FATAL VOWS: The Tragic Wives of Sergeant Drew Peterson Read online

  Kathleen suffered from nausea and dizziness, the report said. The police were notified, according to both the emergency room report and Kathleen’s sister, Anna Marie.

  “The police were at the house before we left [for the hospital], trying to calm Drew down,” Anna Marie said. “They didn’t do anything.”

  Another of Kathleen’s sisters, Susan, told of the fear Kathleen felt during her marriage to Peterson.

  “She was just terrified of him,” Susan said in May 2004. “He always threatened her. He had her in the basement one time. He did many, many things to her. He wished only for her to go away.”

  Kathleen’s nephew, Charlie Doman, the son of Anna Marie, said he got along fine with Peterson while the police sergeant was married to his aunt. Charlie, who with his sister Melissa and his mother lived less than a mile from Peterson and “Aunt Kitty,” even worked in the tavern the couple owned in the town of Montgomery, about seventeen miles from Bolingbrook.

  After the discovery of Peterson’s teenage lover and the ensuing divorce proceedings, however, bad feelings developed between Peterson and his wife’s family, Charlie told me.

  The police first showed up on Pheasant Chase Drive on February 17, 2002, less than a month prior to the divorce action. They arrived to settle a “mutual argument between Drew and Kathleen,” according to the report, using the first names that would characterize every synopsized report in the feud, in which the combatants and the police were so well-known to one another. “Drew left the residence. Kathleen’s attorney was advised by [a department] supervisor.”

  The next time the police were involved in the couple’s running row was in April 2002, forty-one days after Peterson’s divorce filing. “Kathleen showed up at Drew’s residence [on Pheasant Chase Court] and started removing items from Drew’s truck,” according to the Bolingbrook Police Department. “Drew came outside and Kathleen started hitting him in the back. Drew filed a report but never followed up with State’s Attorney for charges.”

  That was only the first time Kathleen allegedly lashed out at Peterson. Five days later, on May 3, “Drew stated that Kathleen struck him, spit at him, and pushed him in the back,” according to the police record. “Drew did not want Kathleen arrested.”

  Apparently he changed his mind on May 26. Or pressing charges could have been Stacy’s idea, as “Kathleen punched Stacy in the face because she was in the car when Drew was attempting to drop the kids off,” police said. “Kathleen was arrested. Independent witnesses. Drew kept the children.”

  Kathleen was charged with battery; her sister Anna Marie said prosecutors wanted her to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of one year’s probation. “Her response to that was, ‘Kiss my ass,’” Anna Marie told me. “They tried to push her into a confession and she refused. That’s my sister. When she’s right, she would not have backed down. She was a tiger.”

  Kathleen’s defiance apparently was vindicated: she later was acquitted of the charge, according to the Will County state’s attorney’s office. The file, however, was expunged by court order, and no record of the case exists. Years later, Peterson told me his sons lied in court about the incident “because they didn’t want their mother to go to jail.” He said he understood that and forgave them.

  Peterson even tried to prove this to me by calling his son Kristopher in from the kitchen to speak with us. The young man, thirteen at the time, responded to his father, “Yes, sir,” and walked into Drew’s home office.

  “You remember when Kathleen was your mother?” Peterson asked his son. He then went on to question him about his mother and her lawyer, Harry Smith, telling him to lie. Kristopher did not seem to recall any of this.

  At any rate, Savio, not surprisingly, appeared to have harbored heavy resentment for the young woman who stole her husband away. On December 20, 2002, police say she called the station to let officers know “she sent Stacy a certified letter advising that she will be arrested for trespass for future violations.” Peterson had likely brought Stacy along when picking up or dropping off the boys. The police summary of this incident ends simply, “Logged for documentation.”

  And on September 9, 2003, police said Kathleen claimed Stacy called her “several derogatory names while Drew was dropping off the children.” This matter was also referred to the state’s attorney’s office, but no charges were ever brought.

