Group cites Peterson, Savio case as need for appointed medical examiner

Board denies the group's effort to get referendum on Nov. ballot

Friends and relatives of Stacy Peterson pushed for the referendum, but Will County board members today rejected a proposal to ask voters if they favor replacing the elected coroner with an appointed medical examiner.

Board members voted 14-12 against putting a referendum question on the November ballot that would seek voters’ approval to abolish the coroner’s office now held by Democrat Patrick O’Neil and replace him with a professional medical examiner.

But the debate quickly became entwined in the notorious 2007 disappearance of the Bolingbrook woman, whose husband, Drew Peterson, has been named a suspect by police--and the 2004 death of Kathleen Savio, Drew Peterson’s third wife.

Savio was found drowned in her bathtub in March 2004--a death that a coroner’s jury at that time concluded was an accident. After 23-year-old Stacy Peterson vanished last Oct. 28, Savio’s death was re-investigated and authorities now say she was murdered.

Nearly a dozen friends and relatives of Stacy Peterson attended the county hearing in support of the referendum, arguing the mistake they attributed at least partly to the coroner’s office contributed to Peterson’s disappearance.

“I believe in my heart that had Kathleen Savio’s case been properly handled, my sister would most likely be alive today,” Peterson’s sister, Cassandra Cales, told county board members. “I cannot help thinking about that on a regular basis and believe that no family member should suffer the emotional roller-coaster that I have been on the last 10 months.”

Several county board members who backed the referendum also cited that case, contending it showed the coroner’s system needs to be replaced.

“Clearly, something went wrong four or five years ago,” said Republican board member Kathleen Konicki, referring to the Savio case. “I can’t get away with telling my citizens we have a great system. It failed.”

O’Neil didn’t specifically address the Savio case, but said replacing an elected coroner with a professional medical examiner wouldn’t change or improve the way deaths are investigated in the county.

“The simple answer is nothing would be different in terms of the process and functions we use in Will County,” O’Neil said. “The cost would be higher and the results would be the same.”

Questions about the costs of shifting to a medical examiner system were cited by several board members who voted against putting the question on the ballot.

There was a political element to the vote, with all 12 votes in favor of putting the question before voters coming from Republican board members. Seven Democrats who voted against the referendum were joined by 7 Republican board members.

Neighbor Sharon Bychowski said Peterson’s relatives and friends won’t abandon their efforts to change the system in Will County.

“We’re a little disappointed the voters won’t get to choose, but we’re not going to give up,” Bychowski said.