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BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ― The investigation is quickly picking up steam to get to the bottom of what happened to two of Drew Peterson's four wives.

Late Friday two Bolingbrook police officers came to the Peterson house with written notice that Drew Peterson is no longer one of them, that pending an internal affairs investigation he is suspended from the force without pay. Peterson never came to the door.

That happened just a few hours after a dramatic announcement from the state police captain heading up the investigation into the disappearance of Peterson's wife, Stacy.

An Illinois State police captain said Friday that the Stacy Peterson case had gone "from a missing persons case to a potential homicide case," and that her husband, Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, had "gone from being a person of interest to clearly being a suspect."

Stacy Peterson has been missing since Oct. 28, and at the time of her disappearance, Drew Peterson said she left voluntarily.

After Stacy's family filed a missing persons report, police conducted two separate searches at the Peterson home, on the house, the vehicles, and a trailer, Illinois State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said at a news conference Friday.

"Subsequent to that search warrant, we went back several days later on another search warrant based on information that was learned after the first search warrant," Dobrich said.

Based upon the information learned since then, police have concluded that the case had gone "from a missing persons case to a potential homicide case," Dobrich said.

"Early on, we looked at this as a missing persons case, but also believed strongly that based on the (Kathleen) Savio investigation (into the death of Drew Peterson's third wife) and the information that we were gleaning within the first 24 hours of the missing persons case with Stacy, was starting to strongly point to Drew Peterson being a person of interest," Dobrich said. "I would say that right now, Drew Peterson has gone from being a person of interest to clearly being a suspect."

Dobrich hinted that evidence was found in the recent searches of the Peterson house, perhaps computer evidence which is changing the nature of this case.

A neighbor of Drew Peterson said she and her family are afraid to stay in their house at night, and they may seek a restraining order to keep him from their house. It stems from an incident in which she called police after she said Drew Peterson approached her in her driveway, repeatedly screaming her name.

"The thing that really concerned me most of all is that he would go into my backyard and do it again, while the police officer's in the front of the yard," said neighbor Sharon Bychowski. "That sounds just like someone that's coming a little unglued."

Stacy Peterson's friends and family consider her disappearance highly suspicious. A spokesperson for Stacy's family talked with reporters Friday night.

"It's been a whole range of emotions for me -- but, there is some relief in the fact that we are making progress with the case," said Pamela Kay Bosco.

And, she had this message for Drew Peterson: "Be honest with yourself -- come forward -- give information to police if you have anything... just be honest."

Meanwhile, the Will County state's attorney's office plans to exhume Kathleen Savio, who drowned in a bathtub three years ago. DuPage County coroner Peter Siekmann says he thinks a coroner's jury was mistaken when they declared her death accidental, and Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said that case was also likely a homicide. Read More Here

Search crews continue to look for Stacy Peterson, and are asking for more volunteers.

"Today the search will continue, and tomorrow if we don't find anything today," said search team member Lisa Loper. "But we're also in great need of food and drinks for the volunteers."

Two teams of volunteers gathered Friday morning at Westbrook Christian Church, at 1175 Lily Cache Rd. in Bolingbrook, and will meet again Saturday beginning at 8 a.m. In addition to donations of food and drinks, they are looking for paper products – such as cups, plates and utensils, for the volunteers. Donations may be brought to Westbrook church.

Tim Miller and his group Texas Equusearch have been looking for Stacy on foot and by air.

"That's heavy stuff right now, going from a missing person case to a suspected homicide case," Miller said.

Miller says he spoke to Drew Peterson Thursday night. Miller says he told Peterson that he's disappointed Peterson didn't take part in any of the search efforts for his own wife.

"He says she's not missing, she went off with another man and I said, 'Drew that's more reason to look for her,' I said, 'because we don't know what man she went off with what kind of hand she fell into and maybe someone did something to your wife and we need to find her,'" Miller said.

And Miller says with police now saying this case is now a potential homicide, that's even more reason to intensify all search efforts.

As part of the search on Friday, volunteers used a powerful sonar boat in the historic Illinois and Michigan Canal, and a number of lakes yet to be determined.

Sonar boat owner Dennis Watters explained how he intends to help in the search.

"God forbid that she's in a lake or whatever," Watters said. "If she's in there, we will see her body. If we run across a car we see a car, we see boats."

Gary Peterson is a member of Equusearch. He said they will bring in a drone Friday afternoon that will be flying in the marshy area near Lemont.

"Each morning I pick three of four target areas, target priority areas that we want to search and we assign people and they go out and they search these pieces of property," Peterson said.

Drew Peterson has maintained that Stacy left him voluntarily and called him to say she had done so. But Stacy's family insists she would not have abandoned the couple's children. 

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