Autopsy: Peterson's Third Wife Killed

Woman Found Dead In Tub Nearly 4 Years Ago; Search Continues For Ex-Cop's Fourth Wife

(CBS/AP)  Amid the search for a former police officer's fourth wife, an autopsy on the exhumed body of the man's third wife showed what her relatives have long suspected - her death was no accident.

Kathleen Savio died by drowning and her death was ruled a homicide, Dr. Larry W. Blum said in an autopsy report released Thursday by the state's attorney's office. It was the second autopsy performed on Savio.

She was found dead in her bathtub in March 2004, shortly before her divorce with Drew Peterson was finalized. Four years ago, a coroner's jury ruled her death was an accident.

Savio's body was exhumed late last year after Peterson was named a person of interest in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy. He has said Stacy Peterson ran off with another man, but her relatives deny any affair and say she would not have willingly left her two young children.

"We have been investigating this as a murder since reopening the case in November of last year," Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said. "We now have a scientific basis to formally and publicly classify it as such."

Peterson, 54, has denied any involvement in either case and has not been charged with wrongdoing. He was a sergeant and 29-year veteran in the Bolingbrook, Ill., police department when he resigned after coming under suspicion in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

"There's still nothing that points to Drew," Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, told CBS' The Early Show. Asked how his client was handling the homicide ruling, Brodsky said of Peterson, "He is still very upbeat and very confident. He knows he didn't do anything wrong."

Peterson told the (Joliet) Herald-News the ruling in Savio's death shocked him. "You're kidding me. Unbelievable. That's hard to believe," he told the newspaper.

Savio's family members said Thursday they always believed she had been killed and the confirmation was welcome. "But it could have prevented if people would have listened to her before she was killed," niece Melissa Doman said.

Savio, 40, had filed an order of protection in 2002 after Peterson allegedly knocked her down, ripped off a necklace and left marks on her body. She wrote in the order that she feared Peterson could kill her.

Doman declined to say who she thought was responsible for Savio's death. She said she did not want to interfere with any current investigations or leads that authorities may have.

Authorities are not prepared to name a suspect in Savio's death, but police and a grand jury are actively investigating both cases, said Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for Glasgow's office.

His second wife, Vicki Connolly, has said that during their marriage, an increasingly controlling Peterson hit her and told her he could kill her and make it look like an accident.

Connolly said police sometimes came to the house when the couple were having problems, but she said the officers were friends of theirs and no reports ever were filed.

Peterson's first two marriages ended in divorce.

[keithle1]

Why would a woman marry a man who has been divorced three times before? Didn''t you see a trend, honey?

[mainemade]

4th wife missing, 3rd wife murdered...no connection or coincidence? Yea right!
He''s guilty. Hang him!

[gunnerv1]

School(crazy)lord NO GUN USED HERE!

[kevzgrl]

And, BTW, Tuckerndfw, I am not a MORON or an accomplice, but simply a mother, who loves my children as much as Stacy did hers - no mother would leave two small children in the custody of someone who she was scared of and be gone all this time with NO sightings, NO phone calls, NO letters, NO activity on her cell phone or credit cards, no contact with friends/family, NO NOTHING!!! It simply WOULD NOT HAPPEN, idiot.

[kevzgrl]

So, when will they arrest the arrogant, lying, murdering scum? Lightning doesn''t strike twice, Drew - two wives dead in a few years wasn''t very smart (anyone who thinks that poor Stacy is still alive somewhere with the "other man" needs their head examined) I agree with RowdyTexan, except the music should be "Dum, dum, da, dum, dum, da, dum, dum, dum, da, dum"

[bb19631]

We all know he is a nut case. He needs to be accountable for his sick and calculating actions. He obviously gets tired of the current wife and wants out of the situation and kills them. Divorce would have been a option for him not murder. That''s why he likes young woman so he can intimidate them. No, woman his age would have put up with his bulllshit, we would see right thru him. I hope he gets what he deserves!!

Imperialistic, pathological, selfish and callous man who dismisses the whereabouts of his current wife and disregards the findings of the coroner as to the cause of death of his previous wife; There is a name for people like him- SOCIOPATH.

[rowdytexan2]

(whistling the theme to ''Hang ''em High)...

[ssm9451]

When (if) they find Staci''s body, Drew will say that the man she ran off with killed her.

[ethomas1965-2009]

I think it would be better to assume he is not guilty until otherwise proven. Not guilty is not the same as Innocent.

[ethomas1965-2009]

Does anyone even remember a few weeks ago, he was crying about not being able to get Staci''s possessions back from the evidence locker? There is a method to his madness. If he gets those items back, evidence is lost. This case doesn''t take a "rocket scientist" to figure out. There used to be the procedure that you couldn''t get a conviction without a body in a murder trial, but guess what... if she (Staci)left him, she would show up on the grid somewhere..... makes you wonder huh?

[ethomas1965-2009]

Why is it that when a cop or an ex-cop is a person of interest he is innocent until proven otherwise? A working class blue collar kind of person becomes a person of interest they are guilty until they can prove their innocence?

[seanjill]

The past problem as I see it was cop covering for cop. It is widely known that a spouse of a cop is never taken seriously until it is too late, and sometimes it doesn''t even matter then. I believe that if a deep enough investigation is done, then all the police that were involved should be charged in some way with the 4th wife''s death due to doing nothing about the 3rd wife''s death.

[Martha Z]

There are crooked cops everywhere, just as there are in the general population. Unfortunately they have good connections with the law.

[excoachken]

Hey tucker, Your buddy Mr. Peterson certainly has a right to be considered innocent until "proven" guilty, and I have a "right," or at least I used to, to speak freely my opinion that he is as guilty as sin. I am not on his jury and I can clearly see that there is enough circumstantial evidence for "reasonable" people to put 2 and 2 together. I have all the confidence in the world that this scumball will be convicted, so don''t lose too much sleep worrying about his "rights." I, on the other hand, worry about the "rights" of those women and the terror that "somebody" put them through and how that will impact the relationships of many men and women in this country. It is time for your nap, anyway.

[erasmus6]

tuckerndfw is not only an ex-cop but a woman hater as well. He also hates victims. Does that tell you something?

[rowdytexan2]

The fact that his third wife was murdered in his own home and the cops came in an supported an accidental death, means NOTHING!

When are these cops going to jail?

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 02:45 PM : Feb 22, 2008

The cops and the system have the paperwork filed by the one wife beggging for help! They did NOTHING!

[rowdytexan2]

I guess to Tucker, the guy having beaten, abused, and attempted to control four women, one of whom was murdered, and another who is missing after attesting to his abuse and fearing for her life...this guy is just as innocent as hell!

He''s certainly guilty RIGHT NOW of abusing these women!

[nolalou]

The hardest part about this case will be finding a jury that can actually presume he is innocent until proven guilty! I know he sure looks as guilty as hell to me.