Ex-Cop Drew Peterson Launches Web Site for Defense Fund After Wife Disappears

From FoxNews.com:

CHICAGO — Drew Peterson, a suspect in his 23-year-old wife's disappearance, wants the public to help fund his legal defense.

The former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant launched a Web site Tuesday seeking donations to help pay his legal fees, as well as pay for a private investigator to search for his wife, Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since Oct. 28.

"For the cost of a few cups of your morning coffee, you can help to ensure that Drew can afford to support his ongoing legal defense, find his missing wife and divert any remaining funds into a trust for his children," the Web site says.

But Stacy Peterson's family believes the site is just a ploy to get money, not to help find the mother of two.

"What will this man do next?" Pamela Bosco, a spokeswoman for Stacy Peterson's family, told FOXNews.com. "It's all part of his plan. He's a very manipulative man; he has been all the way."

The site, DefendDrew.com, offers several options for donation amounts, ranging from $5 to $250.

Click here to visit Drew Peterson's Web site.

Officials have named Drew Peterson a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance, but he has not been arrested or charged. Bosco said she believes it's just a matter of time before he's in handcuffs.

"Drew obviously had something to do with Stacy's disappearance," Bosco said. "What he did with her, we have no idea."

Stacy Peterson was reported missing after she failed to show up at a friend's house. Her 53-year-old husband says she left him for another man, but Stacy Peterson's family says she would never leave her children behind.

Any money collected for Drew Peterson's defense fund will go first to legal fees and hiring a private investigator to find Stacy Peterson, said Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson's attorney. Any remaining funds will go to a trust fund for the Petersons' children.

“If you believe that a person should be able to defend themselves properly, then Drew needs a hand,” Brodsky said. “If we don’t get a hand, then there’s going to be a fairly weak defense.”

He said Drew Peterson needs help to fund his defense against the hundreds of investigators working the case against him.

“Do you believe that somebody should be steamrolled because this case has become a media sensation, or do you believe that everybody should have a fair shot, that there should be an equal playing field?” Brodsky asked.

The Web site says that Drew and his four children, two of whom are from a previous marriage, need help.

"Drew and his children should not have to lose everything accumulated in thirty years of public service," it says on the site. "Drew and his children risk losing their life savings, house, automobiles and may end up impoverished, all by simply defending himself against allegations."

Meanwhile, a team of FBI special agents, Illinois State Police and other law enforcement authorities are searching canals for any signs of Stacy Peterson.

Bosco said she did not know what specific clues led officials to search the area. There is a lot of debris in the water, and search teams are awaiting sonar equipment for a more extensive search.

There is a $25,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

PASTOR: COP TOLD FOURTH WIFE HE KILLED THIRD WIFE

From CNN.com:
BOLINGBROOK, Illinois (AP) -- A former police officer's missing wife once confided in a pastor that her husband admitted killing his third wife, the pastor said.

Former Westbrook Christian Church pastor Neil Schori told Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren in an interview broadcast Monday that Stacy Peterson told him in August that her husband, Drew Peterson, admitted killing his previous wife, Kathleen Savio.

Schori said he asked Stacy Peterson, Drew Peterson's fourth wife, to clarify what she had said and she responded, "'He killed Kathleen."' Schori said the conversation occurred when he and Stacy Peterson met at a coffee shop.

Savio's body was found in her bathtub in 2004 and her death initially was ruled an accidental drowning. After Stacy Peterson disappeared in October, prosecutors opened another investigation into the Savio case, and said it appears her death was a homicide staged to look like an accident. Drew Peterson has not been named a suspect in her death.

Stacy Peterson offered enough detail to be credible, said Schori, who declined to discuss the details in the interview.

"But it was very clear that this was not just speculation," he said. "She was not jumping to conclusions."

Joel Brodsky, Peterson's attorney, did not immediately return an after-hours phone message seeking comment from The Associated Press. But he said on the Fox program that "I'd love to get to cross-examine (Schori) because there are a lot of problems with his story."

Schori said he thought Stacy Peterson never shared the information about Savio with police. Asked why Stacy Peterson chose to stay with her husband after learning about his former wife's death, Schori said, "My guess would be out of fear."

Although he has not been arrested or charged, Drew Peterson, 53, has been named a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance by Illinois State Police, who have labeled the case a possible homicide.

Stacy Peterson was last seen October 28 and was reported missing by her family the next day. Drew Peterson, a member of the Bolingbrook Police Department until he quit after his wife went missing, has denied any involvement in her disappearance. He has said he believes his wife left him for another man and is alive.

