Newspaper Articles

[Lorie Taylor]

www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3830964

High Winds Trouble Missing Mom Search
Investigators Searched Stacy Peterson's Home a Second Time

Mother of two Stacy Peterson has been missing for 10 days. Investigators continue the search for the 23-year-old, who was last seen by her husband Drew Peterson. While Drew believes his wife ran away, others think he may have had something to do with her disappearance. (ABC News)From GMA Nov. 7, 2007

For the second time, law enforcement authorities searched Stacy Peterson's garage and volunteers explored thick brush in the bitter cold, hoping to find clues. A Texas-based search team arrived with sonar-equipped boats and ATVs to aid in the search, which was made more difficult by high winds.

"If anything bad did happen to her, with every day that passes by evidence is lost and it is going to be harder for law enforcement to investigate," said Tim Miller of Equusearch, the Texas search firm.

The winds prevented Miller's group from using its search dogs, horses and an aerial drone.

Peterson's family has tried to remain hopeful as it awaits word of her fate. The mother vanished 10 days ago, and her disappearance has friends, family and authorities baffled.

Peterson was last seen by her husband of four years, Bolingbrook, Ill., police Sgt. Drew Peterson, who some believe may know more than he has said.

The marriage was a first for Stacy and a fourth for Drew. Friends said Stacy recently had told her husband she wanted a divorce, which has caused some to wonder whether he is involved in her disappearance.

But Drew said he believes his wife ran off, and at least one of his friends continues to support him.

"I have my best friend that is under the scrutiny of America saying he's guilty of a crime that I don't feel there's any foul play in," said Rick Mims, Drew's friend.

As the search continues, the couple's 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son are staying with neighbors, according to family members.

Stacy's disappearance has caused authorities to look into the death of Drew's third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose 2004 bathtub drowning death initially was ruled accidental.

Before she died, Savio had filed an order of protection against her ex-husband, which read in part, "He wants me dead, and if he has to, he will burn the house down to shut me up."

As the Peterson drama plays out, Stacy's sister said she has tried not to think the worst and remain positive.

"I'm holding off. I'm trying. The prayers are helping," said Cassandra Cales.

[Lorie Taylor]

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308900,00.html

Sgt. Peterson's Close Friend, Ric Mims, Goes 'On the Record'

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," November 6, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Ric Mims is a close friend of Drew Peterson's and has been in frequent touch with him. Ric joins us live from Bolingbrook, Illinois. Welcome, Ric.

RIC MIMS, FRIEND OF SGT. DREW PETERSON: How're you doing, Greta?

VAN SUSTEREN: I guess I should say welcome back to the show. You obviously know that the search warrant has gone down at your friend, Sergeant Drew Peterson's home just moments ago.

MIMS: Yes. Steph (ph) told me about it.

VAN SUSTEREN: When was the last time you talked to Sergeant Peterson?

MIMS: About 1:00 o'clock this afternoon.

VAN SUSTEREN: What'd he tell you?

MIMS: As far as I knew from the conversation I had, he was still at the house.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did he say he was still at the house?

MIMS: Yes, because I was going to come over to get the rest of my stuff out, and he said that the news crews were still out there, to wait until this evening.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did she he he didn't call you to say, Button up the house after the police leave? You're not the one he called, or are you?

MIMS: Oh, yes. Yes. I'm the one he called.

VAN SUSTEREN: So how long ago did you speak to him?

MIMS: That was 20 minutes ago (INAUDIBLE) 15 minutes ago.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did he say anything else?

MIMS: No, just that he wanted me to go over there and secure the house and make sure it was secure once the police left.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know where he is?

MIMS: No, I have no clue.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did you ask him?

MIMS: (INAUDIBLE) at the house.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did you ask him...

MIMS: No (INAUDIBLE) I asked him if he was safe...

VAN SUSTEREN: Yes. Go ahead. You asked him what?

MIMS: I asked him if I asked him if he was safe, and he said, yes, he was.

VAN SUSTEREN: Now, Ric, you have been standing by your friend, Sergeant Peterson, since the very beginning. You thought that Stacy ran away. Do you still think that?

MIMS: Yes, I do.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why?

MIMS: It's just a tough situation to be in. He's a good friend of mine, and I just keep hoping that she's alive somewhere and will show up to clear this all up. But as time goes by, you know, everybody has their suspicions.

VAN SUSTEREN: So do you have any you don't have any suspicions?

MIMS: I can't comment on that right now.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there anything that Sergeant Peterson has said or done in front of you that you think is unusual?

MIMS: No, he's very calm, cool, collected, has done nothing to make me think that there's any foul play.

VAN SUSTEREN: Has he done anything to make you think that he was waiting for a phone call from his wife or might be looking for his wife or used a term to show that even that, you know, that she that she's alive, say anything at all to you?

MIMS: No. I haven't got any type of intuition or anything from what he's said that he's there's any foul play. Nothing he's said to me has given me any reason to doubt that what he's told me is the truth. I have my own opinion of what's happened, but I'm just like you, I'm waiting for Stacy to be found.

VAN SUSTEREN: And what's your opinion?

MIMS: I hope that she just ran off. I really do. I keep praying that that's the case. That's why I came on the show tonight, was to make sure that the search doesn't continue just here in Bolingbrook but it continues nationwide. I just want to make sure that everybody knows out there that if Stacy is at a beach, even if you think she looks like Stacy, call us. Call the tip line. Let somebody know. It's worth investigating.

VAN SUSTEREN: How's Sergeant Peterson doing?

MIMS: I've talked to him several times on the phone since I seen him the last time I seen him physically was Saturday evening. But I've talked to him every day a couple times on the phone, and he seems to be doing fine.

VAN SUSTEREN: Ric, thank you. And I hope you'll continue to come on the show and help us with this. Thank you, Ric.

MIMS: All right. Thank you, Greta.

[Lorie Taylor]

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309016,00.html

Police Search Home of Missing Illinois Mom Again

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

CHICAGO Investigators searched the home of a suburban Chicago police sergeant for the second time Tuesday night whose wife disappeared last week.

Stacy Peterson, 23, was reported missing Oct. 29 after she didn't arrive to a friend's house. Peterson is married to Bolingbrook, Ill., police Sgt. Drew Peterson, 53.

The family of Stacy Peterson believes she is dead, vowing to search for her until she is found.

"I've got to keep strong and keep going. I'm not going to stop until I find her," said Cassandra Cales, Stacy Peterson's sister.

