Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― With each new element that's uncovered in the investigation of Bolingbrook mother Stacy Peterson, her family says they get a renewed sense of hope they'll find out what happened to her.

But as her husband, Drew Peterson, a suspect in her disappearance, returned home with groceries Monday evening, he complained about media coverage of the increasingly bizarre case.

"I'm waiting for my eighth grade prom date to show up and say I was a bad kisser," Drew Peterson said. "I don't think I was, but…"

As CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports, two "no trespassing" signs warned reporters to stay off the property.

"If the network would put some effort into helping these people losing their homes all over the country because of the poor economies, I think it would be a nicer thing rather than harassing me," Peterson said. "I guess I'm a big story."

But new details in that story continue to surface, including a potential Will County investigation into whether Drew Peterson broke any laws while serving as a police officer in Bolingbrook.

Prosecutors are reviewing an internal Bolingbrook Police investigation to determine whether a former sergeant suspected in his wife's disappearance could be criminally charged for what the department alleges were instances of official misconduct.

Police Lt. Ken Teppel declined Monday to provide any details of Drew Peterson's alleged misconduct, but a "Good Morning America" report that it included allegedly using police computers to find information on friends of Peterson's missing wife brought strong denials from Peterson's attorney.

Attorney Joel Brodsky said Monday that Peterson denies using department computers or databases to gather information about his wife's family or friends or in any unauthorized way. Brodsky said he has written in a letter to Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow that charging Peterson with doing so would constitute "vindictive prosecution" because others have not been charged with a practice Brodsky says is widespread.

"Our investigation reveals that it was common practice of members of the Bolingbrook Police Department and employees, where people would run family members, cousins and such to see if there were any active warrants or see if there was anything on a daughter's new boyfriend," Brodsky said.

Teppel would not confirm whether the internal affairs investigation launched after Stacy Peterson was reported missing Oct. 29 had anything to do with Peterson's alleged use of department computers. But he disputed Brodsky's contention that the practice is widespread and unchecked.

"Guys have been fired over this," Teppel said. "The last one (in March 2006) was a dispatcher who was terminated for handing that information over to a repo man."

Teppel added that the department could lose the state certification that allows it to run names if it does so in the way Brodsky described.

Whatever the allegations against Peterson, they were serious enough that the then-sergeant was notified Nov. 9 he'd been suspended without pay and ordered to report with his attorney for an internal affairs interview Nov. 13.

Also on Monday, North Aurora police dispatched the village's fire department to retrieve a blue barrel from the Fox River. Illinois state police would not comment on the discovery.

"We don't know what those barrels meant at this time – what their purpose was or the usage," said Pamela Bosco, Stacy Peterson's family's spokesperson.

Bosco said supporters are grateful for each new bit of information that comes out. They are waiting to hear about surveillance video Illinois state police reportedly took from a Bolingbrook Krispy Kreme. That video may have been captured around the time Stacy Peterson disappeared.
"I wouldn't say it's even an emotional roller coaster at this point," Bosco said. "I think our momentum is really strong at this point. We're finding answers information is coming out."

Brodsky on Monday also discussed a weekend Illinois State Police news release that said someone they believed was Drew Peterson asked two truck drivers to take a package to an undisclosed location hours after Peterson's wife disappeared.

Brodsky said it is not unheard of for people wanting to transport illegal contraband to ask truckers to drive it to locations for pick up because, he said, trucks aren't stopped and searched as much as other vehicles.

The attorney speculated a truck driver who had been so sought out had seen Peterson in the news and "all of a sudden sticks Drew's face onto this guy who approached him in the truck stop."

"And now we've got some bologna lead we've got to chase down," he said.

Stacy Peterson, 23, disappeared late last month and authorities have named her 53-year-old husband a suspect in what they have said is a potential homicide. Prosecutors also are reviewing the death of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, and have said the drowning, deemed accidental at the time, may have been a homicide staged to look that way. Peterson has not been named a suspect in her death.

CBS 2's Pamela Jones and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages
 Slideshow: Amtrak Train Smashes Freighter
 Slideshow: The Search For Stacy Peterson
 Slideshow: Extravagant Celebrity Gifts
 Slideshow: '90s TV Stars Then & Now
 Slideshow: What A Way To Go
 Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities
 Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)