Original subtitles

♪♪

Drew: I'm bothered by the fact that she left.

And I'm bothered by the fact

that my children don't have a mom.

Yes, sometimes I have trouble sleeping with it.

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to "How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

It was just before Halloween in 2007

when the quiet suburb of Bolingbrook, Illinois,

became the center of a disturbing mystery.

23-year-old Stacy Peterson,

the young wife of a veteran police sergeant,

suddenly disappeared.

As investigators launched an intensive search to find her,

suspicions only deepened, as a dark and troubling history

slowly came into focus.

This is how it really happened.

♪♪

Aikin: On Sunday, October 28, 2007,

I get a text from my brother to "Please call.

We can't find Stacy."

[ Man speaking indistinctly ]

Stacy: Yeah, of course you do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. [ Man laughs ]

Aikin: And immediately, I knew in my heart

that something was terrible wrong.

Male Reporter: Investigators are searching for any clues

in the whereabouts of 23-year-old Stacy Peterson

of Bolingbrook.

Stacy Peterson was supposed to help repaint a house

that her brother had been living in.

Stacy never showed up.

And her sister, Cassandra, gets concerned,

starts making calls trying to find out where she is.

Aikin: Cassandra was telling us

that she couldn't get ahold of Stacy.

For Stacy not to answer her phone was very strange.

She didn't leave her phone off -- ever.

People close to Stacy suspected right away

that something was wrong.

Teppel: At about 4:00 in the morning,

Ms. Peterson's family went into the Illinois State Police

and reported her as a missing person.

Jackson: Stacy Peterson was the fourth wife

of 53-year-old Drew Peterson, who was a 29-year veteran

of the Bolingbrook Police Department.

Hosey: When Stacy disappeared, she was a mom, had two children.

She was also raising two of Drew's other children

from his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

So she's a mother of four, essentially, at the age of 23.

Aikin: Stacy had been attending Joliet Community College,

and she was studying to be a nurse.

She really wanted to help people.

Teppel: She's a female, white.

She was born on January 20th of 1984.

She's about 5'2" tall, 100 pounds,

brown hair, brown eyes.

And she was last seen in Bolingbrook

wearing a red jogging suit.

The last person to see Stacy Peterson was her husband, Drew.

And he said that the last time that he saw her

was when she left their home on Sunday morning.

Drew told me Stacy woke him up

and told him she was gonna go paint her brother's house.

He told me he went back to sleep

and was next woken by the children,

and when that happened, Stacy was already gone.

Jackson: Drew Peterson told police

that the next time he heard from his wife

was when she called him at 9:00 that night.

Hosey: Drew said she told him

that she was leaving him for another man,

that she had left the car in the nearby municipal airport,

which is walking distance from Drew and Stacy's home.

My dad called me and told me that Stacy had left him.

He said that she had took $25,000 in cash and her bikini

and she was going on vacation

and she would deal with him when she got back.

Didn't really think much of it other than,

"Sorry to hear that, Dad.

That's -- You know, I'm sorry you're losing her."

But it made sense.

She had a lot of life to live,

and he already lived it, you know?

They were definitely at two different spots in their life.

Male Reporter: State police are handling the investigation.

Right now, they say there are no signs of foul play.

At the start, it was hard to know what to make

of the disappearance of Stacy Peterson.

We were all hopeful that, perhaps, maybe she had just,

you know, had left in a huff --

that she would reappear very quickly.

Casarez: But family and friends were convinced

that Stacy did not leave voluntarily.

Everyone had that same gut feeling.

She wouldn't leave the house without the children,

so I knew that that was a red flag.

♪♪

Female Reporter: Tonight, a nursing student and young mom of two

vanishes into thin air.

Where is Stacy Peterson?

In a matter of hours, this case was making national news.

Hosey: The cul-de-sac where she and Drew lived

was jammed with news trucks.

St. Clair: She was a young, pretty blond from the suburbs.

And, clearly, the public

was sort of fascinated by this story, too,

of this young girl who was married to an older cop.

I would flip the TV on, and it was on every channel,

and there's Stacy's picture and, you know, "Missing Wife"

and, you know, instant shock.

King: Where do you think Stacy might be?

Stacy loves male attention.

She could be -- Ran off with a guy?

Ran off with a guy,

and she could be dancing somewhere.

