Drew Peterson's Trial *THIRD WEEK*

[Wishbone]

painted himself in an unfavorable light on the witness stand in some respects which made me trust him all the more. I think that he must feel very sad and remorseful about not having been with Kathleen. I think that it must have been humiliating for him to reveal the details that he did and uncomfortable to talk about Kathleen calling him late at night "to vent"
As I think more about what I wrote, I realize that it sounds counterintuitive in a way that by Steve running himself down it made me trust him more, but it really did--if he were on the stand singing his own praises over what a perfect relationship they had it would seem like he might be trying to cover something up. I believe that he really cared for Kathleen and knew that she was in an ugly situation.
I don't think that her remark to him necessarily speaks to his intentions towards her but her feeling vulnerable after having been so close to him and his not making it his business to be with her the next night. She could have gone over to his home, but she wanted to study. (There was another night or two in between their date night and her death, right?--I need to re-read that)

I think it is ridiculous for the defense to make the leap that just because she was frustrated like many women are that marriage wasn't on the table as quickly as they would like that he would somehow be moved to kill her. Absurdity........as is the neighbor boy.
I think that it was normal for the teen to have a crush on an older attractive woman....it is (or should be) a safe crush and a nice fantasy for a youngin

I don't even know if DT is going to implicate anyone else or not but won't be surprised if they do if they get off their accident theory......

 

[Cubby]

Don't know what "dv" is......firefighters getting past a deadbolted door doesn't concern me. The fact that Kathleen (or anyone) feels fear to the point of actually installing a deadbolt on their bedroom door does. I've thought about being in that position and I just can't get there.

Sorry, DV is an abbv for domestic violence. I can't imagine having to put a deadbolt on any interior door either.

I've known people who had to padlock their bedroom door because their teenage or adult children living at home stole from them, but nothing aside from that scenario.

 

[katydid23]

There's lots and lots of info on Nick on this site. It wouldn't let me copy the info so here's the link.....Just scroll down the page until you get to his name. He did help her with the deadbolt and lots of other stuff too. Took pictures of damage DP did to the house. He even went to her house that sunday to give her some pasta but there was no answer.

http://www.acandyrose.com/drew_peterson_trial-1.htm

I had not looked at that site in quite awhile. ACandyRose is AMAZING. Thanks for reminding us about it.

So much information there that it is truly heartbreaking to see it all. This jury is going to see and hear only a tiny sliver of what really happened. imo

I didn't see anything there on the statements by the son about any pictures he took of her in the tub. I am dying to know what that was all about.
They talked about pictures he helped her take of the hole in the wall that DP made to get into her room. And he said it was to use in the divorce trial.

 

[katydid23]

Also, the neighbor's son was roughly the same age as one of Kathleen's sons I believe. On that site, ACandyRose, Nick is quoted as saying that Kathleen was like a mother figure to him. I imagine, since she had 2 sons with her, that he spent family time with them. One of my sons best friends became very close to me. He still is and he is 24. He has a great mom but he really like hanging out over here when they were kids.

 

[MrsPC]

I am not owing you. If head in toilet, what were her two shins uplifted on and causing that bruise on both shins? That IMHoO is not merely.her on her knees as the shins needed to have a one to two inch bruise horizontally

this may sound silly - but go stand next to your toilet & see where the rim of the toilet bowl might bruise your legs if pushed against the toilet while standing....

I tried it at my house and it's just below the knees - exactly where Savio's bruises were.

 

[WindyCityGirl]

Given that we have had so few witnesses each day, how much longer do you think that it will take for the prosecution to finish with their witnesses?
We have had some very powerful testimony, but very few witnesses. :bananalama: this is nuts!

 

[Cubby]

Found a little bit about the son, Nick. I guess he was with them when they found KS dead in the tub too. I'm too lazy to look for more right now.


Snips from Mary Pontarelli testimony on first day of trial


Pontarelli didn’t allow son Nick, who was one of the last people to see Savio alive, speak to police that night. He was 14.


She believes that Savio’s boyfriend had lunch with her on Saturday but as far as Pontarelli knows, her son Nick was the last to see Kathleen Savio alive.

http://petersonstory.wordpress.com/tag/mary-pontarelli/

Ok, this makes more sense now. The defense knows most often the last person to see someone alive is responsible. they're banking on that statistic and banking on the jury's knowledge of that statistic. They'll probably go with something along the lines of the Pontarelli's not allowing him to speak to LE. Which would probably work if the perp wasn't the police.

