Here’s Where Scott Peterson’s And Other Notorious Murder Cases Stand
It once seemed inconceivable that convicted murderers Scott Peterson and Alex Murdaugh could get another chance at freedom, but some shocking developments and legal wrangling have seen both return to the courtroom. And while “Serial” subject Adnan Syed in 2022 regained his freedom after decades behind bars, there is still a slight chance he could go back to prison. Two other high-profile defendants, Bryan Kohberger, accused in the 2022 University of Idaho killings, and Richard Allen, accused of killing two girls in Delphi, Indiana, have yet to be tried. But their cases remain in the limelight due to hundreds of legal filings, the bizarre antics of some attorneys, and the wild speculation by armchair sleuths on social media.
Here’s where these cases currently stand.
Defendant: Scott Peterson,51
Victims: Peterson’s wife, Laci, 27, and their unborn baby
The crime: Peterson is accused of killing his wife, who was eight months pregnant, on Dec. 23 or 24, 2002, in Modesto, California, and dumping her body in the San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve. The remains of Laci and her fetus were found separately on the shoreline in April 2003.
Trial: June-November 2004. A jury found Peterson guilty on Nov. 12, 2004, of two felony counts of murder with premeditation and special circumstances, and he was sentenced to death weeks later. His death sentence was overturned in 2020, and he was resentenced to life in prison without parole. In December 2022, a judge rejected his request for a new trial based on his allegations of juror bias.
Current status: Peterson made headlines again in January, when the Los Angeles Innocence Project (unaffiliated with the national Innocence Project) announced it was taking on his case. The nonprofit asserted that “newly discovered” evidence could support Peterson’s claims of innocence, and requested post-conviction discovery and DNA evidence. Peterson appeared in court Tuesday via Zoom from Mule Creek State Prison for a status conference, where his attorney and LAIP director Paula Mitchell requested that the judge order prosecutors to turn over evidence including police reports, interview notes, and audio and video recordings.
In its initial filings, the LAIP requested that enhanced DNA testing be conducted on alleged bloodstains on a mattress in a burned-out van found about a mile from the Petersons’ home the day after Laci was reported missing. Peterson’s defenders believe that a burglary across the street from the Petersons’ Modesto house is connected to her death, but authorities have said the break-in happened after Laci disappeared.
Peterson is scheduled to appear in court again by Zoom on April 16, May 29 and July 15 for hearings on discovery and DNA testing, and a motion to seal court records.
Defendant: Bryan Kohberger, 29
Victims: Xana Kernodle, 20; Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Madison “Maddie” Mogen, 21
The crime: Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. He was arrested at his family home in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, 2022, before being extradited back to Idaho.
Current status: On Tuesday, the Idaho Supreme Court denied Kohberger’s pretrial appeal to dismiss his indictment by a grand jury in May 2023. But because grand jury proceedings are not held in open court, many details about the case remain unknown (and fodder for amateur sleuths and conspiracy theorists on TikTok and elsewhere). However, hundreds of court filings in the case, including the original probable cause affidavit, are available on the state of Idaho’s “cases of interest” hub.
The judge has not yet set a trial date, but it likely won’t be before 2025. In a recent hearing, prosecutors floated a March 2025 date, while Kohberger’s defense attorney asked for it to begin no sooner than next summer. The judge is expected to rule on the defense’s request for a change of venue in May.
Defendant: Richard Allen, 51
Victims: Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14
The crime: Authorities have released few details about the killings of the two girls who disappeared after hiking on a local trail in Delphi, Indiana, on Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were found the next day in a wooded area about half a mile away. Indiana State Police retrieved a 40-second video on Libby’s phone of a man believed to be their attacker. In the grainy video, the man, who became known as “Bridge Guy,” orders, “Guys, down the hill,” and one of the girls is heard saying “gun.” Despite a 2017 police interview placing himself on the trail at the time the girls disappeared, Allen was not identified as a suspect until around October 2022, when he was arrested and charged with two counts of murder (with kidnapping charges added later) in the deaths of Abby and Libby.
