11/26/2007 (www.onthescene.blogs.foxnews.com) Laura Ingle

“My Conversation With Drew Peterson”

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FOX News Blogs » On The Scene » Laura Ingle

November 26th, 2007 2:32 PM Eastern

My conversation with Drew

by Laura Ingle

This last weekend I had some serious deja vu. Many of you are going through the same thing, watching the coverage of the Stacy Peterson disappearance, and remembering the Laci Peterson case. Missing young wife… husband under a cloud of suspicion, Christmas time, cute neighborhoods, mysterious circumstances. It’s all there.

I did live reports all weekend from the outside of Drew and Stacy’s house in Bolingbrook, talking to neighbors, family members, search volunteers and eventually Drew Peterson. Just like Scott Peterson, he seems a little calm about the fact that his wife is missing and hasn’t been heard from in four weeks. As we always say, everyone handles stress, anxiety, and fear differently, so it’s not fair to cast judgment when we don’t know all of the facts, but boy, it sure feels strange.

Some of the people I talked to who know Stacy very well, and had daily contact with her, told me they were surprised that Drew hasn’t asked them once if they’ve heard from Stacy. Seems odd. Drew Peterson’s side of the story: his 23-year old wife ran off with another man and left him, but we’ve heard from most everyone who knew Stacy, that Drew didn’t allow much time for that opportunity, and she never would have left her kids. He reportedly watched her every move, followed her around, and was always suspicous of her activities outside her house.

I was in my rental car outside his house yesterday when he pulled up with his brother. You’ve seen Drew in the past ambushed by reporters in his driveway… but this time, there was no one else around except for our camera crew a few feet away and me sitting in my car writing my next report. As he was walking up his pathway, I flung open my door, put my pen behind my ear (which you can see in the tape of us talking… just wanted to explain that white thing in my hair) and ran across the street to see if he would talk to me, and he did. I asked him first about his kids, because Paul his brother had told me that we were scaring the children by being outside. Drew says he’s mostly annoyed by the early morning reporters who power up the generators before the sun comes up to illuminate his house to do their live shots, and it wakes them up. Remember Stacy and Drew’s little ones are only 2 and 4, and the other two kids are young too.

While we were talking I notices a very comfortable ease with his demeanor, I wouldn’t expect him to be panicked while talking to me, it has been four weeks… but he just seemed very calm to me, was pleasant and had a smile. He said he didn’t know what was going on in the investigation to find his missing wife, and said “Why don’t you tell me?”

I asked him if he knew one of his older sons, a police officer, is reportedly testifying in front of the grand jury this week about this case, and that of Drew’s 3rd wife that was found dead in her bathtub, and he said he didn’t know about it. I asked him point blank what his story was about the report that he was seen loading a blue barrel out of his house with a friend around the same time that Stacy was reported missing, and he shrugged that off with a smile, and said he had nothing to say about that and shook his head, like “no way, that didn’t happen.” Then HE brought up the scuba diving weights that are reportedly missing from his house. We’ve been hearing that Drew had a lot of scuba gear in the garage, and that when the search warrant was executed, the weights were gone. He says not true. He went on to say that he hopes that the FBI’s involvement in the case will help clear his name and then said he had to go inside. I had so many other questions for him….

I’ve talked to people who have been questioned by investigators about Drew and Stacy’s bedroom furniture. One person reportedly has said that they saw Drew carry out a nightstand that was there when cops originally took pictures inside their house after she vanished, and then when they went back to take more pictures, it was gone. A neighbor who knows Stacy well, was asked by the cops to draw the layout of the furniture in that room on a piece of paper.

As I said in my last blog… it could be nothing, it could be everything, but I have a feeling we will be hearing more about this in the future.