One Year Later ~ Stacy Peterson Still Missing

[One2Snoop]

Drew Peterson appears on 'The Today Show' on the anniversary of wife's disappearance

October 28, 2008

BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter

On the one-year anniversary of his wife Stacy Peterson’s disappearance, Drew Peterson said he doesn’t think she’ll ever come back.

» Click to enlarge image

Drew Peterson appeared on the "Today" show on Tuesday.
(AP)


“If I was a little girl and the focus of all this media attention, I wouldn't be coming back,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. “Why would a little girl come back to that?”

Appearing on NBC’s Today Show, Peterson also stuck by his contention that he had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance.

Drew Peterson also released a statement that said, “There is not a single day that goes by that I don’t think about Stacy, so to me Tuesday is just another day of her being away.”

“ I realize this may be a significant event for the media, but it is not for me or my family. I won’t be participating in any vigils. Instead, I am giving one interview and then I will be far from the media spotlight spending quality time with my kids who need their dad now more than ever.”

He said in the statement that there is “no need to worry” about his kids.

“I am taking good care of them though I have to admit acting as both dad and mom takes a lot of work and patience,’’ Peterson said in the statement. “My son Thomas is first in his class at one of the largest and finest high schools in Illinois. His brother Chris is also doing exceptionally well in school and is involved in wrestling and other activities. My youngest kids, Anthony and Lacy are too young to be in school but both are happy and healthy and adjusting normally.”

Peterson said he had nothing to do with Stacy’s disappearance or the death of Kathy Savio, his third wife.

“I hope that Stacy returns home or reveals herself, and that I am one day cleared of any wrongdoing in both cases. Until then, I remain strong thanks in no small part to my family and especially my kids who believe in their dad,” Peterson said.

In a statement to mark the one-year anniversary, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow called the investigations "highly productive."

“I fully expect there to be a resolution in at least one of these investigations in the near future," he wrote, but would not elaborate.

Peterson's attorney Joel Brodsky, wonders if something's happened to her since her disappearance.

ÒThe longer it goes on, the more possible that some harm came to her,” he told the AP. “Maybe she fell in with bad people ... I'm not saying it happened, but it certainly starts creeping into your thoughts as a possibility.”

On the Today show, Peterson said he has no idea why three answers he gave during a polygraph examination related to the disappearance were judged to be deceptive.

“I have no idea,” Peterson said in New York. “I have no real knowledge of the operations of the polygraph.”

Peterson had agreed to take the examination at the request of Derek Armstrong, the author of the recently published book “Drew Peterson Exposed.”

According to transcripts of the examination released by Armstrong, Peterson was deceptive when he said Stacy Peterson called to tell him she was leaving him; when he said he did not know where she was; and when he said he had seen her the night before she vanished.

Lauer asked Peterson if he understands why many believe he killed both Savio and Stacy.

“I understand very well,” he replied. “The media’s done everything they can to keep me in a position looking guilty.”

Lauer then asked if Peterson expects to be charged with murder and tried.

“I really don’t know. I would hope not,” Peterson answered. “All I can do is mentally prepare for it and prepare for the well-being of my children.”

Asked what he would say to Stacy if she was alive and listening to the show, Peterson said, “Show yourself. Put an end to this nightmare.”

Friends and family of Stacy Peterson and Savio are taking part in a vigil this evening, going from Savio's house to Stacy's house in Bolingbrook.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/peterson/1245750,drew-peterson-today-show-anniversary-stacy-102808.article

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'I know justice will be done'
STILL MISSING | March marks Stacy's disappearance

October 29, 2008

BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter drozek@suntimes.com

The marchers carried candles through the cold, dark night from the Bolingbrook home Drew Peterson once shared with Kathleen Savio to the house where he later lived with Stacy Peterson.

A year after Stacy Peterson vanished from her home, 70 marchers carried flickering candles to symbolize their determination to keep alive the memories of both women until they learn the truth about Stacy Peterson's disappearance and Savio's 2004 bathtub drowning death.

» Click to enlarge image

Drew Peterson is interviewed by Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of his wife, Stacy.
(AP)



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"This night has a lot of significance. Everybody here has a special place in their heart for Stacy and Kathleen," said the Rev. Neil Schori, who was Stacy Peterson's pastor. "We're just here to honor them tonight."

Will County authorities indicated last week that answers to the two mysteries might be forthcoming.

