Not Much New in Amber Frey's Book

SAN FRANCISCO – The book written by Scott Peterson's former girlfriend went on sale Tuesday, shedding little new light on the double-murder case but offering a deeper look at a single mother desperate for love.

In "Witness For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson," Amber Frey (search) spends many of the 210 pages outlining how she worked with police and how she handled the publicity generated by the December 2002 disappearance of Laci Peterson (search) and the 8-month-old fetus she was carrying.

Frey, a massage therapist from Fresno, was a star witness during her six days of testimony in Peterson's six-month trial last year. On Dec. 13, the jury imposed the death penalty. Formal sentencing is set for Feb. 25.

Frey, 29, tells the story of meeting Peterson: how her best friend set up the couple after meeting Peterson at a conference, how Peterson coaxed Frey to his hotel room moments after their first meeting to shower and change clothes, then pulled out a bottle of champagne and a box of strawberries from his brown duffel bag.

Later, after dinner, they got drunk and sang "Islands in the Stream" at a karaoke lounge. Frey said she spent that night with Peterson.

"As the evening progressed, Scott said that he was looking forward to settling down, but that he hadn't yet found the right person," says Frey in one of several excerpts released early by the publisher, Regan Books. "The way he looked at me when he said that made me feel he might be wondering whether I was that person."

The $25.95 book, dedicated to the victims of violence and their families, features dozens of photographs of Frey, including a glamour shot taken when she was 18 and two dozen black-and-white frames from a modeling shoot in 2000 that show a short-haired Frey in a see-through negligee.

Frey also describes a nightmare she had about a month after meeting Peterson when she began to suspect he was lying to her. She said a man with brown hair tickled her daughter. As he got increasingly rough, she begged him to stop because he was suffocating her.

Frey then wrote she saw the face of an unknown woman with a bright smile and curly, brown hair who was laughing. Weeks later, Frey said, she realized the woman in her dream was Laci Peterson.

Frey spends much time outlining how she found a lawyer, how she worked with police and how she handled the media.

She also recounts meeting Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha (search), who called Frey shortly after her initial news conference. She went to the family's home and met Laci's sister, aunt and stepfather.

"It took a huge weight off my shoulders, just knowing that they knew that I wasn't the enemy," she wrote.

Frey spends dozens of pages rehashing recorded phone calls between her and Scott Peterson that were replayed during the trial.

Frey stops short of saying she believes Peterson is guilty. But when the verdicts came on Nov. 12, she said she felt relief and that justice was served.