12/17/2007 National Enquirer Exclusive Interview with Ric Mims

http://www.acandyrose.com/2007-12-17-NE-RichardMimsInterview.htm

This is the complete article transcribed by www.acandyrose.com

National Enquirer, December 17, 2007 (Page 16)

"Stacy murdered in Bed. Stacy's final minutes of terror"

"In the livingroom of his Illinois home, 13-year old Kris Peterson, a champion middle school wrestler, was wrestling with a problem as he talked to family friend Richard Mims.

"My one mommy died, and my other mommy went away," Kris told Mims. "I don't know what to think about this." Kris' natural mother, Kathleen Savio, had died in a suspicious bathtub accident in March 2004. Now, Kris' adoptive mother, Stacy Peterson, 23, had vanished, creating national headlines. At the center of both mysteries was Kris' dad, former Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson, 53.

Mims, 40, Drew's close friend, has broken his silence about his pal in a world exclusive ENQUIRER interview. He reveals shocking new details about the case and what happened inside the Petersons' house, both before and after Stacy disappeared.

Mims remembers trying to comfort Kris as they talked about his mothers. "he looked frightened, and I told him: 'Well, you just have to hope for the best,'" Mims said, assuring the boy that Stacy would be coming home.

But Stacy hasn't come home, and Mims' pal Drew is a suspect in what police now call a homicide investigation.

At first, Mims believed Drew's explanation that Stacy had run off with another man on Oct. 28. But in the days after Stacy disappeared, Mims learned why Kris was frightened. Mims said the boy had heard his parents fighting, an argument that police and mims believe ended in murder.

Mims lived in Drew's home from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3. He helped care for the peterson children and id errands for Drew. By the time he left, Mims was certain Drew had killed Stacy.

In an exclusive ENQUIRER interview, Mims explained how Kris may be the star witness against his own father. "Right now, I'm certain this guy killed his wife," Mims told The ENQuIRER. The main reason for his certainy is a shocking statement made by Drew's son Kris. Mims says the boy may have heard his father murdering his stepmother.

"KRIS HEARD DREW FIGHTING with Stacy in their bedroom on the day she disappeared," said Mims. "Kris' bedroom is right next to his parents' bedroom, and when Stacy argues, she shouts."

Mims is convinced Drew "snapped Stacy's neck in their bed. Drew's a karate expert and has been since he was a young man. It's quick. It's quiet. And she wouldn't have a chance to scream." (Some investigators believe Stacy was strangled.)

"Mims said on the night of Oct. 31, Halloween, young Kris began to open up about Drew and Stacy's final fight. The boy was out helping supervise his stepbrother Anthony, 4, and stepsister Lacy, 2, as they trick-or-treated, dressed as Spider-Man and Tinker Bell respectively."

Neighbor Sharon Bychowski was also helping, and at one point, Kris pulled Sharon aside. "Sharon told me Kris looked scared," Mims told The ENQUIRER. "He said: 'I was in my bedroom and I heard mommy and daddy fighting.'"

"Kris told Sharon that Stacy was yelling she wanted a divorce and that she wanted his father to move out of the house. Mims says that suddenly things got quiet at that point, according to Kris."

A source close to the investigation confirmed Kris did hear that final argument and that the boy has told Illinois State Police his story.

Mims first heard about Stacy's disappearance the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 30. He called Drew who asked him to come over that night. When Mims arrived at Drew's home, his friend and the ex-cop's adult son Steve (from the first of his four marriages) were in the kitchen.

"I said: 'Dude, what's going on?" He said: 'Stacy ran off with another man.' He said she called about 9 p.m. (on Sunday, Oct. 28), said she found someone she wants to be with. He said she took $25,000 from the safe in the house and left the car parked at Clow International Airport (about 400 yards from the Peterson home)."

Mims asked what he could do to help, and Drew told him to stay over, that he and Steve had to go get Stacy's car, which Drew said he'd stashed at a neighbor's house after first bringing it home from the airport Sunday night.

I wondered why he'd moved Stacy's car somewhere else," Mims told the ENQUIRER.

While Drew and Steve left, Mims sat with the Kris and the two young ones in the living room.

When Drew returned with Stacy's car, Mims asked him more about the day Stacy disappeared.

"He said: "Well I got up about 11 o'clock, and Stacy was gone. I didn't think much of it because she was suppose to go see her grandfather." Drew says the next time he tried calling her was at 8 p.m. He left her a voice mail and he said something to the effect, "I don't want to disturb you if you're out on a date."

"I asked if Stacy was dating somebody else. He said: "Actually I think she's dating four or five different guys from the intelligence I can gather up."

And clearly Drew had been tracking Stacy's movements, Mims says.

DREW SAID HE HAD GOTTEN receipts from a T.G.I. Friday's just the Thursday [10/25/2007] before when Stacy had gone out with one guy and used his credit card," Mims told the ENQUIRER.

"I said: 'Are you serious? When did this all start?'

Drew said it was months ago when Stacy went back to school to take nursing classes. Drews said that's when Stacy started seeing "the f---- street rats that she hung out with before I knew her"

Mims spent that night, Oct. 30, at the house. During the next day (10/31/2007], Halloween, Drew paced a lot, fielding calls, and deciding he would let only the pretty female reporters in the house.