I don't know.

According to Drew, in the months before Stacy left him,

she had been extremely distraught.

Drew: Her sister died maybe several months prior of cancer.

She changed?

She changed very much,

where we had her under psychiatric care,

and we had her medicated for emotional problems.

Drew also revealed a stunning coincidence

in Stacy's family history.

Drew: Her mother herself, Stacy's mother,

left the family in a similar situation.

Stacy was still just a girl, her own mother disappeared.

She was supposedly on her way to church.

No one ever saw her again. She never came home.

Drew said that, just like her mother,

Stacy left her family high and dry.

Drew: I went from being a watch commander to a mom.

So you're a mom?

I'm a mom.

Male Reporter 2: Now Sergeant Drew Peterson

is on leave from the Bolingbrook Police Department.

They are saying that he says he wants

to spend more time with his children,

and is cooperating in the investigation.

Stephen: We start hoping she shows up or she gets back here

and this is gonna be embarrassing for everybody.

I just felt like, "I'm never gonna see her again."

♪♪

Female Reporter: The search for 23-year-old mother Stacy Peterson,

it's gaining new strength.

Teppel: Just trying to do what we can to support the family,

and, hopefully, she'll come home safe and sound.

♪♪

I'm still in love with Stacy, and I miss her, so...

While Drew was claiming she ran off with another man,

the police were doing a lot of work

to try to find her, in fields and ponds and canals.

♪♪

Jackson: Shortly after Stacy went missing,

the police served search warrants on the Peterson home.

Male Reporter: Right now, state police are going through

and taking some things out of the home.

I was a police officer, so I understand that,

when someone goes missing,

you always look at the husband first.

At that point, they were looking for any indications

of how Stacy might have disappeared.

Jordan: They're looking for anything --

notes, diaries, computer records.

Did she book a flight online?

Was she having e-mail exchanges with another man?

Connor: Any signs of blood inside the house?

Any evidence of a struggle?

The police also brought cadaver dogs into the home to search,

presumably for a cadaver.

They crossed every "T" and dotted every "I."

It was so thorough.

Female Reporter 2: Police have found

no evidence of wrongdoing in this case.

Drew Peterson is not a suspect.

Stacy: [ Over voicemail ] Hey, Dad, it's me. It's Stacy.

I just wanted to call you, tell you I love you.

I also wanted to give you my new phone number.

Okay, love you. Bye.

Drew appeared on "Good Morning America"

with a message for Stacy.

Make yourself known. Make yourself seen.

Come out publicly.

And that's it. Let this be over.

Stacy Peterson began a relationship with Drew Peterson

while she was teenager

working the night shift at a local hotel.

When Drew and Stacy first met, he was 47, she was 17.

Stephen: The first time I saw her

and realized exactly how young she was,

it was a bit of a shock, to say the least.

She's four years younger than me.

Aikin: I think Stacy was kind of infatuated

by the fact that Drew was a police officer.

That was a big deal to her.

It made her feel protected.

Stephen: They seemed happy, they really did.

As weird as it is, as a 47-year-old, a 17-year-old.

They'd go out.

They'd tell fun stories of her embarrassing him,

making inappropriate jokes and stuff,

and, you know, they just had a playful, fun relationship.

Stacy had a really rough childhood.

Her mother disappeared and was not heard from again.

She lost two siblings before she turned 15.

Her father didn't seem to be around very much.

I believe that she saw stability in Drew and a better life.

She said he's like the father she never had.

Jordan: Drew Peterson was a career police officer.

He was a so-called "cop's cop."

He was devoted to that notion of law and order.

Stephen: He was my hero.

He was an inspiration to me

wanting to be a police officer, as well.

By the time Drew met Stacy in 2001,

he had put in almost 25 years as a cop.

Drew was also married at the time.

Drew: I love you.

Jackson: His exciting romance with Stacy

was taking place behind the back of his third wife,

Kathleen Savio.

Kathleen received an anonymous letter from someone

saying she was the laughingstock of the town.

The whole department knew

that he was dating a girl named Stacy.

The letter to Kathleen said

her husband's girlfriend was just 17.

Savio Doman: She couldn't believe it.

Kathleen confronted Drew with the letter,

and she started talking about divorce.

Casarez: After a nine-year marriage and two children together,

Kathleen Savio decided she was through with Drew.

