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CNN Special Reports

Married to a Murderer. Aired 6-7p ET.

Aired July 04, 2015 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The following is a CNN Special Report.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: One man, four wives. A serial husband leaving in his wake three divorces, one death, and a disappearance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drew Peterson has gone from a person of interest to clearly being a suspect.

CASAREZ: Drew Peterson, cocky, arrogant.

DREW PETERSON, CONVICTED KILLER: Please, go home. Please, leave me alone.

CASAREZ: A convicted killer.

MARCIA SAVIO, AKTHLEEN SAVIO'S STEPMOTHER: 12 people did the right thing. Thank God.

CASAREZ: Serving 38 years for killing his third wife, still suspected of murdering the fourth.

Do you believe that Drew Peterson killed Stacy?

REV. NEIL SCHORI, DREW AND STACY PETERSON'S MINISTER AND COUNSELOR: 100 percent.

CASAREZ: And now, on trial again allegedly plotting to kill the man who put him behind bars.

JOE HOSEY, AUTHOR, "FATAL VOWS: THE TRAGIC WIVES OF SERGEANT DREW PETERSON": This is drew Peterson Story, you know, they every thing's a surprise, this doesn't stop.

CASAREZ: "Married to a Murdered: The Drew Peterson Story".

May 22nd, 2015, 250 miles south of Chicago where the Mississippi river meets the Illinois banks.

Candace Aikin is about to meet up with the man she believes murdered her niece.

CANDACE AIKIN, STACY PETERSON'S AUNT: I want him to know that I'm still here and I'm still fighting for Stacy. That Stacy's not forgotten. CASAREZ: Stacy Peterson, Candice's niece disappeared without a trace in 2007.

LARRY KING, HOST: Stacy Peterson, a 23 year old mother of two is reported missing.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Stacy Peterson was last seen wearing a red jogging suit.

CASAREZ: Her story made headlines.

COOPER: New allegations about her disappearance.

CASAREZ: A soap opera of sort, Stacy was the fourth wife of Drew Peterson, who became the soul suspect in her disappearance.

AIKIN: I remember the last picture I took of her and I remember the hug. She was so full of life. That's a very precious memory.

CASAREZ: A memory frozen in time. Candace would never see her niece again. But on this day in court, she would see Drew Peterson.

AIKIN: He looked right at me and smiled and called my name. He's very jovial and, you know, making jokes. I don't understand where he's really coming from, how he can be so happy.

CASAREZ: Peterson is after all a convicted killer.

In 2012, Peterson was sentenced to 38 years for killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Now, he is facing new charges accused of ordering a hit from behind bars on one of the prosecutors who put him there.

JAMES GLASGOW, WILL COUNTY STATES ATTORNEY: He was a thug. He would threaten people because he had a gun and a badge.

CASAREZ: A conviction would mean Peterson would die in prison.

HOSEY: He's arrogant, cocky, self-confident.

CASAREZ: Reporter Joe Hosey has been following the Peterson case for years.

HOSEY: It was just his personality. He was you know, the best cop, he was the smartest guy. You know, he was the best looking. "Look at all the women I have."

CASAREZ: A confidence that started early in life.

Dan Budenz first met Peterson when they worked together at a Burger King in the Chicago suburbs.

DAN BUDENZ, PRES., BUDENZ MEDICAL MANAGEMENT: Drew was a very bright, very dependable, hard working individual.

CASAREZ: Something he learned at a young age. BUDENZ: He had a marine father. He was really tough and also

alcoholic and they were going out to eat and the father warned him, "Be good, behave yourself, your going to sit in that chair." He just went off and didn't want to do it. Well, the discipline followed that.

CASAREZ: Strong discipline that drove Peterson to succeed. In his early 20s, he joined the U.S. Army's elite division of the military police protecting visiting presidents like Gerald Ford.

BUDENZ: The lighting of the wreath Drew was there at one time and it was Gerald Ford went up and tripped and Drew was only one in honor guard that broke out with a chuckle and laugh. That's Drew Peterson.