Current status: Where to begin? It’s hard to keep up with theatrics inside and outside the courtroom while Allen awaits trial in prison. (His attorneys’ requests that he be transferred to a county jail, where most pretrial detainees are held instead of prison, have been denied.) His attorneys, Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin, have been admonished several times. They shared previously unreleased details about the crime scene in a 73-page memorandum speculating that the girls were victims of a ritual sacrifice, and Baldwin admitted to a leak of crime scene photos from his office.
After the judge removed the attorneys from the case and appointed new ones to represent Allen, the two lawyers protested to the Indiana Supreme Court. The court ruled in their favor, and they were reinstated. On Tuesday, they filed an 18-page motion to compel the state to provide discovery. They requested that sanctions be imposed against the state of Indiana for allegedly failing to turn over critical evidence and lying about it to the defense team. The discovery kerfuffle — including allegations that investigators “recorded over” police interviews — could result in a delayof the trial.
A highly anticipated hearing is scheduled for March 18 to handle several motions, although it is unclear what exactly the judge will address. Allen’s trial date, postponed to October 2024, was just bumped to May after he requested a speedy trial — but his attorneys are now suggesting they may need more time to review the discovery, blaming the state for the delay. The defense team has also filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Allen.
Defendant: Alex Murdaugh, 55
Victims: Maggie, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22
The crime: In what was dubbed the “trial of the century,” Murdaugh, once a prominent attorney, was convicted of gunning down his wife and son at the family’s rural hunting property in Islandton, South Carolina, on the night of June 7, 2021. Earlier that day, the accountant at his law firm had confronted him about money he had stolen from the law firm. He also knew he would soon be exposed for other financial crimes, and his son was facing criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits for his role in a deadly boat crash. Prosecutor Creighton Waters described Murdaugh’s imminent exposure as a “gathering storm,” driving Murdaugh to kill his family to buy time and garner sympathy.
Current status: Murdaugh was already facing prison time for state and federal financial crimes when he received two life sentences for killing his wife and son. Murdaugh’s attorneys asked to halt their appeal and requested a new trial when they claimed several jurors had come forward to express concerns about the county court clerk’s inappropriate comments during the trial. In a January hearing, a judge ruled that although the clerk had made “fleeting and foolish” comments, and questioned her credibility, her actions did not warrant a new trial.
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Defendant: Adnan Syed, 42
Victim: Hae Min Lee, 18
The crime: Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School outside of Baltimore, disappeared after school on Jan. 13, 1999. Her body was found buried in a local park a month later. Syed, her 17-year-old classmate and ex-boyfriend, was accused of strangling her out of jealousy. His friend, Jay Wilds, pleaded guilty to helping him bury her body and testified against Syed in court. In 2000, Syed was convicted of murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
Current status: Syed’s case was revisited in the 2014 “Serial” podcast, a worldwide hit that galvanized armchair detectives and paved the way for countless true crime podcasts to follow. “Serial” cloaked in intrigue what had previously been considered (and, some argue, remains) an open-and-shut case.
After years of hearings and decisions — some favorable, others not — a judge in September 2022 vacated his conviction, a bombshell decision in response to prosecutors’ request — that let him walk out of court a free man. Then-Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who had been indicted earlier that year for federal perjury and mortgage fraud charges (and later found guiltyof both)said in a news conference that Syed had been “excluded” as a suspect because trace DNA from multiple people — none of them Syed — was found on Lee’s shoes in a second round of testing. Mosby later announced that the charges against Syed had been dropped.
The case became more complicated last March, when the Appellate Court of Maryland reinstated Syed’s conviction (and murder charges). The court agreed that the Lee family had not received adequate notice to appear at the hearing where Syed’s conviction was overturned, and expressed concerns “about how the proceedings were conducted.”
Syed remains free while the case works its way back through the courts.
The case saw another extraordinary development in June 2023 when the Maryland Supreme Court agreed to hear two petitions, one from Syed and the other from Lee’s brother, Young Lee. Lee centered on victims’ rights and asked for the opportunity to be heard and to challenge new evidence — like the DNA Mosby claimed was found on Hae Min Lee’s shoes.
In Syed’s petition, his attorneys disputed Lee’s claims of one-sidedness, and said that granting his request would be “wildly impractical, if not disastrous.”
The court heard arguments from both sides in October but has yet to issue their rulings — they aren’t on a fixed timeline, and it could come any moment.
