Jan 17, 2008 8:10 am US/Central
Attorney: Message Shows Stacy Peterson Ran Off
Explicit Text Message Was Reportedly Sent To Missing Woman's Cell Phone A Month Before She Disappeared
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (STNG) ―
Drew Peterson and his attorney claim Stacy Peterson received a racy text message last September from a man who might be the key to discovering the missing Bolingbrook mother's whereabouts.
The message, supposedly sent to Stacy Peterson's cell phone at 9:47 a.m. Sept. 20, reads: "You my love are the hottest b ---- in the world. Thanks for ridding [sic] me like a bucking bronco last night."
Joel Brodsky, Peterson's attorney, said the message may be the break Brodsky needs to clear his client's name. Peterson has been named a suspect in Stacy's disappearance. The mother of two vanished Oct. 28.
Ever since his wife disappeared, Drew Peterson has insisted she ran off, possibly with another man.
"This investigation isn't all about trying to prove Drew did something wrong," Brodsky said this week. "There are leads out there that have nothing to do with Drew."
Both Brodsky and Drew Peterson said they don't know the identity of the man who sent Stacy the text message.
Peterson said this week that he stumbled across the message in mid-December, while he was fiddling with the phone.
"I was just playing with the phone one day and I found it," Peterson said. "I was like, 'What the heck is this?'"
Peterson said he gave the purple cell phone to Brodsky, who then gave it to Illinois State Police.
A search warrant issued Jan. 3 grants police the authority to seize, search and analyze Stacy's purple phone.
"Basically, what this shows is that Stacy had a secret lover," Brodsky said. "Who is this guy? Is he missing? If this person is missing, then the mystery is solved."
Charles B. Pelkie, a spokesman for the Will County state's attorney's office, declined to comment on the matter. Mark Dorencz, a spokesman for the State Police, could not be reached for comment.
This is not the first instance of a racy message showing up on one of Stacy Peterson's cell phones.
Scott Rossetto, a Shorewood man, admitted after testifying before a Will County grand jury that Stacy had called him out of the blue three weeks before she vanished and they exchanged "perverted and flirty" messages before she vanished. But Rossetto has denied he and Stacy Peterson were having a relationship, and he says he doesn't know where she is.
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