Attorney: Savio Said If She Died, Drew Did It

Joliet - The divorce attorney who represented Drew Peterson's third wife took the witness stand and testified Monday about a plan Peterson's fourth wife had to squeeze him in a divorce.

Harry Smith said Stacy Peterson contacted him twice just days before she disappeared. Smith testified that Stacy wanted him to be her divorce attorney too, but he declined due to a conflict of interest. Still Smith said Stacy asked for advice and said Drew was mad at her.

"She told me that Drew was pissed at her because he thinks I told Tom that he killed Kathy," Smith testified. Tom was Drew's oldest son from his marriage to Savio.

Smith said Stacy told him she was not afraid of Drew, because she claimed she had so much dirt on him with the Bolingbrook Police Department that he couldn't touch her. He said Stacy wondered if she could use that as leverage to get more money in a divorce. Two days later Stacy disappeared.

Smith said during Savio's divorce she had told him that Drew threatened to kill her and make it look like an accident. It's something that numerous other witnesses have testified during this hearing that Savio also told them. But Smith just thought Savio was paranoid.

After Savio's death Smith said he tried to contact State Police, per her instructions: "She told me if I die, you have to go to the authorities and tell them Drew did it," Smith said. But he testified, as several others have previously told the court, that no one from the State Police returned his calls.

Peterson's attorney Joel Brodsky dismissed Savio's alleged statements, saying she "was very much a person who would say anything to hurt Drew and that's what she did, she made up a lot of stuff up."

Also testifying, Drew's former friend Ric Mims who said he helped Drew run surveillance on Savio. And in a bizarre twist after Stacy disappeared Mims said Drew asked him to be a hostage for him, in case the police came to get his children.

Mims also had a website where he said someone, using Stacy's name, blogged that she was sorry for running off, but that she was in a safe place and happy with her new life, which is fits in with Drew's story that Stacy left him for another man.

Former Bolingbrook Police officer Theresa Kernc told the court about an incident from July 2002 where Savio reported being held at knifepoint by Drew. But Kernc says Savio refused to include the information about the knife in her report and did not want to press charges, fearing that if Drew was arrested for such an incident he could lose his job as a police officer, which would adversely impact her potential divorce settlement. Kernc said Savio just wanted Drew to quit stalking her, leave her along so she could move on with her life.