Savio Doman: Drew moved out,

and he purchased a home a block and a half away.

Kathleen said, "Why did you buy this house so close to me?"

And he said, "I want to watch you.

I want to make sure it's convenient for me

to see my kids."

And hedid

Jackson: Drew had Stacy move in with him,

but then he found himself in an awkward situation.

Drew came to Kathleen's house and said, "Stacy's pregnant,

and I'm going to, you know, go ahead and marry her."

She was like, "I'm done with you."

Casarez: Kathleen agreed to divorce Drew with the understanding

that they would deal with the financial settlement

at a later date.

Smith: It was called a bifurcated divorce.

We basically just got divorced on paper

so that he could then marry Stacy.

When Kathleen and Drew got their divorce...

Stacy and Drew were married in less than two weeks.

And they had baby Anthony there.

It was just a really small, intimate wedding.

But the fighting between Drew and Kathleen escalated.

There were accusations of Drew and Stacy

rollerblading by Kathleen's house,

flipping her off.

Kathleen was unhappy.

I mean, Drew's flaunting this much younger wife

in front of her.

Kathleen and Drew were very volatile.

Problems began to occur

every time they had contact with each other.

But that all ended 4 1/2 months after Drew married Stacy.

Kathleen Savio was found dead in her own bathtub.

♪♪

My sister called me, and she told me to sit down.

The first thing she said to me is, "Kitty's dead."

Police figured she must've slipped and fallen

and hit her head and been drowned while unconscious.

Kathleen's death seemed to be a settled matter.

They decided it was an accident,

and it probably would've stayed that way

if Stacy hadn't disappeared.

♪♪

♪♪

Male Reporter: Searchers continue to look for clues

in the whereabouts of Stacy Peterson,

missing for nearly two weeks.

A lot of family members went on searches,

but I'm like, "I can't."

I was an emotional mess.

While all this searching's going on,

Drew's not helping.

He's not looking for his wife.

Drew: The searchers are looking for Stacy

where I don't believe that she is.

They're looking for a body, I believe.

Stacy's alive.

He started saying, "She's where she wants to be."

Anytime you brought it up, you know,

"She's where she wants to be."

Well, where the hell is that?

Cales: I miss Stacy.

I'm not giving up until I bring her home.

He says the media won't leave him alone,

but it seems Drew Peterson is the one who can't stop talking.

Please go home. Please leave me alone.

Please don't get involved in my little world.

[ Laughs ] [ Camera shutters clicking ]

He really seems like he's having a good time.

Drew Peterson is described by everyone as just a funny guy.

But he seems to have lost his sense of appropriateness.

Watch this.

If the wife you love is missing, now is not the time for jokes.

♪♪

Some new developments tonight

in a story about a veteran cop and two of his wives.

One of them is dead, another missing.

St. Clair: When your fourth wife goes missing,

I think everyone starts looking at the third wife's death

with a little bit more of a skeptical eye.

Man: Did you have anything to do with Kathleen Savio's death, sir?

Questions about Kathleen just kept coming.

Man: Drew, can you tell us where you were when Kathleen died?

♪♪

Kathleen Savio first met Drew Peterson in 1991

on a blind date.

Drew Peterson was attracted to Kathleen,

10 years younger, for all the obvious reasons.

She was young and beautiful.

Savio Doman: Kathleen was a strong person,

a very outgoing person, family-oriented.

It was a whirlwind romance.

He went out of his way to impress her.

Anything she wanted, she could have.

And I think that was kind of part of who he was,

that Romeo persona.

After they'd been dating for some time,

Kathleen discovered that Drew was actually still married

to someone else.

Savio Doman: She was shocked, and she questioned him

why she wasn't told before about it,

and he said, "She's a horrible person,"

and she believed him.

Drew and his second wife divorced

after nearly 10 years of marriage,

and then he marries Kathleen

only six months after they first met.

Hosey: At this point, it's pretty clearly a pattern

that he gets married to someone,

and then that marriage ends after he cheats on them.

[ Speaking indistinctly ]

Every time I went over there,

he was always kissing her and hugging her

and saying how beautiful she was.

The turning point for Kathleen

was after their second child was born.

It's a miracle we've made it this far.

Things changed rapidly.

Drew liked to call her names, brutal names.

"Something is not right with you.

