DREW PETERSON SHOCKER

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Neighbors who found the body of Drew Peterson’s ex-wife Kathleen Savio have provided blockbuster new evidence that prosecutors say will finally nail the former cop for murder.

Thomas and Mary Pontarelli
stunned a hushed courtroom as they described the horror of March 1, 2004, as they entered the bathroom where Savio’s naked body lay in a dry bathtub.

"I threw myself down and started hitting her bed with my fists," said Mary, describing the emotional pain of seeing her friend’s lifeless body.

Even to their untrained eyes, the Pontarellis knew this was not a death caused by an accidental fall in a tub as Drew’s lawyers are claiming.

Mary said she checked for a pulse and then ran her hand through Savio’s hair, noticing that her long raven locks were down rather than tied up on her head as she usually wore them. Mary thought it was especially strange that her hair was not tied up if she was taking a bath.

Savio’s body, said Mary, lay in a fetal position in the oval-shaped tub, "like someone had placed her in there."

Mary also noticed that a rug Savio always kept next to the tub was gone. Mary’s husband Thomas noticed other items were missing.

"I said, ‘Look around. Where’s her clothes?’" Pontarelli testified.

A source close to the investigation told The ENQUIRER that the Pontarellis’ observations could be the evidence that leads to Peterson’s conviction.

"Investigators are convinced Drew took Kathleen’s clothes and the rug because they were stained with her blood after he got into her home and beat her to death," the source said.

Savio, 40 when she died, was Drew’s third wife. Her sudden death – initially declared an accident – occurred at a time when she and her ex-husband were battling over financial matters.

Savio’s body was exhumed and her death declared a homicide after Drew’s fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy, vanished on Oct. 28, 2007.

Both wives had repeatedly told friends and relatives that Drew, 56, a former police sergeant in Bolingbrook, Ill., was abusive and boasted he could kill someone and make it look like an accident.

Drew was indicted for Savio’s murder and prosecutors have been calling dozens of witnesses in an attempt to convince a judge that Drew also murdered Stacy. Prosecutors hope to win the right to use statements Stacy made implicating Drew in Savio’s murder.

Before she disappeared, Stacy told her pastor Neil Schori she saw Drew washing Kathleen’s bloodstained clothes less than 24 hours before Savio’s body was found.

Drew reportedly asked Stacy to provide him with an alibi. He wanted her to say he was home with her, but Stacy told Schori she knew Drew was at Kathleen Savio’s home several blocks away.