02/28/2008 Mike & Juliet Show - "The Search for Stacy Peterson"

http://www.mandjshow.com/videos/the-search-for-stacy-peterson/

http://www.acandyrose.com/2008-02-28-Mike&JulietShow.htm

Trancribed by “Snicker” from TV program

Drew Peterson speaks out, but is he telling the truth? Hear what our body language expert and his former best friend have to say! It’s an M&J interview you don’t want to miss!

Interview with Jeanine Pirro, Ric Mims, body language expert, and KS's niece and nephew Charlie and Melissa.

Juliet: Welcome everybody!

Mike: Well, did you watch the Today Show? Drew Peterson spoke out yet again in his offense this morning. He was not so cocky this time around, not defiant, his demeanor, I don't know . . .

Juliet: Somebody must have given him a pill.

Mike: Yeah. He was very subdued.

Juliet: Yeah. Different from the Drew that we've known, that we've come to know and not love. A new Drew perhaps? The main suspect in his fourth wife's disappearance seemed, as Mike said, subdued, kinda resigned to a possible life in prison. Ah, his answers sort of lead us to believe that. But who is the real Drew? And, here the big one, is he telling the truth?

Video segment with announcer reading: If you thought you'd heard the last from prime suspect Drew Peterson, well think again.

Drew in Today Show interview: "Anything's possible, so I don't even know. And I really don't even know how to respond to that."

That was Drew Peterson's clipped answer this morning on the TS responding to news that the bathtub death of his third wife Kathleen Savio recently was changed from an accidental death to a homicide. And this is Drew Peterson continuing to claim the disappearance of his fourth wife Stacy is due to his theory Stacy ran off with another man.

DP: "That's the only information that I have."

The State Police investigation of her whereabouts is still going strong. Peterson has denied wrongdoing in both cases. The 2004 death of Kathleen Savio was ruled a homicide after a second autopsy. Kathleen's family felt all along that her death was not an accident and they believe this new development in the case will help resolve what happened to Kathleen and Stacy Peterson too. Peterson ended his Today Show interview responding to a question asking if he is prepared to go to jail.

DP: "I'm prepared for anything that should come up. Once I found out, my main concern about anything is my children. And once all my ducks are in line for their well-being, I'm OK. "

And finally when asked to name his biggest regret, amazingly this was Peterson's response:

DP: "Letting Geraldo Rivera in my house (chuckling)." (end of video segment)

Mike: Got to get Geraldo's answer to that tomorrow on the show. Here today to discuss Drew's denials, is his former best friend, Ric Mims. Ric, good to have you back.

Juliet: Thank you Ric. Also we have body language expert Tonya Reiman. Kathleen Savio's niece and nephew are here today, Melissa and Charles Doman.

Mike: And former prosecutor and Superior Court Judge Jeanine Pirro. Well, it was a pretty lengthy interview, I guess it went nine or ten minutes and I hope Matt Lauer got paid by the work because he did most of the talking. Drew didn't talk too much. But let's get right to Drew's response when Matt Lauer asked him about the new ruling in Kathleen's death, his third wife.

DP on TS: "It was kind of shocking. Ah, we believed for the last four years, ah, that her death was accidental. And then all of a sudden, and that was with a fresh autopsy. Now all of a sudden there's a new autopsy with an old body, let's say, and that's been ruled a homicide. I'm kind of suspicious of it."

Juliet: Ric, you've known him for a long time now. You guys aren't friends anymore.

Ric: No.

Juliet: Now based on, you know, you've known him obviously since Kathleen's death, what was he saying about that death throughout those years?

Ric: Ah, he just basically told me that Stacy was his alibi for that weekend and he had nothing to do with it.

Mike: Tonya, you're our body language expert, could you pick up anything there at all?

Tanya: You know, it's interesting, when someone talks about being shocked, they'll usually be like (mouth open, eyes wide, leaning forward) "I couldn't believe it!" The eyes will go wide, they'll lean forward a little bit. He looks down, which usually that's more of an emotional thing like, "(sigh) I was devastated by it" -- so I found that to be strange that he didn't look up and show shock (exclamation), not shock (quietly, looking down).

Juliet: What do you think that says?

Tonya: There's some incongruency. Like he planned it, like "hmmm, should I look down and feel the emotion, or should I . . ." He's trained in body language.

