RSSStacy Peterson Missing Persons Case: Autopsy Report for Drew Peterson’s 3rd Wife, Kathleen Savio
AUTOPSY REPORT OF KATLEEN SAVIO, 3RD WIFE OF DREW PETERSON
Read the autopsy report and tell us whether you would have determined that the death was an accidental drowning.
For the complete autopsy report, go to AMW.
Will County Coroner’s Statement regarding the death of Kathleen Savio
And in other strange reports from the case of missing Stacy Peterson, Missing Illinois Mom’s Neighbor Reports Cop-Husband’s Odd Behavior to Police.
A neighbor of an missing Illinois woman filed a police report against the woman’s husband and recalled seeing the mother of two sitting at the end of her driveway in tears a week before she disappeared, she told FOX News.
It’s pretty bad when one’s mother has to defend your bizarre behavior and not letting police search your home as your wife is missing. However, some how its OK to allow the media in. What’s good for the media, should be good for the police.
On Saturday, Drew Peterson’s mother defended him in a telephone interview with FOX News.
“He didn’t do anything,” Betty Morphey said. In response to a question about Drew Peterson’s refusing to let officers search his home, she asked: “Would you want people going through your house?”
Peterson, however, did give a tour of his house to FOX News’ Jamie Colby.
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25 Responses to “Stacy Peterson Missing Persons Case: Autopsy Report for Drew Peterson’s 3rd Wife, Kathleen Savio”
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Shocking!
I am not a doctor, but after reading the report, it appears that there was a struggle. There is bruising on her arms, thighs and hands not to mention the contusion to the head. The finger prints to the chest area could indicate that she was pushed or held under water. However, I read that there was no water in the tub. The findings of drowning is based on the cone of mucus found in the nose. Is it possible that she may have been beaten in that tub, or, merely, placed in the tub after the fact?
Surely, if she had drowned in the tub, after hitting her head, the hair would be washed clean of most, if not all of the blood. However, the description of there being dried blood throughout the hair indicates to me that there was no water in the tub, in which she was supposed to have drowned in.
Another thing that is troubling is the condition of the lungs. The autopsy doesn’t mention any fluid in the lungs. And again the doctor clearly states that he bases his conclusion on the fluid that had discharged and formed a cone from the nostils, she may have simply had a cold, as the autopsy clearly states that there was a minimal sign of bronchitis. She may not have drowned, at all.
Drowning or no, the other injuries, especially the brusing at the elbows indicate, to me that she was pushed (again consistent with the finger prints to the chest area) and probably fell, catching herself on her elbows at such a force that would cause a bruising of that area. The bruising of the right index finger is classically what is called a “defensive wound” and is consistant with her taking a beating.
Now the only question is:
How does a coroner ignore the obvious and indicate a, mere, drowning when a person is displaying signs of a struggle? How can a woman who, according to the autopsy, is in good health come to have a contusion to the skull area? Surely, there is no indication of a heart attack, aneurysum, or stroke. There is nothing, that would indicate that the blow to the head could have come from passing out from natural causes. Besides, while people slip in bathtubs and drown all the time, that is pretty hard to do with no water present.
There is somthing very wrong in Will County that has been ignored. Had there been a fair investigation into the death of Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson would still be with us.
I suggest that Will County check their records for any unsolved cases in their area involving the beating deaths of women, even prostitutes. Obviously, this officer of the law would have had plenty of opportunities to come in contact with women both in dating and in the execution of his job.
.
Patti
hmmmm, now i’m hearing that drew peterson is claiming he’s lost 25 pounds since stacy disappeared on october 28th. now if we could just bottle guilt we could make a fortune in the weight loss drug market. of course it doesn’t have any affect if you have a 17 year old mistress to get your mind off it.
I served on a corners inquest in Will County
I know that the jurors are given the evidence and then make a decision based on the evidence and testimony. I wonder if Drew and others were in attendance of that inquest and what they testified to?
I understand that O’Neil disagreed with the findings and the States Attorney made the final decision. Why would a SA not persue the questions of the coroner?
I’ve said before my neighbors we grew up by in Illinois, knew them well, my brother was a good friend of the father. After we were grown, the woman was divorcing him and she came up missing and he was, about 2 years later or so, charged with her murder and burning her body, except for the skull and he threw it in the river. He was found guilty and given life. He had the same excuses this guy does. I never heard anyone say a bad word about his wife. She was always doing something to help out someone. After she went missing, he constantly trashed her. He said she ran off with another man.
