Divers search canal for Stacy Peterson
Dive teams searched frigid waters at the intersection of two canals Wednesday as part of the investigation into the disappearance of an ex-police officer's 23-year-old wife.
The Illinois State Police said debris from the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal in Romeoville and Lockport was being pulled from the water for analysis.
Amid blowing snow and wind, at least three boats with divers aboard worked in the canals, apparently trying to hook a tow line into something in the water.
But the state police would not say what they were looking for in the canal. Nor would they say if it was related to a search warrant authorities executed Tuesday night at Drew Peterson's home that dealt with items inside two vehicles already seized from his home. State police have named Peterson a suspect in his wife's disappearance and have called the case a possible homicide.
The area where much of the activity took place has in the past been known as a spot where automobiles and other large items have been dumped. The water can be treacherous for divers because it is littered with large, sharp metal objects.
The state police said several agencies and private companies took part in the debris recovery, which was wrapping up by mid-afternoon. The agencies included the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Naperville Police Underwater Recovery Team and a number of towing companies.
State Police spokesman Mark T. Dorencz said he didn't know if authorities would resume the search Thursday.
On Wednesday, Drew Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, confirmed to The Associated Press that Tuesday's search warrant says the items "may have been utilized in commission of the offense of first-degree murder or the concealment of a homicidal death."
The warrant also indicates interest in trace elements of several materials, including blue plastic, Brodsky said.
Stacy Peterson was last seen Oct. 28 and reported missing by her family the next day. Drew Peterson, a longtime member of the Bolingbrook Police Department until he quit after his wife went missing, has denied any involvement in her disappearance. He has said he believes his wife left him for another man and is still alive.
Authorities also are investigating the death of Peterson's ex-wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was found in her bathtub in 2004. Her death initially was ruled an accidental drowning. But when Peterson disappeared, the Will County State's Attorney's office opened another investigation into the case and has said it appears her death was a homicide staged to look like an accident.
Peterson has not been named a suspect in Savio's death and the state's attorney's office, which had her body exhumed, said it is waiting for the results of an autopsy conducted last month.