| LACI & CONNER |
| Editorial Reviews
and Excerpts FROM THE BOOK BY ANNE BIRD What happens if, after being given up for adoption in childhood, you reestablish contact with your biological family -- only to discover that your newfound brother is a killer? Anne Bird, the sister of Scott Peterson, knows firsthand. Soon after her birth in 1965, Anne was given up for adoption by her mother, Jackie Latham. Welcomed into the well-adjusted Grady family, she lived a happy life. Then, in the late 1990s, she came back into contact with her mother, now Jackie Peterson, and her family -- including Jackie's son Scott Peterson and his wife, Laci. Anne was welcomed into the family, and over the next several years she grew close to Scott and especially Laci. Together they shared holidays, family reunions, and even a trip to Disneyland. Anne and Laci became pregnant at roughly the same time, and the two became confidantes. Then, on Christmas Eve 2002, Laci Peterson went missing -- and the happy faηade of the Peterson family slowly began to crumble. Anne rushed to the family's aid, helping in the search for Laci, even allowing Scott to stay in her home while police tried to find his wife. Yet Scott's behavior grew increasingly bizarre during the search, and Anne grew suspicious that her brother knew more than he was telling. Finally she began keeping a list of his disturbing behavior. And by the time Laci's body -- and that of her unborn son, Conner -- were found, Anne was becoming convinced: Her brother Scott Peterson had murdered his wife and unborn child in cold blood. Filled with news-making revelations and intimate glimpses of Scott and Laci, the Peterson family, and the investigation that followed the murder, Blood Brother is a provocative account of how long-dormant family ties dragged one woman into one of the most notorious crimes of our time. |
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| "The next day our baby sitter came to help. She is very attractive and when Scott saw her he did a double-take. Suddenly he was smiling and flirting. He was now a very long way from the bereaved husband. He looked like a charming young man without a care in the world a man on the make." |
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| I came right out and asked him. "I want to know about Amber," I said. "She's nothing," he said. "It was just a fling. Down and dirty. It meant nothing." "I don't understand " "It happens, OK?" he said, cutting me off. "People cheat. Don't act like people never cheat. I mean, I remember one time on this long flight I took turns with two women in two separate bathrooms. And another time there was this girl in San Luis Obispo. It was just sex. Nothing else." "Did Laci know?" "Yes!" he said dismissively, turning away to avoid my eyes. "And she was extremely p----- off, OK?" **************************** |
| "If anybody calls and asks you about Scott and the baby sitter, deny it," Jackie said. "Excuse me?" I wasn't sure I had heard her correctly. But if I had, she was asking me to lie. "If anybody asks you anyone at all deny it." I hung up. That was it: I was going to have to separate myself from Jackie. Blood is thicker than water, but there's a limit. ****************************** |
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| "We must blame Jackie, she started the family of Lies." DONNA ~ NEW YORK ~ GUESTBOOK |
| EXCERPTS |
| Jackie called me right after Amber's testimony, enraged. "There's no evidence against Scott. Police have nothing." I didn't want to upset her, but I couldn't control myself. "What about all those lies?" I asked cautiously. "About the Eiffel Tower and Normandy and all that?" "Well, he's been all those places!" Jackie snapped. Wow. She was in complete denial. **************************** |
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| SCOTT with AMBER FREY |
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| In her book, Bird seemed puzzled by her mother's thinly veiled dislike for Scott Peterson's bubbly wife. Bird churned out vignettes in proof: Jackie Peterson critiquing her daughter-in-law's thank-you cards, nastily objecting to Laci Peterson's wish to name her son Logan, and turning her nose up at her daughter-in-law's hometown Modesto. "I was beginning to understand why Jackie was so critical of Laci," Bird wrote. "No one was good enough for her golden boy." --------------------------------------- After news of Scott's affair with Amber Frey, Laci's Family made statements to the press. Finally it was Sharon Rocha's turn. I was crying long before she finished, and I was still crying long after she was done. The next day it was Amber's turn to speak. The hits kept coming.My cell phone rang, it was Jackie. "Have you been watching the news?" she asked. "Yes.", I replied. "That Sharon Rocha, there's a word to describe that woman. She is evil. That's what she is, evil. She and her friends and family are destroying my son. How dare they stand and point the finger at Scott? Who do they think they are? As for that Amber Frey, what's the big deal? So Scott slept with a Bimbo? So what?" ------------------------------------------------------ Jackie said, "I told you. The police are idiots." She was beginning to panic, to lash out at anyone who didn't seem to be on her side, and I honestly can't say I blamed her. This was her son they were talking about, her little boy. This was one of the children she had kept. ------------------------------------------------------------ Scott took the phone. "Would you mind if I crashed there for a while? I promise I won't be in the way." No, I didn't mind at all. He was my brother. I believed in him. The family would get through this together. ----------------------------------------------------------- Scott seemed more interested in his facial hair than in the search for his wife. He turned his attention back to the TV and began to shake his head. "They're looking in the wrong places," he said. "Who?" "The police. Everyone." ------------------------------------------------------------------- He told me that he and Laci had often spent the night at a bed-and-breakfast in Mendocino that looked a lot like the main house in 'Murder, She Wrote.' "One day Laci and I went for a walk and we ended up in a part of town we'd never seen before. We came across a small cemetery with an even smaller cemetery just beyond. It was all overgrown with weeds and the headstones were really small so we assumed it was a pet cemetery. "Laci and I climbed over the little broken fence and started to read the headstones. We realized that this wasn't a pet cemetery at all. It was a children's cemetery. It was full of little children." I was holding my breath. The way Scott was telling the story, it seemed almost as if he were in a trance. His voice was flat, hypnotic. "Laci started crying," he said, continuing in the same tone. "She was very upset. She wanted to fix up the place. She wanted to clear out the brush and plant beautiful flowers and make it nice for the children." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bird's 214-page tale also has her brother frolicking in a gay bar with some of Bird's friends, then acting downcast when homosexuals didn't find him attractive. "Some friends took Scott to a gay bar and Scott drank too much and made a fool of himself. That was the report I got, that he'd been loud and boisterous and eager for attention. When Scott crawled out of bed the following morning, nursing a hangover, he told me the night was a bust. "No one hit on me," he said. I laughed. I thought he was kidding around. But he hadn't been kidding around. When I spoke to another relative later, she confirmed it. "Scott was pretty bummed," she said. "He thought for sure everyone would want to hit on a stud like him. But no one did." ****************************************** |