Lawyer claims Stacy Peterson received racy cell phone message

Authorities investigating the disappearance of a former suburban Chicago police officer's wife have obtained a warrant seeking information to identify who sent a racy text message to her cell phone.

Drew Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said Thursday that a message sent to Stacy Peterson's cell phone in September shows she was having an affair and lends credence to Drew Peterson's contention she left him for another man.

"This is obviously sent by a lover of Stacy prior to her disappearance. Drew did not send it," Brodsky said of the text message he said was sent Sept. 20. "She was having an intimate affair with somebody and on Sept. 19 had intimate contact."

Stacy Peterson's sister and a close family friend could not be reached for comment Thursday. But they and others have steadfastly maintained that she was contemplating divorcing her husband, Peterson was not having an affair.

In the text message, the anonymous author referred to Peterson in a two-sentence message as "my love" and thanked her for a sexual encounter the previous evening, according to a transcript provided by Brodsky.

Brodsky said his client turned over the phone to state police Dec. 20 after discovering the message in the device. A private detective hired by Drew Peterson tracked the message to the Sprint Nextel Web site and on Jan. 3, a judge signed an Illinois State Police search warrant for "cellular telephone and online accounts which may contain evidence of the commission of First Degree Murder" and other crimes.

Sprint Nextel spokesman Dave DeVries said anyone can use the company's Web site to text-message subscribers without being required to log in or open an account. He declined to comment on whether it is possible to track who sent messages.

Stacy Peterson vanished Oct. 28. In November, police labeled her disappearance a possible homicide and named Drew Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, a suspect. He has not been charged and has denied any involvement in her disappearance.

Of the possible significance of the text message, Brodsky said, "In my mind there's another suspect out there."

He said if the person who sent the message also disappeared, that would suggest he and Stacy Peterson went away together. "If that person didn't vanish, we'd certainly want to question that person about where he was on Oct. 28."