You're ugly.

You're nothing but a nut case."

♪♪

The worst fight I remember -- Me and my brother woke up

to what sounded like a train wreck.

They were just flipping over tables

and knocking over cabinets.

We didn't even know what was going on until we saw,

like, the aftermath of it.

Everything was broken.

Savio Doman: My sister took Kathleen to the hospital,

and she had trauma to her head.

And she was in bad shape.

She went for an order of protection, and she got it.

Casarez: By the time Kathleen divorced Drew in 2003,

they remained deadlocked on one important issue.

St. Clair: Even though they were legally divorced,

they had not settled

the financial aspects of their marriage.

Kathleen told me several times

throughout the course of the divorce,

"Drew will never give me his pension,"

and I would ask, "What do you mean?

What are his alternatives?"

And she would say, "He's threatened me before.

He said he will kill me and make it look like an accident."

♪♪

Jackson: On March 1st of 2004,

Drew goes to drop off his boys after a weekend visitation,

but he's saying that Kathleen is not answering the door,

nor is she resounding to his calls.

What happened?

I don't know.

I started questioning with the neighbors.

I had neighbors go into the house.

Then they found her dead in the bathtub.

Carcerano: Drew came running up the stairs right into the bathroom.

He did check her pulse, and then started screaming out,

"What am I gonna tell my kids?"

She was found naked in a dry bathtub.

Hosey: Her hair is matted with blood.

There's a one-inch gash on the back of her head.

The coroner's inquest jury reached the conclusion

that Kathleen Savio's manner of death was accidental

and that her cause of death was drowning.

Seidel: Investigators thought the dry bathtub was odd,

but they also thought,

"Well, it could have been a leaky drain,

and enough time had passed for all the water

to slowly drain out of the tub."

This is not an accidental death.

This is murder.

Cooper: Peterson's third wife was found dead in her bathtub.

That was ruled an accidental drowning,

but now, three years later, authorities aren't so sure.

Glasgow: Once we got wind of the fact

that there was a death of the previous wife

just three years before, I pulled the file.

Connor: There was one particular item in the coroner's file

that just literally jumped out at you,

and that was the Polaroid photo that was taken

of Kathleen's Savio's body in this tiny tub.

And there was no way you could look at that

and not think that there was something unusual.

It looks like she was jammed in the tub.

She had bruises on just about every plane of her body.

The autopsy showed that she was not ill, had no disease.

There was no drugs in her system, and no alcohol.

Can a healthy woman in her 40s

simply fall down in a tub and drown?

♪♪

Jackson: Almost two weeks after Stacy went missing,

police announce a sudden change in the investigation.

I would say that, right now,

Drew Peterson has gone from a person of interest

to clearly being a suspect.

And there was more bad news for Drew.

We're here today to indicate that we're formally reopening

the investigation into the death of Kathleen Savio.

It was like, "Oh, my God, could this be it?

Could we finally get proof?"

Casarez: On November 13, 2007,

Illinois officials exhumed Kathleen Savio's body.

And that's when the problems really began for Drew Peterson.

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome back.

53-year-old veteran police officer Drew Peterson

was under intense scrutiny

after his fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy,

vanished without a trace.

After Stacy's disappearance,

alarming new questions were being raised

about Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Kathleen had died under mysterious circumstances,

but her death had been ruled accidental.

Now amid heightened suspicion,

her body was exhumed for a second look.

The very next day,

Drew Peterson appeared on NBC's "Today Show"

to tell his side of the story.

Man: Can you look me straight in the eye

and tell me that you had nothing to do

with the death of your third wife, Kathy,

or the disappearance of your fourth wife, Stacy?

I can look right in your eye

and say I had nothing to do with either of those incidences.

Jackson: Before Stacy went missing in October 2007,

she was telling family and friends

that she desperately wanted to leave Drew.

After she married Drew,

he kept accusing her of not being pretty enough,

and she had done all these things

to make herself look pretty.

She had had braces,

she did a tummy tuck,

breast augmentation, even Lasik eye surgery

so she didn't have to wear glasses.

Jackson: The flip side of that

was that Drew was increasingly jealous of his young wife.

Aikin: Drew was constantly --

every day, several times a day --

accusing her of cheating on him.

Mims: He would follow her around.

She couldn't do anything without him knowing.

