Identified! IL - Will Co., Male body in Des Plaines River, May'09 - Gary Schmidt

[Steely Dan]

I think Drew was backed into a corner. I think that even though Drew had made some plans on doing away with Stacy, those plans weren't finalized. Then, on a Sunday morning Drew and Stacy had a heated argument, and in a rage, he killed her. Drew hadn't planned on killing Stacy on a weekend when all this kids were there and the neighbors were also at home.

At this point, Drew had to move a body from an upstairs bedroom out of the house without the kids seeing it, and without neighbors catching him loading a dead body into his car. Drew knew that it wouldn't be too long before Stacy's family would be calling or coming to the house. He had to take some risks or get caught.

(If this is Stacy) He must have dismembered her in the woods because IIRC there were no traces of blood found in the house.

 

[parker38]

That is the part that has always nagged at me. This drew attention straight toward Drew, not away from him. I find him an arrogant diabolical jerk but I don't think he is stupid. He of all people knew that LE would start questioning everyone close around him and imo, he knew his step brother would spill the beans.

Drew Peterson is perfectly capable of moving a barrel with a small 100 pound woman in it by himself. Or moving her without one. He didn't need help even if he had planned on murdering her later. Just because she didn't die exactly when he had it planned doesn't make Stacy weigh anymore. Heck we have seen cases where women have moved bodies by themselves that weighed more than Stacy did.

DP is so devious that sometimes I wonder if he set up this ruse so that LE would go out and do major searches for the infamous blue barrel and he knew Stacy wasn't in that barrel at all. Look how it worked if that is what he did. There has been countless searches for the blue barrel. And according to the news report I have read the blue barrel found close to the remains is not the same type of barrel that TM said he helped Drew move.

I just don't put anything past DP. He is the Riddler and the Joker all thrown in together and imo, if this was just a ruse, then he is gloating that no one but him knows where he put Stacy and what container he put her in, if she is in one at all.

imo

Excellent points here!! And I think the key word here IS ruse!
I can just see this unfolding in his evil mind!

 

[robthomaseyes]

I don't think Drew dismembered Stacy at all. For one thing, he couldn't do it in the house (blood spatters EVERYWHERE, even into places you wouldn't imagine. The most microscopic flecks of blood, unseen to the human eye, will show up with luminol or other similar chemicals, and it could take days or even weeks to get every speck cleaned up. Dismembering her elsewhere wouldn't make any sense; it is not easy, it takes time, he would be spattered in her blood and would risk people noticing that, and there's no point to it. Removing her head and hands doesn't make IDing her any harder. Remember, he's a cop. He knows that bones are identifiable through DNA. Why dismember a body to hide the head when forensic scientists will simply test whatever available bones they have? As for the blue container, I do believe he removed her from the house in the container. He wouldn't have been able to get her past the kids and neighbors and into the car without some sort of container. The most likely scenario is that stuffed her into it, found that the weight of the container and the body was too hard for him to bring down the stairs (if it was really four feet long, it wasn't so much a matter of weight anyway, but a matter of difficulty in carrying it. A four four long container would be BULKY and unmanageable by one person. That's why I think he enlisted help. I think he got her into the truck, drove to wherever he dumped her, and if it was water, he used the missing scuba weights to try to weigh it down.

I think the simplest explanation is going to be the one that fits here.

 

[Peculiar Petunia]

That is the part that has always nagged at me. This drew attention straight toward Drew, not away from him. I find him an arrogant diabolical jerk but I don't think he is stupid. He of all people knew that LE would start questioning everyone close around him and imo, he knew his step brother would spill the beans.

Drew Peterson is perfectly capable of moving a barrel with a small 100 pound woman in it by himself. Or moving her without one. He didn't need help even if he had planned on murdering her later. Just because she didn't die exactly when he had it planned doesn't make Stacy weigh anymore. Heck we have seen cases where women have moved bodies by themselves that weighed more than Stacy did.

