'Verdict with Dan Abrams'Guests: Drew Peterson and Joel Brodsky

Thursday, April 24[Peterson Excerpt]ABRAMS: Welcome back. Twenty-three-year-old Stacy Peterson was last seen in October of lastyear. Days later, her husband Drew was named a suspect in her disappearance. Since then, thedeath of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, was deemed a homicide changing what had been believedto be an accidental death in a bathtub.Many now believe he was responsible for both, but he has not been arrested or charged in eithercase and maintains his innocence. He says he believes Stacy is still alive and with another man.Drew Peterson and his attorney, Joel Brodsky, join me now. Gentlemen, thank you very muchfor coming on the program. I appreciate.JOEL BRODSKY, DREW PETERSON‘S ATTORNEY: Thank you.ABRAMS: Let me start by saying I give you both credit for coming on the program to answersome tough questions and I appreciate that. Let me start with you, Mr. Peterson with a fairlyeasy question which is, why are you so convinced that Stacy is alive?DREW PETERSON, SUSPECT IN THE DISAPPEARANCE OF STACY PETERSON AND THE DEATH OFKATHLEEN SAVIO: Last time I talked to her she told me she was leaving with someone else.ABRAMS: Tell me about that conversation. What did she say?PETERSON: It was a phone call. She said that she found somebody else and she was leaving fora while, she said.ABRAMS: Did you try to convince her not to leave?PETERSON: I much said, you know, “What am I supposed to do with me and the kids and whatare we supposed to do now.” And she seemed kind of snotty in the phone conversation, so itwas a pretty quick conversation. And then I was abruptly - she terminated it.ABRAMS: When you say “snotty,” what do you mean?PETERSON: For her - I mean normally, she‘s kind of like giddy and up (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Herdemeanor during the conversation was kind of snotty for her.ABRAMS: How long did the conversation last?PETERSON: It was - maybe a couple minutes. That‘s it.ABRAMS: And she hung up and that‘s the last time you heard from her?

PETERSON: That‘s it.ABRAMS: Does it surprise you that she hasn‘t contacted her children or any of her friends?PETERSON: Yes, I‘m very surprised over that. Yes.ABRAMS: And what have you done to try to find her?PETERSON: Oh, we have private investigators working right now. And basically, they‘re kind of limited to computer activity, or you know, monitoring charge cards and that type of thing. But I just don‘t have the resources to go traipsing the globe to, you know, find her at the beaches or,you know, other parts of the world where I think she possibly is.ABRAMS: When you say that you don‘t have the resources, et cetera, I mean, this is your life,right? I mean your life has now become the - being the suspect in the case of your missingwife. I think there are a lot of people out there who would say, “My goodness, I would be doingeverything I could, not just to clear myself, but also to make sure that she‘s OK. I mean she isthe mother of my children.” PETERSON: Right. Well, my primary concern is my children. There‘s four children that arerequiring constant care, every day. So I just can‘t abandon them to, you know, go traipsing theglobe, looking for her. She could be next door hiding out in Sharon‘s house or she could be onthe other side of the world. I don‘t have a clue where she is.ABRAMS: Here is what the Illinois State Police said in a statement. They said, “As statedpreviously, Stacy Peterson didn‘t voluntarily cease all contact with her children, family andfriends. The investigation continues to make progress proving that claim. We are confident theinvestigation‘s momentum will culminate in an arrest.” Look, you‘re a former cop. You would think that the cops would want to give you the benefit of the doubt, wouldn‘t they?PETERSON: Not particularly.ABRAMS: Why not?PETERSON: I think they‘ve gone out of their way to get me. I think, being a policeman, I thinkhas worked against me. I‘ve gotten no professional courtesy, none whatsoever, and seemed thatthey‘ve been overly rude to me.BRODSKY: Can I add something to that?ABRAMS: Yes, go ahead, Joel.BRODSKY: You know, what the police believe really doesn‘t concern us. It‘s what theprosecutors and the state‘s attorney believe that really concern us. They‘re the ones that bringcharges. They are the ones that go to the grand jury. And so far they have not given any

indication of what their thoughts is. So what the state police say really doesn‘t concern uswhatsoever.ABRAMS: All right. Let me - your ex-fiance - you know all this stuff, Drew - your ex-fiance andthe sister of your third wife have both made some pretty damning - said some pretty damningthings about you. Let‘s listen.(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)KYLE PIRY, DREW PETERSON‘S EX-FIANCE: He pushed me over a cocktail table and pinned meto the ground, sort of like a police hold. That‘s what I would call it.(END VIDEO CLIP)ANNA DOMAN, SISTER OF KATHLEEN SAVIO: She told me she‘d never make the end of thedivorce, she would never make the property settlement. She knew it, and it‘s a shame.UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: She knew she was going to be killed?DOMAN: That‘s what she told me.(END VIDEO CLIP)ABRAMS: And then we have your second wife telling the “Chicago Tribune” that she said, “During their marriage, and increasing controlling Peterson told her he could kill her and make itlook like an accident.” So you‘ve got your fiance talking about how you threw her around. You‘ve got your second wifetalking about the fact that you said you could kill her. You got the sister of the third wife talkingabout the fact that you were talking about the violence. You got your fourth wife who ismissing. Isn‘t it true that you‘re either the unluckiest guy in America or you‘re behind some of this?PETERSON: I‘d say the unluckiest guy in America. Whenever you break up with somebody, youdon‘t really leave on a positive note. And statements by an ex-fiance are just totally ludicrous.ABRAMS: But they don‘t usually say that “The guy was trying to kill me.” I mean I‘ve had somebad relationships and no ex-of mine has ever said, “The guy was trying to kill me.” PETERSON: Well, they never said I was trying to kill them either. They‘re just saying whatsomebody else allegedly said to them.ABRAMS: Your second wife said during their marriage an increasingly controlling person told herhe could kill her and make it look like an accident. That‘s according to Vicky Conley.PETERSON: Oh, that never happened. I never made any type of statement like that.