If she joined a gym, you know, he would join, too,

just so he could be there to watch her.

I mean, he's cheated on every wife he ever had,

including Stacy.

Mims: I don't know who he was cheating on with Stacy,

but he always had somebody else on the side.

St. Clair: I don't think, then, it's so surprising

that he would suspect that his very young, very pretty wife

was cheating on him.

Bychowski: The week before she disappeared,

her and Drew had had what she considered to be her last stand,

where she packed 10 boxes of clothes for him

and told him to "Get out.

I don't want you here. I want a divorce."

A bombshell in the Drew Peterson case.

His third wife's death has now been ruled a homicide

within the last couple of hours.

King: Were you surprised when the body was exhumed

and they changed the determination of death?

Drew: Very much surprised, for sure,

'cause for many years, you know, my children and I,

we've been, you know, believing that, you know,

she died in a household accident.

Hosey: After Kathleen's body was exhumed,

they determined that she was actually

the victim of a homicide,

I think police had eyes on no one but Drew.

Between 2002 and 2004, the Bolingbrook Police

were called to Kathleen's home 18 times.

Complaints about visitation drop off,

up to allegations of violence.

At one point, she said Drew broke into her house

and held her at knifepoint.

He was dressed in black, like a ninja,

and the police came over, and Drew denied everything.

Smith: Kathleen was writing to reporters,

writing to figures within law enforcement.

Savio Doman: In a domestic-violence situation

that she was in,

documenting everything that is happening.

No one's listening to her.

No one's helping her.

St. Clair: Kathleen Savio laid a trail in her wake

of signs that pointed to Drew Peterson

if anything were to happen to her.

She was in fear.

Meanwhile, the investigation into Stacy's disappearance

was heating up.

A flurry of major new developments

in the case of Stacy Peterson.

Female Reporter: If Drew Peterson killed his wife,

did he have help getting rid of the body?

♪♪

Woman: Relative of yours saying

he helped carry a container out of your home

on October 28th.

One of the most compelling pieces of evidence

with regards to Stacy was his step-brother, Tom Morphey.

I have no idea what anybody's talking about like that.

-Warm to the touch -- -No.

He says he believes that he helped you

dispose of your wife's body. No.

Can you at least respond to that?

Nope.

Tom told me Drew picked him up and brought him to his house

and had him help him carry

a blue barrel from their bedroom

out to Drew's SUV.

♪♪

He told me he knew Stacy was in that barrel.

Right after that, he attempted suicide.

And he basically overdosed on drugs

and wound up in a hospital.

When he woke up, guess who was standing over him?

Drew Peterson.

And Tom says he does not know what Drew did with that barrel.

We searched, looking for her body or a blue barrel.

I mean, no stone was left unturned.

We weren't successful in finding anything.

Drew's lawyer, Joel Brodsky,

calls the step-brother hardly credible,

and says the two were not close.

There is no blue barrel.

There never was a blue barrel, nor a blue container.

There was a sense of, was he ever gonna be arrested,

and there was a sense of what was he gonna do next?

There was a "Win a Date with Drew" contest.

Drew: [ Over telephone ] You know what you should do?

You should have a "Win a Date with Drew" contest.

-Oh-- -There you go.

Well, in his mind,

he was becoming some kind of, you know, big celebrity.

You know, his ego was already big, and it got bigger.

Cooper: Now, through an announcement from his publicist --

and, yes, he has a publicist -- we've learned he's proposed

to the woman he hopes will become wife number five.

Casarez: Although Drew Peterson was still married

to his missing wife, Stacy,

he got engaged again.

Drew's 24-year-old fiancée appears with Drew

on NBC's "Today Show" on Valentine's Day 2009.

I don't believe that he did anything wrong.

And...I love him. I have a lot of fun.

Eventually, he and his fiancée split.

But Drew's story was far from over.

♪♪

Just weeks before her disappearance,

Stacy Peterson had shared a very dark secret.

I asked her. I said, "Have you told this to anybody else?

Does anybody else know this?"

She said, "You're the only one."

♪♪

Jackson: 18 months after Stacy Peterson's disappearance,

there was breaking news.

Former Bolingbrook Police Officer Drew Peterson

now under arrest for the murder of his third wife,

Kathleen Savio.