DP is so devious that sometimes I wonder if he set up this ruse so that LE would go out and do major searches for the infamous blue barrel and he knew Stacy wasn't in that barrel at all. Look how it worked if that is what he did. There has been countless searches for the blue barrel. And according to the news report I have read the blue barrel found close to the remains is not the same type of barrel that TM said he helped Drew move.

I just don't put anything past DP. He is the Riddler and the Joker all thrown in together and imo, if this was just a ruse, then he is gloating that no one but him knows where he put Stacy and what container he put her in, if she is in one at all.

imo

Good points. And even if he took her out of the house in the blue barrel, it doesn't mean she stayed in it. Chicago is both an industrial and a food manufacturing center. Blue barrels are used for pool chemicals and for food ingredients. Just today I saw one that was being used as a trash container: I drive past blue barrels + cement used as mailbox mounts frequently.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

OK, Two things to everybody:
1. Lifting 100 pounds is not the same as lifting a 100 pound barrel. Everyone who thinks this is easy needs to fill a barrel with 100 pounds, and not just 100 pounds of weights in the bottom of the barrel. He had to lift it, carry it down stairs, and lift it up into the back of the truck. Also, if he dropped it, the body would possibly fall out in front of his kids who were home (as I recall). The barrel would need to be carried upright to prevent spilling of chemicals or bodily fluids.
2. He needed to move it fast. Doing it by himself, even if he could, would have taken some time. If the older boy had seen him trying to move it by himself, he may have tried to help. That's not something the boy would be able to overlook or forget about.

Plus D.P. thought he could control T.M. with fear. Look, T.M. even tried to kill himself because he was afraid of what D.P. might do to him or his girl friend....and he ended up going into hiding out of fear.

In D.P.'s eyes, there was more risk to try to move it by himself, even if he thought he could (which again, a not easy task). D.P. is not that big of a guy, either, as many think.

I do not want to seem argumentative but I know guys even smaller than DP that move these type of barrels that weigh at least a hundred pounds or more by themselves up onto the back of their pick up truck when they go to a recycling plant.

These type of barrels TM described have sealed tops that come with them so nothing would spill out. That is the purpose of many of the containers as they may hold pool chemicals or other chemicals and the top is to prevent any spillage when moved.

I DO think TM does think he moved Stacy's body. I am just not convinced he did.

imo

 

[Peculiar Petunia]

I don't think Drew dismembered Stacy at all. For one thing, he couldn't do it in the house (blood spatters EVERYWHERE, even into places you wouldn't imagine. The most microscopic flecks of blood, unseen to the human eye, will show up with luminol or other similar chemicals, and it could take days or even weeks to get every speck cleaned up. Dismembering her elsewhere wouldn't make any sense; it is not easy, it takes time, he would be spattered in her blood and would risk people noticing that, and there's no point to it. Removing her head and hands doesn't make IDing her any harder. Remember, he's a cop. He knows that bones are identifiable through DNA. Why dismember a body to hide the head when forensic scientists will simply test whatever available bones they have? As for the blue container, I do believe he removed her from the house in the container. He wouldn't have been able to get her past the kids and neighbors and into the car without some sort of container. The most likely scenario is that stuffed her into it, found that the weight of the container and the body was too hard for him to bring down the stairs (if it was really four feet long, it wasn't so much a matter of weight anyway, but a matter of difficulty in carrying it. A four four long container would be BULKY and unmanageable by one person. That's why I think he enlisted help. I think he got her into the truck, drove to wherever he dumped her, and if it was water, he used the missing scuba weights to try to weigh it down.

I think the simplest explanation is going to be the one that fits here.

I'd like to add that the bones would have to show tool marks. So far, there's been no mention of marks on the ends of the thigh bones, but I will agree with those who are saying that there is evidence being held back regarding the bones.

DP is money obsessed. Use tools, and they would have to be thrown out. Men get attached to their tools. That's why I also think barrel, not expensive cable co. box.

