Drew Peterson to Illinois Supremes: Give me control of third wife's estate

March 11, 2009
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter

Drew Peterson wants the Illinois Supreme Court to return control of his third wife's estate to him.

The former Bolingbrook police sergeant's lawyer filed a brief today asking the state's high court to overturn rulings by two lower courts that reopened Kathleen Savio's estate and made her sister and father joint executors of her will.

The body of the 40-year-old Savio was discovered in a bathtub in 2004 - after she had divorced Peterson but before a financial settlement had been reached on their assets - which included a $1 million life insurance policy for her two sons with Peterson.

Her drowning at first was ruled accidental. But, after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in 2007, authorities reviewed Savio's death and concluded her death was a murder.

Savio's relatives moved last March to reopen her estate, possibly as a prelude to filing a wrongful-death lawsuit against Peterson. They also asked that Peterson's uncle, James Carroll, be removed as executor of her will and replaced with Savio's sister and father.

A Will County judge agreed last April to reopen the estate and make Savio's relatives executors.
Last month, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld that ruling.

Now, Peterson is asking the Supreme Court to reverse those rulings.

"We believe there are errors in the appellate court's decision to reopen the estate which we believe the Supreme Court can and will rectify," Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky said in a statement released by Peterson's publicist.

Peterson has denied any involvement in Savio's death or Stacy Peterson's disappearance.