"I know justice will be done," said Savio's sister, Sue Doman.

Drew Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police officer, has been named a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, and is thought to be a target of investigators investigating the March 1, 2004, death of Savio, his third wife.

Savio's death, which came during a bitter divorce battle with Drew Peterson, initially was labeled an accident -- until Stacy Peterson vanished. After a second autopsy, investigators concluded Savio had been slain.

"Why did it take another woman to be missing for them to realize that my sister had been murdered?" Doman said.

Marchers ended their silent, four-block walk outside the darkened Peterson home, from which Stacy Peterson vanished Oct. 28, 2007. Next door, a huge shrine with posters and pictures of Stacy Peterson and dozens of flower arrangements was illuminated by candles.

"I know she's not coming back," said neighbor Sharon Bychowski, who maintains the flowers and never forgets her friend.

Stacy Peterson's sister, Cassandra Cales, and other close relatives didn't attend the vigil, saying they wanted to mourn privately for Stacy, who had two young children with Drew Peterson and acted as stepmother to the two sons from his marriage to Savio.

Drew Peterson was in New York on Tuesday to appear on "Today" on NBC. He again denied any involvement in Savio's death or Stacy's disappearance but said in a statement released Tuesday that he still thinks daily about Stacy.

"There is not a single day that goes by that I don't think about Stacy, so to me Tuesday is just another day of her being away," Peterson said. "I realize this may be a significant event for the media, but it is not for me or my family. I won't be participating in any vigils."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/peterson/1247759,CST-NWS-boling29.article

[One2Snoop]

Answer on Peterson wife? Prosecutor close to solving one of the Peterson cases
Prosecutor close to solving case -- won't say which one

October 23, 2008
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter drozek@suntimes.com
It has taken nearly a year, but Will County prosecutors say they are finally close to determining exactly what happened to one of Drew Peterson's wives.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow won't say which case he is close to solving -- the 2004 death of Kathleen Savio or the Oct. 28, 2007, disappearance of Stacy Peterson.

» Click to enlarge image

Stacy Peterson with Drew (right); Kathleen Savio (inset).
(Courtesy files)

RELATED STORIES
Special section: Searching for Stacy
Describing the ongoing investigations into the fate of the two women as "highly productive," Glasgow said Wednesday he expects to have some answers soon.

"I fully expect there to be a resolution in at least one of these investigations in the near future," Glasgow said in a statement timed for the one-year anniversary of Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

But he offered no new details, and attorneys for former Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson -- who has been labeled a suspect in Stacy's disappearance -- dismissed Glasgow's assessment as nothing new.

"That's the same stuff we've been hearing for quite a while. There's nothing there that's causing us any concern," said Joel Brodsky, who said Peterson had nothing to do with Stacy's disappearance or Savio's death.

Stacy Peterson -- Drew Peterson's fourth wife -- was 23 when she vanished last fall from the couple's Bolingbrook home. He contends that she left him voluntarily, possibly for another man.

After she disappeared, authorities reviewed Savio's bathtub drowning death, which originally was ruled an accident. A new investigation concluded that Savio -- who had recently divorced Drew Peterson -- was murdered.

Family members of the two women said they're heartened by Glasgow's optimism.

"To us, it's hopeful," said Pam Bosco, a spokeswoman for Stacy Peterson's relatives.

Savio's sister Anna Doman offered a similar sentiment.

"I'm hoping something happens," she said. "There's no way I'm giving up hope of finding out what happened."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/peterson/1237601,CST-NWS-boling23.stng

[One2Snoop]

Charges coming in Peterson case?
State's attorney expects 'resolution,' Drew just shrugs

October 27, 2008
BY JOE HOSEY AND DAN ROZEK Staff Reporters
To mark the year that has passed since Stacy Peterson vanished, her sister and closest relatives will mourn privately, while neighbors hold a memorial vigil.

Drew Peterson has different plans for Tuesday: He's going on TV to talk about the disappearance of his fourth wife -- and the mysterious 2004 drowning death of his third wife.

» Click to enlarge image

The home of Drew and Stacy Peterson stands behind a shrine for the missing Stacy Peterson that sits in an adjacent front yard in Bolingbrook.
(Chris Sweda/Sun-Times)

RELATED STORIES
Prosecutor close to solving Peterson case

Special section: Searching for Stacy
"I'm not going to be here. I'm going to do some New York show," said Peterson, the former Bolingbrook cop who has been named the sole suspect in Stacy's disappearance but has continued to insist in media interviews that his 23-year-old wife voluntarily left him for another man.

