Transcript: Amber Frey Talks With Hannity, Part 1

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," Jan. 6, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

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NOTE: This is part one of a two-part interview. The second part will air at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 7.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Let's start at the beginning. Were you surprised, first of all, that this became the next O.J.; such a big case?

AMBER FREY, AUTHOR, "WITNESS: FOR THE PROSECUTION OF SCOTT PETERSON": Yes, I was actually.

HANNITY: Let's start when you met Scott Peterson. You had a friend, Shawn Sibley is her name.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: She set you up. She had met him. Tell us what she told you about him.

FREY: That she had met a nice, young, attractive man that she felt was the first person that she ever could see setting me up with or that was good enough for her best friend.

HANNITY: So, you first talked to Scott on the phone?

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: How did that go?

FREY: It was a quick conversation, but he kind of lived up to what she said. He had a good sense of humor, a little bit of wittiness about him. And we just set up our date.

HANNITY: Did you immediately see some warmth or...

FREY: Yes. Yes, there was a good connection.

HANNITY: The impression I got out of the box, Amber, this is one of the greatest manipulators of all time — full-court press, immediately that first day, that first hour champagne is pulled out of the duffel bag. What were you thinking? You met a guy. You thought he was attractive. Your friend had nice things to say about him. What did you think when he pulled out that champagne?

FREY: That he had thought ahead, that there was a romantic side to him — a thoughtfulness.

HANNITY: The lies began in earnest, if you will, if you can say such a thing, there. What was he telling you about himself at dinner?

FREY: Well, actually the lies began with Shawn.

HANNITY: That's a good point.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: But the lies to you began here in this restaurant, because he was telling you things about himself that now we've discovered are absolutely false.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: Tell us what he's telling you.

FREY: Well, just his travels that was coming up, starting with his uncle and his brother going to Alaska on a fishing trip which later I found out was not true. He was going to Maine with his parents for Christmas for the holidays. That certainly was a major lie.

HANNITY: Cairo?

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: France?

FREY: Well, the thing is some of those, I think, they may have been. I don't know for sure. I don't know if anybody does know for sure. But those were — some things he said — there were forms of the truth or that things actually did happen or somehow he kind of connected them.

HANNITY: Said he lived in Sacramento? Not true.

FREY: Not true.

HANNITY: Said he had a condo in San Diego? Not true.

FREY: Not true.

HANNITY: Did have a Land Rover?

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: Said he was traveling to Cairo, Paris, Kennebunkport. He's basically trying to impress you as somebody who was very successful. Is that what you felt?

FREY: Yes. I felt that he had a lot of potential in his life, that he was very eager, a hard worker, which really stood out to me and it was something — a quality that I valued about him, and even about myself, just working hard.

HANNITY: You let him pick up your daughter at school. And a lot of people — you've come under some criticism for this — are thinking, "What were you thinking, allowing this guy into your life with your daughter on the second date and then the next day allowing him to pick your daughter up from school when you really don't know him?" What do you say to people that are critical?

FREY: At the point I didn't have any reason not to — or to have those feelings of should I let him or — because at that point I wouldn't — where I was at then I didn't have a hesitance to ask him to do that. And the day before spending the day with my daughter and the evening and just seeing them connect and how he was with her and as well as him talking — our conversations about his nephews and how close he was to them. You put it as two dates. There was a lot more conversation that happened between Scott and I than just two dates. And I always feel that people really want to minimize the timeframe. Yes, it was very quick or short time period but there was a lot more to it than just that.

HANNITY: Well, put it in context maybe this way. He becomes later a convicted murderer.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: And we discovered that on the day that he was arrested, which was April 18, that they found him with a filet knife, a double-edged dagger, a folding saw, duct tape, a shovel, and a map that he had downloaded from this computer, giving directions to where you work. When you think in retrospect, you'd only known him two weeks. And you put those pieces of the puzzle together and you can put it in the context of your daughter, how do you feel now?

FREY: I can't change what was. And as far as what was in Scott's mind or what his plans were, I don't know that.

HANNITY: When you found out about all that, that scared me. I read that the day he was arrested — and, of course, he had the goatee and the changed hair color and the $10,000 cash — it reads to me he was going to kill you.

FREY: Even at that time I knew he was still being followed, tracked. I knew that. I was very much very sure of it.

HANNITY: Do you think he was, after finding this out, do you think he was at that point with all those things, that MapQuest to your work with those materials in his car, do you think it's a strong possibility he wanted to kill you?

FREY: I don't know.

HANNITY: It could be though. Scary.

FREY: Yes, very scary.

GLORIA ALLRED, AMBER FREY'S ATTORNEY: Sean, I'd like to add to that.

HANNITY: Gloria Allred, of course, is your attorney.