Juliet: Again, he was a police officer for many years.

Tonya: So in my opinion he should have looked up and said he was shocked, not down.

Mike: Yeah. Very tight lipped. "I can't respond, I can't respond . . ." Then his attorney kept responding.

Tonya: Short, quick answers.

Mike: You better believe it. Not forthcoming at all.

Tonya: No.

Mike: Nope. So now Matt asked him about, and Ric you know about this, now that we have the autopsy back about Kathleen's death and it's ruled a homocide, it looks like she was dead about 24 hours. Do you know where he was 24 hours before she was found?

Ric: No I don't. He was just telling me he was with Stacy that weekend, and the kids.

Mike: Hmmm. Melissa and Charles, real quickly, now that we're talking about Kathleen, your aunt's death, did you ever buy that it was an accident? The coroner's jury said it was an accident, did you ever buy that?

Charlie: Never.

Melissa: (shaking her head no) As you said before, it is very hard for a healthy 40-year-old woman who's happy and has her own children, leading her own life, to just one day slip and fall and drown in a bathtub.

Juliet: One of the jurors was on one of the talk shows this morning and said, "We just never saw any evidence about Kathleen being murdered." And never saw any evidence, and that's why. Where do you think the blame should be placed?

Melissa: Um, honestly I don't know if it would be called blame, but from what I understand, things I've read and things I've been told, Coroner O'Neil used a lot of technical terms, a lot of big words that maybe people didn't understand or get the correct grasp of and I've also been told that Coroner O'Neil did tend to go through the inquests kind of hurriedly.

Mike: Coroner O'Neil and some of the jury members knew Drew?

Charlie: Yeah. On the coroner's jury there was a policeman's wife, there was a policeman who, from what I've been told, both knew Drew. They should have dismissed them, so.

Juliet: Ric you're nodding your head, you're nodding your head.

Ric: I have the same information.

Mike: Did Drew kill your mom's sister, Charles?

Charlie: We don't, we only know what the evidence shows.

Juliet: Do you think he did?

Charlie: That's, that's, with the investigation, it's really hard to go on and say "yes we think he did it."

Juliet: Are you concerned about coming out and saying what you really think and feel? Is there anything holding you back from doing that?

Charlie: Yeah, we don't want to interfere with the investigation.

Melissa: It's just our opinion and we, you know, without solid evidence right there, you know, where we can say "here you go," we don't want to . . .

Juliet: Absolutely. But you are entitled to your opinion. And that's the beauty of our country. But did you know Drew when he was married to your aunt?

Charlie: Yeah.

Melissa: Oh yeah.

Juliet: So what was your opinion of him, did you like him?

Charlie: I worked for him for many years. I mean at the time I thought he was a really, really nice guy.

Mike: But when Kathleen was found dead, what did you think immediately?

Charlie: Of course we thought it was Drew.

Melissa: Mm hmm.

Mike: Instantly?

Charlie: Instantly.

Juliet: Why?

Charlie: Well, it was my aunt, so I mean, after the divorce, I mean, of course we spent a lot of time together with my aunt. I mean we were just there at Christmas before she was murdered. And she would always say, you know, "This man is crazy. He's gonna kill me. He wants all the money, he doesn't want to pay me child support . . ."

Juliet: That wasn't the Drew that you knew when you were working with him, you said he was a nice guy.

Charlie: Right.

Juliet: (turning toward Ric) You said the same thing. It's like there are two Drews.

Ric: You were talking about we have a right to our opinions on the case - no we don't. Because every time I say my opinion, I get the call from the State Police saying they're going to charge me with hampering a murder investigation.

Mike: (turning to Jeanine Pirro) You understand why they don't want to talk, though.

Jeanine: I understand why they don't want to talk, but I'll give you my opinion, if you want it, OK.

Mike: Sure, you're not gagged. (audience cheering)

Jeanine: You know what you've got is, look, you've got a re-autopsy on this case where everybody knows you don't drown in a tub unless you're drunk or you've had a heart attack. Alright, you've got a re-autopsy, Michael Baden does it we get the results in two days. The medical examiner there does it, takes two and a half months. What we've got right now is a police department, a state police, a coroner, and everyone else who's gotta prove to this country that they're not corrupt, lazy, or incompetent. And what that means is . . . what that means is it is time to indict Drew Peterson. They can't say it (pointing at Charlie and Melissa). He can't say it (pointing at Ric Mims). But I can say it. You've got two women -- you've got one who unfortunately was a victim of domestic violence, 18 calls and the local police arrest her? I mean, it's time to wrap this one up!

