Stepmom: 'The abuse was there'
Abuse, alcoholism and instability were key characteristics of the household in which the Cales children were raised, a family member said.
It may explain why Stacy Peterson, 23, found what she thought to be stability and security in the arms of a man 30 years her senior, Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson.
Linda Cales, 54, last saw her stepdaughter five years ago, but has remained in contact with her throughout the years. Cales married Stacy's father, Anthony Cales, in the mid-90s and remained in the family and children's lives until their divorce in 2002.
"She was blinded by the security," Linda Cales said of Stacy's marriage to an older man. "(Drew Peterson) is the same age as her father, in fact he's a year older than her dad."
But it wasn't a father figure Stacy was seeking, Linda Cales said, at least not a father like her own.
"The abuse was there," she said. "He would want to discipline the kids and spank them when he was drunk. He would say things to the girls like, 'You better be nothing like your slut mom.'"
It's been nearly 10 years since Stacy's mother, Christie Cales, has been heard from. She seemingly disappeared without a trace. But in the early years of Anthony and Linda Cales' marriage, Christie was still around.
"She always up and vanished and then all of a sudden she would show up wanting to see the kids," she said. "She wasn't exactly the model mother. I was taking care of the kids and they looked at me as if I was Mom."
When Linda and Anthony Cales decided to divorce around 2000, the children wanted to live with their stepmother, according to Linda Cales.
She says Stacy may not have had the ability to recognize danger because of her unstable past.
"A child who is misguided and handicapped emotionally may be obedient and submissive, and if someone comes with ill intentions, they may be manipulated because they may lack confidence and an internal compass," Persun said.
And at just 17 years old, Stacy began dating a married Drew Peterson, who was then 47.
"His wife (the now deceased Kathleen Savio) divorced him because she found out about the affair," Linda Cales said. "At that point Anthony should have stepped in. If I would have known about it, I would have flown to Illinois and said, 'Oh no, this is not going on.'"
Her father's alleged alcoholism, coupled with reported abuse and the lack of a home base may have contributed to Stacy having a lack of identity and therefore seeking comfort in an older man who could tell her what to do and who she was, Persun said.
"It makes you more likely to become prey to someone if they have ill intentions because you are more hungry for affection and more in need to find stability," she said.
Linda Cales says Stacy's mistake was telling Drew Peterson she wanted a divorce, something friends and family have alleged since the mother of two disappeared.
"You get the hell out and then file," she said. "If you're afraid of the man, you don't tell him you want to divorce him.
"I know Stacy," Linda Cales said. "I was her stepmom for six years; she would not have left her kids."
