Nov 29, 2007 10:25 pm US/Central
Pastor: Stacy Peterson Said She Was Afraid Of Drew
Church Official Says Missing Woman Said She Feared Bodily Harm From Husband
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ―
-
-
Stacy Peterson, 23, has been missing since Sunday, Oct. 28.
CBS
Missing Bolingbrook mother Stacy Peterson confided to a church official that she was afraid for her safety, just weeks before she disappeared.
As CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports, Westbrook Christian Church Pastor Rob Daniels says Stacy Peterson met with a member of the church's pastoral staff in late August, two months before she vanished. The two met after church officials called her home to see why she and her husband hadn't attended service in recent months.
Daniels said Stacy told that church official that she feared bodily harm at her husband, Drew Peterson's, hands. Church officials did not alert police.
Also on Thursday, Stacy Peterson's sister threw down an angry challenge to Stacy's husband over a mysterious blue barrel that has been investigated in connection with Stacy's disappearance.
As CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports, in the past 72 hours, Cassandra Cales has been getting angrier and angrier over Drew Peterson's attorney's claims that she started an idle rumor about the blue barrel. She believes attorney Joel Brodsky is blitzing the airwaves trying to turn fact into fiction.
"There never was a drum," Brodsky said. "The whole thing seems like a never-ending rumor that started with comments that Stacy's sister made and seems to have been growing ever since."
But Cales says she saw what appeared to be a 35-gallon container in Drew and Stacy's garage two days before her sister disappeared. She said Stacy told her it was filled with chlorine needed to clean the family pool. Cales says she'll swear to that in court, and she issued a direct challenge to Drew.
"He says there was no barrel. There was a barrel I saw it with my own eyes," Cales said. "I'll take a lie detector test. I feel Drew should take a lie detectors test also."
CBS 2 has also confirmed that Stacy did confide with a minister at a church that she believed Drew had killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio, who was found dead in a bathtub three and a half years ago.
Cales says she asked Stacy what she thought about Savio's death. It was one of the last subjects the two sisters talked about.
"I said 'It's kind of weird that Kathleen Savio slipped and fell in a bathtub.' I said 'What do you think?'" Cales said. "She had this pale look on her face like she was scared. And that's when she leaned over and whispered in my ear, 'I'm scared for my life. If anything happens to me or I disappear I want you to find me.'"
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov and Mike Puccinelli contributed to this report.cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages 
Slideshow: The Search For Stacy Peterson Slideshow: Extravagant Celebrity Gifts Slideshow: '90s TV Stars Then & Now Slideshow: World's Most Bizarre Deaths Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!
(CBS 2, the Naperville Sun and the Aurora Beacon-News are news partners covering stories in the western suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
