HotmailDrew Peterson’s fiancee: He will never hurt me
She says suspected murderer ‘has a good heart,’ plans summer wedding
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Peterson’s fiancee: ‘I just don’t believe it’ Feb. 13: Drew Peterson, who is suspected in the disappearance of his fourth wife and the death of his third, and his fiancee, Christina Raines, talk about their plans for the future. Today show |
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Many people, including her own parents, call her crazy, but Christina Raines maintains she is only crazy in love with her notorious, headline-grabbing fiance, Drew Peterson.
After a strange, weeklong split, Raines has reconciled with Peterson and is planning a summer wedding, despite Peterson’ remaining under a heavy cloud of suspicion that he murdered his third and fourth wives. The pair sat down with TODAY’s national correspondent Amy Robach for an interview marked by Peterson’s braggadocio and Raines’ continued assertion her intended is no criminal.
Raines, just 24, told Robach she ignores talk that her future husband is a murderer, despite her father Ernie publicly declaring he fears for his daughter’s life.
‘A good heart’
“[Drew] has a good heart,” Raines told Robach. “[He’s] very caring and I don’t think he will ever hurt me or anyone else.”
Peterson, 55, a former police sergeant in Bolingbrook, Ill., is under police investigation for the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. The 25-year-old woman went missing in October 2007, and while Drew Peterson told police he had received a call from Stacy telling him she was leaving to be with another man, the couple’s neighbors reported Peterson carried a 55-gallon barrel out of his home shortly after her disappearance.
Suspicions in the Stacy Peterson case prompted authorities to exhume the body of Peterson’s third wife, Kathleen Savio, who died in 2004 from what was initially judged to be an accidental drowning in the couple’s bathtub. A new forensic examination decreed Savio had actually died of a forced drowning.
While police continue to gather evidence for possible charges against Peterson, his 33-years-younger fiancee told Robach she has no fears becoming the next Mrs. Peterson. She noted that she knew Drew before Stacy’s disappearance, and “he has always been nice to me.”
When Stacy disappeared, Raines said she “felt bad for [Drew]. I felt like she was kidnapped or something. But that’s it. I didn’t think that he did anything to her.”
‘He’s nice’
Robach asked Raines what she would tell people if Peterson is eventually found guilty of one or two murders. “That I’m running the other way,” she replied, then laughed and added, “I’m just joking. I just don’t believe them. I don’t believe them. I don’t believe he’ll hurt anyone. He’s nice.”
In talking to TODAY’s Robach, Drew Peterson indicated that despite, or maybe even because of, his notoriety, he’s quite a catch — and that he’s had a full and active dating life since Stacy’s disappearance.
“Just being out there, it’s funny — women for some silly reason are attracted to me,” he told Robach. “I can’t explain it and I can’t understand it.”
Robach asked him if women are attracted to him because he’s regarded as a dangerous type.
“I don’t know,” Peterson replied. “See, once people start knowing me and my personality kicks in, I think people are attracted to my personality. So I think Chrissy is attracted to my personality. It is certainly not my good looks.”
During their joint interview on TODAY, Peterson and Raines didn’t seem to be on the same page when it comes to their future. Peterson told Robach he isn’t sure when the couple could marry — he still must divorce Stacy Peterson, whom he says he believes is still alive.
A summer wedding?
Raines, however, had no qualms about saying the pair will marry in June or July. And she told Robach she wants to have one child by Peterson, a plan he dismissed in the interview.
“No, think we have enough children,” Peterson told Robach. “Between us we have eight, and [I have] a grandchild coming, so I think that is enough.”
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Today Show Pictures of fourth wife Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since October 2007, still adorn the wall of Drew Peterson’s home. |
Robach asked Raines if her parents believe her assertion. “No,” she replied. And when Robach asked her if she understood why, she replied solemnly, “Yes.”
Christina’s dad Ernie has gone so far as to call Peterson “the devil.” Peterson laughed to Robach and said, “Well, it looks like the devil won this round.”
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