Peterson, fiancee end relationship
THE DREW PETERSON SAGA | Fiancee dumps him -- with police escort -- after 'Nightline' segment
Drew Peterson said a TV interview prompted his 24-year-old fiancee to abruptly end their engagement, but his prospective father-in-law wants some credit for the breakup.
Christina Raines moved out of Peterson's Bolingbrook home Friday morning -- hours after she watched him admit on ABC's "Nightline" that he had lost interest in his four previous wives because "there was no excitement in the marriage anymore."
(Dom Najolia/Sun-Times)
Her dad, Ernie Raines, had publicly pushed his daughter -- the mother of two young children -- to end her involvement with Peterson, who has been named a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy. Police also are investigating the bizarre 2004 bathtub drowning death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Ernie Raines was thrilled Friday morning to watch his daughter's belongings being moved out of Peterson's house, even though his arrival resulted in Bolingbrook police being called to oversee the effort.
"Deep down inside, I know I saved my daughter's life and my grandkids' life. I know I did," Ernie Raines said. "My daughter wasn't going to be a statistic."
His daughter and her kids moved in with the 55-year-old Peterson and his four youngest children in early January after a whirlwind courtship.
Peterson told ABC newsman Martin Bashir during the interview aired Thursday night that the couple planned to wed later this year, after Peterson divorced his missing fourth wife.
Following the program, an upset Christina called her father and said she was going to move out because of the comments Peterson had made about growing bored during his previous marriages, Ernie Raines said.
"She called [Thursday] night, said she wanted me to come over there and get her and her stuff out of the house," he said.
He arrived Friday morning along with a cameraman from "The Dr. Phil Show," which has done several episodes on Peterson and which had taped an episode earlier this week with Ernie Raines.
Peterson balked at allowing Ernie Raines in the home and wanted the cameraman to leave as well.
Ernie Raines called police about 10:30 a.m. A handful of Bolingbrook officers arrived to assist the move, which proceeded peacefully and ended about 40 minutes after the police arrived, said Lt. Ken Teppel.
A neighbor said Christina Raines stayed outside the house and that her two children were not there.
On Friday, Peterson declined to comment on his fiancee's departure, except to say that he is coping with it.
"I'm good," said Peterson, who had said during the TV interview that he wanted to marry again because "I enjoy belonging to somebody."
But after the breakup, he blamed Bashir, ABCNews.com reported Friday.
"The engagement is over because of your interviews," Peterson said, according to the Web site.
Christina Raines couldn't be reached Friday for comment, though her father said she has moved back in with the former boyfriend she had been seeing before she became involved with Peterson.
She still has the roughly two-carat diamond engagement ring Peterson gave her, though Ernie Raines said the family may turn it over to police investigating the fates of Peterson's two previous wives.
But Christina has promised to avoid Peterson, her father said, vowing: "Dad, I'm not going over there no more."
"She hadn't gotten comfortable with him," Ernie Raines said. "She said, 'Dad, I'm glad I'm out of there. He was stressing me out, he was trying to control me.' "
Raines, though, said he's still going to be protective of his daughter.
"I'm keeping my eye on her," he promised.