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Scott Peterson went to Death Row denying that he murdered his wife Laci and unborn son Conner, but he confessed to the cold-blooded killings while behind bars — according to a woman who fought to save him from the death penalty!
Photo credit: Getty Images
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The former fertilizer salesman from Modesto, Calif., reportedly blurted out the brutal truth to Donna Thomas, who initially thought he'd been railroaded into a conviction and was trying to help him escape his date with the executioner. "I truly believed Scott was innocent and was doing everything in my power to prove it," says Thomas, a legal researcher. "However, during one of my visits with him at San Quentin, he slipped!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Donna told her story in the book, "I'm Sorry I Lied to You": The Confession of Scott Peterson" — which begins with her working with Peterson in 2004. She was totally convinced he was more like Ron Howard's boy-next-door character on the sitcom "Happy Days" than his fellow Death Row inmates, including serial killer Richard Ramirez — who sources say slashed Peterson in a prison brawl.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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"The Scott I knew couldn't do such a thing," Donna said. "When I first went in there, I saw this Richie Cunningham type of person surrounded by these monsters. And I thought, ' This is so wrong. This is so unfair.'" But she began having her doubts after a visit in March 2006. "I caught him in lies," Donna admitted, "but I didn't want to believe he was guilty."
Photo credit: Getty Images
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In a radio interview, Donna recalled Peterson describing how he made sure to keep a receipt from a marina far away from his home in Modesto as proof of his alibi that he was off fishing when Laci went missing. "'You wouldn't believe how much planning I put into it,'" Thomas says the killer told her. "'I looked four or five times to make sure I had the boat slip [receipt] in my pocket before I left the marina.'"
Photo credit: Getty Images
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As previously covered by The ENQUIRER, Peterson had felt justice catching up to him after his wife's mutilated body was found a day after the remains of her unborn child in April 2003. She had originally disappeared on December 24, 2002. Police arrested a newly-blonde Peterson while he was driving a Mercedes-Benz full of survivalist equipment, camping gear, Viagra tablets, and nearly $15,000 in cash.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Peterson was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005 — with a disillusioned Donna telling Peterson he'd serve a life sentence like Charles Manson. "Charles Manson never killed anybody," said Thomas. "Some of the killers are out already, but because he's so notorious, he's in prison. And I said, 'Here you are, just as notorious and you actually killed someone!'"
Photo credit: Getty Images
Scott Peterson went to Death Row denying that he murdered his wife Laci and unborn son Conner, but he confessed to the cold-blooded killings while behind bars — according to a woman who fought to save him from the death penalty!
Photo credit: Getty Images
The former fertilizer salesman from Modesto, Calif., reportedly blurted out the brutal truth to Donna Thomas, who initially thought he'd been railroaded into a conviction and was trying to help him escape his date with the executioner. "I truly believed Scott was innocent and was doing everything in my power to prove it," says Thomas, a legal researcher. "However, during one of my visits with him at San Quentin, he slipped!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
Donna told her story in the book, "I'm Sorry I Lied to You": The Confession of Scott Peterson" — which begins with her working with Peterson in 2004. She was totally convinced he was more like Ron Howard's boy-next-door character on the sitcom "Happy Days" than his fellow Death Row inmates, including serial killer Richard Ramirez — who sources say slashed Peterson in a prison brawl.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"The Scott I knew couldn't do such a thing," Donna said. "When I first went in there, I saw this Richie Cunningham type of person surrounded by these monsters. And I thought, ' This is so wrong. This is so unfair.'" But she began having her doubts after a visit in March 2006. "I caught him in lies," Donna admitted, "but I didn't want to believe he was guilty."
Photo credit: Getty Images
In a radio interview, Donna recalled Peterson describing how he made sure to keep a receipt from a marina far away from his home in Modesto as proof of his alibi that he was off fishing when Laci went missing. "'You wouldn't believe how much planning I put into it,'" Thomas says the killer told her. "'I looked four or five times to make sure I had the boat slip [receipt] in my pocket before I left the marina.'"
Photo credit: Getty Images
As previously covered by The ENQUIRER, Peterson had felt justice catching up to him after his wife's mutilated body was found a day after the remains of her unborn child in April 2003. She had originally disappeared on December 24, 2002. Police arrested a newly-blonde Peterson while he was driving a Mercedes-Benz full of survivalist equipment, camping gear, Viagra tablets, and nearly $15,000 in cash.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Peterson was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005 — with a disillusioned Donna telling Peterson he'd serve a life sentence like Charles Manson. "Charles Manson never killed anybody," said Thomas. "Some of the killers are out already, but because he's so notorious, he's in prison. And I said, 'Here you are, just as notorious and you actually killed someone!'"
Photo credit: Getty Images