Rickroll Me Baby, Lemme Meme You All Night (& Other Bouts of Internet Video Humor)

And on the 32nd Day, the Lord said: let there be craziness on the Internet. And so it came to pass. And lo, verily, we duckrolled into rickrolling, which took off like a giant, crazed bat this April Fool's Day.

But before the rickroll, there were the ancient days of meme. Back in the 90's, when Dancing Hamsters and Dancing Jesus were the headliners. Yes, the original dancers, long before The Simpson's derivative art.

It took a long time to find even a small version of the original Dancing Jesus to share with you in this quick-look history of whacky web memes.. So far, we haven't been able to get the music playing, but the spirit is there. Nor have I been able to find the original Dancing Jesus and the Dancing Apostles. It appears they have entered through the door of 404.

But not the Dancing Hamsters. They party on, in various forms. In fact, you can get your groove on and exercise with Hampton and the Hampsters.

The amazing thing about these original memes: they were all just moving .gifs, with music. Oh, those of us who were early webmasters (and webmistresses), we thought that the first time we could insert moving gifs that verily, we had come into manna.

And then came rickrolling. 80's singer Rick Astley has found himself to be a new internet phenomena, albeit in a strange way.



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Rickrolling t even made it unto the New York Mets, where, lo, it was mightily booed.




New York, New York: if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Even if the Mets fans did roll over rickroll, the meme barrels on. Millions of Astley videos are still being downloaded, even though April Fool's Day has passed.

But before rickrolling, there was the Macarena. On the internet, macaroni performed the Macarena, now apparently replaced by the Papaya Dance.



Another new epoch in internet fads has dawned as peach and orange-clad Filipino prisoners perform choreographed dances. Although "Thriller" was the original meme hit, you can also see routines set to Sister Act's "I Will Follow Him" to Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major"(with guitar) .

The Drew Dumpster: 0 for 2; One Judge Nixes Guns Returns; Another Ayes Kathleen Savio Estate Changes

The odor from the Drew Dumpster just got a brief blast of air freshener as former Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson didn't get his guns back from one judge, but did get a big money change from another--and finally, he faces liability for lawsuits from the family of third wife Kathleen Savio.

Peterson, you may recall, seems to have what he calls "bad luck" with women. Savio, who Peterson dumped after he impregnated a teenager he met on the job, wound up dead, and Peterson wound up with a seven-figure profit. Fourth wife Stacy Peterson, who confessed to a minister that Peterson killed Savio, has been missing for months.

Savio was repeatedly ignored by local authorities even though she had filed multiple abuse reports against Peterson. Despite a plea for help to a prosecutor, and her prediction that Peterson would kill her and get away with it, no one helped Savio, even though Peterson reportedly broke into her home and terrorized her.

A bruised Savior wound up "drowned" in a dry bathtub. Her death scene was one of several that Peterson, swinging his nightstick as a cop, took over when people who had displeased him wound up dead.

In November, 2007, as part of a series on this bizarre case, we told you how easy it is to kill someone and fake drowning. Out of respect to Dr. Baden's work, we held off on publishing that article, and the entire series, including this list of questions that should have been asked about Savio's death, but weren't asked despite her mysterious death.

Not, of course, that Peterson has been charged with anything, even though Stacy Peterson has been missing since November, 2007. Her family has led a sustained effort to find her. Eerily, Stacy, echoing Savio, had warned her family Peterson told her he could kill her and get away with it, because, as a cop, he knew how. His second wife, Vicki Connolly, said the same thing--and that she's still afraid of him.

Thanks to Fox News and expert Dr. Michael Baden, Savio was exhumed and two new autopsies, one by Baden, proved that her death was not an accidental drowning. Earlier this year, Savio's death was ruled a "wrongful homicide." This week, a judge appointed legal guardians for Savio's children, a move that's been long overdue, and changed the executors of the estate to Savio family members.





Really, it's hard to keep up with all the twists and turns in this dirty tangle. A former fiancee told of Peterson stalking and threatening her, using his badge to do so. Peterson was once fired as a cop for, among other things, outing an undercover cop to a known killer.

