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www.topix.com/forum/city/newark-il/TFTQ3S43ARP04A3AN/p2 Court filings tell story
November 6, 2007
By STEWART WARREN STAFF WRITER
JOLIET -- Although we don't know much about Stacy Peterson's disappearance, we know other things.
They are found in files at the Will County Courthouse.
Knit together, these facts tell something about Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson, the missing woman's much-older husband. For example, while married to another woman, Drew Peterson, 53, owned several businesses and life insurance policies -- and that third wife later was found drowned in a bathtub without any water.
Fourth wife Stacy Peterson, a 23-year-old mother of two, hasn't been seen since Oct. 28. The young woman was supposed to help family members paint a house, but never showed. Drew Peterson claims his wife simply deserted him, but a family member reported her missing.
Savio's death
In early 2002, Drew Peterson and Kathleen Savio, the third wife, began divorce proceedings, according to court documents. They had been married about 10 years and had two children. In late 2003, Will County Judge Susan O'Leary dissolved their marriage. Their divorce was "bifurcated," in this case meaning they were allowed to divorce before their common property was divided, according to court documents.
Then in March 2004, a neighbor found Savio dead in the dry bathtub at her Bolingbrook home. It was an accident, Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil ruled. The 40-year-old woman suffered blunt trauma and a lacerated scalp, injuries consistent with a fall that could have knocked her unconscious, according to the inquest. By that time, Drew Peterson already was involved with the then-Stacy Cales, who was 17 when they met.
After Savio died, there was a Will County probate case to settle her financial affairs. Well-known local lawyer Dick Kavanagh was the public administrator of Will County, a governor-appointed position. Simply put, the public administrator tries to find the fairest way to settle an estate after a death, among other things.
A will emerges
A year after Savio's death and the beginning of the legal proceedings to settle her affairs, a will emerged. It was submitted in court on March 23, 2005. Hand-written in capital letters, it was scrawled across two pieces of lined notebook paper and witnessed by Alex J. Morelli and Gary L. Marcolina.
A man named Alex Morelli is a Bolingbrook police officer, and Herald News archives show a man named Gary Marcolina is a developer in the Crest Hill area.
"This day March 2nd 1997 Drew Walter Peterson and Kathleen Savio Peterson, both being of sound body and mind, do hereby bequeath all of our worldly possessions to each other in the event of either of our individual deaths," begins the will filed with court documents.
If they died together, the couple wanted everything to go to certain people, among them Tom and Kris Peterson, their children, and Eric Drew Peterson and Stephen Paul Peterson, Drew Peterson's children from another relationship.
PART 2
The will lists some of their assets:
• A Golden Rule life insurance policy valued at $100,000
• A Monumental Life Insurance policy valued at $125,000
• A Prudential Life Insurance policy valued at $308,137.59 -- "Beneficiary Merchants Bank Oswego to pay off note for Sud's Pub in Montgomery," according to the will.
• Bolingbrook Police Pension fund of more than $50,000
• A piece of real estate listed as 9 Clay Court, Montgomery
• The Blue Lightning Corp., or Sud's Pub, 1250 S. Broadway, Montgomery
• Da Page Corp., Fast 'N' Accurate Graphics, 87 Eisenhower South, Lombard
• A quarter interest in CMYK Corp., listed as a printing business in "Lombard-Naperville, " according to the will.
Division of property issues
The will names James B. Carroll, Drew Peterson's uncle, executor of the estate, according to a document filed in court by Kavanagh, who apparently had some concerns.
"After my appointment as administrator, I conferred with attorney Harry Smith with respect to the status of the property settlement portion of the divorce proceeding ...(He) advised me that there were three major issues with respect to the division of property ... 1. Whether Kathleen's estate would be entitled to any portion of Drew Peterson's pension; 2. The valuation of the business known as the Blue Lightning Corp., which has been sold with all of the proceeds going to Drew Peterson; and 3. The value of the house, and whether Kathleen Peterson's estate would be entitled to receive not only her one-half of the proceeds of any sale, but an additional portion of the remaining one-half as an offset for the cash taken by Drew Peterson from the sale of the (bar)," Kavanaugh wrote in court documents.
On April 8, 2005, Will County Judge Michael Powers entered a judgment in the financial aspects of the divorce case. It awarded Drew Peterson the Blue Lightning Corp. and all the proceeds from the sale of the couple's home, according to the court documents filed by Kavanagh. The judgment also mentions what seems to be a fourth life insurance policy.
"(It) provided that
Drew Peterson would not be obligated to fund any college expenses for the minor children of the parties due to the fact that life insurance on the life of Kathleen in the amount of $1 million had been payable to the children," according to the document. As part of the judgment, Carroll agreed that some money from Savio's estate should go to someone other than the four children. "The effect of the judgment was to transfer anywhere from $144,117.65 to $288,235.31 (one-half to all of the proceeds of the home sale) from the four children who were the beneficiaries of the estate ... to Drew Peterson," according to court documents.
Kavanagh didn't approve of that move, apparently.
"The actions of (Carroll) were not in the best interest of the estate or the beneficiaries," he wrote in a court document.
Reporter Stewart Warren can be reached at swarren@scn1.com
why killer murdered of Kathleen and Stacey An Cales Peterson