Last month, the Westbrook Christian Church's pastor of spiritual formation told The Associated Press that Stacy Peterson requested an August meeting with a member of their pastoral staff when the church made a routine call to see why she and Drew Peterson had not attended services in recent months.

The church official made a "judgment call" not to alert authorities and did not consult with other church staff, Rob Daniels said.

At the time he spoke to the AP, Daniels would not identify the clergy member who met with Stacy Peterson or say where the meeting took place. E-mail to a friend

DREW PETERSON'S FACE PLASTERED ON A PINATA

From the Chicago Tribune:Apparently, it's not easy being Drew.

Drew Peterson said Thursday he would rather be remembered for something positive than something that would result in his picture being plastered on a pinata.

That creation was on display Saturday at a prayer vigil held for Peterson's wife, Stacy, 23, who vanished Oct. 28. Illinois State Police soon named Peterson, 53, a suspect in the case, which has been labeled a possible homicide.

Since then, Peterson, an ex-Bolingbrook police sergeant, has become infamous.

"I'd rather be a celebrity for something good," Peterson said. "They snuck me in and out for the 'Today' show. I remember sitting in the New York airport, and all of a sudden there was my face on TV."

In a telephone interview Thursday, Peterson talked about why he wouldn't join searches or vigils for his missing wife, and about the friends and former police colleagues who now shun him. He has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

"It's like they had this vigil for Stacy, and the next thing you know there's a pinata with my face on it," he said. "All these policemen who were my friends, and I would have jumped in front of a bullet for, don't even talk to me."

Peterson has not participated in any searches since his wife disappeared and has contended she ran off with another man.

On Thursday, his former friend, Ric Mims, acknowledged selling his story to the National Enquirer.

Earlier in the day, Mims appeared before a special grand jury investigating the Stacy Peterson case.

Peterson chalked up Mims' deal with the Enquirer as just another moment of "et tu Brute?"

"I've befriended him, he was just some street kid ... and all of a sudden he was here -- my best friend," he said. "I went ahead and let him watch the house when I couldn't be here, and then he's changing sides."

Peterson claimed Mims has been looking for a way to profit since Stacy disappeared.

"The first couple days after this happened, he kept saying, 'How can we make money on this?'" he said.

Mims scoffed at the allegation. He said it was his cell phone bill and big heart that motivated him to talk to the Enquirer. Mims said he would pay his $480 phone bill, most of which came from talking to reporters, then donate the proceeds to the Benefit for Stacy Peterson charity, which will fund the ongoing search.

"I have not profited from this. This whole thing has cost me money," he said.

He wouldn't say how much the Enquirer paid him. Mims also declined to discuss the grand jury investigation.

Should that investigation lead to charges, Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said any alleged evidence from Peterson's vehicles may be tossed out by a judge on the grounds it was illegally seized. Peterson's vehicles were towed Nov. 1, when the first search warrant was executed. But, according to copies of the warrants, the first one authorized only the search -- not the seizure -- of the vehicles.

Brodsky said investigators tried to rectify their mistake in a warrant served Tuesday by including language that authorized seizure of the vehicles, which remain in police custody.

Richard Kling, a clinical professor of law at Chicago Kent with nearly four decades of criminal defense experience, said while there are reams of case law stating items need not be searched where they are found, Brodsky's argument could have merit.

"The 4th Amendment and the cases that interpret it say that in order for a search and seizure to be valid, the premise to be searched and the things to be seized have to be specified with particularity, other than those things which are in plain view, such as contraband," Kling said. "He may have a point that the first search warrant is problematic because it didn't describe that the cars were able to be seized."

After reviewing copies of the search warrants, Kling said it appears investigators pieced together a detailed theory about how Stacy Peterson's body could have been disposed of.

"It's pretty clear that either somebody from the police has come up with this wonderful hypothesis about how the car was used, the body disposed of, or they have witnesses who are giving them what they believe is credible information [and are] looking for specific items," Kling said.

Some categories were broadened in each subsequent search warrant, and others were more narrowly defined. One example is a section in the second warrant authorizing seizure of "chemicals or chemical containers having the quality to dissolve biological evidence, caustic in nature, or having the qualities of a preservative." In the latest warrant, the language was changed to "objects with chemical traces relating to pool chemicals or any chemical which might be utilized to either retard, mask or accelerate the deterioration or decomposition of a human body."

"You have to assume that the judge is not issuing warrants on somebody's fantasy conjecture," Kling said. "You have to assume that the judge knows the law, and that if he's issuing warrants, they're based on specific information."

When Peterson was asked Thursday about going from cop doing the investigating to being investigated, he said: "I gotta go now. It's very ugly being on the other side."