Just like this Drew Peterson. Greta said he told her, his wife went some place warm with another man, because her bikini is missing. What a nut!
Our neighbor’s wife left notes in a lock box at the bank. She was afraid for her life, she said she thought he would kill her and to look for him if she came up missing. She also had accounts of things he had stolen and made money from.
The 3rd wife’s death ruled an accident is a joke.
18 times the police was called to the home. She also said she thought he would kill her and stage it as an accident or she would disappear. His kids have said they fear him. His second wife said she fears him. One child, of the supposedly drowning Kathleen, wrote all he wanted for Christmas was his dad to leave his mom alone. How they read this autopsy and thought it was an accident is unbelievable. They said she would be bleeding heavily from the head wound, yet the scene didn’t show that.
Cleary, Drew Peterson is a very disturbed person and I think people turned their heads for years, because he was a sgt in the Police Department. How did he get away with marrying a 17 year old when he was 49.
Stacy Peterson, Laci Peterson, its all the same old story. No way after decorating her home for Halloween and saying she was looking soo forward to taking her kids trick or treating, did she just walk off with another man and leave her kids. This family has so much tragedy in their past, its so heartbreaking. What a jerk to add to it.
The difference in this case and the one in Aruba. Clearly people are outraged at her husband and have much compassion for the victim and to seek justice for all these abused women and kids.
This cone in the nostrils is really bothering me, not just because the coroner bases his opinion of drowning on it; but, because in the case of a drowning, it makes no sense.
I believe that she may have had tape over her mouth which would cause the discharge of anything in the lung to back-up and be discharged through the nostrils. If her face was submurged in water, this fluid would have emerged with the water. There would have still been water in the lungs, as well, as any other open cavity such as her nostrils… no exception… and the lung would have shown signs of stress, such as broken blood vessels. None of which is present here.
The cone in her nostil sounds like it may be consistant with the discharge that your body automatically disposes of, upon death. It is also consistent with the finding of a slight case of bronchitis that was discovered in her lungs. Had she been underwater, it would not have dried as a cone, but rather it would have remained wet and eventually would have broken down in the water, had there been any.
I agree with Klaas and the others who have stated that this is a staged scene, one that most coroners would be able to see through… but maybe they really weren’t looking. Which leads us back to the original question, “Why”?
P.S.
In order for her hair to be drenched and dried with blood, she would have had to be face down in the water… the cone would not have remained in the nostril to dry.
In my opinion, she died with tape covering her mouth or with a gag in her mouth obstructing the discharge from her lung.
It will be interesting to see what the new autopsy shows… there is no doubt in my mind that the new findings will be different.
Haven’t posted for a while. Glad to see the regulars are still here :>)
anyway, I think he hit her in the head and killed her in the struggle because for whatever reason he could not keep her held down in that tub to drown her as he wanted to. The tub probably was filled with water at one point, but if he knocked her in the head and thought she was dead, he obviously would have left the scene…and if she WASN’T dead yet, she would have thrashed around some and possibly either dislodged the plug or hit on that lever allowing the water to drain out. Then, she laid there and either bled out or succumbed to the head/brain injury.
either way, I doubt her mouth was taped. What I AM sure of is that her husband isn’t as brilliant a crook as he thinks he is. Also, the cop’s mommy is the root of his problem. How DARE she say having someone go through his house is a problem? What the hell does she think HE DID many times as an officer to other peoples’ homes? Like…DUH!!
Not only that, but she mentions “lack of respect” towards her baby boy. Does this scream of Scott Peterson’s corrupting mother? She obviously raised him to be “better than everyone” in his and her own eyes. Respect? Respectfully NOT!
Brenda
Police coverups are common everywhere.Aruba isn’t the only ones covering for their own.To protect and serve their own ass.
#8
This is only one cop –
In Aruba, the whole force is corrupt.
And… the judicial system
And… the Ministers
And… the A.L.E.
And… the Aruban Tourism Association
And… the Drug Dealers
And… the Money Launderers
And… the Arawak Nation
Aruba is a TOTAL mess!
.
Miss U:
I believe what experts have said:
The blood loss from her head wound
would have been massive -
She was killed somewhere else and
placed into the tub –
He staged an “accident” that never happened.
Can you tell me more or provide a link to the questions that were asked by the coroner and the basis on which the State Attorney ignored those questions?
Thanks…
Patti
Since it is obvious the house was not checked for blood elsewhere…time for the police to get out that special light they user to luminate blood. I understand as long as ANY trace of blood is still on the walls, carpet, flooring, etc…it will illuminate it. That is, if they have not done so already.