Juliet: Here's what Drew had to say when Matt Lauer asked him about emails that Stacy Peterson sent to a friend saying, like Kathleen did, she was afraid of Drew.

DP: "I, I'd have to evaluate the whole thing. And I really can't even respond to that."

Mike: I mean there he is, can't even respond to that. Tonya, can you pick up anything there?

Tonya: He's so good. He's just like complacent. "I'm not going to let anything come out." The other thing is he shrugs his shoulders, which to me is uncertainty. So there's a little question there. Why is he not "I can tell you why!" You know, "I can tell you why!" And give an answer.

Juliet: We've all made comments though, and people who are watching this in our green room were saying, "who is this Drew?" I mean Jeanine, he's definitely behaving differently than he has in the past. That sort of, you know, the cocky attitude is gone.

Jeanine: It's almost as though there's resignation. You know, there's resignation in his whole body language, not that I want to take any of this from Tonya, but what you've got is a guy who's been a cop for 29 years who knows better, who know that the goods are on him right now, the police can't protect him anymore, that O'Neil can't protect him anymore, and the State Police are the ones, by the way, who presented the case through the coroner's jury and now they're doing this investigation. The burden is now on them to prove that they can get it right.

Mike: Yeah. Yeah.

Tonya: He does look defeated, but you notice there's still this contemptuous smirk that he'll put on there, so it still comes through.

Juliet: Is he trying to play the media now? Is he trying to spin it because it hasn't worked out so well for him in the, you know, the public arena? His attorney say, well we don't care what the public thinks, but let's face it, yeah they do.

Jeanine: You know what, he's gotten away with the smirk and the smug for so long that he think that if right now he's playing to a potential jury pool, he's going to continue to do it.

Mike: What's the point of going on the Today Show? Do you think, Jeanine?

Jeanine: Well, he's an arrogant, egotistical guy. And I'm not a psychologist, alright?

Mike: Ric, what do you think? You've known him a long time. What's the point?

Ric: I believe that this is all through his PR firm. He hired a promotional firm out of Tampa to handle all this and I believe that.

Mike: To handle the PR for what?

Ric: To change his image into the media.

Jeanine: Jury pool.

Mike: Oh, the jury pool.

Jeanine: Yeah, ah hah, (pointing at the audience) this is the jury pool. What he's trying to do is spin public opinion so that a few people, whoever they might be, will give him the benefit of the doubt. Look we do it, we saw it with Jessie Cutts yesterday.

Mike: That's true.

Jeanine: They gave him the benefit of the doubt, they didn't give him death.

Juliet: Well Drew definitely was not emoting today . . .

Mike: No.

Juliet: . . . but here's his response to Matt Lauer's last question, and maybe the most telling of all, Matt asked him if he had anything to do with Kathleen or Stacy's death.

DP: Nothing.

Mike: That's it.

Juliet: There you go.

Mike: Nothing

Juliet: The new Drew.

Mike: It's like like the interview - nothing.

Tonya: Again, you see that he can give away nothing. But why isn't he demonstrating anger? Why isn't he going out there and saying "come back and get me off the hook here?" So the question becomes with somebody who's so trained to demonstrate no emotion . . .

Mike: Yeah.

Tonya: . . . why are you not demonstrating anger or frustration at the fact that you're not being helped out here?

Mike: Yeah. Ah, Charles, Melissa, have you run into him since Kathleen's death?

Melissa: I have.

Charlie: Since my aunt's death? Yeah, we seen him once at the ah, store . . .

Melissa: . . . at a furniture store.

Mike: Any communication between the two of you?

Charlie and Melissa (in unison): We stopped to talk for a few minutes.

Charlie: You know, casual talk.

Mike: Pleasantries.

Charlie: You know we asked about how the boys were and he said we can knock on the door sometime. That's about it.

Mike: And Ric, have you run into him?

Ric: Yeah.

Mike: Now that you've been talking against him, you've run into him?

Ric: Yes.

Juliet: Where, the WalMart?

