She Disappeared, And Then Her Husband Was Convicted Of Killing His First Wife
Nine years after 40-year-old Christie Marie Cales vanished from Blue Island, Illinois, in 1998, her daughter, Stacy Peterson, went missing in 2007. The Cales family believes that both Christie and Stacy’s partners were responsible for their respective disappearances, but neither of their cases has been solved.
A Turbulent Childhood
Before Stacy was even born, her mother, Christie, and father, Anthony, endured a tragedy. While Christie was eight months pregnant with Stacy, their ranch home was set on fire. The blaze was reportedly caused by Stacy’s soon-to-be siblings, who were playing with matches, and her 2-year-old sister, Jessica, didn’t make it out alive.
Stacy was born six weeks later, on January 20, 1984, and her childhood was turbulent from the start. According to Cheryl Weiser, who had a child with Stacy’s uncle, Kyle, the Cales kids suffered “a lot of trauma.”
“There were drugs, alcohol, and physical abuse in that family. They were good kids without direction or security,” she recalled.
Things only became worse when Stacy’s younger sister, Lacy, died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in 1987. Christie and Anthony were unable to move past Lacy’s passing, leaving the remaining four Cales children, Stacy, Cassandra, Yelton, and Tina, on their own.
“We used to see Stacy running around here without any clothes except her diaper in the middle of winter. Her mother would be sleeping on the couch, and Stacy would run out the front door,” remembered neighbor Rowland Henderson.
Christie reportedly had depression and was in and out of psychiatric hospitals. She also had multiple arrests, including shoplifting and drunk driving. Meanwhile, Anthony used alcohol to “medicate” his pain.
The couple got divorced in 1990, following the filing of two foreclosure suits against them, and Anthony obtained sole custody of the children. Then, by 1998, Stacy was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
At 16 years old, she managed to graduate high school and planned to create a better life for herself. Yet, her mother disappeared that same year and left her reeling.
Christie was last seen walking in Blue Island at 4:30 p.m. on March 11, 1998. Her boyfriend, who she lived with, claimed that she’d walked off, but Stacy’s sister, Cassandra, suspected he’d murdered their mother.
“We knew the guy she was living with did it because he said she left for church and never came back, but she left her purse,” Cassandra detailed.
Christie had a history of leaving for weeks at a time in the past, but she was never gone longer than that. Cassandra tried approaching the police, but they supposedly wouldn’t listen.
“They brushed it off, never looked into it. That’s when things got really hard,” she said.
The disappearance of Stacy’s mother shattered her, and she didn’t talk about Christie much afterward. She’d previously had dreams of becoming a nurse, too, but she didn’t have money for college.
This led Stacy to work different odd jobs, and in 2001, she met her future husband, Drew Peterson, a local cop with the Bolingbrook Police Department, who the Cales believe killed her years later.
Stacy And Drew
Stacy first met Drew in 2001 while she was working as a hotel desk clerk in Bolingbrook, Illinois. She was only 17 years old; meanwhile, Drew was 47 and married to Kathleen Savio, his third wife.
His previous two wives alleged he was abusive and unfaithful. Yet, Stacy was young and viewed him as a “father figure.”
“She was infatuated with him because he was a father figure. He was secure, and he had charisma. Stacy wanted a better life,” her aunt, Cheryl, stated.
Drew and his wife, Kathleen, got divorced that same year, in 2001. She reportedly claimed he’d beaten and threatened her. Drew and Stacy then got married in October 2003, three months after their first son was born.
At the time, Stacy, who named her son Anthony after her father, enjoyed being a wife and a mother. However, others noticed that Drew could be controlling. She supposedly wasn’t allowed to get a job, and he’d inundate her with phone calls when she wasn’t home.
“We would go to Walmart, and he would call her. We went to Kohl’s, and his squad car was out front. He would go to roll call and leave to find her whereabouts,” detailed Sharon Bychowski, a friend of Stacy’s.
Then, in March 2004, Drew’s ex-wife, Kathleen, was found dead in her bathtub. She was face-down and dry, with a gash on the back of her head, but her cause of death was initially ruled an accidental drowning.
At the time, Stacy tried to convince Drew’s brother and sister-in-law that he wasn’t involved. Nonetheless, as she matured and welcomed her second child, a daughter, into the world, Stacy also began to rethink her life and marriage.
