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High-stakes Drew Peterson hearing under way

Posted January 19, 2010 10:00 pm

By Christy Gutowski

Three months before her mysterious death, Kathleen Savio confided in a co-worker that her ex-husband, Drew Peterson, made a murderous threat while clutching a knife to her throat.

"He said nothing she could do or say would make her feel safe. She could not run or hide," Issam Karam testified Tuesday. "(Peterson said) he could kill her right then and there, but it would be too bloody."

Karam's riveting account of a conversation he said the two had in late 2003 in their Romeoville workplace came as a much-anticipated Peterson pretrial hearsay hearing opened in Will County.

Peterson, 56, is charged with murdering Savio, his third wife, whose body was found in a dry bathtub on March 1, 2004. The former couple had been battling over finances and custody of their two sons in court.

A forensic pathologist initially ruled the 40-year-old Bolingbrook woman's death accidental. But after Peterson was named a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, last seen in October 2007, Savio's body was exhumed, and her death was ruled a homicide after a second autopsy.

Peterson is not charged in Stacy's disappearance, but the former Bolingbrook police sergeant was arrested May 7, 2009, in the Savio investigation.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow will lay out much of the prosecution's case during the lengthy hearing, which may feature up to 60 witnesses. It resumes Thursday.

A recent state law written in response to the Peterson saga requires a judge to hold such hearings in murder cases to determine whether certain hearsay evidence - testimony or documents that quote someone who is not in court secondhand - is reliable enough for a jury to hear at trial.

Karam told Will County Circuit Judge Stephen White that Savio accused Peterson of being abusive. In one conversation, Karam testified, Savio told him Peterson managed to get into her home despite new locks. Karam said Savio showed him a bruise on her arm when describing the surprise knife attack, and she also told him of a prior black eye Peterson gave her.

Savio left Parkway Imaging & Graphics in January 2004, less than three months before her death. Her boss, Lisa Mordente, also testified she noticed an unidentified man sitting in either a marked Bolingbrook police squad or his own personal car outside the business in late 2003 more than a half-dozen times. Mordente said she saw Savio speak to the man on one occasion, then return to work visibly upset.

"She was crying, shaking, and her hands were trembling," Mordente testified. "She said that was her ex-husband. They're fighting over money."

Neither Karam nor Mordente reported the encounters to police until years later, they said, because Savio told them her complaints to Bolingbrook police fell on deaf ears as Peterson was one of their own.

A veteran Bolingbrook cop, James Coughlan, who supervised the night shift with Peterson, recalled Tuesday an eerie conversation he said the two had while making small talk one day outside court. Peterson had just left a divorce proceeding; Coughlan was testifying in an unrelated matter.

"My life would be a lot easier if she was dead or dying," Coughlan quoted Peterson as saying about Savio.

Two weeks later, his words proved prophetic. Savio was dead.

The mysterious circumstances of her death weren't lost on Peterson's friends, according to another prosecution witness. Kyle Toutges, Stacy Peterson's uncle, testified he overheard a conversation between the police sergeant and his friends during a birthday party at his niece's home weeks after Kathleen Savio died.

"Let them prove it," Toutges quoted Peterson as saying when his friends commented it looked suspicious for a wife to die in the midst of bitter divorce proceedings.

Upon intense cross examination, when defense attorney Joel Brodsky accused Toutges of making up the bogus conversation to glean media attention, the man angrily responded, "Then where's Stacy?"

White won't rule on the hearsay evidence admissibility until the court hearing concludes. Prosecutors must convince him with a "preponderance of evidence" that the evidence is reliable and the defendant's wrongdoing made the witness unavailable to testify.

Glasgow alleges Peterson killed Savio because he faced financial devastation from their divorce. Peterson even offered a man $25,000 to kill Savio months before her death, prosecutors said. Other prosecution witnesses may include Stacy Peterson's minister, who said she confided in him before her disappearance that Drew Peterson confessed to having killed Savio.

"(Drew) knew they were speaking to people," said Pamela Bosco, a Stacy Peterson family spokeswoman, outside court Tuesday. "It would almost be a disservice to our system if their voices aren't heard."

Drew Peterson is being held on a $20 million bond in the Will County jail. He maintains his innocence.

Kathleen Savio

<h1>More Coverage</h1>

<h2>Photo Galleries</h2>

<li><a href="/story/?id=352113">Images of the missing and deceased in the Drew Peterson case </a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=352115">Images of the Drew Peterson Case </a></li>

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Timeline in Drew Peterson investigation

March 1, 2004: The body of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, is discovered in a bathtub in her Bolingbrook home. Her death is initially ruled an accidental drowning.

Oct. 29, 2007: His fourth wife, Stacy, 23, is reported missing, a day after she fails to show up at a family member's home.

Nov. 9, 2007: Illinois State Police declare Drew Peterson a suspect in Stacy's disappearance and announce they've launched an investigation into Savio's drowning death. A Will County judge signs an order to exhume Savio's body.

Nov. 12, 2007: Drew Peterson resigns from the Bolingbrook Police Department, where he had been an officer for nearly three decades.

Nov. 13, 2007: Savio's body is exhumed for a second autopsy.

Nov. 16, 2007: Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden says Savio likely was murdered.

Nov. 21, 2007: A special Will County grand jury is convened to hear evidence in both cases involving Savio and Stacy Peterson.

Feb. 21, 2008: Kathleen Savio's death officially ruled a homicide.

May 21, 2008: Drew Peterson surrenders to police on a weapons charge unrelated to the disappearance of his fourth wife.

Nov. 20, 2008: Gun charges dropped against Peterson after Will County prosecutors refuse to hand over internal investigative documents.

May 7, 2009: Drew Peterson indicted on two counts of first-degree murder for Savio's death; peacefully surrenders during a traffic stop. Peterson remains jailed on $20 million bond.

Oct. 2, 2009: Will Circuit Judge Stephen White upholds new state law that allows Savio beyond-the-grave hearsay evidence at trial if later deemed reliable.

Jan. 19, 2010: A landmark hearsay court hearing is scheduled to begin in which prosecutors lay out their evidence against Peterson in Savio's death.

Source: Daily Herald archives

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