Drew Peterson Says He's Under Seige

Suspect in wife's disappearance gives ABC News an exclusive look inside home.

ByABC News via logo
February 19, 2009, 3:20 AM

Nov. 28, 2007 — -- Former police Sgt. Drew Peterson calls himself America's No. 1 suspect.

Peterson has not been charged in connection with the Oct. 28 disappearance of his wife, Stacy, although police are calling it a possible homicide. But for the last month Peterson says he and his four children have been under siege, with the media and curiosity seekers surrounding his house almost all hours of the day and night.

Peterson says he wakes up every morning wondering what the next allegation against him will be. The Chicago Tribune reported today that a male relative, who was unnamed, had helped Peterson dispose of something heavy inside a blue plastic barrel just after Stacy's disappearance.

The relative was so distraught that he was hospitalized two days later after an apparent suicide attempt, according to the Tribune.

Peterson says that there was never a blue barrel in his house or garage, and that no one helped him move anything like that.

Peterson gave ABC News senior legal correspondent Jim Avila an exclusive look inside the family home to get a glimpse of how he lives behind pulled blinds and papered windows that block out prying eyes and camera lenses.

Peterson, who retired from the Bolingbrook, Ill., police force before undisclosed and unrelated misconduct charges were to be filed against him, says he now spends his days playing pool with his kids and hosting tea parties for his young daughter.

"You can't even breathe without the media making a story out of it," Peterson told Avila. "So the kids can't come and go like they should. My little ones can't play in the yard or play on their bicycles or do anything that they would normally do because the media's out there."

Police took all of the family computers, including the kids' iPods, the bedding from his master bedroom and a carpet cleaner during two searches of the house, Peterson said.

Peterson says he has even called the precinct where he used to work for help.

"We have called the police on many occasions and all I get from the command staff at the Bolingbrook Police Department is they [the media] have their First Amendment rights and they can do what they want to do," Peterson said.