2nd Doctor Calls Savio's Death a Homicide

A second forensic pathologist testified that someone killed Drew Peterson's drowned third wife, Kathleen Savio.

The pathologist, Dr. Mary Case, also said the severe bruising on the front of Savio's body was similar to what she has seen on those hurt in car wrecks.

"I've seen injuries from motor vehicle accidents ... that would be similar to this," Case said.

Last week, forensic pathologist Larry Blum testified that Savio was the victim of a homicide.

Defense attorney Darryl Goldberg tried to get Case to admit that the bruises and abrasions on Savio's body might have been inflicted during a bout of "rough sex" with her boyfriend, Steve Maniaci.

"The bruises that I saw on her body, I can't conceive of coming from what you call, 'rough sex,'" she said.

Case also said the wound to the back of Savio's head could not have been caused by a fall, and that such a fall would not have knocked Savio unconscious anyway. Case went on to say that falling into the smooth bathtub would not have abraded the skin on Savio's left buttock.

After court, defense attorney Steve Greenberg accused Case of "stammering" through her testimony, which he said was "all over the place."

Case did not stammer at all when she was on the witness stand.

"Consider the source," Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said of Greenberg.

On Tuesday afternoon, Glasgow enjoyed the support of outspoken restaurateur Jeff Ruby, who traveled to Joliet from Cincinnati "to support the families" of both Savio and Peterson's missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

"The only class act in that fricking courtroom is that poor soul Glasgow," Ruby said outside the courthouse during a break in the trial.

Ruby, who pulled into town in a huge, black-and-gold touring bus, made headlines five years ago when he kicked O.J. Simpson out of one of his steakhouses. Earlier this month, he took aim at Peterson's attorneys, buying adds in Chicago-area newspapers that called the lawyers stooges in sunglasses.

Ruby wouldn't go after the attorneys again Tuesday, but was merciless in ripping Judge Edward Burmila.

"Has a judge ever been charged with obstruction of justice?" Ruby asked.

"You don't need a mistrial—this is a miscarriage of justice," he added, calling what's been going on in Burmila's courtroom "Joliet justice."

"If this was televised, America would see what a travesty this is," he said. "They don't need attorneys in there. They have a judge handling things."

Ruby also had some words for Peterson, saying, "You can buy sex but you can't buy love," and "This guy makes Scott Peterson look like Tim Tebow."

Before Ruby lashed out at Burmila and Peterson, the judge cleared the way for one of Peterson's old cohorts talk about the time Peterson offered him $25,000 to find someone to kill Savio.

The old Peterson pal, Jeff Pachter of Braidwood, had worked alongside Peterson installing cable television. Peterson was also a Bolingbrook cop at the time.

Pachter said he never acted on Peterson's request and that Savio ended up dead only months later.

After Savio was found drowned in her dry bathtub in March 2004, Pachter has said Peterson told him, “By the way, that favor I asked you, I don’t need it anymore."