Ric: No. At a department store in Bolingbrook. We caught eyes and I turned around and went to the check out, got checked out and ah, and the girl, he got right behind me in line . . .

Juliet: He did!?

Mike: Oh my goodness.

Ric: (nodding his head) And the girl who was checking us out said, "I'm closing here. You have to go to another line."

Juliet: Whoa! Did he say . . . he said nothing to you?

Ric: Just stared at the back of my head. My daughter was with me and she was . . .

Mike: Oh, you think that prevented the two of you talking?

Ric: (nodding his head) Yes!

Mike: So if your daughter wasn't with you would you have said something to him?

Ric: Probably.

Mike: What?

Ric: I don't know. I really don't know what I would have said.

Juliet: Are you, are you scared of him?

Ric: Ah, in a way. Scared of what he's capable of.

Mike: So when you look at him on the Today Show he says "I have nothing to do with Stacy or Kathleen's death," do you believe him?

Ric: No. Not at all.

Mike: Did he do this? Both these killings?

Ric: My personal opinion (hand over heart), yes.

Mike: Yep. Tonya, after watching the whole thing - I don't want you to say whether you think he's guilty or not . . .

Tonya: Yeah, I can't. All I can say is he's very well trained to come across as a cop and he does that really well. I just see signs of such strong leakage at certain times and other times just arrogance, so.

Mike: Charles and Melissa, what do you want to happen? Are you frustrated that he hasn't been arrested?

Melissa: Ultimately what we want is for the person who killed my aunt to be found and brought to justice.

Charlie: We want a conviction. Bottom line.

Mike: Yeah. Now did she leave a note saying she, she did saying she feared for her death.

Charlie: Multiple times, multiple times all over the police reports, . . .

Melissa: She sent a letter to the Assistant State's Attorney's office saying, you know, if he doesn't get his way or something along those lines, he will kill me.

Mike: Oh really, and she told your mom that?

Charlie: She told everybody . . .

Melissa: Everybody.

Jeanine: She sent letters . . .

Charlie: . . . the State's Attorney's office, ah, Walter Jacobson she sent letters . . .

Mike: He's an anger management . . .

Ric: All the cops in Bolingbrook, the Chief of Police . . .

Juliet: Jeanine you're shaking your head . . .

Jeanine: You know it's so sad. She almost predicted her death, I mean she reached out to everyone she should have reached out to and no one responded to her. She said he's going to kill me and make it look like an accident. Stacy then tells her clergyman that wife number four . . .

Mike: Yeah.

Jeanine: . . . he killed wife number three and made it look like an accident. I mean, come on!

Mike: And number two said that he is very capable of doing this.

Jeanine: The second wife, before he killed the third wife says, "you know, he told me he could kill me and make it look like an accident." How many times does he have to admit it?

Mike: How close are we, Jeanine? To getting to having him arrested?

Jeanine: We better be pretty close, I'm telling you, because this guy's got four kids in that house and I'm not comfortable with it, he's getting his guns back, I mean, it's time for them to move on it!

Ric: Speaking of the kids, his two sons are going before the grand jury today, he's in New York.

Mike: He's in New York, yeah. Mm, hmm.

Charlie and Melissa (in unison): While our cousins are going before the grand jury and he's up here.

Ric: And he's up here instead of supporting his kids.

Mike: This is more important to him.

Juliet: And they're being forced to testify. They can't plead the 5th.

Jeanine: No, no, the kids have to testify.

Mike: At the end of the interview he says "Well I'm prepared to go to jail for the rest of my life, as long as my, especially the little kids, are taken care of."

Ric: He was prepared for that from the day that I went to his house after Stacy disappeared. That is how he explained writing all those checks to his son and getting everything ready. Ah, he was ready to go to jail on the 30th - that's what he told me.

Mike: Melissa?

Melissa: The kids will be taken care of no matter what. Um, my family loves my cousins to death and Stacy's family loves Stacy's children to death and we would take them in a heartbeat.

Mike: Do you think when you see him, when your family sees him out in public, do you want to harm him?

Melissa: No.

Charlie: No.

Melissa: Um, I, I wouldn't wish physical harm on anybody. Um, he knows what he did, he knows what he didn't do, and no matter what, he's got to live with his conscience.

Mike: Thank you all for being here.

Juliet: Thanks guys.

END OF TRANSCRIPT