Illinois State Police searched the Peterson home last week. Authorities seized two vehicles, computers, cell phones and other items.

Will County state's attorney's office spokesman Charles Pelkie said he couldn't offer any details about the warrant for Drew and Stacy Peterson's Bolingbrook home.

Prosecutors want to interview their children for any possible clues that could help in the investigation.

Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit group that helps search for missing persons, combed several areas near the home with divers, helicopters, horses and dog teams.

"It doesn't look good," Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch, said. "If something has happened to her, we know that every day that she's out there more and more evidence is gone and it's harder to determine cause of death."

Drew Peterson, 53, a sergeant in the Bolingbrook Police Department, has said his wife phoned him and told him she had left voluntarily for another man. But Stacy Peterson's family has said she feared her husband, was making plans to divorce him and would not have willingly left her children.

Authorities also reopened an investigation into the death of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, who in 2004 was found dead in a bathtub at the age of 40. A coroner ruled the death accidental.

[Lorie Taylor]

cbs2chicago.com/westsuburbanbureau/drew.stacy.peterson.2.538116.html

Bolingbrook Cop's Deceased 3rd Wife Sought Help

Kathleen Savio Wrote In 2002 That Her Then-Husband, Sgt.Drew Peterson, Was Violent Toward Her And She Feared He Would Kill Her

JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) ― The search continues for missing Bolingbrook mother Stacy Peterson. Meanwhile, after not being seen for days, her husband, Drew Peterson, made an appearance in Joliet.

CBS 2 news partner the Naperville Sun saw Drew Peterson leaving the courthouse annex at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. It was rumored that he would be there for grand jury proceedings but officials would not confirm that.

CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli made a trip to the coroner's office on the fourth floor of that building where Drew Peterson was spotted. An official asked that he leave. When asked if the building was a public building, the official responded, "Not today."

Officials would not confirm anything regarding that grand jury Drew Peterson reportedly attended Wednesday.

Will County Coroner Pat O'Neil released a written statement Wednesday night regarding Kathleen Savio's death. It reads: "Certain aspects of Kathleen Savio's death raised concerns for me as well it was my opinion that, at the very least, her death should have been ruled 'undetermined.' It must be noted that a state's attorney's office may file criminal charges in a case regardless of a ruling by a coroner's jury that a death is accidental."

No charges were originally filed in the case, but the current state's attorney has decided to reopen it in light of Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

Prosecutors are discussing whether to exhume the body of Drew Peterson's third wife.

Three and a half years after Kathleen Savio was found dead in a bathtub, her sister, Anna Doman, is speaking out for the first time for her desire to see her youngest sister exhumed from her eternal resting place.

In a letter written in 2002, 16 months, before she died, Kathleen Savio she accuses Drew Peterson of violence, saying, "There have been several times throughout my marriage with this man where I ended up at the emergency room in Bolingbrook for injuries."

And sometimes she claimed the veteran police sergeant used weapons saying, "He pulled out his knife that he kept around his leg and brought it to my neck. I thought I'd never see my boys again. I just told him to end this craziness and he for some reason pulled back. I didn't tell the police because I know they can't protect me from him."

Her sister says Kathleen always lived in fear of her husband.

"She came right here and told me. Oh, yeah, she said 'take care of my boys and I want you to make sure you get these papers because I want you to go get him," Anna Doman said.

So that's why this sister is releasing those papers, in the hopes that authorities will exhume Kathleen's body and find out exactly how she died.

Anna Doman says Kathleen always believed that her husband, Drew Peterson, would hurt her.

"She told me she'd never make it to the end of the divorce. She'd never make the property settlement," Anna Doman said. "That's a shame."

Anna Doman said Kathleen Savio told her she knew she would be killed. And although she's never said publicly that she believed Drew Peterson killed Kathleen, she's not holding back anymore.

When asked if she thinks Drew Peterson killed Kathleen Savio, Anna Doman said, "It's hard to say yeah, I do. He had the most to gain money."

She says there was $1 million in life insurance and a more than $600,000 estate that stood to be divided.

"She would have gotten half. Instead she got none," Anna Doman said. "He got it all."


In the letter, which was addressed to a prosecutor, Kathleen wrote of Drew, "He knows how to manipulate the system and his next step is to take my children away, or kill me instead."


She goes on to say, "I haven't received help from the police here in Bolingbrook and [am] asking for your help now before it's too late. I really hope by filing this charge, it might stop him from trying to hurt us."

When Kathleen Savio died, Melissa Doman lost her favorite aunt. But she thinks of the woman she called Kitty every time she looks at her daughter.

"When I had my daughter, I named her after my aunt, so that no matter what I'll never forget," Melissa Doman said.

Savio's family will never forget a loving mother and sister, who is always in their hearts, a woman whose story they are telling now because she no longer can.

"How in the world could anyone say it was an accident?" Anna Doman said. "The cut was on the back of her head, and she was on her face in a waterless bathtub. Give me a break."

CBS 2 tried to reach Drew Peterson Wednesday but he did not return calls. Anna Doman says she has not spoken to authorities since Stacy Peterson went missing, but says she is now ready to.

[Lorie Taylor]

www.chicagosuburbannews.com/bolingbrook/homepage/x676135974

Coroner disagrees with panel; Savios body may be exhumed

By Don Grigas, [e-mail]
Bolingbrook Reporter
Thu Nov 08, 2007, 05:20 PM CST

The Will County states attorneys office is negotiating with the family of Kathleen Savio, former wife of Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson, to exhume her body more than three years after her death.

Savio, who died March 1, 2004, had recently been divorced from Drew Peterson, a Bolingbrook police officer whose fourth wife Stacy Peterson has been missing since Oct. 28.

There are strong considerations and serious discussions going on with the Savio family at this time, said Chuck Pelkie, spokesman for James Glasgow, Will County states attorney.

Pelkie said legal issues remain to be worked out before the body can be exhumed, but fell short of confirming the office planned to take that course of action.

The news comes on the heels of a statement made Wednesday by Will County Coroner Patrick ONeil that he disagreed with a finding by a coroners jury that Savios death was an accidental drowning.

According to ONeil, a six-member coroners jury reviewed specifics of Savios death including testimony from Savios family that aspects of the death were suspicious and ruled the death as an accidental drowning.

Certain aspects of Kathleen Savios death raised concerns for me as well. In my professional opinion, having served at the time as coroner for 14 years, it was my opinion that, at the very least, her death should have been ruled undetermined. The coroners jury, unfortunately, ruled otherwise, ONeil said.

