A WITNESS claimed she saw Laci Peterson walking her dog after the time that cops said she was murdered by her husband Scott but her testimony was not heard at trial.

At least three people claimed to have seen the eight-month pregnant woman on the morning of December 24, 2002, at around 10.30am, an hour after Peterson was said to have left the home.

Cops had claimed in their prosecution that Laci had died on the night of December 23 or earlier on December 24 in her California home.

The cheating husband, now aged 49, was charged with killing his 27-year-old wife and his unborn son Connor.

He was also accused of weighing down her body with concrete anchors to throw her remains in the San Francisco Bay from a fishing boat he had recently purchased.

Peterson's legal team has argued that important evidence was overlooked by police as they built a case against him for the murder of the mother and son.

They claimed that vital information that could have cleared Peterson was not presented as they pushed the theory that she had disrupted a burglary and been killed – or even that she was even the victim of a satanic cult.

One of the alleged sightings was made by a woman who died in 2004, before Peterson's last trial, who had not given even a recorded statement about the claimed sighting.

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Vivian Mitchell, who lived nine blocks from the Petersons, died aged 78 of natural causes in February 2004.

Her husband Bill Mitchell told the San Francisco Gate that Vivian had said she saw Laci through her kitchen window at about 10:15 on the morning of Christmas Eve, 2002.

"There's the pregnant woman with the beautiful smile," she reportedly told her husband.

He later told her to call the police after seeing TV reports on Laci's disappearance.

Bill has slammed the lack of follow-up on his wife's sighting by cops and claimed that they were set on blaming Peterson for the crime.

He also claimed that the police never called his wife back when she got in touch.

"They had a theory, and it didn't fit their theory," he said.

'SHE'S LOST FOREVER'

Bill told the Gate in 2004 that he eventually filed a complaint to the city council when cops never followed up.

He was not personally allowed to testify about his wife's claim under the hearsay rule.

"She's lost forever," San Francisco defense attorney Stuart Hanlon told the Gate.

"Even if defense lawyers got a taped statement from her, the recording wouldn't be allowed in at trial."

While the state’s high court last year said that there was considerable circumstantial evidence incriminating Peterson in the slaying, if he does get a new trial, his attorney has said he will present new evidence bolstering the defense theory that Laci was killed when she stumbled upon a nearby burglary.

Peterson's sister-in-law Janey has concluded that her brother-in-law is innocent and that authorities are to blame for his conviction.

It comes after another alleged eyewitness made claims about a burglary that Janey believes was not followed up by cops.

"A neighbor, Diane Jackson, said she saw three men in a van in front of the home on Dec. 24 that morning,” she has said, claiming that Laci caught robbers in the act and they kidnapped and killed her.

However, the robbers found to have robbed the neighboring house that morning, Donald Pearce and Steven Todd, denied any involvement in the case and were cleared by a police investigation.

COPS REFUTE SIGHTINGS

Despite being cleared by police, Janey believes they killed Laci and framed Peterson by disposing of her body 90 miles away in an area where Peterson happened to be fishing at the time.

"If you have an opportunity to get away with murder, you're going to do it," Janey said.

"We don't have justice. This crime is not solved," she added.

Cops have refuted the claims of the eyewitnesses and said that the woman they saw was not Laci, but another pregnant woman who was walking a golden labrador.

Peterson was found guilty of murder in 2004 and given the death penalty.

However, the California Supreme Court overturned the sentence in August 2020.

He faces resentencing on Wednesday as a judge considers a new trial after new details emerged about domestic abuse suffered by one of the former jurors while she was pregnant.

If a new trial takes place next year, Peterson's defense team hopes that a new trial could involve other evidence they have collected, including alleged sightings of Laci.

Her cause of death was undetermined but her remains were found without a head and with parts of her limbs missing.

Plastic tape had been wrapped around her son's neck and he placenta and umbilical cord were not found with the body

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