Where Is Amber Frey Now? A Look at Scott Peterson's Former Mistress' Life Decades After Laci Peterson's Murder

Mar. 15, 2025

Scott Peterson’s secret affair with Amber Frey came to light shortly after his wife, Laci Peterson, disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002.

About a week after Laci went missing, Frey, who was 27 at the time, recognized Peterson in the media coverage and came forward to the police with the news that she and Peterson were having an affair — though she claimed he had told her he was a widower when they first met the previous month.

Frey went on to play a pivotal role in Peterson’s trial,testifying for several daysagainst him and sharing details of their affair. Working with the police, unbeknownst to Peterson, Frey recorded their phone conversations in which he lied to Frey about his location and what he was doing.

Over 20 years later, Peterson spoke out for the first time in a filmed video interview for Peacock’sFace to Face with Scott Peterson, which began streaming in August 2024. In the documentary, Peterson addressed his affair for the first time, admitting he was an “a–hole to be having sex outside our marriage,” but denying he murdered his wife.

Al Golub-Pool/Getty; Lou Dematteis-Pool/Getty

“That is so offensive and so disgusting,” he said in the documentary of the prosecution’s allegations that he killed his wife because he wasn’t ready to be a father and wanted to get out of his marriage without paying spousal or child support.

He continued, “I certainly regret cheating on Laci, absolutely. It was about a childish lack of self-esteem, selfish me traveling somewhere, lonely that night because I wasn’t at home. Someone makes you feel good because they want have sex with you.”

So where is Amber Frey now? Here’s everything to know about the California massage therapist and her life today.

Who is Amber Frey?

Amber Frey during 16th Annual Night of 100 Stars Gala.Michael Tran/FilmMagi

Michael Tran/FilmMagi

Frey gained notoriety in late 2002 after she came forward as Peterson’s mistress. At the time, she was a single mom working as a massage therapist. She soon became pivotal to the Peterson trial and continued to stay closely tied to the case in the two decades since it came to light.

Today, Frey is telling her side of the story. She appeared in the August 2024 Netflix documentaryAmerican Murder: Laci Petersonwhich reexamined the events that surrounded the 2002 disappearance.

“When I first met Scott Peterson, I was living in Madera, Rolling Hills. I had just graduated from massage school and my really good friend at the time told me about this guy that she had met,” Frey recalled in the documentary. “She said he was funny, easy to talk to, he was nice looking and he was looking to meet ‘the one.’ As a single mom, that was something I was open to and wanting in my life.”

How did Frey meet Peterson?

Bart Ah You-Pool/Getty; POOL/AFP/Getty

The massage therapist recalled how as a single mother of one daughter, she was looking to settle down and was under the impression that Peterson wanted the same thing after he told Sibley he was looking for a “committed relationship.”

“‘I was a little nervous about meeting you,’ Scott said en route, but he didn’t look nervous to me. He was smiling, and he seemed somehow relieved,” she wrote in her book.

What did Frey do when she found out Peterson’s wife was missing?

Paul Sakuma-Pool/Getty

On Dec. 9, 2002, Peterson called Frey and told her there was something urgent he wanted to tell her. He admitted that he had “lied about being married,” — having previously told her that he never had been wed — and that he had actually “‘lost’ his wife and this would be the first holidays without her,” Frey said in the Netflix documentary.

“With all his emotions, I thought ‘I don’t want to pry, he will share what he feels comfortable with,’ ” she said. “He was sorry he had lied to me and hoped that it hadn’t changed anything.”

Frey chalked the moment up to a white lie and continued with the relationship. However, a few weeks later, a friend sent Frey a newspaper clipping of Peterson’s missing pregnant wife, leaving the massage therapist “shocked.”

On Dec. 30, Frey went to the police and gave them all the evidence that she had of their affair, including photos of a holiday party they attended on Dec. 14, while Laci was at a separate party the same day.

Immediately after, the police had Frey record phone calls with Peterson without his knowledge, in the hopes of catching him in a lie. They were successful — Peterson was caught lying the following day, telling Frey he was in Paris traveling while a candlelight vigil was being held for his wife.