That night after trick-or-treating was over, Drew and Mims sipped run and Cokes and the cop leaned over. What he said gave Mims the chills.

"I'm going to have to ask you to be my hostage when the cops come for me. Maybe I'll have a standoff with them," said Drew.

Although Drew laughed after making the shocking statement, Mims thought he was serious.

"I wondered if I was gong to wake up in the night with a gun to my head," said Mims."

The cops did come the next day, with a search warrant, hauling off both Peterson cars and taking in Drew for questioning.

MIMS STAYED IN THE HOUSE while cadaver dogs went room to room sniffing for Stacy's body. Police took all the linens off the bed in Drew and Stacy's bedroom, and they confiscated carpet cleaner, computers, toothbrushes and Drew's guns.

When Drew got home in the afternoon, Mims met him at neighbor Sharon's house as the police finished the search.

Later that night inside the house, Drew showed Mims a gun he'd hidden, a small pistol that folded in half. "They (the police) didn't find this one," Drew sneered."

On the morning of Friday, Nov. 2, Drew's son Steve came over to pick up the youngest children and Kriss, who wasn't feeling well enough to go to school.

I watched Drew write a check for a little over $200,000 from a home equity line and give it to Steve in case something happened to him. He also gave him another $10,000 check and $500 in cash. I think this is a man who knows he's going to jail, said Mims.

Late that night [11/02/2007], after making several secret exits from the home and returning through a sliding glass door at the back of the home, Drew poured more rum and Cokes and told disgusting stories about Stacy.

"The evening got weird," says Mims.

"We're sitting on the couch. Drew says: "You can't ever repeat this but I'll tell you some s--t about Stacy."

He told Mims that he caught Stacy sunbathing topless this past summer at her brother Yelton's home.

"It was all lies. I'm thinking this guy wants me to hate Stacy."

With the children out of the house, Mims slept in Kris' room that night, locking the door, tossing and turning all night.

The next day he left the Peterson home and started to help in the search for Stacy. Mims says Drew called him angrily accusing him of "joining the other side."

As the days passed, more and more revelations about Drew emerged. There were reports that someone helped him carry a barrel or another type of container out of the house. Stacy's family revealed that she was terrified of Drew, that she wanted a divorce and that she told her sister if she disappears, to please look for her.

It's all taken a heavy toll on Mims, who no longer counts Drew as a friend.

"I've been apologizing to all of Stacy's friends for ever believing Drew in the first place," said Mims.

by Don Gentile

National Enquirer, December 17, 2007 (Page 20)

"The secret notes and the paper shredder"

Did Drew Peterson have help covering u evidence of Stacy's disappearance? "On the night of Nov. 1, four days after she disappeared, there was a knock on the door of the Peterson house. Drew's close friend Richard Mims answered.

"The guy at the door said: "Tell Drew I'm here." Drew said to let him in."

Mim's later found out the man was a pal of Drew's.

Mims told The ENQUIRER: "We all walked into Drew's office, and the first thing Drew does is mouth the words: 'Don't talk, there's bugs.'

"THE GUY THROWS DOWN a cell phone and a charger and writes on a piece of paper; 'This is a cell phone for you to use.' And he writes that Drew has to answer it by saying he's from some heating and cooling company. Then they put the note in a shredder."

"I walked out, and I kept seeing Drew and the guy write notes to each other and then shredding them. The cloak and dagger stuff was starting to scare me." A source says that police later asked Peterson's pal to take a lie detector test, but he has refused.

National Enquirer, December 17, 2007 (Page 20)

"Pal fears he unknowingly helped get rid of evidence"

Drew Peterson's best friend is worried that he may have unwittingly helped Drew get rid of evidence.

On the afternoon of November 2, Drew asked his pal Richard Mims for a favor. He wanted Mims to take to his son Steve, a police officer, a suitcase of teenage son Thomas' clothes and a trumpet case. Thomas plays in his high-school band. Drew said his younger kids were going to be staying at Steve's home.

Mims met Steve near Thomas' high school, but Thomas wasn't with him. He gave him the suitcase and trumpet case. That night, Mims was surprised to see Thomas arrive at the Peterson home with his principal, who lives just a few doors away from Drew's house. Thomas, Mims learned was actually staying with the principal's family- not with Steve. Mims got a bad feeling. He was wondering if he had unwittingly removed items from the Peterson home that Drew was nervous about.

I didn't look in the bag or the trumpet case. I don't know what was in it." said Mims.

National Enquirer, December 17, 2007 (Page 21)

"Ex-cop was on the prowl 2 days after Stacy disappeared"

After his wife went missing, Drew Peterson wasted little time looking for female companionship. Drew's best friend, Richard Mims, was stunned when - only two days after Stacy's disappearance - Drew suggested hooking up with some woman.

"He said he'd already got two phone calls from two girls who want to come over," Mims told The ENQUIRER. "He said: "I already got these girls that want to go out with me.'"

In the end, Drew put his lush on hold. He and Mims decided to watch a movie on TV. It was "Conan the Barbarian."