Peterson/Stebic grand jury is done

JOLIET — After a parade of witnesses over the past year and a half, the special grand jury convened to investigate the fates of two missing mothers and another woman's death ended with action in only one of the cases.

As first reported in The Herald News, the grand jury wrapped up Tuesday with the testimony of Thomas Morphey, a key witness in the state's probe of what befell Stacy Peterson, the much younger wife of former Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson.

Stacy Peterson vanished in October 2007. State police consider her the victim of a "potential homicide" and list Drew Peterson as their sole suspect.

The grand jury did not charge Drew Peterson with harming Stacy, his fourth wife, but did indict him on two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the March 2004 apparent bathtub drowning of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Peterson was arrested on the charges May 7, the same day the grand jury returned the indictment. Peterson remains in the county jail where he is being held in lieu of $20 million bond.

Peterson is scheduled to appear in court Thursday. His attorneys and prosecutors will battle over whether Judge Richard Schoenstedt, whom State's Attorney James Glasgow has accused of prejudice, can be taken off the case. Peterson's attorneys also may argue for Peterson's bond to be reduced.

Besides hearing testimony on Stacy's disappearance and Savio's death, the grand jury also investigated the apparently unrelated case of missing Plainfield woman Lisa Stebic, who vanished in April 2007.

Investigation not over

Charles B. Pelkie, the spokesman for the state's attorney's office, issued a statement confirming the special grand jury was finished but stressed that this does not spell the end of the two unresolved cases.

"It is critical to note that the investigations into the disappearance of both Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic are not concluded," according to the statement.

"Both investigations are being pursued vigorously. Now that the term of the special grand jury has expired, these investigations will be advanced by the regular grand jury that meets weekly in Will County."

Many witnesses

Over the 18 months, the members of the grand jury heard testimony from neighbors and relatives of Lisa Stebic and her husband, Craig Stebic, and former NBC reporter Amy Jacobson, who left her job after donning a bikini and taking a dip in the Stebic swimming pool with Craig while her children were present.

The grand jury also heard testimony from the two other ex-wives of Peterson; a former girlfriend who worked in a tanning salon he frequented; his current fiancee; an ex-fiancee; numerous former and current in-laws; his stepbrother Morphey; acquaintances who surreptitiously taped his conversations at the behest of the state police; identical twin male nurses; his mother and stepfather; a minister from a church he attended; and a convicted cop-killer with ties to organized crime.

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