With loving hubby now a full suspect, I cannot see why they would wait. She must have died in the house.
If you are a woman and you meet a guy with the last name Peterson, run the other way!
Cripes sake, what is it with these guys named Peterson???
HOw about this scenario. Peterson’s 4th wife, then his girlfriend, killed the 3rd wife in a jealous rage. Peterson knows this and threated wife number 4 with outing her, when wife number filed for divorce.
Wife number 4 in hiding, afraid to come out for fear of being arrested in death of wife number 3.
Hmmmmmm, movie of the week material.
Me thinks this guy Peterson does not pass the smell test
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.true-crime/browse_thread/thread/3b36dbc2ce2d9ff1/b7191de7a0697698?lnk=raot
Patti,
When I served, we were given testimony to the cases. Now, depending on who decided to show up to the inquest, determined what testimony we heard. The cases were heard we rather simple.
However if you read the above link, if there was any collusion within the LE, there was a police office who testified as to the where abouts of Peterson. That is a red flag to me, because a inquest is to determine the cause of death, thats all. Not a determination of any of guilt/innocence of any the people involved.
Soooo why did a LE have to be there to say where Peterson was during that time?
Thank you, Ms. U!
Can you believe it?
They were THAT close to figuring it out.
Quote from Above:
____________________
“We had all kinds of evidence, and all of us went through it,” James, the inquest juror, told the Tribune. “We came to the conclusion that it was accidental due to the fact that the evidence we looked at did not indicate a homicide.”
But James said the bloody bathtub gave him pause.
“I had some doubt as to what happened because the pictures that we did see, the tub was empty, but there was all kinds of blood still in the tub and all around the drain and the rim of the tub,”
James said. “I thought in the back of my mind that if there was water in the tub, that would have probably diluted some of the blood and the blood would have gone out with it. But as we looked at the pictures, there was still a lot of blood inside the tub.
_______________________
You don’t bleed after you’re dead. After being placed in the tub, some blood may have dripped from her hair, but not to the degree that it would be all around the rim and drain or be described as a lot of blood in the tub. I think she was almost dead when she was placed in the tub.
That explains the coroner’s report which didn’t make any sense at all in describing a drowning. I could tell from the report that she was face down, but a cone of mucus is hardly a red hering in determining a drowning. Nothing in his report is consistent with drowning… nothing.
I suppose after the inquest that was the only thing that he could think of to point to the findings of the jury… a cone – rediculous. I still think she was taped or gagged. Maybe that’s why he specifically pointed to that in his report… hoping that someone, someday would review it.
I think you hit it right on the head, Ms. U., there were people at the inquest covering for him and, obviously, an ill advised jury. Had the cause of death been “undetermined” we would have come to expect an investigation.
But, what’s interesting is that they felt the need to have an inquest in the first place. Usually, the findings of the coroner is enough and, rarely, is there an inquest. Someone in that department knew all the steps to take to bypass the coroner’s findings and prevent an investigation into her death.
http://www.amw.com/pdf/petersoncoroner.pdf
Ms. U:
I’m having a hard time getting into that link.
But I found this one:
http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/case.cfm?id=50297
AMW MISSING DATA FILE FOR
Stacy Ann Peterson
Complete Broadcasts
Cops: Husband Is A Suspect In Wife’s Disappearance
Courtesy: MyFoxChicago.com
View LargerStacy Peterson, the 23-year-old wife of longtime Bolingbrook, Ill. police officer Sgt. Drew Peterson, vanished on Sunday, October 28, 2007. Cops say that Stacy may have left the house in a jogging suit and was supposed to be headed to a relative’s home. She never made it.
Sgt. Peterson claims he received a phone call from Stacy on Sunday at 9 pm. But, no one else heard from her after a Sunday morning phone call with relatives.
Stacy’s family has asked the Illinois State Police to look into her disappearance since her husband is a cop with the local police department. State Police Commander Carl Dobrich announced that the Bolingbrook police officer is indeed a suspect in Stacy’s disappearance.
Responding to that revelation, the Bolingbrook Fire and Police Commission suspended Drew Peterson without pay and relieved him of his duties as a Bolingbrook Police Officer. The Commission is conducting an internal affairs investigation.
Drew Peterson is 53-years-old. Stacy is his fourth wife. Sgt. Peterson has served on the Bolingbrook Police force for 29 years.
The Savio family, reacting to the news, told AMW that the exhumation is “bittersweet because we will have to bury Kathleen again.”
ISP Digs Up Old Mystery
Stacy’s family says she would never leave her children behind and they fear the worst.
