Relative Tells Police He Fears He Helped Drew Peterson Dispose Of Wife's Body

November 28, 2007 1:03 p.m. EST

Bolingbrook, IL (AHN)-A relative of former policeman and murder suspect Drew Peterson says he may have inadvertently helped Peterson dispose of the body, a new report revealed on Wednesday. The 53-year-old Illinois policeman is considered a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson, who was reported missing by her sister on October 29.

According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, a male relative of Drew Peterson told a friend on October 28 that he helped Peterson haul a large, blue barrel "big enough to put someone in" from a bedroom in the Peterson house to the former cop's SUV.

After learning of Stacy's disappearance, Peterson's step brother-in-law apparently became so distraught over his possible involvement that he tried to commit suicide. Police are now focusing their search for the blue barrel on areas of water, aided by the Texas-based search group EquuSearch.

It is also being reported that Drew Peterson did not did not show up to work on the night that his 23-year-old wife disappeared, casting additional suspicion on the former cop.

Peterson's third ex-wife, 40-year-old Kathleen Savio's body was exhumed recently for a second autopsy after authorities feared the initial cause of death ruling was wrong, and that her death was not an accident but staged to conceal a homicide