Drew Peterson's third wife told a friend a year before she was found dead in her bathtub that the former suburban Chicago police officer once broke into her home, grabbed her by the throat, pinned her down and asked a threatening question, the friend testified Thursday. 
 
 FILE - In this May 8, 2009 file photo, former Bolingbrook, Ill., police officer Drew Peterson leaves the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., after his arraignment on charges of first-degree murder... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this May 7, 2009 file booking photo provided by the Will County Sheriff's office in Joliet, Ill., former Bolingbrook, Ill., police officer Drew Peterson is shown. Peterson is charged with first-degree... (Associated Press) 
 
 "She said that her husband said, "`Why don't you just die?'" Mary Parks told jurors, her voice quivering as she delivered more of hearsay evidence that's at the heart of the state's case. 
 
 Peterson, an ex-Bolingbrook police sergeant, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife, 40-year-old Kathleen Savio, who once studied nursing with Parks. 
 
 As Savio recounted the attack, she unzipped a top she was wearing to show dark red bruises on her neck, saying they were a result of Peterson's attack, Parks testified. 
 
 "She looked as if she was in shock," Parks told jurors. 
 
 She said Savio told her the incident occurred on the stairs of her suburban home the night before the women spoke around Thanksgiving in 2003. 
 
 A year later, Savio's body was found in a dry bathtub at her home _ a gash on the back of her head. Her death was only reclassified from an accident to a homicide after Peterson's fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007. Peterson, now 58, is a suspect in her disappearance but hasn't been charged. 
 
 Parks and Savio spoke again in October 2003, with Savio describing another encounter with Peterson. 
 
 "Kathy told me that her husband ... had told her that he could kill her and make her disappear," she said. 
 
 At one point, Parks began sobbing and the judge asked jurors to leave while she regained her composure. 
 
 The hearsay testimony is critical because police who investigated when Savio was found dead quickly decided it was an accident and didn't collect any physical evidence. Illinois adopted a law in the wake of Peterson's case _ dubbed "Drew's Law" _ that allows hearsay evidence in rare circumstances. 
 
 Peterson, who has looked on intently during testimony, suddenly beamed when his and Savio's son, Kristopher, walked into court and sat behind him to chat during a break. The 18-year-old and other Peterson children are on a witness list and cannot sit in on testimony. 
 
 During the cross-examination of Parks, defense attorney Steve Greenberg suggested Savio was paranoid, and that her descriptions of clashes with Peterson may have been exaggerated to elicit sympathy. 
 
 But Savio's friend stood her ground. 
 
 "Everything that she told me, I had no reason to doubt," Parks said. 
 
 Before the trial began, Judge James Burmila left open the possibility he could prohibit most or even all of the hearsay prosecutors wanted to enter as evidence. But in recent days, he has permitted several such statements, potentially boosting the odds of a conviction. 
 
 Thursday morning, Burmila refused a defense request to bar Parks' hearsay testimony. She went on to testify for more than four hours and was the sole witness of the day. 
 
 In contentious exchanges Thursday, Greenberg said Parks' accounts of what Savio told her have been inconsistent. He even asked Parks why she kept looking to her left at jurors as she answered questions. 
 
 Parks shot back, "Is it inappropriate for me to do that?" After Parks asked the attorney another question, Burmila admonished her, saying "Don't fence with counsel, ma'am." 
 
 Constant legal arguments about the hearsay have slowed the trial. Jurors are frequently asked to leave the courtroom so attorneys can argue over the admissibility of hearsay statements. 
 
 If Peterson is convicted, defense attorneys have said they could appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds the hearsay should have been barred. 
 
 There was some levity amid the otherwise weighty proceedings. 
 
 As the trial got under way in the morning, Burmila announced he had received a letter from an Illinois inmate who claims to have information about a link between Peterson and Abraham Lincoln's assassination. 
 
 The judge said the unnamed inmate asked him to follow up with him if he wants more details. 
 
 "I won't be communicating with him," Burmila said, prompting laughter in the courtroom. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm ||||| Drew Peterson once grabbed his wife around her neck and asked, "Why don't you just die?" according to a friend of Kathleen Savio's who testified in Peterson's murder trial today. 
 
 Peterson, 58, is on trial for killing Savio, his third wife, and making it look like an accident. She was found dead in her bathtub in 2004 and the death was initially ruled an accidental drowning. After Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished from their home in 2007, police exhumed Savio's body and reexamined it for signs of murder, finally charging Peterson. 
 
 Today, Savio's friend Mary Parks testified about conversations the two women had regarding Peterson. 
 
 "Kathy told me that her husband, Drew Peterson, said he could kill her, make her disappear," Parks said on the stand, according to ABC News affiliate WLS. Parks teared up as she recalled the conversation about Peterson grabbing Savio's neck. 
 
 Savio told Parks that her estranged husband told her, "Why don't you just die?" 
 
 "She unzipped the top, it opened and I saw marks on her neck," Parks said. 
 
 According to her testimony, Parks took nursing classes with Savio, but did not see her again after their graduation in December 2003. Savio died in February 2004. 
 
 When Parks heard of the death, she called the Will County State's Attorney's Office and asked if the case were being investigated, she testified today. 
 
 The testimony today marked the second day hearsay statements were allowed into the court transcript, following a significant decision Wednesday by Judge Edward Burmila to allow Savio's friends to testify about Peterson's alleged threats. 
 
 Kristen Anderson, who lived in Savio's basement after Savio and Peterson split up, said that Savio slept with a knife under her mattress because she was so afraid of Peterson. 
 
 "She showed me a knife that she kept in between her mattresses for protection," Anderson said. 
 
 Anderson recalled a conversation in which Savio confessed that Peterson once told her, "I could kill you and make it look like an accident." 
 
 After the statement, Anderson broke down in tears and had to leave the courtroom, according to WLS. She returned later and continued testifying about Peterson's threatening behavior, including an incident in which Peterson broke into the home, dressed in SWAT gear, and held a knife to Savio's throat while threatening her. 
 
 Anderson said she called police three times about Savio's case in 2004, but those calls were never returned. 
 
 Burmila's decision to allow the testimony was hailed by the prosecution, which has no physical evidence tying Peterson to the scene of the crime. 
 
 "Judge Burmila made an historical ruling today," prosecutor James Glasgow told WLS. 
 
 Defense attorney Michael Lopez said his client was disappointed in the ruling. 
 
 "He's upset," Lopez said, according to the report. "But you have to deal with the cards they give you."
– Former suburban Chicago cop Drew Peterson once choked his wife, and then asked her: "Why don't you just die?" a friend of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, testified yesterday. Peterson is on trial for allegedly killing Savio and trying to make it look like an accidental drowning in her bathtub. Peterson's fourth wife mysteriously vanished from their home after police opened an investigation into the death of Savio. Savio's pal, Kristen Anderson, also testified that Savio once described how Peterson boasted that he could kill Savio and "make it look like an accident." It was the second day that hearsay testimony from Peterson's late wife was allowed by the judge in the case, reports ABC. There's no physical evidence linking him to her murder. A police officer testified that Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, was very distraught as they questioned her about Savio's death, and that Peterson "corrected" her answers as she spoke, reports AP.