Missing Woman's Hubby admits affair

Missing Woman's Hubby Admits Affair

NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2003

(AP) Scott Peterson admits he was having an affair last year before his pregnant wife vanished, and claimed he told her about it. He denied killing his wife.

"It (the affair) was not a positive, obviously ... but it was not something that we weren't dealing with," Peterson said.

"It wasn't anything that would break us apart," he told ABC News' "Good Morning America" in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

Laci Rocha Peterson, 27, disappeared on Christmas Eve from her home in Modesto, Calif.

Scott Peterson, 30, told police he was fishing at the Berkeley Marina at the time, and that his wife, due to deliver a boy Feb. 10, had planned to take her dog for a walk that morning.

Asked on ABC if he had murdered her, he said, "I had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance." Noting that there is no proof she had been killed, he said the murder theory "is not one we're ready to accept."

Police have not named him as a suspect but attention has focused on him, in part because of the affair. Peterson had previously denied having an affair.

On Friday, Amber Frey came forward and told reporters she had a "romantic relationship" with Peterson, whom she met in November.

"I'm very sorry for Laci's family and the pain that this has caused them and I pray for her safe return as well," a tearful Frey said. She said Peterson told her he was single, and she said she contacted police when she realized he was the husband of the missing woman.

Said Peterson: "It was inappropriate, and I owe a tremendous apology to everyone, obviously including Amber."

His wife's family publicly broke with Peterson on Friday. Brent Rocha, brother of the missing woman, said his brother-in-law "has not been forthcoming with information regarding my sister's disappearance and I am only left to question what else he may be hiding. ... We have so many questions that he has not answered."

A call to Rocha's Sacramento-area home Tuesday seeking comment on the interview was not answered. There also was no answer at the home of his and Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha.

Peterson said he told police about the affair immediately after his wife disappeared. "Good Morning America" said police had no comment on that allegation.

He said he had told his wife about the affair in early December.

Asked if viewers should believe that she took the news of the affair unhappily - but not with a lot of anger - he said, "No one knows our relationship but us."