He was under investigation again for alleged improper conduct when he hastily resigned. Now represented by hoping-for-a-TV-movie mouthpiece Joel Brodsky, Peterson has been playing peep show teaser with the media. He's a regular on media circuits, talking about his "Mr. Mom" duties and oh yea, the women who are hot, hot, hot for this baggy-eyed, paunchy, Lothario of loathing.








However, he won't answer relevant questions about the fate of his wives. Most recently, he and Brodsky, in yet another Charlie McCarthy performance, finally went back to the Greta Van Susteren show--with of course, "no talk" rules.

Peterson bluntly said he'd take the Fifth Amendment if he's called to court in any civil action from Savio's family. Coyly, he giggled and said that he would do and say whatever Brodsky told him to say. Then Peterson, good buddy of media stars, reminded Greta that she's overdue for a tea party with Stacy's daughter.

At least he's still got one weapon: his mouth. But that's all he has, other than his Charlie McCarthy sidekick Brodsky. Peterson has again been blocked from getting his guns back.

Earlier this year, Brodsky asked the court to return Peterson's guns, and place them in the custody of Peterson's Oak Brook cop son. Judge Richard Schoenstedt agreed, if Peterson had a valid Illinois Firearm Owners Identification Card. Authorities immediately revoked Peterson's firearms card.

This time around,Brodsky asked that the weapons be returned to Peterson's adult son Stephen Peterson, an Oak Brook police officer. This dance-around idea, another entry in the growing pile of Brodsky-Peterson weirdness, made no sense. If Peterson needed *a* (not nine) guns for self-defense, then how would they be useful at Stephen his son's house? If he wanted them back because of their monetary value and he wanted them to be safe, why did he and Brodsky believe that police custody was an unsafe place for them to be?

This time, Schoenstedt ruled that the guns were evidence in an ongoing investigation of "possible criminal conduct," The Peanut crew wonders if the discovery of an illegal, hidden weapon at Drew Peterson's home may have swayed the judge about Peterson's reliability.

Not that the public is buying what Peterson is selling. A MediaCurves study of audience responses to Peterson's first interview with Today Show's Matt Lauer on TV showed that the audience believed only one thing Peterson said.

When Lauer asked Peterson if he could present anything that would clear him in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, or or the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, Peterson said "no." For the record, Peterson has continously said that Stacy ran off with another man--leaving her two children behind with no communication.

The search for Stacy Peterson goes on. Ditto the search for truth and justice for Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson, their children, and families.

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.

Tornado Video: Death Toll Rises From Savage Storms

For more storm photos and videos, click here.

For an eyewitness survival account, click here.

The Daily Drive-Through: Hot Tasty News About Al-Qaeda, Terrorism, Bush,New Hampshire Primary, Winter Storm, Alaska Plane Crash

The gloves are off in New Hampshire, as the primary countdown clock ticks. Other Republican candidates ganged up on Mitt Romney as the digs got down and dirty. Romney fired back as tempers became testy.

Ron Paul had his chance to jump into the mix. The Republican Party withdrew their sponsorship of the Fox News debates after Fox decided to eliminate Paul/

Across the U.S., a massive winter storm ripped into several states. In Alaska, a small plane crashed into icy waters at Kodiak, killing six people. Four survived.

New Hampshire vs. Fox News: Republicans Pull Co-Sponsorship of Debate

COPS: How a Writer's Strike Helped Launch 20 Years of "Bad Boys"

As the current writer's strike drags on, time to take a look back to the birth of the reality TV show Cops. Creator/producer John Langley spent seven long, hard years trying to sell his concept, with no luck.

Then came the 1988 writer's strike, the rise of Fox News,a dearth of scripts, and the unscripted Cops was on the streets and into your home. With multiple Emmy nominations, Cops is the longest-running reality TV show in history.

Take a quick look at Cops history and highlights. Don't miss the guy with the pot cigarette tucked behind his ear telling cops that he doesn't smoke weed. Priceless!

