CHICAGO — Former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant Drew Peterson was arrested Thursday in the death of his ex-wife Kathleen Savio, who was found drowned in an empty bathtub in March 2004, according to Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow.
Will County state’s attorney’s office spokesman Chuck Pelkie confirmed Peterson was arrested about 5:40 p.m. during a traffic stop in connection with an indictment in the slaying of Savio.
When reached early Thursday evening, Peterson’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, said he was unaware of the arrest.
On March 1, 2004, Savio, 40, was discovered by neighbors in her Bolingbrook home in an empty bathtub with a 1-inch gash on the back of her scalp.
Savio and Peterson were divorced, but the details of the divorce settlement were weeks away from being finalized when she died.
An autopsy at the time determined she drowned, and a coroner’s jury ruled months later — based largely on the testimony of state police — that the death was accidental.
Authorities reopened Savio’s case after Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in October 2007.
The next month, Savio’s remains were exhumed, and in February 2008, Glasgow said the second autopsy determined her death was a homicide. He classified the case as a murder investigation.
While authorities never named Peterson a suspect in her death, the same Will County grand jury that had been investigating Stacy Peterson’s death was also investigating the Savio case.
Last month, relatives representing Savio’s estate filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Peterson seeking in excess of $300,000 for causing her death, losses arising from it and the injuries she suffered prior to her killing.
The attorney for Savio’s family, Martin Glink, said the family was pleased authorities were able to put together a case.
Glink said the lawsuit will be put on hold while the criminal case unfolds.
“We’re ecstatic,” Kathleen Savio’s brother, Henry, said. “It’s about time. I feel sorry for her kids, my nephews. They’re always in our hearts.”
