Children at Risk: Peterson Exploits Children to Soften Future Arrest
Rebekah Price
March 25, 2008
However, you have to give the publicist credit: he or she is trying. Drew Peterson tried really hard to look like an all-American dad surrounded by his four children in his latest orchestrated photo op. Is he a good guy in bad circumstances? Or is he really as uncomfortable as he looks while playing nice? His wild, ranting, inappropriate behavior of the past is much more real than the nouveau persona his unnamed publicist and Joel (I´m-having-second-thoughts) Brodsky created in their Dr. Jekyll laboratory. The snarling offensive tactics are his norm not the exception. Trying to explain away his past behaviors as personal defense mechanisms is merely another insincere attempt to garner public sympathy. Pulling out all the stops, what was left?
Don´t buy it.
The lowest of the low, encouraged by his tiny band of merry men, now exploits his children in the media. Just another despicable manipulation in the continuing saga, It´s All About Drew. Let´s call the media and let them see you are just the normal, average, everyday parent-turned-serial-killer trying to make it in this world, the publicist might have said. A single father of four, trying to hold it together since his wife "left" him high and dry--poor Drew, depressed Drew, victimized Drew. Not bad for a two-bit publicist, an egomaniacal attorney and their narcissistic client. It must have taken a lot of practice for Drew Peterson to hold it together for that two hour interview and photo shoot. Or meds.
The photo distributed by the Associated Press raises far more questions than it answers. The children look fed, clean and clothed, but the stress shows on their young faces, especially the two older ones. Look carefully and note Drew Peterson´s body language first appears to be open, but he has drawn the two smallest children around him like shields, once again taking advantage of the small and the weak. Peterson uses his own children to counter his egregious past. He is controlling the children, and the toll it is taking on them is evident. It is not the public scrutiny but the private coercion that heightens concern for their safety.
Abuse can come in many different forms. There is wife abuse, elder abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, physical abuse, financial abuse and emotional abuse--and the list goes on. The easiest way to abuse a child and leave no visible mark is through the mental abuse that encompasses psychological and emotional torment. Calculated words and deeds place children in dungeons of fear, manipulating thoughts and molding behavior. Children are sensitive and children under stress are prime prey for the sociopath. The path from wife abuse to child abuse is clear and uncluttered: a runway to ultimate control. Drew Peterson knows that.
Children do not miss much, especially frightened and abused children. Their instincts heighten their intuition and uncanny ability to know their environment, allowing them to morph and survive based on their assessments. Bets are that at least one of these children knows far more than he or she is telling. At least two of those children are old enough to formulate pointed questions and opinions. Perhaps the children do not even know they hold a secret--special information that would blast this case wide open. It is likely they have been coached well by their sociopathic father, fueled by ideas that their father is a victim of a woman who "left" him, and the world is out to get him.
What kind of life are the children living behind the closed door of that Bolingbrook house? What are they hearing? What are they seeing? Are they allowed to see their maternal relatives? Is he holding them hostage and brainwashing them? Why are these four children still in Peterson´s custody? Not only is Drew Peterson suspect in the deaths of two, perhaps three people, but this "exclusive interview" elevates him as a questionable abuser of his children.
The interview also revealed that pictures of Stacy fill the house, and her belongings, such as clothes, remain exactly as she left them. Did he dust them off for the media or did he leave them for the children, inspiring them to despise the woman who loved, then "left" them? He most certainly wanted to dispose of them as soon as possible, but, too many people are watching him too closely. The first sign of any change would be pounced upon, followed by flurries of questions that Drew is not willing to answer. So he suffers in silent rage with the knowledge that his own actions leave him and the children virtual prisoners in a house full of unintentional memories. How ironic Stacy´s presence now controls Peterson, while he most assuredly loses control of his own situation. Poetic justice.
This dawning realization could escalate into something far uglier in the future; and his publicist, no matter how experienced, can not control Peterson´s natural tendencies. He is neither talented enough nor strong enough to hold it all together as the public will see.
Drew Peterson is the only logical suspect in the murder of Kathleen Savio and the disappearance and probable murder of Stacy Peterson. He had history, motive, means and opportunity. This investigation needs to stop smoldering, and it must ignite, before Drew Peterson decides the current masquerade is no longer effective.
His next victims could be a lot younger.