  Kathleen in turn leveled some serious allegations against her ex-husband. Police reported that “Kathleen claimed Drew broke into the house and held her against her will” on July 5, 2002. Only she did not get around to telling them about this until nearly two weeks later, on July 18. On December 5, 2002, Savio told police, “Drew is outside pounding on the door. Kathleen states the kids are sick and she will not give them to Drew.” Peterson complained to the cops that day himself, reportedly saying he was “upset he was not getting [his] kids.”

  And then, on June 2, 2003, the police said that “Kathleen believes someone entered the rear sliding-glass door and took her diamond wedding ring and a pair of diamond earrings out of her bedroom and a camera out of the kitchen. Drew denies any involvement.” This synopsis of the report ends with the unpromising line, “No witnesses or evidence.”

  Most of the Drew-versus-Kathleen police reports from February 2002 to November 2003 mention the couple’s sons, usually regarding visitation issues or the volatile atmosphere when the boys were picked up and dropped off. One June 2002 report had “Drew claiming that Kathleen would not turn over the kids.” In January 2003, “Kathleen called stating that the kids had a late doctor’s appointment and that she would not make the scheduled drop-off time to Drew,” according to another report. The next month, “Drew wanted to pick up the kids. Kathleen stated they were sick and she was not turning them over.” In September 2003, “Kathleen claims Drew did not drop the kids off on time,” and another time, “Kathleen [is] upset that Drew is 10 minutes late in dropping off the children.”

  Keeping with the pattern, there was another report of “Kathleen claiming Drew has children too long,” filed in November 2003.

  Things must have quieted down during December and January, as no police reports were filed in connection with the Pheasant Chase feud. But then, Anna Marie said, there was little point in calling the cops. She knows, she said, because she and her family tried.

  “We were hopping around here like a bunch of rabbits,” she said. “It didn’t do any good.”

  Anna Marie said they appealed to the authorities, found nothing in the way of satisfaction and resigned themselves to being unable to find justice from the Bolingbrook Police Department.

  “We knew going to Bolingbrook was like talking to the wall,” she said. “Actually, worse than talking to the wall.”

  Anna Marie said she sought help for her sister and was ignored. According to a letter Kathleen herself sent to the Will County state’s attorney’s office, it seems her sister was ignored as well.

  The letter, dated November 14, 2002, and sent to a Will County assistant state’s attorney reads as follows (errors that occurred in the original letter have not been corrected):

  Elizabeth Fragale

  Assistant State’s Attorney

  121 N. Chicago Street

  Joliet, Illinois

  Ms. Fragale,

  On three different occasions I have tried to reach you over the phone regarding charges I filed against Drew Peterson, on the date of July 5, 2002.

  Note, I did contact the Police Department, and talked to the assistant Chief Mike Calcagno, in reference to Drew Break in that same weekend. I than filed a report in regards to my safety, from Drew by two officer that arrive at my residents 392 Pheasant Chase, Bolingbrook, Il, 60490.

  When I found out Mr. Peterson was having an affair with a minor at the police department, he began to get very violent. By striking me with his hand and chasing me through the house with a police stick. At that time on record, I had to get an order of protection from him.

  Their has been several
times throughout my marriage with this man where I ended up at the emergency room in Bolingbrook for injuries, and I have reported this only to have the police leave my home without filing any reports.

