Nov 13, 2007 6:45 am US/Central
Crews Exhume Illinois Cop's Third Wife's Body
Death Of Cop's Third Wife Was Ruled Accident, But Is Being Reexamined
HILLSIDE, Ill. (CBS) ―
Crews Tuesday morning exhumed the body of suspended Bolingbrook, Ill. police Sgt. Drew Peterson's third wife, more than three years after her death.
Peterson's current wife, Stacy, 23, has been missing for more than two weeks, and officials consider him a suspect in her disappearance. Her case has been classified as a homicide, and it has prompted authorities to reexamine the death of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio.
The body was exhumed in the 7 a.m. hour Tuesday. After a back hoe and two men with shovels opened the grave, Savio's casket was removed from the ground and placed in a van to take the body for a new autopsy.
The Will County state's attorney's office received permission from a judge on Friday to exhume Savio's body.
Savio was found dead in a whirlpool-style bathtub in March 2004. At the time, a six-member coroner's jury ruled her death accidental, but just last week, the coroner said it should have been classified undetermined.
Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow moved to exhume the body in the hopes of gathering more information in the case and on Friday a judge signed his petition to exhume the body.
Families of both women hope the exhumation will shed light on lingering questions.
"I think both sides are very happy," said Pamela Bosco, a spokeswoman for Stacy Peterson's family. "I think they'll provide a lot of answers again to the questions we have, and hopefully progress the case faster than it is."
This is the second time Bolingbrook police has turned over its investigation into Drew Peterson's spousal troubles to Illinois State Police, but Wecht suggested the autopsy should have been brought to another jurisdiction outside of Will County, as well.
"Did the forensic pathologist for Cook County or another large community review the case?" he said. "Did the state police go and turn it over to a forensic pathologist that is experienced outside of that jurisdiction? That's what should be done in that situation."
Meanwhile, the search for Stacy Peterson resumes Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.
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