Blue barrel a focus in search for missing woman

updated 10:54 a.m. ET Nov. 28, 2007

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. - Searchers looking for a former police officer's missing wife were told by police to watch for a blue plastic barrel that could fit the woman's body inside, one of the searchers said.

Illinois State Police also told members of Texas EquuSearch, which has assisted law enforcement, family and friends in the search for Stacy Peterson, to focus on areas of water in their search for the barrel, Tim Miller, founder and director of the private group, said Tuesday.

"They actually even gave me a picture of what we might be looking for," Miller said. "It was certainly large enough to put her body in, she only weighed about a hundred pounds."

Peterson, 23, was last seen on Oct. 28. Authorities have said her husband, Drew Peterson, is a suspect in her disappearance and have called her case a possible homicide. The search for the woman has been ongoing since her disappearance.

Peterson emerges
It was not clear why police were making the barrel a focus in the search. Illinois State Police did not return messages from The Associated Press late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Peterson's disappearance led authorities to re-examine the circumstances of the 2004 death of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio. Authorities have said her death may have been a homicide staged to look like an accidental bathtub drowning.

Drew Peterson, 53, has denied any involvement in either case and said he believes his 23-year-old wife left him for another man and is alive. His attorney did not return calls.

On Tuesday, Peterson emerged from his suburban Chicago home with a hand-held video camera and told the horde of reporters surrounding his house that they made him feel like a prisoner.

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