But a year later, Will County authorities abruptly have signalled that some charges may be coming in Stacy Peterson's disappearance or Savio's death, which initially was classified an accident. After Stacy's disappearance, authorities exhumed Savio's body, conducted a second autopsy and labeled her bathtub drowning a homicide.

Calling the investigations into the two cases "highly productive," Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow last week said he expected to conclude one of the probes shortly.

"I fully expect there to be a resolution in at least one of these investigations in the near future," Glasgow said in a written statement.

A key issue in filing charges could be new legislation Glasgow is pushing that would allow so-called "hearsay evidence" from absent witnesses to be presented in murder trials. The proposed law Glasgow is backing would allow a judge to determine whether previous statements made by a witness -- even a murder victim -- could be admitted as trial evidence if prosecutors prove the defendant is responsible for the witness not being able to testify personally.

Both Savio and Stacy Peterson reportedly told friends they feared Drew Peterson --statements prosecutors conceivably could use against him if the hearsay bill becomes law later this year.

Their relatives remain upbeat that they ultimately will see criminal charges filed.

"I know something is coming," Stacy's sister Cassandra Cales said. "The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they're going to turn."

Savio's sister, Anna Doman, thinks charges in her sister's death aren't far off.

"This is gonna happen, I'm just not sure when," Doman said.

Peterson, who denies any wrongdoing, shrugged off Glasgow's efforts to enact the hearsay law and his recent pronouncement that he expects action soon in at least one of the cases.

"I'm just kind of numb to it all," said Peterson.

Attorney Joel Brodsky tied Glasgow's recent statements to his upcoming, contested Nov. 4 election and flatly predicted Peterson doesn't have to worry about standing trial.

"He's not going to be charged in either case," Brodsky said.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/peterson/1243363,CST-NWS-boling27.stng

[One2Snoop]

One year later, and still no Stacy
Unsuccessful search for answers focus of state's attorney race
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October 27, 2008

By JOE HOSEY Dan Rozek and Janet Lundquist
A year after Stacy Peterson vanished, her sister and closest relatives will mark the occasion privately, away from the glare of television cameras.

That same day, on the missing mother’s street, if everything goes according to plan, Stacy’s next-door neighbor, Sharon Bychowski, will lead a parade past her Bolingbrook home as part of a Tuesday night candlelight vigil. But Stacy’s husband, Drew, won’t see it.

» Click to enlarge image

The Peterson family poses while on a cruise in 2006. Stacy Peterson, center, was reported missing in 2007.
(Sun file)
“I’m not going to be here. I’m going to do some New York show,” said Drew Peterson, the quasi-celebrity, four-time husband, former cop and sole suspect in what the police have called his wife’s “potential homicide.”

The week before the anniversary, Peterson said he was scheduled to fly out to film a spot with Dr. Phil. Such was the life of Peterson in the wake of his wife – if he is to be believed – running off with another man.

“I’m just kind of numb to it all,” Peterson said near the end of his first year in the public eye. “If anything happens long enough, it becomes normal to you, you know what I mean?”

Gun charge

Not that everything in the past year has gone the way Peterson would have wanted.

“Between her being gone, and the gun charge, I’m in limbo,” said Peterson, who faces a felony gun rap for possessing an assault weapon with a barrel that allegedly does not measure up to the state mandate (Peterson counters that the Bolingbrook police brass knew about the weapon and allowed him to own it as part of his duties on the SWAT team).

Besides the matter of the rifle and the disappearance of Stacy, state police also are revisiting the March 2004 death of Peterson’s third wife, Kathleen Savio.

State police investigated Savio’s death in 2004 and the first time around found no indication of foul play. They got another crack at it after Stacy Peterson vanished and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow reopened the case.

“After filing a petition with the court to exhume Kathleen Savio’s remains, a board-certified forensic pathologist confirmed my assertion in that petition that her death was a homicide,” Glasgow said.

‘No mistakes’

Savio’s sister, Anna Doman, remains confident charges will be filed in connection with her sister’s death in spite of the years that have passed since she was found drowned in a dry tub.

“This is going to happen, I’m just not sure when,” Doman said. “I don’t say if, I say when.”

