Convicted killer Drew Peterson said he is ‘living the dream’ ever since he was moved to a maximum security federal prison.
Peterson has been behind bars for nearly 10 years after he was arrested for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. His fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, has been missing for 12 years.
The former Illinois police sergeant was sentenced to 38 years in prison for Savio’s murder and another 40 years in prison for plotting to kill James Glasgow, the prosecutor who helped put him behind bars.
But Peterson was in high spirits during a recent telephone interview with WFLD, revealing his life has vastly improved since his prison transfer.
Convicted wife killer Drew Peterson said he is ‘living the dream’ ever since he was moved to a maximum security federal prison
Peterson, 65, was moved from a state prison in Menard to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana in February 2017.
Officials feared that, due to the hit he placed on Glasgow, Peterson could be a threat to prison security. But the convict couldn’t be happier with the change.
Peterson has been behind bars for nearly 10 years after he was arrested for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio (pictured)
‘It was dirty. The mattresses I had, the pillow I had, you wouldn’t put your dog on it,’ he said.
‘It was terrible. Urine and defecation spread on the walls.’
‘It was a horrible, horrible place. Then I come to the federal place and it’s comparatively like a day care center.’
Peterson also used the interview to maintain his innocence, claiming he wasn’t behind Savio’s murder or Stacy’s disappearance.
Stacy, 23, disappeared in 2007, four years after Savio, Peterson’s third wife, was found dead in a bathtub.
Savio, 40, had a 2-inch gash on the back of her head and the tub was dry. But police at the time deemed her death an accident, believing she had slipped and fallen.
After Stacy disappeared, authorities became increasingly suspicious of Peterson.
Peterson, 65, was moved from a state prison in Menard to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana (pictured) in February 2017, after he was found guilty of trying to put a hit on the prosecutor who put him behind bars
Peterson also used his new interview to maintain his innocence, claiming he wasn’t behind Savio’s murder or the disappearance of his fourth wife Stacy Peterson (pictured)
Savio’s body was exhumed and her death was reclassified as a homicide. Peterson was arrested in May 2009.
During his trial, prosecutors claimed Peterson killed Savio because he feared their pending divorce settlement would wipe him out financially.
Peterson, 23, (pictured) disappeared in 2007, four years after Peterson’s third wife was found dead in a bathtub
A friend of the aspiring nurse testified that Savio told her Peterson once pointed a knife at her and said ‘I could kill you and make it look like an accident’.
And a former co-worker of Peterson’s claimed that the cop had offered him $25,000 to hire a hit man to kill Savio, although he had never followed through.
Peterson was convicted in 2013 and due for parole in 2047 at age 93.
But, following his additional sentence for the hit on Glasgow in 2016, Peterson is now all but guaranteed to die behind bars.
Peterson has continued to claim that Stacy, whose body has never been recovered, ran off with another man and is still alive.
‘I didn’t murder Kathy and I didn’t murder Stacy,’ he said. ‘There’s been all kinds of cases of a woman coming back years after, as much as 10 or 12 years afterward.’
Peterson is singing a far different tune than he did in 2013, when he was still in state prison and lived in fear of being killed behind bars.
Savio’s body was exhumed and her death was reclassified as a homicide. Peterson was arrested for her murder in May 2009
Now Peterson said he is spending his days watching sitcoms and movies and making $20 a month working in the prison laundry
‘I’m in a cell the size of a broom closet, peeling paint, rusting fixtures, I have no TV or anything and I haven’t been out since I got here,’ he wrote to his former attorney Joel Brodsky in one letter. ‘Prison is all the nightmarish things that one would think.’
But now Peterson said he is spending his days watching sitcoms and movies and making $20 a month working in the prison laundry.
He keeps up with his six children and follows politics.
‘I like Don Trump,’ he said. ‘I think what happens is this country needed a businessman running it, they didn’t need another politician doing political things.’
What Peterson isn’t doing is striking up a pen pal romance with women outside the prison, as many of his fellow inmates have done.
‘I love women. I just don’t have access to them here,’ he said. ‘If I get out there I’m going to be dating again, but with the sentences I got, I doubt I’m going to see daylight for awhile anyway.’
But staying single suits Peterson just fine. In fact, it’s something he wish he had done before he landed in the clink.
‘I would have stayed a bachelor for sure,’ he said. ‘Every time I fell in love with somebody and tried to make a life with them, things didn’t work out.’