In 2004 law did not allow ONeil to overrule the decision of a coroners jury.
The law was changed in early 2007 to allow a coroner to bypass the jury process and rule on a death independently.

Had this option been available in 2004, the ruling in this case would have been different, ONeil said.

Savio, Petersons third wife, was found dead in her bath tub on March 1, 2004. The coroners report at that time listed the death as an accidental drowning, despite the fact the tub was dry when she was found and there was blood in her hair from a cut to her head, the report stated.

Drew Peterson lived in the same subdivision at the time of Savios death, and the couple had just been divorced. At the time of her death the courts were still waiting to divide family assets from the divorce.

On Wednesday Drew Peterson gave testimony to a grand jury in Will County, it was widely reported by national and local media.

I cannot comment on grand jury issues because they are secret, said Pelkie.

State police and a volunteer organization from Texas continue to look for Drew Petersons fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since Oct. 28.

[Lorie Taylor]

www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-peterson_08nov08,0,638225.story?coll=chi-technology-utl

Volunteers continue search for Peterson

By Matthew Walberg and Erika Slife | Tribune staff reporters
1:33 PM CST, November 8, 2007

About 60 volunteers resumed the search Thursday for Stacy Peterson, the Bolingbrook mother who was last seen Oct. 28 by her husband, Sgt. Drew Peterson.

Spearheaded by the rescue organization Texas EquuSearch, the volunteers were dispatched to areas throughout Will County on horseback, on foot and by boat.

Rebecca Marinellie, 18, of Lockport, showed up to the makeshift command center at Westbrook Christian Church on Lily Cache Lane on Thursday shivering in jeans and a light sweatshirt. Marinellie said she met Peterson, 23, through nursing classes at Joliet Junior College and wanted to help.

"I know Stacy from my class. She struck me as the nicest person in the world," she said. "I was talking about a problem with a classmate one day, and she jumped in to help me, and she didn't even know me."

Roy Taylor, whose mother lives next door to the Petersons and who is helping orchestrate the search, said organizers Thursday were most worried about feeding their volunteers. All week, local businesses have been donating lunch, or volunteers have picked up the tab.

"We need food," he said. "We'll have all these volunteers come back for lunch, and we'll have nothing to feed them. Yesterday, we were able to hook it up. Today, it's not looking good."

Meanwhile, boaters used sonar equipment to search the Elmhurst Chicago Stone Quarry in Plainfield.

Taylor said the volunteers spent two days combing the marshes, but now were planning to move into deeper areas in the water-filled quarries.

One bright spot in the effort was a Wednesday night donation of an industrial printer, ink and 20,000 pieces of paper for fliers. Dave Nolen, who recently moved to the area from Cleveland, told organizers he saw a flier this week and wanted to help, Taylor said.

For the most part, volunteers tried to keep their spirits up, but Taylor acknowledged it was getting harder to hold onto hope they would find Peterson alive.

"I [would be] happy to have her call and say she's in Hawaii having a great time, but at this point, I don't think it's going to happen," he said.

He criticized Peterson's husband for his lack of support in the search.

"He has not taken any part of this. He has not gone on TV to plead for her to come home," he said. "He has done nothing but protect his own [rear]."

Peterson, 53, has been out of sight in recent days except for a visit Wednesday afternoon to the Will County Courthouse.

Illinois State Police officials continue to point out that the disappearance of Stacy Peterson – who is Drew Peterson's fourth wife -- is not even a criminal investigation; it remains a missing person case.

Will County state's attorney's officials have, however, said they're reinvestigating the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, who divorced Peterson shortly before she was found dead in a bathtub at her Bolingbrook home in 2004.

Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil said late Wednesday he disagreed with the finding of an inquest that her death was an accident.

"It was my opinion that, at the very least, her death should have been ruled 'undetermined,'" O'Neil said in a statement.

Savio's family believed the death was suspicious, O'Neil noted. Her family, which has furnished a copy of her autopsy report to the Tribune, welcomed the reopening of the investigation and said it begged police at the time not to close the case.

Previous descriptions of the scene have noted that while the bathtub was dry, Savio's hair was soaking wet. But the autopsy states that her hair was "soaked with blood." It notes a one-inch laceration on the back of her head and numerous small bruises and abrasions all over her body.

No evidence of drugs or alcohol were found in her system, according to the report. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy said the cause of death was drowning and wrote that the "laceration to the posterior scalp may have been related to a fall in which she struck her head."

O'Neil noted that if a recent state law allowing coroners to bypass the jury process were in place in 2004, the ruling would have been different.

He said he had "every confidence the police agency [Illinois State Police] that investigated the case would present its reports to the Will County state's attorney's office for review." Jeff Tomczak was state's attorney at that time, and O'Neil said that any criminal charges would have been his responsibility, and that criminal charges could be lodged regardless of a coroner's jury ruling.

Officials in current State's Atty. James Glasgow's office have discussed the possibility of exhuming her body.

"Are we open to it? Are you kidding?" asked her sister, Anna Marie Doman. "She'd be having a party up there. I know [exhumation] is kind of creepy, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes."

Medical records and letters obtained from Savio's relatives outline a pattern of alleged abuse and frustration with a lack of action by Bolingbrook police.

In a November 2002 letter to a Will County assistant state's attorney, Savio mentioned Peterson's relationship with his current wife.

"When I found out Mr. Peterson was having an affair with a minor . . . he began to get very violent," she wrote. "Their [sic] has been several times throughout my marriage with this man where I ended up at the emergency room in Bolingbrook for injuries, and I have reported this only to have police leave my home without filing any reports."

Bolingbrook police officials issued a statement this week in which they confirmed 18 domestic calls to the home, but said they always investigated fully. They also noted that they turned the Savio investigation over to the state police, as they have the Stacy Peterson disappearance.

Peterson's mother, Betty Morphey, said her son has done nothing wrong. "I stick by him 100 percent, like any mother would," she said.

[Lorie Taylor]

chicagoist.com/2007/11/08/stebic_peterson.php

Stebic, Peterson Updates

Things were jumping at the Will County Court House. Lisa Stebic's children testified in front of a grand jury yesterday about their mother's disappearance six months ago. Craig Stebic, Lisa's estranged husband and person of interest in the case, hasn't allowed the police to interview his kids, even though they're two of the last people to see her. Lisa's family says they wanted the kids to be interviewed at a child advocacy center instead, rather than formal proceedings of a grand jury.

