This undated photo provided by her family shows Stacy Peterson, 23, of Bolingbrook, and her husband, Drew Peterson, 53, a former police officer with the Bolingbrook Police Department.
A forensic anthropologist hired by police to help search for her remains in a wooded area near Peoria gave up his search shortly before 6 p.m., state police said this evening.
Police said there were no immediate plans to resume searching.
"We are pursuing some other avenues in reference to this lead and we will be back in this area," State Police Master Sgt. Tom Burek said. But he offered no timetable for a return.
A police source said nothing was found during the day-long search. Asked if he was optimistic the lead -- which reportedly came from a prison inmate -- was valid, the source said: "I'm not convinced yet, put it that way."
Acting on a tip, police began digging for the missing remains of Stacy Peterson, the fourth wife of ex-Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson, in a muddy, remote wooded area near the Kickapoo River outside of Peoria.
“They must think it’s pretty credible ... they’re here,” State Police Master Sgt. Tom Burek said from near the digging site, which he described as a “very low remote area.”
“Obviously, because of the rain, it's very muddy right now. It's thick with timber. It's a muddy mess out there,” Burek said.
The area where authorities were digging was closed off by a wrought iron gate identifying the place as “Big Hollow Huntsman’s,” punctuated with pictures of deer and pheasants.
Peterson’s family members were not on the scene, said family spokeswoman Pam Bosco, but they were watching with hope they might finally get an answer to Stacy’s whereabouts.
State police didn't give the family details about the nature of the lead or where the tip came from, but were told "it’s a very good lead and they’e very hopeful,” Bosco said.
“They’ve been more positive on this than any of the leads they had in the past,” she added. “If it pans out, fine. If it doesn’t, we won’t be surprised. We’ve been down this road before, just like in Chanahon,” she said, referring to a body found in the Des Plaines River a year ago that was believed might be Stacy.
So where did the tip come from?
TMZ.com was reporting that it came from another inmate who said Drew Peterson told the fellow inmate where he buried his fourth wife. But both police and Peterson’s attorney scoffed at that report.
“The tip did not come from an inmate at the jail,” said Will County Sheriff’s spokesman Pat Barry. “The people I've talked with have no knowledge of anything.”
“Drew couldn’t talk to somebody if he wanted to,” said his attorney, Joel Brodsky. “I heard it’s a friend of a friend of a friend — there’s nothing there. I think TMZ should stick to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.”
Sources confirm that law enforcement, using dogs, first searched a hunting area near Peoria Friday. State Police and Will County State’s Attorney officials are back today. Stacy Peterson has been missing since Oct. 26, 2007. Peterson is considered a suspect in her disappearance. He has said he suspects she is still alive somewhere.
Peterson is about to stand trial, as soon as next month, in the 2004 drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Her death was initally ruled an accident, but authorities reopened the case after Stacy Peterson disappeared. A new autopsy ruled it was a homicide, and Peterson was arrested and charged with murder.
He has denied any involvement in Savio's death or Stacy Peterson's disappearance. “Ever since Stacy disappeared, there have been numerous rumors about finding her body and about Drew. The one thing all of them have had in common is they always proved to be false,” Peterson defense attorney Steven Greenberg said Saturday.
“There's no real facts or evidence to back them up. In fact, there's never been a single piece of hard evidence in either Stacy's disappearance or Kathleen's death, that shows Drew is guilty of anything," Greenberg maintained.
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