December 5, 2007

3rd search warrant served on Drew Peterson

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By Matthew Walberg and Erika Slife |Tribune staff reporters

December 5, 2007

State police served a third search warrant on Drew Peterson Tuesday night, focusing on items in the former Bolingbrook police sergeant's vehicles.

"There was a search warrant served tonight [that] expands the scope of the initial search warrant, specifically in regard to the vehicles," said Charles Pelkie, spokesman for Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow. "We're looking at additional materials inside the vehicles -- items and materials that were not specified in the first search warrant."

Pelkie would not say what those materials were.

Peterson, 53, has been named a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Stacy Peterson, 23, who has been missing since Oct.28. Authorities also are reinvestigating the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

The vehicles were taken after a search warrant was executed Nov. 1. Drew Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said the latest search warrant may jeopardize the state's case if his client should be charged in connection with Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

"They're serving a new search warrant ... to correct errors in the original search warrant," Brodsky said. "The original warrants only authorized a search of the vehicles, not a seizure. That means that potentially any evidence -- and I'm not saying there is any -- that they've acquired from the vehicles prior to today could be tossed out of court for illegal seizure."

Drew Peterson has not been charged with any crime.

The case has drawn intense media attention, with reporters and TV crews camped outside the Petersons' home from dawn to late night. Tensions boiled over Saturday at a vigil organized by Stacy Peterson's friends and family in the small cul-de-sac.

About 6:45 p.m., Bolingbrook police responded to a call of an unconscious man at the vigil. When they arrived, they found a neighbor lying on the pavement. The man, who smelled of alcohol, was revived within minutes and told police he was "upset by the fact that his street had been taken over by media personnel, a large tent and subjects assisting with the missing persons case," according to a police report obtained Tuesday.

The man told the officers that the son of a neighbor of the Petersons head-butted him in the face, knocking him to the ground during an argument about a car that may have backed onto the man's lawn, the report stated. Neither man is being named because no charges were filed.

The neighbor's son and a number of other witnesses told officers the man had been using vulgar language and when the son tried to calm him down, the man repeatedly butted the son with his chest and stomach until the man lost his balance.

Witnesses, including a Bolingbrook public works snowplow driver, told police the man offered to give the snowplow driver money to run over a tent set up in the street for the prayer vigil, the report states.

Drew Peterson, meanwhile, has been passing out leaflets to neighbors with the home phone number of Mayor Roger Claar, suggesting that if they are fed up with the media presence to call him and complain.

"I'm not aware of what you're talking about," Claar said when asked about the leaflets. "I've seen no fliers, and I've not gotten any calls. I got a few calls a couple of days ago, but I don't think it was related to any flier."

Claar said he understands why neighbors might be weary of the media attention, and said if residents are upset, "my number is in the phone book, and it's not too much to ask for a peaceful neighborhood."

On Tuesday night, friends and family of Stacy Peterson -- along with representatives of a domestic-violence awareness group, Take Back the Night -- met with Village Clerk Carol Penning to discuss a possible benefit concert to raise funds for volunteer searches.

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mwalberg@tribune.com

eslife@tribune.com