Nov 16, 2007 10:32 pm US/Central
Forensic Expert Calls Savio's Death A Homicide
Autopsy Is Third Performed On Drew Peterson's Third Wife Since Her 2004 Death
(CBS)
World-famous forensic specialist Dr. Michael Baden performed an autopsy Friday on the body of Kathleen Savio, 3 1/2 years after she died. As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, at about 9 p.m. Baden announced that in his opinion, Savio's death was a homicide.
Baden made his announcement on Fox News Channel. He was hired by the Savio family to perform a third autopsy days after her body was exhumed by the order of the will county state's attorney. Initial results of the second autopsy were that she died from drowning.
Savio, former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson's third wife, was found dead in a whirlpool-style bathtub on March 1, 2004. At the time, the Will County coroner's office ruled her death an accident, but the county state's attorney's office this week had her body exhumed for a new autopsy. A new ruling on whether she died in an accident, homicide or another manner is pending.
Also Friday, the daughter of Drew Peterson's second wife spoke out about what it was like to live with the former cop who is now a suspect in his fourth wife's disappearance.
That second wife and her daughter now live in the small Illinois town of Paxton, about 110 miles south of Chicago.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli made the trip there and spoke to Lisa Ward, whose mother, Vicky Connolly, was Peterson's second wife. Connolly, who has lived in Paxton for about a year, is in seclusion now, but Ward spoke to CBS 2 about their years living with Drew Peterson.
It's a relationship she's been thinking a lot about since the disappearance of Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.
Asked if she felt lucky her mother got out of the relationship alive, given the death of Peterson's third wife and disappearance of his fourth wife, Ward said, "Of course. My mom is a very strong woman for being able to."
That's because Ward knows the woman who Drew Peterson left her mother for, Kathleen Savio, was later found dead in a bathtub. She also knows that his fourth wife Stacy Peterson is now missing and feared dead and that her former stepfather has been named as a suspect in what's been called a potential homicide case.
Asked if she thinks Stacy will be found alive, Ward said, "I hope she is. I hope she is and her children have their mom back … I hope she comes back."
In Friday's Chicago Tribune, Ward's mom, Drew Peterson's second wife, is quoted as saying that while she was married to Drew Peterson, he told her he could kill her and make it look like an accident.
Lisa wasn't talking about whether she thinks Drew Peterson could kill someone and make it look like an accident, or Kathleen Savio's death specifically. But prosecutors exhumed her body this week because they believe her death was a homicide staged to look like an accident.
It's something Connolly told the Tribune she's been thinking about, saying: "He has the experience, the knowledge the means and the mind to do that."
Connolly also told a Tribune reporter that Peterson had a controlling personality.
"He had bugs in our house. He put a microphone in our kitchen and taped our conversations," Connolly said. "He was cheating so much, he wanted to make sure I wasn't."
Ward was a child when she lived with Drew Peterson. She says the past few weeks have opened a wellspring of inner pain. "I don't want to relive my memories … just let my family, let us live our lives and what we have right now."
Stacy Peterson, 23, has been missing since Oct. 28. Drew Peterson has said repeatedly that Stacy left him for someone else, and in a recent national television interview said he was not assisting in the search for her because she was not missing.
But Stacy's own family has said she would never abandon her children. Illinois State Police have named Drew Peterson a suspect in her disappearance, and have said she likely died in a homicide.
CBS 2's Mai Martinez, Mike Puccinelli and Rafael Romo contributed to this report.
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