Barrel use by peterson is alleged

POLICE LOOKING FOR MAN WHO MAY HAVE LOADED RECEPTACLE INTO VEHICLE WITH EX-OFFICER

BOLINGBROOK -- A neighbor told police he spotted Drew Peterson and a mystery man loading a large blue barrel into the disgraced cop's GMC Denali hours after his young wife was last seen alive, sources said.

The identity of the man accompanying Peterson was not known, a pair of police sources said.

"That's who we're looking for," one of the sources said, describing the barrel as blue and large.

"It's between 35 and 55 gallons," he said. "Big enough to put someone in."

Stacy Peterson, 23, the 5-foot-2-inch, 100-pound wife of 53-year-old Drew, vanished Oct. 28. She allegedly was on her way to help the boyfriend of her sister, Cassandra Cales, paint a house in Yorkville but never arrived.

Since Stacy Peterson was reported missing to State police by her family, troopers executed a pair of search warrants at the couple's Pheasant Chase Court home, seizing property and two automobiles, including the Denali.

A police source said tests conducted on the Denali at the State Police laboratory have not been completed. But another source said police located pieces of blue plastic on the back end of the Denali.

In recent weeks, Drew Peterson, his brother, Paul Peterson, and his son, Oak Brook Police Officer Steve Peterson, all have been called to testify before a grand jury. A police source would not say if either Drew Peterson's brother or son has an alibi for the night following the last sighting of Stacy Peterson.

"We don't know yet," the source said. "Everyone is suspect."

While everyone might be a suspect, State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich made a point of identifying Drew Peterson as one by name. Dobrich also classified the investigation of Stacy Peterson's disappearance as a "potential homicide."

For his part, Drew Peterson has repeatedly insisted Stacy ran off with another man.

A man from Stacy's past whom she had recently reached out to, 35-year-old Scott Rossetto of Shorewood, admitted that he and the missing woman traded sexually charged text messages for the three weeks leading up to her disappearance. Rossetto denies having carried on an affair with Stacy Peterson, but did say he met her at a Bolingbrook Denny's restaurant nine days before she vanished. An uninvited Drew Peterson interrupted the rendezvous, Rossetto said.

A police source says they have "good information" Stacy was dumped in the Shorewood area near the home of Rossetto. Another source said investigators believe the killer may have attempted to frame Rossetto by depositing the body near his house.

Master Sgt. Luis Gutierrez of the State Police would not comment on the investigation and Shorewood searches.

Drew Peterson, a 29-year veteran of the police department, resigned earlier this month after he was called to appear for an internal affairs interview. Police Chief Ray McGury, who said the retired sergeant "brought shame on the department," has contacted the state's attorney's office to pursue felony official misconduct charges against Peterson, said Lt. Ken Teppel, the department's spokesman.

In addition to the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, who is Drew Peterson's fourth wife, State Police are probing the mysterious March 2004 death of wife number three, Kathleen Savio.

A coroner's jury ruled Savio's death an accidental drowning, but the disappearance of Stacy prompted authorities to reopen the case.

Savio's body was exhumed from its grave Nov. 13 for a pair of autopsies -- one state sanctioned and the other conducted privately and at the request of her family.

While the results of the official autopsy have yet to be released, the forensic pathologist who conducted the private postmortem concluded Savio was the victim of a homicide.

Contact Joe Hosey at (815) 729-6054 or e-mail him at jhosey@scn1.com Reporter Janet Lundquist contributed to this report.