Months before Drew Peterson's fourth wife disappeared, Stacy Peterson expressed to Lalagos how she wanted to leave Drew but didn't know how to do it with four kids. Lalagos said Stacy was in fear of Drew. Referring to a conversation with Stacy, Lalagos testified, "Drew told her he was a cop, he could kill her, hide her body and no one would ever find her."
It was not until after Stacy's disappearance that police reopened the investigation into the death of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio. The 40-year-old was found dead in a dry bath tub in March of 2004. It was ruled an accident but reclassified as a homicide after Savio's body was exhumed.
Prosecutors are trying to show that Savio's death was never investigated properly.
Illinois State Police crime scene investigator Bob Deel admitted that he never took any fingerprints at the scene, never took evidence from Savio's bathtub, bathroom or anywhere else in the house.
Master Sgt. Bryan Falat was assisting in the investigation. Thursday he said in court, "quite honestly, I was sort of disgusted about how the investigation was handled."
Falat said he interviewed Peterson and Stacy about Savio's death and did not believe they were telling the truth. Falat testified that he thought Peterson's statement was scripted. Despite his concerns, Falat never documented them.
"It's what we call 'hindsight homicide.' You know, four years later or six years later, he says, oh well, gee whiz, I thought it was a homicide but for six years he did nothing," said Joel Brodsky, Peterson attorney.
There have now been over 50 witnesses in the pre-trial hearing and there are more to come. It will then be up to Judge Stephen White to decide which witness will be allowed to testify under the new hearsay law at Drew Peterson's trial.