 

[robthomaseyes]

LOL, yes, Drew is a cheap busterd. But if 3 containers cost about $100, that means one is between $30-$35. I think Drew would consider that a small price to pay to save him thousands upon thousands in alimony, etc.!

 

[cleo612]

I do not want to seem argumentative but I know guys even smaller than DP that move these type of barrels that weigh at least a hundred pounds or more by themselves up onto the back of their pick up truck when they go to a recycling plant.

These type of barrels TM described have sealed tops that come with them so nothing would spill out. That is the purpose of many of the containers as they may hold pool chemicals or other chemicals and the top is to prevent any spillage when moved.

I DO think TM does think he moved Stacy's body. I am just not convinced he did.

imo

Hi Ocean,

I agree with the bolded part of this post, as well as the sentence following.

Remember, the cadaver dogs supposedly hit on the trunk of Stacy's car. They did not hit on the Denali.

So if the dogs DID hit on the trunk of Stacy's car, that means that her body had to have been in it at some point.

I think that right after he killed Stacy, he wrapped her body into a blanket or other bedding. He told the children to either stay in their rooms, or to go down to the basement, or wherever. Since he apparently has SO much CONTROL over his family, I am sure that when he speaks, those children listen, and they did not come out from wherever he told them to stay.

I think he then backed her car up to the garage, pulling it in as closely as he could, and carried Stacy's body down to the trunk of her car. With the Denali also parked up close to the garage, he could have done this easily without any of his neighbors seeing what he was doing.

He then drove the car over to the airport, which is right behind their house, then walked/sprinted back to the house.

I think the blue barrel/container/tote is a red herring.

 

[kikid]

Hi Ocean,

I agree with the bolded part of this post, as well as the sentence following.

Remember, the cadaver dogs supposedly hit on the trunk of Stacy's car. They did not hit on the Denali.

So if the dogs DID hit on the trunk of Stacy's car, that means that her body had to have been in it at some point.

I think that right after he killed Stacy, he wrapped her body into a blanket or other bedding. He told the children to either stay in their rooms, or to go down to the basement, or wherever. Since he apparently has SO much CONTROL over his family, I am sure that when he speaks, those children listen, and they did not come out from wherever he told them to stay.

I think he then backed her car up to the garage, pulling it in as closely as he could, and carried Stacy's body down to the trunk of her car. With the Denali also parked up close to the garage, he could have done this easily without any of his neighbors seeing what he was doing.

He then drove the car over to the airport, which is right behind their house, then walked/sprinted back to the house.

I think the blue barrel/container/tote is a red herring.

I don't recall the cadaver dogs hitting in the bedroom either, do you? If not then yes he wrapped her up and got her the heck out of there asap! because if he'd left her body in the bedroom all day, even in a container - i think the dogs would have hit.

 

[momtective]

Just a thought that has always nagged at me.
Not to demean TM, but I found it strange that he
had all this knowledge leading up to the fact, BUT
didn't put two and two together until it was to late.
He THOUGHT Drew had something to do with KS's death,
Drew had asked him if he would kill for him, and on and on and yet
he helps him with this barrel, bucket or whatever and waits
until it is too late to do anything about it! Just boggles my mind.
Maybe it's just my way of thinking, lol, but if someone asked me to
help them move something, with everything else that had occurred that
night, I would WANT to know what I was helping with!!

By the time he told his neighbor WHAT he thought, it was too late!!
Maybe I'm missing something!

I didn't hear TM say the word "barrel" at all. The interviewer (or the voice telling the story) says it.

OK, Two things to everybody:
1. Lifting 100 pounds is not the same as lifting a 100 pound barrel. Everyone who thinks this is easy needs to fill a barrel with 100 pounds, and not just 100 pounds of weights in the bottom of the barrel. He had to lift it, carry it down stairs, and lift it up into the back of the truck. Also, if he dropped it, the body would possibly fall out in front of his kids who were home (as I recall). The barrel would need to be carried upright to prevent spilling of chemicals or bodily fluids.
2. He needed to move it fast. Doing it by himself, even if he could, would have taken some time. If the older boy had seen him trying to move it by himself, he may have tried to help. That's not something the boy would be able to overlook or forget about.