Though it’s been hard waiting for answers since authorities last fall reopened their investigation into Savio’s death, Doman is trying to be patient.

“I want them to take all the time they need so they don’t make any mistakes,” she said. “When it goes down, I want it to go all the way. I don’t want it to get tossed out on a technicality.”

She’s pleased with the effort and time police and prosecutors have put into reinvestigating her sister’s death, which has been reclassified as a homicide, rather than an accidental drowning.

“They’re going to make sure it’s a rock-solid case. I know they’re bound and determined to get this right,” she said.

Stebic case

While Anna Doman believes the authorities may find some resolution to her sister’s homicide, Glasgow’s challenger in the Nov. 4 election, Judy DeVriendt, is not so sure, even though she claims the top prosecutor is obsessed with the dead woman’s former husband.

“Glasgow seems to have a personal vendetta against Drew Peterson,” DeVriendt said, “and he’s focused on Drew Peterson,” to the point that he is neglecting the cases of other missing and murdered women.

“I really feel sorry for the families of Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson and (Plainfield mother) Lisa Stebic,” DeVriendt said. “Especially the family of Lisa Stebic, because they seem to be thrown by the wayside.”

Lisa Stebic has been missing nearly six months longer than Stacy Peterson and no one has been charged in connection with her April 2007 disappearance.

Plainfield police had enough evidence to narrow their investigation of Lisa Stebic’s disappearance to her husband, Craig Stebic, and named him their sole “person of interest” in July 2007. But do they have enough to convince a jury of their suspicions?

“I feel that our case is missing a couple components that would allow us to move forward with the case to a successful prosecution,” Plainfield Police Chief Don Bennett said. “There are some items in our particular case that we want more information on to take away some gray that could appear in a black-and-white case.”

One of those missing components is Lisa. No trace of her, living or dead, has been found, and finding her is critical to moving the case forward, Bennett said.

“There’s no question in Illinois, without a body it’s very difficult to get a conviction,” he said.

“You only get one shot. To me, it’s very important that you have a comfort level that the information you have is going to result in a conviction,” Bennett said. “One no vote (on a jury) shoots our case.”

continued below....

[One2Snoop]

Kill County’

Plainfield police have worked this type of case before.

Inge Strama of Plainfield disappeared in July 1993. Her skeletal remains were found in a vacant lot in Worth four years later.

Charges were never filed in the case. Investigators could not determine whether Strama was a homicide victim.

The Stebic case is different, Bennett said, in that investigators have more physical evidence.

“I feel very confident at some point in time (the Stebic) case will come about,” Bennett said.

DeVriendt blames Glasgow’s administration for what seems to be a recent proliferation of high-profile missing and murdered women and, recalling a conversation she and her husband had while vacationing in Las Vegas last month, says this perception has spread across the country.

DeVriendt said a couple asked them, “Will County, isn’t that where all those women are disappearing? We’ve heard of that. Isn’t it called Kill County?”

“Nationally known,” DeVriendt said. “This county is a joke, and Glasgow made it a joke.”

Peterson endorsement

DeVriendt has plastered the notion of Kill County on billboards along Route 53 reading, “Have the last four years been Open Season On Women In Will County?”

Glasgow takes exception to the signs.

“It shows a terrible insensitivity to women and the victims of crime,” he said. “I had a lot of women come up to me and they were very disturbed by it, and they didn’t know what it meant.”

In trying to discredit him, Glasgow accused DeVriendt of taking a shot at the police who investigated the crimes.

“She doesn’t understand how this office operates,” Glasgow said of DeVriendt, who worked as an assistant state’s attorney from 1990 until 1998, the last two years under Glasgow himself.

“We’re partners with the police. The police do the work in the field.”

And Glasgow insists he is not conducting anything close to a vendetta against Peterson.

“Drew’s been quoted saying, ‘I like Jim Glasgow,’” Glasgow said. “Drew respects me.”

Peterson did indeed endorse Glasgow, not only saying that he likes him, but that he is “a very honorable man. I think whatever Jim Glasgow does, he’ll do what he thinks is true.”

New legislation

In the course of a year, Glasgow has done nothing to Peterson in regard to either his missing wife or his dead one. DeVriendt charges that her opponent is waiting for the passage of a bill that would allow hearsay evidence into a trial in some circumstances.

On Wednesday, Glasgow trumpeted his creation of the pending legislation.

