Kathleen Savio -- Found Deceased 3/1/04

Drew Peterson Arrested in Kathleen Savio Murder

Posted on: May 8th, 2009




Drew Peterson, 55, a retired police officer from Bolingbrook, Illinois was arrested on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m., just hours after a grand jury handed down a two-count indictment in the 2004 murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

The suspect was arrested a short distance from his home (see video below) and was taken into custody. He is being held in Will County on a $20 million bond. The charges are that Peterson intentionally killed Savio and knowingly performed an act to cause great bodily harm.

Savio, 40, and Peterson were divorced at the time of her death, and she was living with their two children just three blocks from where Drew was residing with wife number four Stacy Peterson. Savio was found dead in a bathtub, and though there were signs of body trauma, the coroner’s report ruled the death an accidental drowning.

Stacy Peterson provided an alibi for her husband but at some point told her minister that Drew Peterson had killed Kathleen Savio and had made it look like an accident. She said she was afraid of her husband.

Stacy Peterson, 24, disappeared on October 28, 2007 and has not been heard from since. Two weeks later, Kathleen Savio’s body was exhumed and a second autopsy performed. The finding was that the body had been battered and the cause of death was changed from accidental death to a homicide.

Drew Peterson’s four underage children have been placed in the care of Stephen Peterson, a relative and police officer in the Chicago suberb of Oak Brook, Illinois.

http://www.bittenandbound.com/2009/05/08/drew-peterson-arrested-in-kathleen-savio-murder-video/


Judge to allow public access to Drew Peterson hearing

Steve Schmadeke, WGN News
January 8, 2010♠

CHICAGO - The public will have access to a first-of-its-kind hearing later this month at which prosecutors are expected to lay out much of their case against Drew Peterson, the former Bolingbrook police officer charged with drowning his third wife in 2004.

Peterson's attorneys took the rare step of asking a judge to seal the courtroom for a Jan. 19 hearing required under a new state law on hearsay evidence.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow and an attorney representing the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and the Associated Press argued this morning that the hearing -- which could last more than two weeks and feature testimony from 60 people -- should be open to the public.

"In the United States of America, we don't do that," Glasgow said of barring the public from court proceedings. "We do it out in the open."

Prosecutors want Judge Stephen White to allow hearsay statements from 15 people to be heard by a jury. They must first convince White at the upcoming hearing that a "preponderance of the evidence" shows Peterson killed ex-wife Kathleen Savio.

Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky said publicly airing "sensational" statements that may never be heard at trial would undoubtedly prejudice jurors. He gave the judge five possible options - ranging from closing the hearing to all but certain Savio family members to sealing his findings on whether Peterson likely killed her.

In the end, White decided there was no reason to keep the hearing closed.

"Transparency in legal proceedings is essential," Brodsky said in court this morning, before White's ruling. "But there is a right of the defendant...and right of the state to have an impartial jury hear the case."

Glasgow told White that there must be a "substantial probability" that the jury pool would be tainted and that there was no other way -- such as through the normal juror selection process -- to address it.

Seth Stern, a lawyer for the newspapers, said sealing a court proceeding like the one planned for Jan. 19 should only be a "last resort" that is typically only used in cases involving national security.

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-peterson-hearsay-ban-jan10,0,3954188.story


Peterson pretrial hearing will be open to public

January 9, 2010

BY JOE HOSEY Herald-News

The bid by Drew Peterson's lawyers to bar the public from a landmark hearsay hearing failed Friday, setting the stage for potentially explosive testimony to air in a proceeding that could last longer than a month.

Judge Stephen White rejected the arguments of Peterson's attorneys Joel Brodsky and Andrew Abood that keeping the hearing open might bias potential jurors against their client, who is accused of drowning his wife.

The hearing will determine what, if any, hearsay evidence will be allowed at Peterson's murder trial. Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow countered Peterson's lawyers and called sealing the hearing un-American.

"You've all heard of the Spanish Inquisition," Glasgow said. "You close the doors, and bad things happen. We don't do that in America."

Brodsky pointed to the child pornography case of R&B sensation R. Kelly as his reason for keeping the public out of Peterson's hearing. Some of those proceedings, which included the playing of a videotape of Kelly allegedly having sex with an underage girl, were closed to the public.

"There was some sensational evidence," Brodsky said. "It was because of the sensationalism, and [the judge] didn't want any potential jurors hearing anything about that tape."

