PLAINFIELD, Ill. – A judge on Wednesday threw out a divorce case involving a missing woman and her husband who has been named a “person of interest” in her disappearance.

Judge Joseph Polito dismissed Craig and Lisa Stebic’s divorce proceedings during a five-minute hearing. Craig Stebic’s divorce attorney filed a motion last week seeking to have the case closed.

“It’s taking a lot of attention _ the divorce case,” attorney Dion Davi said. “The missing person investigation should be first and foremost in everyone’s mind.”

Lisa Stebic’s divorce attorney, Glenn Kahn, told the Chicago Tribune he was disappointed. “As far as I know, I still have a client,” he said.

But he said the move wasn’t a surprise.

“There is really not much the court could do on the matter without Lisa Stebic,” Kahn said.

Plainfield police named Craig Stebic a “person of interest” in their investigation last week, saying they narrowed the focus of their investigation in part because of his refusal to let detectives talk to the couple’s 10- and 12-year-old children about their mother’s disappearance.

Court documents show the couple’s divorce proceedings, which began in December, had been contentious. On the day of Lisa Stebic’s disappearance, she had mailed off a petition seeking to remove Craig Stebic from their home.

Craig Stebic, who has not been charged in the case, was the last person to report seeing his wife on the evening of April 30.

Lisa Stebic, 38, had worked her normal shift in a nearby elementary school cafeteria April 30 and was home when her 10-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter arrived from school. Craig Stebic has said he saw his wife leave the house carrying only her cell phone and purse. He reported her missing the next morning.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)