The verdict has finally come down… Drew Peterson GUILTY.
Developing…
*UPDATE*
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CNN reporting:
[Updated at 3:58 p.m. ET] Kathleen Savio’s half brother called the guilty verdict a “bittersweet moment” for his family.“I’ll never have my sister again,” Nicholas Savio said in front of the courthouse. “At least I know she got justice.”
Nicholas Savio said that while he was upset that Kathleen Savio is no longer around, “we hope she can rest in peace.”
He then vowed that there was more work to be done to bring justice for Drew Peterson’s missing wife.
“Stacy, you are now next for justice,” Nicholas Savio shouted.
[Updated at 3:46 p.m. ET] An Illinois jury on Thursday found former Chicago-area police sergeant Drew Peterson guilty of murder in the 2004 death of his ex-wife.
[Posted at 3:36 p.m. ET] The jury in the murder trial of Drew Peterson, a former Chicago-area police sergeant accused of killing his ex-wife, has reached a verdict after deliberating for nearly 14 hours total.
A jury of seven men and five women have focused on whether Peterson, 58, was responsible for the death of Kathleen Savio, his third wife, who was found dead in her dry, clean bathtub March 1, 2004.
Peterson pleaded not guilty and the defense contended Savio fell accidentally, hit her head and drowned.
He faces up to 60 years in prison.
The headline-grabbing case did not arise until after Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in October 2007. It was during the search for Stacy Peterson, who has not been found, that investigators said they would look again at Savio’s death, which was initially ruled a drowning.
Savio’s death was ruled a homicide in February 2008, and Peterson was later arrested and indicted on two charges of first-degree murder. But during Judge Edward Burmila’s instructions to the jury, he told them there was now one count.
Peterson was married to Savio in 2001 when he had an affair with then-17-year-old Stacy Cales, who later became his fourth wife. Savio and Peterson filed for divorce in October 2001 and their relationship remained contentious for the next several years.
Bolingbrook, Illinois, police records indicate officers were called to Savio’s home 18 times to intervene in domestic fights from 2002 to 2004. Peterson had Savio arrested twice for domestic violence, though she was found not guilty in both cases.
Key moments in the Peterson trial
On February 27, 2004, Peterson picked up his two sons from Savio’s home and spent the next two days with them. Prosecutors said he entered her home again early on February 29 and killed her.
At the time of her death, which authorities initially treated as an accident, a court was mulling how the couple’s marital assets would be divided, and Savio was set to receive part of Peterson’s pension and other support.