American Murder: Laci Peterson highlights sinister statistic about pregnant women in the US

Though the Laci Peterson case is shocking enough in itself, American Murder also highlights an alarming statistic about pregnant women that’s still relevant in the US today. 

While Scott Peterson is currently fighting for a new trial, he remains in prison for the 2002 murder of his wife Laci and their unborn son Conner. He was originally given the death penalty in 2005, but this was changed to life without parole in 2021. 

American Murder: Laci Peterson examines the case in great detail, with the new true crime series featuring interviews from Modesto detectives who carried out the investigation, Laci’s family and friends, and a number of Scott’s relatives. 

Statistically speaking, in the case of a woman’s disappearance, their spouses or partners are suspect number one. But the risk is amplified when the victim is pregnant. 

Sharon Hagan, a criminal investigative profiler, highlights the disturbing statistic in American Murder Episode 3. 

“With a low-risk victim such as Laci, who was very much a homebody, whose world was very small and condensed, the most likely person who will harm someone like her is her intimate partner,” she says.

“And the statistics that we keep on homicide bear this out. In fact, not only does pregnancy increase the risk of victimization for women, but it is the number one cause of death for pregnant women.”

In 2022, a study was published on the matter, where researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that US women who are pregnant or who have recently given birth are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes.

Postdoctoral researcher Rebecca Lawn and professor Karestan Koenen wrote in their report that these homicides are linked to a mix of intimate partner violence and firearms, with 68% of US pregnancy-related homicides from 2009 to 2019 involving guns. 

American Murder director Skye Borgman explained why she wanted this detail to get viewers thinking, telling Netflix, “There’s this statistic that is shocking to me every time I hear it – homicide is the number one cause of death for pregnant women. 

“Every time I say that to people, they tell me absolutely that can’t be true, but it is. And I think we’re able to forget that. Intimate partner violence is something that’s really overwhelming. I want people to walk away from this thinking about that in a deeper way.”

Elaborating on why she chose the Peterson case, the filmmaker added, “I’m always fascinated by women’s issues. Issues that are specific to women can sort of bleed over with men, too, but women’s issues are always very important to me…

“In this particular case, I feel like Laci, and Conner to an extent, have kind of been overshadowed by a lot of the stories that are out there, and I really wanted to have Laci be in the forefront of this story.”

American Murder: Laci Peterson is streaming on Netflix now. You can also read about what happened to Laci’s dog McKenzie, what Face to Face with Scott Peterson is about, and the person missing from the docu-series.