At the upcoming hearing, Peterson could face up to 60 prosecution witnesses -- ranging from a man he allegedly solicited to kill his third wife, Kathleen Savio, to his stepbrother Thomas Morphey, who claims he was asked by Peterson to kill his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, and that he later helped carry her body out of the family home in a blue barrel.

Peterson is charged with drowning Savio in 2004. State Police suspect he also might have killed Stacy Peterson, who vanished in October 2007. Peterson has not been charged in connection with her disappearance.

"We're just pleased the court weighed the importance of the First Amendment considerations at issue and made the right decision," said Seth Stern, an attorney appearing on behalf of Sun-Times Media and other media outlets.

Brodsky said the testimony he wanted kept from the public is "rumor, innuendo and gossip."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1981608,CST-NWS-drew09.article

This is something I hope is telecast...if not at least you've provided links to keep us updated...The Smug SOB is right where he belongs....wonder if he's in gen pop, and how he likes it...

Here's a link to a lot of different articles regarding this case if you are interested:

http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Drew+Peterson

wow! 2 at once...

ANyone know if this will be broadcast on a live feed? Will Drew be there (with his bling in tow)

Now this will be interesting.. once this one is over, maybe they can plea for his life by telling everyone where he put Stacey....

Glad this is gonna happen today....after a DEPRESSING day yesterday, today is looking up...Don't know how I'm gonna juggle this and work...The latest at the Sun Times site says this could last a month...

Didn't see anything about telecast at Sun Times or WGNTV...so maybe I'll just have to read the updates...

Stacy Peterson and Kathleen Savio’s voices to be heard
The Drew Peterson case: 2 wives to have major roles in pretrial hearing into drowning

By Steve Schmadeke
Tribune reporter

January 17, 2010

Former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson is charged with drowning estranged wife Kathleen Savio, but much of the information likely to be presented at a unique pretrial hearing that starts Tuesday will involve the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy.

For Stacy’s family, the hearing will provide their first detailed look at what was uncovered during the massive investigation launched after she vanished in 2007. Her disappearance and the exhumation afterward of Savio’s body and reclassification of her death as a homicide helped turn the case into national tabloid fodder.

Stacy’s family immediately feared the worst. She had talked of divorcing Peterson, and on the Saturday night before she disappeared, her sister Cassandra Cales said, Stacy leaned over the kitchen table in the Peterson home and whispered: “If I go missing, come find me.”

Kathleen Savio’s family also is hoping for more answers. After her sister drowned in 2004 while going through a bitter custody battle with Peterson, Sue Doman placed a note in her coffin asking her to tell her how she’d died, Doman told the Tribune last year.

When the body was later exhumed, Doman added a flower and a new note that read: “I’d been waiting four years and you still haven’t told me — so please tell me what happened to you,” she said.

For prosecutors and defense attorneys, the hearing that starts Tuesday and is expected to last a month will be a high-stakes marathon.

Prosecutors must prove by a “preponderance of evidence” that Peterson made Stacy or Kathleen “unavailable” to testify against him. If they succeed, Judge Stephen White has the option, under a new state law championed by State’s Attorney James Glasgow, of allowing certain statements to be heard at a jury trial.

One of the linchpins of the government’s case may be hearsay statements that Stacy and Kathleen allegedly made to others.

“Drew Peterson has told me he’s going to kill me and make it look like an accident,” is how Glasgow in court described the statement Savio allegedly made to “trusted friends and relatives.”

Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky last week said the hearsay statements were “rumor and innuendo and gossip” from “out-and-out unreliable people.”

As part of their case to essentially prove, under a lower standard than required at trial, that Peterson killed his wife, prosecutors have subpoenaed records of “bathtub-related fatalities” from 14 Illinois counties, including Will, DuPage, Lake and Cook, for the years 2003 to 2005, according to court records.

Prosecutors will likely use them to argue that the circumstances of Savio’s death — the 1-inch gash on her head, along with bruises and cuts elsewhere — are so singular that she could only have been murdered.

Glasgow has said Savio’s death was “staged to look like an accident” and that Peterson knew facts about the manner of death only the killer could have known.

Brodsky agrees that the autopsy results are straightforward — but that they clearly point to an accidental drowning.

It may be a daunting task for Judge White. Prosecutors have turned over lists of hundreds of pieces of evidence in Savio’s death and Peterson’s disappearance.

