The fishing trip alibi that unraveled Scott Peterson's story — what did he say to his neighbor?

He told police he had gone fishing at the Berkeley Marina that morning.

He told a neighbor something else.

According to investigation records, Scott Peterson said he spent the morning of December 24, 2002, fishing before returning home to find Laci gone.

Detectives found something in their notes: Scott had told a neighbor he had been golfing, not fishing.

Fishing.

Golfing.

One trip, two stories.

The discrepancy became a key point of suspicion early in the case, according to the investigation summary.

Not because the words themselves proved anything.

But because a grieving husband could not keep his own alibi straight.

The exact wording of the neighbor's statement is not in the record.

The precise date of that conversation is not in the record either.

What remains is the gap between what he said to police and what he said to the man next door.

A man who had just lost his pregnant wife should remember where he was that morning.

That would require a consistent answer.

Detectives noted the inconsistency.

They kept asking.

The marina was where he said he had been.

The golf course was where the neighbor remembered hearing.

Two places, one morning, and a story that would not hold still.

She was missing.

He was the one telling the story.

DECEMBER 24, 2002

December 24, 2002, was a Christmas Eve in Modesto, California.

Laci Peterson, 27 and pregnant, was reported missing from her home that day.

Scott Peterson told police he had returned from fishing at the Berkeley Marina to find her gone.

Police initially treated the case as a possible kidnapping.

Suspicion quickly turned to Scott.

Investigators noted inconsistencies in his account of that morning.

The exact time Scott left and returned home is not specified in the record.

Two places, one morning, and a story that would not hold still.

She was missing.

He was the one telling the story.

The search began with neighbors and volunteers, then grew into a national spectacle.

Detectives took Scott's statement and compared it against what others remembered.

A neighbor recalled him saying he had been golfing, not fishing.

That was a small crack.

It was a crack the investigation would keep widening.

The record does not establish a precise timeline for his trip that day.

What the record does show is a husband whose account shifted under scrutiny.