Ex-, current neighbors testify about Peterson wives

Drew Peterson's next-door neighbors, past and present, appeared before a grand jury Thursday to give testimony about the embattled ex-cop's missing fourth wife and his dead third one.

Thomas Pontarelli, who lived next to Peterson and third wife Kathleen Savio on Pheasant Chase Drive, was the first to testify. He was followed by Sharon Bychowski, who lives next to Peterson at his current home on Pheasant Chase Court, mere blocks from his former residence.

Bychowski said witnesses were present for both the cases of Savio, who was the victim of a mysterious March 2004 bathtub drowning, and Stacy Peterson, Drew Peterson's fourth wife who has been missing for more than two months.

She said witnesses also testified in the case of Plainfield woman Lisa Stebic, who disappeared April 30. Lisa Stebic was never married to Drew Peterson and may not have even known him.

Bychowski, who was close to Stacy Peterson and has been a key figure in keeping the missing mother's case in the national spotlight, said she spent about an hour in the grand jury room and is scheduled to return Jan. 24. Since she is not finished with her appearance, she declined to discuss her testimony.

Another witness called in the Stacy Peterson case, Bruce Zidarich, said he was sent home before taking the stand because the session was running too long. Zidarich, a friend of Stacy and her sister, Cassandra Cales, said he was not told when prosecutors would want him back.

Zidarich said the volunteer efforts to find Stacy have stalled somewhat.

There is "nothing really going on with the searching, unless the police want to give us someplace to look," said Zidarich, who was wearing an orange shirt emblazoned with the missing mom's face and the proclamation, "Find Stacy Peterson."

"They don't tell us anything," Zidarich said of the police. "They're working hard. That's all I hear."

State police have classified Stacy Peterson's disapperance a "potential homicide" and named her husband a suspect in the case.

The young woman's disappearance prompted state police to revisit their investigation of Savio's death.

A coroner's jury had determined Savio accidentally drowned after hearing testimony from state police Special Agent Herbert Hardy, who said the investigation discovered no indications of foul play.

Three and a half years later, State's Attorney James Glasgow contradicted Hardy's testimony in a petition to have Savio's body exhumed for additional postmortem testing. In the petition, Glasgow said the woman's death scene looked unlike a genuine accident, and instead appeared "consistent with the 'staging' of an accident to conceal a homicide."

Pontarelli's wife reportedly was one of the first to find Savio's body, which was doubled over in a waterless bathtub.

Zidarich said while he was waiting for his turn in front of the grand jury, which was held in Coroner Patrick O'Neil's office, he looked through a ledger listing the deceased and their cause and manner of death. He found Savio's name in the book.

"She was in there. It said, 'Accidental drowning,'" Zidarich said. "I was like, 'Accidental drowning my (expletive).'"

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