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Posted: Thursday, 07 January 2010 6:56AM
Drew Peterson witness prepares for hearing
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JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) -- A potential star witness in the murder case against Drew Peterson paid a visit to the Will County State's Attorney's office Wednesday to prepare for a landmark hearing on hearsay evidence slated to be held in 12 days.
Thomas Morphey, Peterson's stepbrother, dropped by the state's attorney's office about 10 a.m., sources said. Morphey claims to have helped Peterson dispose of the body of his missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson
Morphey declined to comment on his presence at the prosecutor's office, as did Charles B. Pelkie, the spokesman for State's Attorney James Glasgow.
Morphey told the Herald-News in an exclusive interview in March that he and Peterson carried a blue barrel from Peterson's bedroom to the disgraced former Bolingbrook cop's waiting sport-utility vehicle hours after Stacy Peterson was last seen alive. Morphey said Stacy Peterson's dead body was in the barrel.
Morphey received immunity from the state's attorney's office within days of Stacy Peterson's October 2007 disappearance and the State Police hid him out in various locations for months before allowing him to return to his home and family in Bolingbrook.
Besides helping Peterson carry out his wife's body in a barrel, Morphey said Peterson solicited him to murder Stacy the week before she disappeared. Peterson also asked Morphey to rent a storage locker for him, he said, but he declined to do so.
Morphey is expected to testify at what is shaping up to be an explosive hearing to determine what -- if any -- hearsay evidence will be allowed at Peterson's murder trial. Peterson was arrested in May and charged with drowning his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004.
He faces no charges in connection with Stacy Peterson's disappearance, despite State Police naming him their sole suspect in a case they consider a "potential homicide."
Joel Brodsky, one of the four attorneys representing Peterson, failed to return calls for comment on Morphey's visit to the state's attorney's office.
Another of Peterson's lawyers, George Lenard, filed papers Monday asking to ban the public from the Jan. 19 hearsay hearing. Prosecutors have yet to respond to the motion, which is set to be heard by Judge Stephen White on Friday.
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