ALLRED: I think that Amber was very courageous under the circumstances.

HANNITY: We're going to get to that. I believe so too.

ALLRED: Yes, because she did subject herself to danger and to a potential risk of harm. And I think the point that you're making about what was discovered in Scott's car at the time of his arrest is an extremely important one, because if he had known that Amber had been taping him and those phone calls with her and turning all of those tapes over to the police, which she had been doing, I don't know whether he might have intended to kill her, to harm her in some way, to abduct here, to kidnap her.

HANNITY: Did you read what he had in that map download that day?

ALLRED: Exactly.

HANNITY: What do you think, Gloria?

ALLRED: I think there was a possibility that he intended to harm her. I can't rule that out. I hope that there's an innocent explanation. I think supporters of the defense have tried to suggest that maybe he was just going to return a book to her that she had given to him. But I doubt that that would be the case because why would he need driving instructions to her workplace hours away just to return a book? He could have used the United States mail.

I'm just wanting to make the point that she was so courageous, because she didn't have police protection at her house all the time that she was taping.

HANNITY: I agree with you. I think you were courageous. And I am convinced after reading your book — and I'll say this publicly — I don't think they would have convicted him without your testimony. And, similarly, I have no doubt after reading your book that he is the person that committed this crime.

Do you think about the impact of that ever?

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: What do you think about it?

FREY: To elaborate would be kind of hard for me to do actually.

HANNITY: You still think of him. You still pray for him.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: What do you think about Scott Peterson when you think about him now: a convicted murderer now on death row?

FREY: My life is so busy. I have two children that I don't spend a lot of time in that sense thinking about him, but I do pray for him. He is in my prayers as well as his family's and Laci's family's. There're so many people involved that have been hurt.

HANNITY: Do you wonder if he thinks about you?

FREY: I'm sure it's hard not to.

HANNITY: Would you ever want to talk to him again? Would you reach out to him?

FREY: In what sense?

HANNITY: Would you want to talk to him again about anything?

FREY: At this time, no.

HANNITY: Would you want him to read your book?

FREY: That would be ultimately his choice if he so desires to.

HANNITY: Let's go back, if we can. The third day, full-court press continues. Go to get a Christmas tree with your daughter. There's a petting zoo. He says he's never married. I read the book. It's like you guys instantly became a family, it seemed like to me.

FREY: Yes. When we were, I guess, confronted with the gentleman's comment about my daughter and her parents dressed in her warmer, we looked at each other just kind of like neither of us corrected it. And it just kind of was a comfort that we looked like a family and that there was, I guess, somehow that type of connection, which it felt good.

HANNITY: You said in the book, "I began to see us making a life together." And you both said to each other, as Geragos had pointed out, you said you loved each other...

FREY: No.

HANNITY: ...but you said to each other, "I think I really like you." You said it back and forth, right?

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: Your friend, Shawn, who set you up, finds out that he was married, confronts him. Tell everybody about that.

FREY: You know, that's really an area I have a hard time with, Sean. Her confronting him and their conversation, that area is in my book, but that's another area I felt that Shawn...

HANNITY: You want her to tell it herself?

FREY: I — yes.

HANNITY: OK. Let's talk about you.

FREY: OK.

HANNITY: Because he asked her at the time not to tell you. He wanted the opportunity to tell you himself. So, December 8th — I'm just trying to create a timeline — Laci's not missing until Christmas Eve.

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: December 8th at this point — now, you started dating him November 20th. December 8th now he tells you that he admits he lied to you.

FREY: December 9th.

HANNITY: Was it the 8th or 9th?

FREY: December 9th.

HANNITY: Laci's not missing at the time. And he says, "I've been married in my past."

ALLRED: Sean, may we just back up for a moment?

HANNITY: Yes.

ALLRED: And perhaps I can just encapsulate what happened with Shawn. On December 6th Shawn confronted him.

HANNITY: And discovered?

ALLRED: Because someone that she knew had told Shawn that he had known that Scott was married. And then Shawn, of course, not knowing that at the time was upset, contacted Scott on December 6th.

HANNITY: He denied it at first.

ALLRED: He first denied it, then he went into, "I lost my wife. Please don't tell Amber. Let me tell her."

ALLRED: "I've had a hard time dealing with it."

ALLRED: Exactly. And then we get to on December 9th when he comes to tell Amber because now he has to tell Amber because Shawn knows.

HANNITY: Right. Now, this is where he said to you, Amber, that this would be the first holiday without his wife. This is 16 days before Laci goes missing.

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: That, to me, no husband ever would ever talk about his wife in the past tense like that.

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: You never asked what happened to the wife, though?

FREY: How could I?

HANNITY: What happened? Did she die? Was she sick?

