Alleged Drowners

Alleged drowners are people who are suspected of killing their spouses or partners by drowning them, either directly or indirectly. Drew Peterson, Judy Buenoano and Scott Peterson are three notorious examples of alleged drowners who have been convicted of murder.

• Drew Peterson was a former police sergeant in Bolingbrook, Illinois, who was found guilty of the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2012. Savio’s body was found in a dry bathtub in her home in 2004 with a large gash to her scalp. Her death was initially ruled as an accidental drowning, but was later reclassified as a homicide after Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007. Peterson was sentenced to 38 years in prison for Savio’s murder and an additional 40 years for a murder-for-hire plot against the prosecutor who handled his case. Stacy Peterson is still missing and presumed dead, and Peterson remains a suspect in her disappearance.

• Judy Buenoano was an American serial killer who poisoned her husband, James Goodyear, in 1971 and collected his life insurance money. She also poisoned her son, Michael Buenoano, and pushed him out of a canoe in 1980, causing him to drown due to his weakened condition. She received a life sentence for his murder and was later executed for the murder of her husband. She is also believed to have killed another boyfriend, Bobby Joe Morris, by poisoning him in 1978.

• Scott Peterson is an American man who was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner, in 2002. He was sentenced to death in 2005, but his sentence was overturned by the California Supreme Court in 2020 due to juror errors. He was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2021. He is currently serving his sentence at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California. His case has attracted widespread media attention and public interest, as well as controversy over his guilt and the fairness of his trial.