CASAREZ: After two years, he left the army and joined the Bolingbrook Police Department in Suburban Chicago eventually becoming and undercover narcotics officer. It was the perfect assignment for Peterson.

BUDENZ: Drew was trained and wants to be and expert at covering up and lying and presenting false information.

CASAREZ: But at one point, Peterson went too far organizing an unauthorized investigation.

HOSEY: Drew was charged of misconduct, he did lose his job. He was kicked off that narcotics unit.

[18:05:00]

CASAREZ: Despite being indicted by a grand jury, he fought and got his job back. Some say, it would be only the first time Peterson got away with the crime.

BUDENZ: Drew never said he should give up and I think that's what helped him with some of his relationships. He would lock on to a person of interest.

CASAREZ: And early on, women were definitely Peterson's people of interest.

BUDENZ: Drew had to have a female companion devoted to him by him at all times. Typical relationship addiction.

HOSEY: I don't know anyone else who was married four times, maybe Harry the Ape.

CASAREZ: Carol Hamilton was the first. High school sweethearts, they soon had two sons but Peterson, strayed.

BUDENZ: I think Drew got a lot of confidence probably in working that undercover cop type thing because it was his job to go out there and flirt and make friends with these women.

HOSEY: He and his first wife divorced (inaudible) infidelity which pattern throughout his life. CASAREZ: Including his second marriage to Vicky Connolly.

Peterson: Everybody says I cheated but I went out and sought female conscience else where after the marriages were over but we're still legally married.

CASAREZ: Some say there was much more at play.

HOSEY: Vicky was in a very serious car accident. There was some rumors, some question if whether Drew tampered with the car with the brakes. She also said that while their marriage is ending, she woke up one night to find her standing over her bed in a menacing way.

CASAREZ: That second marriage ended 10 years after it began but would the third time be a charm?

Peterson met Kathleen Savio, a beautiful accountant in her mid-20s on a blind date.

SUSAN DOMAN, KATHLEEN SAVIO'S SISTER: This was the man that was going to be her prince.

CASAREZ: Susan Doman remembers Peterson pursuing her sister.

DOMAN: When she was presented with all the opportunities the trips, the gifts, and the home and having children, it was too hard to resist. He loved her and that's all she wanted.

CASAREZ: And she loved him?

DOMAN: Yes, very much.

CASAREZ: But soon, that love would once again turn to hate, infidelity, and now violence.

DOMAN: He grabbed her wrist and he just threw her against the refrigerator hard and I was just, went after her.

CASAREZ: A marriage ends in murder when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:11:40]

CASAREZ: This is the sleepy Illinois suburb Bolingbrook where Drew and Kathleen Peterson's married life began in 1992. It is also where it would later end in 2003.

DOMAN: The first day he gave her a picture of him and he was in uniform.

CASAREZ: They met on a blind date. Kathleen, sister Susan Doman.

DOMAN: My first reaction was I don't understand why someone goes on a first date and gives you a picture of themselves to them and she kind of just laughed it off. CASAREZ: But there was nothing funny about what Kathleen would soon discover. Her boyfriend Drew Peterson was married.

DOMAN: She was told that he was in the process of getting a divorce and the person that he was divorcing was cocaine addict. She was fooled.

CASAREZ: Fooled but also in love and eager to settle down. Kathleen and Drew were engaged six months after that first blind date and married just months after his divorce was final. But once they started a family and had two sons, the romance was over.

HOSEY: It's not all fun anymore. And Drew, I think, likes to have fun. I don't know if he loved their mother anymore.

CASAREZ: Nor did he find her attractive anymore and he didn't hesitate to say so.

DOMAN: Saying she was fat, she looked like a dog. She's ugly.

CASAREZ: Their once loving relationship now contentious and increasingly violent.

On one occasion, Savio ended up in the emergency room with the cut to her head and black and blue marks all over her body.

Kathleen told Susan, Drew beat her against the table.

DOMAN: She was very upset that Drew was never home, never home for the children, never home for her. And when he would come home, he would last shout at her.

CASAREZ: Hospital records echo what Kathleen told her sister. Allegations Peterson has always denied.