FREY: Certainly all those thoughts were there, but the moment that he's sitting in front of me and he has all his emotions going and — how can I add to that by — and he had a way about kind of — I guess you would say manipulate the conversation to where it wasn't even open to asking those questions, that obviously without saying much she's no longer with me. Some people ask if I — or if I'm married sometimes it's easier just to say no. It's less painful. So, he kind of turned so much in there I wasn't able to, nor did I feel appropriate to say, "Well, how?"

HANNITY: You thought you'd hurt him if you asked him?

FREY: Well, because he kind of — another manipulating indication of, you know, when he gets back and for me to take this time and to think about it, because he knows how I feel about trust and that he had lied to me and the impact of that. And so, he was just really all in all just very manipulative.

HANNITY: So, even though you caught him in a lie, in a sense you didn't really feel you caught him in a lie at that point?

FREY: Right. I felt bad.

HANNITY: You felt bad for him?

FREY: Yes.

ALLRED: Because he was also crying ...

FREY: Right.

ALLRED: ...very much in front of her.

FREY: How can I be mad when he went through such a loss?

HANNITY: The impression I got, Amber, was that you guys were like a married couple already. You're getting dressed together. You're drinking champagne. You're getting ready to go. You're talking about how you're going to introduce him, etc., at the party. I mean, this is about as fast and as quick a relationship — and I got married in six months from the day I met my wife to the day I got married. This was faster than that. I mean, in terms of emotionally you two hooked up, tied up as quickly as I've ever seen.

FREY: I think, again, just early conversations with my girlfriend and him meeting was just that he was looking for somebody. And I was in a point in my life that so was I.

HANNITY: About four days after that, a full-court press begins again. This is when he brings over three dozen roses, two bottles of champagne. And you asked him at that point, "Scott, can I trust you with my heart?" It became a big issue for you. What were you thinking in your mind? Were you thinking, "Can I really believe this is real?" at that point?

FREY: Right. Yes.

HANNITY: He also said he didn't want a biological child. He was going to have a vasectomy. He would raise your daughter as his. And he's saying it at the time when his own wife was eight and a half months pregnant. This again, goes to the conviction issue. It's vital information. Couldn't have gotten a conviction without that. What do you think about that in light of now, the facts when you discover them later and he's telling you that at the time?

FREY: Well, even at the time it sounded — it sounded not normal. He was very young. You know, not having a family and then to know the truth is just ...

HANNITY: The day before Laci disappears, you have a nightmare, you describe it in your book.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: Why don't you tell everybody about that?

FREY: The whole story?

HANNITY: Tell them the nightmare. Tell what the dream was.

FREY: Well, like most dreams, they don't really make sense. And it began where in my mind it was my daughter. I didn't really see that it was about her, but in my mind that's who it was. And she was being tickled. And then somebody was over her, a man — I couldn't see the face. And then it became a little more aggressive. And I was like, OK, she can't breathe. Stop. And I couldn't get to her and I became — you know, stop, she can't breathe. And I just kept seeing this vision of a woman with dark, kind of curly hair. And to me in my dream, she was laughing. And I just kept thinking, "Stop laughing. She can't breathe." And it became so intense, I woke up gasping for air. I couldn't breathe. And that day it just — I felt icky and just couldn't shake it. Couldn't shake the dream, thought how terrible to have a dream about my daughter not being able to breathe.

HANNITY: Yes. Do you think there was a Laci connection to this?

FREY: I do.

HANNITY: Why?

FREY: Because later the picture that was in my mind in my dream I saw later. And it wasn't that she was laughing, but that she just had a tremendous smile.

HANNITY: And you think that was Laci's smile?

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: That's the day before she was missing.

Christmas Eve — let me take you back to that. One of the things that really scared me in terms of the manipulation of this man, he says he's in Maine. He gives you details like a white rabbit crossed my path, just very specific lies. He sends gifts, for example, with this big, elaborate lie that he's going to Europe. He's doing this on the 26th of December, two days after Laci's missing. He's chatting to you while he's at the volunteer center for his wife. When you discover this in retrospect and you put the pieces of this thing together, how overwhelming is that for you?

FREY: When people question why did I tape the conversation, in retrospect, that's why.

HANNITY: Right.

FREY: Because of all these things that had occurred and then being all lies, and just really putting all that together so quickly.

HANNITY: And he's telling you, "We're stronger than ever," while he's at the volunteer center and people are out there searching for his wife that's dead.

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: Did you think at all about what some of the consequences may be to you and your daughter and your family and your personal life?

FREY: At the time, no, I didn't. And even — not until I was even in Redwood City did I even know the total impact of those tapes and how they were going to be used.

HANNITY: When you just started taping the calls, he calls you, and he acts like he is in Paris calling from the Eiffel Tower. Let's play that tape if we can.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

SCOTT PETERSON, CONVICTED MURDERER: Amber, hey. Happy New Year.

