State Investigators Cut Stephen Peterson a Break During Investigation

Two state investigators cut Stephen Peterson a break and let him wait to surrender the guns he stashed during a search warrant so his wife wouldn't find out what was going on with her allegedly murderous father-in-law.

State police Sgt. Gary Lawson testified that he and another investigator paid a visit to Peterson's North Aurora home the day after they searched the Bolingbrook residence of his father, Drew Peterson.

The state police were looking for some sign of Drew Peterson's missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, or clues to what happened to her.

Two days before the search in November 2007, Drew Peterson smuggled three guns to his son's home. Now, his son, an Oak Brook police officer, might lose his job over it.

Oak Brook Police Chief Thomas Sheahan has asked the Fire and Police Board to fire Stephen Peterson for hiding the guns and for possessing one that prosecutors later claimed was an illegal weapon.

While the state police were searching Drew Peterson's home, Dave Margliano, an investigator with the state's attorney's office, found ammunition for an AR-15 assault rifle, Lawson said. But no one could find the AR-15.

When investigators questioned Drew Peterson, he reportedly told them, "I knew you guys were coming and I took it to my son's house Tuesday."

So Lawson and state police Special Agent Herbert Hardy headed over to Stephen Peterson's home on Nov. 2., 2007. Earlier in the hearing, Stephen Peterson denied that this ever happened.

Despite Stephen Peterson's denials, Lawson described not only the exterior of the house, but the sparsely furnished interior. He went on to say that Stephen Peterson asked to meet with him and Hardy later in the day at the Bolingbrook Police Department, where his father worked for 29 years leading up to Stacy's disappearance and a couple week's after, until an internal affairs probe prompted him to retire.

Peterson asked to move the meeting elsewhere out of concern that his wife, Teresa Peterson, would find out about his father's situation.

"He said he'd cooperate in the investigation but he didn't want to be interviewed in the house because he didn't want his wife to know what was actually going on with his father," Lawson testified.

Teresa and Stephen Peterson initiated divorce proceedings earlier this year.

Lawson said he and Hardy agreed to put off their interview until later because Stephen Peterson "was a police officer and he was agreeing to cooperate with the investigation."

When he met with Lawson and Hardy that afternoon, Stephen Peterson surrendered the three guns and submitted to an interview.

Stacy Peterson remains missing, but her disappearance spurred the state police to charge Drew Peterson with murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, who was found drowned in March 2004.

Drew Peterson was charged with Savio's murder in May 2009. For the three and a half years between her death and Stacy's disappearance, the state police insisted Savio was the victim of a freak accidental bathtub drowning.

Stephen Peterson's disciplinary hearing is scheduled to resume on Dec. 9.