American Murder: Laci Peterson's documentary series includes rare interview with her mother Sharon Rocha

It is one of the most notorious criminal cases in history: On Christmas Eve 2002, Laci Peterson was reported missing from her home in Modesto, California, while she was eight months pregnant with her first child. The story dominated the media for months until her remains were discovered in San Francisco Bay. Slowly but surely, police built a case against her husband, Scott Peterson, and charged him with the brutal murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn son. In 2004, Scott Peterson was found guilty of two counts of murder, but he pleaded not guilty and maintains his innocence to this day.

Laci's close friends Lori Heintz, Rene Tomlinson and Stacey Boyer.

Now, 20 years after Peterson’s conviction, the three-part documentary series by director Skye Borgman American Murder: Laci Peterson uses news clips, interrogation footage and courtroom cameras to focus on the dramatic disappearance, investigation and trial. The series features interviews with investigators, attorneys and jurors involved in Peterson's trial, and also includes a conversation with Amber Frey, the woman with whom Peterson was leading a double life at the time of his wife's disappearance – and whose willingness to cooperate with law enforcement led to major breakthroughs in the case against him. And for the first time since Laci's death, her mother, Sharon Rocha, agreed to an in-depth interview for the series, offering new insight into her loss and the grief she continues to carry to this day.

Laci Peterson and her mother Sharon Rocha.

“Sharon pushed when Laci disappeared, but she never sat down to do an interview for a documentary,” Borgman told Netflix. “After 20 years, it's not easy to sit in front of a camera. But we wanted it to be about Laci, to bring her back into people's consciousness. Sharon wanted to talk about Laci's soul and about the dragonflies that Laci loved. How Laci is still with them and how Conner – Laci's unborn son – is still with them.”

In addition to Rocha, American Murder: Laci Peterson includes interviews with Laci's friends, as well as Scott's relatives and the law enforcement officers who worked tirelessly to bring this case to a close. But Borgman's interest in Laci's story goes beyond the events that unfolded in Modesto, California, more than two decades ago. “There's this statistic that shocks me every time I hear it – murder is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. Every time I tell people that, they tell me there's no way that can be true, but it's true,” says Borgman. “Intimate partner violence is a really devastating thing. I want people to think more deeply about it after this.”

Regard American Murder: Laci Peterson now on Netflix.