Scott Peterson's sister speaks out

Matt Lauer: Describe Laci for me. What was she like?

Anne Bird: Oh, well, she's full of energy, full of life.  She loves people. She's funny. She's got a, just a hilarious sense of humor.

Lauer: Why do you describe her in the present tense?

Bird: I have a really tough time referring to her as somebody who has passed on.

In the late summer of 1997, Anne Bird's life expanded in ways she found almost miraculous. She'd been given up for adoption at birth, but now was reunited with her biological family. She met her mother, Jackie Peterson, and her brother, Scott Peterson. And soon she met scott's new bride, Laci.           

Bird: The first thing that I noticed about her was how pretty she was.  Her skin is amazing, her hair, her smile, her dimples and her huge, dark eyes, and these thick long eyelashes. And so sweet. You know, so welcoming to me.     

Anne lived in San Francisco, Scott and Laci in Modesto, 85 miles away.  But they saw each other often and talked on the phone a lot.

Lauer: Is it fair to say that you and Scott and Laci, then over the course of the next year or so, really developed a pretty strong bond?

Bird: I think so, yeah.

In her new book, “Blood Brother,” Anne describes Scott and Laci as the perfect couple. "The golden boy and his doll-like bride: what could be better?"

Bird: To me, they appeared to adore each other. I looked at them thinking, "Gosh. You know, I wish I had that relationship." I know Scott said that they complete each other. And I think they did. It appeared that way.

As it happened, Anne found a great relationship herself. She met a man named Tim Bird. They married in 1998.

Lauer: Laci and Scott came to your wedding.

Bird: Yes.

Lauer: And obviously a very happy day for the whole family.

Bird: Yeah.

The next few years went by in a blur. Anne had a baby, then got pregnant with another. Laci had trouble getting pregnant, but was thrilled when she finally did.

Lauer: She talked to you a lot about being pregnant, didn't she? This was a subject for connection between the two of you.

Bird: Right.

Anne had her second child in august of 2002. In November of that year Anne and Tim Bird planned a trip to Disneyland. They invited the Peterson family, including Scott and Laci, who was now seven months along. Just before the trip Anne got a call from her biological mom hinting, for the first time, of trouble.

Lauer: Let me read you from the book, OK? Here you're talking about this trip to Disneyland. And Jackie says to you, "I'm going to come, but I'm not sure Scott and Laci are going to come." Here's a quote.  "They're having problems again." "Again, I asked? What kind of problems?" "I don't know," Jackie said, sighing. "Just you know, men." 

Bird: Yeah. That's right.

Lauer: So what did you think Jackie was telling you?

Bird: You know, I wasn't sure. And when I tried to dig a little bit into it, she pulled back and said, "Oh, it's nothing."

At the time, Anne wasn't sure if the problem was between Scott and Laci or between Laci and Jackie.

Bird: I think she, you know, was definitely the mother-in-law figure in Laci's life. And at times it came across as a little bit strained.

Anne says Jackie chafed at Laci's attention to every little detail and resented the fact that Laci and Scott lived in Modesto, closer to Laci's parents, but farther from Jackie.

Lauer: The impression I get in the book is that A, Jackie felt Laci was a bit too much of a perfectionist. And B, that Laci wasn't good enough for Scott.

Bird: I--

Lauer: Would that be accurate?

Bird: Yes, I would say that's very accurate.

But Jackie, Laci, and Scott all did end up going on that trip to Disneyland. And if there were problems, Anne says that Laci -- quite pregnant now -- didn't seem bothered.

Bird: Laci was just bubbling over about the baby and couldn't wait.  And she just was adorable. She to this day, she's the happiest pregnant person I've ever seen.

Scott, on the other hand, seemed strangely subdued, nothing like the charismatic charmer Anne remembered.

Lauer: In fact, I believe in the book you describe him as being somewhat distant.

Bird: Yes.

Lauer: On that trip, he spent a lot  of time on the phone?

Bird: Yes. A lot of time on his cell phone up in the room.

Lauer: And not a lot of time paying attention to Laci or the rest of the family.

Bird: Right.

Anne remembers that at one point, the whole family was gathered in her fourth-floor hotel room. when her son Ryan -- just three at the time -- wandered away, disappeared.

Bird: And I just was completely panicked. I didn't see where he went.  All the doors were open. We're in a hotel, we're up high. And everyone was running around trying to find him.

Lauer: Screaming for Ryan.

Bird: Screaming. And my husband found him. And he was standing out on the balcony, which wasn't safe. And then I noticed that Scott was still sitting there on the cell phone, with all this chaos and panic going on. He didn't ever get off the phone. He never even looked up.

Who was Scott talking to so intently? Anne Bird doesn't know for sure.  But she later learned, along with the rest of the world, that late November 2002 -- the time of the Disneyland trip -- was the same time that Scott Peterson began a torrid love affair with a young woman named Amber Frey.

Lauer: Did you have any suspicions at that time that Scott might be having an affair? Might be on the phone with another woman?

Bird: No idea.

Lauer: You just thought something was wrong.

Bird: Yes.

Anne thought that Scott seemed way too quiet again a few weeks later at Laci's baby shower on December 10, 2002.

Lauer: Here's Laci's big day. All her friends have gathered around to celebrate the impending birth of her baby. And Scott is there, and he's not quite himself again.

Bird: Right. Right. I kept asking, aren't you excited? Isn't this exciting? And he just didn't say much.

Why was Scott so subdued? Anne had no way to know it, but just one day before, Scott had been forced to confess to his new girlfriend, Amber, that he'd been married but, as Amber later testified, he said he had "lost his wife."

Lauer: Shortly before the holidays, you placed a call to Scott.

Bird: Yes.

Lauer: How would you describe his demeanor and his mood here a week before Christmas, with a baby on the way.

Bird: You know, once again, he didn't say a whole lot. You know, he just kind of said, "Happy holidays."

Lauer: And it's important to remember here, though, this is not the guy you'd known for the past couple of years. I mean, every time you were with Scott or talked to Scott in the time previous, he was this kind of life of the party — the golden child.

Bird: The golden child. Yeah.

Lauer: And here, there is this personality change.

Bird: Right.

Lauer: In him all of a sudden.

Bird: Yeah.

Lauer: Were red flags popping up in your head, or was this just a sister saying, "You know what? We all go through times like this."

Bird: You know, that's what I was thinking. That we all go through times like this. He is a new father. I don't know how he was absorbing everything. Maybe he was overwhelmed. You know? So, I just dismissed it.

Laci wasn't home that night. Anne didn't talk to her. Anne never got to talk to Laci again.

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