Scott Peterson's sister speaks out

He's in jail now, convicted of the murders of his wife and unborn son and waiting to hear if a judge will affirm his execution. But if you could ask Scott Peterson one question, what would it be? How about "Why?" Last month, his former girlfriend Amber Frey offered some clues when she spoke with us about her relationship with Peterson.

Now another woman tells us even more. She was there with Scott in the weeks after Laci's disappearance — a witness to his actions, and reactions, his comments and behavior during that period. In this exclusive interview, an intimate member of the Peterson family tells her story to NBC’s Matt Lauer.

Matt Lauer: During that time, Anne, that Scott is living in your house, did you ever pull up a chair next to him and say, "Scott, what do you think happened to Laci?"

Anne Bird: Well, I asked often. I think I was kept, you know, as a confidante. And I think that's why I ended up getting so much information.

Her name is Anne Bird — a name you probably don't know. But you may feel that you know her face. Because a face that resembles Anne's has peered out of tabloid covers TV screens and mug shots for the past two years.

You see, Anne Bird is the sister of a notorious murderer — Scott Peterson. Scott so trusted Anne, he even lived in her home during the most intense weeks of the search for his wife, Laci, even as he was emerging as a suspect.

This is the first time that Anne Bird has spoken publicly about her brother.

Bird: Scott is charismatic, charming, courteous, polite. When you're talking to him, he looks directly at you. And you're the only person he's focusing on.

Lauer: Does that come naturally? Or does it almost seem rehearsed, practiced?

Bird: Seems a little bit of both.

Bird's story is about separation, reunion, deep love and loyalty, and finally, the worst realization one family member can have about another, because Bird saw a side of Scott Peterson that no one else has seen.

Bird: I just know that he did this. It's very hard to comprehend. And it hurts.

This sister came to believe not only that her long-lost brother Scott was a killer. She thinks she knows how he did it, and even, why. But to understand the whole story you have to go back to the beginning, long before Anne Bird had ever heard of Scott Peterson or had any idea they were related.

Lauer: How would you describe your childhood?

Bird: Great family. Loving parents. Loving siblings.

Lauer: Not a care in the world kind of happy.

Bird: Pretty easy, yeah.

She grew up as Anne Grady, the daughter of a well-to-do couple in San Diego.

Lauer: At what stage in your childhood, Anne, did you find out that you'd been adopted?

Bird: I believe I was around six.

But Anne says her adoptive parents were so loving, her home life so comfortable, being adopted didn't much matter to her.

Bird: I was never angry. I was never upset. I loved my parents. I never felt abandoned or deserted.  

She says she had some mild curiosity about who her birth parents might be, but she never followed up on it. But then, one summer day in 1997, when she was 32 years old:

Lauer: This guy Don calls on the phone one day out of the blue and he says, "Guess what, I'm your brother?

Bird: Yes.

Lauer: What was your reaction to that?

Bird: I felt weird. I felt like I kind of had vertigo or something.  You know, I wasn't really kind of absorbing everything. 

Don was adopted, too. He told her he had not only found her, his sister, he had found their biological mother. Almost before Anne knew it, don arranged a meeting at a beachfront hotel in nearby La Jolla.  And Anne Bird met the mother she'd never seen before — a woman named Jackie Peterson.

Bird: I really wasn't nervous until she opened the door. And then she was standing in front of me.

Lauer: You're 32 years old. You'd never laid eyes on her before. Was it a great feeling? Was it an uneasy feeling? How would you describe it?

Bird: You know, maybe a little bit overwhelming.  

But she says Jackie kept the conversation light — even trivial.  Asking about Anne's favorite foods and colors, not delving any deeper.

Lauer: So, this is a woman who gave you up for adoption when you were born.

Bird: Right.

Lauer: And she didn't, during that first meeting, sit down and say, "I'd like to explain myself? I'd like to tell you why?”

Bird: No. I kept waiting. I wanted to hear some kind of explanation as to how I ended up where I did.  

Anne learned that her biological mother, Jackie, had suffered a terrible childhood. Her father was murdered when she was just two years old — murdered just before Christmas. Then Jackie's mother suffered a breakdown. Jackie grew up in an orphanage.

Bird: And then she said, "Those nuns never talked to me about sex." And I thought maybe that's what happened. I wasn't sure.

Lauer: That she had had sex, gotten pregnant.

Bird: And nobody talked to her about it.

Lauer: And there was no way she could keep the baby.

Bird: Right.

Whatever happened back then, now Jackie Peterson was married with a grown son whom she adored — Anne's half-brother, a young man named Scott Peterson.

Lauer: Before you met Scott, who would be your biological brother-- what had you heard about him?

Bird: That he was called "The Golden Child."  

A couple of months later in August of 1997, Anne Bird met Scott -- the golden child -- at Jackie's home in Morro Bay, California.

Bird: He was coming in through a screen door, and I was opening it up for him. And I could see his face. And it looked similar to mine. And I was looking at his smile. And I thought, "OK, now I know who they're talking about."

Lauer: This is the golden child.

Bird: The tanned, golden child. Yeah.

Lauer: What was that first meeting like? What'd you say to him, and what did he say to you?

Bird: You know, I think he said, "You must be my sister, Anne." And I thought, "Yes." You know. It was just kind of a neat -- we just kept smiling.

Lauer: Did you hug? Did you embrace?

Bird: Yeah. Gave each other a hug.

Lauer: How would you describe him? What was he like, that first time you met him?

Bird: Wonderful. Amazing. You know, my car was having some problems, and he went out and looked at my car. You know. We talked about all different kinds of things. It was just a neat meeting.

Lauer: Would you say, Anne, that your first encounter with Scott was a lot easier than your first encounter with Jackie? In other words, did you two hit it off a lot better than you and Jackie hit it off?

Bird: Yes. Yes.

And soon enough, Anne would meet Scott's young wife, Laci, never once suspecting that Laci's name and Scott's would one day be known to millions of people for the darkest reasons imaginable.

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