Frey book sheds
little new light
on Peterson case

updated 5:13 p.m. ET Jan. 4, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO - Amber Frey’s new book sheds little new light on the case against convicted double murderer Scott Peterson but does offer a deeper look at a single mother desperate for love and how she was charmed by a smooth talker.

Frey, 29, the Fresno massage therapist who became Peterson’s girlfriend and later the star prosecution witness at his six-month trial for the deaths of his wife and her fetus, wrote the 210-page book herself.

In “Witness For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson,” which is dedicated to the victims of violence and their families, Frey tells the story of meeting Peterson: How her best friend set up the couple after meeting Peterson at a conference, how Peterson coaxed Frey to his hotel room moments after their first meeting to shower and change clothes, then pulled out a bottle of champagne and a box of strawberries from his brown duffel bag.

Karaoke and passion
Later, after dinner, they got drunk and sang “Islands in the Stream” at a karaoke lounge. Frey said she spent that night with Peterson.

The Associated Press received a copy of the book from the publisher, Regan Books, on Monday, a day before it went on sale.

“As the evening progressed, Scott said that he was looking forward to settling down, but that he hadn’t yet found the right person,” Frey wrote, according to a news release issued by the publisher. “The way he looked at me when he said that made me feel he might be wondering whether I was that person.”

The $25.95 book features dozens of photographs of Frey, including a glamour shot taken when she was 18 and two dozen black-and-white frames from a modeling shoot in 2000 that show a short-haired Frey in a see-through negligee.

Timely nightmare
Frey also describes a nightmare she had about a month after meeting Peterson when she began to suspect he was lying to her. She said a man with brown hair tickled her daughter. As he got increasingly rough, she begged him to stop because he was suffocating her.

Frey then wrote she saw the face of an unknown woman with a bright smile and curly, brown hair who was laughing. Weeks later, Frey said, she realized the woman in her dream was Laci Peterson.

Frey spends much time outlining how she found a lawyer, how she worked with police and how she handled the media.

She also recounts meeting Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha, who called Frey shortly after her initial news conference. She went to the family’s home and met Laci’s sister, aunt and stepfather.

“It took a huge weight off my shoulders, just knowing that they knew that I wasn’t the enemy,” she wrote.

Rehashing phone calls
Frey spends dozens of pages rehashing recorded phone calls between her and Peterson that were replayed during the trial.

Frey stops short of saying she believes Peterson is guilty. But when the verdicts came on Nov. 12, she said she felt relief and that justice was served.

The 32-year-old former fertilizer salesman was convicted of first-degree murder in his wife’s death, and second-degree murder in the death of her 8-month-old fetus. Last month, the jury recommended a death sentence.

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