CBS2 Chicago Interview with Drew Peterson by Mike Puccinelli – February 6, 2009PUCCINELLI: So I first wanted to start out about the news from last week. Christinacalled it a stunt. Was it a fake engagement?PETERSON: No, she asked me to marry her about five or six times and five or sixtimes I said yes. One time she said, “Well where’s my ring?” and I went to thebottom of a costume jewelry drawer and got her a ring. I mean it wasn’t the bestring in the world but it was a temporary so I was going to have her one made. So itwas a real engagement. I did consider myself engaged to her and referred to her asmy fiancée.PUCCINELLI: Well, then why’d she go on national TV and say it was a stunt?D: Don’t know, but later she recanted and their whole group recanted and said itwas a real engagement so now they’re changing their story.PUCCINELLI: Did your attorney…because she went on national TV also and said yourattorney told you to get engaged.PETERSON: No, not at all. Why would he do that? In fact, Joel Brodsky advised menot to get engaged. He said it was a bad idea and that it was a bad idea to moveher into the house but a lot of the time I didn’t listen to him and my feelings for herwere overpowering and we got engaged and she moved into the house with herkids.PUCCINELLI: Do you love her?PETERSON: Like she says, “I thought I did.” [Laughs]M. Do you expect to get back together with her?PETERSON: You know, I don’t think she can stay away from me.PUCCINELLI: You’re just that attractive?PETERSON: I’m a handsome man. [Laughs]PUCCINELLI: So you think she’s going to come back.PETERSON: I do and I think if everybody just lets us alone and lets us be happy we’llhave a very nice life together.PUCCINELLI: I’ve heard some women say that you’re looking for a nanny more thana wife.PETERSON: Not at all. If you look at the relationship with Chrissy, she worked and Iwatched the kids. I was the nanny. So, that’s a little crazy to say that. I’ve beentaking care of my kids and when her kids moved in I was watching them while she

was out getting her nails done and she was out working. So I was the nanny. So noI’m not looking for a nanny at all.PUCCINELLI: She has two kids and they both moved in with you?PETERSON: Two little kids. A little girl, four, and a little boy, five.PUCCINELLI: And you invested in those kids.PETERSON: Oh yeah, I spent about $2000 accommodating them moving into thehouse. I bought bunk beds for them and bedding. I wanted the kids to have theirown place to sleep –have their own bed—have a feeling of belonging . So, yeah Iinvested in them quite extensively.PUCCINELLI: So the invitation is out there for her and her children to move back in?PETERSON: well we’d have to talk about that in great detail but who knows what willhappen in the future.PUCCINELLI: Ernie said that when he got her to move out, they beat the devil. Whatdo you think of that?PETERSON: If I’m the devil because I took better care of her than she’s ever beentaken in her life, then I guess I’m the devil. I provided her with a loving home, aclean home. I took her kids in as my own and started raising them as my own. Eventhough it was a short period of time, that’s how they were treated. Chrissy’s dietconsisted of cigarettes, chocolate, diet pop and beer and it’s just like, I went aheadand if you look over at my counter over there, and I went and bought her vitaminsand was trying to get her healthy—eat healthy. So if loving her and taking good careof her is the devil, then yeah, I’m the devil.PUCCINELLI: You’ve been called a lot of things. How would you describe yourself?PETERSON: A good father. A good man. Before all this happened there isn’t aperson around that wouldn’t say I wasn’t a good helpful man to everybody and evenSharon next door. Every time she had a problem she’d call me and I’d go and be herfree handyman all the time. Any of the policemen will tell you that if anybodyneeded anything—money, wedding pictures, anything that I had the ability to takecare of and do for them I did for them. I gave people the shirt off my back but nowall of a sudden that this is this cloud’s over my head and I’m sinister, people don’tlook at that no more. They just look at the sinister issue that’s at hand.PUCCINELLI: What about Ernie? How long have you known him and the family andChrissy?PETERSON: Chrissy’s twenty-four now and I knew her since she’s been fifteen, soI’d say about nine years old—or nine years. At fifteen she was basically a littlehellion. She was getting into fights, getting into trouble all the time and as apoliceman I was there dealing with her issues, with her dad—for her dad.

PUCCINELLI: Why are you dating these women when you are still married?PETERSON: Well, it’s just like, what am I supposed to do? Stacy took off. Am I justsupposed to sit in a corner and cry or just move on with my life? I don’t know whatto do. So it’s just like people are criticizing me because I’m getting engaged withoutbeing divorced but she ran off with somebody and I was engaged to Stacy before Iwas divorced with Kathleen. So it’s like, I’m living my life. Life is short so why not behappy? Why not grab it and go for it?PUCCINELLI: Do you still have feelings for Stacy?PETERSON: I’m very angry with Stacy and what she did so it’s like, I’m just kind of like, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future with Stacy so we’ll see whathappens.PUCCINELLI: You say she ran off with another man. How does it feel to think thatsomeone stole your woman?PETERSON: It kind of hurts. I was very much in love with Stacy and I was very happywith our relationship but again, after her sister died—her sister died of cancer—andas soon as that happened everything kind of went south. We had her to apsychiatrist, we had her on medication, she lost her faith and everything kind of justfell apart after that.PUCCINELLI: Do you understand why people think getting engaged while stillmarried to Stacy is the height of disrespect?PETERSON: I think the height of disrespect is leaving me with four kids. I think that’sa bigger height of disrespect but nobody’s looking at that. No, they’re just looking atme, at this sinister cloud they’ve created for me so I think the height of disrespect isabandoning me with children, or cheating on me like we found out she was doing. Ithink that’s the ultimate disrespect.PUCCINELLI: They’re saying that she didn’t abandon. That you killed her.PETERSON: No, that’s totally false. None of that’s true?PUCCINELLI: How do you explain what happened to wife number three, to KathleenSavio and Stacy Peterson then? It seems like an unbelievable vortex of coincidence.PETERSON: Without a doubt it’s unbelievable and it’s suspicious by nature. If I waslooking at it from the outside, I’d agree with that, but that’s just not what happened.PUCCINELLI: What did happen?PETERSON: I believe Kathleen had an accident, a household accident. People saythat’s impossible but it’s not. You get all these characters on television saying thatshe drowned in a dry bathtub. How do you drown in a dry bathtub? I’d really like toclear that up. The state police came in when they did their initial investigation andthey did a drain test on the bathtub and they filled it up with water and it took two