Friends Turn Against Drew Peterson
Former Longtime Friends Wore Wires to Record Missing Woman's Husband
Len Wawczak said he and his wife, Paula Stark, aided police investigators for seven months by wearing wires to secretly record conversations with their former friend of 16 years. Investigators have called the disappearance of Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, a "potential homicide."
Police approached Peterson's highly trusted friends, Wawczak and Stark, shortly after Stacy Peterson disappeared from the home she shared with Drew in October 2007, and asked them for assistance with their investigations into Stacy's disappearance and the homicide of Drew's third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Arrest to Follow
Joe Hosey reported in today's SouthtownStar that Wawczak and Stark claim to have information that will lead to the arrest of Drew Peterson, who has been named the prime suspect in his wife, Stacy's disappearance. The information has not yet been confirmed by police. Illinois State Police Sgt. Tom Burek said he couldn't comment.
Wawczak and Stark met former police sergeant, Drew Peterson in a Bolingbrook bar about 16 years ago and became close friends with him. They were close enough to Peterson to babysit for his children. The couple who also knew of third wife Kathleen Savio's death, became concerned when Stacy went missing. They agreed to assist police partly because Wawczak felt, "it was the right thing to do," Hosey reported.
The information that Wawczak and Stark allegedly gave to police, included Peterson having said Kathleen Savio was "a bitch" and that he should have had her cremated. In regard to his missing wife, Peterson told Wawczak that he would be tried and acquitted before Stacy's remains were ever found. Peterson admitted further that because of the "double jeopardy law," he could not be retried once he's acquitted even if Stacy's remains were found.
Stark said that during the time she and her husband, Len, were acting as police informants, she wore a thermal vest containing a hidden GPS tracking device when Drew took her up in his ultra-light airplane, so that police would know where Drew was flying.
Romance and Threats
She said that Peterson became romantically interested in her and asked her to model some of his missing wife's bikinis and fur coats. He had whispered that he loved her, hugged her, and brushed up against her, causing her to fear that Peterson would find the GPS. According to Hosey, Stark said Peterson wanted her to leave Wawczak and run off to Kentucky with him. When she tried to refuse by telling him that Len would not tolerate it, Peterson said, "Don't make me shoot him."
Attorney Denies Recordings
Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky first denied that there were any recordings at all. Later saying that if there were a couple recordings, he was not concerned. Brodsky brushed off the idea of Peterson being arrested by saying there would not be anything incriminating on the tapes.
Peterson continues to deny any involvement in the murder of Kathleen Savio, or in the disappearance of Stacy Peterson.
