Gillian Flynn became a household name in 2012 when her third novel, Gone Girl, became the most talked-about novel in the literary zeitgeist, with many wondering if Flynn based the story on the Scott Peterson case. Gone Girl centers on Nick Dunne, whose wife, Amy, disappears on their anniversary. Based on Nick’s behavior, including smiling for a pH๏τo at a press conference, he is suspected of having murdered Amy. However, a shocking twist reveals that Amy faked her death to enact revenge on her spouse for increasing neglect and an affair.

Gone Girl received a film adaptation only two years later, and raked in almost $370 million at the global box office (via Box Office Mojo), becoming the highest-grossing film of David Fincher’s career. Though much of the credit should go to Fincher’s direction, along with Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike’s stellar lead performances, Gone Girl‘s buzz-worthiness largely has to do with Flynn’s story, which feels like something straight out of a true-crime podcast. And that’s probably because of how closely it resembles an actual murder case.

The Scott Peterson Case, Explained

Scott Peterson Was Convicted Of Killing His Wife Laci After She Went Missing

On Christmas Eve in 2002, Laci Peterson disappeared from her home in Modesto, California. Her husband Scott claimed that he had gone fishing that same day, and returned home to an empty house. As the local police and community began the search, Peterson and his family offered a reward for any information about his missing wife.

The entire country was at the edge of its seat waiting for news of Laci, who was almost eight months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. Police noted that Peterson seemed strangely unmoved by his wife’s disappearance, which led to him being their number one suspect. It also came to light that Peterson was having an affair with a woman named Amber Frey and that he had convinced Laci to take out a hefty life insurance policy. In April 2003, the remains of Laci’s body and a fetus were found on the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay (via Biography).

That same year, Scott Peterson was arrested and ordered to stand trial. He was convicted of the murders of Laci Peterson and their unborn child in 2004, and sentenced to death in 2005. Still, Peterson continued to proclaim his innocence and immediately filed for an appeal. In 2021, a judge overturned the death sentence in exchange for life without parole. Peterson was joined by the LA Innocence Project in 2024 in the hopes of exonerating him, and they are still fighting today (via CBS News).

Gillian Flynn Was Inspired By The Scott Peterson Case, But Gone Girl Isn’t Based On It

The Outcomes Are Different, With Amy Dunne Not Only Surviving But Planning Her Own Disappearance

Though the names may be different, Nick and Amy’s story in Gone Girl seems to closely mirror that of Scott and Laci’s, as Amy disappears, and Nick is the number one suspect, looking especially guilty after the exposure of his affair. But while many aspects of the Scott Peterson case may be very similar to the book, Gillian Flynn did not base Gone Girl on Laci’s murder. She did, however, talk about her interest in true crime stories and mentioned the Peterson case in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“I definitely didn’t want to do anything specific. One could point to Scott and Lacey [sic] Peterson. “It could be any number of those types of cases, but that was what kind of interested me: the selection and the packaging of a tragedy. In a way, I reverse-engineered some of it.”

The biggest difference between Gone Girl and the Scott Peterson case is, of course, the discovery of Laci Peterson’s body and that of the fetus of her and Scott’s child. In the book, it’s eventually revealed that Amy is alive, and purposely set up Nick to frame him as revenge for his affair. And while the Gone Girl ending is certainly disturbing, it’s certainly less so than the case of Scott and Laci Peterson.