archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/nov/18/news/chi-drew_bd_18nov18Need for control drove Peterson, families say
By Erika Slife, Gerry Smith, Josh Noel, and Tribune Staff Reporters Tribunestaff Reporter Matthew Walberg
November 18, 2007
Whether Drew Peterson was sitting in his squad car watching her as sheleft the mall or calling her eight times while she got a haircut, StacyPeterson was accustomed to being the main object of her husband’s attention,her family and friends say.
Ultimately, though, Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, had aneed to control his wife that got to be too much, they said. Last year, whileher sister Tina was dying of cancer, Stacy would stay at her home, sometimesfor long stretches. One day, Drew showed up unannounced to see if she wascheating on him, her sister Cassandra Cales said.
“That’s when she said, ‘You know, I can’t do this anymore,’” Cales said.
Stacy, 23, told her husband she wanted a divorce days before shedisappeared Oct. 28, her loved ones say. Peterson, 53, says she ran away withanother man. He has not been charged with a crime, but police labeled him asuspect in the “potential homicide investigation.”
The disappearance led authorities to re-examine the death of Peterson’sthird wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, who was found dead in a dry bathtub in 2004. Acoroner’s jury ruled the death accidental, but officials – and an expertbrought in by the Savio family – now suspect it may have been staged as anaccident. Her body was exhumed Tuesday.
Peterson has denied involvement in the death of Kathleen and thedisappearance of Stacy.
The portrait of Drew Peterson that has emerged from scores of interviews isof a charming man who stops at nothing to win the hearts of the women hedesires. In an interview published in the Tribune on Friday, his second wife,Vicki Connolly, spoke of the extremes she experienced with Peterson: wonderfulat times, and “really bad” at others, including threats on her life.
As each marriage wore on, Peterson became increasingly controlling andsuspicious – even though he was the one who was already onto his next affair,according to relatives and his second wife. And as Peterson got older, the agegap between he and his wives grew.
His first wife was just three years younger than Peterson. When he was asenior at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Peterson began dating afreshman, Carol Hamilton. Three years later, the two married and moved toFalls Church, Va., where he was stationed in the Army.
Now remarried, she declined to be interviewed, but her husband, DavidBrown, said Peterson never threatened her physically during their four-yearmarriage. He was, however, “very controlling.”
“If she wanted to go out on her own, he wouldn’t like that,” said Brown,who has known Drew since they were kids.
The couple moved to Bolingbrook, where Brown would see Peterson at a bar.Peterson, he said, had hair down to the middle of his back and told people hewas working undercover.
While Carol was pregnant with their second child, she discovered he wascheating on her.
“When she found out he had a girlfriend and confronted him with it, hedidn’t want to get rid of the girlfriend,” Brown said. “There were someproblems before they had kids, but once they had kids is when things reallywent downhill.”
The couple divorced amicably in 1978.
In 1982, Peterson married second wife Victoria O’Neil, who was 23 at thetime. He was 28. They met at a Bolingbrook bar.
Vicki had a daughter, Lisa, from a previous relationship, and she saidPeterson’s desire to have Lisa call him “Dad” was nearly obsessive. Lisa’sreal father was not welcome in the home, Vicki said.
“[Lisa’s father] didn’t fit into our little realm,” Vicki said. “It took alot of years for me to see that. In Drew’s eyes, I was in his world and hedidn’t want any interference.”
He said he preferred Vicki and Lisa remain at home, where he knew they weresafe, she said. That left time for his career – and multiple affairs, shelater learned.
Peterson performed his job with fervor, but landed in trouble in 1985. Thepolice commission found him guilty of official misconduct, disobedience,failure to report a bribe and self-assigned police action. The trouble forcedthe couple to sell their home and move in with his parents, Vicki said. But in1986, he was reinstated after a judge overruled the commission.
Vicki decided to leave Drew, mostly because of his affairs. The divorce wasamicable, Vicki recalled, because Drew was already involved with the woman whowould become his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Kathleen didn’t know Peterson was still married when she started datinghim, her brother, Henry Savio, said. “He told my sister that he wasn’t marriedand that he didn’t have any kids when he met her,” he said.
