SEARCHING FOR JOHN SPIRA

I’ve gotten several emails from people from the U.K. who have seen the show already. We weren’t aware it would be airing over there but we’re glad it did. The more people who see the story, know about it, the better. If anyone would like to help, posting missing flyers which you can find on this site is always useful or write letters to DuPage County Sheriff’s Dept., to the media, to IL state reps, etc. We can’t let this fade away because then there will be no chance John will get justice.

“I hope and pray for my husband’s safe appearance,” said Suzanne Spira, who now lives in Buffalo, N.Y….
She is just as puzzled as to what happened to him as anyone.
“I have no idea what could have happened,” Suzanne Spira said. “What occurred on that day was atypical of John’s routine.”

That was a quote from Suzanne from the Kane County Chronicle on February 23, 2009. I believe it’s the one and only time she agreed to an interview but correct me if I’m wrong.

Why did she let so much time pass before she agreed to report John missing if she knew on Friday that his actions that day were “atypical”. She had an opportunity to report him missing on Friday night and again on Sat., after she knew he missed a music gig and of all people, she’d know he’d NEVER miss a gig. She waited until Sun morning to finally agree. And really, she has no ideas at all? Not one theory? C’mon. She’s got all the same facts we do….Suzanne, why don’t you just do the lie detector thing so we can move our focus elsewhere?

I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to paste my easy to read table in here so I’ll just do this in paragraph form. What I wanted to show with the table were the various similarities between the circumstances of John’s, Lisa’s and Stacy’s disappearances and yet the vast differences in how their cases were investigated and handled by authorities. In John’s case St. Charles police department had it early on but requested repeatedly for DuPage to take the lead as John went missing in DuPage County. DuPage refused and then quit on 3/29/07, but decided to take over in 4/07 after I wrote to Sheriff Zaruba. I’m not sure if that’s what prompted their takeover but it did seem that St. Charles and DuPage county had been playing hot potato with John’s case. Stacy’s case was handled by IL state police and Lisa Stebic’s by the Plainfield PD.

SIMILARITIES
1.John, Stacy and Lisa all went missing from the same general geographical area in IL within a short time frame in 2007.
2. Each person was in a horrible marriage. Lisa had just “evicted” Craig Stebic from their home and was going through a divorce; Stacy, per Drew Peterson, requested a divorce several times and according to others was in a controlling, abusive relationship with Drew Peterson. John and Suzanne had been going through a nasty divorce for two years and on the very day John disappeared, Suzanne had finally agreed to a divorce settlement; yep on the very same day. Did she know they’d never really be divorced? Let’s not forget what she told my cousin and the fact that her own daughter is a convicted murderer. Oh, and then there’s John’s statement to me just a week prior that Suzanne had made his life a living hell for the prior two years. In addition, John’s business partner, David Stubben, was the last to see John alive, they’d been having serious financial issues and Dave went over to Suzanne’s immediately after John disappeared to help her “shovel snow”. The police are aware of all of this.
3. Neither John’s, nor Stacy’s nor Lisa’s spouses participated in any candlelight vigils, or searches.
4. Both Suzanne (and Dave Stubben) and Drew insisted that their spouses voluntarily disappeared; Suzanne has sinced changed her stance on that I think but not sure and I invite her to please let us know. Craig Stebic did not say Lisa voluntarily disappeared.
5. To date, Craig Stebic and Suzanne (and Dave) have refused lie detector tests; only the pompous blowhard Drew Peterson agreed to take one.
6. THERE HAS BEEN NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF MURDER FOUND IN ANY OF THE THREE CASES.
Differences in Investigation:
Despite the above similarities, here’s what authorities have done in the cases:
1. Stacy/Lisa-immediately determined foul play. In John’s case police told me to my face (while I was completely frantic) that John was probably in Tahiti drinking with some girls. Yes, they decided that John left voluntarily (because they thought they should listen to Suzanne and Dave) and because they “knew” this was just a missing persons case, it wasn’t handled with the urgency a homidice would have been or the same way. Maybe things would have been different. Despite my urgent requests from the very beginning and to this day, the police still refuse to call this anything but a missing person’s case. Why, because there’s no physical evidence; but see the similarities between Stacy/Lisa/John’s disappearance.
2. Stacy/Lisa-police agencies organized searches and made request to public for help. In John’s case, I organized searches and begged the police to assist and to make media requests but that was not forthcoming. Although the police attended my searches, (after much prodding) they made it very clear they were not participating and because of that I was unable to get dog teams to assist as they require searches to be police searces. The police did do a dog search on 5/18/07 but I had already scheduled a search on 5/19/07 with media. I will say that they did actively participate at the 12/07 search where we handed out flyers and they were active in our October 2008 search. In fact, we had alot of police assistance on that one and even forest preserve deputies helped. We had dogs. It was by far the most professional search we had done and Dupage people were there walking through the weeds with the rest of us and for that we are very appreciative. A cameraman from ID Discovery was there filming the whole thing. Oh, and last January, 09, the police staged a search for the ID Discovery Show. After reflecting on this I do believe the police were doing their best to be helpful with events we scheduled and maybe I’m being too hard on them.
3. In Stacy’s and Lisa’s cases, their spouses have been named persons of interests and/or suspects. In John’s case I have been told by the police that although they don’t really mind communicating with me, the only person they are obligated to communicate with is Suzanne?????Huh? What about my parents? And this despite horrible divorce, despite facts Suzanne immediately tried to have John’s property appraised while convincing police John went missing voluntarily and that she left town after only 6 months of John’s disappearance. Oh yea, and Suzanne stands to get $500,000.00 from life insurance and possibly several MILLION from google stock-see probate proceedings Suzanne has filed in Kane County Probate Court.
4. Police have issued press releases in both Lisa’s and Stacy’s cases and have requested assistance from other agencies. In John’s case, police have not issued press releases and speak to them reluctantly and when they do they have not been forthcoming. Again, they never once requested the public’s help in finding John. They did not inform me of the National Center for Missing Adults, did not tell me about Tim Miller and Texas Equusearch because they didn’t even know who he was or that such agencies exist. When I asked the police why they don’t get other agencies involved, the response was, because “we don’t need to” which I found odd since they weren’t having any success whatsoever.
5. Grand jury proceedings (to determine probable cause) were called in both Stacy’s and Lisa’s case. Didn’t happen in John’s case.
6. Police continue to investigate Stacy and Lisa’s cases but they did not reply to my last email requesting confirmation that they have stopped investigating John’s case; thus I believe they are done. What would be really marvelous is if they could simply tell the truth and they know it’s the truth and call John’s case a homicide even without the physical evidence of murder as they have done in both Stacy’s and Lisa’s cases. If they could do that, then they could name some persons of interest and/or suspects but until they do so those people are free to go about living their lives with John’s blood on their hands.

