JOLIET – Jurors said Friday that comments Stacy Peterson made before her 2007 disappearance played the decisive role in convincing them to convict her husband, former police officer Drew Peterson, of killing his ex-wife.

Peterson was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder after a six-week trial that was the first of its kind in Illinois. Prosecutors based their case on normally barred hearsay, which was only allowed after the Legislature passed a law specifically tailored to Peterson’s case.

The strategy was risky and grew in large part from a lack of physical evidence collected in the case after investigators initially deemed Kathleen Savio’s death an accident. Prosecutors claimed the hearsay would allow Savio and Stacy Peterson – who is presumed dead – “to speak from their graves” through family and friends. It worked.