May 21, 2009 5:24 pm US/Central
Autopsy Inconclusive For Body Found In River
Is It Lisa Stebic Or Stacy Peterson? Coroner Says It Could Be Two Weeks Before Remains Are ID'd
CREST HILL, Ill. (CBS) ―
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A woman's body was found on the Des Plaines River in Channahon.
CBS
The Will County coroner says results are inconclusive from an autopsy performed on human remains found along the Des Plaines River.
Coroner Patrick O'Neil said in a news release Thursday that his office is unable to conclude the identity, race or sex of the skeletal remains. O'Neil says an expedited DNA analysis by the Illinois State Police Forensic Crime Laboratory will likely take about two weeks.
The coroner says the partial remains found in the river consisted of a rib cage, spinal column and upper leg bones; missing were the head, arms and lower legs. It wasn't known when the missing body parts became separated from the rest of the remains.
Shreds of blue jeans and a small amount of U.S. currency were found along with the remains, the coroner said.
He said it could take several months to determine when the individual died.
Members of cleanup organization, Living Land and Waters, found the remains Wednesday afternoon.
When asked if the body was male or female, Chad Pregracke of Living Lands and Waters said, "I don't know, you'll have to talk to the cops about that. I'm not saying one way or the other."
Neither was Illinois State Police Master Sergeant Tom Burek. He was in Channahon Thursday.
"I'm not in a position to discuss the operations of what they're looking for," Burek said. "And I'm not in a position to discuss anything that they've recovered, if anything."
But he did say three boats and at least a dozen people were in on that effort.
Boater Edward Maida saw it. He was on the water, too, today.
"They were just looking along the shore," Maida said. "They were just going straight along the shore because it's really shallow there."
The discovery prompted speculation the remains were related to the local long-running, high-profile missing persons cases of Stacy Peterson or Lisa Stebic.
Late Thursday morning, Chopper 2 HD was above the Des Plaines River, and spotted a state police boat with divers on board looking for more evidence. A dented blue barrel was seen in the boat.
A local bartender told CBS 2 sister station WBBM Newsradio 780 that he told the crew Wednesday about the high-profile missing persons cases, and advised them to be on the lookout.
"(I said), 'If you guys, while you're out there, just kind of keep an eye out for that kind of stuff on shore,' and they did; they were actually dropping down," the bartender said. "Basically, I just tried to look for them out there."
A witness at the scene said the body was taken from the scene about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday after police and Will County coroner's staff had investigated the body. The body weighed no more than 30 pounds and appeared to have been mainly bones, according to the witness.
A source said the body looked like that of a small female wearing underwear. But that DNA testing likely would be required for a positive ID, as well as confirmation of the gender.
The DNA tests could provide an identity and cause of death.
Lisa Stebic of Plainfield was last seen on April 30, 2007, by her husband, Craig Stebic. He said she left their home to go and work out, and when she didn't return, he called a family friend who in turn called police. Stebic was later named by police as a person of interest in her disappearance, but no one has ever been charged in the case.
Stacy Peterson of Bolingbrook was last seen on Oct. 28, 2007, and her husband, Drew Peterson, said at the time that she had run off with another man and abandoned him and their children. But speculation about Drew Peterson's story began mounting almost immediately, particularly after the Will County coroner's office exhumed the body of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, and reclassified her manner death from an accident to a homicide.
After a year and a half courting the spotlight,
Drew Peterson was arrested on May 7 on charges that he killed Savio, who was found dead in a dry bathtub in March 2004. But Stacy's body has never been found, and no one has been charged in her death.
The families of both Lisa Stebic and Stacy Peterson have been notified of the discovery, and are eagerly awaiting autopsy results.
"We're hopeful at this point that it might be Stacy," Pamela Bosco, a representative for Stacy Peterson's family, said. "We don't have enough information to really put more out than that."
"We've made no correlation to the remains that were found in the investigation at this point at all," Burek said. "We don't want to prematurely lead anybody to believe that this is, in this case, Stacy. We have no reason to believe that."
State police took a blue barrel from the river Thursday, but boaters and employees in the area say there are lots of blue barrels. That's another reason investigators say it's important not to jump to conclusions.
Drew Peterson's attorney Joel Brodsky says he met with Peterson Wednesday, and that Drew was aware of the body found in the Des Plaines River, and was reportedly "unconcerned."
CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman, the STNG Wire and Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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