IIRC, Nick attended the saturday evening function the Pontarelli family invited Kathleen to, which she declined stating she was going to stay home to study.


Nah, I don't think the jury would take the bait the defense is trying to feed them with regards to Nick. The jury is not that stupid, imo.

 

[MrsPC]

In studying Savio's injuries/bruises...it's interesting to me that it appears Savio's left arm sustained more injury than her right.

I was envisioning a hypothetical scenario...much like that of when a police officer subdues a suspect from behind & they pull the suspect's arm behind the suspect. IF DP was behind Savio and grabbed her right arm near the wrist...that could explain the bruise there. And if Savio was pushed against something hard enough to cause bruising/hemorrhaging of both clavicles, it might also explain the bruise to the right breast area if her right arm was held behind her. And since there were more injuries to the left arm (front & back,) IMO, that could mean that the left arm was possibly free & that Savio was fighting/struggling more with that arm. The left hand is also the only one that showed water "wrinkling."

 

[Cubby]

<snip> I believe that he really cared for Kathleen and knew that she was in an ugly situation. <snip>
(There was another night or two in between their date night and her death, right?--I need to re-read that)

I believe the date with Steve was Friday evening. The Pontarelli's saw Kathleen and invited her to some kind of outing Saturday evening, which she declined, and then KS was found Sunday evening.

hth

 

[Cubby]

Those kind of things happen all the time....Kathleen was very pretty and was probably very nice to that boy too. He admired her...as a pretty female who is not his mother......it is just part of maturation.
Your post was interesting to me too........and I tend to lean in your direction about Drew asking them to spy on her except for the fact that the neighbors (Mary and Tom) definitely were protective of Kathleen and were in the know about her fear (putting the locks on her doors) which makes me think that they wouldn't be telling Drew what was up with her.
Unless of course it was the kid who was checking up on her and didn't know any better that he was fueling the psychosis of Drew.

In a domestic violence situation the fear would have come from Drew trying to isolate her from her support systems. Her neighbors would have been included in those support systems he was trying to instill a barrier. Drew could have told her the Pontarelli's were keeping an eye on her, or reporting to him, even if they were not. That is how an abuser in a DV relationship works. His goal being to create a distrust of the Pontarelli's making them one less part of her support system.

Simply because they had a friendly neighborhood relationship before Drew moved out of the home (which the Pontarelli's testified too, iirc), Kathleen may have believed this at one time. Even if it was an unfounded fear that was only for a short while at the time DP moved out of the home, if he became aware of it, it became a weapon he would use time and time again.

 

[Cubby]

Those kind of things happen all the time....Kathleen was very pretty and was probably very nice to that boy too. He admired her...as a pretty female who is not his mother......it is just part of maturation.
Your post was interesting to me too........and I tend to lean in your direction about Drew asking them to spy on her except for the fact that the neighbors (Mary and Tom) definitely were protective of Kathleen and were in the know about her fear (putting the locks on her doors) which makes me think that they wouldn't be telling Drew what was up with her.
Unless of course it was the kid who was checking up on her and didn't know any better that he was fueling the psychosis of Drew.

I think it was a simple crush. One of katydid's posts caused me to think of how Drew would minimize his behavior by trying to deflect poor behavior onto KS. One being his involvement with a 17 yr old. He knew how most people would view that behavior. What better opportunity than to try and deflect that by implying KS had an improper relationship with a 14 yr old.

I think the jury will see through the defense's tactics.

 

[Cubby]

There's lots and lots of info on Nick on this site. It wouldn't let me copy the info so here's the link.....Just scroll down the page until you get to his name. He did help her with the deadbolt and lots of other stuff too. Took pictures of damage DP did to the house. He even went to her house that sunday to give her some pasta but there was no answer.

http://www.acandyrose.com/drew_peterson_trial-1.htm

thank you. Just reading that little bit of info pertaining to nick makes my stomach knot up.

That's lot's of bad behavior I believe was not allowed in. Which sucks, because a history of DV it should have made it in. A pattern of DV is just that, a pattern. Nuf said or I will be wanting to spit bullets at the judge for what he has not allowed in.

 

[Cubby]

What is mainly in my mind is there doesn't seem to have been any noise coming from inside her home, such as her screaming, or even loud yelling. In our neighborhood, even in the middle of the night, it would cause dogs to bark and perhaps wake neighbors. Therefore, my belief is he would have to first subdue her in some manner before getting her into the bathroom.

