An Illinois mother who vanished with her cell phone and credit cards April 30 — but hasn’t used them — likely met “foul play” and investigators think her estranged husband knows something about it.
“Currently, right now, Mr. Stebic is the focus of our investigation,” Plainfield, Ill., Police Chief Donald Bennett told TODAY host Matt Lauer on Friday. “There is no question we feel foul play is involved.”
The search for Lisa Stebic made national headlines this week when a local television station broadcast video of a rival station’s reporter hanging around Craig Stebic’s home wearing a bikini.
The reporter for NBC affiliate WMAQ, Amy Jacobson, was fired after the video aired. She has said she made a mistake by trying to get closer to the chief suspect, but would not have been fired had she been a man.
Jacobson’s firing has no effect on the investigation, Bennett said, but the incident is bringing wider attention to Lisa Stebic’s mysterious disappearance.
Couple divorcing
Stebic, 37, was divorcing her husband but still living with him and the couple’s children, 12 and 10, when she went missing April 30. Craig Stebic told police that after arriving home from work and giving the children money to go buy candy, Lisa Stebic just vanished.
Her car was in the garage and her wallet and cell phone were missing. Because there has been “no viable confirmation” that Lisa Stebic actually did leave home that night, investigators conclude that she was harmed, Bennett said.
On the advice of his attorney, Craig Stebic stopped cooperating with police after the initial report of his wife’s disappearance, Bennett said. “Mr. Stebic has been very minimal throughout our entire investigation,” the police chief said.
According to news reports by Chicago-area media, Lisa Stebic had mailed a request to her attorney to have Craig Stebic evicted from the family’s home the day she disappeared.
Craig Stebic has denied any involvement in his wife’s disappearance.