U.S. & World News

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CBS) ― Drew Peterson is defending himself and talking to reporters Saturday about a pathologist's conclusion that his third wife didn't die by accident.

Peterson says he's gotten used to the commotion, but referred any further questions to his attorney.

"Well you're just intimidating my family. Everyone's grown used to it, althought it's grown nuisancey," Peterson said Saturday about the media attention regarding his last two wives. "I'm just ready for anything that may come."

Peterson is responding to a conclusion by an independent pathologist that Drew Peterson's third wife died in a homicide, Peterson's attorneys said her death "should not be a source of entertainment."

Nationally renowned pathologist and former New York City chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden concluded that Kathleen Savio died in a homicide. He said it was evident that she had been the victim of foul play after just taking a first look at Savio's body, which was exhumed earlier this week.

"My experience has been normal, healthy adults don't die accidentally in bathtubs, period," Baden said.

Savio died on March 1, 2004, and her body was found in a whirlpool-style bathtub. At the time, the Will County coroner's office ruled that she had died in an accidental drowning, but Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said in light of the disappearance of Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, an exhumation and new autopsy were warranted.

Baden said the first red flag that indicated foul play was that the body had about a dozen bruises, including a laceration on her head. Baden said the purplish color of bruises on Savio's right breast, abdominal area and thighs indicate "blunt force injuries" sustained shortly before death. The legs and arms of the exhumed body were too decomposed to see good evidence of bruising, he said, but clothing had preserved the condition of the chest and trunk.

"It was consistent with a beating. You don't get that drowning in a bathtub," Baden said.

Baden announced his conclusion on Greta van Susteren's program Fox News Channel. Attorney Joel Brodsky of the firm Brodsky & Odeh said Baden had indicated the conclusion before he conducted the autopsy, and emphasized Fox News Channel to be "part of the Fox Entertainment Group.

"The results of Dr. Baden's autopsy on Ms. Savio do not surprise us, not because we believe they are accurate, but only because Dr. Baden had indicated to Ms. Susteren a week before he had performed the autopsy that he believed Kathleen's death was not an accident," Brodsky said in a news release. "While Dr. Baden is a renowned pathologist, we do not know the motivation for donating his services, and the nature of his arrangement with the Fox Entertainment Group. All we wish to say is that Kathleen's death should not be a source of entertainment."

Brodsky also questioned Baden's statement that someone normal and healthy would not die accidentally in a bathtub.

"The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that in 2006 there were 126,563 bathtub/shower related injuries in the U.S. based on 3,147 reported incidents, including four reported deaths, for people between the ages of 21 and 65" Brodsky said in the statement. "A great many of these reported injuries included lacerations, contusions and abrasions from falls in bathtubs."

In addition, Brodsky claimed the Consumer Product Safety Commission said two of the six shower and bathtub-related deaths last year were by drowning.

Further information was unavailable on the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site.

Baden said that Fox News paid for his flight to Chicago so he could examine the remains Friday in suburban Will County with the family's consent.

Baden insisted that he first give his opinions to Savio's family and let them decide whether he could then talk to the news media, including Fox, he said.

"The agreement that I made with Fox was, if I'm doing this at the request of the family, the first people I talk to (about the findings) is the family and it would be up to the family whether I spoke to anybody else," he said.

Baden said he met with about 10 Savio family members on Friday. First, the family disagreed about whether Baden should be allowed to talk to the news media, but later agreed he should, Baden said.

He said the family is "united in their love and search for justice" for Savio.

Savio's own family members say they have believed all along that she died in a homicide.

"It wasn't a surprise when we heard," said Savio's sister, Sue Savio-Doman.

Savio's relatives said they are relieved the truth is finally being revealed, but cannot understand why it took so long.

"It took another person. That is not right," Savio-Doman said. "It took another person to be missing to realize my sister was murdered?"

The official Will County autopsy conducted after Savio's exhumation this week found that she died of drowning, but did not determine a manner of death, such as accident or homicide. It is expected to take a few more days before a ruling is made on the manner of death.

Baden said his findings should not intimidate authorities or influence their findings. Baden said he received good cooperation from local authorities.

"It does put prosecutors on notice that if there is a difference of opinion that might come out in a trial, that everybody should look carefully at why there is a difference in opinion and have all the bases covered," Baden said.

A grand jury is also investigating the case. Meanwhile, Peterson says the entire incident has been hardest on his older children. Peterson spoke to reporters outside his home Saturday. He and his missing wife, Stacy, have two children, ages 4 and 2. He has two teenage sons from his marriage to Kathleen Savio. Drew Peterson says his older children are at the age where people tease and talk to them at school.

But amid all of the media attention, volunteers and organizers say a new search will be conducted for Stacy Peterson every day until she or her body is found. They began their search Saturday at the Country Inn and Suites in Romeoville. With the words, 'let's do it,' more than a hundred people walked from the house where Kathleen Savio was found dead to the house where Stacy Peterson was last seen three weeks ago.

Cassandra Cales led the march and made a promise to her missing sister.

"I miss you Stacy. And I'm not giving up," Cales said. "I'm gonna bring you home. I'm not giving up."

Those in attendance seemed resolved to help Cales make good on that promise. Many of those walking the streets spent Saturday morning walking the fields in search of the missing mother of two. But once again there was no sign of Stacy. So Saturday evening, they carried signs honoring the 23-year-old and lashing out at her husband - the ex-lawman who they believe acts as if he's above the law. And Kathleen Savio's family says Drew Peterson was.

"If you hit somebody, you get arrested," said Melissa Doman, Savio's niece.

But they say Drew never did despite more than a dozen complaints from Kathleen to Bolingbrook police. And they say even after she died no one would take their claims that she was murdered seriously.

"They just thought we were a bunch of crazy people; nobody would listen," said Anna Doman, Savio's sister.

But now the world is listening as two families unite in grief.

"You can say we have closure. But in my heart we'll never have closure until I know who did this to her," said Savio's brother, Henry.

Savio said when his sister died, Bolingbrook police refused to accept that one of their fellow officers could have been responsible. But he said Stacy Peterson's disappearance changed that.

"They said he didn't have any skeletons in his closet," he said. "Well, now he does."

And it was clear Saturday as marchers laid their signs on Drew Peterson's doorstep that many believe they know who's responsible for Kathleen's death and Stacy's disappearance. If Drew Peterson chose not to read the written messages, Kathleen's brother wanted to make sure he heard this.

"I just hope the person who did this does come forward," Henry Savio said. "He knows who he is. And we know who he is. He knew me for years. He knows it."

Peterson, 53, who resigned Monday as a Bolingbrook police sergeant, has not been named a suspect in Savio's death.

He has denied any involvement in either case and said he believes his wife left him for another man and is alive.

Documents released by Savio's family indicate she believed, at least briefly, that Drew Peterson would kill her: "He pulled out his knife that he kept around his leg and brought it to my neck," she wrote in a letter the family says was sent to prosecutors.

Attorney Fred Morelli, who once represented Peterson, said he never heard the knife claims about his former client.

"That's the first I've heard of that," Morelli said. "That's crazy. ... (Peterson) was a very pleasant, personable fellow. Other than that, I don't know."

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)