Peterson on death row."

Geragos will formally move at a Jan. 14 court hearing to dismiss charges that Peterson killed his substitute teacher wife and their unborn son. Peterson is schedule to stand trial on the charges later in January.

Peterson has pleaded innocent the to the charges twice -- at his arraignment in April and also at a formal issuing of the charges after a lengthy preliminary hearing last month. During that preliminary hearing the details -- at least the police version -- were laid out in the courtroom.

While prosecutors never presented an overview of their case, they laid out the framework showing motive, planning and opportunity.

"First of all, you have somebody who's setting up the crime well in advance," said Michael Vitiello, a law professor at McGeorge School of Law. "You've got the motive to get rid of her: He's got the affair, he's promised to be with this woman. You place him at the very scene where her body surfaces later."

Prosecutors never said where, when or how they believe Laci Peterson was killed. Police found a .22-caliber handgun in Peterson's pickup truck but they never revealed if it had been fired recently and a lead detective didn't know the results of gunpowder residue tests on Peterson's hands.

The remains of Laci Peterson were so ravaged by the sea -- her head, neck, forearms, and part of a leg, as well as most of her internal organs, were missing -- that there was no discernible cause of death. Three ribs were broken, but a pathologist couldn't tell if the fractures preceded her demise or were the result of being roughed up by tides in San Francisco Bay.

In the chain of evidence prosecutors linked to show probable cause that Scott Peterson killed his wife, there was only one piece of physical evidence: a 6-inch strand of dark hair to tie his wife to the boat he said he took fishing Christmas Eve when she vanished. While the DNA technique used on the hair is not precise enough to provide a definitive match, it could not exclude her, making it possible she was on the 14-foot skiff she apparently didn't know about.

Without ever connecting the dots, prosecutors were able to show a pattern of suspicion pointing to Peterson. Among the highlights offered by investigators:

The mistress: Peterson began an extramarital affair with massage therapist Amber Frey in November, telling her he was single and had never been married. When confronted by her on Dec. 9 -- two weeks before his wife vanished -- he acknowledged he had been married, but had lost his wife and was planning to spend the holidays without her.

The fishy alibi: Peterson said he was fishing on San Francisco Bay when his wife disappeared from their Modesto home 80 miles away. He said he scrapped golf plans because it was too cold, choosing spontaneously to motor out on the notoriously nippy bay in a craft better suited for fresh water. He cut the trip short because it started raining and he got cold. His temporary fishing license appeared to have bought the previous day. When asked what he was fishing for, he couldn't say.

The 10-minute gap: Peterson said he left his house at 9:30 a.m. as his wife was mopping the floor. He said she planned to walk their dog and the defense has said she may have been abducted during her walk. Cell phone records show Peterson called his voicemail at 10:08 a.m. within about 11/2 miles of his house, an officer said. A neighbor said she found the couple's dog on its leash alone in the street at 10:18 a.m., leaving little more than 10 minutes for his wife to have finished mopping, gone for her walk and been snatched.

The beige maternity pants: Laci Peterson's half-sister, Amy Rocha, was the last known person to see her other than Scott Peterson. Rocha said Laci was wearing beige maternity pants on Dec. 23. Scott Peterson said his wife was wearing black pants when he last saw her. Her remains washed ashore in April -- near where her husband said he was fishing -- clad in a brassiere and tan maternity pants, supporting a police theory that she was killed Dec. 23 and dumped in the bay.