Stepbrother: Drew tries to discredit me
BOLINGBROOK — If he is supposed to be such an unreliable, delusional, mentally ill alcoholic, Thomas Morphey wants to know, then why has Drew Peterson gone to such lengths to discredit him?
"From the very beginning, they have done nothing but paint me in a certain light," said Morphey, the stepbrother of the celebrated murder suspect. "If there was nothing to hide, why would they go to the extremes that they have?"
(Joe Hosey/Staff Writer)
• Exclusive: Drew's stepbrother finally tells his story
• Photos: Peterson investigation
• Special section: The Peterson case
It might have something to do with Morphey recently accusing Peterson of asking him to kill for him the day before Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, was last seen alive.
And on the next day — Oct. 28, 2007 — Morphey said he helped Peterson carry a blue barrel out of the Peterson home and down to a waiting sport utility vehicle. Morphey believes Stacy Peterson's body was in the barrel.
Morphey said the experience left him despondent and fearful for the welfare of his longtime girlfriend and her three children. He attempted suicide two days after Stacy vanished, he said, in hopes they might escape Peterson's malice.
Morphey survived the drug overdose. The next day, he said, State's Attorney James Glasgow offered him immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. The Herald News has obtained a copy of the immunity offer, which demands the full story of what he was up to with Peterson the weekend of Oct. 27, 2007, along with his disclosure of any knowledge he has of the "kidnapping or murder of Stacy Peterson."
Peterson's pattern
Since then, Morphey said, Peterson and his attorney Joel Brodsky have done their best to smear and discredit him.
In fact, Brodsky held a press conference Tuesday in Chicago in which he questioned why Morphey has not gone before the grand jury and his viability as a witness.
"If they found him credible, (Morphey) would have been one of the first witnesses they would have brought in and they would have based the entire investigation and the entire case on his testimony," Brodsky said at the news conference called to rebut Morphey's first public allegations against his stepbrother that were first reported in The Herald News.
Morphey said he sees a pattern in this, with Peterson ripping anyone who dares speak ill of him — including ex-wives, a former fiancee, a minister and two friends, Len Wawczak and Paula Stark, who worked with the state police to record his conversations.
"It's been anyone who has anything negative to say from the get-go," Morphey said.
Morphey also accused Peterson and his friend, Steve Carcerano, of paying one of Morphey's former girlfriends $500 for photographs depicting Morphey in a less than favorable light.
Brodsky, without success, attempted to distribute the photographs, one of which allegedly showed Morphey smoking marijuana. The woman, Holly Steele, confirmed in September that she sold the photographs to Peterson and Carcerano.
Carcerano said he remembers accompanying Peterson to purchase photographs of Morphey but did not know the name of the woman they obtained them from. He also disputed the $500 price tag for the pictures but did not give a figure for them.
Morphey described the picture ploy as "the stunt that they tried to pull in the beginning, buying 10-year-old pictures and trying to make them seem recent."
More witnesses?
Despite the backlash from Peterson and Brodsky, Morphey said he has no regrets about breaking his 17-month silence to go public about the role he believes he played in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.
"I feel like a weight's been lifted," he said.
And Morphey hinted there may be more potential Peterson witnesses going public.
"I don't think it will be too long before Len (Wawczak) and Paula (Stark) have had enough where they say what they need to say," he said.
