|
 Stacy Peterson requested a meeting in late August with a member of the Westbrook Christian Church pastoral staff when the church made a routine call to see why she and Drew Peterson had not attended recent services, Rob Daniels, the church's pastor of spiritual formation, told The Associated Press.
At the meeting, Peterson said "she feared for herself because of her husband," Daniels said.
He would not say whether Peterson was afraid her husband would kill her, only that she feared "bodily harm."
Authorities say Drew Peterson is a suspect in his fourth wife's disappearance and have called her case a possible homicide. Investigators are also re-examining the 2004 death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, saying it may have been a homicide staged to look like an accidental bathtub drowning.
Stacy Peterson was last seen by her relatives on Oct. 28. Days later, her sister, Cassandra Cales, said Peterson was afraid of her husband and was making plans to divorce him. "She told me ... she feared for her life," Cales said.
Peterson, 53, has denied wrongdoing, saying he believes 23-year-old Stacy Peterson left him for another man and is alive. Peterson has since resigned from the Bolingbrook police force.
His attorney, Joel Brodsky, did not immediately return messages Thursday.
Daniels did not address a report Thursday in the Chicago Sun-Times that Peterson told a clergyman in August that her husband had confessed to her that he killed Savio and made it look like an accident. The newspaper cited an anonymous source close to the investigation and did not identify the clergyman or the church.
[to top of second column] |
 The Westbrook Christian official made a "judgment call" not to alert authorities and did not consult with other church staff, Daniels said. The church's clergy are legally required to alert authorities only about allegations of child abuse or if someone threatens to harm themselves or others, he said.
It wasn't clear whether investigators have questioned church members or staff about the Petersons. Messages left late Thursday for the Illinois State Police were not immediately returned.
Daniels would not identify the clergy member who met with Stacy Peterson or say where the meeting took place, other than it was not at the church. Daniels also would not reveal specific details of the conversation, but he said church leaders only learned of it Thursday.
Stacy and Drew Peterson and their children occasionally attended services at the church from 2004 to January 2007 but then stopped coming, Daniels said. The church, less than a mile from the Peterson home, has served as a headquarters for several volunteer searches for Peterson.
Church officials have not made any decision on whether they need to review how the church handled the situation, Daniels said.
[Associated
Press; By TARA BURGHART]
Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
