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Peterson allows reporter inside his home

Sunday, November 18, 2007

November 18, 2007 (WLS) -- Drew Peterson, a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, invited an ABC7 Chicago reporter inside his home Sunday night to show what life has like for him in recent days.

No cameras were allowed inside the home during the brief visit. It is possible that the whole purpose of inviting ABC7's Sarah Schulte inside was to try to show how normal life is inside of the Bolingbrook home.

Drew Peterson took Schulte into his kitchen where all of his children and his nephew were having dinner. In brief conversation with Stacy Peterson's two children, who are 2 and a half and four, Schulte asked them when their birthdays were, and they were all very talkative.

The invitation inside the home came days after Drew Peterson said on national television that he was afraid of the media. Shielding his face with a bandanna or hiding under a hooded sweatshirt, in the early days following his wife's disappearance, he did everything he could to hide from the media. Now, three weeks later, the former Bolingbrook police sergeant is coming and going as he pleases.

Saturday night, he explained he is not running from the cameras anymore.

"You're just intimidating my family. Everyone has gotten used to it," he said.

Because of media scrutiny and the fact that Peterson has been named a suspect in his wife's disappearance and the possible suspect in the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, he has hired a criminal defense attorney.

"He's ready for anything that may come," Peterson said about the new attorney.

Kathleen Savio's body was exhumed last week. A private autopsy conducted by Dr. Michael Baden at the request of her family indicated that her 2004 death was a homicide.

Sunday night, Drew Peterson's new attorney, Joel Brodsky, reacted to Friday's autopsy results. In a statement to ABC7 Chicago he wrote, "The results of Dr. Baden's autopsy on Ms. Savio did not surprise us, not because we believe they are accurate, but only because Dr. Baden had indicated one week before he performed the autopsy htat he believed that Kathleen Savio's death was not an accident."

"If you're not guilty, why would you have your lawyer defend that? What's the problem with the autopsy?" said Nick Savio, Kathleen's brother.

Baden is the former New York City medical examiner. The results of his autopsy were not for a law enforcement purposes.

The Savio family is also reacting to published reports from Drew Peterson's second wife who said Peterson threatened to kill her.

"I think it is very coincidental that the second wife said that the same thing that my sister said: 'He'll kill me and make it look like an accident,'" said Nick Savio.

The Savio family is expected to rebury Kathleen sometime in the coming week. Also, more grand jury testimony is expected Wednesday.

The family of Stacy Peterson took a break Sunday but will continue the search for her Monday. As always, they are looking for more volunteers.

Drew Peterson, obviously, is warming up to the media. He left his home late Sunday night and will appear on another nationally show, Good Morning America, on Monday morning.

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