FREY: Happy New Year.

PETERSON: I wanted to call you.

FREY: Thank you.

PETERSON: Amber, are you there?

FREY: I'm here. I wish you could hear me.

PETERSON: I'm on the — I think that you're there. I'm near the Eiffel Tower. Its New Year's celebration is unreal. You should see the crowd. It's huge.

FREY: The crowd's huge?

PETERSON: Amber?

FREY: Yes, I'm here.

PETERSON: Amber, if you're there — I can't hear you right now. But I'll call you on your New Year's.

FREY: OK. I'll talk to you then.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

HANNITY: He wasn't at the Eiffel Tower?

FREY: No, he wasn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where he was at the vigil for his missing wife.

HANNITY: With a thousand people or more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And thank God that Amber Frey taped that telephone call because that showed the jury that, not only was he obsessed with Amber calling her on New Year's Eve, less than a week after his pregnant wife goes missing, but that he had a cold heart towards Laci, that he wasn't a grieving husband.

HANNITY: You even said at this point now, knowing everything, you wrote in your book, "a small part of me missed him."

FREY: I know it sounds bizarre, but when I was talking to him in the early month and those early weeks, what I meant by that is that I missed the Scott that I met.

HANNITY: The one you thought you were falling in love with?

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: And then you found out Conner was due on your birthday.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: Was that hard for you?

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: You mention God a lot and your religious faith in the book.

FREY: Yes.

HANNITY: And you say God wouldn't tempt you beyond that which you could bare. You quote Corinthians.

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: Do you feel that? Do you feel that you got stronger as a result of this?

FREY: I feel that my life had prepared me, or that God had prepared me, for what was to come and what lay ahead as well as where I was at, absolutely.

HANNITY: January 6th is the day he confesses to you that — worst thing in the world, I'm so sorry, I lied to you about traveling, is how he set it up. And he said, "I am married to Laci."

FREY: Basically, yes.

HANNITY: What was that like?

FREY: Of course, I already knew the truth. I knew that was coming. It was escalating.

HANNITY: Did you say that's twisted, Scott, you have a missing pregnant wife and you're talking to your girlfriend?

FREY: Right. That was me talking from my heart.

HANNITY: Then you asked the question, "Is she missing because you fell in love with me, Scott?"

FREY: Right. That was a question that was coached by the Modesto police.

HANNITY: Isn't that a likely possibility, Amber?

FREY: I don't know, Sean.

HANNITY: Didn't they ask you to ask if he had a gun, where he buried the body...

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: ... and he actually denied it all. But he said, you know, when put it in the context, you know, from the earlier discussions, before Laci was ever missing, "my first Christmas alone, I lost my wife." He told you that back on December 9th.

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: You know, at that point, you can't have any doubt that he murdered Laci and Conner, do you?

FREY: I can't have any doubt...

HANNITY: Do you have any doubt at all that he murdered these two people?

FREY: No.

HANNITY: He kept saying you would understand the situation. I can't tell you, I have to protect you. You grilled him. What did you think he was trying to do there, just wait, delay — because also you talked throughout this whole time, while he is out there looking for his wife, this is just the beginning of ongoing discussions.

FREY: Right. Manipulation, more lies, lies about lying. It was endless.

HANNITY: Now you ask him at one point, "Did you have something to do with this?" And that was taped. Let's run that tape if we can.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

FREY: So if you had nothing to do with the disappearance, Scott, then why can't you tell me about it?

PETERSON: I can tell you everything about the disappearance.

FREY: OK. Tell me.

PETERSON: I mean, I went fishing.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

HANNITY: He also said here, "It's frustrating." He said, "It's frustrating to be going through this right now, and not have the fear inside my heart that you're going to do something with that and that you may have potentially killed your wife." Let's roll that tape, too.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

FREY: The thing is, you know where it wrong for you, Scott, in this plan? Is that you didn't think the media would be so big and I'd ever learn of this. That's where it went wrong. That it was so huge that I did learn of this, and that now where are you? Because you were going to come back from Europe, and you and I were just going to take off. You and I were going to be together, and possibly just kind of take off from this area. Am I far-fetched?

PETERSON: Amber, it just hurts so bad for you to think that I could have something to do with this.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

HANNITY: Ever think during any of this that he was going to come after you and try and kill you and your daughter?

FREY: I feared for us.

HANNITY: You asked, "Do I need to be afraid of you?" You asked him directly at one point.

FREY: Right.

HANNITY: And he answered, "I'm not a monster."

FREY: I never said he was a monster, so...

HANNITY: Is he? Can we say he's a monster? Would you say he's a monster?

FREY: I can't say I know what the definition of a monster is, but certainly a pathological liar and sociopath.

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