Ill. Cop Under Fire Proclaims Innocence

Nov. 14, 2007 — -- The Illinois cop suspected in the disappearance of his fourth wife and possibly in the death of his third wife flatly denied any involvement in either case this morning, instead describing both women as emotionally unstable.

"I can look you right in the eye and say I had nothing to do with either of those instances," Drew Peterson said in an interview this morning on NBC's "Today."

The police sergeant from Bolingbrook, a Chicago suburb, told NBC he believes his wife, Stacy, ran off with another man, and pleaded during the interview for her to come home.

"She 'found someone else,'" Peterson said. "Those were her exact words."

Since the woman was last seen, Peterson's status has been upgraded by investigators from a "person of interest" to a "suspect." It's a change that comes as no surprise to Peterson, who is currently on unpaid leave from his department.

"I think they've always considered me a suspect," he said. "You know, the husband always did it."

Peterson said that his wife's emotional state declined after her sister lost a cancer battle and that she was taking new medications and struggled with depression.

He dismissed a comment from Kerry Simmons, Stacy's stepsister, who said that the Stacy told her that if there was ever an instance where she didn't answer her phone, that Simmons and others would have to go searching for her. He also called an e-mail allegedly sent by Stacy in which she describes her relationship as "somewhat abusive" a "fabrication."

Peterson admitted to having verbal confrontations with his wife, but said that he never raised a hand to her, even after an instance in which she threw a frozen steak at him. He also said that Stacy frequently asked him for a divorce. "Stacy would ask me for a divorce after her sister died on a regular basis," he said. "I'm not trying to be funny here, based on her menstrual cycle."

The televised denial of his involvement comes one day after authorities exhumed the body of Kathleen Savio, Peterson's third wife, who was found dead in a bathtub in 2004. The decision to reopen that case came after Stacy's disappearance.

Results from an independent doctor regarding Savio's manner of death could take several weeks, but a grand jury reportedly is considering charges connected to Savio's disappearance.

In that case, a coroner ruled Savio's death an accidental drowning, even though there was no water in the bathtub, and her hair was soaked from an apparent head wound. Authorities theorized that the water had drained from the tub. Peterson was the duty sergeant working the night that her body was discovered.

Investigators say a $1 million life insurance policy, which is protected and can only be accessed by Peterson's children, had been taken out on Savio's life. In 2002, according to court records, Savio had gotten an order of protection against Peterson.