Here’s What Was Found in Scott Peterson’s Car After Wife’s Body Was Found

Here’s What Was Found in Scott Peterson’s Car After Wife’s Body Was Found
Scott Peterson. (Modesto Police Department)
Epoch Newsroom
9/13/2017
Updated:
1/2/2018

Interest in the Scott Peterson case has increased in recent weeks due to the A&E documentary, “Truth and Lies: The Murder of Laci Peterson.”

Laci went missing on Christmas Eve 2002 when she was 7-months pregnant. Her body was found in the San Francisco Bay several months later.

When that happened, Modesto Police knew they had to act.

“When the bodies came up, what it did is it automatically injected a big sense of urgency in the case,” said former Modesto police detective Jon Buehler, ABC News reported Wednesday.
What was found in Peterson's car (Modesto Police Department)
What was found in Peterson's car (Modesto Police Department)

Modesto Police said they questioned Peterson, who was convicted of murder and is currently in prison, one day after his wife went missing. Peterson claimed that he was out in his boat at the Berkeley Marina in Richmond, California, and was fishing.

“I suspected Scott when I first met him,” Buehler said. “Didn’t mean he did it, but I was a little bit thrown off by his calm, cool demeanor and his lack of questioning ... he wasn’t, ‘Will you call me back? Can I have one of your cards? What are you guys doing now?’”

Buehler and fellow investigator Allen Brocchini said that on April 13, 2003, the body of Laci was discovered.

“I just thought, ‘We’ve got to find Scott right now,’” Brocchini told People. “He told me he was there and that’s where the bodies came up? I mean, I believe it was premeditated, he planned it.”
What was found in Peterson's car (Modesto Police Department)
What was found in Peterson's car (Modesto Police Department)

They both knew that Scott Peterson was in San Diego at the time.

“San Diego was pretty darn close to the Mexican border,” Buehler said. “Scott knew the area pretty well. That’s where his parents lived. That’s where he lived. So it wasn’t like he was going to have to get on MapQuest to try and figure out a way to get to Tijuana.”

As they followed his car, Scott was “driving erratically” through San Diego.

“He was driving 80 miles an hour on a freeway and he would slam his breaks on, pull over,” Brocchini added. “It got to the point where we had a helicopter, lost him ... either he’s going to kill somebody or one of these agents that are trying to follow him are going to get killed or kill somebody.”

When they arrested him, they found a rope, knives, thousands of dollars in $100 bills, kids’ books, and other items.

What was found in Peterson's car (Modesto Police Department)
What was found in Peterson's car (Modesto Police Department)

“The guy had like, I don’t know, $14,000, $15,000, cash, he had his brother’s ID,” Brocchini said. “Hiking boots and... a shovel and [a] fishing pole.”

They also found about a dozen Viagra pills.

“This guy is like James Bond without the secret agent mission,” Buehler said.