Laci Case: Boat, Pliers, & Gun

The same day he bought a fishing boat that would provide his alibi when his pregnant wife vanished two weeks later, Scott Peterson told his mistress he was a widower planning his first Christmas alone, a police officer testified.

Detective Allen Brocchini, who launched the Christmas Eve investigation into Laci Peterson's disappearance, said Scott Peterson bought the boat Dec. 9 — the same day Fresno massage therapist Amber Frey later told the officer that she confronted Peterson about being married.

While Brocchini did not link the two events that happened that day, he provided the pieces of the puzzle prosecutors are assembling to show Peterson was plotting the demise of his wife weeks before he returned from his Dec. 24 fishing excursion and reported her gone.

Brocchini's testimony Thursday in the preliminary hearing revealed the details he gathered from the day Peterson claimed he was motoring his 14-foot skiff on San Francisco Bay to his arrest nearly four months later in San Diego.

Peterson was arrested driving a Mercedes convertible be bought for $3,600 cash, using his mother's name, "Jacqueline Peterson."

When asked about the peculiar name, he told the seller it was the name his parents gave him, Brocchini said.

In the first hours of the investigation, Peterson denied he was having an affair, Brocchini said. Peterson never told him about Frey.

On Dec. 30, Frey placed one of the hundreds of calls Modesto police received each day. Brocchini was watching a clerk type notes from the caller and decided to pick up the phone and handle the call himself.

The detective then drove 90 miles to Fresno to interview Frey, a single mother.

Frey said she met Peterson on Nov. 20 and he said he was single. But she later became suspicious and confronted him about three weeks later because she thought he was married.

"He said he lost his wife, this would be the first holiday he was without his wife," Frey told Brocchini.

Peterson called Frey on Christmas and the following three days, Brocchini said. At some point, he told her he was out of the country and would be able to spend more time with her after Jan. 25.

Frey began taping their phone conversations for police, and investigators tapped Peterson's phones for evidence.

Frey may testify later in the hearing that will determine whether the 31-year-old former fertilizer salesman is tried on charges of murdering his 27-year-old wife and unborn son. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The hearing will resume Wednesday.

Brocchini also revealed Thursday that officers found a loaded .22-caliber gun in Scott Peterson's pickup truck.

It was the first hint that Peterson, accused of killing his pregnant wife and unborn son, owned a weapon. But Brocchini made no connection between the handgun and the deaths.

Police have not disclosed how the two were killed, and the autopsy results are sealed.

Brocchini said he arrived at the Peterson house about four hours after Laci Peterson's stepfather reported her missing to police. The detective described Scott Peterson as cooperative, saying the fertilizer salesman never told him to leave or get out of the house.

Detectives said they took the gun from Peterson's pickup on Christmas Eve before taking him to police headquarters for an hour-long videotaped interview. They said Peterson called police on his cellular phone an hour after being returned home, asking if they had taken the gun. Brocchini said police confirmed that they had.

Brocchini also recounted taking pictures of Peterson's boat, stored at a warehouse. He said the boat contained yellow-handled pliers, among other things.

Much of the hearing has focused on a single hair wrapped in the pliers. Prosecutors maintain the strand came from Laci Peterson.

Peterson was arrested in April, not far from the Mexican border. He was carrying $10,000 and his brother's driver's license and had dyed his hair blond.