Aug 21, 2008 5:20 pm US/Central
Attorney: Evidence Shows Stacy Peterson Left Drew
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
As the search for Stacy Peterson continues, Drew Peterson's attorney says there's evidence to back up Drew's claim that Stacy ran away.
She has been missing for nearly 10 months, but as the family continues the search for the missing mother, Drew Peterson's attorney Joel Brodsky says law enforcement officials knew that Stacy Peterson talked about leaving her husband before she disappeared.
He says the information is in an affidavit he received while preparing for an upcoming gun case against Drew Peterson.
Brodsky says a man who attended junior college with Stacy Peterson told authorities she confided in him the day before she disappeared. He allegedly says they had drinks on October 27, 2007 and Stacy told him she wanted out of her marriage.
The man, known only as Mike, told investigators he advised her to take cash and not use credit cards, so she could not be traced. And she reportedly told the friend she would leave in the morning when her husband was asleep.
"Everything that Brodsky is reporting is wrong and twisted," Stacy Peterson's sister, Cassandra Cales, said in reaction to this latest news.
Cales says she spoke with Mike about his conversation with her sister.
"He had told her to pack a bag. Just to keep it ready so if she needed to leave at a quick time she could be ready," Cales said.
Drew Peterson says he doesn't feel vindicated by the latest revelation but does believe it bolsters his contention that his wife chose to abandon her family.
"She was plotting this and acted on it two days later," he said.
Peterson says when his wife returns a lot of people are going to end up looking silly, including the folks who helped build the elaborate "Stacy's Garden" next door to the Peterson home.
But Stacy Peterson's family spokeswoman said, "I don't think embarrassed would be the world. I think it would be relief if we actually saw her. It would be happiness. But that's not where we are at this point in time."
And Cales says that's where she and her sister's classmate were when they talked immediately after Stacy Peterson disappeared October 28.
"He was scared. We were going back and forth telling ourselves OK. But we were thinking the worst," Cales said.
Brodsky says he won't name Stacy Peterson's male friend until he has a chance to personally interview him.
State police and Will County authorities would not comment, except to confirm that the document was part of the gun case against Peterson in which he is charged with having an illegal firearm.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli contributed to this report.
(CBS 2, the Naperville Sun and the Aurora Beacon-News are news partners covering stories in the western suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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