MOO

This happened in March. On March 1 in the Chicagoland area it is almost always too cold for windows to be open allowing anyone to hear screaming from within a home. At the time the barriers would have been KS's home with closed windows as well as neighbors homes with closed windows. In a single family residence, I don't think neighbors would hear screaming from within their nearby home(s). the only way someone would hear a scream, imo, is if someone was walking past the home.


ETA: While we're on the topic, here is a link to the weather for BB, IL on Feb 29 and Mar 1, 2004.

Whoops, looks like Romeoville is the closest station for the BB area. For those not local, Romeoville is the town directly south of BB.


Feb 29:
http://www.wunderground.com/history...lingbrook&req_state=IL&req_statename=Illinois

Mar 1:

http://www.wunderground.com/history...tml?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

 

[Cubby]

Is there a transcript of the defense teams opening statements anywhere? I'd like to review them again.

tia

 

[Cubby]

this may sound silly - but go stand next to your toilet & see where the rim of the toilet bowl might bruise your legs if pushed against the toilet while standing....

I tried it at my house and it's just below the knees - exactly where Savio's bruises were.

bouncing off your post MrsPC.

....and if she was unconscious from water in the lungs when Drew tried to pick her up from a kneeling position, both legs could have bumped into the front of the commode causing the bruising.

I like your way of thinking MrsPC. Your posts really inspired some thinking about various aspects of this case I had not previousy considered. Thank you.

 

[mysteriew]

There's lots and lots of info on Nick on this site. It wouldn't let me copy the info so here's the link.....Just scroll down the page until you get to his name. He did help her with the deadbolt and lots of other stuff too. Took pictures of damage DP did to the house. He even went to her house that sunday to give her some pasta but there was no answer.

http://www.acandyrose.com/drew_peterson_trial-1.htm

It doesn't sound like she was too paranoid about him if she allowed him her home that much.

 

[mysteriew]

I think he had to forcibly get Kathleen into the bathroom. I wonder if he was dragging her by her shins? If he was wrapping his hands around her shins really tightly and dragging her, and her body was struggling against him, I think the shins would be badly bruised.

If there was enough pressure used to cause bruising, there would have been 'fingermarks'. Usually the most pressure could come from fingers, not the palm. And fingermarks are very distinctive.

 

[katydid23]

If there was enough pressure used to cause bruising, there would have been 'fingermarks'. Usually the most pressure could come from fingers, not the palm. And fingermarks are very distinctive.

What if he had his padded 'swat' gloves on? I wonder if the fingermarks would still be visible? He also could have tied something around her shins and pulled her?

 

[Livingthedream]

I have tried hard this weekend to try to slip and fall in my whirlpool tub. I can tell you this much; it's darn near impossible to hit your head without bracing yourself with your arms.

Not only that, you naturally use precaution when stepping into a tub. When entering it, you have to enter one foot at a time. You also naturally use one hand at a time to grab something when entering. This helps you KEEP your balance, not lose it.

Had KS slipped, one leg/foot would have been OUTSIDE of the tub, making it IMPOSSIBLE for her entire body to end up in the tub.

I really have taken an about face here and feel DP is going down.

 

[Leila]

I think the problem was there were no signs of her having just taken off clothes anywhere. Did she take off her clothes and just hang them up???? Plus ME said there was nothing there for her to get that type of injury to her head. Why would she lock her front door and not put on the deadbolt? Why would she prepare a bath and not lock her bedroom door? DP is not a genuis by any means so I doubt if he thought this entirely through. If she had clothes on and they had gotten blood on them he would have gathered them up with him when he left and cleaned up the mess. I don't think he would have given her having clothes on a second thought because she was suppose to be in the tub. He was thinking like a male not a female. Myself, I'd be more inclined to believe an ME before DP. jmo

I think one of the most compelling factors is that blood trickled from the wound on Kathleen's head into the bathtub and pooled........undiluted. If there had been water in the bathtub, the blood would have fallen into water and have been diluted and drained away. And the medical examiner couldn't find anything in the bathroom/bathtub area that Kathleen could have hit her head on that would have caused the 2 inch gash in the back of her head.

DP may think he got away with the perfect murder, but he was very sloppy in the way he carried out the crime. If there had been a good investigator on this case initially, one who would ask the tough questions:

1. where are her clothes?
2. what hit her head to cause that 2-inch gash?
3. how could the blood pool undiluted in tub if there had been water in it?
4. why did Kathleen have bruises on both her back and front?

There's many things in this case that are questionable, and a good investigator should have noticed all these things.