Plus D.P. thought he could control T.M. with fear. Look, T.M. even tried to kill himself because he was afraid of what D.P. might do to him or his girl friend....and he ended up going into hiding out of fear.

In D.P.'s eyes, there was more risk to try to move it by himself, even if he thought he could (which again, a not easy task). D.P. is not that big of a guy, either, as many think.

Late November 2007. a source tells the Sun-Times that on the day Stacy Peterson disappeared, Drew Peterson's stepbrother Tom Morphey helped him move a blue barrel out of Drew and Stacy Peterson’s home and into Drew Peterson’s SUV. Morphey describes the barrel to police as feeling warm and weighing about 120 pounds, sources say. Walter Martineck Jr., a neighbor of Morphey's, appears on the “Today” show saying a distraught Morphey told him Oct. 29 he believed he moved Stacy Peterson's body in the barrel. He says Drew Peterson gave him money for helping with the move. After helping Peterson move the barrel, Morphey overdosed on pills, according to sources.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/peterson/1563959,drew-peterson-timeline-050709.article

I remember hearing something about Drew telling someone the barrel contained Chlorine for the pool and there being a receipt from where he bought the chlorine. No way he used that much chlorine in Oct. JMHO

 

[scandi]

I don't recall the cadaver dogs hitting in the bedroom either, do you? If not then yes he wrapped her up and got her the heck out of there asap! because if he'd left her body in the bedroom all day, even in a container - i think the dogs would have hit.

Hi, One factor might be it takes about 2 hours for the Death Scent to become established to the point where a human scent recovery dog can sniff it.

If her body was taken out of the MBr before 2 hours, the cadaver dog wouldn't give a good solid alert. IMO

 

[thesleuther]

I do not want to seem argumentative but I know guys even smaller than DP that move these type of barrels that weigh at least a hundred pounds or more by themselves up onto the back of their pick up truck when they go to a recycling plant.

These type of barrels TM described have sealed tops that come with them so nothing would spill out. That is the purpose of many of the containers as they may hold pool chemicals or other chemicals and the top is to prevent any spillage when moved.

I DO think TM does think he moved Stacy's body. I am just not convinced he did.

imo

If no one had been at home, Drew may have been able to handle it in some way by himself. But, carrying 100-pound barrel or rectangular box out of a room, down the steps, out to the car, and then into the car is difficult. Then there's the possibility of shifting weight. This was a panic situation.

For what it's worth, don't forget that Stacy reportedly had an appointment with a divorce lawyer on Monday. You never know what she said to him, it may have been related to her knowledge of Kathleen's murder. Drew couldn't let her out of the marriage and he couldn't handle the body by himself.

Kathleen weighed more than Stacy and Drew most likely moved her body to the tub. The difference is that he was alone and had all the time in the world compared to the time he had on the day of Stacy's murder.

 

[thesleuther]

Hi, One factor might be it takes about 2 hours for the Death Scent to become established to the point where a human scent recovery dog can sniff it.

If her body was taken out of the MBr before 2 hours, the cadaver dog wouldn't give a good solid alert. IMO

Drew most likely knew that. It was a panic situation.

 

[kikid]

Hi, One factor might be it takes about 2 hours for the Death Scent to become established to the point where a human scent recovery dog can sniff it.

If her body was taken out of the MBr before 2 hours, the cadaver dog wouldn't give a good solid alert. IMO

right, as I thought then... he didn't have ALL day to leave her body upstairs while running around picking up TM - making cell phone calls with SP's phone - and grabbing coffee at starbucks. I'll have to go search for a specific time TM said he helped move the barrel. He'd have to know the dogs would hit if he kept the body there very long.

 

[Leila]

I don't recall the cadaver dogs hitting in the bedroom either, do you? If not then yes he wrapped her up and got her the heck out of there asap! because if he'd left her body in the bedroom all day, even in a container - i think the dogs would have hit.

Sometime between 11:30am and noon, the next-door neighbor, Sharon, called and asked for Stacy. Drew said that she had gone to visit her grandfather in the assisted care home. Sharon said she had been out shopping and bought the children some Halloween treats and wanted to give them to the children. Drew said he'd bring the children over after lunch. When he brought the children over to Sharon's he asked her if she could babysit while he ran an errand. He was only gone about 15 or 20 minutes. I wonder if this would have been time enough to get the body out of the master bedroom and into the trunk of the car?

After Drew picked the children up from Sharon's house he spent a good part of the afternoon going to the airport where he keeps his ultralight to put the FAA stickers on it. He took the two youngest children, but I don't know if the two older boys went with him or not.

This was strange............you don't murder your wife and leave her body in the house and then suddenly decide you have to go to the airport and put the stickers on your airplane when the new stickers weren't due until December. That trip to the airport ties in somehow.

 

[robthomaseyes]

Okay, even if he put Stacy's body into the trunk of her car and drove her to the airport, he'd need a container at some point. You can't take a dead body out of a trunk at an airport without someone noticing!

 

[TallCoolOne]

I could believe drEWWWWW would need someone's assistance in doing physical labor. He doesn't stike me as physically fit, nor does he appear to work out, other than his jaws, those are probably the strongest muscles he has, his jaw muscles. So I don't think it unreasonable that he would require someone to help him.

 

[Paintr]

http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2009/05/25/14324748/index.xml

The families of two area men who have been missing for more than two years do not hold out much hope about skeletal remains recently found along the Des Plaines River in Will County.

“I’ve had so many calls about bodies being found,” said Stephanie McNeil, sister of St. Charles man John Spira, who has been missing since February 2007. “I’m not going to think it is John until somebody calls me and they tell me it is John.”

 

[kiki the parrot]

Body pulled from Des Plaines River yields few clues
Discovery rekindled interest in the cases of missing Will County women Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic
May 26, 2009

No one knows yet how the body found along the Des Plaines River last week ended up there.

But if it was submerged, there's little doubt its journey through the debris-filled river was rough. It may have crashed into boat traffic that moves year-round, got stuck on logs and roots, and been impacted by fish, wildlife and the changing currents and temperatures. By the time it arrived onshore, not far from Big Basin Marina near Channahon, only portions of the midsection and partial leg bones were left...

Even if the body is identified, further investigation will likely be needed to tell how long it was in the water, or when the person died, said noted forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who is familiar with the cases of missing Will County women Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic.

Baden, who is not involved with last week's discovery, said the cause of death may never be known.

"This is the kind of body that could be in the water for one year, or five years, because there was a lot of destruction from the body," he said. "The first thing is, who is it. Once you know who it is, you can get a better determination of how the body got there..."

Bodies decompose faster in warmer waters, said Baden, who performed an autopsy on Kathleen Savio on behalf her family. Drew Peterson is charged with Savio's 2004 death and is a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance. He has denied wrongdoing in both cases.

While DNA may answer some questions about the body, it likely won't reveal exactly what happened.

"It's on our minds constantly," said Pam Bosco, a spokeswoman for Stacy Peterson's family. "Whoever this person is, it's going to be good for somebody to get some closure."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-body-found-26-may26,0,3725267.story

arrot:

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Hi, One factor might be it takes about 2 hours for the Death Scent to become established to the point where a human scent recovery dog can sniff it.

If her body was taken out of the MBr before 2 hours, the cadaver dog wouldn't give a good solid alert. IMO

It sounds like he immediately wrapped her up in a tarp or something. Sort of like I think Scott Peterson did too. They never found any forensic evidence in the house that showed them Laci had died inside her home, right?

What time of day did TM help DP remove the blue barrel? Was it late at night or in the broad daylight?

imo