Unanswered Cries

Before she died in 2004, Kathleen Savio, the third wife of former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson, repeatedly warned authorities she would be killed. Now her death has been reclassified a homicide. Why wasn't there a stronger response to her pleas for help?

By David Murray

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By the fall of 2003 Kathy had a boyfriend, a new career path, and a plan: Once her divorce was finalized, she would sell the house and move her boys to nearby Mokena, where, upon graduating from the nursing program she was attending at Joliet Junior College, she would work at St. James Hospital. Her attorney, Harry Smith, says a temporary support hearing early in 2004 indicated that in the divorce settlement Kathy was likely to be awarded the house, child support, maintenance, a percentage of Drew's pension, and cash proceeds from the sale of Suds Pub.

"We were going to have a big party," Sue remembers. "The balloons were going to say, 'You made it!'"

Kathy remained fatalistic, however. Anna and Kathy's nursing-school colleague Mary S. Parks offered to let Kathy and her boys move into their homes for protection. Parks recalls that by late 2003, Kathy "felt [Drew] was going to get her" no matter where she went. "She felt like he was omnipotent."

Jan Russell, who runs a program against domestic violence for the Chicago Police Department, says that attitude is typical. Russell will not comment directly on the Peterson case, but she says that abusive officers often convince their wives they have connections throughout the law enforcement and political system, whether they actually have the connections or not.

Kathy's body was discovered March 1, 2004. "Local officer finds estranged wife in bathtub," read the article March 3rd in Joliet's Herald News; "no signs of foul play."

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In the days immediately following her death, records show that state police, who had been brought in to investigate because the matter involved a Bolingbrook policeman, presented the case to then State's Attorney Tomczak as a potential homicide. The Chicago Tribune has reported that a state police investigator in this case also appeared before a grand jury at that time. A spokesman for the state's attorney will not comment on the grand jury, but adds that when the current state's attorney took office half a year later, in the fall of 2004, his administration received no indication that the case was ongoing.

A coroner's jury also looked into the circumstances of Kathy's death. The coroner's jury system, now widely considered anachronistic, involves a hearing at which the coroner questions investigators and other witnesses in front of a six-person jury. The jury rules on the manner of death, and its ruling is often factored into the state's attorney's decision as to whether to pursue the case. (In January 2007, Illinois law was changed to make the use of an inquest optional.)

In the hearing on Kathy's death, Will County coroner Pat O'Neil questioned Sue Doman. According to the transcript, Sue said it was "very hard for me to accept" that her sister's death was an accident, given the impending conclusion of the divorce case and in light of her history with Drew. "She was just terrified of him."

Next, state police officer Herbert Hardy represented the state police's opinion that the death was an accident. He wasn't the lead investigator in the case and had not visited the crime scene. But he said Drew Peterson had an alibi, corroborated by his wife, Stacy. "His current wife was interviewed, his job was interviewed, all those neighbors around in his area were—were talked to," Hardy testified. "We have no reason to believe at this time that . . . he was not where he said he was."

After just two witnesses and O'Neil's presentation of the pathology and toxicology reports, the jury took less than an hour (as one juror told Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren) to determine that Kathy's death was accidental.

O'Neil told Chicago he thought all along that the proper ruling would have been that the manner of death was "undetermined." In the aftermath of the inquest, he recalls feeling "kind of empty." (O'Neil, a Democrat, is up for reelection in November. Recently, his Republican opponent, Charles Lyons, has made the handling of the inquest an issue in the campaign.)

Sue remembers feeling shocked and defeated. "We left with our heads down," she says. The family believed there was nothing else to be done. Their overwhelming feeling was, "We lost."

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Drew Peterson married Stacy Cales in October 2003, and when she disappeared mysteriously last October 28th, investigators took a new interest in Kathy's death. Her body was exhumed and Larry Blum, an independent forensic pathologist, conducted a new autopsy. In February, nearly four years to the day after Kathy's death, Blum concluded that her death had been a homicide by drowning. Now a special grand jury is investigating the case. Drew Peterson expressed surprise and skepticism at the new finding.

Kathy's sister Sue says she regrets not having made more noise after the coroner's inquest. Both she and Anna have suffered from depression since their sister's death. Anna wishes she had "got [Kathy's] butt out of Bolingbrook," she says, adding, "maybe we should have brought her to a safe house."

Others sharply second-guess the actions—or lack of same—of officials alerted to Kathy's fears. Bolingbrook's new police chief, Ray McGury, says that given the same set of circumstances as his predecessor, Mike Calcagno, he would have reprimanded Peterson officially after reviewing evidence. "Two or three internal investigations should have been done," he says. "I'd have had him in with his union representation. I'd have said, 'Your personal life is affecting your professional life.'" (Drew Peterson retired from the force in November.)

DuPage County state's attorney Joe Birkett, who is president of the Illinois State's Attorneys' Association, says that if he got a police report like the one forwarded by the Bolingbrook PD or got a letter like the one Kathy sent, he would at the very least "bring the victim in for an interview" and determine the strength of the case she had. If indeed her concerns were ignored, Birkett says, "that is awful."

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While they wait to see what happens in the murder case, Kathy's sisters have filed a lawsuit seeking to reopen Kathy's estate in preparation for a wrongful death suit against Drew Peterson. They say they are also considering suing the institutions that failed to respond to her calls for help.

They believe Kathy herself would want them to do it. "She is persistent—she's reaching out from the grave," says Anna. "Maybe she is a hellcat."