Drew Peterson: My Attorney Made Me Do It

Poor Drew Peterson. The guy who a few days ago said "I'm a media sensation" now whines about how he's suffering with the media attention.

That, of course, is after he did the People Magazine gig.

But, when asked why he was talking to the media almost non-stop, Peterson once again sloughed off responsibility. He claimed his attorney "made" him.

Astute reporters asked why he had done so many interviews before attorney Joel Brodsky, who himself has serious credibility issues, "made" him do interviews. No real answer there.

It's obvious that there's now a whirlwind of repackaging Drew Peterson. In this interview, he says that he's a jokester, and that he hides his pain with jokes and laughing.

When directly asked "what is your hurt and pain?" Peterson doesn't hesitate a millisecond with his answer.

"My hurt and pain is all the media in front of my house," he snapped.

Luckily, a reporter reminded him of missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, and asked him if he felt any pain about that. Oh yea, Peterson, quick to catch up, said. Sure thing.

Peterson also had a good laugh when he said: "I'd really like to mess with you guys (ed: the media) but I'm being held back."

Peterson and Brodsky are messing with the media. Brodsky, who briefly lost his law license in a scandal involving a client's funds, couldn't wait to run to the media with the anonymous letter claiming the sighting of Stacy in Peoria.

The game is afoot, as Sherlock would say. And Brodsky's game is to market Drew as a really nice guy whose suffering from the media--not the missing wife--is immense. The second offensive ploy is to tar Stacy's reputation. The second tactic is standard sleazy fare when a woman is the victim.

As for Peterson's claims that his attorney "made" him do all those interviews: give us a break. Peterson, despite that one firing, brags he's been a cop for more than 30 years. He's a father.

He knows the word "no."

But Peterson, showing his scorn for the women in his life, the public, the police, and the media, isn't going to give up the media spotlight. After all, he likes "messing with" people.

Still to come: the result of investigations into Peterson's actions as a Bolingbrook police sergeant. Although Peterson raced to grab retirement, officials have said that serious charges of misconduct on the job could divest him of his $72,000 a year pension.

The photo of Peterson is by John Smierciak of the Chicago Tribune. Smierciak has done some excellent work in covering this case.

Forensics Casebook II: Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson, Dr. Baden, & the Chicago Cop

The questions are falling faster than stacked dominoes now that noted expert pathologist Dr. Michael Baden says that Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, died as a result of a homicide. Baden, who donated his post-exhumation services to the Savio family, described his autopsy findings in a thorough interview with Fox's Greta Van Susteren.

Let's look at some key questions that didn't get answered--or in some cases, even asked--during the original investigation. To do that, we first re-visit the crime scene.

The physical background: Savio was found to be free of drugs or alcohol. She had no prior history of seizures or fainting spells. Yet she wound up drowned in a dry, blood-splotched bathtub with bruises all over her body, and a bloodied head from blunt force trauma.

Original reports said that her fingers were wrinkled from being in water. Here are some things worth questioning:

1. How long does it take for someone's fingers to get wrinkled in a bathtub?
2. Is there a difference in that time for someone who's alive and someone who's deceased?
3. The most important question of all about those fingers: why were the fingers on both hands reportedly wrinkled? Think about it--when someone takes a bath, or shower, they rarely have both hands equally submerged all the time. The dominant hand is used for bathing, washing hair, etc. Why were all the fingers on both of Savio's hands wrinkled?
4. The bathtub was dry of water when Savio's body was found. But her hair was wet. The blood, in some areas, was reportedly wet. There was blood splotched around the tub. If the tub had drained on its own, why were there splotches?
5. How long would it take that tub to drain on its own,if that happened?
6. How long do fingers stay wrinkled, ante and postmortem? There's a time correlation there that never got looked at.
7. Why was Drew Peterson allowed to clean blood out of that tub?

How did this death get classified as an accidental drowning? Even more compelling, how did Kathleen Savio's plight as an abused and terrified woman get ignored by the Bolingbrook Police Department and other authorities? And how did a cop who knew Peterson, and spoke up for him, almost as a "character reference," wind up on the coroner's jury?