In other news about missing suburban women with suspicious husbands, Drew Peterson also testified in front of a grand jury yesterday, but it's not clear if he was testifying about his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, or his third wife, the late Kathleen Savio. Will County States Attorney James Glasgow (definitely in the running for best lawyer 'stache ever) says his office is revisiting the investigation into Savio's death, which was ruled accidental but is now the garnering new attention.

[Lorie Taylor]

www.associatedcontent.com/article/442242/lisa_stebic_kimberly_vaughn_nailah.html

Lisa Stebic, Kimberly Vaughn, Nailah Franklin: Series of Murders in Illinois Garner National Attention

By nicole caminiti
Published Nov 08, 2007

Growing up outside of Chicago, Illinois, I have lived through the horrific John Wayne Gacy murders of the 1970s. This one time children's entertainment clown, befriended 33 young boys and eventually kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered them. Gacy then buried the bodies in and around his own home. It was a frightening and shameful era for the state of Illinois, but since then, for the most part, my home state has flown under the radar as far as infamous crimes are concerned. Until recently, that is.

The year 2007 has been a mysterious one, to say the least, in this Midwestern prairie state. While kidnappings and murders pop up on our national news channels every single day, it seems crimes in Illinois are becoming a repeat and disturbing topic on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and others. It begs the question: What the heck is going on in Illinois?

Lisa Stebic

A Plainfield, Illinois mother of two, Lisa Stebic was going through a rough patch with soon to be ex-husband Craig when she disappeared on April 30, 2007. She had previously told friends and family members that Craig threatened her life on several occasions. Craig Stebic claims Lisa left for work and simply vanished. He refuses to let their two children be interviewed by police which raises yet another red flag. There has been no sign of Lisa since that fateful day in April.

The Vaughn Family

On a recent family road trip supposedly to a water park, a terrible tragedy occurred. According to Christopher Vaughn, he pulled his SUV off the highway and suddenly his wife Kimberly pulled out a gun and shot and killed their three children in the back seat injuring Christopher in the process. The crimes occurred in mid-June in the town of Channahon, Illinois. Days later, police investigators uncovered a more probable scenario. They now believe that it was Christopher Vaughn who shot and killed his entire family and then purposefully injured himself to solidify his original story. Family members and close friends claim the family appeared to be happy throughout the years. Vaughn is now awaiting a trial.

Nailah Franklin

On September 18, 2007, a 28 year old Chicago pharmaceutical representative named Nailah Franklin never showed up for a meeting a work. Her abandoned car was soon found in Hammond, Indiana. Friends say Nailah was receiving threatening phone calls from a man she dated briefly. Unfortunately, nine days after she went missing, Franklin's body was found at a Calumet City forest preserves. This case is still under investigation.

Alma Mendez

On a beautiful fall October afternoon, Alma Mendez took her usual jog in South Chicago Heights at the Saug Trail Woods. Hours later, this mother of three was nowhere to be found and her car was just as she left it; steps from the trail. A by passer noticed articles of clothing floating in the Saug Lake, where the 39 year old woman was eventually found. There are currently no suspects in this case.

Staci Peterson

Staci Peterson of Bolingbrook, Illinois is 23 years old and the mother of two. She married Drew Peterson who is 30 years her senior and a local police sergeant. Drew has been married a total of four times. Oddly enough, his third wife was found dead in a bathtub. Conflicting coroner's reports show that she drowned even though the tub was supposedly dry. There was also blood found at the scene. Now, on October 28, 2007 Staci has gone missing and police have searched the Peterson home and questioned Drew. Several friends of Staci have reported that she told them if anything ever happened to her, Drew would be responsible. The case is being thoroughly investigated and the search for Staci continues. On a bizarre side note, the couple's two year old daughter is named Laci Peterson.

All of these mysterious crimes have occurred within a six month period. They have also been committed in a 60 mile radius of one another leading law enforcement to wonder if any of them are possibly connected. Investigators do not believe they are related at this time, but continue to research all possibilities. Still, it certainly makes you wonder what the heck is going on in Illinois?

[Lorie Taylor]

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309688,00.html

Illinois Cop's 3rd Wife Could Be Exhumed as Search for Missing 4th Wife Continues

November 08, 2007

CHICAGO Prosecutors in Illinois are considering exhuming the body of a Bolingbrook police sergeant's third wife after the coroner who reviewed the autopsy proclaimed her death was no accident.

Chuck Pelkie, a spokesman for the Will County States Attorney told FOX News that investigators reviewing the death of Kathleen Savio, the ex-wife of Drew Peterson, and are interested in inspecting the body, but needed to talk to Savio's family first.

Savio's death is being reviewed since Peterson's current wife, Stacy, disappeared Oct. 29. Savio was found dead in her bathtub in March 2004, and at the time her death was ruled accidental.

There were red flags upon initial review, Pelkie said. We are talking seriously about taking steps to exhume her [Savios] body."



Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil, who reviewed Savio's autopsy, said Wednesday that there were aspects of her death that concerned him.

The autopsy report found that Savio had a one-inch "blunt laceration" on the left side of her scalp, her "hair is soaked with blood" and she also had abrasions or bruises on seven different places on her body.

Despite this, Dr. Bryan Mitchell -- the forensic pathologist who conducted the initial autopsy -- wrote in his opinion that her death "is ascribed to drowning."

"The laceration to posterior scalp may have been related to a fall in which she struck her head," Mitchell wrote.

At the 2004 inquest, authorities said Savio drowned, even though there was no water in the bathtub when she was found. Investigators theorized that the water must have drained out.

O'Neil disagrees and said that Savio's death was inconclusive.

"It was my opinion that at the very least, her death should have been ruled 'undetermined,'" O'Neil said. "The coroner's jury, unfortunately, ruled otherwise."



Court records reveal that in 2002, Savio filed for an emergency order of protection against her ex-husband, Drew Peterson, claiming in the documents that "he wants me dead and if he has to, he will burn the house down just to shut me up."

Melissa Doman, Savio's niece, told FOX News that the truth about her aunt's death is finally coming out.

"Everything that is coming out now, we knew about back then," Doman said. "I know they tried to cover it up because he [Drew Peterson] is a cop. I'm glad it's finally coming out, but it's sad it's taken a poor 23-year-old girl [Stacy Peterson] to go missing for everyone to find out what really happened."

Meanwhile, search teams continue to look for Stacy Peterson. Peterson was reported missing after she didn't arrive to a friend's house.

Drew Peterson, 53, maintains no involvement in the disappearance of his wife. Her disappearance is under review as a missing persons case.

