When Rachel Drafta’s body was discovered shot to death in the driveway of her parents’ home, the normally quiet town of Portage, Michigan shook. The cops were puzzled at first, but quickly learned that Theresa Petto was the name of Rachel’s envious ex-boyfriend. Inquiry Discovery’s documentary “Deadly Women: Hot Tempers, Cold Hearts” details the horrific murder and demonstrates how Theresa was directly implicated during the police investigation. Let’s investigate the details of the crime to learn more, okay?
Who was Theresa Petto?
Theresa Petto, a resident of Hastings, Michigan, was no stranger to the tragedy. In fact, according to sources, Theresa’s three-week-old son, fathered by her then-boyfriend Brent Kik, was discovered dead inside her apartment under mysterious circumstances four years before Rachel was murdered. The episode claimed that Theresa’s relationship with Brent deteriorated after the boy’s murder and that the two ultimately decided to separate from her, despite the fact that police never filed charges against her for the boy’s death.
Theresa wasn’t about to let her ex-boyfriend go, even though Brent eventually moved on and started making plans for a better future. She also developed feelings of jealousy and would often yell at her ex if she found out that she was dating someone else. Investigators, based on the episode, believe her jealousy is what led her to harass Brent, and that’s how she found out about her relationship with Rachel Drafta.
She and Brent were somewhat exclusive at the time of Rachel’s murder and even had romantic dreams about each other. However, they were unaware of the tragedy that would soon crush her aspirations and goals. On June 24, 2015, Theresa finally found a gun and went to Rachel’s parents’ house after losing all control over her feelings of envy. When she arrived, she saw the victim in the driveway and started shooting him carelessly. When the police arrived, they discovered that Rachel was unresponsive while the culprit had disappeared. Authorities rushed the victim to a nearby hospital immediately afterwards, but Rachel passed away suddenly two days later while she was still receiving medical care as her injuries were too severe. After an examination, she found that the gunshot wounds were what killed her.
Police quickly learned that Rachel was seeing Brent, whom his ex-girlfriend, Theresa Petto, was still pursuing, despite initially having relatively few leads to follow up in the investigation. Detectives discovered sufficient evidence to refute Theresa’s earlier denials of her involvement in the crime and her insistence on her innocence and, as a result, arrested the suspect.
Is Theresa Petto dead or alive?
Theresa initially pleaded not guilty when called to testify in court, but was soon changed to guilty but mentally ill. She therefore received life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2016. It is interesting to note that she Theresa requested a new trial in 2019 and even attempted to retract her guilty plea, but both requests were ultimately denied. Consequently, Theresa was jailed in March 2022 when rumors of her death began to spread. Although the news was formally announced on March 14, her cause of death has yet to be made public!