The big mystery is why women found Drew Peterson charming enough to marry. From his matrimonial record, he was several hundred miles of bad road. The former police sergeant from Bolingbrook, Illinois already had two marriages that had ended in divorce when he met his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Six months after a nasty divorce, she died on March 1, 2004 of what was then ruled an accidental drowning. Three years later, Peterson would be married for a fourth time, to Stacey Ann Cales, 30 years his junior. After Stacey Peterson vanished in October 2007, authorities reopened the case of Kathleen Savio.
Savio’s body was exhumed and her death was eventually declared to be “homicide staged to look like an accident.” In 2009, Peterson was put on trial for murder. During the proceedings, his defense lawyer said there was no proof he was even in Savio’s house when she died; even as prosecution witnesses described being taken to the house by Peterson only to “discover” Savio’s body. Peterson’s defense countered that he couldn’t have forcibly drowned her because the house was virtually undisturbed. Jurors took a day to return with a verdict: Peterson was found guilty of first-degree murder.
Defense lawyers have vowed to appeal the conviction, saying that the evidence could not hold up in a new trial. His sentencing date was scheduled for late November and he is facing a minimum sentence of 20 years to life. He is scheduled for sentencing on Jan 10, 2013. Meanwhile, Stacey Peterson is still missing.