Getting Away With Murder, Not Once, But Twice?

by Susan Murphy-Milano

The house located at 392 Pheasant Court, Bolingbrook, Illinois, became a cold case crime scene four years after a botched local "good old boys" police investigation.

The major screw-up also resulted in an incorrect autopsy report on a 2004 closed-case file.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow asked the court for permission to exhume the body of its former resident, Kathleen Savio. On February 21, 2008, her death was reclassified as a homicide.

My God, if those walls could speak, what would they reveal? A wife, devoted mother of two boys, and nursing student, isolated from anyone who would answer her pleas for help—including the police department employing her husband, Sgt. Drew Peterson. And the Will County State’s Attorney to whom she repeatedly sought out assistance as evidenced by one of several letters sent to the Will County State’s Attorney’s office.

Kathleen’s life and fight for survival makes the game show contestants' battles on Survivor look like child’s play.

Consider for a moment the life of any woman married to a person trained to kill, a man who upon graduation from the police academy is issued a firearm and a badge to protect our streets from criminals. Imagine being the wife of a man who comes home after his shift and terrorizes his own family members. When the person harming her is himself in law enforcement . . . where is a woman in this position, enduring a daily battleground, going to go for help?

In my professional opinion, the answer to this question does not exist.

A police officer's wife must take extraordinary measures just to get the police to respond, and, if she’s lucky, to write a report. In Kathleen’s case, the Bolingbrook police documented going to the home 19 times out of a possible 90 or more undocumented calls where police did not write a report or arrest their watch commander Sgt. Drew Peterson.

If Stacy Peterson had not vanished off the face of the planet, the truth about Kathleen Savio’s death would have remained in the Closed Case file cabinet collecting dust. Speaking of case files, if Illinois State Police investigators reviewed one by one each of Drew Peterson's arrest and case files over his twenty-nine year law enforcement career, I am confident that they would no doubt uncover important information and clues in solving one or both of these cases.

The grand jury has been convening for more than a year on Wife #3, Kathleen Savio, and Wife #4, Stacy Peterson. This past week brought a victory of sorts, as the appellate court allowed the family of Kathleen Savio to re-open and gain control of the estate Drew Peterson was trying block.

While we continue to watch Drew Peterson draw attention to himself like a circus act in the media, remember, it cost two women their lives. Do I believe the body of Stacy Peterson will be recovered? In my opinion, no.

In the case of Kathleen Savio, I am holding my breath, hoping the State’s Attorney, James Glasgow is able to bring justice in a court of law for these women, their children, and their families.

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Bloody "Blue" Note

by Susan Murphy-Milano

Nearly a year ago in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tera Chavez, a 26-year-old mother of two, was found in the marital home—dead with a single gunshot wound to her face. A blood-stained suicide note was present, but, according to investigators, it was not written by Tera.

The weapon found at the scene—a service revolver issued to her husband, Albuquerque Police Department (APD) Officer Levi Chavez.

Initially, Tera's death was ruled a suicide. Several months later, that ruling was changed to Homicide.

In August of this year, lawyers for the family hired attorney Brad Hall and filed a lawsuit against the police department for tampering with a crime scene, destroying evidence, and for interfering with another department's investigation out of their jurisdiction. According to the lawsuit, officers flushed evidence down the toilet, removed blood-stained bedding, and tore out specific sections of the mattress where Tera's body had been discovered.

Why would nine officers from a different county care about this particular crime scene? . . .

They have reason to be concerned. Numerous APD officers were allegedly involved in an insurance fraud scheme. Somehow Tera was brought into the scheme by her husband Levi Chavez in a plot to rip off insurance companies. Because Tera refused to go along with her husband's "blue buddies" she was a liability to the nine officers.

Just three days prior to Tera'a mysterious death, she contacted investigators from the State informing them of the insurance fraud scam. According to family members, her husband Levi Chavez was livid.

It should also be no surprise that Tera Chavez told friends and family members that "if something happens to me it was no accident, Levi is responsible."

In addition, Levi Chavez is a person of interest and is currently on paid leave.

Levi Chavez also painted a picture to co-workers, family, and friends that Tera was depressed and he was worried she could hurt herself. The same orchestra is playing the familiar "abuser" song. With a few too many sour, blood-stained notes.

Officer-related crimes within the home have reached epidemic proportions. Women like Tera Chavez have no place to turn. Even in death, the code of blue silence remains constant.

Women involved in a "Violent Blue" relationship ending in their deaths have been denied justice: Natalie Wagner, Milwaukee WI; Valarie Fiorenza, Saugus, MA; and Melanies McCraken, Albuquerque, NM. The families of these women—who were either dating or married to someone in law enforcement when their lives were cut short—fought to see those responsible behind bars and were unsuccessful.

Breaking the code and holding those responsible is a long journey.

But I am confident justice will prevail in the death of Tera Chavez. (State of New Mexico_Tera_Chavez_Lawsuit_8-1802998.docx)

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