By MICHAEL TARM 07/30/12 07:16 PM ET

CHICAGO -- Lawyers will begin Tuesday to pull together the disjointed story of Drew Peterson and his ill-fated wives to make a case for the ex-cop's guilt or innocence, all the while navigating a bevy of legal issues – from how much hearsay evidence to admit and to just how to describe Peterson's missing fourth wife.

The murder trial's opening statements and first witnesses are scheduled for Tuesday, nearly a decade after the 58-year-old former cop's third wife was found dead in a bathtub and five years after his young fourth wife vanished without a trace.

The case has drawn national attention amid speculation Peterson, now 58, used his law enforcement expertise in a bid to get away with the 2004 murder of Kathleen Savio, 40, and to make 23-year-old Stacy Peterson disappear in 2007.

In this May 8, 2009 file photo, former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant Drew Peterson yells to reporters as he arrives at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., for his arraignment on charges of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his former wife Kathleen Savio, who was found in an empty bathtub at home. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

By COLLEEN CURRY and BAIRD SMART

JOLIET, Ill. Aug. 1, 2012


Drew Peterson's murder trial resumed today after the judge considered and then denied a defense request to declare a mistrial.

Judge Edward Burmilia called a recess this morning after the prosecution, in questioning Peterson's former neighbor, introduced controversial evidence. Peterson, 58, is accused of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004.

Thomas Pontarelli, who lived down the street from the home Peterson and Savio once shared, said during questioning that Peterson had intimidated Savio in the months before her death while the couple was going through a bitter divorce.

He then said that Savio once found a bullet in her driveway, a statement that drew loud objections by the defense and a scolding by Burmilia.

(CNN) -- Despite defense criticisms of what it called a "shameful" leading question about whether Drew Peterson tried to intimidate a neighbor, a judge ruled Thursday that the former Chicago-area police officer's murder trial can proceed.

Five witnesses took the stand in Joliet on Thursday, but not before lawyers from both sides argued about whether a mistrial should be ordered, thus bringing the entire case back to square one.

This debate followed testimony Wednesday by Thomas Pontarelli, a Bolingbrook, Illinois, neighbor of Peterson's ex-wife Kathleen Savio and one of those who found her dead in a dry, clean bathtub on March 1, 2004.

Pontarelli testified Savio had asked him to put a lock on her bedroom door and also that Peterson had once challenged him about the front door locks at Savio's house being changed, which Pontarelli insisted he didn't do.

The night of March 1, he said Peterson -- a police officer in Bolingbrook who was barred from seeing Savio by a protective order -- called the Pontarelli house to say a locksmith was coming to get in his ex-wife's house. After the door was unlocked, Pontarelli, some of his family members and Peterson came across Savio's body, with no rug or towel nearby, in an upstairs bathroom.

Later, prosecutor Kathy Patton brought up the time Peterson questioned Pontarelli about whether he'd changed the locks of Savio's front door, asking him, "Did there come a time when you felt intimidated by him?"

"Yes," Pontarelli responded. "We had a conversation. He accused me of changing the locks on the front door. I (said) I didn't, but I got his message ... I found a .38 bullet out on the driveway."

Just watched the Lifetime movie: Drew Peterson: Untouchable. It was a pretty good movie. All scenes in the movie were based on documented, factual events. This all just re-confirms my belief that this pig is guilty of two murders.

By COLLEEN CURRY and JUSTIN WEAVER

JOLIET, Ill., Sept. 6, 2012



Former Illinois cop Drew Peterson was found guilty today of killing his wife, Kathleen Savio, and making it look like an accident in 2004.

The jury returned a verdict after two days of deliberations, just an hour after stopping discussions to ask the judge the meaning of the word "unanimous."

Peterson now faces up to 60 years in prison. He will be sentenced in November.

Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, was found dead in her bathtub in 2004, and her death was initially ruled an accident. However, after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared without a trace in 2007, police exhumed Savio's body and reexamined it, changing their finding to homicide.

Peterson was then charged with first-degree murder.