Timing of Scott Peterson arrest may have been strategic: former homicide cop

Laci Peterson, 27, disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. and her husband, Scott Peterson, were charged with murder, just days after her remains were found months later.

However, law enforcement officials do not always wait to find a body before filing murder charges, as in the cases of missing Texas real estate agent Suzanne Simpson and missing Massachusetts real estate executive Anna Walshe. Fox News contributor and former Washington, DC homicide detective Ted Williams explained why investigators sometimes file charges before a body is found.

As authorities continue to search for Simpson, the 51-year-old mother of four who disappeared more than two months ago, her husband, Brad Simpson, remains behind bars, accused of killing his wife of 22 years. Unlike the Peterson case, police did not wait to find Suzanne’s remains before charging Simpson with murder.

“The murders are like a puzzle,” Williams told Fox News Digital. “Investigators are forever putting pieces of the puzzle together, and when they feel they have enough evidence – circumstantial evidence or physical evidence – then they will move forward.”

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Missing Texas mom Suzanne Simpson is pictured with her husband Brad Simpson. (Facebook/Suzanne Simpson)

Scott Peterson and Laci Peterson in a photo featured in the documentary series “American Murder: Laci Peterson.” (Courtesy of Netflix)

Laci Peterson was seven and a half months pregnant when she disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Modesto home she shared with Scott, prompting a wide-ranging search for the mom-to-be. Four months later, in April 2003, a pedestrian found the decomposed body of her unborn son in San Francisco Bay, and authorities found Laci’s remains in the bay the next day.

Within a week of the discovery, authorities arrested and charged Scott Peterson with two counts in the deaths of his wife and unborn son.

“I think in the Scott Peterson case, they were still gathering evidence … they wanted to wait, and they had time on their side. And while they were gathering evidence, they were able to make a very concrete case against Scott Peterson,” Williams said.

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A former homicide detective explained why, in cases like Peterson’s, police may wait until a body is found before indictment for murderelaborating on the risk involved in charging an individual prematurely.

“Investigators have to get it right the first time,” he said. “Once a person is charged with murder, they are tried, and if they are found not guilty and later found to have actually committed murder, they cannot be charged a second time because of what we define in this country. as double jeopardy.”

Double jeopardy refers to the clause in the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibits anyone from being tried twice for the same crime.

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Scott Peterson, left, was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn son. (REUTERS/Lou Dematteis LD/MR, California Department of Corrections)

Williams said investigators need to gather enough evidence to support a homicide charge, given they only have “one shot.”

“That’s the key…investigators understand that in order to proceed with a murder charge, the evidence has to be strong,” he added.

“Prosecutors realize they’re only getting one bite of the apple,” Williams said. “If a jury comes back and finds a person not guilty of the crime of murder, and they later find evidence that shows that person actually committed murder… because of double jeopardy in our country… they can’t try that person again, that that person will get away with murder.”

In the second a homicide investigation in MassachusettsAna Walshe, a mother of three young children and a real estate professional who worked in Washington, DC, disappeared on New Year’s Day 2023 and was reported missing a few days later. Although her body was never found, her husband, Brian Walshe, was charged with murdering his 39-year-old wife.

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Brian and Ana Walshe toast their wedding day at L’Espalier Salon in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday, December 21, 2015. (obtained by Fox News Digital)

Ana Walshe holds her three children in an October 2022 Instagram post. (Ana Walshe/Instagram)

Williams explained why, unlike the Peterson investigation, authorities in the Simpson and Walshe cases did not wait to find the victims’ remains before filing murder charges against the suspects.

“Over a period of time, if investigators realize they’re not going to find or find a body, but they believe they have enough physical evidence to move forward, they’ll move forward and present that to the prosecutor, and that prosecutor will make the decision whether to go forward with charges,” he said.

On December 3, Brad Simpson was charged with two counts first degree felony charges – murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury to a family member. He was also charged with touching a body, two additional counts of tampering with physical evidence and possession of a prohibited weapon.

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Suzanne and Brad Simpson reportedly got into a fight after a night out at The Argyle in San Antonio, Texas.

“In the case of Suzanne Simpson, it appears that investigators have come up with physical as well as circumstantial evidence that shows that she is no longer here. And as a result, they are moving forward,” Williams said.

Suzanne Simpson’s DNA was allegedly found on the “hitchsaw” that Brad Simpson is accused of hiding, according to indictment records obtained by Fox News Digital and KABB reporting. Authorities said there have been no signs of Suzanne being alive since her husband allegedly assaulted her on Oct. 6, and that this has been confirmed by her cell phone records, financial records, family, friends and co-workers.

A neighbor reportedly saw Simpson assaulting his wife on the night of her disappearance and later heard screams coming from nearby woods, while the couple’s five-year-old child told a school counselor that on the evening of Oct. 6, her father allegedly “pushed her mother against a wall, hit her (physically) hit the mother in the face and injured the mother’s elbow inside their residence” and also “turned off the mother’s phone because they were fighting,” the affidavit states.

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Home of Suzanne and Brad Simpson in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday, November 12, 2024 Suzanne Simpson disappeared under suspicious circumstances. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

Investigators followed Simpson’s unusual behavior in the days after his wife disappeared, including turning off his phone, driving with suspicious items in the bed of his truck, going to a junkyard and cleaning the truck at a car wash.

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“There is a thread and a common thread,” Williams told Fox News Digital. “Among all of these cases … they happened in different jurisdictions, and those jurisdictions handle homicides differently, but all homicides are based on evidence … that investigators are able to obtain over a period of time.”

Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.