Deadly suspicion

After Kathy Peterson received an anonymous letter in late 2001 telling her about Drew's affair with Stacy, she filed for divorce. Sue Doman is Kathy’s sister.

Sue Doman: She was sad because she was losing her husband. But she was happy in a roundabout way because now she was able to live her life, be free. Not be battered, not be mentally abused.

That spring, Drew moved into a house with Stacy a few blocks away. He and Kathy were still arguing fiercely. His friend and former neighbor Steve Carcerano saw a couple of ugly spats.

Steve Carcerano: Kathy was always angry with Drew when Stacy came into play. She would be complaining about the age thing a lot. And you know, I even pulled her aside a couple of times and said "It doesn't really matter about the age Kathy, whether she's 18 or whether she's 28 or 42. You know he found somebody else."

The Bolingbrook police, Drew's fellow officers, were called to Kathy’s house 17 times over a two year period for cases involving Drew. Some were custody disputes. Twice Kathy was charged with battery -- and twice she was found not guilty. Once she reported a violent, even menacing, act. In July 2002, she told police, Drew surprised her in the house and threatened her with a knife.

Sue Doman: She was coming downstairs with a clothes basket to do clothes. And he was dressed up in a SWAT uniform. He grabbed her and held a knife to her throat. He was really mad.

Hoda Kotb: About?

Sue Doman: That he had to pay so much money of child support. He was angry. He was going to kill her. And she said, "You know, I thought I would never see my boys again. I thought I would never see them again."

Hoda Kotb: She was that terrified, huh?

Sue Doman: Yes.

Hoda Kotb: So--

Sue Doman: And she told him, "You go ahead and kill me. You just go ahead and do that now."

Sue says Kathy told her Drew pulled back. However, when Kathy filed a police report she said she didn't want Drew arrested and declined to get another order of protection. Drew, for his part, denied the whole thing and was never charged.

Sue Doman: He convinced everyone and anyone that she was absolutely crazy, mentally ill.

Hoda Kotb: Is that what he was telling people?

Sue Doman: Yes.

Sue says all along Kathy was telling her family that she was afraid of Drew -- deathly afraid.

Sue Doman: She told me she felt she was not going to make it. He was going to kill her and it was going to look like an accident.

By March 1, 2004, Kathy and Drew were divorced, although the financial settlement was pending. About 9 p.m. that night, Steve Carcerano was returning home from work.

Steve Carcerano: And Drew happened to come down the street. And pulled up next to me in his squad car. And he thinks something might be wrong because he's gone trying to drop off the kids for the past day and a half. And that's not like Kathy not to be there when the kids were being dropped off.

Drew had a locksmith open the door to the house -- he says nobody had a key. He asked Steve and another neighbor, Mary, to go upstairs and look for Kathy while he waited below.

Steve Carcerano: And we went up there and what we found it's something that I’ll never forget.

He saw her when he entered the bathroom.

Steve Carcerano: I looked towards the back of the bathroom. There was a balloon type object. And as I walked closer to it, it was Kathy laying there naked.

Mary started screaming. Drew came running up.

Hoda Kotb: What did you see?

Drew Peterson: She was in a dry bathtub. And I believe I remember her laying face down and her hair was wet. But I don't remember any blood soaked hair, or anything like that.

Hoda Kotb: Because the, I think the initial police report mentions there was a gash on her--

Drew Peterson: I didn't see that.

Hoda Kotb: An inch-long gash.

Drew Peterson: I didn't see that.

Steve Carcerano saw Drew rush in.

Steve Carcerano: What Drew immediately did upon entering the bathroom is he checked her pulse. And then he started screaming out, "What am I going to tell my children? What am I going to tell my children?" And very distraught. You know, I looked right into his eyes. And he got very emotional, very quickly. And then he called the police department.

The Bolingbrook force handed the investigation over to the Illinois state police and a coroner's jury later ruled Kathy’s death an accidental drowning -- despite the facts that didn't seem to fit: the empty bathtub, the bruises on Kathy’s body. But that's where things stood until Stacy disappeared this fall.

James Glasgow (Will County state's attorney): I read the inquest. I looked at the crime scene photographs.

Twelve days after Stacy went missing, the Will County state's attorney, who was not in office when Kathy died, made a stunning announcement: Kathy’s death would be re-investigated. Her body exhumed and autopsied again.

James Glasgow: With 29 years of experience, there was no doubt in my mind it wasn't an accident. That was clear.

In his request for permission to exhume the body, the state's attorney went even further, saying the evidence is consistent with the "staging" of an accident to conceal a homicide.

Hoda Kotb: That's a very strong statement coming from a state official. What do you think of that?

Sue Doman: I was thinking, "thank God." Thank God because now you're looking at it again.

By now, the media glare was white-hot. And it wasn't long before women in Drew Peterson’s past started speaking out. Peterson, the Bolingbrook bon vivant, has been married four times. And that doesn't count the broken engagement.

Kyle Piry: I gave him the ring back and said that I just wasn't ready to get married.

Kyle Piry was engaged to Drew Peterson for four months in the early ‘80s. She says after she broke it off, he got physical.

Kyle Piry: We had gotten into an argument and at some point he pushed me. And I did fall on the floor. And at that point he straddled over me, in a police hold I believe it is. Pinned my arms against the floor with his knee and just verbally abused me.

She says she got away and did not press charges. But she says that didn't stop Drew from following her and harassing her for months afterwards.

Kyle Piry: He would pull me over and give me tickets for, I-- I remember, you know, bald tires.

Hoda Kotb: Bald tires?

Kyle Piry: And I thought that can't even be a real thing. And it is.

Hoda Kotb: What did you say to him? I mean, you saw him come up to your window obviously.

Kyle Piry: I thought he was, like, you've got to be kidding me. And he always had this smirkish smile on his face. I mean, it was a game-- it was a game to him.

Drew denied Piry's claims -- all of them. The physical abuse. The stalking. The harassment. And says that he's the one who broke off the engagement -- not her. Twenty-five years and three marriages later, Drew Peterson is at the center of a storm of suspicion and speculation over what happened to two of those wives.

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