There are hundreds of potential witnesses, including two former acquaintances of Peterson who wore wires and also videotaped him, Brodsky has said in court, asking that prosecutors reveal whether they were paid.

It’s not clear how or when prosecutors will address their own handling of the Savio case. Glasgow expressed frustration with his predecessor at a hearing last spring, noting that a letter Savio wrote to prosecutors alleging that Peterson sneaked into her home in 2002 and held a knife to her throat did not result in battery charges being filed.

Prosecutors have said in court that in Savio’s original autopsy, the pathologist was not asked to rule on the manner of death. A coroner’s jury ruled it accidental.

http://petersonstory.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/stacy-peterson-and-kathleen-savios-voices-to-be-heard/

FYI.... from what I've read, cameras are not allowed in Illinois courtrooms. So, if you are interested, you may want to keep up with the case at the link I provided in the previous article.

i'm gonna check out news @ 1p on WGN...I'm surprised that HLN and TRUTV doesnt have a reporter there...

Drew Peterson hearsay hearings start today

Snaz...Thank you..Thank you..Thank you

The Drew Peterson case: 2 wives to have major roles in pretrial hearing into drowning

By Steve Schmadeke Tribune reporter
January 17, 2010

Former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson is charged with drowning estranged wife Kathleen Savio, but much of the information likely to be presented at a unique pretrial hearing that starts Tuesday will involve the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy.

For Stacy's family, the hearing will provide their first detailed look at what was uncovered during the massive investigation launched after she vanished in 2007. Her disappearance and the exhumation afterward of Savio's body and reclassification of her death as a homicide helped turn the case into national tabloid fodder.

Stacy's family immediately feared the worst. She had talked of divorcing Peterson, and on the Saturday night before she disappeared, her sister Cassandra Cales said, Stacy leaned over the kitchen table in the Peterson home and whispered: "If I go missing, come find me."

Kathleen Savio's family also is hoping for more answers. After her sister drowned in 2004 while going through a bitter custody battle with Peterson, Sue Doman placed a note in her coffin asking her to tell her how she'd died, Doman told the Tribune last year.

When the body was later exhumed, Doman added a flower and a new note that read: "I'd been waiting four years and you still haven't told me -- so please tell me what happened to you," she said.

For prosecutors and defense attorneys, the hearing that starts Tuesday and is expected to last a month will be a high-stakes marathon.

Prosecutors must prove by a "preponderance of evidence" that Peterson made Stacy or Kathleen "unavailable" to testify against him. If they succeed, Judge Stephen White has the option, under a new state law championed by State's Attorney James Glasgow, of allowing certain statements to be heard at a jury trial.

One of the linchpins of the government's case may be hearsay statements that Stacy and Kathleen allegedly made to others.

"Drew Peterson has told me he's going to kill me and make it look like an accident," is how Glasgow in court described the statement Savio allegedly made to "trusted friends and relatives."

Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky last week said the hearsay statements were "rumor and innuendo and gossip" from "out-and-out unreliable people."

As part of their case to essentially prove, under a lower standard than required at trial, that Peterson killed his wife, prosecutors have subpoenaed records of "bathtub-related fatalities" from 14 Illinois counties, including Will, DuPage, Lake and Cook, for the years 2003 to 2005, according to court records.

Prosecutors will likely use them to argue that the circumstances of Savio's death -- the 1-inch gash on her head, along with bruises and cuts elsewhere -- are so singular that she could only have been murdered.

Glasgow has said Savio's death was "staged to look like an accident" and that Peterson knew facts about the manner of death only the killer could have known.

Brodsky agrees that the autopsy results are straightforward -- but that they clearly point to an accidental drowning.

It may be a daunting task for Judge White. Prosecutors have turned over lists of hundreds of pieces of evidence in Savio's death and Peterson's disappearance.

There are hundreds of potential witnesses, including two former acquaintances of Peterson who wore wires and also videotaped him, Brodsky has said in court, asking that prosecutors reveal whether they were paid.

It's not clear how or when prosecutors will address their own handling of the Savio case. Glasgow expressed frustration with his predecessor at a hearing last spring, noting that a letter Savio wrote to prosecutors alleging that Peterson sneaked into her home in 2002 and held a knife to her throat did not result in battery charges being filed.