[Lorie Taylor]

cbs2chicago.com/local/kathleen.savio.autopsy.2.564233.html

Autopsy: Savio's Head Was Bloody, Body Lacerated

Authorities Reexamine Sgt. Drew Peterson's 3rd Wife's Death As Search For His Current Wife Continues

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ― It's been 13 days since Stacy Peterson vanished, and more questions have been arising in the death of her husband Drew Peterson's third wife.

CBS 2 obtained a 28-page autopsy report on Kathleen Savio, who drowned in a whirlpool-style bathtub in March 2004. In it, a pathologist noted Savio's head was covered in blood, and she had suffered a laceration.

A six-county Will County coroner's jury ruled the death accidental.

But Savio's family members believes the original coroner's report shows how a coroner's inquest became a miscarriage of justice.

"We always believed she was murdered," Savio's sister, Anna Doman, said. "There was no way my sister was not murdered."

And they believe Drew Peterson killed his ex-wife. But a six-member coroner's jury ruled Savio accidentally drowned in her bathtub. The coroner said Wednesday that was a mistake. He released on Thursday the inquest transcript.

The proceedings began when Kathleen's sister told how she was informed by a relative of Kathleen's death.

"I was told that my sister was dead," Doman said. "I asked if her ex-husband killed her, and she told me she didn't know. And the reason I ask that is because she was terrified of him and him threatening her. "

The only police officer called to testify never was at the death scene, and didn't attend the autopsy, where eight separate injuries were noted on Savio's body.

The coroner asked him if there was "any signs of a struggle noted at the scene?"

The officer answered: "no there was not."

"Any signs of a struggle or defense wounds?" the coroner asked.

"No, there was not," the officer answered.

"And there was a little bit of blood in the tub?" the coroner asked.

The officer said, "That's right."

But, DuPage County's chief deputy coroner, Charlie Dastych also reviewed the autopsy report at CBS 2's request, and isn't so sure.

"The injuries that are noted in the autopsy report definitely indicate there is evidence of suspicion that could be looked at at a different level," Dastych said. "Evidence of a possible struggle."

"When they talk about an injury to the scalp, and blood matted in the hair, I think it would raise questions of what caused this trauma if you're drowned in a bathtub," said DuPage County Coroner Peter Siekmann. "But basically healthy people that have no toxic substances in their system, essentially they don't drown."

Siekmann has said he believes the jurors who ruled on Savio's death made a mistake, and that her cause of death should have been listed as undetermined.

No charges were originally filed in the case, but the current state's attorney decided to reopen it in light of Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

"If the coroner's jury says it's an accident and the pathologist who performs the autopsy says it's not an accident, the state's attorney has every right in the world to forget and disregard what the coroner's jury has to say," said CBS 2's legal expert Irv Miller.

Doman said Savio told her she knew she would be killed. And although she's never said publicly that she believed Drew Peterson killed Savio, she's not holding back anymore.

When asked if she thinks Drew Peterson killed Kathleen Savio, Anna Doman said, "It's hard to say yeah, I do. He had the most to gain money."

She says there was $1 million in life insurance and a more than $600,000 estate that stood to be divided.

"She would have gotten half. Instead she got none," Anna Doman said. "He got it all."

Records show Savio obtained an order of protection against Drew Peterson in 2002, alleging a pattern of abusing and threats. She did the same in a letter to a prosecutor, written 16 months before she died.

The Latest In The Search For Stacy Peterson
Stacy Peterson has been missing since Oct. 28. Drew Peterson said his wife left him voluntarily, but Stacy's family said there was no way she would abandon her children.

Illinois State Police and the professional search group Texas Equusearch are combing the area around Bolingbrook for Stacy, along with volunteers, who say they are in desperate need of extra assistance.

The search starts at 8 a.m., but volunteers are welcome to come at any time. The meeting point is the Westbrook Christian Church, at 1175 Lily Cache Rd. in Bolingbrook.

Volunteers are also asking for donations of food, drinks and paper products such as cups, plates and utensils, for the volunteers. Donations may be brought to Westbrook church.

[Lorie Taylor]

www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/641858,6_1_NA09_PETERSON_S1.article

Peterson's 3rd wife pleaded for help
Cop's 4th wife has been missing for twelve days

November 9, 2007
By Jennifer Golz Staff writer

Drew Peterson's deceased third wife seemed to have cried for help to Bolingbrook Police and the Will County state's attorney's office.

"I haven't received help from the police here in Bolingbrook and (am) asking for your help now - before it's too late," Kathleen Savio wrote in a letter dated Nov. 14, 2002, to a Will County assistant state's attorney.

But that help may have come too late.

Savio, 40, was found dead March 1, 2004, in a waterless bathtub of the Bolingbrook home she and Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson once shared. At the time, the death was ruled an accidental drowning.

But with the suspicious circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, who was not in office at the time, has re-opened the death investigation.

It was Will County Coroner Pat O'Neil who presided over the inquest that ruled on the manner of death, but now even he disagrees; in a statement released late Wednesday, O'Neil says he believes the manner of death should have been "undetermined."

Despite Savio's claims against the local authority's lack of assistance, Bolingbrook police is the one agency standing by its work.

Chief Ray McGury released a statement earlier this week outlining 18 calls for service provided by Bolingbrook Police between Savio and Drew Peterson.

Half of those calls were for child custody issues, according to McGury. Of the remaining nine calls, one of those resulted in an arrest: an alleged battery between Kathleen Savio, who was arrested, and the then-Stacy Cales.

The charges stemmed from a May 2002 incident documented by a trip to the emergency room by Savio for treatment of a sprained ligament in her right wrist, the result of her cop husband tackling her to the ground during the incident, despite not being on duty, she wrote in the same letter to a Will County prosecutor.

Savio was set to go to trial that November on the charge of battery; however, there is no record of the case in Will County Circuit Court. McGury suggested the outcome was expunged.

Despite Savio's family speaking out about abuse and battery by Drew Peterson, the police sergeant was never arrested and only considered a suspect once.

Savio reported that her then-husband allegedly beat and held her against her will July 5, 2002. But it wasn't until two weeks later that she notified authorities, McGury said.

"He pulled out his knife that he kept around this leg and brought it to my neck. I thought I'd never see my boys again," Savio wrote to a Will County prosecutor. "I didn't tell police because I know they can't protect me from him."

The case was turned over to the Will County state's attorney's office, which ultimately declined to file charges due to lack of evidence, McGury said.

Other letters and medical records provided by Savio's family document a history of abuse.