All you Drew Peterson fans, sorry to disappoint you,

but it's Kathleen Savio's day.

♪♪

It was kind of a shock to see Drew in custody.

I mean, he was trying to tell jokes.

His initial thing was, "A speedy trial.

It'll be over in a few months.

I'll be home. They got nothing."

And, in a sense, Drew was right.

There was actually no evidence

even putting Drew Peterson at the house

on the weekend that Kathleen Savio died.

They didn't have forensics.

It was a circumstantial case.

Breaking news tonight -- Drew Peterson forced

to have his day in court.

Brodsky: Remember, proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

You don't have to prove yourself innocent.

They have to prove guilty.

Casarez: Meanwhile, Drew Peterson's defense team,

they were billing themselves as the "dream team."

I think the most notorious press conference they gave

was the one where somebody asked about Stacy.

Woman: What do you make of the Stacy factor in this trial?

Who?

The Stacy factor.

-Who? -Stacy who?

Stacy who?

She's on your witness list.

-Oh, well, that Stacy. -Oh, that Sta--

They joked that Stacy wasn't part of this trial.

But they were wrong.

♪♪

Casarez: The prosecution presented their evidence,

saying the death of Kathleen was a murder committed by Drew.

I didn't specifically say how he killed her.

But she was placed in the tub, I believe, after she was dead.

The prosecution pointed to the suspicious timing.

Connor: Kathleen's, you know, body is found in the tub

right before the divorce property settlement

was going to be done.

Savio Doman: And she was going to be getting

half of his pension,

but she died before that.

Grace: Jane, the last witness on the stand,

extremely powerful -- What happened?

This is the first hearsay statement allowed in.

Hearsay statements are normally not allowed in criminal trials.

But the circumstances of Kathleen's death

allowed some of them to come in.

If it's believed that the defendant

actually killed off the person,

he shouldn't benefit from that.

Jackson: Both Kathleen and Stacy had made stunning disclosures

about what Drew had said to them.

Savio Doman: Kathleen called me on a Friday night

the weekend before her death.

And she said to me, "He's gonna kill me,

and he's gonna make it look like an accident, he told me.

And I think -- I think he's gonna do it."

Casarez: One of the biggest revelations

was when Pastor Neil Schori walked up and took the stand.

I remember thinking,

"I've been holding this story in for so long.

It feels like I can finally breathe again."

Connor: Pastor Neil Schori was a pastor at a church in Bolingbrook.

He had counseled both Stacy and Drew Peterson,

basically about issues in their marriage.

Neil Schori and Stacy had met for coffee

shortly before her disappearance.

Schori: She suddenly looks at me,

and she says, "Neil, I think I want to tell you something."

She told Schori Drew came home one night,

the weekend of Kathleen's death.

Hosey: She found him dumping women's clothes

into the washing machine -- clothes that weren't hers.

He was dressed in all black from head to toe.

And she said, "Where were you?"

He said, "You know where I was."

Told me that Drew had killed Kathleen.

♪♪

He sat her down, and he said, "Stacy, in a few hours,

the police are going to come here,

and they're going to question you."

Glasgow: He then coached her on what to tell the police,

and that she did lie on his behalf.

And she felt immediately roped in

to the murder of Kathleen Savio

by her husband.

♪♪

Casarez: There was that feeling that Stacy Peterson,

her words were in that courtroom for that jury to hear,

and it was a moment where the trial just stood still.

The whole point of his testimony's ridiculous.

Somebody tells you they live with a murderer,

and you do nothing?

So Drew Peterson's defense team decided to do something

to repair the damage of Neil Schori's testimony.

They called a witness who would provide a motive

for Stacy to have made those statements.

And, in short, that motive was gonna be money.

Casarez: The defense calls Harry Smith,

who was the attorney for Kathleen

as she was going through that divorce with Drew.

Here's what people didn't realize --

Stacy herself had called this attorney

just days before she disappeared.

Stacy wanted to ask me questions about a divorce from Drew.

She very calmly asked about the potential

for getting more money in the divorce

if we told the police how Drew killed Kathleen.

Mr. Brodsky did ask me,

"Didn't you say if

No, she said, "What if we tell themhow

♪♪

There were groans from Drew Peterson's own defense table.

Hosey: I knew it was a bad idea for the defense to call him.

I didn't know it was that bad.