Now-retired former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson threatened more than one wife, according to reports, taunting them that he could kill them and get away with it. Disturbing patterns continue to emerge about Peterson's treatment of his four wives, one of whom died mysteriously, and the fourth, Stacy Peterson, who is missing.

In an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, Dave Brown, husband of Peterson's first wife Carol, says that Peterson cheated on Carol during their brief marriage. This pattern repeated in his marriages to Vicki Connolly, and Savio.

Connolly, the second wife, said that Peterson hit her as well as spying on her, controlling her, and emotionally abusing her. The missing Stacy Peterson and her family said that Peterson was also controlled and her activities tracked by Peterson. Stacy told her family the same thing that Savio did: if something happens to me, it won't be an accident.

Savio filed 18 abuse reports on Peterson. In an ominous foreshadowing, one of Savio's ER visits was for a blow to the head, according to documents obtained by America's Most Wanted.

Dr. Baden detailed bruises on her hands, chest, abdomen, and thighs. In his interview with Van Susteren, Baden described the hand injuries as "defensive" wounds.

""There were indications then of multiple blunt force traumas, of being beaten up," Baden said. "One of the things we were able to look at today, those bruises were still there. And we could see from the naked eye they were fresh."

Even in death, Kathleen Savio is serving as witness to her own tragedy. Her family, having gone through the anguish of her death and a botched investigation and ruling, made sure that this time, they had their own expert, Dr. Baden, to perform a post-exhumation autopsy.

In one of the most poignant documents related to this case, Kathleen Savio pleaded for help. In a letter to Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth Fragales on Nov. 14, 2002 Savio said that police didn't file reports when she'd called for help.

Another foreshadowing: she detailed how Peterson secretly programmed a way to open her garage door and get into her house. She told how Peterson ambushed her, threw around his authority as a police officer, and held a knife to her throat.

This incident is significant because when Savio's body was found, Peterson made sure he told Steve Carcerano that he couldn't get into the house. Carcerano, who found the body, has been called to testify before the grand jury. One question: why did a trained, and reportedly aggressive, cop, send an unarmed civilian into a home where the cop thought something might be wrong?

I've covered crime before. I've covered multiple murders. Savio's suffering as a terrified and abused woman who saw her doom closing in on her is one of the most gut-wrenching storiers I've ever researched.

In the first article in this series, Forensics Casebook I: Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson, the Chicago Cop & Fox's Greta Van Susteren, I said that both the Savio and Stacy Peterson cases revolved around water. Officials have repeatedly searched for Stacy in bodies of water near the Peterson home. In Drew's Clues: Wife #2 Said Peterson Bragged He Could Safely Kill Her, Vicki Connolly speaks out and Dr. Phil weighs in.

In the next article, I'll reveal how easy it is to kill someone and make it look like a drowning.

Drew's Clues: Wife #2 Says Peterson Bragged He Could Safely Kill Her

Drew Peterson, who even has Dr. Phil worried, is quite a guy. Peterson hit his second wife, cheated on her (eventually with the woman who became his third, the one who drowned in a dry bathtub), was so controlling that he bugged their house and -- oh yes, told her he could kill her and make it look like an accident.

Funny thing, he said that to wife #3, Kathleen Savio, who wound up dead. He threatened wife #4, Stacy Peterson, with the same thing. Everyone's looking for Stacy, except Peterson, who coldly described her to Matt Lauer as "spoiled".

Where was Drew? Follow the clues; follow the money. Peterson was busy protecting his pension--about $72,000 a year-- while pleading for a free defense attorney, and, in his media work, casting slurs on his third and fourth wives. Peterson proclaimed that he married both of them because they were "beautiful" and "fun," but then later found out that both had serious "emotional problems." (Nothing to do with him, of course, if you believe him.)

According to a solid interview by Chicago Tribune writer Erika Slife, Peterson also bragged about how he could deceive people. In her interview, Slife covers a lot of ground with Vicki Connolly, who says she's still afraid of Peterson.

"... in the first interview granted by one of his ex-wives since Stacy's disappearance, Connolly, 48, said Thursday that during their marriage an increasingly controlling Peterson told her he could kill her and make it look like an accident."

