Officer says he thought missing wife's divorce request due to hormones

NEW YORK -- A Bolingbrook police sergeant whose fourth wife has disappeared said today that she had asked him for a divorce -- but he thought it was due to hormones.

Drew Peterson told NBC's "Today" that his wife fell into a deep depression after her sister died of cancer, and had been taking medication. They often had fights after that, he said.

"I'm not trying to be funny, but Stacy would ask me for divorce after her sister died on a regular basis," Peterson said. "It was based on her menstrual cycle."

Stacy Peterson, 23, was last seen Oct. 28. Authorities say the case is a potential homicide investigation. Her 53-year-old husband said he believes she left him for another man and that has no plans to look for her because he thinks she left willfully.

"Why would I look for somebody who I don't believe is missing? She's just gone. She's where she wants to be," Peterson told NBC.

The interview aired a day after the body of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, was exhumed in Illinois as authorities look for clues about how she died. Peterson's brother was subpoenaed Tuesday to testify before a grand jury, according to Illinois State Police.

Savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004, her hair soaked in blood from a head wound, just before the couple's divorce settlement was finalized. The death was ruled an accidental drowning, but investigators now say evidence suggests that someone killed Savio and tried to make it look like an accident.

Peterson downplayed any similarities between the two cases, but said his relationships with both women were troubled. Both suffered from emotional problems, he said, but were beautiful and exciting when he first met them. He said he never was abusive toward Stacy Peterson, despite family members' suggestions otherwise.

Peterson acknowledged there were mysterious circumstances surrounding Savio's death, but said he didn't know what, if anything, the exhumation would accomplish.

"It's a shame her rest in peace has to be disturbed for something like this," he told NBC.

Peterson, who has been suspended without pay pending an internal investigation, said he agreed to the interview because he believed both women's families and the media were targeting him.

Peterson lashed out at reporters camped outside his Bolingbrook, Ill. home, saying he and family members have been forced to sneak his teenage sons in and out of the house to attend school.

"I think my silence has basically painted me guilty in the media," he said.

He said he's told his two youngest children -- aged two and four -- that "basically, mom has gone on a vacation."

He also asked his wife to return: "Come home," he said. "Tell people where you are."