JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Jurors convicted Drew Peterson of murdering his third wife Thursday, capping a sensational, five-year legal saga that began after the swaggering former Illinois police officer's fourth wife vanished.

Peterson, 58, faces a maximum 60-year prison term when sentenced. Illinois has no death penalty.

The prosecution built its case almost exclusively on circumstantial and hearsay evidence, including testimony about what Peterson's wives had told friends and acquaintances before the one died and the other disappeared. The verdict was a vindication for Will County prosecutors, who gambled by putting on such a case and then committed numerous stumbles during testimony that drew angry scoldings from the judge.