Connolly peels back the covering on Peterson's second marriage. If you think you see patterns, you're right. When he moved on from Connolly, he was already involved with Savio. When he was ready to replace Savio, he was already involved with Stacy, the then 17-year-old teenager who he got pregnant.

Forensics Casebook I: Kathleen Savio, Stacy Peterson, the Chicago Cop & Fox's Greta Van Susteren

It's time to take an analytical look at all the components of the case involving former police Sgt. Drew Peterson, whose third wife mysteriously turned up drowned in a dry bathtub, whose fourth wife is missing, and whose second wife is still afraid of him.

This case has been a poster child for the merging of media and investigation. As a long-time journalist and a former security expert, I've been taking a look at the various elements of the coverage of this compelling story.

Unequivocally, the best, fairest, and most consistent coverage has been provided by Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. Her transparent coverage, including her podcasts and her blog, have been a model of how to incisively and competently conduct journalistic business while maintaining a human approach.

Obviously, there's a lot going on in this case. So we're going to look at it in terms of a broad-based forensics, from physical to psychological to sociological. The commentary will necessarily be graphic in some parts, when the autopsy of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio (who left Peterson a millionaire-plus) is discussed.

We'll also take a look at Peterson's actions, his comments about Stacy Peterson, the missing fourth wife, his body language, and his statements during Matt Lauer's good interview with Peterson on the Today show.

I'll be using the LSI Scan technique, pioneered by international expert Avinoam Sapir. The website describes the technique like this:
"....the most effective technique available for obtaining information and detecting deception from statements of witnesses or suspects."

I was privileged to be included in the LSI Scan basic class, and am now enrolled in the advanced class. Sapir has, indeed, developed a technique for analyzing statements that is crisp, scientific, and wholly reliable.

During the interview with Lauer, Peterson made what I believe to be the most significant statement he has yet made. That single statement sums up the fates of both wives.

Caveat: Neither LSI Scan nor Sapir are involved in my commentary. This is simply my use of the technique.

The Peterson cases, which have brought so many tears to so many, actually revolves around water. Kathleen Savio was determined to have drowned, and her first autopsy noted that her hair was wet (yes, there was blood there too)--and her fingers were wrinkled, according to many reports. If her fingers were wrinkled, then at some point she had been submerged in water--in a dry bathtub.

Now to fourth wife Stacy Peterson,.The first place the cops went looking: a small retention pond near the Peterson home. The second place they went looking? Water again.

How did Savio's fingers get wrinkled? And what led police to start their search for Stacy with water?

We'll have more to say about that. Consider this an exercise in "citizen forensics," as we look at the case of the Chicago Cop and the mysteries surrounding his wives. Are we looking at a modern-day Bluebeard hidden behind a blue uniform?

That's the question, I think, that America is waiting to have answered.

Facebook: Viral News, Your News!

Hang it up, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox and all you other "news" sites. The Facebook News Network has arrived.And it's hot, hot hot!

From the irritatingly peppy news music to the eagle-eyed staff, whiplashing from camera angle to camera angle, the Facebook News Network brings you the news from Facebook. Who has a new friend? Who added a new video?


And incredibly importantly, hard-hitting news on what someone who you don't yet know (but you can change that!) is doing somewhere. In this groundbreaking news venture, the FNN team takes it to the wall. Yes, they dare all with "in your face" reports from comments left on walls.

FNN's got game. It's got video, too. We predict that FNN will soon be among the top, top, top items on YouTube.

And that Stephen Colbert will be jealous. Stephen, what's on your wall?

FNN: no wars, murders, financial scandals, nasty weather, missing kids or other airwaves clutter, just real people news in the ultimate crowdsourcing. It's viral, virtual, and highly viewable.

The only questions are: how long will it take for the FNN to win its first Emmy?

And most importantly of all, when will my Facebook news make it to FNN?

In other breaking news, Mashable wants to know if you should be allowed access to social networking at work. Get in on this early. Heck, Facebook it. You might wind up a star!

