Body found in Will county sparks speculation about missing people
By ERIC SCHELKOPF – Chronicle News Group
The families of two area men who have been missing for more than two years do not hold out much hope about skeletal remains recently found along the Des Plaines River in Will County.
Bradley Olsen, 26, of Maple Park and John Spira, 45, of St. Charles each has been missing since 2007.
Susan Olsen, Bradley Olsen’s mother, hopes when the remains are identified, “one of our ... families will have closure.”
Her son was last seen about 2 a.m. Jan. 20, 2007, at Bar One in DeKalb. DeKalb police have said he arrived at the bar with some friends late Jan. 19.
“My thoughts and prayers are with all the families,” Susan Olsen said. “It’s unfortunate we have to go through more grueling waiting.”
Spira, 45, last was seen Feb. 23, 2007, at Universal Cable Construction near West Chicago, which Spira co-owned. A fire in September 2007 totaled the business.
“I’ve had so many calls about bodies being found,” said Stephanie McNeil, Spira’s sister. “I’m not going to think it is John until somebody calls me and they tell me it is John.”
There also is speculation the badly decomposed body might have been Stacy Peterson, whose husband Drew has been charged with killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
In addition, Lisa Stebic, a mother of two, was last seen in Plainfield in April 2007, and 37-year-old Lisle man Scott Arcaro has been missing since Feb. 22, 2007. He was last seen in Lisle.
The skeletal remains found along the Des Plaines River were not enough to determine an identity, race or gender of the corpse, Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil said.
The Peterson and Stebic cases are high-profile. Peterson’s husband, Drew, has been charged with killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Drew Peterson, who has pleaded not guilty in Savio’s death, contends that Stacy, his fourth wife, left him for another man when she disappeared in October 2007.
Stebic, a mother of two, was last seen in Plainfield in April 2007 and authorities have named Stebic’s husband, Craig, as a “person of interest” in her disappearance. He has not been charged.
An expedited DNA analysis by the Illinois State Police Forensic Crime Laboratory likely will take about two weeks, O’Neil said.
“Somebody’s family will get closure,” McNeil said.
