Mystery and Murder: Analysis by Dr. Phil

This is the courtroom showdown years in the making: the 2012 trial of former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio against the backdrop of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, still missing.
Prosecutors build a case without a single “smoking gun,” leaning on forensic testimony, a re-examined autopsy, and the statements Kathleen and Stacy allegedly made about fear, threats, and what Drew was capable of, evidence allowed under the statute that became publicly known as “Drew’s Law.”
After days of deliberation, the jury finds Peterson guilty of first-degree murder in September 2012, and he’s later sentenced to 38 years.
Appeals follow, but the conviction stands—including after the Illinois Supreme Court upholds it in 2017. Then comes another twist: a 2016 conviction for soliciting a murder-for-hire from prison—an alleged plot targeting prosecutor James Glasgow, adding 40 more years. And still, Stacy’s case remains open.
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Stacy Peterson’s disappearance doesn’t stand alone—because three years earlier, Drew Peterson’s third wife, Kathleen Savio, was already sounding the alarm. In Part 2, Dr. Phil traces the relationship timeline: Stacy meets Drew at 17 while he’s still married to Kathleen, and Kathleen’s divorce filing alleges he was “having an affair with a minor,” followed by a temporary order of protection as she fears for her life.
Then the calls start stacking up—eighteen domestic disturbance responses between 2002 and 2004—each one a missed opportunity to recognize escalation inside a home where the husband also knows the system.
On March 1, 2004, Kathleen is found nude, face-down in an empty bathtub with visible injuries—yet her death is ruled an accidental drowning.
When Stacy vanishes, investigators exhume Kathleen’s body and a second autopsy changes everything: blunt-force trauma, signs consistent with drowning after injury, and a case that now looks like murder.
Dr. Phil breaks down what this pattern suggests about control, narrative manipulation, and why some cases don’t break until a second victim forces the system to look back.
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On October 28, 2007, 23-year-old mother of two Stacy Ann Peterson disappears from her home in Bolingbrook, Illinois, no struggle, no note, no sightings. Her husband, veteran officer Drew Peterson (her fourth marriage), claims she left for another man, yet he says he found her car at a nearby airport, drove it home without alerting police, and didn’t report her missing until roughly 24 hours later.
Dr. Phil examines why a young mother wouldn’t vanish without her children, and the warning signs of coercive control behind closed doors including Stacy’s growing fear, divorce talk, and preparations that suggest she believed she was in danger.
As Drew leans into the spotlight, investigators begin looking backward to the suspicious death of Drew’s third wife, Kathleen Savio—setting up what comes next.

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In Episode 4 of Amy Bradley: Vanished at Sea, Dr. Phil and Amy’s younger brother, Brad Bradley, confront the most troubling inconsistencies in the case, statements made before Amy was reported missing, timelines that shift under scrutiny, and behavior that defies logic.
Brad walks through the moments after Amy vanished, detailing encounters with crew members who referenced her disappearance before any announcement was made, and why those contradictions matter from a forensic and psychological standpoint. Dr. Phil explains how people who volunteer information they were never asked for often reveal deception—and why the “overboard” theory collapses under both psychological and physical analysis.
Together, they examine eyewitness testimony, crew access points, security failures, and conflicts of interest that may have shaped the investigation from the start. This episode moves beyond speculation, focusing on verifiable facts that point to one conclusion: Amy did not disappear by accident—and someone on that ship knew far more than they admitted.
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In Part Three of Amy Bradley: Vanished at Sea, Dr. Phil sits down with Amy’s younger brother, Brad Bradley, the last person to see her alive for a deeply personal examination of what really happened in the final hours before she disappeared.
Brad revisits the night on board the Rhapsody of the Seas, clarifying long-misreported details about Amy’s state of mind, her fear of the ocean, and the precise 30-minute window in which she vanished. He challenges the long-standing “overboard” theory with ship-speed calculations, docking procedures, and firsthand observations that place the vessel at Curaçao, not open sea, when Amy went missing.
From missing photographs and unexplained crew behavior to critical details about the cabin scene that were altered before investigators arrived, this episode reframes the case through the eyes of someone who lived it and raises unsettling questions about what was known, when it was known, and who may have known more than they admitted.
https://www.drphilpodcasts.com/amy-bradley-vanished-at-sea

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