Kathleen, or Kitty as she was known to relatives, was around 28 at thetime, working as an accountant and looking to get married, her brother said.They met through a friend, and Savio said Peterson, about 10 years older thanhis sister, swept her off her feet.
“He’s a charmer,” he said.
The couple married in 1992 and had two boys. Throughout the 10-yearmarriage, Savio said he never felt comfortable about it.
“I was kind of on my guard all the time,” Savio said. “[Peterson and thekids] would do crazy stuff with my sister. They had a staircase at my sister’shouse. They would tie her up and roll her down the stairs. It was the big jokeof theirs. I would say, ‘What’s wrong with you? Why would you let them do thatstuff? There’s no respect.’ She would say, ‘It’s fine.’”
Don Bolger was a reserve police officer and neighbor. Bolger, 68, saidPeterson was a “businesslike and professional” cop and a friendly neighbor whoseemed to get along with his wife. He insisted that his boys call Bolger “Mr.Don.”
“He’s a good guy, and they seemed like very happy people,” Bolger said.”Kathy was very pleasant and a very good mom.”
Steve Carcerano, who lived two doors from Peterson and Savio, called thecouple “great neighbors.” He said Peterson was always quick to lend a tool orhelp unclog pipes.
But the marriage disintegrated. Medical records and letters obtained fromSavio’s relatives outline a pattern of alleged abuse and frustration withinaction by Bolingbrook police.
Carcerano, who would discover Kathleen’s body in the tub, said the abusemay have gone both ways. Twice after their separation, he said, he saw Saviolash out at Peterson and Drew respond with restraint.
Once, Carcerano said he helped Peterson move out of the home he shared withSavio. She became angry and smacked Drew in the face with an extension cord,then spit on him, he said. “He laughed it off and said, ‘You see what she’sdoing?’”
Drew was still married to Kathleen when he met Stacy Cales. She was just ateenager – her sister, Cassandra, says she was 16 – when she met Drew. Stacywas working at SpringHill Suites hotel. Drew was night commander, and hispartner was dating a woman who worked there. Drew started hitting on Stacy.
Cassandra said Drew was still living with Kathleen but was sleeping in thebasement. Stacy would sneak in and spend the night, she said.
Peterson’s need to be in control kicked in even before the two married,said her close friend, Sherrie Mills, who used to be married to one of Stacy’scousins.
Mills and her husband, Eddie, hired Stacy to work at their flooring companyin 2001. After three or four months on the job, Mills said Peterson made anunusual request. “He was drinking with Eddie one night and told him, ‘You needto fire her, but don’t let her know that I told you to fire her,’” Mills said.
Despite Sherrie’s protests, Eddie did it. Mills believed it was becausePeterson wanted her reliant on him. “To me, it was because he didn’t want herhaving money or independence,” she said.
They married in October 2003, and unlike his previous wives, Stacy neverworried about Drew cheating because he seemed so keenly focused on her.
Cassandra said Stacy told her that she feared for her life the Fridaybefore she disappeared. In a whisper, she told her sister that if shedisappeared, Drew killed her. She whispered because she was afraid he hadbugged the house.
The night Stacy disappeared, Cales said Peterson told her: “I will not lether divorce me.”
In August, Carol Brown, his first wife, saw Drew for the first time inyears at the wedding of their younger son. Peterson told a story about placinghis gun on a desk to intimidate “some union guys” who came into his printingshop, Brown said.”He was acting like Mr. Tough Guy at the wedding, and I don’tremember him being like that,” he said.
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." (Steph: "Baden's looking at that.") And it's got, "turned over to PD", that PD officer would have been Drew Peterson because at that time there was no police there and the well being check doesn't go with the story we've told. He [Baden] also thought it was interesting that there was dried and coagulated blood in the bottom of the tub so Dr. Baden has a copy of this and he's looking over that now and he's going to talk about it on the show tonight. I'm working on getting the crime scene photos to Baden because he would like to look at them for his final report on his autopsy that he did for the family."
why killer murdered of Kathleen and Stacey An Cales Peterson