Netflix’s American Murder: Laci Peterson Tells The Full Story of Amber Frey
Where is Amber Frey now? Netflix's latest docuseries about the Laci Peterson case has answers.
I was in my early twenties in 2002 when Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant with her first child, went missing. I remember only snippets of news reports as Peterson’s family frantically searched for her and her husband, Scott Peterson, slowly emerged as the prime suspect in her murder. I can picture my own mother watching Peterson’s mom, Sharon Rocha, on the news, sharing in her heartbreak from across the country. But until I recently binge-watched Netflix’s new docuseries American Murder: Laci Peterson, I forgot all about a key component in the case, Amber Frey.
When Frey entered the Netflix docuseries more than 45 minutes into the first episode, I said aloud, all alone in my living room, “Oh my god, I forgot he had a girlfriend.” As Frey’s face flooded the screen, I remembered my mom, who claimed to have been cheated on in both of her marriages, referring to Frey as Scott Peterson’s mistress and painting her in a not-so-flattering light. As a grown-up in my 40s, however, I was shocked to learn how much of a victim Frey truly was. Yes, she fell for Scott Peterson’s charms, but I had remembered Frey’s story all wrong, and chances are, you have, too.
Here are the biggest revelations from Frey’s scenes in American Murder: Laci Peterson, and what the woman whose actions and testimony helped convict Scott Peterson, is up to today.
Amber Frey Did Not Know Scott Peterson Was Married
Frey met Scott Peterson in November 2002, shortly after she’d graduated from massage school. She was told by the friend who introduced her to Peterson that he was “looking to meet the one.”
“As a single mom, that was something I was open to and wanting in my life,” Frey says in the docuseries. “Scott and I started talking on the phone … he was interested in my life and my daughter and he was very sweet with her. Our time together just flowed. I asked if he had ever been married. He said no. I asked if he had children. He said no, never wanted to.”
Over the months she was involved with Peterson, Frey says she started potentially seeing herself marrying him one day. Eventually, Peterson told her he had something to confess. “He said that he had lied about being married,” says Frey. “[He] said he had lost his wife and it’d be the first holidays without her.”
Frey assumed Peterson’s wife had “died in a car accident or something,” but didn’t want to upset him further, so she accepted his apology and continued the relationship for several more weeks. It was only when a friend brought her a printed news article about Peterson and the search for his missing, pregnant wife, that she realized she’d been misled again.
“Everything was a lie,” she says, “and it was terrifying.”
Frey Changed The Laci Peterson Investigation By Calling a Police Tip Line
During the search for Laci Peterson, many of the missing woman’s family members stood behind Scott Peterson and publicly said they didn’t suspect him of involvement in her disappearance. That began to change when Frey called a Modesto Police Department tip line, telling the operator Scott Peterson was her “boyfriend.” Investigators met with Frey shortly after, and, as Modesto Police Department investigator Jon Buehler says in the series, “it was a revelation in the case” for everyone involved.
“Now, we found the other side of Scott Peterson that nobody knew about,” Buehler explains. “Now, we have some actual solidified proof that there’s something going on here.”
Frey Helped Police By Wire-Tapping Calls With Scott Peterson
Frey says detectives asked if she’d be willing to use a recording device while speaking on the phone with Scott Peterson, and she obliged. She says her “heart would pound” and her “hands would sweat” every time she took a call from Peterson and recorded it. Her work led to police requesting a wiretap on Peterson’s phone as well, in hopes they’d be able to record a confession, but that confession never came.
Peterson wove a web of lies during his relationship with Frey, telling her he’d be traveling out of town at certain times, even pretending to call her from Paris on New Year’s Eve when he was actually attending a candlelight vigil for his missing wife. “I know inside my mind, you’re lying through your teeth,” Frey says of that particular call. “He was, in fact, not in Paris.”
Eventually, Peterson confessed to Frey that, although he’d told her he’d “lost his wife” weeks before, he actually had not. “Scott confessed that he had been lying to me, that his wife was missing,” says Frey. “I got a sense of relief being able to confront him without having to carry on the whole facade of our relationship. But at the same time, there was a lot I was hoping that, in continuing those conversations, I might get out of him in regards to what happened to Laci.”
In a press conference later, Frey spoke out about her involvement with Peterson, attempting to set the record straight with a one-minute statement. “I met Scott Peterson on November 20, 2002,” she said in her first public appearance, which is shown in the docuseries. “I was introduced to him. I was told he was unmarried. Scott told me he was not married. I am very sorry for Laci’s family and the pain that this has caused them. And I pray for her safe return as well.”
Frey ended her contact with Peterson soon after, later testifying in his murder trial. In 2004, Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife and their unborn son, Conner, although he still maintains his innocence. In 2020, his death sentence was overturned, but Peterson is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Laci Peterson and their child.
Where Is Amber Frey Now?
Today, Amber Frey is 49 years old and lives in California. She is mom to two teenagers, owned her own spa, which closed, and works as a massage therapist. She’s also an ambassador for Bucked Up, a supplement company, which she promotes on her public Instagram account.
Viewers of American Murder: Laci Peterson have flocked to Frey’s Instagram to leave supportive comments. “Applause for what you did helping the police,” says one comment. “Thank you for your honesty.”
“Life looks good on you,” reads another comment. Another says, “20 years later, you did the right thing.”
All three episodes of American Murder: Laci Peterson are available to stream on Netflix now.
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A writer and editor based in a small Florida beach town, Terri loves crafting a good story and traveling with her family. When she's not reading,…