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Scott Peterson's sister speaks out
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Matt Lauer: When you saw him on TV under arrest in that jail jumpsuit, in his handcuffs, how did that hit you?
Anne Bird: It was hard to see.
Anne Bird had been given up for adoption as a baby. She'd only been reunited with her brother, Scott Peterson, in 1997. For four months after Laci Peterson disappeared, Anne was a staunch defender of Scott. But now he was under arrest, charged with Laci's murder.
Lauer: You've had a chance to connect with this long-lost brother.
Bird: Right.
Lauer: And all of a sudden, here he is behind bars.
Bird: Right. I had to go see him, you know, behind a window while he was chained up.
She visited Scott several times in jail -- visits she has never before spoken about publicly. She says they talked awkwardly about their family, her kids, the weather, everything but the obvious subject.
Lauer: Did you ever say to him, "Scott, did you kill your wife? Did you kill Laci?"
Bird: You know, I never asked him. But there was one incident. I think it was my third visit there. And they flicker the lights right before your time is up. And the lights flickered. And he looked at me. And he said, "You know I didn't kill my wife." And he looked at me again to see -- it was like, if I bought it.
Anne had come to think of Scott the same way their mother Jackie did -- as the "golden child" of the Peterson clan. Anne had strained her marriage by stubbornly sticking up for Scott, even putting him up in her home. But now she sat down and started making a list.
Bird: I wrote down everything that didn't make any sense to me. And my list became longer and longer and longer.
She ticked them off one after another, all the things she noted while hanging out with, even living with, her little brother.
-- His insistence that police were "looking in the wrong place" for Laci.
-- His unseemly flirtations with Anne's babysitter, Lorraine.
-- His repeated lies and his inability, even now in jail to summon any emotion about the murder of his wife, Laci, and his unborn son, Conner.
Bird: He simply referred to them as his family. He doesn't even call them by name. And that really shocked me.
She flashed back to their trip to Disneyland, a month before the murder. That's when Anne first noticed Scott had turned dark and distant. And it's when she had a conversation with Laci that would come to haunt her -- pne of the many times they compared notes on their pregnancies.
Bird: She said that her stomach was, you know, getting big, and it was getting kind of heavy. And that she would get into the swimming pool, and that kind of the anti-gravity just felt great on her lower back. And --
Lauer: She just loved to float in the pool.
Bird: Yes. Yeah.
Lauer: In hindsight, you have a bad feeling about what she was telling you that day, don't you?
Bird: I do. Yeah.
Anne Bird came to a terrible conclusion that the long-lost brother she had only found a few years before, that she had loved deeply and defended tirelessly, really was capable of murdering his pregnant wife. And Anne thought she knew how he might have done it.
Bird: I think he drowned her. It's a silent death. Nobody would hear anything. And it's hard for me to think that, because I picture Laci and that's hard. But--
Lauer: That pool she told you that she loved to float in to ease the--
Bird: Yeah.
Lauer: --stress on her body from pregnancy?
Bird: Yeah.
Lauer: What was it like for you, when you finally came to the point where you could admit to yourself I've been defending the indefensible, he did this, how hard was that emotionally for you?
Bird: It's still hard. You know, every time I look at the list, it's not hard. You know? I know he did those things. I know he did them in my presence.
We contacted Scott Peterson's attorney with a list of questions for Scott. He did not respond. We also spoke with Jackie Peterson, who declined to comment on what Anne Bird told us.
Bird: I just know that he did this. It's very hard to comprehend. And it hurts.
Scott's trial loomed. Anne thought she might be called to testify. She consulted attorney Gloria Allred.
Gloria Allred: she really had a moral dilemma because if she spoke to police and the prosecutor, it could mean that she would lose her biological family and her relationship with them she had just established in the last few years. And if she did not go to police and the prosecutor, then of course her conscience would haunt her because she loved Laci.
Prosecutors interviewed Anne bird extensively, but decided not to ask her to testify against her brother.
Bird: I was thrilled. I did not know how I could've been able to stand there and, you know, say all of these hideous things that he did.
But as Anne followed the trial, she heard so many more hideous things she'd never known about -- how Scott researched the tides in San Francisco Bay, how he'd seduced amber Frey, how he'd told Amber on the phone that he was in Paris the same night he attended a vigil for his missing wife, Laci.
Anne wondered how her biological mom, Jackie, could still defend Scott.
Lauer: You think to the very last moment she was still trying to protect the golden child?
Bird: Yes.
Lauer: Do you blame her?
Bird: I think that there were a few times that came up where she could have talked to him and had him 'fess up, that this charade had gone on long enough. And she chose not to.
On November 12, 2004, the jury found Scott Peterson guilty of murdering his wife, Laci, and his unborn son, Conner.
Bird: I was a little bit relieved, because I always thought how would I ever have my children around him? Already, you know, we've kind of stopped talking about Uncle Scott in our house. You know, my son still asks what happened to Aunt Laci. And that's been hard.
During the penalty phase of Scott's trial, Anne was asked to testify, but not by the prosecution.
Lauer: Jackie very much wanted you to testify on Scott's behalf during the penalty phase?
Bird: Yes. She said that they had a whole string of people that were going to come in: his old coach and a lady whose tire he changed, and things like that, to come in and speak for Scott's defense. And couldn't I just come in there and say what a great person he was? And I just couldn't.
Lauer: Was she angry?
Bird: You know, she was. She was very hurt and very upset that I didn't do this. And she said everyone's very disappointed in me, and especially Scott.
The jury recommended the death penalty. The judge is expected to approve that decision on march 16. Which will leave just one big question: why did Scott do it?
Lauer: Do you think he killed Laci to be with Amber?
Bird: No. I think she was a part of it.
Lauer: How much do you think Laci's pregnancy had to do with it?
Bird: Probably a lot.
Lauer: You think that the baby represented being trapped to him?
Bird: Yeah.
Anne thinks Scott felt trapped in his marriage. And unable to face the shame of a messy divorce, felt it was better for him if Laci and the baby just disappeared.
Bird: I think it had a lot to do with this golden boy image that he had. So if he screwed up, he would have to kind of push it under the carpet.
She'd grown up without her biological brother and mother. She met them, got to know them, grew to love them. Then came the wrenching realization that her long-lost brother was a murderer. But Scott Peterson still says he is innocent. Jackie Peterson still believes her son. And Anne Bird knows that by judging Scott guilty, she may be cutting herself off from her new family forever.
Lauer: To the people what say, you know, there were no winners in any of this, and now here comes Anne and she's writing a book, sounds a little opportunistic to me. How would you respond?
Bird: I certainly don't feel like a winner in any of this.
Lauer: Is this about money?
Bird: No. This is about my piece of the puzzle that I'm able to put in.
Lauer: So you don't feel in any way, Anne, that you're betraying Scott and betraying your family?
Bird: Well, I do feel that I'm betraying them on some level. I feel sad and, you know, I don't intend for this to be hurtful in any way.
I think at the very least, Laci and Connor deserved the truth.
Lauer: And is there just even a little bit of a message to Jackie, "I'm the one you gave away, look what happened with the one you kept?"
Bird: No. You know, my life has been blessed. And I'm never going to shut doors to the Peterson family. But I am going to tell the truth.
The case continues to put a strain on Anne's own family. She says she and her husband are still struggling with the problems they ran into as a result of her loyalty to Scott Peterson. But, she says. they're getting through it. And through it all, Anne has had the love and support of her adoptive parents. She says she also remains in close contact with her other long-lost biological brother, Don.
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