View LargerState investigators are trying to track down the missing woman and in the process are looking in to Sgt. Peterson’s past. That includes the mysterious death of his third and previous wife, Kathleen Savio.
Kathleen’s death in March 2004 was ruled an accidental drowning after she was found in the waterless tub of the home she shared with Sgt. Peterson. At the time of her death, Kathleen and Sgt. Peterson were divorced and settling their assets and custody of their two children.
A week and a half after the disappearance of Stacy, Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil spoke publicly about the Savio death. He said that he would have preferred to classify Kathleen’s cause of death as “undetermined” rather than “accidental.” In 2004, coroners in Illinois deferred to jury panels to rule on deaths. In this case, the jury stated Kathleen’s cause of death was accidental.
Now, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow says that because of Stacy’s disappearance, new evidence has come to light about Kathleen’s death. They have formally reopened the investigation and have exhumed Kathleen’s body.
Authorities say the Savio death is rife with inconsistencies, including that the gash on the back of her head may not have been sufficient to render her unconscious. If she wasn’t unconscious, cops say she would not have drowned accidentally. Investigators are looking at Kathleen’s remains to find any previously unseen broken bones or subcutaneous bruising that would result from choking and other injuries. In a November 9 press conference, Glasgow also cited the inconsistencies surrounding the draining of the bathtub’s water and the blood evidence left behind. In official court documents, Will County authorities said that the evidence on hand is “consistent with the “staging” of an accident to conceal a homicide.”
The exhumation, which took place in the early morning hours of November 13, was conducted largely under a maroon tent at Kathleen’s cemetary plot. Authorities say it was done with great respect and even included a short grave-side prayer ceremony conducted by a local police chaplain.
The Savio family, reacting to the news, told AMW that the exhumation is “bittersweet because we will have to bury Kathleen again.” However, they also told us they are elated that Kathleen will finally see some long-awaited justice.
——————————————————————————–
»PDF: Drew Peterson’s Third Wife’s Protection Order
»PDF: Letter To The Prosecutor From Third Wife Kathleen Savio
»PDF: Third Wife’s Emergency Room Report
»PDF: Will County Coroner’s Statement About Kathleen Savio’s Death
»PDF: Autopsy Report: Kathleen Savio
——————————————————————————–
Two Weeks Gone With No Sign Of Stacy
Courtesy of MyFoxChicago.com
View LargerAs Stacy has remained missing for now more than two whole weeks, family, friends and cops are stepping the search up a notch.
Police have searched the Peterson home twice now, impounded their cars for further investigation and sent divers into a nearby retention pond in an effort to track down clues on the case. Sgt. Peterson also spent two hours testifying in front of a grand jury at the Will County Court house on Wednesday, November 7. The same grand jury reconvened one week later on November 14 and reportedly subpoenaed Drew Peterson’s brother for questioning.
State’s Attorney Glasgow also revealed that the Peterson children have all been taken to a Child Advocacy Center and questioned about their mother’s disappearance. He added that the Illinois State Police is handling the missing investigation as if it were potentially a homicide.
Betty Morphey, Drew’s mother, told AMW that her son is “wonderful.” She told us, “My son is completely innocent and I just can’t believe that this is happening.” Rick Mims, a former friend of Drew Peterson’s, say he used to feel that way too. But, Rick is now changing his tune. He told AMW that he is having a harder and harder time believing Peterson, a man he has known for nearly 30 years. Rick told AMW that he has stopped communicating with his old friend and “my gut feeling is that something horrible has happened.”
The Illinois State Police say that they pinpointed nine different locations in their investigation and sent a team of investigators and canines to each. So far, their searches have yielded no new clues.
Family and friends have organized several searches in the woods and waterways near the Peterson home in Bolingbrook. They have called in the Texas-based search team Equusearch to join the hunt.
Equusearch, working with dozens of volunteers, have set-up their command post at a church near the Peterson home. They are doing ground and water searches in the woods in and around the Petersons’ Bolingbrook home, following the Illinois State Police lead. They have also launched their drone airplane, often used in these kinds of searches, in an effort to highlight suspicious areas for future searching.
Miss U:
I see the PDF’s where you are wanting me to look, but for some reason, it doesn’t work. Can you go there and copy the information for me?
Either something is wrong with my system or AMW’s system is not operating properly. (?)
Thanks!
