Murder Suspect Drew Peterson Says He Is Owed An Apology

Murder suspect Drew Peterson is in the news once again, and this time he is claiming that Illinois State Police and Prosecutors owe him an apology for referring to his fourth wife Stacy as being “missing and presumed dead”

Peterson’s demand that police apologize was issued in a press release sent out on Tuesday. The release references a case which is completely where Judith Bello, of Washington State, had been presumed dead. She had been missing for the past 18 years, but was found alive and living in California.

The press release went further and stated that Drew Peterson “has always believed that Stacy is still very much alive” and that, because her mother disappeared once when Stacy was young, Joel A. Brodsky, Peterson’s lead attorney, stated that “in Stacy’s mind disappearing may be ‘normal.'”[The state police] made it seem like no woman, no mother, would ever just disappear, but as this most recent case shows, it does happen. In fact it happens more often than you would think,”

Drew Peterson is in jail in lieu of $20 million bail, charged with the murder of Kathleen Savio, his third wife. Savio was found dead in a dry bathtub in 2004, was originally pronounced dead in an accidental drowning, but later had her status changed to homicide after her body was exhumed. Peterson is also a suspect in the disappearance of Stacy who was last seen in October, 2007. At the time of her disappearance her friends and family told investigators she feared for her life.

Should police refrain from referring to people as “Presumed Dead” absent evidence of foul play?