BOLINGBROOK, Ill. – Authorities exhumed the body of a Chicago suburb cop's third ex-wife Tuesday to take a second look at how she died nearly four years ago after investigators reopened the case following the disappearance of his fourth wife.
A crane hoisted Kathleen Savio's white casket from the Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery west of Chicago as a Catholic priest stood by on the family's request to watch the body being unearthed.
Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson, 53, is a suspect in the disappearance of his current wife, Stacy Peterson, 23. Stacy Peterson's family reported her missing on Oct. 29 after she didn't show up at a friend's house.
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Kathleen Savio, Drew Peterson's third ex-wife, was found dead in a waterless bathtub in 2004. The coroner who reviewed Savio's death questions the autopsy, which ruled it an accidental death.
The autopsy report found that Savio had a one-inch "blunt laceration" on the left side of her scalp, her "hair is soaked with blood" and she also had abrasions or bruises on seven different places on her body.
Despite this, Dr. Bryan Mitchell — the forensic pathologist who conducted the initial autopsy — wrote in his opinion that her death "is ascribed to drowning."
The exhumation will likely review the first autopsy, conduct a toxicology report and x-rays to determine if there were any broken bones, said Katherine Ramsland, who has worked on exhumation teams in potential criminal investigations.
"They will reexamine based on a new hypothesis of what happened," Ramsland said, a forensic psychology professor at DeSales University. "They have a reason and they're now going to look at her body against this new hypothesis."
Investigators are likely reviewing Drew Peterson's marriages to determine if there is a history of domestic abuse or any behavior patterns that would indicate the possibility of foul play, Ramsland said.
"Somebody who is going to kill another person isn't just going to act out of the blue," Ramsland said. "Certain behaviors point to it."
State's Attorney James Glasgow has said evidence suggests that someone killed Savio and tried to make it look like an accident.
Documents show that Savio filed for an emergency order of protection from her husband, writing in the file that "he wants me dead and if he has to he will burn the house down just to shut me up."
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The family of Stacy Peterson hopes that the exhumation of Savio's body will lead to some more answers that could help in the search for their loved one.
"We're anxious for it," said Pam Bosco, a family spokeswoman. "I think it will provide a lot of answers to the questions we have and hopefully, progress the case a little bit faster."
Stacy Peterson's family says she would have never left her two young children. Drew Peterson said his wife called him to say she was leaving him.
Charlie Savio, Kathleen Savio's nephew, was upset about media coverage Tuesday morning at his aunt's grave.
"It's one thing that her two kids lose her," Charlie Savio told FOX News. "Then, they have to lose their mother figure (Stacy Peterson). And now they have to see their mom's coffin coming out."
No family members were at the exhumation because of late notice from authorities.
FOX News' Jeff Goldblatt and FOXNews.com's Melissa Underwood contributed to this report.
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