Crime & Safety

Old Flame Said Drew Yukked It Up About Ex-Wife's Death

It's the eighth day of testimony in the Drew Peterson murder trial.

Updated 5:30 p.m.

A woman who said she had an affair with Drew Peterson when he was married to Kathleen Savio told how the disgraced Bolingbrook cop "laughed it off" when he was asked about his ex-wife's untimely death.

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"He laughed it off and made a couple jokes," said Susan McCauley, who was no longer romantically involved with Peterson when she says she ran into him at a bowling alley and asked him about Savio's death and its effect on her children in March 2004.

"They'll be fine. She was crazy," McCauley said Peterson told her.

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McCauley said Peterson joked and laughed when she told him he was lucky that now he would not have to pay child support or give up any of his pension or his home to Savio in their divorce, she said.

Updated 3:30 p.m. 

Kathleen Savio's sister Susan Doman said Savio told her "her husband Drew had a knife on her throat. He said he could kill her and make it look like an accident."

Susan Doman also testified that after Savio was found dead Peterson told her, "Ha ha, I found the will between the floorboards and tell your sister Anna you aren't going to get anything."

Doman also said she asked Peterson, "Why did you kill my sister?"

Doman said he looked "very surprised." He kind of choked and said, "I
wouldn't kill the mother of my children."

Updated 12:25 p.m.

A sister of Kathleen Savio will be called to testify Friday afternoon.

Susan Doman will tell jurors how Savio feared Drew Peterson would kill her and make her death look like an accident. Doman will also tell about plans she and Savio had the weekend Savio was found dead and the Illinois State Police decided she was the victim of a freak bathtub accident.

Doman will be the second of Savio's sisters to take the witness stand in Drew Peterson's murder trial. Anna Marie Doman has already testified that Savio told her Peterson threatened to kill her. Anna Marie Doman also said Savio said to her "on many occasions" that Drew Peterson told her he could kill her and make her death look like it was an accident.

Updated 11 a.m. 

Steve Maniaci learned of Kathleen Savio's death from her next-door neighbor Mary Pontarelli. He rushed over and said he saw Drew Peterson outside her house standing under a streetlight.

"He seemed to be writing a report," Maniaci said. "I went up and asked him what the hell happened," Maniaci said. "He said he didn't know."

"I said, 'Drew, I sure hope you didn't have anything to do with this.' He said he did not." 

Maniaci said he told Peterson, "This sure worked out well for you." Peterson said, "she would have lost anyway."

Updated 10 a.m. 

Kathleen Savio's boyfriend, Steve Maniaci, said he saw none of the severe bruising on her buttocks or arm three days before she was found dead.

Maniaci and Savio had sex late Friday or early Saturday the weekend of Feb. 27, 2004. Her body was "perfectly normal."

When neighbors found Savio drowned in her dry bathtub on March 1, Savio's body was marked with large red injuries on her buttocks and one round red bruise near her elbow.

The Illinois State Police investigators handling the probe of Savio's death believed the injuries appeared to have been suffered when she fell in her tub.

Original story 

On today's list of witnesses: Steve Maniaci, Susan Doman, Sue McAuley (Peterson affair) Theresa Kernc (former BPD lieutenant), Dominic DeFrancesco (Savio neighbor).

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