PETERSON: As a police officer, we don't have the same ability to do things as the common person. If I get involved in a domestic situation where I'm physical with a wife, I'll lose my job.

CASAREZ: As marital tensions rose, Peterson's eyes roamed. This time literally right under his wife's nose.

As Kathleen and her children slept upstairs, 47-year old Drew Peterson was downstairs in the basement sleeping with 17-year old Stacy Cales.

PETERSON: We were living separate lives in the same house just for economics.

HOSEY: I'm sure he could justify that way now like everything else. When Drew talks about Kathleen, it's a very one side of story.

CASAREZ: A story that 17-year old Stacy Cales believed.

AIKIN: I'm not really sure what he said to her to make it OK but Stacy was OK with that. She said that she liked him a lot.

CASAREZ: Kathleen learned about the affair months later in October of 2001 when received an anonymous letter telling her about Cales.

[18:15:09] She must have been devastated?

DOMAN: Beyond, beyond.

CASAREZ: When she confronted Drew, Doman says it got physical.

DOMAN: She called me and she said Drew was hitting her and he threw her against the refrigerator and he says that it's all a lie. We're just trying to start trouble with him.

CASAREZ: So, you talked to him about that?

DOMAN: Yes, he denied it. He denied it.

CASAREZ: The marriage was over. By spring of 2002, Drew moved in with Stacy Cales, buying a house just down the street from Kathleen.

It is fair to say that Drew and Stacy taunted Kathleen?

HOSEY: Yeah. By all accounts, yes, yes.

CASAREZ: How?

HOSEY: While we're waiting past her house, give her the finger.

CASAREZ: The divorce was contentious. They fought over child support and over to Drew's pension.

HOSEY: He didn't want his ex-wife to have it. She was going to give up but she was tough and wasn't going to give in easy.

CASAREZ: During this time, Bolingbrook police officers were called to Savio's house 18 times for domestic incidence involving Drew and Kathleen. Some involved Kathleen on the attack, others involved Drew on the attack but one stood out, July 5th, 2002.

HOSEY: He had broken into the house. And he ordered her to sit on the stairs and he kept her there for hours, holding a knife point, threatening to kill her.

CASAREZ: And Kathleen didn't feel like she was getting any help from the police department, the same department where Drew Peterson worked.

DOMAN: And they were just wind up leaving or they would talk her into not doing anything and just saying, you know, this is bad.

CASAREZ: Frustrated and frightened, Kathleen wrote to the assistant states attorney about the abuse on November 14th, 2002. He knows how to manipulate the system and his next step is to take my children away or kill me instead.

DOMAN: She begged for help. He needs to be stopped.

CASAREZ: And what was the result of that letter?

DOMAN: Nothing, nothing at all.

CASAREZ: Nothing, until Monday night, March 1st, 2004, a year and half later.

PETERSON: She failed to respond at the door to allow me to bring the children home. I had neighbors go into the house and they found her in the bathtub.

CASAREZ: People initially suspected Peterson but he had a seemingly rock solid alibi, he was home with Stacy, now, his wife. They married five months before Kathleen died. A death investigator's ruled an accident. But that would soon change.

AIKIN: I thought that she had been murdered most likely by Drew.

CASAREZ: Drew Peterson's alibi and story unravels when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:22:12]

AIKIN: My brother text me and he said, "We can't find Stacy." Instantly, in my gut, I knew that she was gone.

CASAREZ: October 28, 2007, the day Candace Aikin's niece Stacy Peterson vanished without a trace.

AIKIN: I thought that she had been murdered most likely by Drew.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Stacy Ann Peterson was last seen by her husband, Bolingbrook, police Sergeant Drew Peterson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His previous ex-wife was found dead.

CASAREZ: Aikin was not alone. All eyes were on Stacy's husband, Illinois, police officer Drew Peterson, a man who's third wife, Kathleen Savio had been found dead in the bathtub about three years earlier.

PETERSON: I walked in there, everywhere I go, and there's this little hum that goes to the establishment, there's Drew Peterson, there's Drew Peterson, there's Drew Peterson.

CASAREZ: Joe Hosey staked out Peterson's suburban home when news broke of Stacy's disappearance.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: This morning, Drew Peterson spoke to reporters through his front door.

