Nov 4, 2007 5:08 pm US/Central
Stacy Called Marriage 'Somewhat Abusive' In E-mail
Bolingbrook, Ill. (Naperville Sun) ―
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Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson and his wife Stacy, who has been missing since Sunday, Oct. 28.
CBS
Stacy Peterson may have told friends and family she wanted a divorce from her husband, Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson.
But she wrote her own chilling message in e-mails to a friend, who shared them with The Naperville Sun.
"I have been arguing quite a bit with my husband," Stacy wrote in an e-mail to family friend Steve Cesare 10 days before she disappeared.
"As I mature with age I am finding that the relationship I am in is controlling, manipulative and somewhat abusive," she wrote in the Oct. 17 e-mail. "Tomorrow is our four-year anniversary and I'm not as excited as the years that have passed.
"If you could keep me in your prayers I could use some wisdom, protection and strength."
Cesare said he worried when he received these e-mails from Stacy, but was in disbelief at the reports that his friend went missing.
"Someone could take off, but they usually let someone know and if Aunt Candy doesn't know where she is, then nobody knows," Cesare said, referring to Stacy's aunt from California who visited the Peterson household just a week before her niece's disappearance.
Cesare has known Stacy since she was a young girl, as he dated her older sister Tina in the 1990s. The two kept in touch after Tina died last year of colon cancer.
Cesare last saw Stacy two months ago when she surprised him at work with a picture album of her sister's from when the two had dated.
"I couldn't imagine this family going through any more tragedy," he said. "They've been through plenty."
Stacy's mother disappeared a decade ago, seemingly without a trace. And before that, Stacy lost two sisters, one in a house fire and another to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, according to a family friend. A brother of Stacy's has continuing legal troubles.
Those childhood hardships may have led Stacy to marry a man 30 years her senior.
"It was the picture of a controlling older man and I was always very cautious of it because this is a guy you don't want to mess with, so I always kept my distance," Cesare said.
Drew Peterson made it easy for Cesare to keep his distance because Stacy's husband limited her phone use.
"Don't worry about calling my cell anymore, or the house phone. I have talked with Drew, so no worries," Stacy wrote in an e-mail to Cesare.
"I don't think she ever had time to get away from him," he said.
According to Cesare, this included when her sister battled cancer in a downstate hospital.
"I tried to arrange to drive Stacy to see her sister," he said. "We were going to go for the day and would be back that night but her husband wouldn't let her go with me.
"It didn't make sense because we were going to see her sister and he wouldn't let her go."
Cesare is doubtful that Stacy has run off with another man, a scenario her husband has offered in response to questions about her disappearance.
"She was thoughtful enough to bring me that photo album," he said. "It's a piece of Tina I'll have to remember.
"I hope they find her alive and well."
(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.)
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