Drew Peterson's divorce battle with Kathleen Savio investigated

Peterson stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, court documents say
By Steve Schmadeke, Erika Slife and Art Barnum
Chicago Tribune reporters
May 15, 2009

Kathleen Savio had sought half of Drew Peterson's police pension, which pays $6,000 a month.

Six days before Kathleen Savio's...body was found...Drew Peterson's lawyer received papers telling his client he had been subpoenaed and was to be deposed in his ongoing divorce battle.

Peterson...stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in the divorce from the sale of the couple's home and Sud's Pub, his Montgomery bar. Savio was also going after half of his police pension, which pays $6,000 a month.

Instead of losing a bundle, Peterson got just about everything after Savio's death, including custody of their two children...The Will County state's attorney's office is conducting a closer examination of the divorce and what was at stake as it prepares for the prosecution of Peterson, scheduled to be arraigned Monday.


Harry Smith, the attorney who was representing Savio in her divorce, said he has turned over to prosecutors the subpoenas he had issued to Peterson regarding his pension and other financial matters.

The fight over personal property began shortly after the two filed for divorce within a day of each other in March 2002.

Two months later, Savio was about to leave her home and take her two children to Communion practice at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Bolingbrook when she discovered her 1997 Mercury Mountaineer was missing, according to a court filing.

Peterson called and told her if she didn't let him into the house to retrieve his water bed and other belongings, "she wouldn't be able to find" the Mercury. He broke a court order by removing items from the home, Savio alleged, asking that a judge find him in contempt.

He once entered by using a saws-all to cut a hole through the wall separating the garage and the living room. In fact, he stole a video camera, the one that days later he drove up to her house with, Stacy behind the lens, which set Kathleen off, resulting in Drew PHYSICALLY RESTRAINING her in her own front yard and then had Kitty arrested.

Smith had subpoenaed Peterson regarding his police pension. Doman said Savio was going for half of it...

Several months after Savio died, Peterson replaced his divorce attorney, Alex Beck, with Joseph Mazzone, a former Will County prosecutor who is chief counsel for a police union. Beck, who did not return phone calls for this story, filed paperwork seeking to have his expenses repaid, including for work on the deposition and subpoena shortly before Savio's death...

Stacy contacted Smith, Savio's divorce attorney, sometime in late 2007 to discuss filing for divorce from Peterson. Stacy disappeared shortly afterward...

Below are two older Prairie Chicken posts:

Peterson screws over his own sons

Savio Family vs Drew Peterson