Stacy Peterson--family dismisses text 'lead'

January 19, 2008
By JOE HOSEY Staff Writer

BOLINGBROOK -- The family of missing mom Stacy Peterson took aim at a clue her husband's attorney claims clears his client from suspicion in her disappearance.

Pam Bosco, the legal guardian of Stacy's sister, Cassandra Cales, said state police informed her the critical break in the case -- an anonymous text message -- is actually worthless. "They said, 'Pam, it's not worthwhile,'" said Bosco, who has taken on the role of spokeswoman for Stacy's family.

Peterson said he discovered a racy text message on a cell phone that belonged to his missing wife but was later given to his son. If she has replaced her phone so Drew couldn't monitor her, she would have kept the old one to make calls occasionally to throw him off.

Peterson alerted Brodsky, who in turn passed on the information to state police. The state police secured a search warrant for the phone and the accounts used to create the message. The accounts "may contain evidence of the offenses of first degree murder or concealment of a homicidal death," according to the warrant. It may work against him. Stupid bastard.

Bosco said state police told her the investigation yielded nothing of substance. "They said they tried," she said. "They knew about it way back when. They've done a thorough investigation of her contacts.

"It's an anonymous ridiculous text message from a Web site," Bosco said. She also said police informed her the message "can't be traced" back to its sender.

But Brodsky stood by his assertion that the message is a solid lead.

"They haven't told me that (it couldn't be traced)," he said. "I don't know who she's talking to."
Besides probing Stacy's Oct. 28 disappearance, state police also are revisiting the mysterious March 2004 death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio.

A state police special agent testified after her apparent bathtub drowning that there were no signs of foul play in Savio's death. According to the attending officer, who just happened to be the ex-husband who murdered her.

Bosco suspected there was bad intent behind the discovery of the text message supposedly sent to Stacy, and she laid it at the feet of Brodsky and Peterson.

"They want to slam Stacy," she said. "She was not having an affair," Bosco added. Only the worst of the worst scum would blame the victim.

Brodsky begged to differ, and held the text message, which also references a sexual act, up as the evidence. "It proves that the girl was having an affair," he said. "That's what it proves." Even is she was having an affair between mothering four children, being monitored 24/7 by her husband and trying to attend nursing school, that doesn't prove she ran away.

Contact Joe Hosey at (815) 729-6054 or mailto:jhosey@scn1.com?Subject=Story.Response