Clergyman: Ultimately, it was her call

A minister who talked with Stacy Peterson before her disappearance said the Bolingbrook mother feared for her life — and now the clergyman said he’s concerned about his own safety.

“Any time you have issues of people disappearing — and we did — that’s a reason for concern,” said the minister, who asked that neither he nor his church be identified.

After talking to the 23-year-old Peterson, the suburban minister advised her to seek help but said he didn’t know if she approached authorities or family members before vanishing Oct. 28.

“Ultimately, it was her call because it was her situation,” the clergyman said Friday, adding he didn’t take any action himself because of concerns that doing so could put her at risk.

“If I think it would hurt someone’s situation, I wouldn’t,” he said.

Earlier this week, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported that Stacy Peterson told a clergyman in August that her husband boasted he had killed his former wife Kathleen Savio, but made her death look like an accident. Stacy’s husband, Drew Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, has been named a suspect in her disappearance, which also has caused authorities to reopen their investigation into Savio’s 2004 death by drowning in a bathtub.

On Thursday, an official at Westbrook Christian Church in Bolingbrook said Stacy Peterson had a late August meeting with church staff there. While Pastor Rob Daniels wouldn’t disclose with whom she met or specifics of their discussion, he said “she feared for herself because of her husband.”

The minister interviewed Friday formerly served at Westbrook but wouldn’t confirm he was the clergyman who last conferred with Peterson — or that she talked with him about her husband or about Savio’s death.

But he said he has been interviewed by police about her disappearance.

“I have discussed several matters with police,” the minister said.

He said he doesn’t think Stacy voluntarily would have left her children, as Drew has contended.

“Not a chance,” he said. “Stacy’s a woman of good character.”

Her weeks-long disappearance has him worrying over her safety — and wondering about his decision not to seek help for her.

“In a situation of this magnitude, certainly you always wonder if you made the right decision,” he said.

Drew Peterson has denied any involvement in Stacy’s disappearance or Savio’s death.

Meanwhile, State Police investigating Peterson’s disappearance sent out a bulletin Friday to many suburban police departments asking officers to keep an eye out for a blue, 33-gallon barrel.

A source earlier this week told the Sun-Times that on the day Stacy disappeared, Drew Peterson asked a relative for help moving a blue barrel out of the couple’s home.

The State Police bulletin asked the departments to check the contents of similar barrels they find.

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