HOSEY: First few days, he was just peeking out his front door but then he wasn't letting people come in to talk to him.

CASAREZ: Hosey was the first.

HOSEY: It was eerie. I got a view of the living room and I watching the kids watching the T.V. and it was kind of strange. UNIDENTIFED MALE: Stacy Ann Peterson...

CASAREZ: Strange because they were watching the news coverage...

UNIDENTIFED MALE: She was last heard from on Sunday morning.

CASAREZ: ... about their missing mother.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: And the investigation remains a missing....

HOSEY: He was not even paying attention to them. He's too busy talking to his lawyer and his publicity agent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I miss you Stacy and I'm not giving up and bring you home.

CASAREZ: Everyone seemed worried about Stacy Peterson's disappearance, everyone except...

PETERSON: Watch this.

CASAREZ: Drew Peterson.

PETERSON: Stacy loves male attention. She could be...

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Run off with a guy?

PETERSON: ... run off with a guy and she could be dancing somewhere. I don't know.

AIKIN: I was, like, no. No, she doesn't want to disappear.

CASAREZ: Candace knew Stacy would never abandon her children because that's exactly what Stacy's mother had done to her.

AIKIN: Stacy has no record of disappearing. No pattern in her life of that at all.

CASAREZ: Instead, Candace suspected Drew got rid of Stacy before she could divorce him and fight for the kids. For year, Candace had heard about the emotional and possible physical abuse Stacy suffered.

AIKIN: I can tell that she was under a lot of stress. She said that he was accusing her of all this different things and she couldn't really go anywhere or do things.

PETERSON: The marriage had been going through problems since her sister died.

CASAREZ: As Peterson had done before, he denied the abuse and blamed his wife.

PETERSON: She changed very much where we had her under psychiatric care and we had her medicated for problems and emotional problems that we were -- she was experienced due to her death.

[18:25:06]

AIKIN: There wasn't any sensitivity to what she was going through. It's like he didn't even want her to cry or process the grief.

CASAREZ: Candace remembers the night after Stacy sister's funeral in 2006, Stacy begged her to sleep in her bed.

AIKIN: And he kept coming in there, and wanting her to go, but she said no, she wasn't going with him and she didn't want me to get out of the bed, and I was afraid.

SCHORI: There was unhealthiness and control and manipulation.

CASAREZ: Pastor Neil Schori was Stacy and Drew's minister and marriage counselor.

SCHORI: He really had a confidence and arrogance maybe that nothing was going to be found out that would put him in a significantly bad light.

CASAREZ: After half a dozen sessions the Peterson's stop meeting with Shori.

SCHORI: The same issues really seemed to continue. So, I can't say that anything seemed a whole lot better.

CASAREZ: Another Peterson marriage in trouble, but this time instead of ending in divorce, it ended in a disappearance. A case which made authority suspicious about the death of Peterson's third wife Kathleen Savio, was it really an accident?

Just weeks after Stacy vanished, they reopen the once closed case of Kathleen's death. Investigators exhumed her body for a new autopsy.

GLASGOW: There are tests that need to be done, that weren't done during the first autopsy.

PETERSON: Now my children and I even, you know, believing that, you know, she died in a household accident.

AIKIN: It seemed like pieces of the puzzle we're starting to fall into place.

CASAREZ: Named the lead suspect in both cases, Peterson immediately went on the offensive, confident, cocky and in control.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drew Peterson who was a suspect...

CASAREZ: He talked to anyone who would listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The third wife.

PETERSON: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?

PETERSON: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you say to Stacy your fourth wife?

PETERSON: Come home. I don't believe she's missing, I believe she's where she wants to be.

CASAREZ: Peterson's attorney Joel Brodsky and Peterson himself planned the media blitz.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this damage control?

JOEL BRODSKY, DREW PETERSON'S LEAD ATTORNEY: I wouldn't call a damage control it's getting both side of the story out here.

CASAREZ: But the plan back fired. January 23rd, 2008, Peterson and Brodsky were giving an interview with Chicago radio host, Steve Dahl, when Brodsky suggested a contest idea. Win a date with Drew.

