http://www.suntimes.com/news/peterson/1409080,w-christina-raines-drew-pterson-020209.article
FEB 2 2009
The following is a transcript from Christina Raines' interview this morning with Julie Chen on "The Early Show."
JULIE CHEN, co-host: Joining us are Christina and Ernie Raines, along with CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom.
Good morning to you all.
Christina, let me begin with you. Can you walk us through your relationship with Drew Peterson? When did you meet him and how did you meet him?
Ms. CHRISTINA RAINES (Former Fiance of Drew Peterson): I had met him at a bar, but before that I've known Drew Peterson every since I was like 15.
CHEN: So did you know his wife Stacy as well, then?
Ms. RAINES: Yes.
CHEN: OK, and how did this relationship with Drew get to the point where you were engaged to him?
Ms. RAINES: It started out as a friendship.
CHEN: I imagine it's very difficult.
Mr. ERNEST RAINES (Father of Drew Peterson's Ex-Fiance): I can--I can add a little bit to that. We moved to Bolingbrook when we were little. And Drew Peterson was a policeman, a sergeant at the time, and he helped me a lot, and I trusted him. And all of a sudden later on I got word that he was trying to date my daughter.
CHEN: That he was trying to date your daughter?
Mr. RAINES: Yeah.
CHEN: At what point, after Stacy had been reported missing?
Mr. RAINES: Yeah, after Stacy disappeared. And six months ago, I believe it was--my daughter works at a restaurant, and he was going in there and then going where she was hanging out at and just kept pursuing her.
CHEN: And how did you react to this?
Mr. RAINES: I wasn't happy. She knew how I was, how I felt about it. So what I--what I tried to do, I called the state police, they says that it's an ongoing investigation, there's nothing you can do. I called Bolingbrook, they sent a police car over to their house to do a track number, which is where I got the officer's name, badge number and report number. The next day another officer called me, fouled up on it and said, `I wish you luck, you know, but there's really nothing we can do.'
CHEN: Hm.
Christina, let me ask you this. OK, obviously your father wasn't happy finding out about you two dating. How would you describe Drew as a person? Was he kind to you?
Ms. RAINES: Yes, he was very kind to me.
CHEN: Was he ever violent towards you?
Ms. RAINES: No, not at all.
CHEN: How was he as a father to his children?
Ms. RAINES: He was a great father, and he was really good to my kids.
CHEN: Did you--did he ever talk to you about Stacy after she went missing?
Ms. RAINES: I don't feel comfortable answering that right now.
CHEN: You don't want to discuss it. What--you said you knew Stacy also. Do you think he had anything to do with her disappearing?
Ms. RAINES: I really don't feel comfortable answering that at all right now.
CHEN: Do you think he had anything to do with the mysterious death of his third wife?
Ms. RAINES: I don't want to answer any of those questions right now.
CHEN: What do you want the public to know about you or about Drew Peterson?
Ms. RAINES: Well, that I'm a good person and I have a good heart, and instead of following with my head I followed with my heart and...
CHEN: Do you love him?
Ms. RAINES: I don't love him.
CHEN: Did you love him?
Ms. RAINES: I thought I did.
CHEN: How did you become engaged to him? When did you become engaged to him?
Ms. RAINES: It was never an engagement, really.
CHEN: What was it, then?
Ms. RAINES: It was more like a stunt.
CHEN: A stunt?
Ms. RAINES: Yes.
CHEN: On whose part?
Ms. RAINES: On Drew, so could be in the media.
CHEN: Did you know it was a stunt when...
Ms. RAINES: Well, he had told me that his lawyer had wanted him to be in the media and wanted to propose to someone at a restaurant.
CHEN: And then what happened? So he said to you...
Ms. RAINES: Well...
CHEN: ...`We're friends, we're dating, you want to be a part of this stunt?' Is that how it went down?
Ms. RAINES: That's how it went down, but I would not go with it. I would not go along with it.
CHEN: What would you say to him?
Ms. RAINES: I told him no, and he had said, `Well, if it comes out that I'm engaged to someone, it's not really true.'
CHEN: So you were never engaged to him, is that what you're saying?
Ms. RAINES: No, I was never engaged to him.
CHEN: But he was putting it out there that he was engaged?
Ms. RAINES: That he was engaged.
CHEN: To you.
Ms. RAINES: He had--he had told me that he never said it was me. He never said that he was engaged to me.
CHEN: OK...
Ms. RAINES: But I have heard that, like, off camera he had told I think his producer or publicist that it was me.
CHEN: OK, let me ask you this. But you did live with him, correct?
Ms. RAINES: I did live with him.
CHEN: What was the breaking point? Why did you break up with him?
Ms. RAINES: All it was, was I moved in with him, and the reason why I left, I had went on a Monday to collect some of my items from my apartment...
CHEN: From your apartment that you shared with him, or your own apartment?
Ms. RAINES: My own apartment that I shared with my ex-boyfriend Mike.
CHEN: OK.
Ms. RAINES: And he had sat me down...
CHEN: Who sat you down?
Ms. RAINES: Mike.
CHEN: OK.
Ms. RAINES: And he was telling me, you know, `This is not right. He's not a good guy.' Just kind of opened up my eyes, and a lot of things made sense. And he guided me from Monday through Thursday, and Thursday's when Mike had asked me to move back in...
CHEN: With him.
Ms. RAINES: ...with him. Lisa, let me bring you in. From a legal standpoint, let's say--just say Drew Peterson does propose to someone, anyone.
Ms. LISA BLOOM (CBS News Legal Analyst): Mm-hmm.
CHEN: Can he even legally get married to a woman right now, because isn't he still considered married even though is last wife is nowhere to be found?
Ms. BLOOM: Yeah, you really put your finger on it. He can get engaged, but legally he cannot get married. He is still legally married to Stacy Peterson, who is missing, been missing for over a year. And her clothes are still in that house, right, Chrissy? I mean, they're still in the closets. She's still a presence in that house.
CHEN: In the final seconds, Lisa, what do you make of all this? If you were advising Drew Peterson, if you were his attorney, what would you say?
Ms. BLOOM: Well, I wouldn't be advising Drew Peterson. I think he's getting bad advice. And I've been very happy to be advising Ernest, and he--I want to give hats off to Ernest for being the dad in this situation, for staying close to his daughter.
CHEN: Yeah.
Ms. BLOOM: For being there for his daughter and for helping her to get out of this bad situation. It really is a success story. We don't see a lot of these.
CHEN: Lisa Bloom, Ernie, Christina, thank you for all coming on.
Mr. RAINES: I just want--I got one comment to make. Johnny Cash came out with a song that Kris Kristofferson wrote, but Johnny Cash sang it...
CHEN: And?
Mr. RAINES: ...and it was called "Beat The Devil." And that's what we did. We beat the devil.
CHEN: Ernie, we thank you. Thank you all.
Mr. RAINES: And I want to holler out to Phil, Dr. Phil. I want to thank him so much...
CHEN: All right. Thank...
Mr. RAINES: (To Bloom) And I want to thank her.
CHEN: Thank you.
Mr. RAINES: Because if it wasn't for them...
Ms. RAINES: Mike.
CHEN: Yeah.
Mr. RAINES: And Mike. Hats off.
CHEN: All right. We got to go. Ernie, thank you so much.
Mr. RAINES: You're welcome.
CHEN: Christina, we're glad that your dad is happy and that you feel that you're safe.
Mr. RAINES: Oh, I'm happy, I'm happy.