She started working for Avon, bringing her children to Bible study, and caring more about her appearance. She also became increasingly suspicious over what really happened to Kathleen, and by October 2007, she finally told Drew that she wanted a divorce.
“She was calm and cool, and she said, ‘I am already dead. He is going to kill me,” revealed Sharon, who’d gone to check on Stacy afterward. Just one week passed before Stacy went missing on October 28, 2007.
Stacy’s Disappearance
That morning, Drew alleged Stacy left their Bolingbrook home, located in Pheasant Chase Court, at 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. She’d planned to meet up with a friend and help them paint their house, yet she didn’t show.
He claimed to have spoken to Stacy later on the phone, at around 9:00 p.m. She was never seen or heard from again, and she was reported missing the next day at 4:00 a.m.
Stacy’s car, a purple two-door 2002 Pontiac, was discovered in the Clow Airport parking lot, which was only around 400 yards from their house. Drew reportedly told the police that Stacy had called him from the airport and was leaving him for a different man.
In the beginning, he cooperated with authorities, telling the press he thought Stacy was with another guy and was safe. Nonetheless, her family didn’t buy that she’d willingly leave her two young kids behind.
This led investigators to execute multiple search warrants at their home. They took various items, including Drew’s car, Stacy’s vehicle, bedding, 11 guns, and electronics. Strangely, there were some items reportedly missing from the residence, including scuba diving weights, a nightstand, and a blue barrel.
A neighbor supposedly saw Drew and a second male taking the blue barrel away around the same time Stacy disappeared. Additionally, his stepbrother, Thomas Morphey, was allegedly paid to help Drew dispose of the barrel.
After Stacy vanished, Thomas reportedly feared that he’d unknowingly assisted Drew as he disposed of his wife’s remains. He was so upset that he attempted to take his own life. As for Drew, he denied hauling the barrel out of his house and accused Thomas of having mental health and alcohol abuse issues.
The police shared their belief that Stacy was a victim of foul play by November 9, 2007, and Drew was named a suspect. Also in November, his ex-wife Kathleen’s body was exhumed to undergo an autopsy.
The results suggested she’d been killed and the scene of her death had been staged to appear as an accident. Drew’s second wife also spoke to the press and claimed he’d previously threatened to murder her and make her death look accidental.
He was arrested and charged with Kathleen’s murder in May 2009. As for motive, prosecutors theorized he’d committed the murder to prevent financial ruin as the result of a divorce settlement. Drew was convicted by September 2012 and sentenced to 38 years behind bars.
While justice was served in Kathleen’s case, though, no one has ever been charged in relation to Stacy’s disappearance, which remains unsolved over 17 years later.
Her sister, Cassandra, has refused to give up hope or the quest for answers. Most recently, she used a remote-operated vehicle equipped with sonar to investigate an Illinois canal. She thinks she found Stacy’s remains at the bottom.
An image captured by the vehicle appears to depict several bones and a skull. However, Cassandra wasn’t shocked by the findings since she supposedly told the police about remains in the same region mere weeks after Stacy vanished.
“I’ve been following a female body since 2007 down the canal. In 2007, 19 days after Stacy disappeared, it was there for three days. Law enforcement did nothing. I was threatened to be arrested if I acted on it,” she recalled.
“Then, in the spring of 2007, I found the body again with a lot of decomposition and the feet missing and almost, there was still flesh. State police did nothing for a year; they just went out there and did a blind dive.”
In response to Cassandra’s claims, the Illinois State Police said in a statement that the “investigation is active and ongoing and special agents follow-up on any and all credible and viable leads. We are unable to comment further or provide additional information to protect the integrity of the case.”
Cassandra used her own money to invest in technology that could aid in the search for Stacy’s remains. Despite the police appearing uninterested, she doesn’t plan to give up.
“I’m ready to go. I just have to find the right people, the right resources, and the right equipment,” she shared.
She’s since launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $20,000 to fund her mission. The campaign has raised $7,115 so far.
“Your help in this GoFundMe campaign will give us the funds needed to rent handheld sonar equipment for approximately three weeks, train our divers at a controlled off-site facility, and then deploy them at our target area in the canal when weather and safety allow,” the fundraiser reads.
“Your help will help us bring my sister Stacy Peterson’s remains home and give her a proper burial.”
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