“Furthermore, it must be noted that these two investigations, as well as the investigation into the disappearance of Lisa Stebic, prompted me to draft a new law that will enable prosecutors across Illinois to use a murder victim’s cries for help as evidence at trial to convict her brutal killer,” he said. “This common-sense legislation, which will become law in November, will enable prosecutors to bring previously inadmissible evidence to trial to ensure abusive murderers cannot profit from their wrongdoing.”

DeVriendt said she would be reluctant to use the pending law against Peterson.

“He’s putting all his eggs in one basket and it’s that statute,” she said. “The first time you use that law, you better be sure you can win the case without that law, in case it’s overturned.”

But Glasgow said the bill is sound, that “the provisions contained in this new law have recently been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

With the election looming, along with the likely passage of the “hearsay” bill, Peterson alluded to big things on his own horizon as the first anniversary of his wife’s disappearance approached.

“A lot of stuff’s going on in my personal life,” Peterson said.

When asked what he meant, and if he was hinting at yet another marriage in his future, Peterson said only, “We’ll let it break when it breaks.”

Joe Hosey and Janet Lundquist are staff writers for The Herald News. Dan Rozek is a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/home/1243860,na27_peterson_s1.article

[One2Snoop]

Note how DP refers to Stacy as a "little girl" WTH? :eek:

October 28, 2008
Stacy Peterson, One Year Later

It's been one year since the disappearance of Bolingbrook's Stacy Peterson and her estranged husband, Drew Peterson, took to The Today Show to maintain his innocence and to ask Stacy to, "Show yourself. Put an end to this nightmare." Of course, he doesn't expect her to reappear, as he told the AP: “If I was a little girl and the focus of all this media attention, I wouldn't be coming back. Why would a little girl come back to that?”

While Drew makes media appearances, Stacy's family will be marking the anniversary with a candlelight vigil. After Stacy's disappearance, police went back and, after further investigation, reclassified the death of Kathleen Savio, Peterson's third wife, from accidental drowning to murder, adding to the intense scrutiny on Peterson. Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow announced last week that he expected, "a resolution in at least one of these investigations in the near future," a charge Peterson and his lawyer have dismissed as a mere play for votes in next week's election.

http://chicagoist.com/2008/10/28/stacy_peterson_one_year_later.php

[One2Snoop]

Stacy Peterson
By Danya Hooker, dhooker@mysuburbanlife.com
GateHouse News Service
Mon Oct 27, 2008, 07:41 PM CDT

Bolingbrook, IL -
As the one-year anniversary of Stacy Peterson’s disappearance nears, a mountain of failing hope and fruitless efforts dwarf the hill of optimism that once surrounded her friends and family.


It’s a milestone with no merit. A tacit cue that closure should begin, where no closure is in sight.

“It’s like walking up to a ghost,” said Sharon Bychowski, Peterson’s friend and neighbor. “You’re walking up to something but there’s nothing there. There’s no closure.”

Now, as Oct. 28 looms, a year of waiting for answers has given rise to even more questions. Is the hope of finding Peterson fading to a dream? How much longer will they have to wait for resolution? And if a resolution never materializes, what can those who searched for her do with their newfound skills?

As Peterson’s loved ones struggle with these thoughts, many who trudged through fields and sifted through waterways in search of clues to her whereabouts are trying to look forward in search of a way to preserve her memory by turning a tragedy into hope for others.

Fading to a dream
On the last Saturday of March, as the Midwest was beginning to awaken from a brutal winter, about 40 volunteers gathered at a forest preserve in southeastern Joliet to search for Peterson.

The temperature hovered just above freezing as they marched forward, wading through thick woodland, soggy marshes and patches of forest preserve that could have doubled as a landfill. They inspected every suspicious object, misplaced stone and uneven patch of dirt.

Five months after the disappearance, the grim reality of the searches already had set in for many. They were not looking for the vibrant, young mother who had brought them to this barren piece of land. They were looking for her body.

“There’s hope, but I’m starting to live with the fact that my sister is not coming home alive,” said Peterson’s sister, Cassandra Cales, at the time.

Seven months later, some are now coming to terms with the possibility that she might never be found.

“I’ve cried more times in the last week and a half than I have in the whole last year,” Bychowski said. “Because it’s done. It’s over. We’ll always want to find her, but we know that may not happen.”