Admittedly, John’s case is very difficult and hindsight is 20/20. There have been detectives both in St. Charles and DuPage who have expressed sincere interest in this case and I do believe they’d do more if they could but are limited by resources and the powers that be. Some of the detecives did take their own time to help on a few occassions which has been much appreciated. However, I feel that the agency as a whole could have and should have done more. They should have called this murder from the very beginning. I do think things would have been different and perhaps those responsible would have at least felt some pressure.

And yes, I’m probably taking my frustration out too much on the police who again, individually, seem to care and want to find answers, but collectively don’t. I know there’s only so much they can do with the information they’ve got and let’s face it; if they can’t arrest Drew Peterson for the murder of Stacy Peterson, we’ve got a long way to go in John’s case.

Police (in)Action in the Murder of John Spira
December 19,2009 Merry Christmas

Nearly 3 years have passed since my brother, John Spira, was murdered. To date we have been unable to find him. Though time has passed, it has not served to heal our wounds but rather deepened our anger and frustration knowing that the people responsible for his brutal murder (is murder anything other than brutal?) are free to live their lives and go about their business with no repercussions whatsoever. And of course, how can these gaping wounds close when we still don’t know where John is and how he died. Was he tortured, left for dead, stabbed, shot, did he beg for his life, did he suffer? The various scenarios of his death are left swirling in our imaginations until we know the truth.

The more that time passes the easier it is for us to see that the police dropped the ball in John’s case and thus the reason no arrests have been made. Police indifference to John’s case began first when they refused to take a missing person’s report from John’s girlfriend of two years (Suzanne, John’s wife with whom he was going through a nasty divorce refused to report him missing for nearly 48 hours). The police then did a cursory inspection of John’s business, they did bring dogs, but did not venture out of the vicinity of the business where his business partner of 17 years, David Stubben was the last to see John alive. The police then collectively immediately and arrogantly concluded, based on statements from both Suzanne and David Stubben, that John probably disappeared voluntarily. Yes, the police chose to listen to John’s wife who, according to John at dinner a week before he disappeared, had lived only to make his life “a living hell” (John’s exact words to me) and with the knowledge that John and Suzanne had been going through a nasty divorce during which time Suzanne got 2 DUI’s. The police also chose to listen to David Stubben, the business partner with whom John had been having serious financial difficulties for quite some time and who was very angry with John and, don’t forget, the last person to see John alive. During the divorce John did not want Suzanne discussing the matter with Dave and nearly obtained a restraining order against her to prevent her from doing so. Yet, days after John went missing, Dave went over to John’s house to shovel snow for Suzanne. Nevertheless, based on their statements, the police told me very callously over the phone, on March 29, 2007, a mere 5 weeks after John’s murder, that they were done with their investigation; they’ve done all they could and I’m on my own. Yes, I was stunned and devastated by that. It wasn’t until I wrote Sheriff Zaruba a letter about the situation that Dupage County Sheriff’s Dept., “took over” the case, whatever that means.

