Laci Peterson's mother says only her own death will bring closure to the murders of her daughter and grandson.

"There will always be a hole in my heart for Laci and Conner. Closure will only occur for me when I complete my book of life, when I die," Sharon Rocha wrote in a statement she planned to read at a press conference after a jury recommended her former son-in-law, Scott Peterson, be executed for the killings.

Rocha decided after the Dec. 13 verdict that she was too overwhelmed with emotion to speak before reporters, but a copy of the one-page statement was given to Court TV on Monday.

In it, Rocha thanked her family and friends, as well as prosecutors, police and the volunteers who searched for the 27-year-old mother-to-be after she vanished on Dec. 24, 2002.

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She also expressed her gratitude to the 12 jurors who convicted Peterson.

"They weighed the evidence and had to make, what I can only assume to be, the most difficult decision of their lives," Rocha wrote.

She also seemed to discourage celebration of the jury's decision.

"Today is not a joyous day," she wrote. "There are no winners in a case like this one. We are families suffering horrendous losses."

Rocha attended nearly every day of the six-and-a-half-month-long trial. During the penalty phase, she gave the trial's most powerful testimony, yelling at Peterson from the witness stand, "Divorce is always an option, not murder."

Her partner, Ron Grantski, said Rocha will not grant any interviews until after the holidays.

Peterson, 32, will be formally sentenced by Judge Alfred Delucchi Feb. 25. His lawyer, Mark Geragos, recently set up a fundraising Web site for Peterson's future defense.

"With your support, you can help us continue to investigate the murders of Laci and Conner Peterson so we can free the man we know is innocent," the site reads.

It encourages donors to send money to "The Peterson Investigation Fund," care of Geragos' Los Angeles office.

Peterson's parents, Lee and Jackie, hired Geragos and bankrolled the initial cost of the defense. Midtrial, however, the defense ran out of money and was granted public funds to pay for his lawyers.

His lawyers will ask Delucchi to set aside the jury's verdict before sentencing or to reduce the recommended sentence of death to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Judges rarely grant such motions.