On Tapes, Peterson Seeks to Visit Frey

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. —  After hundreds of recorded conversations between Scott Peterson and his mistress, he desperately asks if Amber Frey would meet him at her Fresno home or a friend’s place in Lake Arrowhead.

“Is there some way for us to see each other, Amber?” Peterson asked through tears during a February phone call as searchers continued to look for his missing pregnant wife.

Frey, who was recording the calls for detectives searching for Peterson’s wife, Laci, declined to meet him, according to the calls played for jurors for the fifth day Tuesday.

Peterson grows more despondent, according to the calls. “You know I could never hurt you or her or anyone,” he said.

The phone recordings, which ranged from angry confrontations to romantic cooing, are intended by the prosecution to show that Peterson did not care about his wife and may have killed her, at least in part, to be with Frey.

Frey began working with police after she discovered her new boyfriend was married and suspected in his wife’s disappearance. The conversations took place between December 2002 and February 2003.

The recordings ended on Feb. 19, when the massage therapist told Peterson, “I think it would be best if you and I didn’t talk anymore until there’s resolution.”

Peterson, who could face the death penalty if convicted, allegedly killed his wife and unborn son and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. Laci Peterson’s body washed up in April near where her husband said he went fishing the day she disappeared. Peterson maintains that he had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance or death.

Frey briefly took the witness stand Tuesday, telling jurors about her statement to the media in January in which she admitted having a relationship with Peterson.

In another conversation, Peterson appeared to suspect that his calls may be being monitored. When he tells Frey that he is going to Sacramento and she asks why, he responds, “I can tell you, but not on these phones.”

Peterson offered to help Frey pay rent and continued trying to pursue a relationship with her.

She asked, “So how was it you and I were gonna have future plans together, being married to Laci and having a baby?”

Peterson told her he could not answer the question.