On March 3, 2007, when I learned of the availability of search dogs I begged the police to utilize but they would not and the search teams will not go out unless the police invite them. I found out about pinging of John’s cell phone and as late as September Mark Edwalds was still arguing with me over their significance. Why didn’t he just contact the cell phone company to see what the significance is? Despite my requests, the police never tried to listen to messages on John’s cell phone. They never investigated jobs that UCC was at with their UNDERGROUND CABLE EQUIPMENT. They did not try to ping David Stubben’s cell phone to determine his whereabouts on the night of 2/23/07 nor would they after requested to do so. I asked Major Mark Edwalds what they were doing with the case in May of 07. He replied they were “investigating”. I asked him what that meant and he said that they were reviewing the file to make sure St. Charles did everything correctly-Huh? (St. Charles was the agency handling initially who kept asking Dupage to take over because that’s where John went missing from). They were still convinced John left voluntarily despite my telling them over and over and over and over that John would never, ever leave his life. Was it because they simply didn’t want to spend the money or was it simply arrogance? I don’t know but I do know that the only time the police have ever actively done anything on John’s behalf was when they finally took a missing persons report and when I had organized a search or other event and thus were shamed into action by the threat of media attention. It took the police 5 months to discuss the case with John’s girlfriend of 2 years. It took them 5 months to collect and submit John’s DNA to the database; it took the police 5 months to inspect the gun safe in John’s house despite my earlier requests. They still to date have never verified Dave Stubben’s alibi and never did question his wife. Now, of course, it’s too late for that.

Then there was the fire of John’s building and disappearance of his missing poster on September 16, 2007. The 2 separate agencies handling John’s missing person case and the fire didn’t seem to communicate with each other. I was told that they did communicate but the fire people sure didn’t seem to know or want to know much about the missing person’s case. The fire investigators never contacted me to discuss the missing persons case and the times that I tried to explain the facts of the matter to them, I was met with arrogance, ego and attitude. They didn’t want to hear that at the time the sign went up right across the street from John and David Stubben’s business, employees (maybe Dave?) watched the sign go up; they didn’t care to know that just a few weeks prior, Tim Miller, with Texas Equasearch had called and left David Stubben several voice mails requesting his assistance in the search for John, they weren’t interested in the fact that just days earlier I had left Dave a very accusatory message regarding his involvement in my brother’s murder to which Dave never responded. The fact that the firemen couldn’t go near the building during the fire because too many bullets were going off didn’t seem to have any consequence either. And then there’s the fact that the sign went up at night on Friday with people from John’s business watching, not helping just watching and then by Sunday it was nowhere to be found and the building burnt down. How many people within that short time period could’ve seen the sign? How many people within that short time frame who were involved in John’s murder could have known the sign was there? Did the DuPage fire investigators really investigate the fire to see if remnants of the sign were in the building? I did ask about that and they quickly dismissed it but from what I know, I highly doubt they ever took the time to look into it. They never were able to determine the cause but isn’t it obviously suspicious where the fire of John’s building happened at the same time the huge billboard we posted across the street disappeared? Apparently not to DuPage County’s finest.

I’ve been told over and over again by the Sheriff’s Dept that they are investigating, that they talk about the case all the time. Talking and investigating, to my mind, are 2 completely different actions. While I do believe there are officers who sincerely want to help, they are at the mercy of an agency that really doesn’t give a shit and finds this case to be a thorn in their side. Every time I hear of a new missing persons case and see the police actively involved, requesting the public’s help in searches, communicating with family members, issuing press releases, contacting other agencies for assistance, I get weak in the knees and butterflies in my stomach from the anger I have toward the police in John’s case who have never taken an active role in this situation without being pressured into it. I believe they have been not only completely arrogant but negligent. I recently contacted the IL state’s attorney’s office and again was met with attitude. The attorney I spoke with clearly had spoken to Dupage after I left my message because he was nothing but a parrot. It took him over a week to return my call.

This is much longer than I intended and though I do not believe anyone reads this blog anymore I wanted to post the following table showing the similarities in the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of John, Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic and the differences in how the various police agencies have handled. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I could write a book, and maybe I will…

And just as soon as I figure out how to post my table, I will. In the meantime, if Dave, Suzanne or the police would like to make any corrections, additions or comments to this post, I anxiously invite them to do so.

Today is John’s birthday; he would have been 48 if he’d been allowed to live. No doubt he would have been celebrating and probably playin’ his guitar somewhere.

If I could, I’d tell John how very sorry I am someone had to take him away from his life and ours, I’d tell him that I’m so, so sorry he can no longer play his guitar, fly airplanes, race cars, spend time with his family, his nephews. I’d tell him how sorry I am that he had to go missing in the jurisdiction of DuPage County and that I’m sorry they took down his missing sign. I’d I’d tell him how much I miss him and love him and think about him everyday. I’d tell him that I hope he didn’t know what was coming and felt no pain and I’d tell him that he will get justice. It’s just a matter of time. I’d also tell him how many people do love him and care about him and about all those who have been so gracious with their time to help us.

And again, I ask Dave Stubben and Suzanne Spira to take lie detector tests. Just do it already. What a great birthday gift that would be. If you’ve got nothin’ to hide…