It has been nearly two decades since Stacy Peterson vanished from her Bolingbrook home, and honestly, the case still feels like a raw wound for anyone who followed it back in 2007. You probably remember the grainy news footage of her husband, Drew Peterson—the smirking police sergeant who seemed to treat the disappearance of his young wife like a bad joke. He claimed she just ran off with another man. Left her kids. Walked away from her life.
Nobody believed him then. Nobody believes him now.
But where is she? That’s the question that refuses to go away. While Drew sits in a prison cell for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, Stacy remains a "missing person." There have been sonar hits in murky canals, whispered "confessions" from lawyers, and enough heartbreak to fill a lifetime. Here is the reality of what happened to Stacy Peterson and where the investigation stands in 2026.
The Day Everything Stopped
October 28, 2007. It was a Sunday. Stacy was supposed to help her sister, Cassandra Cales, paint a house. She never showed up.
By the time the sun went down, Cassandra knew something was desperately wrong. Stacy wouldn't just ignore her phone, especially not with two young children at home. When the police finally started looking, the story Drew Peterson told was classic gaslighting. He said Stacy called him at 9:00 PM to say she was leaving him for someone else.
He had an alibi for everything. Or so he thought.
The problem for Drew was that Stacy had already been talking. She’d told her pastor, Neil Schori, that Drew had killed his previous wife, Kathleen Savio. She told her sister that if anything happened to her, it was Drew. She was terrified. She was planning to leave him, and in the world of domestic violence, that is the most dangerous time for a woman.
The Search for a Body That "Moved"
If you talk to Cassandra Cales today, she’ll tell you she knows exactly where her sister is. Or where she was. Cassandra has spent a small fortune and thousands of hours on the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal.
Why the canal? Because witnesses saw Drew hauling a heavy blue barrel out of his house and into his SUV the night Stacy vanished. It was heavy. It took two people to move.
Cassandra’s quest is legendary. In recent years, she’s used high-definition sonar and remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) to scan the canal bed. She’s even released images that appear to show skeletal remains—a skull, a ribcage—deep in the silt.
The frustrating part? The bureaucracy.
Every time a potential hit is found, the current or the "silt" seems to interfere. State police have conducted dives, but they often come up empty, claiming they found "rocks" or "debris" instead of Stacy. It’s a cycle of hope and crushing disappointment. Cassandra recently launched a GoFundMe to hire specialized divers with handheld sonar to avoid the "blind dives" that have failed in the past.
The "Secret" Knowledge of Joel Brodsky
One of the weirdest twists in the quest to find out what happened to Stacy Peterson involves Drew’s former lawyer, Joel Brodsky. In 2022, Brodsky dropped a bombshell: he claimed he knew the truth.
He said he was considering breaking attorney-client privilege because he "felt a need to clear his conscience." He hinted that he knew exactly where Stacy was and what had happened to her.
Naturally, Drew's current legal team went into a frenzy to keep him quiet. As of 2026, Brodsky hasn't spilled the specifics, but he’s basically dangled the truth over the heads of the Peterson family for years. It’s a cruel game of legal cat-and-mouse.
Why Drew Peterson is Still in Prison (But Not for Stacy)
It is a common misconception that Drew Peterson was convicted of killing Stacy. He wasn't. He has never even been charged with her murder.
He's locked up because of Kathleen Savio. When Stacy went missing, the authorities finally realized that Kathleen’s "accidental" drowning in a dry bathtub three years earlier was actually a murder. Stacy’s disappearance provided the "hearsay" evidence needed to convict him—ironically, Stacy’s words from beyond the grave put him away.
- 2012: Convicted of Savio’s murder. Sentenced to 38 years.
- 2016: Convicted of a murder-for-hire plot to kill the prosecutor, James Glasgow. Added 40 years.
- 2024-2025: Drew has repeatedly tried to overturn his convictions, claiming "ineffective counsel." So far, judges aren't buying it.
The Reality of the "Blue Barrel"
For years, the "blue barrel" was the smoking gun that wasn't. Thomas Morphey, Drew's stepbrother, actually helped him move a large container from the second floor of the Bolingbrook home. Morphey was so distraught afterward that he attempted suicide, later telling police he believed he had helped Drew dispose of Stacy's body.
Despite this, the barrel was never found. The canal is deep, dark, and filled with decades of industrial waste.
What You Can Do to Help
The search for Stacy Peterson is largely a private endeavor now, fueled by her sister's refusal to let the case go cold. If you want to support the ongoing efforts, following the updates from the Stacy Peterson Search Facebook groups or contributing to the family-led recovery funds are the most direct ways to help.
The Illinois State Police still keep the case open as an "active investigation." If you or anyone you know has information regarding the events in Bolingbrook in October 2007, the tip line remains active. Even nearly 20 years later, a single detail about a vehicle or a location could be the key to bringing Stacy home.
Keep the pressure on local representatives to ensure that technical recovery efforts in the canal are prioritized. DNA technology has advanced significantly; if the remains Cassandra has spotted can be retrieved, we might finally have an answer.
Stay informed by following legitimate news outlets like Court TV or the Chicago Tribune, which continue to track Drew Peterson’s appeals and Cassandra Cales’ search efforts.
The story isn't over until Stacy is found.