Missing Woman Case: True Crimes, A Chicago Cop & The Media

The increasingly bizarre story of a cop's missing wife continues as Stacy Peterson's sister tells Greta Van Susteren that Stacy feared her husband would kill her. Meanwhile, police used cadaver dogs to search a pond near Chicago's Clow Airport and removed guns from Sgt. Drew Peterson's home.

Missing Woman Case: The True Crimes of Bad Journalism turned the spotlight on the disappearance of young Stacy Peterson, Stacy, who's now 23, is the 53-year-old Peterson's fourth wife. His third, Kathleen Savio, drowned in a mysterious bathtub accident after Peterson became involved with Stacy, who was then 17.

Fox News has stepped up to the plate, deploying Van Susteren to the scene. Her exclusive interview with Stacy's sister, Cassandra Cales, revealed a tangled web of strange actions and comments by Peterson as Stacy's family launched a search for her.

Former Los Angeles detective Mark Furhman is also on the scene with Van Susteran. Furhman, who took a career and personal beating during the O.J. Simpson murder case, has rightfully had his public credibility boosted since O.J.'s recent Las Vegas arrest in an armed robbery case. He's now an author, radio talk show host, and analyst/commentator on crime cases.

Their interview with Cales revealed several key components, including a fight between the couple just before Stacy disappeared, and a strange late night shuffling of the family cars. Peterson, was seen watching police activities wearing a mask made from an American flag bandana, dark sunglasses,and a dark cap pulled over his forehead.

Peterson, who was giving "abandoned husband and father" type media interviews, at the same time insisted that he doesn't want to be photographed, citing privacy concerns. If you think that's inconsistent, listen to what Cales related in Van Susteran's interview. Peterson earlier said that his wife left him for another man, that she has psychiatric problems, and that she had planned to disappear "deep down" like her mother. Stacy's mother disappeared eight years ago; that case has not yet been solved.

The Chicago Tribune, recovering from the sob sister account of Peterson's reaction to his missing wife, followed the money. Peterson received close to two million dollars in insurance policies and funds from the sale of joint properties after this third wife, Kathleen Savio, died in a mysterious bathtub accident.

Stavio's life insurance paid one million dollars to the couple's sons, who lived with Peterson and Stacy while Peterson, as guardian, controlled those funds. Investigators have reopened that case.

Also curious: Stacy disappeared at a time when media coverage of the disappearance of two other young Chicago-area women was at an all-time high. With Peterson saying that Stacy left him and her children, would those disappearances have provided an additional cover for any potential discovery of another body? This case has multiple possibilities and twists, but one overwhelming reality: Stacy Peterson is missing, and her family is terrified of what the police might find.

The Illinois State Police has opened a Tip Line at 1-815-726-6377.

Missing Woman Case: The True Crimes of Bad Journalism

Get out the milk cartons, folks. Here's the poster children for missing journalism in a case that's at least a scandal, and may be a deadly crime.

Wife #4 disappears. Police re-open investigation into the death of wife #3, found dead in a bathtub after filing an order of protection against her husband.

The husband, 53-year-old Drew Peterson, is a veteran Chicago police officer. Not only do we now have a cop investigation of a cop, the 23-year-old missing woman's name is Stacy Peterson, eerily close to the infamous Laci and Scott Peterson case. That definitely makes it "made for a TV movie" fodder.

And, there's also a 30-year-difference in age that seemingly only matters at the start of the romance, when she was dangerously close to being under age. Maybe. In fact, the math of the case when you add up some numbers that this Fox News story doesn't tell you.

To get those numbers, a reader has to also find the Chicago Tribune article, which fairly screams in purple prose and lounges in lavender shades of Mickey Spillane. The Trib tells us that Peterson and wife #4 (the 17-year-old, not the dead 40-year-old in the bathtub) "met six years ago."

That would be 2001, roughly. In 2004, wife #3, Kathleen Savio, dies in bathtub incident. And, according to the Trib again, the current Peterson couple has two children, one of whom is four years old. That's a birthdate of 2003. You do the math.

