Kathleen Savio: Unearthing the truth

Kathleen Savio’s relatives hope an autopsy conducted Tuesday after her body was exhumed from a suburban cemetery will confirm their suspicions that her mysterious 2004 death was a murder, not an accident.

“I’m hoping we get all the answers we need,” her niece, Melissa Doman, said hours after Savio’s casket was removed from its grave at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside.

They’re still upset, though, that it took more than three years — and the disappearance of another woman, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson — to prompt Will County authorities to review Savio’s death.

The 40-year-old Savio had recently divorced Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson when she was found dead in a bathtub in her home on March 1, 2004. Her death at the time was ruled an accidental drowning.

But when Stacy Peterson — Drew Peterson’s fourth wife — vanished from their Bolingbrook home on Oct. 28, authorities decided to take another look at Savio’s death.

“That’s what bothers me, personally,” said Doman, 28. “No one really looked at it before.”

Last week, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced authorities would exhume Savio’s remains, saying there were “strong indications” that her death was deliberately “staged” to look like an accident. Glasgow wasn’t in office when Savio died.

Her grave was opened early Tuesday with Glasgow, Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil and Illinois State Police investigators on hand. In less than an hour, her casket was lifted out and taken to the Will County coroner’s office, where a forensic pathologist conducted an autopsy later in the day.

Authorities won’t have results for several days — but said no information would be released publicly because of the pending investigations of her death and Stacy Peterson’s disappearance.

Source: Chicago Sun