Almost A Decade Before Stacy Peterson Vanished, Her Mother Also Went Missing

BLUE ISLAND, IL — Almost a decade before her daughter went missing, 40-year-old Christie Cales disappeared on her way to a Blue Island church or a friend’s house — accounts differ — and hasn’t been heard from since. Her family believes her then-live in boyfriend killed her.

Cales, of Blue Island, was last seen March 11, 1998. She was the mother of six children, including Stacy Peterson, the fourth wife of former Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson, who also mysteriously disappeared in 2007. Like her mother, her family believes Stacy, too, died at the hands of her abusive husband, according to Joseph Hosey's "Fatal Vows: The Tragic Wives of Drew Peterson."

Drew Peterson would later be convicted by a Will County jury in 2012 of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Stacy Peterson, who as 23 at the time of her own disappearance, also remains missing.

The Cook County Sheriff’s team of investigators, dedicated to resolving cold missing persons cases, are re-focusing their efforts to generate new leads on the Blue Island mother of six who has been missing for 27 years.

Cales was last seen around 4:30 p.m. on March 11, 1998, carrying a bible and telling people she was going to a church. Some say she was on her way to a friend’s house. Wherever her destination was that afternoon, Cales never arrived.

Suffering from the unimaginable loss of two children — one child to SIDS, another in a house fire — Cales was plagued by alcoholism and prone to deep depression. She had a history of vanishing for weeks on end. Her marriage to Stacy’s father, Anthony Cales, was also troubled. Eventually, after one of the times she dropped out of sight, Christie just never came home to her children.

Despite her history of leaving her husband and children for weeks at a time, family members at the time of her disappearance told authorities in 1998 that she had never been gone this long.

Christie and Anthony had divorced in 1990. She lost custody of the surviving children she shared with Anthony — her sixth child was from another relationship — because she never showed up for the custody hearings.

Stacy and her siblings fared no better under the care of Anthony, who frequently moved the children from place to place. Finally, kind employers and older siblings took in the younger children. Stacy went to live with her older half-sister. Family members say Stacy never got over her mother’s disappearance. The upheaval Stacy experienced as a child may also have driven her into the arms of Drew Peterson, a possessive, jealous domestic abuser, who at the beginning of their relationship, at least, offered his young wife stability and security.

Cales racked up criminal charges for retail theft, DUI and property damage. She reportedly admitted to drinking a case of beer a day, and spent time in psychiatric hospitals for treatment of depression.

Christie Marie Cales, nee Tourges, is a white female. She went by the nickname of “Chris.” At the time of her disappearance, she had brown shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. She is 5-feet-4-inches tall and weighed 140 pounds. Cales has a tattoo reading “Sean” on her left breast, and a dove tattoo on her hip, according to The Doe Network, a volunteer-based organization that assists law enforcement agencies in missing persons cases.

In addition to last being seen in Blue Island, Cales was also supposedly sighted in Adams County in western Illinois, the Doe Network said. Cook County authorities believe Cales may have travelled to Mississippi. Cales would be 67 years old today.

Anyone with information about Christie Cales is asked to contact the Cook County Special Victims Division at 773-674-9490 or ccso.missingpersons@ccsheriff.org. Or contact the Blue Island Police Department at 708-396-7025.