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Dec 8, 2007 11:42 am US/Central
Police: Trucker Made Up Story About Drew Peterson
Trucker Claimed He Was Asked To Take Away Mysterious Package
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (AP) ―
A trucker claiming he was approached by Drew Peterson and another man about carrying off a mysterious package seems to have fabricated the lurid tale, a police source said earlier this week.
Investigators checked the truck driver's telephone records and determined he was actually in Louisiana, and not at a Bolingbrook truck stop in the early morning hours of Oct. 29, the day after Peterson's wife, Stacy Peterson, was last seen alive.
"I guess he just wanted his 15 minutes of fame," the police source said. "He wasn't even in the state."
According to a statement released by state police, two truck drivers were approached by two men at a Bolingbrook truck stop.
"One of the two men is believed to be Drew Peterson and the other described as a white male, early 50s, salt-and-pepper hair, with a stocky build," the statement said.
Those two men asked the truck drivers to "transport a package to an undisclosed location," the statement said. At that location, the two men would pick up the package and take it to another spot not accessible by semi-trailers, according to the statement.
State police spokesman Mark Dorencz did not care to discuss the report of the trucker inventing his rendezvous with Peterson.
"I can't comment on that," Dorencz said Thursday.
Peterson, the recently retired police sergeant named a suspect in the state's "potential homicide" investigation of Stacy's whereabouts, did not appear surprised by the revelation.
"There's a lot of lying going on," Peterson said.
Three days after state police told its tale of the apparently prevaricating truck driver, they served yet another search warrant at Peterson's Pheasant Chase Court residence. It was the fourth search warrant executed since Stacy disappeared 41 days ago.
The wide ranging warrant for the search and seizure of two of Peterson's automobiles, a 2005 GMC Denali and a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix, seeks signs for items as varied as lead weights, blue plastic and a barrel, to blood, fingernails, urine and feces, as well as "biological material which may be evidence of the offense of first degree murder."
The warrant also seeks "firearms, ammunition, knives, rope, carpet, and rugs."
Drew Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said the latest search warrant is nothing but an attempt to cover for a mistake made on an earlier warrant.
The first warrant only stated it was for the search of the residence, vehicles and computers at Peterson's residence, while the latest warrant is for the "search and seizure" for Peterson's two vehicles.
Police confiscated the vehicles Nov. 1. Peterson has petitioned the court for their return.
"The fourth search warrant, the only reason they did it was to correct the error," Brodsky said. "The third search warrant does not include seizure. I don't know if that's a correctable mistake.
"They illegally seized these vehicles," Brodsky said, calling any results of the ensuing search "the fruits of the poisoned tree."
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