STEVE DAHL, RADIO HOST: I'll do a daring game with you.

BRODSKY: Drew, it's up to you man.

PETERSON: I don't know, ask, ask the lawyer.

BRODSKY: Yeah why not?

HOSEY: He looked like crab in a heel, it didn't play well.

CASAREZ: Didn't play well but Peterson would have far bigger far more serious problems, like when his own stepbrother claimed to have helped him carry a large container out of the Peterson home.

PETERSON: I have no idea what and he was talking about like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said he believes that helped you disposed of your wife's body?

CASAREZ: And also that he helped Peterson set up a call for in Stacy's cellphone to Drew's, placing Stacy near the airport around the time of her disappearance.

PETERSON: Everything is invented none of it is true.

CASAREZ: Stacy's disappearance was still a mystery but Kathleen's death was not. February 21st, 2008, her accident was reclassified a homicide. And the little more than a year later, Drew Peterson was arrested for and charged with, murder.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Former Bolingbrook police officer Drew Peterson, now under arrest for the murder...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peterson was arrested in a traffic stop near a spilling recumbent...

AIKIN: Just watch it on T.V., it would happened to be the national day of prayer, so it felt like a prayer answered. CASAREZ: A prayer for justice, but would it be served?

BRODSKY: The government has to convince the jury that there was a homicide and Drew Peterson commit.

There was no sign of forced entries, there was no finger prints, no DNA.

CASAREZ: Inside the trial, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:33:00]

PETERSON: You're not that kind of girl and let's marry and stop it.

CASAREZ: By 2011, the real life soap opera through Peterson and four wives had moved to Hollywood.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Oh my god.

CASAREZ: A television movie focused on the explosive relationship between Peterson and his fourth wife Stacy.

AIKIN: I was shocked that it was happening before we know any answer.

CASAREZ: Candace Aikin's niece Stacy was still missing and Peterson was about to be trial for the murder of his third wife Kathleen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tonight Drew Peterson finally facing lady justice.

CASAREZ: A sensational trial, a set of characters right out of central casting. First, Peterson's legal dream team, six lawyers all extremely experienced, outspoken and entertaining.

BRODSKY: Yeah I need your sunglasses a lot, all right here we go, how better.

CASAREZ: At one point even poking fun at Stacy Peterson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is Stacy back?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who Stacy who?

BRODSKY: Stacy who?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She gone your (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That Stacy.

HOSEY: There was a lack of respect for the fact that this one woman was missing, there's a one woman is dead.

BRDOSKY: We never realized that it would be that bad.

CASAREZ: Joel Brdsky, was one of Peterson's attorney's.

BRODSKY: It seem like we were taking as very serious situation and making light of it, which I guess we were. Role player off.

CASAREZ: Peterson's team thought it was an open and shot case, defense attorneys Steve Greenberg.

STEVE GREENBERG, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Because they had nothing except for well, you know, they were getting divorced and we don't have another suspects so he must have done it.

BRODSKY: There was no physical evidence, you know, there was no sign of force entry, there was no finger prints, no DNA, no eyewitnesses, there was simply nothing to prove that it wasn't an accident.

CASAREZ: But legendary prosecutor James Glasgow completely disagreed.

GLASGOW: With 29 years of experience there was no doubt my mind it wasn't an accident, that was clear.

[18:35:02]

CASAREZ: Glasgow had one of the highest conviction rates in the state and he didn't intend to lose this time. His opening statements where powerful claiming Peterson carried out his constant threats to kill Savio and staged it to look like an accident. Then Glasgow attacked the police force and the investigation.

HOSEY: Drew was treated unlike a civilian would have been treated. They let him be questioned in the break room of his own police department.

CASAREZ: Were they experts in homicide?

HOSEY: No, the lead investigator had never done a homicide, but crime scene packed decided very early on almost immediately that this was an accident and collected no evidence, preserved no evidence, really didn't do much of the investigation at all.