Prosecutors have said in court that in Savio's original autopsy, the pathologist was not asked to rule on the manner of death. A coroner's jury ruled it accidental.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-peterson-advance-17-bd-jan17,0,5635078.story

Witness: Former Ill. cop threatened to kill wife

By DON BABWIN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 19, 2010; 2:46 PM

JOLIET, Ill. -- Former police officer Drew Peterson threw his wife to the floor one night, grabbed her throat and told her he "could kill her there and then," a one-time co-worker of the wife testified Tuesday at a hearing to determine what evidence can be admitted in Peterson's murder trial.

Kathleen Savio, Drew Peterson's third wife, who mysteriously drowned in a bathtub six years ago, essentially is testifying from the grave during the hearing. Witnesses are expected to tell a judge how Savio discussed and wrote about her fears that Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, would kill her.

The hearing, projected to last three weeks, is expected to provide the first detailed look at evidence prosecutors contend ties Peterson to Savio's 2004 death. It stems from a state law that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a defendant killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying.

Issam Karam, who said he worked with Savio at Parkway Imaging in Romeoville in late 2003, testified that Savio told him she had come home one night looking forward to a bath and glass of wine when Peterson threw her to the floor. Savio said the incident occurred after she had changed the locks to the home.

Karam said Peterson grabbed Savio's throat and had a knife. Savio showed him a bruise on her arm, Karam said.

"(Peterson) said nothing that she could do would make her safe," Karam said. "She could not run or hide. He could kill her there and then."

Another witness, Savio's boss, testified that a number of times a Bolingbrook squad car was parked in front of her Romeoville business while Savio was inside. Lisa Mordente said that on one occasion, Savio was returning from lunch and approached another vehicle parked outside and spoke to a man inside.

"She was very shaken up when she came back in, her hand was shaking, she had tears, she was a mess," Mordente said.

Mordente also testified that Savio told her it was Peterson outside and they were fighting over money.

Mordente's testimony highlighted what is sure to be a key part of the trial - the fact that Peterson was a police officer. His attorneys have raised questions about why witnesses didn't notify police if they believed Savio feared Peterson.

Mordente said she didn't call police when she learned Savio died "because it wouldn't have helped."

"Kathleen had stated on several occasions she had called police," Mordente said.

During the hearing, prosecutors will present to Will County Judge Stephen White about 60 witnesses to testify about 15 hearsay statements. White will then decide if the jury can hear any or all of those statements when Peterson stands trial. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Savio, whose body was found in a dry tub. A trial date hasn't been set.

The Illinois Legislature passed the hearsay law after authorities named Peterson a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then exhumed the body of Savio and reopened the investigation into her death.

While neither side has talked much about the evidence in the case, from the day Peterson was arrested, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow has made it clear that allowing Savio to tell jurors why Peterson wanted her dead is crucial to his case.

"In essence, what you're basically allowing the victim of a violent crime to do is testify from the grave," Glasgow, who pushed for passage of the bill, told reporters in May shortly after Peterson was arrested.

The list of witnesses remains under seal, but Savio's niece, Melissa Doman, said her mother, Anna Doman, is among those who have been called to testify.

"It would be about things my Aunt Kitty (Savio) told my mom about how she was afraid for her life, she said she was afraid of Drew," Melissa Doman said, adding that she has not been called to testify.

Also expected to testify are other members of Savio's family, including her sister, Susan Savio. It was Susan Savio who told a coroner's jury shortly after her sister's death that Kathleen Savio had told family members that, "if she would die, it may look like an accident, but it wasn't."

The death initially was ruled an accidental drowning - until Stacy Peterson's disappearance led officials to exhume Savio's body, conduct another autopsy and conclude Savio was the victim of a homicide. Drew Peterson has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

Other possible witnesses who could be asked to testify about the stormy relationship between Drew Peterson and Savio are his former colleagues. Eighteen times in two years, police were called to the couple's Bolingbrook home to respond to reports of trouble between the two, with Savio telling officers that her husband had beaten her and threatened to kill her. Peterson was never charged. Savio was charged with domestic battery and later was acquitted.

There also are court documents that prosecutors are expected to present into evidence, including a 2002 order of protection in which Savio alleges that Peterson knocked her down, ripped off her necklace and left marks on her body.

"He wants me dead, and if he has to, he will burn the house down just to shut me up," she wrote.

Among the more intriguing possible witnesses are members of the clergy at a Bolingbrook church attended by Stacy Peterson. In the days after her disappearance, there were media reports that she had told a clergyman a couple months earlier that Drew Peterson had confessed to her that he killed Savio and made it look like an accident.

