Deadly suspicion

Stacy Peterson’s Bolingbrook neighborhood is now decked out in Christmas lights. The jack o'lanterns of late October are long gone. So too is any hope friends and family once had that Stacy is still alive.

Pam Bosco: It's very difficult. Stacy was heavily involved in the season and, you know, she was a big part of the family, pulling it all together.

Stacy's husband Drew said much the same thing -- with a twist.

(Peterson speaking to reporters outside)

Drew Peterson: It's real tough. So…

Reporter: Tell us why.

Drew Peterson: She always made it special. So I’m going to cry right now, so why don't you guys back off, OK?

He has been playing hide-and-speak with the media for almost two months. But several weeks ago, Drew Peterson talked extensively with NBC news. He said he pampered 23-year-old Stacy because she loved the spotlight.

Drew Peterson: Stacy wanted she got it. I mean she wanted a boob job, I got her a boob job. She wanted a tummy tuck, she got that. She wanted braces, Lasik surgery, hair removal, anything. Stacy loved male attention. And she loved being' anywhere and having people pay attention to her.

Hoda Kotb: Uh-huh.

Drew Peterson: And we did all these repairs on her. When she wanted it, she got it.

Hoda Kotb: I can't help but notice when you talk about her, you talk about her in the past tense.

Drew Peterson: No.

Hoda Kotb: She loved this. She was like that. I'm just hearing it.

Drew Peterson: That's just because she's not with me anymore. And it's past tense what she did.

What she did, he says, was dump him for another man after scarcely four years of marriage.

Hoda Kotb: Why are you so convinced that she walked away from this marriage?

Drew Peterson: Well, there are certain things I don't want to talk about due to an ongoing investigation. So I’m just going to not answer that question.

Hoda Kotb: But some basic things you have discussed is you thought that she was leaving you, right? For someone else?

Drew Peterson: Correct.

Hoda Kotb: Where did you get that idea?

Drew Peterson: Again, I don't want to talk about certain things. And that's one of them.

Hoda Kotb: Do you find it odd that that in the weeks since she's been gone, not a phone call? Not a note? Not “how are the kids?”

Drew Peterson: I find it very odd.

Hoda Kotb: So does that make you-- does that make you have pause? Like, "Huh, I wonder what happened to her?"

Drew Peterson: Well her sister died about a year ago. And ever since then-- she's been going through a lot. She's been very agitated with the kids lately. Agitated with me. It's this--

Hoda Kotb: In what way?

Drew Peterson: Well she snaps. She'll snap on you for, like, simple things. And things that normally she would, you know, blow off, she would snap on.

As he talked about Stacy and the half-sister who died --

Drew Peterson: She prayed very hard for her sister's recovery.

… he seemed to be ambushed by emotion.

Hoda Kotb: Can I ask you about-- you know, you're a hardnosed tough cop. And you're very emotional. What is it? What's-- what's-- what's going on here?

Drew Peterson: Well different things touch me. Kids, you know.

Hoda Kotb: But on this particular thing, is it her sister? What was it that sparked that in you?

Drew Peterson: Her emotion, because it hit her very hard.

But he quickly regained his composure.

Hoda Kotb: There were multiple reports saying that Stacy asked for a divorce two days before she went missing. Is that true?

Drew Peterson: No, I don't think it was two days. She-- Stacy was on an emotional roller coaster from month to month. And I’m not trying to be funny here, but seemed to go with her menstrual cycle. If she was PMS-ing, she wanted a divorce. And if she wasn't, everything was good and romantic and happy.

Hoda Kotb: Did she ever formally ask for a divorce? Did she file for divorce?

Drew Peterson: No.

Hoda Kotb: She just-- did she say it, "I want a divorce," before?

Drew Peterson: On many occasions.

Hoda Kotb: Many occasions.

Drew Peterson: But then the next day, or next couple days-- it was romantic again, and good again.

