Laci Peterson

Laci's older brother, Brent Rocha, was born in 1971.

Laci worked on the farm from a young age and also enjoyed gardening with her mother.

Sharon and Dennis divorced when Laci and her brother were young.

Sharon and the children moved to Modesto, though the children visited the dairy farm on weekends.

Sharon eventually married Ron Grantski, who helped raise Laci and Brent from the time Laci was two years old.

Laci was a cheerleader in junior high and high school.

After graduating from Thomas Downey High School, she attended California Polytechnic State University, majoring in ornamental horticulture.

Scott was born October 24, 1972, in San Diego, California, to Lee Arthur Peterson, who owned a crate-packaging company, and Jacqueline "Jackie" Helen Latham, who owned a boutique in La Jolla called The Put On.

Lee and Jackie had six children from previous relationships.

Scott was their only child together.

As a child, Scott shared a bedroom with his half-brother John in the family's two-bedroom apartment in La Jolla.

He began playing golf at an early age, and, by age 14, he could beat his father at the game.

For a time, Scott had dreams of becoming a professional golfer, and he was teammates with future-pro Phil Mickelson at the University of San Diego High School.

By the end of high school, he was one of the top junior golfers in San Diego.

Laci Denise Peterson (née Rocha; May 4, 1975 — c. December 24, 2002) was an American woman murdered by her husband, Scott Lee Peterson (born October 24, 1972), while eight months pregnant with their first child.

Laci was born May 4, 1975, to Sharon Anderson and Dennis Robert Rocha, who had met in high school and owned a dairy farm west of Escalon, California.

In 1990, Scott enrolled at Arizona State University (where Mickelson had also enrolled) on a partial golf scholarship.

Scott's father, Lee, later testified that Scott was discouraged by the considerable competition that Mickelson and an unnamed future-pro presented.

According to Chip Couch, the father of another young golfer, Chris Couch, Scott was taken off the golf team after Chip discovered that Scott had taken his son out drinking while Chris was visiting Arizona State for a recruiting trip.

Chip complained to the Arizona State golf coach, who subsequently kicked Scott off the team.

Scott transferred to Cuesta College and then to California Polytechnic State University.

Initially planning to major in international business, Scott ultimately graduated with a degree in agricultural business.

Professors who taught Scott described him as a model student.

His agribusiness professor, Jim Ahern, commented, "I wouldn't mind having a class full of Scott Petersons."

While at Cal Poly, Scott worked at Pacific Café, a restaurant in Morro Bay.

Laci would occasionally visit the restaurant to see a friend who also worked there.

In mid-1994, Laci sent Scott her phone number; she also told her mother that she had met the man that she would marry.

Scott later called Laci, and they began dating.

As the relationship grew more serious, Scott put aside his dreams of professional golf in order to focus on a business career.

The couple dated for two years and eventually moved in together.

In 1997, after Laci graduated, they married at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort.

While Scott finished his senior year, Laci took a job in nearby Prunedale.

Prosecutors later stated that, around this time, Scott engaged in his first extramarital affair, though they did not reveal the details of the relationship.

Scott graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business in June 1998, and the Petersons opened a sports bar in San Luis Obispo called The Shack.

Laci disappeared on December 24, 2002, from the couple's home in Modesto, California, after which Scott reported her missing.

The remains of her and her unborn son, whom the couple had planned to name Conner, were discovered in April 2003 on the shores of San Francisco Bay.

Subsequently, Scott was arrested and charged with two counts of murder.

In November 2004, he was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Laci and the second-degree murder of the infant.

The case has continued to be a subject of public interest and discussion, raising questions about the legal process and media coverage.

Originally sentenced to death, Scott's sentence was overturned in 2020, and, in 2021, he was re-sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.