Blue Barrel in Peterson Case 'Warm to Touch'

Nov. 30, 2007 — -- Investigators hope a massive ground search set for this weekend in the case of Stacy Peterson, the 23-year-old pregnant Illinois woman missing since October, will lead to clues to her disappearance.

Authorities in particular are looking to recover a blue plastic barrel that police suspect may have been used to move Peterson's body from the home she shared with her husband, former Illinois cop Drew Peterson, who remains a suspect in the case.

Investigators also want divers to search for the barrel in the Calumet Sag Channel, a waterway a few miles from the Peterson home. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been asked to clear out submerged cars that have prevented divers from safely entering the water.

The plastic drum allegedly was moved from the Peterson's Bolingbrook, Ill., house by Drew Peterson and his stepbrother the night that Stacy disappeared. The stepbrother, who has not been identified, later reportedly attempted suicide.

Walter Martinek, a friend of Peterson's stepbrother, told ABC's "Good Morning America" this week that the stepbrother spoke about the barrel the night he said he helped Drew Peterson move it. "A blue tote," Martinek said. "A sealed blue tote, and this is where he really got shook up, he goes, 'I know she was in there.'"

Martinek said he asked the stepbrother, "What do you mean you know she was in there?" And, Martinek continued, "he goes, 'It was warm to the touch.'"

But Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson's attorney, said the barrel is just another rumor in a case that has generated intense scrutiny for his client. "There is no container," Brodsky said. "There is no blue barrel."

Family and friends of Stacy Peterson, however, have gone on the offensive, claiming that they know a blue barrel exists, and suggesting it might be a key to breaking the investigation wide open.

"He says there was no barrel," said Cassandra Cales, Stacy's sister. "I saw it with my own eyes."

Cales also challenged the 53-year-old Peterson to take a lie detector test. "I'll take a lie detector test," she said. "I feel that Drew should take a lie detector test also."