_____________________
SM: Here you go Patti. If you can’t open them then you may need to download the most current Adobe Reader.
http://www.amw.com/pdf/peter001.PDF
http://www.amw.com/pdf/petersonletter.pdf
http://www.amw.com/pdf/petersonemergency.pdf
http://www.amw.com/pdf/petersoncoroner.pdf
http://www.amw.com/pdf/coronerdeathreport.pdf
Ms. U:
Does this mean that in 2004,
they had inquests into all deaths?
What the ?!?!?!?
That just sounds so odd to me. But if that’s true, then it was a mistake made by the jury, not a case of corruption. Except, that like you said, and it was a great point about how an alibi should never have been introduced at an inquest.
Patti
Patti
To me it is very peculiar the alibi supposedly presented for DP at the inquest by another cop.
An inquest is to determine death cause only. We were specifically told it is NOT a determination of guilt.
If I recall we were instructed that to ask any questions we felt were needed for our determination. Most of the cases we had were attended by family members and I must say ours were very simple cases. We did not have anyone there to villify others that were not present at death.
What I am saying is that jurors make a decision based on the evidence presented. So the jurors bottom line make the decision based on what is presented.
I understand that come 2008 there will no longer be inquests in WC. They claim that becasue of technology coroners are able to make those decisions.
Now why did O’Neil feel a need that the Savio case needed an inquest?
Ms. U:
Peculiar, indeed! And I agree with you on the point about the jury. I read that they didn’t even know that they had the option to chose an “undetermined” cause of death. The way the inquest was conducted sounds more like a mini-trial, which it is not meant to be.
As to why O’Neil felt the need for an inquest is beyond me. Especially, when you consider that he criticized the jurors findings, afterwards… He’s the one that said that he would have preferred that the jurors come to the decision that the cause of death was undetermined, right? It will be interesting if we ever find out who ordered the inquest… maybe it wasn’t O’Neil, at all, but someone above him.
I am going to have to down-load Adobe reader, so please excuse me if I get the names mixed up but I am assuming that O’Neil was the coroner, right?
It’s good news that Ms. Savio is being exhumed. I know it is hard on the family, but, ultimately, it is their choice. It sounds like it was done both respectfully and with dignity. It will be interesting to find out the results.
Thank you so much for your help. Please keep us informed if you hear anything.
[...] Read the initial autopsy of Kathleen Savio HERE. [...]
I don’t understand how this autopsy report could end up online. How do we know it’s the original and in a case where Stacey is missing, wouldn’t police and investigators want to keep this from the public eye???
I just read Kathleen Savio’s autopsy report and as a registered nurse I don’t think this was an accidental drowning. The blood on Kathleen’s body had settled to her anterior which mean “front” of body so she supposedly drowned face down in the tub. Usually when people fall in the tub it is because their foot slips forward and they fall backward which is consistent with the bruise in the parietal/occipital area of her head (back behind her ear) which is on the autopsy report. I don’t think the one inch laceration on her head would have been enough to render her unconscious. There was no fracture of the skull and there wasn’t a hematoma (blood pooling or bruising) under the laceration. While the blow might not have knocked her unconscious it could have stunned her enough for him to have more easily drowned her. Now the question remains did he drown her? The autopsy doesn’t report fluid in her lungs just fluid in her ethmoid sinuses. Fluid in the ethmoid sinuse wouldn’t have been enough to drown her. The mucous cone in her nostrils would probably be fluid that drains after death since she was face down. Yes, scalp lacerations bleed horribly UNLESS the heart has stopped beating or is barely beating. If she was slowly dying there would have been very little blood in the scalp wound. The bruises on the abdomen sound like maybe he punched her in the stomach a few times because the stomach is usually pretty hard to bruise and the elbow lacerations??? down on the ground propped up on her elbows and fighting? Were the bruises on both of her shins caused from being pushed into the tub from behind. She may have had a little fight left in her when he was pushing her toward the tub and she would have bruised her shins if she wasn’t lifting her own feet. This whole thing stinks of murder to me and why a coroner’s jury would have ruled accidental sounds like they were covering for a public servant.
No, it wasn’t an accident. Drew killed her and he killed Stacy too. I can’t wait to see them put the cuffs on this POS and haul him away. Perhaps that will take that smug look off his slimy face. He is a pig.
I dont even like looking at that womanizing parasite. He looks so dishonest and shady. How can bruising on the arms, thighs and chest not to mention bloody hair and no water in the tub be considered an “accidental drowning”. Its evident that the entire PoPo department and the coroner obviously committed a cover up on an obvious homocide case…..and it has Drew Peterson has the murderer all over it. He’s guilty as sin in 2 killings…..I hope he gets beat and ganged raped repeatedly. LOL