A 1993 trip to the emergency room for a head trauma was the result of an allegedly drunk Drew Peterson who "began to destroy their home ... throwing chairs in glass cabinets, throwing Kathleen against the wall and knocking her unconscious with the dining room table."

Bolingbrook Police's dispatch report that night indicated the "problem resolved," as Savio left the residence to spend the night at her sister's. But less than an hour later Savio sought treatment at the emergency room.

It seemed that troubles between the couple continued throughout the years, escalating with the mailing of an anonymous letter in 2001 to Savio detailing her husband's infidelity with a then 17-year-old Stacy Cales, Drew Peterson's missing fourth wife.

There have been no calls of a domestic nature to Drew and Stacy Peterson's Bolingbrook home, McGury said.

"I understand the code of silence that people believe is there and does exist in law enforcement," McGury said. "Unfortunately it does and I would be a liar if I said (differently)."

But, he said, it's not happening on his watch.

"If it did, people would be held accountable for that - no one is above the law," he said.

"I understand the perception and I understand people have a right to their opinion, but ... there's been nothing filed that suggests Sgt. Peterson is a suspect," McGury said. "Once the Illinois State Police does that, maybe opinions will change, but right now he's the husband of a woman that's missing."

[Lorie Taylor]

abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=5751854

Investigators hope to exhume body of Peterson's ex-wifeSearch continues for Stacy Peterson

By Evelyn Holmes

November 9, 2007 - As teams continue to search for a missing Bolingbrook woman, prosecutors consider exhuming the body of her husband's third wife.

Drew Peterson would not answer questions about either Stacey or his third wife, Kathleen Savio, Thursday night when he arrived at his home.

Savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004. The death was originally ruled accidental. But the Will County coroner said the death should have been classified as undetermined.

The Savio family says she made several attempts to authorities to get help over her troubled relationship with Sgt. Peterson.

"She documented everything. She saves everything. She made copies of everything. She handwrote a lot of stuff. If something happened she wrote it out by hand. And the date, the time, this happened. And she was very, very thorough. Because she had a feeling that she wasn't going to make it," said Charles Doman, Savio Peterson's nephew.

In a letter dated November 4, 2002, to a Will County assistant state's attorney, Savio wrote about Sgt. Peterson, "He knows how to manipulate the system and his next step is to take my children away or kill me."

The Savio family hopes exhuming the body will give investigators evidence that will bring the family some peace and justice.

"We're for it. As a family, we're not talking about that right now. Because, I mean, that's my aunt. We're going to pull her out of the ground and have to bury her again. It was hard enough the first time. It's for a great cause," said Charles Doman, Savio's nephew. "I think maybe there was enough there that they could have proceeded but not enough that they had to proceed so I think they just king of looked the other way."

Sergeant Peterson, who has been married four times, denies involvement in either case.

The Illinois State Police Department is leading the investigation into Stacy's disappearance due to Sgt. Peterson's employment with the Bolingbrook Police Department. State police would not comment on whether they think Stacy is alive.

Volunteers will resume their search for Stacy Peterson today. The Bolingbrook mother has been missing since October 28. While the case is still considered a 'missing persons' case, searchers now say they're looking for a body as they scour the woods and a retention pond near her home.

"We all know she's dead. She wouldn't leave her kids," said Jim Murray, 38, who spent Thursday traipsing through an overgrown field about a mile from the couple's home looking for signs of the missing woman. "If we thought she was alive, we wouldn't be out here."

[Lorie Taylor]

www.nbc5.com/news/14548103/detail.html

Drew Peterson: 'Media Is Terrorizing My Children'
Missing Woman's Husband Has Harsh Words For Press

POSTED: 6:31 am CST November 9, 2007
UPDATED: 7:40 am CST November 9, 2007

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. -- Drew Peterson, the husband of a missing Bolingbrook woman, broke his silence and spoke to reporters Thursday night.

That came as new information is surfacing about one of his previous wives and her death.

A neighbor who was with Drew Peterson when he found his third wife dead in a bathtub spoke to NBC5 on Thursday, saying that finding the body would be forever fused into his memory.

"It's something you'd see in a movie; it was something I'll never forget," said Steve Carcerano, who was Peterson's neighbor when he was married to Kathleen Savio.

Carcerano described Peterson's reaction when he saw Savio's body in the tub.

"He ran upstairs and upon seeing her, he just broke down and started screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God! What am I gonna tell my kids?'" he said.

In the meantime, Peterson broke his silence with the media in front of his Bolingbrook home when he told reporteers, "The media is terrorizing my children."

NBC5's Kim Vatis said that authorities are considering exhuming Savio's body for further investigation, after the Will County Cororner cast doubt on the original findings of the 2004 autopsy results, saying that the death by "drowning" determination was inaccurate and that the autopsy results are, at least, "undetermined."

"Do you want to comment on the cororner's statement?" a reporter asked Peterson as he was going from his SUV to his front door Thursday night.

"I have no comments for the media because they did everything wrong," he said, barely showing his face under a hooded sweatshirt.

Vatis said that Savio's sister has come forward with more background on the couple's marriage. While they had gotten a divorce, she said, the finances were left uncertain and Kathleen Savio feared Peterson.

She testified that Savio once told her that if she should die, "it may look like an accident, but it isn't."

On Thursday night, Peterson would not confirm whether he had made any statements to the Grand Jury earlier this week, but instead voiced clear frustration with media coverage of his current wife's disappearance.

"What do you get when you cross the media with a pig," he asked reporters gathered outside his home. "You get nothing, because there are some things a pig wouldn't do."

State police investigating Stacy Peterson's disappearance are still saying that Drew Peterson is not a suspect.

[Lorie Taylor]

mywebtimes.com/ottnews/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=347909

Different outcome in Peterson case?

11/09/2007, 10:35 am

Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil has hinted in media reports the death of the third wife of a Bolingbrook police sergeant whose new spouse has been missing for more than a week would not have been ruled accidental if a new state law were in effect at that time.

The law went into effect in January. It allows coroners to bypass inquests and determine the manner of death independently. Previously, all unnatural cases went before a coroner's jury made up of the public and the jurors ruled on the manner of death.

A Will County coroner's jury ruled the March 2004 death of Sgt. Drew Peterson's former wife, Kathleen Savio, to be accidental. Savio's body was found in a bathtub. No charges were filed after the ruling.

On Wednesday, O'Neil told the media Savio's death should have been ruled undetermined. Her death now is being reviewed since Peterson's current wife, Stacy, went missing Oct. 29.

