Drew Peterson biography

At the time, Savio's death was ruled an accidental drowning. Many of her family members, however, believed that Savio had been murdered.

Stacy Peterson Disappears

On October 28, 2007, Drew Peterson's fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson, disappeared. She was supposed to go to her sister's place to help do some painting that day, but she never showed up. Drew Peterson said that he received a phone call from his wife that night, claiming that she had left him for another man. Her family reported her missing, insisting that Stacy would never have abandoned her two children. Friends also said that Stacy had been preparing to leave her husband.

Authorities and volunteers conducted an extensive search, but they found no trace of Stacy Peterson. Meanwhile, Drew Peterson quickly became a suspect in the case. He seemed unconcerned about his wife's disappearance, joking around with the media and making flippant remarks about Stacy. On the Today show, he brushed off any talk of Stacy wanting to leave him. "I'm not trying to be funny here, but Stacy Peterson would ask me for a divorce ... on a regular basis, and it was based on her menstrual cycle."

Stacy's disappearance led investigators to revisit the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio. In November 2007, her body was exhumed and re-examined. The second report on her death, released in February 2008, declared it a homicide.

Convicted of Murder

In 2009, Drew Peterson was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the death of Kathleen Savio. He was taken into custody that May and remained behind bars before his trial. Much of the case against Peterson relied on information that Savio gave to other people. Usually such hearsay evidence isn't allowed in court cases, but the Illinois legislature passed a special law in 2008 to make exceptions in certain cases.

Even with this new law in place, a Illinois court prohibited the use of eight of the 14 second-hand statements by prosecutors. Prosecutors appealed that decision in 2011, but an appellate court upheld the ruling.

In January 2012, a movie based on Peterson's story aired on Lifetime. The film, Untouchable, starred Rob Lowe as Drew Peterson.

On September 6, 2012, 58-year-old Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in the deat of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Peterson now faces a maximum 60-year prison term in November, when he is scheduled for sentencing (the state of Illinois does not have the death penalty). According to an article by The Associated Press, the 12 jurors assigned to the case came to a guilty verdict upon hearing incriminating testimony against Peterson by several witnesses. The guilty verdict was announced after two days and more than 13 hours of deliberation by jury members. 

Family members of Stacy Peterson stated that they hoped Peterson's murder conviction in Salvo's case would lead to new developments in Stacy's case, which is still under investigation. At the time of Peterson's conviction, Stacy Peterson's body had still not been found by detectives.

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