Dollars for Drew

BOLINGBROOK — Drew Peterson called himself a media sensation after appearing on television. Now he’s shown he is too big for the Internet.

A Web site to collect contributions to Peterson’s defense fund was shut down by its hosting company within hours of its launch after massive traffic sucked up the majority of the host’s resources. The site, defenddrew.com, recorded nearly 300,000 hits in its first day, said a representative of the company, HostMonster.com.

Peterson, the recently retired police sergeant named as a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, said the site will be back up soon.

“The media made me an immediate sensation, whether I liked it or not,” Peterson said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “And I’m in the middle of it.”

Funds raised by the site, which accepted donations through PayPal before it was taken down, will not only go toward Drew Peterson’s legal fees and costs, but to hire private investigators to search for the wife who vanished Oct. 28.

“I know the state coppers aren’t (looking),” said Peterson’s attorney, Joel Brodsky. “They’ve already made up their minds.

“My idea is to keep an open mind,” Brodsky said. “Go where the leads take you.”

Any money left over will be placed in a trust for Peterson’s children, Brodsky said.

The first incarnation of the site had links to Brodsky’s law firm and a state police missing persons page. Brodsky deleted the link to his law firm after it was swamped with numerous obscene messages, he said, and cut the link to the missing persons page when the state police got bent out of shape.

“I got an irate call from the state police so I took them off too,” Brodsky said.

Pamela Bosco, the legal guardian of Stacy’s sister and the spokeswoman for the missing mom’s family, said she was at first shocked by the site but then took comfort in the notion that Peterson feels he needs money.

“When you look at it, he’s trying to support his defense because we’re hot on his trail,” Bosco said. “I think he is rattled.<p>
“Nothing Drew does shocks me for very long,” she said.


Defense saps funds

Peterson will be running up his legal tab today when Brodsky goes to court in an attempt to regain two automobiles, 11 firearms, various electronic equipment and other items seized by police during the execution of a Nov. 1 search warrant.

Prosecutors agreed to return two iPods and 23 compact discs, but say they are holding on to the guns, the cars and a backpack thought to hold some of Stacy’s property.

Besides losing the two cars for almost two months, Brodsky fears his client might lose everything to mount a legal defense.

“Sgt. Peterson should not be forced into poverty, and his children should not have to lose the only home they have known, just so Sgt. Peterson can defend himself,” Brodsky said. “Everyone in America has the right to a defense.”

Peterson earns just less than $6,000 a month, starting this month, from his police pension.


Dollar amount uncertain

Besides probing Stacy’s disappearance, state police also are examining the mysterious March 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Savio was found dead in a waterless bathtub. A special agent with the state police testified there were no signs Savio was a victim of foul play. A coroner’s jury then ruled her death an accidental drowning, but the case was reopened after Stacy Peterson went missing.

State police have not named Peterson a suspect in the death of wife No. 3.

Neither Brodsky nor Peterson knew how much, if any, money had been donated through the Web site before it was suspended and then disabled by HostMonster.com. Peterson was not even sure how his Web page looked.

“The state police took my computer,” he said, “so I can’t even see it.”


Contact Joe Hosey at (815) 729-6054 or jhosey@scn1.com