"Certain aspects of Kathleen Savio's death raised concerns for me, as well. At the very least, her death should have been ruled 'undetermined,'" O'Neil said in an Associated Press story.

In light of O'Neil's comments, The Times spoke with La Salle County Coroner Jody Bernard regarding the purpose of inquests and whether rulings can influence criminal cases.

[Lorie Taylor]

www.nbc5.com/news/14553153/detail.html

BREAKING NEWS: Authorities Name Cop As Suspect In Wife's Disappearance
Cash Shifted To Possible Homicide Investigation

POSTED: 2:36 pm CST November 9, 2007
UPDATED: 2:50 pm CST November 9, 2007

JOLIET, Ill. -- Authorities probing the disappearance of a police officer's wife said Friday he is now considered a suspect and that the case has shifted from a missing persons investigation to a potential homicide.

They also received court approval to exhume the body of the previous wife of Bolingbrook Sgt. Drew Peterson after a coroner said her death was mistakenly ruled an accidental drowning.

The review of Kathleen Savio's death comes as investigators search for Peterson's current wife, Stacy, 23, who was last seen Oct. 28.

Illinois State Police Captain Carl Dobrich said Peterson, 53, has moved from being a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife to "clearly being a suspect."

Dobrich also said the case was now a potential homicide investigation.

Peterson has said his current wife phoned him and told him she had left him for another man. His attorney did not immediately return calls for comment.

In the 2004 death of Savio, his third wife, a coroner's jury ruled it an accident, even though there was no water in the bathtub where the 40-year-old's body was found face-down, her hair soaked in blood from a head wound. Investigators theorized the water had drained.

But in a petition the Will County state's attorney filed Friday listing the reasons authorities want to exhume Savio's body, prosecutors said a review of evidence in the case "is consistent with the 'staging' of an accident to conceal a homicide."

Prosecutors said they reviewed photographs of the crime scene and autopsy, the autopsy protocol, and police reports.

"... The one-inch gash in the back of Kathleen Savio's head did not render her unconscious, which would have been necessary for her to accidentally drown in the bathtub," the petition stated.

Will County Circuit Court Judge Daniel J. Rozak signed the petition granting the exhumation Friday. It was not immediately clear when the body would be exhumed.

No charges were filed in Savio's death, but "at the very least, her death should have been ruled 'undetermined,"' Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil said earlier this week.

[Lorie Taylor]

cbs4denver.com/national/topstories_story_313141740.html
Nov 9, 2007 1:49 pm US/Mountain

Police Name Cop As Suspect In Wife's Disappearance
Stacy Peterson Disappearance Called Homicide

(CBS) BOLINGBROOKE, Ill. An Illinois State police captain said Friday that the Stacy Peterson case had gone "from a missing persons case to a potential homicide case," and that her husband, Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, had "gone from being a person of interest to clearly being a suspect."

Stacy Peterson has been missing since Oct. 28, and at the time of her disappearance, Drew Peterson said she had been voluntarily left.

But after Stacy's family filed a missing persons report, police conducted two separate searches at the Peterson home, on the house, the vehicles, and a trailer, Illinois State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said at a news conference Friday.

"Subsequent to that search warrant, we went back several days later on another search warrant based on information was learned after the first search warrant," Dobrich said.

Based upon the information learned since then, police have concluded that the case had gone "from a missing persons case to a potential homicide case," Dobrich said.

"Early on, we looked at this as a missing persons case, but also believed strongly that based on the (Kathleen) Savio investigation (into the death of Drew Peterson's third wife) and the information that we were gleaning within the first 24 hours of the missing persons case with Stacy, was starting to strongly point to Drew Peterson being a person of interest," Dobrich said. "I would say that right now, Drew Peterson has gone from being a person of interest to clearly being a suspect."

Stacy Peterson's friends and family consider her disappearance highly suspicious.

Meanwhile, the DuPage County state's attorney's office has petitioned to exhume Kathleen Savio, who drowned in a bathtub three years ago. DuPage County coroner Peter Siekmann says he thinks a coroner's jury was mistaken when they declared her death accidental, and Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said that case was also likely a homicide. Read More Here

Meanwhile, search crews continue to look for Stacy Peterson, and are asking for more volunteers.

"Today the search will continue, and tomorrow if we don't find anything today," said search team member Lisa Loper. "But we're also in great need of food and drinks for the volunteers."

Two teams of volunteers gathered Friday in Bolingbrook.

As part of the search on Friday, volunteers will be using a powerful sonar boat in the historic Illinois and Michigan Canal, and a number of lakes yet to be determined.

Sonar boat owner Dennis Watters explained how he intends to help in the search.

"God forbid that she's in a lake or whatever," Watters said. "If she's in there, we will see her body. If we run across a car we see a car, we see boats."

Gary Peterson is a member of Equusearch, a volunteer organization from Texas helping in the search for Stacy Peterson. He said they will bring in a drone Friday afternoon that will be flying in the marshy area near Lemont.

"Each morning I pick three of four target areas, target priority areas that we want to search and we assign people and they go out and they search these pieces of property," Peterson said

[Lorie Taylor]

EXTENSIVE ARTICLE LINKS FROM WORDPRESS NICELY DONE


wordpress.com/tag/stacy-peterson/

[Lorie Taylor]

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23385930/

Drew Peterson: ‘I’m prepared for anything’

Former police officer speaks out about missing wife, death of his ex-wife

By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 8:16 a.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 28, 2008

While continuing to assert that he had nothing to do with the death of one wife and the disappearance of another, Drew Peterson said he’s mentally prepared to be charged and put on trial in connection with one or both cases.

“I’m prepared for anything,” Peterson told TODAY’s Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

Asked if that meant the possibility of life in prison, the former Chicago-area police sergeant said, “My main concern about anything is my children. Psychologically and physically, if my children are okay, I’m okay.”

Peterson has been a suspect since November in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who hasn’t been seen since Oct. 28. Last week, authorities declared that the death of his third wife, ruled an accident in 2004, was actually a homicide.

Peterson has not been named a suspect in that death, but he conceded it’s possible he will be.

“It was kind of shocking,” the Bolingbrook, Ill., resident said of the autopsy report. “We believed for the last four years that her death was accidental and now all of a sudden with this new autopsy with an old body, it’s a homicide. We’re a little suspicious of it. We think it should be scrutinized a little closer.”

Peterson’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, who joined him in New York for the interview, agreed that there is much anecdotal evidence that would seem to make his client a suspect. Both Savio and Stacy Peterson, 23, had told family members that they feared for their lives, and both had accused him of being abusive and controlling.

