Chicago Area Local News

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ― The search for Stacy Peterson resumes Saturday morning, as authorities wonder whether a large blue barrel might hold the answer to her disappearance.

As CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports, volunteers were to gather at 9 a.m. at the Bolingbrook Recreation and Aquatic Center, at 200 S. Lindsey Lane in the southwest suburb. The search will focus on lakes, rivers and other bodies of water in the area, after revelations that Stacy's husband, former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, was seen loading a large barrel into his sport-utility vehicle.

The barrel contained chlorine used to clean the family's pool. Stacy Peterson's sister, Cassandra Cales, recalls seeing the large blue barrel in the Peterson garage before her sister vanished.

The missing barrel may be the reason why investigators are now focusing their search efforts around lakes and rivers close to the Peterson home.

"Day and night they're working on it, and I know that they have their own search and rescue teams out there that they are working with, so they are conducting searches along with the investigation," said Pamela Bosco, Stacy Peterson's family spokeswoman.

Sources close to the family say Illinois State Police are looking for a man who was helping Drew Peterson load the blue barrel into the back of his SUV, which has since been confiscated by police.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported the two men were seen putting the barrel in the SUV only hours after Stacy Peterson was last seen alive.

"Somebody saw Drew Peterson carrying a barrel with somebody you know, we don't know," said family friend Pamela Bosco. "It's been a while since we heard that, so why it's coming to the surface now, is there any value in it? I don't know. I sure hope it leads to something."

In addition to the missing blue barrel that police have told the family they're looking for, sources say scuba diving weights are also missing from Drew's house. That may have led investigators to search numerous ponds, including one near Clow Airfield where sources say cadaver dogs hit on something.

Sources say the dogs also hit on something in an upstairs bedroom of the Peterson house -- the same bedroom where sources say a nightstand is believed to have turned up missing. That's led investigators to question recent visitors to the Peterson home about what furniture they recalled seeing in that room.

Since Stacy Peterson was reported missing to state police by her family, troopers executed a pair of search warrants at the couple's Pheasant Chase Court home, seizing property and two automobiles, including the SUV.

A police source said tests conducted on the vehicle at the state police laboratory have not been completed. But another source said police located pieces of blue plastic on the back end of the car.

Meanwhike, a prosecutor's spokesman says the FBI has been asked to join the search.

Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for the Will County state's attorney, says the FBI's involvement would make it possible for the U.S. Navy to provide technical assistance.

Stacy Peterson, 23, vanished Oct. 28. She allegedly was on her way to help the boyfriend of her sister, Cassandra Cales, paint a house in Yorkville, but never arrived. Drew Peterson has repeatedly insisted Stacy ran off with another man.

Drew Peterson has not been charged with any crimes, but police have named him a suspect in his wife's disappearance. They have also said Stacy Peterson is likely dead, and that her death was a homicide. In addition, police and prosecutors are investigating the death of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, who was found deceased in a bathtub three years ago. Her death was originally ruled accidental, but her body was recently exhumed for a new autopsy.

CBS 2's Rafael Romo and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


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