11/12/2007 Greta “OTR” Interview with Lisa (Daughter of Wife#2)

http://www.acandyrose.com/2007-11-12-GretaOTR-LisaWard.htm



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311218,00.html

 

Daughter of Drew Peterson's Second Wife Breaks Her Silence to Greta

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

 

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," November 12, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

 

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Tonight: Stacy Peterson still missing. It's been two weeks and one day. Stacy's husband, Sergeant Drew Peterson, is officially a suspect. The case has gone from a missing persons case to a potential homicide investigation. Stacy Peterson is 23 years old, has two small children with Sergeant Peterson. Searchers are now looking at bodies of water near the Petersons' home.

 

Just a short time ago, we spoke with Sergeant Peterson's stepdaughter — stepdaughter from wife number two. Now, this is her very first interview. She asked us to protect her identity, so we are only using her first name and we put her in silhouette.

 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Lisa, thank you very much for joining us.

 

LISA, DAUGHTER OF PETERSON'S SECOND WIFE: Thank you for having me here tonight, Greta.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Now, Lisa, I should probably explain, because no one can actually see you, that you wanted to have your identity hidden. Is that correct?

 

LISA: Yes, ma'am.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Except for the fact that the one thing that you do want to establish is who your mother is, who your mother was married to.

 

LISA: Yes, ma'am.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Who was your mother married to, and what years?

 

LISA: My mom was married to Drew Peterson from 1982 to about 1992.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: In about 1982 when your mother first married Drew Peterson, about how old were you?

 

LISA: I was — had just turned 8 years old.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: So he was in your life for approximately 8 to 18 years old?

 

LISA: Yes, ma'am. Actually, 17 is when him and my mom had gotten divorced.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Did you live in the same household with Drew and your mother, or did you live with your father?

 

LISA: No, I lived with my mother and Drew. He was the man who had helped raise me.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: What was it like growing up with Drew as your stepfather?

 

LISA: He was very strict, extremely strict, sometimes not a very nice person.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Did he ever strike you?

 

LISA: I was punished, yes, ma'am.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: But punished as sort of any child would be punished, or was it in your opinion excessive punishment?

 

LISA: I think that it was to the extreme with the punishment sometimes.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Give me an example.

 

LISA: I was hit with a belt for many years.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Now, did your mother ever discipline you that way, or was that only Sergeant Drew Peterson who did?

 

LISA: No, he was the one who handled the discipline in the home.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: How would you describe your mother's marriage those 10 years to Sergeant Drew Peterson?

 

LISA: Looking from the outside, you would think that they were happy, but I know that my mom wasn't.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Was there ever — I mean, obviously, because there was a divorce, there was, you know, discord in the marriage. But was there any violence in the marriage?

 

LISA: He was abusive to my mother. He was very controlling to her, watched every move that she had made.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: When you say watched every move she made, can you describe it a little bit more? Because that's also, oddly enough, the description we received about Stacy.

 

LISA: My mom was not allowed to have friends. She was not allowed to talk with our family. It was pretty much the only person that Drew had wanted her to have in her life was him.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Did you ever see Drew Peterson get physical with your mother?

 

LISA: I did not see it. I heard it, though.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: During the course of the 10 years, did you ever see any injuries on your mother that you suspected had been inflicted by him?

 

LISA: I think that with the physical abuse, he had did his best to hide it. I saw a lot of mental abuse that he had did to my mother moreso than anything.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: How did the marriage end? Who wanted out first?

 

LISA: My mom did because he was not being faithful to her, and he had not been faithful for many years. And I think that she knew and finally had just had it, just wanted out.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: When you say not faithful, was that with wife number three, Kathleen Savio?

 

LISA: Yes, ma'am.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know if your mother ever met Kathleen Savio?

 

LISA: I do not know. I know he was doing his best to hide the affair, though. Our home was tapped. Their business was tapped. And he was doing everything that he could to hide what he was doing to her.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Who was tapping it?

