IN a bombshell interview, the star witness in the DREW PETERSON case told The ENQUIRER that the murderer was finally brought to justice – thanks to the words of his missing fourth wife STACY.
The Rev. NEIL SCHORI revealed exclusively that it was the explosive information Stacy gave him before her disappearance that nailed Peterson for the slaying of his third wife KATHLEEN SAVIO.
Speaking out for the first time since the sensational trial, the Rev. Schori told how he conveyed Stacy’s dramatic words to the jury – a startling revelation that landed Peterson behind bars.
“It was awesome,” the Rev. Schori told The ENQUIRER. “I really felt Stacy’s voice was heard and used to bring justice for Kathleen.
“And now I really believe justice is going to start rolling for Stacy. I’m praying that Drew will finally confess what happened to her. I am asking the Lord to do His work.”
Peterson divorced Kathleen on Oct. 10, 2003, and while still married to her, he had begun dating Stacy, who was only 17. The two tied the knot eight days after the divorce was granted.
Just weeks before Stacy vanished on Oct. 28, 2007, the Rev. Schori met with her near her Bolingbrook, Ill., home. She was planning to divorce Drew and stunned the pastor by telling him, “I live with a murderer.” She described the startling sight she awoke to one night in 2004 as she caught Drew, a Bolingbrook police sergeant, washing a set of women’s clothes.
He told his young wife that police would question her about his whereabouts – and that she would be his alibi. The next night Kathleen’s naked body was found in the bathtub of her home, and Stacy realized that Drew had killed his ex-wife.
The 58-year-old former cop thought he was home free until he learned that Stacy was going to divorce him, say authorities. They are convinced he killed Stacy and disposed of her body, although Drew contends she ran off with another man.
The investigation into Stacy’s disappearance led to the exhumation of Kathleen’s body. Her death, first ruled an accident, was reclassified a homicide.
At the ex-cop’s headline-making trial, Kathleen’s relatives testified she had told them how her brutish ex-husband boasted that he could kill her and make it look like an accident.
As powerful as their testimony was, it was Stacy, speaking through the Rev. Schori, who really swayed jurors. “It was very satisfying to hear one of the jurors say afterward that their guilty verdict hinged on Stacy’s ‘evidence,’” said the Rev. Schori. Drew was convicted of first-degree murder on Sept. 6 and faces up to 60 years behind bars when he’s sentenced in November.
Local State’s Attorney James Glascow, who says Stacy is presumed dead, is now considering another murder charge against Drew.
And Drew has hinted as much. His close pal Greg Keller told The ENQUIRER he once asked the ex-cop if he had anything to do with 23-year-old Stacy’s disappearance.
Drew chillingly said if he did kill her: “I know enough bad people after 30 years as a policeman that they’d never find her body.”