CASAREZ: Glasgow argued Peterson had the opportunity and means for murder, but he needed hard evidence. For that, he called Peterson's death and missing wives. Kathleen and Stacy were brought to light before the jury the statements they had made while they were alive. Normally this would be called hearsay and not be admissible, but this judge allowed it.

GLASGOW: In essence what you're basically allowing the victim of a violent crime to do is to testify from the grave.

GREENBERG: And, you know, what was so troubling about that evidence was that it wasn't really evidence. It never should have come in.

CASAREZ: First to take the stand, Susan Doman, Kathleen Savio's sister.

DOMAN: It was scary but I was determined. CASAREZ: Determined to get justice by telling the jury exactly what Kathleen had told her Drew said.

DOMAN: He told me he's going to kill me. He said he's going to make it look like an accident and no one will ever know.

CASAREZ: As Doman spoke a silence came over the room. Jurors were riveted. Peterson was stone-based.

DOMAN: And he looked at me then turned away. So, I looked at him briefly like, "I'm here."

SCHORI: He looked more tired almost resigned to whatever happened.

CASAREZ: Pastor Neil Schori who counseled Drew and his fourth wife was next. Schori testified that Stacy told him that Drew asked her to cover up for him the night Savio died.

SCHORI: He very clearly told her to lie about where he was and to cover it up. And he actually said to her, "This will be the perfect crime."

CASAREZ: An alibi demolished when jurors also learned Peterson was present when police interviewed Stacy.

HOSEY: Yeah, he was right next to her, right on top of her frankly coaching her. And the fact that he was even present for that interview is mind boggling.

CASAREZ: The testimony damming. Yet Peterson and his dream team were still convinced there was reasonable doubt.

BRODSKY: They haven't done anything to place Drew Peterson at the scene of Kathy's death.

CASAREZ: The prosecution rested, the defense took over and successfully started to challenge the prosecutor's lack of physical evidence. But then, a bizarre turn of events, Kathleen Savio's divorce attorney, Harry Smith was called to the stand by the defense to discredit Stacy.

HARRY SMITH, KATHLEEN SAVIO'S DIVORCE ATTORNEY: And I literally laughed and said, "No, they're not."

CASAREZ: But they were. Smith was contacted by Stacy Peterson days before her disappearance. The defense thought Smith would testify that Stacy would say anything to get money from Drew when they divorced. Instead, Smith testified that Stacy told him Drew killed Kathleen.

SMITH: I could not fathom how it was going to help anything I would say. I couldn't see what this was doing for their case.

GREENBERG: It was the worst thing that I've ever been a part of in a court room. I mean, it was awful.

CASAREZ: After Smith's bombshell testimony, the defense team publicly put on a brave face.

BRODSKY: Strong day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a beautiful day.

CASAREZ: They tried to recover with their final witness, Drew and Kathleen's own son. Thomas testified he did not believe his father killed his mother. His father, Drew Peterson never testified.

AIKIN: It's very difficult to sit in there and be someone who think maybe hurt someone close to you.

CASAREZ: Throughout the murder trial for Kathleen Savio, Candace Aikin hoped for some clues about her missing niece, Stacy.

Did your eyes ever meet?

AIKIN: Yes.

CASAREZ: What did you see?

AIKIN: Coldness I guess.

CASAREZ: But were they the cold eyes of a killer? The jury deliberates.

[18:40:00] A verdict is reached when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CASAREZ: After three weeks and 44 witnesses, the only thing that could save Drew Peterson from prison was 12 jurors.

GLASGOW: I know that this is a jury that's very thoughtful. They're going to make sure they come to the right move.

CASAREZ: As everyone waited, emotions were running high. Would Drew Peterson be found guilty of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio? Savio's family was anxious.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: We're standing here waiting and every minute that we're waiting is nervousness.

DOMAN: I was here in the beginning for my sister and I'm here to be in.

CASAREZ: And the end came sooner than they expected. After just two days of deliberation, a verdict.

Outside a crowd gathered, inside the jury assembled.

AIKIN: I was in that room in the court.

CASAREZ: Candace Aikin was there when the verdict was read.

[18:45:01] What was that like? AIKIN: That was a very intense moment. I remember crying before the verdict scared to death.

