Friends, relatives won't give up

A bright pink placard reading "Where's our sister Stacy?" was among half a dozen signs left on former police officer Drew Peterson's front porch Saturday by participants in a vigil.

About 30 people, many clutching candles, stood in front of Peterson's home, many saying they would not rest until they know the whereabouts of Stacy, his fourth wife.

Stacy Peterson, a 23-year-old mother of two, has been missing since Oct. 28. Police have named her husband as a suspect in her disappearance, and authorities have called her case a possible homicide.

"I miss Stacy, and I'm not giving up," said her younger sister Cassandra Cales, choking back tears as she spoke on Peterson's front lawn.

Those taking part in the vigil also included relatives of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, who was found dead in a bathtub in her home just a few minutes' walk from the house Drew Peterson shared with Stacy.

The vigil started at Savio's former home and ended at Drew Peterson's house. He drove away on his motorcycle before the vigil arrived but briefly looked over each of the signs on his porch when he returned later.

He told reporters outside his home after the vigil that the ordeal of his wife's disappearance has been hardest on his oldest children, who have to face questions at school.

"They're at that age where people like to tease and talk to them," Peterson said.

Stacy and Drew Peterson have two children, ages 4 and 2. He has two teenage sons from his marriage to Savio.

When asked what he plans to do for the next few days, Peterson answered, "Live my life."

Also Saturday, a renowned pathologist said he has examined Savio's exhumed remains and determined she was killed.

Former New York City chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden said he analyzed Savio's remains Friday at the request of her relatives, who disagree with an earlier ruling that her death was an accident. He concluded she died after a struggle, and her body was placed in the bathtub where she was found.

"I'm convinced she was the victim of a murder. 'Who done it' is up to the police to resolve," Baden said in a telephone interview.

Results of a separate, official autopsy will not be available for several days, authorities said.

Savio's body was exhumed Tuesday at the request of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, who has said after examining evidence he believes her death was a homicide staged to look like an accident.

The state's attorney's office allowed Baden to use the county morgue for his work and a state's attorney's investigator attended the autopsy, spokesman Charles Pelkie said.

Peterson, 53, who resigned Monday as a Bolingbrook police sergeant, has not been named a suspect in Savio's death. He has denied any involvement in either case and said he believes his wife left him for another man and is alive.