But what about that email Stacy sent to a friend days before she disappeared?

Hoda Kotb: "As I mature with age, I’m finding that the relationship I’m in is controlling, manipulative, and somewhat abusive. If you could keep me in your prayers, I could use some wisdom, protection, and strength." That's a pretty clear cut e-mail.

Drew Peterson: Exactly. But that sounds, if you talk to anybody that knows her, that sounds nothing like she would say.

Hoda Kotb: What do you mean?

Drew Peterson: And that doesn't sound like her vocabulary. It doesn't sound like something she would say.

Hoda Kotb: So do you think this friend has made up this e-mail?

Drew Peterson: Possibly.

Hoda Kotb: Does it seem sort of weird?

Drew Peterson: The majority of her friends and family didn't care for me.

Hoda Kotb: But why not? Why do you think?

Drew Peterson: Well, I was this older man with this younger woman and it bothered a lot of people.

Some of those same people said she'd also warned that if she disappeared it would not be an accident.

Drew Peterson: I can't explain that because I just have no explanation for that what she was saying, if in fact she was saying that. Or if in fact that's being fabricated somehow.

And as for the fact that he is a suspect in a disappearance that is being investigated as a potential homicide, Drew, now a former cop -- he resigned last month -- shrugged it off.

Drew Peterson: I expected them to do it sooner.

Hoda Kotb: Really? How come?

Drew Peterson: Oh, the husband's always the suspect. They just made it official. So-- but I believe they were believing I had something to do with it from the beginning.

There is also the new investigation into the death of third wife Kathy.

Hoda Kotb: Are you at all concerned about what the exhumation of the body and the autopsy will show?

Drew Peterson: I don't think anything would be different. So, if they -- and find something, it by no means had anything to do with me. So.

Hoda Kotb: Would you want to know who did it, if in fact, it was?

Drew Peterson: Oh, yeah. Sure. Sure. Without a doubt.

Drew Peterson has not been charged in Kathy’s death or Stacy’s disappearance. Official autopsy results are still to come in Kathy’s case. An autopsy conducted for the family concluded her death was a homicide.

Meantime, in the hunt for Stacy, investigators are looking for evidence -- traces of blue plastic, blood or fingernails -- in Drew's car. They've been searching a nearby canal. Could a stepbrother's wild tale now be a working theory? Was a blue plastic container holding Stacy’s body hauled out of the Peterson house and dumped?

There was more to the step-brother's story.

A day after he said he helped Drew, he tried to commit suicide. Once his story hit the headlines, Drew Peterson’s attorney took to the airwaves to deny the whole thing and discredit Drew's stepbrother.

Brodsky: He's simply not a credible witness.

But the headlines kept coming.

Next, Stacy’s pastor spoke out saying she told him Drew had admitted killing Kathy.

Hoda Kotb: I need you to be 100% honest with me. Did you kill your wife Stacy?

Drew Peterson: No.

Hoda Kotb: No question at all in your mind?

Drew Peterson: No question at all in my mind.

Hoda Kotb: What about your wife Kathy?

Drew Peterson: No.

Hoda Kotb: Did you have anything to do with the death of Kathy?

Drew Peterson: Nothing.

Hoda Kotb: Someone said either you're guilty of both of these, or you have the worst luck in the world.

Drew Peterson: You think?

Hoda Kotb: You just happened to have married two women, one is missing and one who's dead.

Drew Peterson: Correct.

Hoda Kotb: Which is it? You just have bad luck?

Drew Peterson: I guess this is bad luck.

In this season of comfort and joy there is none for those who loved Stacy Peterson.

There are no tidings.

Just a deep, abiding desire to honor a bubbly young woman, to bring her home and see justice done.

A grand jury has been looking into the disappearance of Stacy Peterson and the death of Drew Peterson’s third wife, Kathy.

Police continue to look for Stacy Peterson, but, for now, her family isn't planning any new searches.

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