DOMAN: I heard it and I was stunned.

CASAREZ: It was the one word Savio's sister had waited so long to hear -- guilty.

DOMAN: And I hugged my sister. And we said, "We did it. We got him. Now, he can't hurt anybody else."

CASAREZ: Did he look at you?

DOMAN: No, he looked at the jury. He stared at them.

BRODSKY: He turns to the deputies that escorting him out. He says, "I guess this is going to mess up the holidays." You know, that's Drew Peterson. He deals with adverse situations with, you know, by joking in comedy.

CASAREZ: But no one outside was laughing. From the family, an emotional bittersweet celebration.

SAVIO: Finally, somebody heard Kathleen's cry. 12 people did the right thing up there. Thank God.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: I know that she got justice in the hands of that cold blooded killer up there.

CASAREZ: From Peterson's defense team, more strange humor.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Our next performance...

CASAREZ: And from prosecutor James Glasgow, a triumphant victory lap.

GLASGOW: He was a thug. He would threaten people because he had a gun and a badge. And nobody ever took him on. Well, we took him on now and he lost.

CASAREZ: And we would soon learn by when the jurors spoke out.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: The lawyer's testimony was the one that got us the most.

CASAREZ: Remember Divorce Attorney Smith testified that Stacy Peterson told him who killed Kathleen.

GREENBERG: I can't tell you that before Harry Smith was called we were going to win that case but I can tell you after Harry Smith was called, we're probably going to lose that case.

CASAREZ: A lost that carried up to 60 years in prison for Drew Peterson. At the sentencing hearing, Susan Doman pleaded with a max.

DOMAN: He has no remorse. He killed my sister. I have to live with that. Everyday I have to recover from that.

CASAREZ: Peterson's silent trial was replaced with anger when he addressed the judge at sentencing.

GLASGOW: He got up on the stand and that shrill kind of feminine screech that he didn't kill Kathy, that's the guy that killed Kathy. You got a glimpse into his soul.

DOMAN: I wasn't going to take the devil. I wasn't going to let him say that. And my reply was, you're a liar. You did kill her.

CASAREZ: Peterson sieved calling the trial the largest railroad job ever. He challenged Glasgow to look him in the eyes and lash out of him to never forget what you've done here.

GREENBERG: I don't know that there's anything wrong with it. If it made him happy to vent, it made him happy to vent.

CASAREZ: But his outburst could not save him. Almost nine years after Peterson murdered Kathleen Savio, he was sentenced to 38 years not eligible for release until he is 93 years old.

GLASGOW: The reason I never looked through Peterson in the eye is because I never acknowledged his existence. But I looked him in the eye today and he knows that we did our job.

CASAREZ: But Glasgow's job was far from over. Stacy Peterson was still missing.

GLASGOW: We have to catch our breath and begin a review of the evidence in that case.

CASAREZ: Do you want that? Do you want Drew to be charged with the murder of Stacy?

AIKIN: I do if he is the one who has done this, I do. I do want justice. I believe in justice. And I do want justice for Stacy.

CASAREZ: That justice may have to wait though. Peterson and Glasgow were set to square off yet again. A shocking turn when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:53:25]

CASAREZ: Behind the barb wire, armed guards, and prison bars, 61 year old Drew Peterson is serving a 38 year sentence for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Confined, away from the general population, this serial husband is reportedly looking for wife number five.

HOSEY: They Drew's getting marriage proposals. They say women are still interested in him.

CASAREZ: Do you think he has forgotten Stacy.

AIKIN: Maybe he wants to but I don't that he could ever forget her.

CASAREZ: And Candace Aikin won't let him. She is touched with Peterson frequently exchanging letters over the years.

Do you sense in his writing what emotion? Anger? Frustration?

AIKIN: Probably, frustration more.

CASAREZ: That he is not free?

AIKIN: Yeah.

CASAREZ: But that is something Peterson is actively trying to change. He is appealing his conviction.

HOSEY: He claims that even Drew had six attorneys representing him that the lead attorney Joel Brodsky was ineffective council. And because of that Drew didn't get a fair trial.