After more than 140 searches covering tens of thousands of acres and hundreds of miles of waterways, family spokeswoman Pam Bosco said they are halting searches until the investigation is complete in hopes that the information will provide some direction for searches.

“We could search from now until doomsday for Stacy,” Bosco said. “But I think the best thing is to wait for all the information to come forward and just keep our thoughts on this investigation.”

On Wednesday, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow released a statement assuring the family and the public of the continued progress in the investigation.

“The investigations into both Stacy Peterson’s disappearance and Kathleen Savio’s murder have been highly productive,” Glasgow said. “I fully expect there to be a resolution in at least one of these investigations in the near future.”

The statement was one of the few updates provided by the authorities who are investigating the cases of Savio and Peterson, the third and fourth wives of former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, who is the sole suspect in Stacy Peterson’s disappearance. Police have not named a suspect in Savio’s murder, while police are treating Stacy Peterson’s disappearance as a “potential homicide” and have said they do not believe the young woman left her home and family willingly.

Waiting for resolution
As of press time Wednesday evening, Drew Peterson had not returned phone calls seeking comment.

His publicist, Glenn Selig, said Peterson was in Los Angeles to tape an interview for the “Dr. Phil” show.

From day one, Peterson has said he had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance or with the March 2004 drowning of his third wife, whose death investigation police reopened within days of Stacy Peterson’s disappearance.

Drew Peterson said he still believes Savio’s death was an accident, as a coroner’s jury ruled in 2004, although two separate pathologists have since ruled it a homicide. He has not been charged with a crime in either case.

Glasgow said Wednesday that the special grand jury that convened in November to investigate both cases is still hearing testimony. Glasgow also noted that the cases prompted him to draft legislation that would allow hearsay testimony in trials where key witnesses have been murdered to prevent them from testifying about a defendant’s other criminal activities.

The law easily won approval in the state legislature earlier this year, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich postponed signing it after it was discovered that the bill did not contain a date for when the law would go into effect. Without an effective date, it would not become law until June 2009.
Blagojevich sent the bill back to state lawmakers, who are expected to amend the law so it becomes effective immediately, and approve it when the legislative session reconvenes in November.

With few details of the investigation made public, Stacy Peterson’s aunt, Candace Aikin, said her continued communication with police has helped her remain hopeful her family will find closure.

“It’s been a hard year, that’s for sure,” Aikin said. “There’s so many unanswered questions, there’s still a lot of emotion. It’s a hard time, but we’re taking it one day at a time, just knowing that justice will come in time. We would’ve liked to see it sooner.

“It’s hard to wait for that but we believe it will come, and I’m still believing that we will find Stacy,” Aikin said.

Searching for a new cause
Regardless of the outcome, Aikin said she wants her niece’s memory to continue well past the 23 short years of her life.

“I would hope that Stacy’s inspiration would continue to live on through people and through circumstances in their lives,” Aikin said. “I believe that her life will continue to speak to others in a positive way and that some good will come of this.”

With large-scale searches halted, lead search organizer Roy Taylor said the small group of dedicated volunteers who spent months looking for Peterson is hoping to carry on her memory by assisting in searches for other missing persons.

“We have six to eight people that are wanting to go on and donate their time and further their (search and rescue) education to help other families,” Taylor said. “It’s Stacy’s legacy, besides her children. This could be a beautiful, awesome thing.”

On the weekend of Oct. 10, the group assembled for the first time to help search for someone other than Stacy Peterson. Seven members of the group met in West Chicago to conduct a search for John Spira, a St. Charles resident who has been missing since Feb. 23, 2007.
Bolingbrook resident Dianna Noun, who aided in both the Peterson and Spira searches, said the willingness and kindness of other volunteers has been a source of inspiration.

“I’m willing to give up my time and help whenever it’s needed. And I hope that if I’m ever in that situation, I’d get the help of people like the ones I’ve met at the searches,” Noun said. “When I went to search for John Spira, I wore my Stacy shirt and if I go and search for anybody else, I will wear my Stacy shirt because I’m proud that I was part of trying to find Stacy.”

snipped for length..

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/bolingbrook/peterson/x398382365/One-year-later

[One2Snoop]

‘Gone but not forgotten,’ supporters mark one year anniversary

By Danya Hooker, dhooker@mysuburbanlife.com
GateHouse News Service
Wed Oct 29, 2008, 04:37 PM CDT

Bolingbrook, IL -
With the weight of a year hanging upon them, friends, family and supporters of Stacy Peterson and Kathleen Savio gathered in Bolingbrook Tuesday night to remember the two women.