St. Clair: Those conversations that she had with Schori and Smith

would ultimately be what convicted Drew

of Kathleen's death.

We got him. We finally got him.

An Illinois jury has found Drew Peterson guilty of murder

in the 2004 death of his ex-wife Kathleen Savio.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Together: ♪ He got what he deserved ♪

[ Cheering ]

Guilty -- Drew Peterson guilty.

That was just a flood of emotions.

But there was another statement which was not allowed at trial.

Schori: Stacy shared with me

details of what Drew had done to Kathleen.

♪♪

He hit her on the back of the head with his police baton,

and he made it look like she had an accident in the bathtub

and she drowned.

And his quote was,

"If you tell them what I tell you to say,

this will be the perfect crime."

Casarez: The public did not hear Drew's reaction

until his sentencing in February of 2013.

Drew: [ Screaming ] I did not kill Kathleen!

It was so loud and so venomous.

And he just launches into this rant

that I think went on for roughly a half an hour,

how he'd been framed, how he'd been set up.

And then he proceeded to blame me for everything.

And when it was over, he was sentenced to 38 years in prison.

Drew Peterson was now facing

the rest of his life behind bars.

Jackson: But like everything else in Drew Peterson's case,

there was one twist that no one saw coming.

♪♪

♪♪

Casarez: Two years had passed

since Drew Peterson was convicted

of murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Drew was being held in Menard Prison

down in the Southern end of Illinois.

Drew intended to, and did, appeal his conviction.

St. Clair: It seemed possible

that they could actually win this thing on appeal.

♪♪

Out of the blue came this new charge.

I want to turn now to a stunning development

in the case of Drew Peterson.

Ring a bell?

He does something really off the rails.

Unthinkable.

There was this allegation that

Drew had tried to have Jim Glasgow murdered.

Jackson: One of Drew's fellow inmates at Menard Prison

snitched on Drew Peterson.

Glasgow: Antonio Smith wrote me the letter

saying that Drew Peterson offered him $10,000 to kill me.

Casarez: The FBI arranged for Antonio Smith,

better known as "Beast,"

to secretly record conversations with Drew.

Drew Peterson never specifically asked

for the killing or murder of James Glasgow,

but he constantly communicates that wish.

The charges allege that the defendant solicited

an individual to carry out a murder-for-hire plot

against Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow.

Which immediately brought back

those words that Drew said in his sentencing hearing.

There's a genuine hatred of Jim Glasgow from my dad.

He blames Glasgow for everything.

Female Reporter: Former Illinois police sergeant Drew Peterson

has been found guilty

on two counts of solicitation of murder.

Seidel: Drew already had a sentence of 38 years.

And then, for the solicitation of murder case,

he gets another 40 years on top of that.

And any hope he had of walking free

was extinguished that day.

Aikin: So many lives have been broken

and just torn apart with pain and heartache.

I think one of the saddest sort of legacies of this case

are his children.

♪♪

Drew's son Stephen is raising his younger children now

in the home where he and Stacy lived.

♪♪

I don't know when it was where I started, you know,

realizing that his story probably isn't adding up.

You kind of just put two and two together and, you know,

realize that, you know, he probably is responsible.

Jackson: To this day,

Drew Peterson remains the prime suspect

in his wife Stacy's disappearance.

Investigators can only speculate

as to what Drew Peterson actually did to her.

No forensic evidence that really could be collected.

But, again, if you overpower them

and asphyxiate them,

there really isn't gonna be much forensic evidence.

Seidel: I think that her family would like to see justice.

They saw Kathleen's family get justice.

They saw justice in this case involving Jim Glasgow.

There's been no justice for Stacy.

My hope is that, one day, maybe Drew would confess.

Stephen: I don't think he'll ever

come forward and tell the truth.

I think he wants to go out a victim himself.

I don't think he wants his kids thinking

that he was capable of doing something like that.

I walk into everywhere I go,

and there's this little hum that goes through the establishment.

"There's Drew Peterson. There's Drew Peterson.

There's Drew Peterson."

In 2018, Drew Peterson requested

the Supreme Court hear his appeal

in the Kathleen Savio case,

but the court declined to do so.

Peterson still has not been charged

in the disappearance of his wife Stacy,

but State's Attorney Jim Glasgow

says he remains committed to bringing her case to justice.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.