BRODSKY: That's just a typical accusation that they make. You know, the lawyer should have done this, the lawyer should have done that but, you know, our strategic decisions as a matter of law cannot be ineffective assistance.

CASAREZ: Defense attorney Steve Greenberg is now leading the appeal. He disagrees with Brodsky.

GREENBERG: I played it over my head dozens of times.

CASEREZ: He argued that the defense failed on many levels.

[18:55:01] First, when they called Kathleen's divorce attorney to testify.

GREENBERG: I just can't imagine why you would ever want to call a witness to have them say that your client committed the crime.

CASAREZ: Greenberg also argued that the hearsay evidence, all that damaging testimony of what Kathleen and Stacy told others about Drew, his behavior, and his guilt, should never have been admitted.

GREENBERG: You know, the hearsay testimony doesn't place Drew at the scene of the crime if there was a crime. And there wasn't.

CASAREZ: Peterson is confident that the court will rule in his favor.

GREENBERG: And rightly so, he should win his appeal.

CASAREZ: A win that could make Peterson a free man but not if this man has his way.

JEREMY WALKER, ILLINOIS STATE'S ATTORNEY: If I have anything to do with it hopefully, it will end with him getting a lot more time on top of what he's already doing.

CASAREZ: Illinois State's attorney Jeremy Walker has a new case against Peterson, a revenge plot allegedly organized by Peterson from behind bars targeting the man who put him there.

WALKER: He wanted somebody killed and was willing to pay for it.

CASAREZ: According to sources inside the investigation, authorities used eve's dropping devices and an informant to record Peterson ordering a hit on Prosecutor James Glasgow.

HOSEY: I mean of course it's a surprise, but then this is Drew Peterson's story, you know, everything is a surprise. This doesn't stop.

CASAREZ: And there is the case of missing wife number 4, Stacy Peterson. Law enforcement still follows-up on tips and leads, clues that many believe will eventually point right at Drew Peterson.

Do you believe Drew killed Stacy?

SCHORI: 100 percent.

CASAREZ: Ptr. Neil Schori remembers one day in 2006 before Stacy went missing that Drew Peterson made a startling confession.

SCHORI: "You know, Neil, what's interesting about me. I've done a lot of bad things in my life." And he said, "But I've never felt bad for one thing I've ever done. And I've talked with many people. I've never heard somebody say before they've never felt guilty for anything they've ever done. I believe that in some ways, he was giving the safest confession that he could give.

CASAREZ: An eerie confession that Schori now believes was a warning of things to come.

SCHORI: It's hard. Knowing what I do now, I would do so many things differently. And that is hard. That's extremely hard.

AIKIN: With tear gut, your gut knows. I'm so thankful for all our times that we shared.

CASAREZ: Candace Aikin also lives with regret, regret when she remembers the very last time she saw Stacy alive. It was just 10 days before she disappeared.

AIKIN: That's when I saw the fear that were -- was in her eyes and the stress that she was under.

CASAREZ: Looking back, Aikin now wishes she had forced Stacy to live with her.

AIKIN: She didn't feel like she had a place to go. We had said she could come to California. I don't think she had felt like she had a real place to go.

CASAREZ: And now more than seven years after she vanished, the house Stacy called home is where her two children still live.

When you see them, do you talk to them about their mother?

AIKIN: As much as they want to talk about her, I do. We talk about good times. That's as far as we go.

CASAREZ: Two innocent children growing up without their mother just like Kathleen's two sons.

HOSEY: That is the real tragedy. You got four children who won't have mothers anymore.

CASAREZ: But they also lost a father.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Well, true. They did. They have.

CASAREZ: Do you believe he murdered Stacy?

AIKIN: I believe that he did. I do.

CASAREZ: You have to be angry.

AIKIN: I've gone through the shock and the grief and anger but I've forgiven him.

CASAREZ: What gives you the strength?

AIKIN: Believing that God is going to turn this all around and bring good out of it somehow but we don't know how.

My middle name is Faith and now I think I know why because I was going to need a lot of it.

CASAREZ: Faith that one day Stacy will be found, faith that one day justice will be served.