Help Bring Stacy Peterson's Remains Home

On October 28th, 2007, my sister Stacy Peterson was murdered in her Bolingbrook, Illinois home. That evening, her body was tied up with weights and pushed into the waters of the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal near Romeoville.

Based on eye-witness statements in the days following her death, volunteer civilian sonar search teams were dispatched to the canal to scan the riverbed. On November 19th, 22 days later, a human body was located. The sonar images and location information was given to law enforcement personnel who initially classified it as some sort of landscaping debris. By the time recovery divers were dispatched days later, the water currents had already pushed the body further downstream.

In the Spring of 2008, the body was relocated, but due to the condition of the body at that time, it wasn't noticed in the images until a review of evidence months later. By the time law enforcement divers finally dove in May of 2009, the body had once again moved.

With advances in sonar technology since 2009, my team recently deployed high-definition sonar to the area based upon calculations of the probable path of the body. The HD sonar identified a target. We were clearly able to see a human skull, rib cage, and the lower leg bones. Divers were sent down in the general area, since pinpoint locations are not possible. They were unable to sift through the immense amount of silt and mud that covers the remains but which our sonar can image through with the right conditions.

An ROV (Remote-Operated Vehicle) with sonar was deployed in response to the inabilities of the divers. We got very lucky, as for a moment the thrusters on the ROV blew away the silt from around the body and we were clearly able to see a human skull with the lower jaw partially detached and shifted; as well as the neck and shoulder bones of the remains. (Shown in the video just under, and to the right, of the black claw of the ROV). The attached photo shows a recreation of the event using an exact model of the ROV's claw arm and a medical training skull.

Video Here: https://youtu.be/NzXM2pI_AFE?si=_VbJNWllrK1DsXbt

Recovery with the ROV was not possible that day. Months later, after dragging their feet and allowing the bones to become covered in silt once more, law enforcement divers failed yet again to recover the victim's skeletal remains.

My only remaining option is a somewhat new technique involving the deployment of divers with a handheld version of the HD sonar that gave us our initial success at locating the remains after so many years underwater. With this sonar and a flip-down screen that they can watch through their dive masks, my divers should be able to hover just above the silt, without physically disturbing it, and scan for the bones that have for too long eluded us. Once located, they can swim right on top of them, mark the exact point, and begin to remove the silt to make a recovery.

Your help in this GoFundMe campaign will give us the funds needed to rent that handheld sonar equipment for approximately 3 weeks, train our divers at a controlled off-site facility, and then deploy them at our target area in the canal when weather and safety allow.

Your help will help us bring my sister Stacy Peterson's remains home and give her a proper burial.

Thank you all for your support,

Cassandra Cales (sister of Stacy Peterson)

**Should this campaign raise over $120,000, we will purchase the needed equipment rather than rent it.**