Led by women carrying a “Gone but not forgotten” banner, nearly 100 people marched the short distance from Savio’s home on Pheasant Chase Drive to Peterson’s home on Pheasant Chase Court. Each held a candle in honor of Peterson, who disappeared exactly one year ago at the age of 23, and of Savio, 40, who was found murdered in her home in March 2004.

“These two women have had a tremendous impact on our lives,” the Rev. Neil Schori said. “Stacy and Kathleen are not forgotten.”

Both women were the wives of former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson, 54, who is the sole suspect in Stacy Peterson’s disappearance, which police have labeled a potential homicide. Shortly after Stacy Peterson went missing, authorities announced they were taking another look at Savio’s death, which had been ruled an accidental drowning. In February, an independent pathologist ruled the drowning a homicide. Police have not named a suspect.

Schori made headlines in December when he told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren that Stacy Peterson confided in him that her husband had admitted to killing his third wife, Savio.

Early Tuesday morning, Drew Peterson appeared on the “Today Show” with Matt Lauer and maintained his innocence in both cases. He said he still believes his wife left him for another man and asked her, “Show yourself. Put an end to this nightmare.” In a release Tuesday, Drew Peterson said he would not attend the vigil, choosing instead to spend time with his family.

“There is not a single day that goes by that I don’t think about Stacy, so to me Tuesday is just another day of her being away,” Peterson said.

But Tuesday was not just another day for the friends and family, including Drew Peterson’s neighbor, Sharon Bychowski, who gathered in Bolingbrook. Bychowski said both women lived in fear of their husband.

“That day that Drew dragged me over to his house to tell me that she had left her children behind, there was no doubt in my mind that Stacy would never do that,” Bychowski said. “And 112 percent of me walked out that door knowing what had happened to her and that she was not coming back.”

Savio’s nephew, Charlie Doman, chastised authorities for failing to respond to his aunt’s pleas for help in the months before her murder. Doman said Savio documented her allegations of abuse and harassment from Drew Peterson, and occasionally from his new teenage bride, Stacy Peterson.

“If my aunt hadn’t been murdered and Stacy went missing, even though they didn’t see eye-to-eye, my aunt would be right here with us, helping right now. The Savio family is here and we will always be here to help find Stacy, no matter what,” Doman said. “My aunt was a very strong and stubborn woman. Even from the grave, she’s still helping solve her own murder.”

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/bolingbrook/peterson/x1588595479/-Gone-but-not-forgotten-supporters-mark-one-year-anniversary

[One2Snoop]

The Search for Stacy Peterson, one year later...
Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:03 AM
Clint Van Zandt

It’s been one year since Stacy Peterson, 23, the once teenage wife of former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson, 54, according to her husband, ran away with a boyfriend, this after telling her husband 30 years her senior that she was going to leave him. Peterson marked the anniversary of his fourth wife’s disappearance by appearing on NBC’s Today Show and telling host Matt Lauer that he had nothing to do with his young wife’s disappearance and still believed she had left him and their four children, never to contact them again, to run off with a secret boyfriend, someone who has not been identified to date.

Few are surprised at his appearance, however, as most that have followed this case know that it’s really all about Drew. As the poster boy for narcissistic behavior who has portrayed himself as the ultimate victim in these cases, Peterson has never shied from the media, and for the last year has, like the moth to the flame, ran toward any TV camera turned in his direction. He appears to have enjoyed his “rock star” status, even offering himself as a prize in a local Chicago area radio show in a “win a date with Drew” contest.

The four wives of “Drew the first,” like the six wives of England’s Henry VIII, faced danger at every turn in their marriages. In Peterson’s case, former wives and girlfriends have spoken of abuse, assault, and threats at his hands. Wife #3, Kathleen Savio, was found dead in her bathtub in 2004 and all of her estate, one she was to have split with Drew, and her insurance all went to her former husband. After Stacy disappeared under questionable circumstances last year Savio’s body was exhumed and reexamined. Many, especially after the disappearance of Stacy, were not surprised to learn that Kathleen had been murdered, noting she had once obtained a restraining order against Drew because he allegedly threatened to kill her. Savio told her family, “if I die, it may look like an accident, but it wasn’t.” And then she was gone.

