JOLIET, Ill. — An autopsy performed Thursday on a headless, armless body found along the Des Plaines River was inconclusive, leaving questions about whether the badly decomposed corpse was one of two women whose disappearances have drawn national media attention.
The skeletal remains were not enough to determine an identity, race or gender of the body, Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil’s office said in a statement. An expedited DNA analysis by the Illinois State Police Forensic Crime Laboratory probably will take about two weeks, O’Neil said.
The coroner’s office also said the person had been dead “several months or more.” Shreds of blue jeans and a small amount of money were found with the remains, which were discovered in Will County by a cleanup crew.
The county was home to Stacy Peterson, whose husband, Drew, has been charged with killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Drew Peterson, a former cop who has pleaded not guilty in Savio’s death, contends that Stacy, his fourth wife, left him for another man when she disappeared in October 2007.
Savio’s death originally was ruled a drowning. It was reclassified as a homicide after her body was exhumed and an autopsy conducted following Stacy Peterson’s disappearance.
Lisa Stebic, a mother of two, was last seen in Plainfield in April 2007, and authorities have named her husband, Craig, as a “person of interest” in her disappearance. He has not been charged.
Drew Peterson, meanwhile, will have a new judge in the murder case against him, Carla Alessio-Policandriotes.
Earlier this week, the state’s attorney had asked that Judge Richard Schoenstedt be removed on the grounds of bias against the state.
