Drew P

I've been largely silent about the whole Drew and Stacy Peterson fiasco. Frankly, I don't give a shit whether or not (1) she's dead, (2) he killed her, or (3) he killed his third wife. He's obviously an asshole, based on the interviews I've seen with him and his general demeanor. Nonetheless, they haven't found a body or charged him with anything. Just because he an enormous dickhead doesn't necessarily make him a murderer.

Now the latest in the story is that a clergy member has come forward -- anonymously, of course -- to say that, in August, Stacy told him that Drew killed his third wife and made it look like an accident.

Here's what I find troubling about this anonymous clergy member spilling his guts:
(1) There is something called the priest-penitent privilege, which means that any communications between clergy members are privileged and confidential, so long as the communications are made to (or from) the clergy member when he or she is acting in his or her professional capacity as a spiritual adviser and for the purpose of seeking (or dispensing) religious counsel or advice. This privilege is not the clergy members' to waive. Rather, the person seeking the clergy member's advice is the only party who can waive this privilege. Thus, this anonymous clergyman had no business divulging the details of his conversation with Stacy, assuming of course the communications occurred in the course of Stacy seeking religious counsel or advice (which I'm guessing they did). Granted, there are exceptions to any rule about privileged communications. For instance, if a child reveals that he or she is being abused, the priest is obligated to report it, or if the penitent threatens to harm or kill someone, then the priest can report it. The communications between Stacy and her priest, however, doesn't seem to fall within any exception, which means the priest should have kept his yap shut. Furthermore, if it did in fact fall within an exception, then priest should have alerted the authorities immediately, and not waited over 3 months and anonymously told a Sun-Times reporter.
(2) If Drew told Stacy that he had killed his third wife and made it look like an accident, why the hell did she stay with him after that? Why didn't she tell the police? Why didn't she tell her family? My only thought is that perhaps it was an abusive relationship, and she was scared. However, I don't think there have been any allegations that Stacy and Drew's marriage was an abusive one (which obviously doesn't mean that it wasn't).

And the other new twist to the story is that Drew Peterson paid a relative to remove a giant rectangular box from his house the day Stacy disappeared. Of course the relative told a friend that it had to be Stacy's body in there "because it was warm." As we all know, dead bodies emit lots of heat, so this makes perfect sense. I tend to agree with Trib columnist Eric Zorn when he asks the legitimate question, "How dumb do we think Drew Peterson is?" He was a police sergeant familiar with homicide investigations. Why the hell would he hire someone to remove his dead wife's body from his house?

I have found one piece of evidence that implicates Drew Peterson. In 1988, Guns N' Roses released the GN'R Lies album, which includes a song called "Used to Love Her" with the following lyrics:

I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I had to put her
Six feet under
And I can still hear her complain

I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I knew I miss her
So I had to keep her
She's buried right in my back yard

I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I used to love her, but I had to kill her
She bitched so much
She drove me nuts
And now I'm happier this way

Before today, I had never put 2 and 2 together, but think about this: when Guns N' Roses released this song, Drew Peterson's third and fourth wives were still alive (granted, Stacy was 4 at the time). Drew Peterson was also alive in 1988, and he may have heard this song. And now, a mere 19 years later, his third and fourth wives are dead. As if that alone wasn't enough to convict him, "Used to Love Her" is the 6th song on the album. 666, number of the beast. Hello! The beast is Drew Peterson. Drew Peterson is the devil. Think about it.