Accused Murderer Makes Confession From Witness Stand Reported by: Erin Wolfe
Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 @08:21pm EST
BERKELEY COUNTY, WV - Attorneys have wrapped up the Stephen Fielder murder trial. It's now in the hands of a jury.

They have plenty of evidence to examine, especially after Fielder took the stand Tuesday, and confessed to dumping his ex-wife's body in Back Creek.

In Stephen fielder's testimony, he claims Debra's death was an accident.

He says she was trying to lock him out of his own house and when he went to stop her, he accidentally hit her.

She then fell down the stairs and moments later Stephen says he heard her take her final breath.

Debra's dismembered remains were found in suitcases in Back Creek last August.

Stephen claimed he didn't want anyone to find out about Debra's death because he thought no one would believe his story. As an attorney, he said he didn't want to leave his clients without counsel, although he testified that he was exclusively handling bankruptcies and only took about two cases a week.

When it comes to the dismembering, he said he had to do it because he couldn't carry her body.

That's where the suitcases come in. Stephen said he had to puncture the largest suitcase with a knife because it wasn't sinking when he dropped it into the creek.

That would explain the stab marks in the torso. However, earlier in this trial the medical examiner testified that two of the wounds were inflicted before Debra died.

On the stand today, Stephen repeatedly denied ever stabbing her.

Friends of Debra have been at the courthouse throughout the trial. The situation has been difficult for them because they were once friends with both Debra and Stephen.

"When it did happen, I did not want to believe it, just like anyone else. ‘No it wasn't him, it wasn't him.’ Then when they produced the evidence they had, then it was like, ‘How could you?’" says Alan Johnson, a friend of Debra.

The jury began deliberating Tuesday night, but decided they needed more time. They will re-convene Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m.

You're thinking Scott...I'm thinking the one happening now...makes me not want to ever have any of my friends or relatives date a Petersen(son?)..

Officer: Missing Wife Wanted Divorce
In this image from television, authorities watch as crews use a hoist to exh...


1 hour ago //
NEW YORK —

An Illinois police officer who is suspected in the disappearance of his fourth wife said Wednesday that she had asked him for a divorce _ but he thought it was due to hormones.

Drew Peterson told NBC's "Today" that his wife fell into a deep depression after her sister died of cancer, and had been taking medication. They often had fights after that, he said.

"I'm not trying to be funny, but Stacy would ask me for divorce after her sister died on a regular basis," Peterson said. "It was based on her menstrual cycle."

Stacy Peterson, 23, was last seen Oct. 28. Authorities say the case is a potential homicide investigation and have identified her husband, a 53-year-old police sergeant in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, as a suspect. Her husband believes she left him for another man, and said that he has no plans to look for her because he thinks she left willfully.

"Why would I look for somebody who I don't believe is missing? She's just gone. She's where she wants to be," Peterson told NBC.

The interview aired a day after the body of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, was exhumed in Illinois as authorities look for clues about how she died.

Savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004, her hair soaked in blood from a head wound, just before the couple's divorce settlement was finalized. The death was ruled an accidental drowning, but investigators now say evidence suggests that someone killed Savio and tried to make it look like an accident.

Peterson downplayed any similarities between the two cases, but said his relationships with both women were troubled. Both suffered from emotional problems, he said, but were beautiful and exciting when he first met them. He denied he had anything to do with the two cases.

"I can look right in your eye and say I had nothing to do with either of those incidents," he said.

Peterson acknowledged that there were mysterious circumstances surrounding Savio's death, but said he didn't know what, if anything, the exhumation would accomplish.

"It's a shame her rest in peace has to be disturbed for something like this," he told NBC.

Stacy Peterson's family has said she feared her husband, was making plans to divorce him and would not have willingly left her children. Savio's relatives have long suspected she didn't drown accidentally.

Peterson, who has been suspended without pay pending an internal investigation, said he agreed to the interview because he believed both women's families and the media were targeting him.

"I think my silence has basically painted me guilty in the media," he said.

He also pleaded with his wife to return: "Come home," he said. "Tell people where you are."

Former attorney Stephen Fielder was found guilty Wednesday morning of murdering his ex-wife after a jury deliberated for two and a half hours over two days.

May the bastard rot in hell!!