 

LISA: Drew.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: How do you know that he was tapping it?

 

LISA: We could just hear — there would be things that I would get in trouble for, and it would be, like, Oh, my goodness, how did he know that? And we ended up finding out that he did, he had our phone lines tapped.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Since the time your mother and Drew Peterson divorced, do you know if they've had any contact at all, either by telephone or seen each other?

 

LISA: Oh, yes, ma'am. He talks to my mom.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: How often?

 

LISA: But she doesn't talk to him. Not very often. He just kind of pops up out of nowhere sometimes. The last time I myself had seen him was five years ago at my grandma's wake. I believe my mom had talked to him a few months ago. So it was kind of — you know, mom said it always seems like he's there somewhere.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: How do you describe the relationship, then? I mean, it sounds like, if they're still talking, it's a pretty friendly relationship?

 

LISA: I think that she's decent because she feels that's how she has to be. I know that she's still afraid of him.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Now, you say she's afraid of him. Has she said she's afraid of him?

 

LISA: She still fears him.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Why does she fear him?

 

LISA: Because he's told my mom before that he can hurt her, and I think that she feels she has to be decent on that level because she doesn't want to be hurt by him.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you remember when wife number three died, did anyone contact your mother about it?

 

LISA: Actually, he had contacted my mom and told her about it.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: What did he say happened?

 

LISA: He just said that there was an accident with his wife, and you know, somebody might try and contact her to find out some information.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: What did she think it meant?

 

LISA: I think she was kind of tossed up with it.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Meaning what?

 

LISA: Just didn't know what to think. You know, it's one of those things. Is that something that he could have done? Did he do that? I know that she didn't want to believe that. I mean, this is somebody who she had spent many years with, but could it be a possibility? You know, she had all those thoughts in the back of her head.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: I take it she has heard that Stacy vanished about 15 days ago.

 

LISA: Yes, ma'am.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: How did she hear that, do you know?

 

LISA: I'm actually the one who had told her.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: How did you hear?

 

LISA: From a good friend of mine.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: And does that friend know Stacy and Sergeant Peterson, or did the person hear it in the media?

 

LISA: She knows them.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Here's what I don't get, Lisa, is that you're in the shadow and we can't see you because you have fear.

 

LISA: No...

 

(CROSSTALK)

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, you're not the only one. That's what I was going to ask you. Go ahead.

 

LISA: No. I actually — it's — I'm not — and I will say this honestly. I have not — I feared Drew my whole life, growing up. I really did. I was afraid of him. When my mother finally divorced him, I no longer feared him because he could no longer hurt me. So it's not him that I'm hiding myself from. It's just I — because of this I don't want my family and the life that we live now, in a sense, to have everything be known.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Does your mother — has she expressed any fear of him in the last two weeks?

 

LISA: When we had heard that possibly my stepbrother's mother passed away, it was — she was extremely scared. Knowing that he is still walking out and possibly responsible for hurting these women, she's very cautious and very careful. And then with me being able to give her, you know, little bits of information and stuff, OK, I'm a little bit better now.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: And when you say your stepbrothers, you're talking about Kathy Savio in 2004, or are you talking about Stacy Peterson?

 

LISA: The two older boys.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: What about since Stacy vanished has your mother said anything, about fear?

 

LISA: Yes, well, that's why I said she does — I mean, it just- the whole idea of him being out there, being loose (ph). I mean, I told her she doesn't have to be afraid of him anymore, but obviously, he had hurt her, you know, so badly all those years ago that she still thinks about that. He used to tell my mother that he could kill her and make it look like an accident.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: She told you that?

 

LISA: Uh-huh.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: Did he say it on more than one occasion? Did he say how he could do that?

 

LISA: No, he didn't go into detail with that, but that was one of the things that she had told me.

 

VAN SUSTEREN: When did she tell you that? How recently?

 

LISA: Within the last couple of weeks, with all of this going on.

 

(END VIDEOTAPE)