No indictments in disappearances of Stacy Peterson or Lisa Stebic
Murder suspect Drew Peterson lacks “substantial” savings or investments and lives on his $6,000-a-month police pension, his attorneys said in a filing that seeks to reduce his $20 million bond.
Calling that amount “excessive and oppressive,” Peterson’s attorneys outlined his financial assets — which include his Bolingbrook home, two cars, two motorcycles and an ultralight aircraft — in a court filing that asks for his bond to be dramatically slashed.
The 55-year-old ex-Bolingbrook cop — who supports four young children — was charged earlier this month with drowning third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004. He remains in the Will County Adult Detention Facility, unable to post the $2 million required to be released on bail.
In asking that Peterson’s bond be cut, his attorneys also ripped the evidence that allegedly links the retired police sergeant to the slaying, which initially was labeled an accident before being reclassified a murder in 2008.
“The case against the defendant is not strong and can be described as a weak, circumstantial case at best,” his attorneys said in their written request.
Peterson is scheduled to appear in court Thursday to contest an attempt by Will County prosecutors to switch judges in his murder case.
But his attorneys also may attempt to reduce his bail so he can remain free until his trial.
Peterson lives on his police pension, which he uses to pay expenses and support his four youngest children, who range in age from 4 to 16 years old.
“His only source of income is his pension,” his attorneys said in their filing.
Their request comes as Will County authorities announced that the special grand jury that has spent 18 months investigating the 2007 disappearances of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, has concluded its probe without returning an indictment, officials said today.
The same grand jury on May 7 indicted Drew Peterson on first-degree murder charges in Savio’s bathtub drowning death.
The grand jury is being dismissed because its term of service expires Thursday — and that tenure can’t be extended, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in a written statement.
The statement also confirms a story carried today in the Sun-Times that the grand jury last met on Tuesday.
The dismissal doesn’t signal the end of the investigations into the fates of Stacy Peterson and missing Plainfield resident Lisa Stebic, whose disappearance also was being reviewed by the grand jury, authorities said.
“It is critical to note that the investigations into the disappearance of both Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic are not concluded,” according to the statement. “Both investigations are being pursued vigorously.”
Stacy Peterson, 23, vanished on Oct. 28, 2007 from the Bolingbrook home she shared with Drew Peterson, who has been named by authorities as a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife.
The 38-year-old Stebic disappeared from her Plainfield home on April 30, 2007 while in the midst of a contentious divorce from her husband, Craig, whom police have described as “a person of interest” in their investigation.
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