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Drew Peterson trial: Focus shifts to botched investigation of third wife's death

Peterson was only charged in Savio's death after the former Bolingbrook police officer's fourth wife disappeared in 2007.

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M. Spencer Green/AP/File
In this 2009 file photo, former Bolingbrook, Ill., police officer Drew Peterson leaves the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., after his arraignment on charges of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife Kathleen Savio.
  • By Associated Press

| CHICAGO

A deputy coroner has kicked off a fifth day of testimony at Drew Peterson's murder trial, which is now focused on the shoddy investigation following the discovery of his third wife's body.

Prosecutors called Michael VanOver Tuesday to describe how he arrived at the home where Kathleen Savio was found in her bathtub in 2004. At earlier evidentiary hearings, VanOver said he didn't follow suspicious death protocols because investigators indicated Savio's death was accidental.

Other investigators have also conceded they weren't as thorough as they could have been. For instance, no physical evidence was collected.

Peterson was only charged in Savio's death after the former Bolingbrook police officer's fourth wife disappeared in 2007. Savio's body was then exhumed and her death reclassified as a homicide.

Peterson has denied any wrongdoing.

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