Peterson's attorneys have made it clear that they will attack the credibility of at least some of the witnesses.

"All it is, is rumor, innuendo and gossip," defense attorney Joel Brodsky said after a recent hearing concerning information contained in the 15 statements. "People had ulterior motives for saying what they said or are out-and-out unreliable people."

The defense is not expected to call any witnesses of its own during the hearing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011900330.html

Testimony ‘from the grave’ in Peterson case
Peterson's 3rd wife drowned in bathtub; witnesses will recount her fears

updated 1 hour, 49 minutes ago

JOLIET, Ill. - Former police officer Drew Peterson threw his wife to the floor one night, grabbed her throat and told her he "could kill her there and then," a one-time co-worker of the wife testified Tuesday at a hearing to determine what evidence can be admitted in Peterson's murder trial.

Kathleen Savio, Drew Peterson's third wife, who mysteriously drowned in a bathtub six years ago, essentially is testifying from the grave during the hearing. Witnesses are expected to tell a judge how Savio discussed and wrote about her fears that Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, would kill her.

The hearing is expected to provide the first detailed look at evidence prosecutors contend ties Peterson to Savio's death. It stems from a state law that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence — testimony from witnesses who recount what they heard from others — in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a defendant killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying.

Issam Karam, who said he worked with Savio at Parkway Imaging in Romeoville in late 2003, testified that Savio told him she had come home one night looking forward to a bath and glass of wine when Peterson threw her to the floor. Savio said the incident occurred after she had changed the locks to the home.

‘He could kill her there and then’
Karam said Peterson grabbed Savio's throat and had a knife. Savio showed him a bruise on her arm, Karam said.

"(Peterson) said nothing that she could do would make her safe," Karam said. "She could not run or hide. He could kill her there and then."

During the hearing, which is expected to last three weeks, prosecutors will present to Will County Judge Stephen White about 60 witnesses to testify about 15 hearsay statements. White will then decide if the jury can hear any or all of those statements when Peterson stands trial. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Savio, whose body was found in a dry tub. A trial date hasn't been set.

The Illinois Legislature passed the hearsay law after authorities named Peterson a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then exhumed the body of Savio and reopened the investigation into her 2004 death. Though the bill's sponsors were careful never to link the law publicly to Peterson, it has been referred to as "Drew's Law," and his attorneys have long suggested it was passed to put Peterson behind bars.

While neither side has talked much about the evidence in the case, from the day Peterson was arrested, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow has made it clear that allowing Savio to tell jurors why Peterson wanted her dead is crucial to his case.

"In essence, what you're basically allowing the victim of a violent crime to do is testify from the grave," Glasgow, who pushed for passage of the bill, told reporters in May shortly after Peterson was arrested.

‘She was afraid of Drew’
The list of witnesses remains under seal, but Savio's niece, Melissa Doman, said her mother, Anna Doman, is among those who have been called to testify.

"It would be about things my Aunt Kitty (Savio) told my mom about how she was afraid for her life, she said she was afraid of Drew," Melissa Doman said, adding that she has not been called to testify.

Also expected to testify are other members of Savio's family, including her sister, Susan Savio. It was Susan Savio who told a coroner's jury shortly after her sister's death that Kathleen Savio had told family members that, "if she would die, it may look like an accident, but it wasn't."

The death initially was ruled an accidental drowning — until Stacy Peterson's disappearance led officials to exhume Savio's body, conduct another autopsy and conclude Savio was the victim of a homicide. Drew Peterson has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

Other possible witnesses who could be asked to testify about the stormy relationship between Drew Peterson and Savio are his former colleagues. Eighteen times in two years, police were called to the couple's Bolingbrook home to respond to reports of trouble between the two, with Savio telling officers that her husband had beaten her and threatened to kill her. Peterson was never charged. Savio was charged with domestic battery and later was acquitted.

There also are court documents that prosecutors are expected to present into evidence, including a 2002 order of protection in which Savio alleges that Peterson knocked her down, ripped off her necklace and left marks on her body.

"He wants me dead, and if he has to, he will burn the house down just to shut me up," she wrote.

Witnesses' credibility under attack
Among the more intriguing possible witnesses are members of the clergy at a Bolingbrook church attended by Stacy Peterson. In the days after her disappearance, there were media reports that she had told a clergyman a couple months earlier that Drew Peterson had confessed to her that he killed Savio and made it look like an accident.

