Peterson's third wife murdered — now what?

Can Drew Peterson become a suspect?
The significant bruise to the back of her head could be consistent with her hitting her head in a fall, or with her head being struck by someone with an unknown object.  No doubt about it, someone attacked, manhandled, struck, abused and then drowned Kathleen Savio in her own bath tub. This was obviously no accident, but a homicide committed by someone who knew enough to make her death initially resemble an accident, someone with enough of a working knowledge of murder investigations to be able to conceal the cause of her death, some like, for example, a police officer.

Should Drew Peterson be declared a suspect in Savio’s murder, investigators will face their next two challenges: probable cause, and then proof beyond a reasonable doubt. As Peterson had shared a common home with Savio, any evidence of his presence in the residence could be explained away, but, of course, no such investigation was even conducted at that time.  Savio’s death had been ruled to be accidental. Now investigators must play catch up; they must try to turn back the clock by almost four years to try to catch a killer, to identify the person who beat and murdered Savio.

Who had been seen at the house and who would have had the means, motive and opportunity to have committed such a crime?  If Peterson, some evidence will be needed to put him at the crime scene at a time when me might have denied being there, perhaps cell phone records or credit card receipts that place him near the scene of Savio’s murder, or, should he be the actual killer, perhaps he’ll prove to have been over confident in his ability to get away with this crime, perhaps he missed something; something that will put him in Savio’s home at the time she died.

At this point we have a murder without a named suspect, and a missing wife and mother who is presumed to be dead. Most remember the words of the father of Dutch teenager Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba, who allegedly said “No body, no case.”  Should Peterson have anything to do with the disappearance of his fourth wife, he’s apparently safe unless a body is found, and concerning the murder of his third wife, ask him and he’ll probably tell you to prove it.

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Clint Van Zandt is a former FBI agent, behavioral profiler and hostage negotiator as well as an MSNBC analyst. His Web site, www.LiveSecure.org, provides readers with security-related information.

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