Deadly suspicion

"We want that girl back," said Stacy's neighbor Sharon Bychowski. "We want her to come home for her children. We need to find Stacy. We want closure."

But closure would not come anytime soon. The Halloween decorations would come down, Thanksgiving would come and go , and Stacy Peterson would still be missing.

The Illinois state police were in charge of the case. The Bolingbrook police department had handed it over because husband Drew was one of their own.

And day after day, Stacy’s family and friends organized volunteers into search parties. Drew Peterson did not join in. He told anyone who'd listen that they were looking in the wrong place.

Hoda Kotb: You don't think she's out there in the woods somewhere? Or?

Drew Peterson: No, I’d be looking on a beach.

Hoda Kotb: What do you-- what do you mean?

Drew Peterson: A beach somewhere, or somewhere warm, or--

Hoda Kotb: You think she ran off with someone and is just enjoying herself on a beach somewhere?

Drew Peterson: I believe that. But I’m guessing.

Stacy's family never bought that story. Instead they urged investigators to focus on the Bolingbrook police sergeant and the state of the Peterson’s marriage.

Stacy and Drew had been married barely four years when she vanished. Her step-sister Kerry Simmons says early on they seemed to be doing well.

Kerry Simmons: They looked happy, they acted happy and they looked, you know they looked fine.

But Kerry says that slowly, surely the Peterson’s marriage unraveled. She blames the 30-year age gap.

Kerry Simmons: I think he just started to wonder more and more every day that you know Stacy was going to leave him. She's 20, 22, he's 50. You know, she may possibly find somebody else.

Family and friends told investigators the two seemed to be battling constantly -- that Stacy said Drew would abuse her verbally, criticize her so severely that she felt insecure about her looks and had several plastic surgeries.

Pam Bosco: Just putdown kind of stuff and just very demeaning things. That's why she just went out and had these cosmetic things done to her body.

And that wasn't all. Stacy told those close to her that Drew got physical too.

Kerry Simmons: He threw her down the stairs. There was an instance where he had knocked her into the TV. I think one time he actually picked her up and threw her across the room. I mean she's small. She's 100 pounds.

Kerry says she begged Stacy to leave Drew when she heard about the violence.

Kerry Simmons: The only thing I could tell her was "You need to get out. You know, we can get a truck, help you move, pack your stuff up and get you out of there in a matter of hours.”

But she says Stacy was paralyzed by fear.

Kerry Simmons: She felt that if she left that house and took those kids, he would come after her.

Drew worked as a night watch supervisor for the Bolingbrook police. Neighbor Sharon Bychowski says he would check in at home like clockwork throughout his shift.

Sharon Bychowski: So he would go in at five, he would do his roll call, he'd come back. He would eat here in uniform, then he'd go back out on the beat. He'd stay an hour or so. Come back.

Those close to Stacy say the constant checks did not end there. They told investigators Drew would actually follow his wife in his car when she went out.

Kerry Simmons: She went to breakfast with one of the other sisters and he would circle the parking lot to make sure that she was only in there with her other sister. And not a guy.

Family and friends say when Drew wasn't following her by car, he was tracking her by phone.

Pam Bosco: We went to get our hair cut and he called her eight times. He was always there.

At one point, Pam says, Stacy made a startling discovery in her husband's briefcase.

Pam Bosco: There was her phone record completely written and documented where she was. Who the phone call was to. Stuff like that.

Sharon Bychowski: So she went out and got herself a new cell phone and gave me the bag to hold. “Here -- I don't want Drew to know I have this. The box, because it has the SIM card information and things he could use to track my calls again.”

In September 2006, Stacy was devastated when half-sister Tina died of colon cancer. Those who know her well say Tina’s death may have spurred her to take stock of her three-year-old marriage.

Sharon Bychowski: In the last year since her sister passed away, she was really struggling -- to end the marriage. She really wanted to move out. Or have Drew move out. The end of that process. She wanted it over with.

But while Stacy’s family portrayed it as a marriage gone bad, Drew insisted he loved his wife, denied that they were arguing constantly and that he abused Stacy. Furthermore, through his attorney, Drew said he did not track his wife by car or cell. According to Drew whatever his wife wanted, she got.

Drew Peterson: Stacy was spoiled. I pampered her. It's-- a lot of that's my fault. Stacy wanted it, she got it. High-end jewelry. Name it. She got it.

Sharon Bychowski: Most recently he bought her a motorcycle to ask her if it would buy him three more months with her.

But in the days leading up to her disappearance, friends say Stacy Peterson was more determined than ever to leave the marriage.

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