  On July 5th, Mr. Peterson got into my home with a garage door opener he programmed for himself, while I was out of town with my son’s. I was unaware of his presents, and was very afraid for my live. This man pop out from our living room while I was walking down stair, with a basket of laundry. I was shocked and dropped all the cloths and stood their, asking him to get out. Drew was in uniform (Swat Uniform), with his police radio in his ear. He yelled, for me to sit down and be quiet I refused and he pushed me on the stairs. He told me to move down to the third step and not to move or speak. He was very angry that in our divorce the judge ruled he would have to pay me child support. He told me he didn’t want to pay me anything. (He left my boys 8 and 9, and I With many bills, up to 2,000.00 and with an 11,000.00 income tax bill, as well as 6800.00 property tax bill for us to pay. Needless to say we are without money or any credit.) He kept me in a position for a very long length of time, while trying to convince me how horrible I am, and I just need to die. He asked me several times if I was afraid, I started to panic! He pulled out his knife, that he kept around his leg and brought it to my neck. I thought I’d never see my boys again. I just told him to end this craziness and he for some reason pulled back. I didn’t tell the police because I know they can’t protect me from him. I know he will be back; he’s now attempting to try to make me look like the bad guy, with untrue charges of Battery against him, and his 17 yr. Girlfriend. The sick thing is I really think they’re enjoying this. Over the summer they went out of their way to roller blade right in front of my home, drive by and stop for long lengths of time in front of the house. Childish things like his girl friend flipping me off if I was out in front with the kids while driving by.

  At the present time my children have been in a program at school called rainbows, in efforts to repair some of the damage Drew and his girlfriend has created. One of which Drew falsely arrested me in front of my children with my face in the grass and calling me a criminal for hitting his girlfriend, which didn’t happen. Instead she called me a bounce of inappropriate name in front of my children, so I felt it was necessary to get them back in the house away from this. When I ran to the truck, it being very high up I notices Stacy his girl friend taping me, with the stolen camera Drew took from our home. I attempted to take the camera and my next goal was to return to my home with my children. But I was thrown to the ground and treated like an outlaw, and booked and arrested for no reason. My wrist was sprained, when I was being thrown to the ground and held down by Drew, who was not on duty at the time. While this was happening my children were being held against their own will, by [the following is partially blacked out, but appears to read “Stacy Cales”], while she told them to sit down and be quiet. My son’s phyc is working with them but states, ‘she can’t fix what continue to happen on a on going basis’. My eight year old come home from spending 1 hour with his dad, because he really is never there, and pushes his sons and girlfriend on my son all the time, and expressed to me that he was confused! It seemed that Drews live in girl friend showed both my sons her wedding dress and ring, and told them she was going to marry their father. Of course that’s okay, for Adults, but when my boys come home with tears in their eyes, still hoping for mom and dad to get back together again, it become heart breaking and very confusing to them. They don’t understand how dad can get married if he’s still married to their mommy. The list goes on, and I understand it’s just part of it, but it need to stop. My sons and I would like to move away from this area, for our safety and sanctity. I am a full time Nursing Student and Drew left me while in the middle of the program. I don’t want my career or my sons to suffer this nightmare anymore.

  He knows how to manipulate the system, and his next step is to take my children away. Or Kill me instead.

  I really would like to know why this man wasn’t charged with this unlawful entry, and attempt on my life. I am willing to take any test you want me to take to prove my innocents of charges against me, and also any lie detector test, on the my statement I filed against him. I really feel, Drew is a loose cannon, he out on the streets of Bolingbrook patrolling, and just taking the law into his own hands. I haven’t received help from the Police here in Bolingbrook, and asking for your help now. Before it’s to late. I really hope by filing this charge it might stop him from trying to hurt us.

  Sincerely, Kathleen Peterson

  Kathleen had been the woman spurned, dropped by her husband for a girl twenty years younger, which certainly makes the hostility she felt toward her husband at least somewhat understandable. But the anger may also have been so intense because, as her sister Anna Marie told me, improbable as it may sound, “I think she was still in love with Drew at the end.”

  Yet Anna Marie mentioned another man her sister loved even more than Peterson; a man who may have been, in fact, the love of her life. This man, whom she identified only as “Mark”—she couldn’t remember his last name—reappeared at a memorial service for Kathleen.

  Mark was Kathleen’s last serious boyfriend before she took up with Peterson, Anna Marie said. They dated for quite a while, but it just never turned into marriage.

  At the memorial service, “he was just crying like a baby,” Anna Marie said. “He said, ‘I still love her. I should have married her. She’d still be alive.’”

