Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson & Drew Peterson: The Lost, The Search

Today Stacy Peterson's family, friends, and supporters will launch another search for the missing Bolingbrook mom. Information is available at Find Stacy Peterson.

Reading blogs and forums, it's easy to see that this particular case has not only touched many hearts, but raised a great deal of anger. As Drew Peterson continues to clown around for the cameras and his attorney launches a smear campaign against Stacy, it's important to note two things: 1) Peterson has not yet been charged with any crime and 2) it's ironic that the disappearance of Stacy has proved to be the catalyst that is pulling back the covers of Peterson's true self and his checkered past.

But for the families involved, this story is about endless fear, frustration, and loss. Domestic abuse is like that: it's a cancer that spreads and affects anyone it touches. Perhaps Stacy's disappearance and Kathleen Savio's death--now determined to be a homicide by at least one expert--are shining a light into the decaying mess of the Peterson cellar of infamy.

Between investigations of potential felony-level misconduct in the discharge of his duties as a police officer, his firing for revealing an undercover officer's identity to a known killer, and the glare of publicity, Peterson finds himself in an unlikely position. Instead of the controller, he's now having to tread in a world that he can't control, try as he and attorney Joel Brodsky might.

Among the more blatant and disgusting media tricks: Peterson making sure he's photographed removing mail from his mailbox, late at night (when the camera lights will show up him even clearer) right after the anonymous Peoria letter. That's the letter that Brodsky rushed to the media to hint about, the one claiming the writer had seen Stacy in Peoria. But the writer didn't inform the police, or even go for the reward. No, they dropped a line to Peterson, who read the letter at his leisure, and from there: media blitz.

As is usual in missing persons cases, there will be reported sightings. That's human nature. However, this one is so obviously stage-managed and crafted, right to Drew's appearance onstage taking a long time to remove mail from his box (ample time for pictures) that it fairly shouts: looky here! Drew and team are "messing" with everyone!

Meanwhile, there's four kids involved, two of them Stacy's by birth, two by adoption from Peterson's prior marriage to Kathleen Savio. How are the kids doing? Well, Peterson weighed in on that during one of his media appearances:

"sure their mom's missing and they're upset but there are more important things to worry about."

There are more important things to worry about? Like what? Carrying apparently endless streams of drycleaning in and out of the house? Peterson posing for People Magazine?

Yea, it's about people--but not publicity. It's about Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson, their families and friends, the kids, second wife Viki Connolly who says she's still afraid of Peterson, and the rest of Peterson's victims, including other police officers.

As Bolingbrook Police Chief Ray McGury, who's received death threats, struggles to clear his department of Peterson issues that occurred before he took over two years ago, it's clear that the list of those harmed is huge. If Peterson is charged with misconduct, what does that say about the quality of protection given to citizens who encountered Peterson The Cop?

Make no mistake: there are many, many honest, dedicated, caring police officers. In fact, that group is the majority of officers I've encountered. But one Peterson--and the questions about how he got reinstated decades ago, as well as other deaths he "discovered"--can splash mud and grime across badges around the country.

Please don't make the mistake of thinking that Peterson is a typical cop, or that whatever functions in Bolingbrook to have so much covered up for so long is an honest cop's choice. And above all, remember that the cover of People Magazine will soon be used for puppy housebreaking and bird cages, but the real people in Stacy's, Savio's, and Connolly's families, among others, are suffering, still.

Join others in lighting a candle for Stacy at Gratefulness.org And, I've also created a group so that you may also light a candle for Kathleen Savio . Note: at first, you may have to use the "search" function: type in either Stacy or Savio.

It's time for the light of truth to reveal what lies beneath the cover of the jovial clown mugging for the cameras.



And spread the word: