Stacy Peterson, Lisa Stebic | 05/22/2009 8:25 am

Families of Missing Illinois Women, Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic, Await Autopsy Results

Human remains, shredded jeans and cash found in Illinois river; DNA testing may take 2 weeks to determine if it’s either woman.

By The staff at wowOwow.com

Two Illinois families are anxiously awaiting word whether the body of an unidentified woman found on the bank of a river is that of their missing loved one.

The body was found just 30 miles from the homes of both Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic, two mothers who went missing in 2007. The "partial skeletal remains" were found at the Des Plaines River near Channahon, IL

The stepbrother of Drew Peterson, Stacy’s husband who is a suspect in her death and is also accused of killing another one of his wives, Kathleen Savio, told police he helped Drew move a heavy blue barrel shortly before his wife’s disappearance. The founder of a waterway cleanup organization was pulling garbage out of the river Wednesday when he came across the bones. And a blue barrel. It could take two weeks to determine who the remains belong to.

Channahon is 20 miles from Bolingbrook, where the Peterson’s lives, and about 15 miles from Plainfield, where Lisa Stebic, mom of two, was last seen in April 2007. Like Stacy Peterson, Stebic’s family has always thought her husband had something to do with her disappearance but police haven’t proved it, only saying he’s a person of interest.

"We know the identity is not going to be known until they do DNA testing," Stebic family spokeswoman Melanie Greenberg told The Chicago Tribune. "We’re cautiously hopeful that it might be Lisa. If it’s not Lisa, our second wish is that it would be Stacy Peterson so that at least one of our families could get closure."

"We’re hopeful at this point that it might be Stacy,” family spokeswoman Pam Bosco told The Chicago Sun-Times. "We’ve always felt something happened to Stacy. …We’ve always prepared ourselves for this day.”

9 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

These poor families. Can you imagine how hard it must be to have to resort to hope that a corpse is your loved one’s?

By Rachel F on 05/22/2009 9:55 am

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Oh dear, so sad. I hate to hope it’s either of these ladies. But, obviously, it is somebody’s loved one. I don’t think you ever get closure. But I do hope it helps put whoever is responsible behind bars.

By Deena B. on 05/22/2009 10:16 am

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If it is Stacy Peterson, then that almost seals her scumbag husband’s conviction. I hope he is sweating right now in his jail cell….I just wish it didn’t take so long for the lab tests results to be done…in this day and age, you wonder why so long….I know there is a back log, but the waiting for either family has to be heartbreaking…May God Bless both families….

By Libra Lady on 05/22/2009 11:05 am

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Libra I agree! I hope now taat he is behind bars his half brother will sing like a canery on his wnating hlep loading that blue barrell. He probably was scared he would be next!

By S.J. Morgan on 05/22/2009 3:33 pm

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Hi LL,

It is now being reported that 2 days before Stacy went missing, Drew told another cop that things would be so much better for him if she was killed, he said that the divorce was going to financially ruin him. A large Blue Barrel was also found slightly downstream from the body’s location………Perhaps the same Blue Barrel that was taken out of Drew’s home! I’m willing to bet when all is said and done with the autopsy, this indeed will be Stacy Peterson.

By HA BIBI on 05/23/2009 10:00 am

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Scumbag he is. It really just gives me the creeps seeing him on the news.

When I think about what information the press has put out about the body by the river, I wonder if this is Peterson’s doing. I don’t think so [but what do I know?]. I think Peterson would be more inclined to dispose of a body in such a fashion where it would be found soon, rather than let it drag on. Maybe an insurance policy is the motive. Too, he strikes me as the kind of person who would take great joy in putting one over on his buddies over at the police station.

I don’t know which is worse - the pain of knowing she is dead and all hope is gone…….or hanging in limbo forever, hoping.

Prayers to the families.

By Andrea Brandon on 05/22/2009 12:52 pm

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My older sister was a hit and run victim over 25 years ago. We didn’t know her fate for several months as there was no ID on her when she was hit. As a family we knew there was something wrong because she always stayed in touch although she lived away. Hearing she was dead was a shock but it would have been far worse to have never known what happened. I feel for both of these familis and hope they find closure.

By Chris Glass` on 05/23/2009 10:01 am

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The brute is just like OJ. They even lop about alike! Chemical heads.

By C jay on 05/23/2009 11:52 am

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I truly pray that this will bring closure to these poor familys. It’s one thing to accept that a loved one may be gone but to never know for sure or have a final resting place for them must be torture.

From everything I have watched about Drew Peterson on the news I think he is quilty as hell his own stepbrother said that he had helped Peterson move a heavy blue barrel that was warm to the touch, and now they have a blue barrel & remains….. I also belive that he murdered Kathleen Savio as well, how could anyone belive that cock and bull story about her drowning in a dry bath tub!?. I hope that justice is quick in coming to Mr Peterson in the form of a needle. God bless those poor children and familys I hope they find peace.

By Ali Bell on 06/14/2009 10:14 am