Sister of Stacy Peterson vows to support defense attorney if he reveals details of missing woman’s fate

Stacy Peterson’s sister says she’d have the back of Drew Peterson’s former lead attorney if he gets in trouble with a judge for spilling his secrets — as long as Joel Brodsky helps end her nearly 15-year search for her “best friend.”

“If I got my sister back, yes, I would back him up,” Cassandra Cales told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday.

The case of Stacy Peterson’s 2007 disappearance — and the legal saga of her husband, Drew Peterson — is back in the news this week after Brodsky told WGN News he might finally reveal what he knows about her fate. That prompted a gag order Thursday from Will County Judge Edward Burmila.

Brodsky is the attorney who led the defense team at the 2012 trial that ended with Drew Peterson’s conviction for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Drew Peterson wound up with a 38-year prison sentence for the killing, which had originally been ruled an accident. He was later convicted of a separate murder-for-hire plot, which earned him another 40 years behind bars.

AP file

Still, it was the disappearance of Drew Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, that set those events in motion. Cales told the Sun-Times that having her sister’s case back in the news has been “very stressful.”

Cales has never stopped looking for her sister. She said she recently scouted an area to plan yet another search. While she didn’t want to say where she’d be looking, she said it’s based on “one of the best tips that I’ve ever gotten.”

“And if my sister’s not there, I can guarantee there’s somebody out there,” Cales said.

Cales said Stacy Peterson was her “best friend” and a “mom to me” amid a rough upbringing.

“We lived through a lot together, and we were there for each other every day of our lives growing up and all the way up until Drew [Peterson] took her from me,” Cales said.

She also said, “I miss seeing my sister’s kids, Lacy and Anthony.”

No one has ever been charged in connection with Stacy Peterson’s disappearance. That includes Drew Peterson, who is the prime suspect. Cales has long accused him of her sister’s murder, but she also said she doesn’t need justice in court.

Rather, she said, “I just want her home so I can be at peace.”

“I’m going to keep going until I bring her home,” Cales said.

Brodsky told the Sun-Times that he plans to fight Burmila’s gag order. He filed a notice of appeal Friday. Earlier, he said, “I want to tell the whole story, start to finish.” And he added, “whatever I say, I’ll be able to back up.”

Asked Friday about Cales’ comments, Brodsky said the two have a “friendly relationship.” He also said, “I give her a lot of credit.”

But Brodsky’s suggestion that he might disclose what Drew Peterson told him has also caused waves because it would appear to be a breach of an attorney-client relationship. Brodsky, whose law license was suspended on an interim basis in 2019, has said the rules of professional conduct allow attorneys to respond to false claims from clients.

Drew Peterson has long insisted upon his innocence and blamed Brodsky for his conviction.

Cales told the Sun-Times that, if she truly wanted to talk about something that was weighing on her conscience, “a gag order wouldn’t stop me.”