The estranged husband of a suburban Chicago woman missing for more than two months was named a "person of interest" Thursday by police, who also said they fear Lisa Stebic was the victim of foul play.
The couple were going through a divorce, but they still lived together with their two children in the family's Plainfield home. On the day of Lisa Stebic's disappearance, she had mailed off a petition seeking to remove Craig Stebic from their home
He was the last person to report seeing his wife on the evening of April 30; there has been no activity since on her credit cards, checking account or cell phone.
At a news conference, Plainfield Police Chief Donald Bennett said during the 10-week investigation, Craig Stebic has "offered only minimal assistance to detectives" and refused to participate in any searches organized by his wife's family and supported by police.
Bennett said that Stebic has twice refused requests by police and the Will County state's attorney's office to let investigators talk to his children - ages 10 and 12 - about their mother's disappearance.
"Police have logged thousands of hours in this investigation and have pursued every viable lead," Bennett said. "Unfortunately, Mr. Stebic had denied investigators the crucial opportunity to conduct a thorough, in-person interview with his children."
The children were among the last people to see their mother, the police chief said,and authorities believe they may have "valuable information that will assist in the investigation."
About an hour after the news conference, Stebic drove past reporters posted outside his spacious, 2-story home and parked his pickup truck in the garage. Inside the home, he started shutting windows, and when a reporter approached, said: "You know I can't talk to you guys. Call my lawyer."
In a phone interview, his divorce attorney Dion Davi said that he believed police had considered Stebic a person of interest all along and that Thursday's public pronouncement "is just a tack the police are using to try and force Craig's hand to intimidate him."
Davi said he has counseled Stebic not to allow the children to be questioned and that the youngsters already talked to authorities a day or two after their mother's disappearance.
"There does not appear to be any new information upon which to question them," Davi said.
The attorney said his client is trying to make sure his children have as normal a summer as possible. "They laugh, they joke, they're visiting relatives," he said of the kids.
Noting his client is "as strong as he can be," Davi said: "Craig maintains the statements he has always stated from day one. He is innocent of anything that has happened with Lisa."
During the news conference, the police chief said authorities have found no signs that Lisa Stebic left the house "of her own free will." Friends and family members detectives have interviewed said she never would have abandoned her children, and authorities are "now focusing on the scenario that she is most likely the victim of foul play," Bennett said.
Bennett declined to answer any reporters' questions.
The case also made news earlier this week when a television reporter covering the case was videotaped wearing a swimsuit at Craig Stebic's home and posted on rival TV station WBBM-TV's Web site. Reporter Amy Jacobson, who said she was just aggressively pursuing a source on her day off, was then fired by WMAQ-TV.
Bennett dismissed any speculation that his news conference was tied to the video, saying that the "incident involving Amy Jacobson has no impact on our investigation."
Jacobson has said she was heading out to go swimming with her children when Craig Stebic's sister called her and asked her over to discuss the case. Her actions and subsequent dismissal ignited a debate this week about whether she violated journalistic ethics.
Lisa Stebic, whose 38th birthday was in May, had worked her normal shift in a nearby elementary school cafeteria on the day of her disappearance and was home when her son and daughter arrived from school.
In the divorce case, she had accused her husband of being "unnecessarily relentless, cruel, inconsiderate, domineering and verbally abusive."
Craig Stebic, who filed for divorce in January citing irreconcilable differences, has said that he saw his wife leave the house April 30 carrying only her cell phone and purse. He reported her missing the next morning.
In May, police carried out a search warrant on the couple's home and vehicles, but a judge sealed its contents.
On Thursday, a neighbor who lives three doors down from the Stebic home said she wasn't sure the police announcement was meaningful.
"I don't know if it makes any difference," said Laurrie Bingenheimer, who described herself as a close friend of Lisa Stebic. "I believe (the children) know something and maybe (the police) can get the kids to tell them."
Standing in front of her house, Bingenheimer also said she had virtually no hope her friend is alive.
"Maybe they're getting closer to finding her," she said. "I don't feel she's alive. I haven't since day one, but she deserves better than where she is now."
M 3 c r u t i o Community Member 
|
|
