Where Is Drew Peterson Now? Prison, Appeals, and Pension

Drew Peterson, the former Bolingbrook, Illinois police sergeant convicted of murdering his third wife and later of plotting to kill the prosecutor who put him away, is now serving a combined 78-year sentence in a state prison outside Illinois whose exact location corrections officials refuse to disclose.¹ Born in 1954, he would be about 71 in 2026 and is not eligible for parole until 2047, when he would be 93.²

Why His Prison Location Is Secret

Peterson has been moved more than once since his conviction. He was first held at Menard Correctional Center in Illinois. In February 2017, after his murder-for-hire conviction, he was transferred to the federal prison at Terre Haute, Indiana. Internal Illinois Department of Corrections documents described him as a “threat to safety and security” because he was a former police officer convicted of serious violent offenses.³

In December 2019, IDOC moved him again. An agency spokesperson would say only that he was being held in “a state facility not located in Illinois,” declining to name the prison and citing his law enforcement background and the nature of his crimes.¹ No subsequent public reporting has identified the specific facility.

The Two Convictions Behind the 78 Years

The Murder of Kathleen Savio

Kathleen Savio, Peterson’s third wife, was found dead in her bathtub on March 1, 2004. She was 40. The initial autopsy ruled it an accidental drowning, and the case was closed for more than three years.⁴

When Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in October 2007, authorities exhumed Savio’s body on November 13 of that year. A second autopsy by Dr. Larry Blum documented bruises, scalp lacerations, and abrasions inconsistent with an accidental fall, and he classified the death as a homicide. Dr. Michael Baden, examining the body for the family, reached the same conclusion. In February 2008, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow officially reclassified Savio’s death as a homicide.⁴

Peterson was charged with first-degree murder on May 7, 2009. A Will County jury convicted him on September 6, 2012, and on February 21, 2013, Judge Edward Burmila sentenced him to 38 years in prison.⁵

The Plot to Kill the Prosecutor

While housed at Menard, Peterson tried to hire a fellow inmate, Antonio Smith, a member of the Satan’s Disciples street gang, to assassinate Glasgow. Peterson reportedly offered Smith $10,000. Smith reported the approach to Glasgow’s office, and the FBI outfitted him with a recording device that captured the plan.⁶

Prosecutors said Peterson wanted to protect his police pension, improve his chances on appeal, head off a possible charge in Stacy Peterson’s disappearance, and retaliate after his son Stephen lost a job at the Oak Brook Police Department.⁶ A Randolph County jury convicted him in May 2016 of solicitation of murder for hire and solicitation of murder after about an hour of deliberation.⁷ On July 29, 2016, he was sentenced to 40 years, to run consecutively with the 38-year murder sentence, plus three years of supervised release. He told the court, “Jim Glasgow, I did not contract to have you killed.” The Fifth District Illinois Appellate Court affirmed that conviction in December 2020.⁸

The two consecutive sentences are what put parole eligibility in 2047.²

Active Legal Challenges

Peterson is pursuing postconviction attacks on both convictions, so the current numbers are not necessarily permanent.

On the Savio murder, he argues his former lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, provided ineffective assistance. Peterson has alleged Brodsky misrepresented his murder-case experience, used the case to build his own profile, and threatened to withdraw as lead counsel if Peterson testified in his own defense.⁹¹⁰ In March 2024 a special prosecutor was appointed because Brodsky could be called as a witness. In April 2024, Judge Dave Carlson found Peterson mentally competent to participate in the postconviction proceedings, rejecting defense arguments that a psychological evaluation raised fitness concerns.¹¹¹²

On the murder-for-hire conviction, Peterson filed a postconviction petition claiming actual innocence. In December 2024, the Fifth District Appellate Court reversed the lower court’s dismissal of that claim, finding his postconviction counsel had failed to secure a required notarized affidavit from Antonio Smith. The case was remanded for appointment of new counsel and an amended petition.¹³

Stacy Peterson Has Never Resulted in Charges

Peterson’s incarceration is unrelated to the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, his 23-year-old fourth wife, who was reported missing on October 29, 2007. Peterson initially said she had “run off with another man.”¹⁴ He has long been named the prime suspect but has never been charged in her case.¹⁵ Stacy Peterson has not been found and has not been declared dead. Her sister, Cassandra Cales, has pursued independent searches, and as of 2024 was working to recover what she believed were skeletal remains identified by underwater sonar in a canal in Lockport, Illinois. Official searches based on those tips have been unsuccessful.

Pension Status

Peterson no longer collects his police pension. In July 2016 the Board of Trustees of the Bolingbrook Police Pension Fund terminated his retirement benefits, finding he had exploited his position, including his uniform and professional courtesy with investigators, to plan and conceal Savio’s murder.¹⁶ On August 11, 2022, an Illinois appellate court upheld the forfeiture, finding Peterson had used “specialized police training, skills, and abilities” to commit and cover up the murder.¹⁷

Short of a successful postconviction challenge, Peterson will stay in prison into his 90s before parole is even an option.

1
WGN-TV. Illinois Prison Officials Fight to Keep Drew Peterson’s Location Secret
2
ABC 7 Chicago. Drew Peterson Gets 40 Years in Murder-for-Hire Case
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NBC Chicago. Previously Secret Documents Reveal Reasons for Drew Peterson Transfer
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ABC 7 Chicago. Drew Peterson Case Timeline
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Chicago Tribune. Timeline: The Drew Peterson Case
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NBC Chicago. Drew Peterson Sentencing Set
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Time. Drew Peterson Guilty of Plotting to Kill Prosecutor
8
Will County SAO. Statement on Appeals Court Opinion Affirming Drew Peterson Conviction in Murder-for-Hire Scheme
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Justia. People v. Peterson
10
WGN-TV. Drew Peterson Attorney Tries, Fails to Sell Tell-All Documentary
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ABC 7 Chicago. Judge Rules Drew Peterson Mentally Competent to Stand Trial
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WGN-TV. Drew Peterson Case Back in Court as Former Cop Seeks New Trial
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Illinois Courts. People v. Peterson, 2024 IL App (5th) 220530-U
14
NewsNation. Stacy Peterson’s Sister Says Found Remains in Illinois Canal
15
ABC 7 Chicago. Drew Peterson Case Update
16
Illinois Courts. Peterson v. The Board of Trustees of the Bolingbrook Police Pension Fund
17
Bloomberg Law. Drew Peterson’s Loss of Police Pension for Ex-Wife Murder Upheld