The fiancée of ex-cop Drew Peterson, who is suspected in the disappearance of his fourth wife and the death of his third, left him after her father gave her a "him or me" ultimatum.
Christina Raines, 24, packed up and moved out of Peterson's Chicago-area house Friday with her two children after her father, Ernie Raines, forced the issue, according to "Drew Peterson Exposed" author Derek Armstrong.
Ernie Raines, 53, came to Peterson's home in Bollingbrook, Ill., Friday morning with a news crew and the police and demanded that his waitress daughter leave, he told FOX News. He said he feared for Christina's life.
"I tried to tell my daughter that I don’t want to have to wake up and find out that you’re gone," Raines told FOX. "Believe me, I couldn't sleep nights."
Raines said he didn't like the way Peterson had begun to act toward Christina.
"He was starting to control her," he said. "He was trying to use my daughter as a doormat to try to watch his kids."
Raines said Peterson told him "F— you" when he arrived at his house with police to collect his daughter.
Christina Raines left Peterson's house Friday escorted by several police cars. The couple has broken up and Peterson, 54, blames her father and the press.
"This is what the media always does to me," Armstrong quoted Peterson as saying. "As soon as the story got out on Chrissy, I knew it would be a problem for us."
Peterson admitted that his appearance on ABC's Nightline Thursday didn't help the situation.
In the segment, Peterson told the reporter, "I'd be wary of me too" when asked about Christina Raines' family and said that "when the romance is gone" in his relationships, he tends to have flings and move on.
The comments sparked a fight between the couple, Armstrong said. Christina Raines returned the engagement ring and a cell phone.
Peterson's fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson, disappeared in October 2007. The death in a bathtub of his third wife Kathleen Savio was ruled a homicide after initially being deemed accidental. Savio's body was exhumed and re-examined after Stacy Peterson vanished. A grand jury is still weighing evidence in both cases.
Drew and Stacy Peterson have two children, 6-year-old Anthony and 4-year-old Lacy.
They remain married, though Peterson met with high-profile Chicago attorney Jeffery M. Leving — a lawyer in the Elian Gonzalez case — earlier this year to see what his rights to a split might be.
Desertion for at least one year is grounds for divorce under Illinois law, though Peterson would have to show he wasn't at fault for causing his wife to leave, Leving said.
Ernie Raines said he's glad that his daughter, at least, is safe.
"This guy don't care about nobody," Ernie Raines told FOX. "I am not afraid of that man. That's why he don't like me."
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