Chicago Area Local News

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ― For the first time the public gets to hear the sound of missing Bolingbrook mother Stacy Peterson's voice. Her family released on Wednesday a voice mail message they say she left for her father just days before she disappeared.

Stacy Peterson's family spokesperson, Pamela Bosco, said the message had her in tears all Wednesday afternoon.

Posted on the Web site FindStacyPeterson.com, Stacy Peterson left the message for her father, giving him her new phone number, just 11 days before she disappeared.

"It's just very sad," Bosco said. "You can hear the innocence and just the sweetness in her voice and it just made me cry."

As CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports, that comes on the same day investigators searched a canal for possible clues in her disappearance. Divers combed the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Lockport.

"I spoke to the Illinois State Police and they actually said that this was just all part of their investigation to do a thorough job," Bosco said.

A tow truck and police vehicles were alongside the canal, and divers appeared to try to hook a tow line from the truck to something in the water.

Illinois state police said the crews were trying to remove metal debris from the water so they can continue their search for clues in the case, and that the debris is being analyzed.

The Army Corps of Engineers has said in the past that the canal is littered with abandoned vehicles.

CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports state police would not say if the canal search was related to a new warrant served to Drew Peterson Tuesday that allows investigators to further search and hold his cars. But criminal law professor Ron Allen says the search could be significant.

"It's not at all a surprise that, notwithstanding the weather, that they're diving," Allen said. "What that indicates is that they probably got information yesterday indicating something might be in the place they are now."

In Illinois, investigators don't need a body to charge someone with murder, and can instead rely on circumstantial evidence to back such charges. Allen says that could include anything from a suspect's behavior and actions to relevant physical evidence.

"The interesting thing about circumstantial evidence cases is that after they're put together… invariably some small, apparently innocuous detail turns out to be critical," Allen said.

Stacy's family says they welcome the progress. And while they wait, they'll continue to encourage the public to help find the mother of two.

Stacy's sister produced a new collage on the Web site to help people get to know a woman she says has so much more to offer the world.

"It's putting a voice to the face," Bosco said. "You really don't know, but you can tell a lot from the voice of someone."

Divers will resume their search Thursday. In the meantime, Stacy Peterson's family is planning a fundraiser for the search effort to be held January 20, Stacy's birthday.

Stacy Peterson has been missing since Oct. 28. Authorities have named her 53-year-old husband, Drew Peterson, a suspect in her disappearance, and they say she likely died in a homicide.

Drew Peterson denies any involvement in his wife's disappearance and has insisted that she left him for another man.

On Tuesday, a new search warrant was issued for the Peterson home. Peterson would not comment on what the paperwork he received from state police said.

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

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