Nov 12, 2007 10:46 pm US/Central
Families Hopeful About Kathleen Savio's Exhumation
Volunteers Continue Search For Stacy Peterson; Authorities May Soon Exhume Body Of Her Husband's Third Wife For Clues About Her Death
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ―
Authorities are moving forward with their investigation into the disappearance of a missing Bolingbrook woman and could exhume the body of her husband's previous wife on Monday to take another look at her mysterious death.
Investigators are preparing to exhume Kathleen Savio's body. With her ex-husband, Drew Peterson, a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, close friends are struggling to believe his story.
The people who searched for Stacy Peterson Monday are certainly focused on finding her, but they are also interested in finding out what happened to Savio, Drew Peterson's third wife. They believe the investigation into what happened to Kathleen Savio might lead to answers in Stacy's case.
Though Drew Peterson has not been named a suspect in Savio's death, her family has long maintained he had something to do with it. Stacy Peterson's loved ones also feel Drew Peterson had something to do her disappearance. Now both families are anxiously awaiting the exhumation of Savio's body and the clues it might hold.
"I think both sides are very happy," Stacy Peterson's family's spokesperson, Pamela Bosco, said. "I think they'll provide a lot of answers again to the questions we have, and hopefully progress the case a little faster than it is."
"I think that will provide a lot of answers that we have and progress the case faster than it is," Bosco added.
Savio's grave in Hillside now has a tent over it, indicating that the Will County State's Attorney's petition to dig up her body could be carried out at any time.
Savio died mysteriously in 2004 in the couple's bathtub. Her death was ruled accidental but is now being re-investigated. The state's attorney says the autopsy indicates head trauma that is not consistent with an accident.
Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow has said evidence strongly suggests that someone killed Savio and tried to make it look like an accident.
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.
Reporters stationed outside the Peterson home Monday were greeted by a man who appeared to be Drew Peterson's brother. He brought out a video camera, took a few shots, then went back inside.
Peterson's friend tells CBS 2 he is concerned about the suspended Bolingbrook police sergeant, whose wife, Stacy, has now been missing for two weeks. Police are calling Peterson a suspect, and Illinois State Police are treating the case as a possible homicide.
Drew Peterson's friend Rick Mims has been defending him from the beginning of this case, but when he spoke with CBS's "Early Show" Monday morning, he said that given the evidence that has come out and Drew's "peculiar behavior" recently, it's getting harder to believe his friend's claims of innocence.
"It's getting harder to believe him," Mims said. "All the evidence is coming out and his peculiar behavior."
"His timelines don't match up with what the neighbors and Cassandra are reporting," Mims added.
Mims said he is now waiting for police to complete their investigation before judging his friend's guilt or innocence.
Mims wouldn't talk about Drew Peterson's lack of involvement in the search for his fourth wife, Stacy, but he did tell CBS 2 that he's not happy with the way the media have been portraying Drew Peterson.
"The Drew that I know is not the monster that they're portraying him to be. The media's getting caught up with trying to portray Drew as a monster and losing focus of what we're really trying to do. We're trying to find Stacy … that's the main thing right now, not to get on TV and bash Drew," Mims said.
A few miles away 70 volunteers conducted another land and water search for Stacy, canvassing a vast area of forest preserve where they found what they call potentially significant items.
"Certain things have been brought to our attention that we will provide to the police so they can investigate them further," Bosco said.
Drew Peterson has claimed Stacy left him for another man, but her friends and family say the mother of two never would have abandoned her children.
Stacy's stepsister Debby Forgue said, "If she was out there and saw all this, I'm pretty sure she'd come forward and say, 'Hey, I'm OK. I know she would not want to see her family go through this. She really did care for her whole family, her friends."
The search for Stacy Peterson resumes Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock.
Volunteer Teri Bukovsky said she responded to the call for help because, "I have four children and I would hope that if anything happened to me that somebody would go out there and look for me."
The Will County State's Attorney has not said exactly when Savio's body will be exhumed.
The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
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