The Drew Dumpster: Stacy Peterson Search to Resume, Drew Peterson Cleans House for Media

The tawdry tale of former Bolingbrook cop and crime suspect Drew Peterson and his missing fourth wife Stacy Peterson blooms anew with spring. As for third wife Kathleen Savio, found dead and "drowned" in a dry bathtub, no arrest has yet been made in what officials now consider to be a homicide.

Let's review, shall we? Four wives, the second says she's still terrified of Peterson. Third wife, Savio, dead, after multiple calls for help to Peterson's own police department and a poignant but ignored letter to a prosecutor. She left behind more than a million dollars in assets,which fell into Drew Peterson's custody, along with their two children.

Although it took Illinois authorities years and the pressure of the public spotlight, Fox News reporter Greta Van Susteren, and the intervention of famed forensics expert Dr. Michael Baden to decide Savio had been killed, her family knew her death was no accident. After we read the coroner's initial report and accounts of Savio's death, we here at Peanut headquarters knew it was no accident.

In fact, back in November 2007, shortly after Stacy Peterson disappeared, we told you how easily someone who knows how can make a murder look like an accidental drowning. Given Savio's pleas for protection from an abusive husband, letting her death slide as an "accident," as claimed by Peterson, is an appalling act.

Peterson has a history of abuse claims.Former fiancee Kyle Piry chimed in during the inital investigation into the disappearance of Stacy Peterson. She recounted Peterson's stalking, using his badge to ticket and bully her, along with physical abuse and threats.

When fourth wife Stacy Peterson went missing, her story echoed the fears and experiences of Piry and former wives. Before Stacy vanished, she told her pastor that Peterson killed Savio. Fox News and Dr. Baden got involved. Savio's family asked Baden to do a second autopsy.

After Savio was exhumed, Baden's autopsy showed that Savio had been beaten and killed. Her drowning had been faked. Finally, the local coroner agreed and Savio's death moved from the accidental death category into murder.

First on the scene of her death? The man she feared the most, the man who had literally broken into her home and held her captive: Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson and one of his best friends. Amazingly, several people who had angered Peterson have turned up dead, and even more amazingly, he's been the first at the scene. Not so amazingly, he controlled the death scenes.

After Stacy Peterson's disappearance hit the national media, there were reports of a mysterious blue barrel the right size for moving a body, a helper in moving that barrel who then attempted suicide, and revelations about Stacy's desire for a divorce. Above all else, however, is Peterson's love of the media spotlight.

From People magazine to joint appearances with his new best friend, lawyer Joel Brodksy (who also has spouse abuse problems in his past), Peterson's been busy. Recently, he's been working the media circuit, giving various reporters "exclusive" interviews in his home, showing him hard at work being Mom, loading the dishwasher, making lunches--well, everything except doing the Donna Reed twirl with pearls.

Peterson, who earlier had bragged about women being so attractive to him that they drive by his house and leave him notes, obviously now has been tutored in being "Mr. Mom." His sarcasm, laughter at Stacy's disappearance--who he insists just left her children and "ran off" with another mean--and open contempt for women, the authorities, Stacy's family, Stavio's family, neighbors, and, apparently, anyone not part of the Drew Fan Club, inadvertently revealed the real Drew Peterson.

Peterson told both Stacy and Kathleen that he was a cop, and he could kill them and get away with it. He knew how, he said. The Peterson case,reaching over decades and culminating in Stacy's disappearance, even had Dr. Phil weighing in.

Dr. Phil said he was "troubled" by Peterson's story and his demeanor. So are millions of other people.

Now hastily retired--to avoid yet another investigation--Peterson remains convinced that what he says goes. Brodsky, his apparent twin-separated-at-birth, has been working his own media circuit. One of the reasons he took the case, Brodsky said, is to get more publicity for his talent.

Of all Peterson's matches to date, Brodsky is the best one. For awhile, the twosome made the media rounds with identical beards, dressed alike, and acting alike. In between TV appearances, Brodsky found time to file the motions to get Peterson's cars --seized during the investigation--returned.

But so far, it's a "no go" on the request to have Peterson's guns returned to the custody of an elder son, with Peterson's right-to-carry card returned to Peterson. Question: if the guns were returned, along with Peterson's card, how long would it take for Peterson to have a gun back in his possession?

Actually, he's had one all along. He allegedly hid one from Illinois state police officers searching his home.





You know, guns. Like the one he almost "accidentally" killed Stacy with before. Seems she went downstairs to get him a soda and the 30-year-veteran cop "accidentally" discharged his firearm through the floor, in Stacy's direction.





Not that death by "accident" is strange when Peterson is around. He was originally fired from the same police department for identifying an undercover officer to a known killer. He got his job back.

Decades later, Stacy Peterson's family resumes the search for her, with some volunteers receiving training from Illinois investigators. Savio's family still waits.