“She … she’s alive,” he admitted. Later in the call, he acknowledged the lie he told Frey, saying, “I said that I lost my wife. I did, yes. There are different kinds of loss, Amber.”

When Frey expressed her concern, he responded, “Sweetie, you think I had something to do with her disappearance? I am not evil like that.”

The following week, on Jan. 15, 2003, the police informed Laci’s family of the affair, and on Jan. 23, Frey spoke at a press conference.

“Scott told me he was not married,” she said. “We did have a romantic relationship.”

After the press conference, a media frenzy surrounded Frey. She also connected withLaci’s parents, Sharon and Dennis Rocha, explaining that Sharon was surprisingly welcoming to her.

“Sharon asked if I would be open to meeting with her. I said I would. She had a calendar and she wanted to fill in that calendar,” Frey shared in the documentary. “She needed that validation of was he really working or was he with you? Scott isn’t who he even led them to believe he was.”

What did Frey testify in Peterson’s murder trial?

Lou Dematteis-Pool/Getty

In the summer of 2003, Frey took the stand as the key witness in the prosecution’s case. Twelve hours of recorded conversation between her and Peterson were played for the jury, with lawyers later reflecting that was the most convincing evidence submitted.

As one legal expert described it at the time, “We were in the seventh inning and the score was 5-0 for the defense. Now, it’s 5-5 and the bases are loaded.”

“Amber came across as one of the most credible people you could ever hear testify,” Frey’s then-attorney, Gloria Allred, said in A&E’s 2017 docuseriesThe Murder of Laci Peterson. “And Scott Peterson on those recordings came across as one of the biggest liars one could ever hear.”

In November 2004, Peterson was found guilty of the murder of his wife and unborn son and was sentenced to death row. However, in 2021, he wasresentenced to life in prisonwithout possibility of parole.

What has Frey said about Peterson’s guilty verdict?

Laci Peterson and Scott Peterson shown in this undated picture.ZUMA Press/ZUMAPRESS.com

ZUMA Press/ZUMAPRESS.com

Frey has maintained Peterson’s guilt since his conviction, despite the convicted murderer seeking a new trial based on the claim that one of the jurors was unjustly picked. In December 2022, a judgedenied Peterson the trial.

The following day, Frey toldFox News Digitalin a statement that she was “relieved” Peterson wouldn’t be retried, but she would have been ready to testify again were it to come to that.

“I would have been willing to testify again,” she said. “However, I am relieved that my testimony will not be necessary. If I were called to testify, I would give truthful testimony again, for the truth doesn’t change over time.”

In January 2024, theL.A. Innocence Project took up Peterson’s case, claiming there was new evidence that supports his claims of innocence.

Where is Frey now?

Amber Frey signing copies of her book “Witness for the Prosecution of Scott Peterson” at Barnes And Noble in New York City.Carvalho/FilmMagic

Carvalho/FilmMagic

Frey has continued to live in Fresno, Calif., with her daughter Ayiana and son Justin. In 2005, Frey released her book,Witness, in which she detailed her experience as a key part of Peterson’s trial.

She has also continued her work as a massage therapist and is an ambassador for Bucked Up, a pre-workout drink.

In September 2015, Frey joinedTODAYwhere she reflected on her life since testifying at Peterson’s trial and her children, who were 14 and 11 years old at the time.

“I’m still very recognizable, it’s not really ever gone away in that sense, a recognition,” Frey said. “Very proud mother of my two children, doing great. It’s been a road. It’s been a journey.”

She added that Peterson didn’t make any attempt to contact her from prison since his sentencing, and that she’d found closure outside of the case with no regrets of speaking out.

“It changed my life. My children’s, as far as normal, I guess you would say,” she said onTODAY.“I don’t regret anything. As crazy as it sounds … I would do it all over again. It wasn’t about me. There’s a missing woman carrying a child. If I had something to say that would help — yeah, without question.”

In August 2024, Frey spoke out once again in the Netflix documentary, sharing more details about what was going through her head at that time.

source: people.com