Californian female murderer Scott Peterson breaks his silence 20 years after the murder of unborn child Laci Peterson

Scott Peterson, the California businessman who murdered his wife and unborn son, called himself an “asshole” for having an affair in the weeks before the murder, but speaking publicly about it for the first time since his 2004 conviction, he protested his innocence.

Peterson, 49, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the death of his wife, Laci Peterson, who disappeared from their Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002 while eight months pregnant with their son, Connor.

While incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California, Peterson recalled that the extramarital affair he had with single mother and massage therapist Amber Frey a few weeks before the murder was a “terrible mistake.”

“It's horrible. I was a total asshole for having sex outside of our marriage,” Peterson said, according to People, a week before the release of a three-part Peacock docuseries about the infamous case.

In “Face to Face with Scott Peterson,” the 49-year-old convicted murderer calls on the public to denounce the “so-called investigation” that put him in prison.

Peterson claimed that police and prosecutors ignored clues and used circumstantial evidence during his 2004 double murder trial.

Laci disappeared in December 2002 and her body washed up on San Francisco Bay four months later, not far from the body of her unborn son, Conner, who was discovered a few days later.

Two locks of Laci's hair, picked up with tongs on Peterson's boat, were a key piece of evidence that led to his conviction for her murder.

According to SF Gate, prosecutors allege that Peterson dumped Laci's body into San Francisco Bay and used concrete anchors to weigh it down.

Peterson had claimed that he was fishing in the bay the day Laci disappeared.

Peterson says he regrets not testifying during the trial, but is willing to do so 20 years later.

“But if I get the chance to show people the truth, and if they are willing to accept it, that would be the greatest thing I can accomplish right now – because I did not kill my family,” Peterson said.

During the five-month trial, prosecutors characterized Peterson as a man who regretted becoming a father and killed his wife to get out of his marriage and avoid paying child support.

“He didn't want to be a father, he didn't want to pay child support, he didn't want to pay his wife support, and that's how he wanted to get out of there,” said former Modesto police detective Jon Buehler in a trailer for the documentary series.

“This is so offensive and so disgusting,” Peterson said, according to People. “I definitely regret cheating on Laci, absolutely. It was about a childish lack of self-esteem, about my selfish traveling somewhere, about the loneliness that night because I wasn't home. Someone makes you feel good because they want to have sex with you.”

His sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, claims that Laci got into a fatal confrontation with burglars after she witnessed their crimes across the street and confronted them.

“Scott lied about his infidelity and that was upsetting,” Janey Peterson told the outlet. “But he wasn't charged with infidelity. He was charged with murder.”

The Los Angeles Innocence Project took over Peterson's case in January, arguing that new evidence showed he did not commit the murders.

Peterson appeared in a grainy video call wearing a white hat in the prison's day room.

He was sentenced to death by lethal injection, but the California Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2020.