And so do both justice and common sense.

The Blue Barrel: Popping the Lid on Drew Peterson, Kathleen Savio & Stacy Peterson?

The blogosphere is electric with reports that police may be ready to name who helped former Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson move a large blue plastic barrel out of his house right after fourth wife Stacy Peterson disappeared. Chips off that barrel, large enough to contain Stacy's body, were discovered in Peterson's SUV.

The Chicago Fox affiliate broke the news . The blue barrel, reportedly about a 55 gallon drum size, was moved from the Peterson bedroom to parts unknown.

More strange news from the Peterson bedroom (other than having a blue pool chemicals barrel as part of the decor): Stacy's nightstand is reported to be missing. Stacy, Peterson's fourth wife, is also missing, not that Peterson seems to be too upset about that.

Peterson is, however, really upset about media coverage of Stacy's disappearance, and everything else that keeps surfacing. Yes, this is the same guy who posed for the cover of People Magazine and who's been yapping away at media for weeks now. He's already said he's misunderstood, that Stacy ran away due to PMS, and that he's a "good guy."

But when it came to the grand jury investigating Stacy's disappearance and the death of third wife Kathleen Savio, Peterson got lockjaw. He "took the fifth," citing his Fifth Amendment rights to not make self-incriminating statements.

Among the grand jury witnesses, one from beyond the grave: third wife Kathleen Savio, whose body was exhumed for more autopsies. She's the wife who mysteriously drowned in a dry bathtub, leaving Peterson free of child support payments and richer by more than a million dollars in life insurance and co-owned property.

She'd filed 18 abuse reports, had pleaded for help, and warned anyone who would listen that Peterson had bragged that he could kill her and make it look like an accident. Among the documents in the Savio case: an emergency room report from a head injury when Peterson knocked her against a table.

Mix together: missing child bride Stacy, who was afraid and wanted a divorce, a controlling and abusive husband, a fight between the two, the disappearing nightstand and then, appearing center stage: that blue barrel carried into and out of the bedroom. Stacy, too, had warned that she thought Peterson would kill her.

Noted forensic expert Dr. Michael Baden, who performed a post-exhumation autopsy for Savio's family, said Stavio's death was a homicide. There seems to be a lot of suffering, abuse, blood, and even death around Peterson.

New reports that put Peterson at the scene of the deaths of two men who had angered him are also on the radar. In fact, Peterson found one that was allegedly a suicide. What linked them together? Women Peterson was dating or had dumped. In one case, a brother who warned his sister to avoid Peterson; the other a man who'd dated his second ex-wife, Viki Connell.

Bolingbrook Police Chief Chief Ray McGury is the man who inherited the Peterson mess--and he's furious. Peterson raced to grab his $72,000 a year retirement, knowing that he was under internal investigation for police misconduct in addition to having a missing wife and a mysteriously dead former wife. McGury had suspended Peterson in September, wanted him fired, and hopes to have him arrested on charges that would nullify his pension.

This isn't the first time around for Peterson and internal investigations, either. At one point, he was fired for betraying an undercover officer to a known killer, and for reportedly taking drugs and possibly money for inside information on police investigations. But Peterson managed to get his job back.

Peterson, who ran bars in his off-duty hours, also managed to attract women. A former fiancee, Kyle Piry, said that he stalked her after she heeded her instincts and broke things off. She also said that he mis-used his power as a cop to harass her, even arresting her once at work for unpaid parking tickets. Peterson says he can't remember Piry. Piry said that she thinks he's capable of murder.

The tentacles in this monster of a case keep sprouting. Peterson reportedly was hanging out with fired Oak Brook cop Randy Mucha around the time of Stacy's disappearance. Mucha got the ax for lying, misconduct including harassing civilians, and oh yes--costing the town $2 million in lawsuits. Mucha, borrowing a leaf from Peterson's old book, is suing to get his job back.

Speaking of the courtroom, Peterson's attorney Joel Brodsky is busy tarring Stacy's reputation (never mind her kids' feelings) and re-framing Peterson as a victim of a "witch hunt." Brodsky himself isn't too clean: he briefly lost his law license for financial irregularities in signing checks for a dead client. There's also a domestic abuse report filed on a Joel Brodsky of the same age, and his own failed lawsuit in which he tried to declare bankruptcy to avoid paying lawyers who'd worked for his children during Brodsky's divorce.

In the middle of all the decades of dramas and pain: six children, two of whom are now adults. Still in the Peterson home: the two children of Kathleen Savio, and the two children of Stacy Peterson.

With the FBI now involved, along with dozens of Illinois State Police investigators, the Peterson case is casting very long shadows. Lurking in them, a key question: how did Peterson wear a badge for so long?

Seeking answers: Greta Van Susteren, who's followed the Peterson case determinedly. She also has a confidential tip line that's getting plenty of action. Stay tuned to Greta for new developments.