Peterson's attorneys have made it clear that they will attack the credibility of at least some of the witnesses.

"All it is, is rumor, innuendo and gossip," defense attorney Joel Brodsky said after a recent hearing concerning information contained in the 15 statements. "People had ulterior motives for saying what they said or are out-and-out unreliable people."

The defense is not expected to call any witnesses of its own during the hearing.

"People should not think this is going to be the trial," Brodsky said.

He said the hearing will help Peterson.

"We think that even in this questioning, a lot of beliefs that people have about what was said and who said them are going to be burst, dashed," he said.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34933523/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Wow, it's amazing how a lawyer will attack anyone and they always seem to get away with it. Even a "clergyman". Sad really. I wonder if there will ever be "justice served" for these women.

I dont know, Fysty....but I hope that when that "Drew Law" hits the US Supreme Court that they pass it...It certainly would be helpful in a lot of cases...I told my BFF years ago, when I was married to my last husband, that if I turned up dead or missing , HE did it...I am so thankful that God took him 26yrs ago...or I might not be alive today.....every day is a gift!!!!

Peterson hearsay hearings to continue Thursday

January 20, 2010

Hearings in the Drew Peterson murder case continue Thursday. Judge White will hear from additional witnesses, eventually deciding which hearsay evidence will be allowed in the trial. Joel Brodsky, in a recent telephone interview, said that Judge White has not yet made a decision as to whether he will make public his rulings regarding what he deems admissible or not admissible.

In light of the seriousness of the circumstances involved, namely, the murder charges pending against his client, Joel Brodsky apparently continues to see it in a different way.

Joel Brodsky, however, continued his irreverent approach to the murder case as he handed out pens with his name emblazoned on them to some media members. “If anybody else is good to me, then they get a pen,” he said as he dangled a large bag of Brodsky ballpoints before the courtroom gallery.

http://petersonstory.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/peterson-hearsay-hearings-to-continue-thursday/

Ex-Savio co-workers tell of Drew Peterson threats
Ex-Bolingbrook police sergeant somberly listens to testimony in hearsay hearing

By Stacy St. Clair, Steve Schmadeke and Erika Slife, Tribune reporters
January 19, 2010


Drew Peterson's lawyer Joel Brodsky draws a crowd of reporters outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. Prosecutors have built their murder case around statements, which they say give his ex-wife Kathleen Savio a voice from the grave. The hearing is being held under a new Illinois statute, referred to as Drew's Law, that allows certain types of hearsay at trial. (Tribune photo by Abel Uribe / January 18, 2010)


Looking and acting nothing like the courthouse jester who cracked jokes at his arraignment eight months ago, a somber Drew Peterson listened Tuesday as prosecutors called witnesses intended to help his ex-wife testify from the grave.

The day's most chilling testimony came from two former co-workers who recounted statements Kathleen Savio allegedly made about Peterson's sadistic behavior months before her March 2004 death.

One colleague said Savio, with a bruised arm, detailed a home invasion in which Peterson held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her right there, but it "would be too bloody." Another told the judge that Peterson stalked Savio at the office, sitting in the parking lot for hours and waiting for her to leave.

Neither called the police to share their concerns before — or immediately after — Savio's death because they said she told them that the Bolingbrook Police Department protected Peterson, a decorated sergeant with three decades on the job.

"Kathleen said it wouldn't help," said Lisa Mordente, owner of the Romeoville sign company where Savio was a saleswoman.

Peterson, 56, gave no visible reaction to the testimony, though he often jotted notes on a yellow legal pad and conferred with attorneys. Wearing an ill-fitting red polo shirt, khaki pants and glasses, he occasionally looked into the gallery and gave small smirks to reporters. He has gained about 20 pounds in segregation at the Will County Jail, his attorneys said.

Peterson has been in custody since he was charged in May with Savio's murder. She had drowned and was found in an empty bathtub in her Bolingbrook home March 1, 2004.

Officials initially ruled her death an accident, but after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in October 2007, authorities reopened Savio's case and determined she had been killed. He has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

At his arraignment in May, Peterson joked and hammed it up for the news media. On Tuesday, a grayer and more subdued Peterson sat at the defense table with his back to his gallery for the majority of the proceeding.