Family members of Savio believe Drew Peterson killed her to get all of their marital assets. The challenge in this case is that a terribly sloppy and incomplete investigation of Savio’s initial death allowed it to be ruled an accident. Now, some four years later, the evidence to link her killer may have slipped away. Police seem to have a reasonable circumstantial case against Peterson, but proving their theory will be far more difficult. The fact that Savio’s lawyer said she never had a will, but Drew was able to produce a handwritten will just two weeks after Kathleen’s death, apparently fell on deaf eyes and eyes and Drew was able to take the money and run.

Wife #4, Stacy, began dating Drew when she was a teenager and when he was still married to wife #3. When Peterson and Savio eventually divorced, Stacy was there for Drew, someone who appears to always need a woman with him, even one young enough to have been his teenage daughter. Two children later Stacy, like the women before her in Drew’s life, knew she had to leave, to run from her abuser. She had allegedly told him this just prior to her disappearance and then she too was gone. Although some personal effects were missing, e.g., her passport supposedly to allow her to flee to some desert island, etc., her favorite items of clothing were still at home, as were her two biological children, those to whom she was closest and, according to her friends, those she would have never leave behind.

On the Today Show, Peterson continued to profess his innocence, with him and his attorney pointing to a polygraph examination he had taken concerning the death of Savio and disappearance of Stacy, one in which he appeared deceptive in three of the ten questions asked of him. This test is the basis for one of the two new books concerning Peterson. In one, the Canadian author suggests his belief, based mainly on the polygraph results, that Drew Peterson is “86 – 98% not guilty.” (I have never been sold on polygraphs and have seen suspects pass a polygraph and later be proven guilty of a crime. See “Do Lie Detectors Lie?” at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7992482/)

The local state attorney has indicated his belief that these cases will soon solved, however Peterson’s attorney is quick to note that this same prosecutor is up for reelection and his confidence may, in part, be political bravado. Meanwhile a hat signed by Peterson after a previous appearance by Peterson on the Today Show, was offered on eBay for over $1,000 and the former police officer continues to sign autographs and pose for photographs. Fame is fleeting at times, but to the one man who may know the secret to the fate of his last two wives, it continues to surround him.

Some question that even if indicted for a crime related to either Savio or Stacy, could Drew Peterson ever get a fair trial after all the media attention he has engendered. But trial, notwithstanding indictment, seems miles away at this point. Who, some ask, better than a police officer who worked nights with extra time on his hands would know where to put a body so it couldn’t be found, and who, better than a police officer accustomed to advising others of their rights, knows that the way to keep a secret is to do something yourself and tell no one.

Meanwhile Peterson’s son by a former marriage, himself a police officer in Oak Brook, Illinois, was recently suspended for using police computers to make personal checks on vehicle license plates, something his father had also been accused of doing. Sometimes the fruit does not fall too far from the tree and the lessons we learn from our fathers can lead to our own downfall. In the case of Drew Peterson, the court of public opinion appears to believe him guilty of one if not two murders. Drew, however, can look into the camera and say he did nothing wrong. Who do you think is correct?

http://clintvanzandt.newsvine.com/_news/2008/10/28/2048266-the-search-for-stacy-peterson-one-year-later

[Vanillaangel]

It's sick that this serial wife killer has somehow become a celebrity!:mad:

What a perfect cover. A serial wife killer cop. Who better to know how to hide the evidence, after he succeeded in passing off one wife's murder as a suicide in a dry tub.So of course the next victim, runs away never to be heard from again. Because a second wife's death would bring suspicion in those laws of averages against such things.

Poor Stacy should have seen the signs, when as his mistress, she witnessed his abuse of his then wife (and soon to be murder victim). Now she's dead and probably will never be found, while there are women out there just waiting to meet the guy and be what?! Next!?

I watched an episode of one of those law & order shows some time ago. And from there I'm wondering if the investigators on Stacy's case have ever looked at Peterson's case files, when he was a cop.
In the episode a man disappeared his wife in a drum in a storage unit rented under someone else's name.

What if Peterson killed his wife, put her in that blue barrel we've heard about, and stored her away in a storage unit he rented, using fake ID that any cop would know how to acquire, under the name of someone in his case files!? Someone with say a history of forged documents?!

Rest in Peace dear Stacy. :rose::rose:

May justice find it's way to Peterson before he finds his way to a new wife/victim.