Two of Will County’s biggest criminal trials in recent memory could overlap this summer.
Drew Peterson and Christopher Vaughn are expected to appear in adjoining rooms at the Joliet courthouse within weeks of each other, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Peterson, a former Bolingbrook Police sergeant, is accused of murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, after her body was found in 2004 in a waterless bathtub. His case appears before a jury July 30.
Peterson also is the only suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. After Stacy vanished in 2007, authorities exhumed Savio’s body and reclassified her death as a homicide.
Vaughn is accused of murdering his family in 2007 in a Ford Expedition after pulling off the side of Interstate 55 on the way to Oswego.
Prosecutors claim Vaughn retrieved a hand gun from the vehicle's roof rack, wrapped it in his fleece jacket and shot his wife in the head before training the gun on his children, ages 12, 11 and 8.
Jury selection for Vaughn begins Aug. 13, the Tribune reported. Though jury selection is scheduled for August, a date for Vaughn’s hearing has not been set.
Peterson also is the only suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. After Stacy vanished in 2007, authorities exhumed Savio’s body and reclassified her death as a homicide.
Vaughn is accused of murdering his family in 2007 in a Ford Expedition after pulling off the side of Interstate 55 on the way to Oswego.
Prosecutors claim Vaughn retrieved a hand gun from the vehicle's roof rack, wrapped it in his fleece jacket and shot his wife in the head before training the gun on his children, ages 12, 11 and 8.
Jury selection for Vaughn begins Aug. 13, the Tribune reported. Though jury selection is scheduled for August, a date for Vaughn’s hearing has not been set.
Peterson’s case was supposed to go to trial two years ago, but legal wrangling over statements from Savio and Stacy Peterson postponed it. He has awaited trial in the Will County jail since 2009.