He largely ignored the media and spectators, offering only a quick laugh to one reporter's observation that his shirt barely covered his abdomen.

His attorney Joel Brodsky, however, continued his irreverent approach to the murder case as he handed out pens with his name emblazoned on them to some media members.

"If anybody else is good to me, then they get a pen," he said as he dangled a large bag of Brodsky ballpoints before the courtroom gallery.

None of Peterson's family or friends attended the hearing, the first day of testimony in a monthlong proceeding to determine whether hearsay statements should be allowed into evidence if the case goes to trial. Prosecutors are expected to call about 60 witnesses to testify regarding 15 separate statements allegedly made by Savio and Stacy Peterson.

Prosecutors have built their case around those statements, which they say give Savio a voice from the grave. The hearing is being held under a new Illinois statute, referred to as Drew's Law, that allows certain types of hearsay at trial.

"And while we're going to get a good look at what the state's case is, you're not going to see all of the defense's case because we don't have to," Brodsky said on his way into the courthouse. "I don't want to show them all our hand, but they have to show me a good deal of theirs."

Peterson's defense team has a standing objection to the hearsay evidence and is expected to appeal if Will County Judge Steven White deems any of it admissible. They also plan to question the credibility and motivation of the witnesses called by the state. On Tuesday, nine people testified on the prosecution's behalf.

Among the statements in question is the testimony from Issam Karam, who worked with Savio at the Romeoville sign company in late 2003. He told the court that during a visit to her office, she told him that Peterson recently had broken into her home, tackled her on the stairs and held a knife to her throat as he threatened to kill her.

"He told her that nothing she could do would make her safe. She could not run or hide," Karam said. "He said he could kill her right there and then, but he wouldn't because it would be too bloody."

Karam testified that Savio showed him a bruise on her arm and told him it came from the attack. As she recounted the incident, she cried, he said.

"She truly felt her life was in danger," Karam said.

The defense tried to paint Karam as an attention seeker who came forward only after Stacy Peterson's disappearance made national headlines. Karam said he didn't go to the police immediately after Savio's death because he assumed other people knew about the incident and because her death was later ruled an accident.

He planned to write an anonymous letter about Savio's allegations to the media after Stacy Peterson's disappearance in 2007, Karam said, but Illinois State Police contacted him before he mailed the note.

"I felt as a human being that I needed to tell people what Kathleen told me," he said.

Mordente, Savio's former boss, testified that a man stalked Savio at the office in late 2003. A white male would sit outside the building in a car — at least once in a Bolingbrook squad car, other times an unmarked vehicle — and wait for Savio to leave.

On one occasion, Savio approached the car and spoke with the man in the driver's seat. When she returned to the office, she tearfully told her boss that the man was her ex-husband, Mordente testified.

"Her hands were shaking," she said. "She was a mess."

An uncle of Stacy Peterson's testified he overheard Peterson say "let them prove it" when Peterson's friends suggested it "looked bad" for him to have his ex-wife die at such a convenient time in their tumultuous custody and property battle.

"Our family gave Drew the benefit of the doubt," Kyle Toutges testified. "We were told Kathleen was crazy and on drugs and needed to be in a home."

Other testimony focused on a cup of coffee bought at a Bolingbrook Starbucks at 8:44 p.m. Oct. 28, 2007, the day Stacy Peterson disappeared. Prosecutors intend to use videotapes and cash register data from the purchase to bolster Drew Peterson's stepbrother's allegation that the two men were together on the night she disappeared.

Thomas Morphey has told police that Peterson used him to concoct a fake alibi for that day. The defense team dismisses the allegation as lies from a man with a long history of mental illness and multiple suicide attempts.

Prosecutors also quizzed a cell phone company representative over records detailing cell phone calls made on the day she vanished. And a police lieutenant testified that Peterson punched him in the head after a round of locker room horseplay at the Police Department.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/ct-met-0120-drew-peterson-hearing-20100119,0,2180981,full.story

http://www.cnn.com/video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_freevideo+%28RSS%3A+Video%29#/video/crime/2010/01/19/karas.drew.peterson.case.insession

Thanks for all the updates guyz... I see that as many as 50 to 60 witnesses cud be caled and they expect this hearing to take about 3 weeks minumum...

Im not sure if this means that his ruling on the letter wud be anytime before the end...

I hope it can be admissable, but I dont think the state needs the letter, but hopefully he will rule allowing it..