Illinois State Police Special Agent Herbert Hardy was never at Kathleen Savio's death scene. By his own admission he never spoke to any of the key people or those close to her during the cursory investigation of her death.

Hardy was hardly knowledgeable about the Savio death investigation, yet for some reason, he was the man the state police chose to represent them at the coroner's inquest into Savio's death. And once on the witness stand, Hardy apparently played a significant role in helping the jury decide Savio's death was an accident.

Hardy told the jury the state police found no sign of foul play. He testified to believing that a laceration to the back of Savio's head was caused by her falling in her bathtub, and that there were no suspicious circumstances related to that fall.

"There was nothing to lead us to believe that anything else occurred," Hardy said. "There was no other evidence at this time that shows that anything else occurred."