Cop Now Suspect In Missing Wife Case

Police Shift Investigation To Potential Homicide; Body Of Previous Wife Also To Be Exhumed

(CBS/AP)  Authorities probing the disappearance of a police officer's wife said Friday he is now considered a suspect in a potential homicide investigation, and that the death of an ex-wife three years ago appeared to have been staged as an accidental drowning.

Formally re-opening the investigation into the death of Kathleen Siavo, authorities received court approval to exhume the body of Siavo, the ex-wife of Bolingbrook Sgt. Drew Peterson, as they continued the search for his wife, Stacy, who was last seen Oct. 29.

Illinois State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said Peterson, 53, has moved from being a person of interest in the disappearance of his 23-year-old wife to "clearly being a suspect."

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

Peterson was relieved of duty, effective immediately, and placed on suspension without pay pending the completion of an internal affairs investigation and hearing, according to a press release issued by Bolingbrook police.

"We have mixed emotions right now," said Pamela Bosco, Stacy Peterson's adoptive stepmother. "We're sad, but we needed to move on, and this is something we've needed to hear for a long time."

Peterson has said Stacy Peterson phoned him and told him she had left him for another man. His attorney, Fred Morelli, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The family of Stacy Peterson, who was studying nursing at a nearby junior college, has said she feared her husband, was making plans to divorce him and would not have willingly left her children, ages 2 and 4.

The body of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, was found in the bathtub in 2004, her hair soaked in blood from a head wound. A coroner's jury ruled the 40-year-old's death was an accidental drowning, even though there was no water in the bathtub. Investigators had theorized the water had drained out.

In a petition 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."

"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.

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

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.

Savio's niece, Melissa Marie Doman, said relatives have long suspected that Savio didn't drown accidentally.

"I am all for it, along with the rest of my family, because something just was never right," said Doman. "I can't really say who, but someone did something. I don't think it was an accident."

Savio had gotten an order of protection in 2002, alleging a pattern of physical abuse and threats, according to court records. Drew Peterson has denied involvement with his ex-wife's death.

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," search team member Lisa Loper told CBS Station WBBM correspondent Rafael Romo. "But we're also in great need of food and drinks for the volunteers."

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.

[menrscum]

Arrests
Males, by Age, 2006
[11,250 agencies; 2006 estimated population 216,686,722]
TOTAL 7,985,505

Arrests
Females, by Age, 2006
[11,250 agencies; 2006 estimated population 216,686,722]
TOTAL 2,486,927

MEN

ARE

SCUM

[menrscum]

Arrests
by Race, 2006

TOTAL 10,437,620
White 7,270,214
Black 2,924,724
American Indian or Alaskan Native 130,589
Asian or Pacific Islander 112,093

Percent Distribution
Total 100.0

White 69.7
Black 28.0
American Indian or Alaskan Native 1.3
Asian or Pacific Islander 1.1


So shut the fu(k up....

[menrscum]

Estimated Number of Arrests
United States, 2006
Data Declaration Download Excel
Total 14,380,370
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter 13,435
Forcible rape 24,535
Robbery 125,605
Aggravated assault 447,948
Burglary 304,801
Larceny-theft 1,081,157
Motor vehicle theft 137,757
Arson 16,582
Violent crime2 611,523
Property crime2 1,540,297
Other assaults 1,305,757
Forgery and counterfeiting 108,823
Fraud 280,693
Embezzlement 20,012
Stolen property; buying, receiving, possessing 122,722
Vandalism 300,679
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc. 200,782
Prostitution and commercialized vice 79,673
*** offenses (except forcible rape and prostitution) 87,252
Drug abuse violations 1,889,810
Gambling 12,307
Offenses against the family and children 131,491
Driving under the influence 1,460,498
Liquor laws 645,734
Drunkenness 553,188
Disorderly conduct 703,504
Vagrancy 36,471
All other offenses 4,022,068
Suspicion 2,482
Curfew and loitering law violations 152,907
Runaways 114,179

[godofredo29]

Things look pretty bleak. But, that didn''t justify the statements of the profiler interviewed on CBS Saturday Morning, such as that now he might kill himself "as police officers under stress often do."

[fibonacci_]

They probably realized the guy is a freakazoid.

[quatermass2]

Am I the only one wondering what happened to wives 1 and 2?

[j-whitman]

Bush did it -------- Semper Fi

[jn122736]

How many people who claim cops routinely cover up crimes committed by other cops have personal knowledge of any such event?

And, if you have no first hand experience, on what do you base the claim cops, as a group, are criminals? (which is what is implied by claiming cops cover up crimes Posted by at 01:12 AM : Nov 10, 2007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Respectfully, in my opinion, your comment is unrealistic.

The term %u201Ccops%u201D is plural but not necessarily all consuming.
However, the opinion that cops, in general, do indeed cover up improper/illegal actions by their own is prevalent and I suspect held by a majority.

People with firsthand knowledge are the LAST to give unbiased opinions.

No juror with direct ties to a case, or any subjects involved in a case, is ever allowed on that jury.
Jurors findings are based on evidence at hand, many times only circumstantial evidence.

History is full of incidences where police actions have been judged acceptable, that would have been prosecuted if committed by anyone else.

Prosecution of criminal acts is done as a matter of course, while prosecution of police officers is generally a matter of last resort.

There are ex-cops serving time in prison right now for cover-ups

People%u2019s opinions are generally based on multiple incidents occurring over time.

As my Dad used to say, %u201CIt may sometimes be necessary to hit me over the head to get my attention, but never more than once%u201D.

[creeper00]

It would appear that the second wife''s death was covered up not by the cops but by the medical examiner who ruled such a suspicious death "accidental drowning."

Can you charge someone with murder when the death has been ruled an accident?

[lochlan-2009]

It''s apparent we need public hanings again, when it comes to government authority and representation. That should change their "I''m above the law" mentality. Crooked cops are the norm now days, with payed extended vacations when they get caught. I mean the former NYPD CHIEF OF POLICE, is in custody for corruption and ties to the mob!!!

Go here: http://www.badcopnews.com/

You''ll be shocked at the amount of police being charged with child molestation, murder, rape... and this is within just the last few days (70 Pages). What do they get away with that we don''t her about?