  Mark had never married, Anna Marie said, although he told her he “came close a couple times.” As close as he came, she said he never got over her sister.

  “He was really broken up,” Anna Marie said. What’s more, his love would not have been unrequited, had her sister been alive.

  “I think Kitty was still in love with him,” she said, telling how one time, when Kathleen was married to Drew and after their son Thomas was born, she’d spotted her old boyfriend on a boat on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.

  “She said, ‘My heart sank,’” Anna Marie recalled. But Kathleen’s heart proved resilient, because she moved on with her life, entering into a serious relationship after her marriage fell apart. According to an Illinois state police special agent, Kathleen and her boyfriend, Steve Maniaci, even contemplated marriage. Reportedly, he and Kathleen had a phone conversation at the end of February 2004 in which they discussed wedding plans.

  Maniaci failed to respond to numerous requests to speak of his past with Kathleen, his knowledge of Peterson and his fourth wife, and the phone conversation with Kathleen. If they indeed discussed their marriage plans during that phone call, it was, as it turned out, the last time they talked about the matter.

  Anna Marie, however, explained that her sister and Maniaci had known each other for close to half of their lives, meeting when they were both working for a company that provided jukeboxes and pinball machines.

  “She was in her twenties,” Anna Marie said. “There was a bunch of them that got together. They called themselves the stinky dogs. They were all young, stupid, hanging out.”

  The stinky dogs might have been young and stupid, but as they aged, they obtained professional and financial success, Anna Marie said. They also kept in touch and managed to meet periodically and even went on vacations together. When she was married to Peterson, Kathleen still saw the other stinky dogs about twice a year, although her husband disapproved.

  “Oh, no, he didn’t like that at all,” Anna Marie said. “They would bring their significant others. Drew never went.”

  Anna Marie said she sometimes went in her sister’s husband’s place. While she was out with them, she noticed the heat between her sister and Maniaci.

  “There was an attraction between Kitty and Steve,” she said. “It just never went anywhere.”

  After she split with Peterson, Kathleen and Maniaci had the opportunity to get a romance off the ground, and their future looked promising.

  “My sister was very happy,” Anna Marie said. “St
eve’s mild-mannered. He just loved the kids. I was so happy she was happy.

  “She loved those kids to death,” she continued. “I don’t think she would have been with anyone who didn’t love the kids.”

  Kathleen and Maniaci were together in early 2004. By then, the war between Savio and Peterson seemed to be winding down.

  Then suddenly, during the last weekend of February, came an abrupt, total ceasefire.

  That weekend, Peterson had his sons. He tried to return the boys to Savio at the appointed time, he said, only she was not home, or at least not answering the door.

  It was unlike Kathleen to be gone when her sons were scheduled to return.

  The reason for her strange absence would soon become known: a revelation that was a tragedy for her young sons and family but also spelled the sudden end of Peterson’s ongoing battles—financial, emotional, civil, and criminal—with the woman up the street.

  Drew Peterson spent the last weekend of February 2004 with his two sons, Kristopher and Thomas; the highlight of the weekend was a visit to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The boys lived with their mother, Kathleen Savio, but their dad was just down the street with his new young bride.

  In a few weeks, Peterson had a court date in which he was to surrender a substantial amount of assets and property to his ex-wife. Peterson may have been remarried, and Savio may have been involved with a new boyfriend, but their divorce was not yet final. The second half of the proceedings, the part where the couple’s property and assets were divided, was at last coming to a close, and it looked like Savio was going to walk away with at least the house on Pheasant Chase Drive and very likely much more.

  “Drew was already skinned alive in the preliminary,” said Anna Marie Doman. “She was going to get the majority.” Already Peterson was paying a few thousand a month in child support, Doman said, and her sister told her she was due to get part of his pension, as well. “She was going to do pretty well,” Doman said. “She wouldn’t have to work after that. But she never got it. Quite a miracle.”