“Suspicious isn’t guilt,” Brodsky said.

Peterson, who is growing a beard to go with the mustache he has worn for years, was calm under Lauer’s questioning. When told that his former wives had accused him of being controlling, he replied, “I controlled my family. I think more people in America should control their family.”

He has maintained that Stacy Peterson ran off with another man, and said that he has told her two young children that she is on vacation. He also has two teenage boys by Savio.

“The older two boys they know exactly what’s going on,” he said.

Lauer asked Peterson if he has any regrets about anything he’s done in the four months since Stacy Peterson disappeared.

“Letting Geraldo Rivera in my house,” he said. “Nothing other than that.”

Martial problems
Peterson, 54, retired last year from the Bolingbrook, Ill., Police Department as a sergeant after 29 years of service. The retirement came shortly after Stacy Peterson disappeared, and Peterson reportedly collects a $5,800 monthly pension.


He has been married four times. His first wife, Carol Brown, divorced him in 1980 after six years of marriage, partly because he was unfaithful, media reports say.

His second marriage, to Vicki Connolly, ended after 10 years. Connolly later told reporters that he had physically abused her during the marriage.

His next wife was Kathleen Savio, with whom he had two sons, now in their mid-teens. The union began to disintegrate in 2002, when Savio said that her husband took up with the 17-year-old girl who would become his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

During a two-year period at the end of the marriage, police were called to the home 18 times because of domestic disturbances, and in 2002 Savio got an order of protection against her husband, charging him with threatening to kill her and physical abuse. No formal charges were ever brought against him.

He and Savio were in the process of finalizing their divorce in 2004 when she was found dead on March 1, 2004, in the bath tub of her home. The tub was dry and there was clotted blood on the back of Savio’s head, but medical examiners ruled that she had fallen accidentally, with the tub draining itself after her death. She was 40 years old.

Peterson was living with Stacy, who was pregnant, in another home by then, and they married shortly after Savio’s death. He had two more children with Stacy, Anthony, 4, and Lacy, 2. All four children are living with him.

By 2007, Stacy Peterson was telling friends and family that she feared that her husband would kill her. Like Savio, she complained that he was distrustful of her and controlling.

On Oct. 28, just days after she had asked him for a divorce, she was supposed to go to her sister’s house to help paint, but she never showed up. The following day, her sister reported her missing.

Peterson has maintained that Stacy ran off with another man. But on Nov. 9, Illinois State Police named him a suspect in her disappearance.

The next day, the minister at her church said that she had told him that Peterson admitted to her that he had killed Savio.

On Nov. 16, investigators exhumed Savio’s body and two autopsies were conducted, one by local authorities. The other was performed at the request of the family by New York medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden. Both autopsies concluded that Savio’s death was a homicide. State authorities have reopened their investigation into her death, but no suspects have been named.

Police have called Peterson the prime suspect in Stacy Peterson’s disappearance. He denies any involvement, and claims she likely ran off with another man.



© 2007 MSNBC Interactive
URL: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23385930/

[Lorie Taylor]

Transcripts from Larry King Show - Drew Peterson

transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/11/lkl.01.html

[Lorie Taylor]

Bolingbrook, IL -
Here’s a look at some of the week’s developments and in the Peterson case.

• On Thursday, April 3, Peterson’s former fiancee and ex-wife both appeared before a Will County grand jury investigating the March 2004 death of Drew Peterson’s third wife and the disappearance of his fourth. Kyle Piry, who was briefly engaged to Peterson in the early 1980s, confirmed she testified Thursday but declined to comment further. Shortly after, Vicki Connolly left the grand jury proceedings but declined to confirm whether she testified. Connolly and Peterson were married for 10 years, starting in 1982. She said she left him when she found out he was having an affair with Kathleen Savio, who would become Peterson’s third wife.

• Family-led search teams scoured a forest preserve in Joliet Saturday, April 5, and Sunday, April 6. About 40 volunteers gathered to search several square miles where the teams found several items, including a cell phone and a set of keys, that were bagged and handed over to Illinois State Police. None of the items are believed to be related to Stacy Peterson’s case.

• The group Friends of Stacy Peterson has put out a call for volunteers interested in helping to search or to plan a May 10 fundraiser at Ditka’s Sports Dome. The event will feature games, free food, beverages and golfing with a ticket purchase. Tickets are available online at www.groovetickets.com.

• Drew Peterson’s son Stephen, a two-and-a-half year veteran of the Oak Brook Police Department, received an eight-day unpaid suspension Wednesday, April 9, after an Oak Brook Board of Fire and Police Commissioners disciplinary meeting found him guilty of disobeying rules. The charges stated that Stephen Peterson broke department rules when he drove a marked squad car and wore his police uniform to testify in front of the grand jury investigating the disappearance of his father’s fourth wife and the death of his third. Stephen Peterson told the board he was on duty and did not have time to change or switch vehicles. Police Chief Thomas Sheahan said Peterson’s actions brought negative attention to the department and that Peterson has previous disciplinary actions on his record.

• Walter Martineck Jr., a friend of Drew Peterson’s step-brother, appeared Thursday, April 10, before a special grand jury investigating the disappearance of Peterson’s fourth wife and the death of his third wife. Martineck declined to discuss the appearance but had previously told media outlets that his friend Tom Morphey, Peterson’s step-brother, came to his home the night Stacy Peterson disappeared and told Martineck he believed he had just helped his step-brother dispose of his wife’s body. Morphey allegedly said he helped Drew Peterson move a large blue barrel from the Peterson’s home to his step-brother’s SUV. Martineck said Morphey believed the barrel contained Stacy Peterson’s body because it was warm to the touch.

• Looking ahead, on Thursday, April 17, a Will County judge is expected to make a decision on whether to allow Stephen Peterson to gain possession of 11 firearms seized from his father’s house during a Nov. 1 search warrant execution. A previous court decision ordered all items from the seizure be returned but the Illinois State Police revoked Drew Peterson’s firearm owner’s identification card the next day. Drew Peterson’s lawyer Joel Brodsky then asked the court to grant Stephen Peterson permission to take the firearms.

• Also Thursday, April 17, lawyers for Drew Peterson and lawyers for Kathleen Savio’s family are expected to present their first arguments regarding a petition to reopen Savio’s estate. Her family has asked the court to name Savio’s father and brother as executors of the estate in preparation for filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Drew Peterson. Peterson’s uncle is currently listed as executor.