Peterson, Frey had frequent contact By GARTH STAPLEY and JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITERS
Published: September 25, 2003, 09:44:19 AM PDT
Scott Peterson exchanged at least 18 telephone calls with his girlfriend in the nine days before his pregnant wife disappeared, according to partial phone records.
He also received at least 47 calls from Amber Frey to his cell phones in the three weeks after authorities believe he killed his wife and their unborn son, the records reveal.
All 65 calls -- totaling more than 3 1/2 hours -- were made at a time when Scott Peterson insisted that he didn't have a girlfriend.
Two of them came on New Year's Eve, the day more than 1,000 people attended a commun-ity candlelight vigil for the missing Laci Peterson.
Frey made more than 50 calls to police starting Dec. 30. Some of those calls were made after police were authorized to tap Peterson's phones, and court documents show the wiretaps picked up a call between Frey and Peterson as late as Jan. 20.
Frey figures to be an important prosecution witness in the high-profile case and has been protected by private guards.
Frey was not the only woman with whom Scott Peterson had an affair with, a source said. He had at least one other girlfriend during his five-year marriage, the source said.
The phone records reflect only a portion of the calls between at least four phones known to be used by Frey and Peterson.
The 30-year-old fertilizer salesman has pleaded innocent to murder charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Frey, 28, has said she met and started dating Peterson in November, not knowing he was married.
The phone records from Dec. 14 to Jan. 14 also reveal that:
Frey, a Fresno massage therapist, called Modesto police at 1:43 a.m. Dec. 30. The call lasted 22 minutes.
On Jan. 28, when Frey went public about her romantic involvement with Peterson, she cited the pivotal Dec. 30 call.
She made the call immediately after receiving two calls, starting at 1:24 a.m.
In the next three weeks, Frey exchanged at least 48 calls with Modesto police Detective John Buehler. She also called the phones of police Detectives Phil Owen and Al Brocchini twice each.
Frey's attorney said she has cooperated with investigators, who tapped at least two of Peterson's cell phones.
Authorities had an affidavit sealed Jan. 22 for a "search warrant for Scott Peterson's phone records," a Stanislaus County Superior Court order shows. It is unclear whether investigators executed the search warrant for the phone records.
But court documents show that authorities did use a search warrant May 28 in connection with the case for toll and subscriber information from five telecommunications companies: AT&T Wireless, Nextel, Cingular, Sprint and SBC. The companies provided investigators with dozens of pages of information, according to court documents.
Most of Frey's calls to Scott Peterson lasted five minutes or less. Only one, on Jan. 7, was longer; it lasted 100 minutes.
Frey and Peterson called each other an average of two times daily in the week before Laci Peterson was reported missing Christmas Eve. There were at least four calls on Christmas as media descended on Modesto to cover the disappearance. On Dec. 26, while volunteers combed the Petersons' La Loma neighborhood and a park, the number of calls shot up to 14. All calls were made between 3 and 9 p.m.
Frey put in two calls, on Jan. 10 and 14, to a volunteer search center based at Modesto's Red Lion Hotel. It is not known whether she spoke to volunteers or Scott Peterson, who regularly visited the center.
Peterson apparently spoke to Frey on the phone only once on Dec. 23, the day his wife vis- ited her doctor. Laci Peterson accompanied her husband that day to have his hair cut by her sister. Authorities have said they believe Laci Peterson was killed later that day or the next day.
On the day a judge agreed to let police tap Peterson's calls, Frey spoke with him at least twice. She called Buehler's phone number eight times that day.
Frey hasn't spoken to the media, aside from the initial news conference revealing the affair and another staged by Gloria Allred, her Los Angeles attorney.
Allred declined Wednesday to comment on specifics surrounding her client's phone conversations with Peterson.
"I can only make a general statement that when (police) felt it was appropriate to seek her assistance, she assisted whenever and wherever she could," Allred said. "She has fully cooperated and made many personal sacrifices in order to assist law enforcement."
Earlier this week, a source confirmed that Frey's increased security is linked to a jail inmate's account of neo-Nazi gang members who possibly were plotting with Scott Peterson to kidnap his wife. A retired police lieutenant said the inmate, Cory Lee Carroll, passed a lie detector test.
The bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, were recovered in April from the shore of San Francisco Bay, within miles of where Scott Peterson told authorities he fished alone on Christmas Eve.
Peterson originally said he had not been involved in an affair, and later recanted that statement. During an interview on ABC Television's "Good Morning America," Peterson said he had told his wife about Frey.
But a source close to Laci Peterson said she "gave me no indication that she knew of it, even though he said he told her."
Laci Peterson previously had told the source she was concerned her husband had been unfaithful in 1998, shortly after the couple married.
"She implied that Scott had not been faithful," the source said. "She never actually admitted the extent of the affair."
After the Frey relationship surfaced, the source confronted Scott Peterson about the earlier affair.
"He confirmed it," the source said. "He came straight out and told me."
In late April, then-TV pundit Mark Geragos was asked why Peterson might have lied to Frey about being single. Geragos answered, "Because he's a cad. When guys commit adultery, guys lie to a single woman in order to get them into bed."
Two days later, Peterson and his parents hired Geragos to steer the defense effort.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com.
Bee staff writer John Coté can be reached at 578-2394 or jcote@modbee.com.
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