But we aren't done yet. The Fox story, high up, includes a statement that Peterson isn't considered a suspect. Really? Then why trumpet the possible connections between dead wife #3 and missing wife #4?

OK, we'll grant that the combination is a natural for news coverage--unless you're writing for the Trib. Or unless you then muddy the waters with a hinted-at link to two other missing wives.

Fox News suddenly veers and slogs into a swamp: "But Stacy Peterson is the third wife to vanish in the last six months in the Chicago area, the latest in a series of mothers whose families say they would never leave their children behind.

Chicago police found a body believed to be that of missing 39-year-old Alma Mendez, a mother of three, who disappeared Sunday on a jog near a forest preserve."

So now Peterson is #3 in a series of women who've disappeared, and whose connection may be: they're wives and mothers. One of them is Lisa Stebic of Plainsville, Ill who disappeared six months ago. However, the Fox story tells us, her husband, Craig, has been named as a "person of interest" by police.

Then why drag her case, and that of Mendez, into the Peterson (Stacy) case, Fox? You creak open a door to a "wives gone missing!" macabre exhibit and then immediately slam it. That's called over-reaching to tie into other news stories, at the cost of clarity for readers.

Back to the Chicago Tribune though, which is long on sentiment, and short on up-front facts. "...
Sitting at a desk in his house Wednesday afternoon, unshaven and with bags under his eyes, Drew Peterson, 53, said his wife, Stacy, 23, called him about 9 p.m. Sunday and told him she was leaving....."Sorry, I get choked up about it," Peterson said, his voice cracking....
As the couple's two children, ages 2 and 4, scampered around the house, he talked about celebrating the couple's fourth wedding anniversary Oct. 18. "

Bring out the tissues. This is sob sister journalism.

The Trib story does have some facts, including Stacy's age and the notation that the couple married two years after they started dating. But wait! That would be (counting on fingers) in 2003, if they met six years ago.

Back to Fox, who identified wife #3 (dead in bathtub) as still Peterson's wife in 2004. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is. So was #3 his ex-wife at the time of her death? Buried deep, deep in the Trib story is some more insight into the whole numbers game. Why is the Trib more concerned with the baggy-eyed, cracking-voiced husband who also is found "chuckling softly" than with a straight-up accounting of facts?

Darned if I know. But I do know this: a woman is missing under suspicious circumstances, and between two major news sources, you still can't get the whole story.

And I call that missing journalism. Are we sure there isn't a milk carton category for that?

Note: Have you seen Stacy Peterson? If so, contact the Illinois State Police immediately.

Fox News: Open for Business

Fox News debuted its newest venture, Fox Business Channel (FBC), today.

What's it all about, Alfie? If you listen to Media Matters and other liberal pundits, you'd believe that the new venture is the coming of the Anti-Christ. Fangs out, they've pre-criticized:

"..viewers can expect from the Fox Business Network team: rampant falsehoods, statements praising the Bush administration, suggestive questioning, scantily clad women, and celebrities discussing the news of the day."

This is, of course, in comparison to rampant falsehoods praising liberal leaders, suggestive and combative questioning, scantily clad women, and celebrities now available on other primetime channels. Even before the venture launched, some pots readily clattered about calling a new kettle black--even before it was unwrapped and hung over the stove.

What is the new venture like? I checked out their new website. It's red, gold, and glitzy. And right now, a bit glitchy.

My registration didn't process. One story had open coding in it. The detachable markets tracker didn't detach.

The top of the front page offers three marquee-style headlines. If you choose "more news," the marquee flips to another story. Click "more news" again, and you're back to the first story. Apparently, the three marquee headers are intended to only flip back and forth between two stories in each panel, somewhat like hypertext ping pong paddles.

Other content includes polls, business tools (calculators, etc.), "partner content," and advertising. In short, pretty much like the rest of the pack.

Given that their content so far is pretty much standard, it's obvious that Media Matters and the liberals are really upset about only one thing: Fox Business may deviate from the pack and not offer a liberal bias. And that, of course, would be awful, whereas a liberal stew is godly and good.

Pass me a platter of objectivity, please.