12 Crimes of Christmas - "THE STAIRCASE MURDERS: CORRUPT EXPERTS, THE OWL THEORY & MICHAEL PETERSON'S FREEDOM - PART 2"

0:03 Caalarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter. Saturday, January third, twenty twenty six. Yesterday we covered the trial that convicted Michael Peterson of murdering his wife Kathleen at the bottom of their staircase in two thousand and one. Today how that conviction fell apart. December twenty eleven, eight years after Peterson was sent to prison for life, Judge Orlando Hudson, the same judge who'd presided over the original trial, made an announcement the conviction was vacated. The blood spatter expert who testified against Peterson, Dwayne Deaver, had lied, lied about his credentials, lied about his experience, gave testimony that was materially misleading and deliberately false. Deaver had claimed he'd worked on over five hundred bloodstained cases, the truth fifty four.

0:59 He'd exaggerated tenfold. And it wasn't just the Peterson case. Dever's fraudulent testimony had contributed to wrongful convictions across North Carolina. The State Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into his entire career. Michael Peterson walked out of prison on December sixteenth, twenty eleven, not a free man, released on house arrest pending retrial. But after eight years behind bars, he was out. The question remained, did he kill Kathleen? Or had a corrupt expert helped convict an innocent man? And then came the owl theory. I'm reed, Carter. This is Celebrity Trials today, Part two of the staircase murders, the fraud, the owl, and the plea that let Michael Peterson walk free. This is Celebrity Trials. Dwayne Deaver was a blood spatter analyst for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. For years.

1:57 He was the go to expert in murder cases. Prosecutors loved him, juries believed him, defense attorneys feared him. At Michael Peterson's trial, Deaver was the prosecution's star witness. He analyzed the blood patterns in the staircase, concluded they were consistent with a beating, not a fall, Demonstrated his methods for the jury, explained how he'd conducted experiments to support his conclusions. He testified he'd worked on over five hundred blood stain cases, said he knew exactly what he was looking at, said the evidence proved murder. The jury believed him convicted Peterson, but after the trial questions emerged. In twenty ten, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission was investigating the wrongful conviction of Greg Taylor. Taylor had been convicted of murder in nineteen ninety three based partly on Deaver's testimony.

2:53 The commission discovered Deaver had withheld exculpatory evidence test results that would have helped Taylor's defend. Taylor was exonerated, and investigator started looking at Diver's other cases. What they found was devastating. Deaver hadn't worked on five hundred cases, more like fifty four. He'd inflated his experience by nearly one thousand percent. His experiments were questionable at best. For the Peterson case, He'd conducted blood spatter tests without proper documentation, without following scientific protocols, without keeping records that could be verified. He'd testified in case after case using methods that weren't scientifically validated, given opinions that weren't supported by evidence, helped convict people based on junk science and lies. The State Bureau of Investigation suspended him, then fired him, launched a review of every case he'd ever touched. Peterson's attorneys seized on the revelations, filed motion after motion, argued their client deserved a new trial because the expert who'd helped convict him was a fraud. December fourteenth, twenty eleven, Judge Orlando Hudson agreed. The court finds that mister Deaver gave materially misleading and deliberately false testimony. Hudson wrote. The conviction was vacated.

4:11 Two days later, Michael Peterson posted three hundred thousand dollars bail walked out of prison after eight years, two months, and four days. He wasn't free, not yet. The state could retry him. The murder charge still stood, but he was out. Prosecutors appealed, argued the conviction should stand lost at the Court of Appeals. In twenty thirteen, the State Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Michael Peterson would get a new trial. But here's the question nobody could answer. Did Devers fraud mean Peterson was innocent or just that the trial was unfair? Deaver lied about his credentials, but did he lie about the blood evidence? Were his conclusions wrong or just his methods? The blood was still on those walls, was still dead at the bottom of the staircase, seven lacerations to her head, massive blood loss. Even without Dever, the prosecution had a case, the medical examiner's testimony, the financial motive, the bisexual affairs, Elizabeth Ratliffe's eerily similar death sixteen years earlier. Could they prove it again? Or had Devers fraud poisoned everything? Two thousand and nine, T. Lawrence Pollard, an attorney who lived near the Petersons, was reviewing the case files. He noticed something strange in the evidence list, a microscopic owl feather found on Kathleen's body and a

5:42 wooden spliver from a tree limb also found on her body. Pollard was an avid hunter new birds, knew how they attacked, and he started to wonder, what if Kathleen wasn't murdered at all? What if she was attacked by an owl? Sounds insane, an owl killing a grown woman. How is that possible? But Pollard started researching and the evidence was more compelling than anyone expected. Barred owls are common in North Carolina. They're aggressive territorial, known to attack humans who get too close to their nests, especially at night when they're hunting. There are hundreds of documented cases of barred owl attacks on humans. The owls dive at people's heads, strike with their talons, leave distinctive wounds, pairs of lacerations from the dual talons on each foot. Pollard looked at photos of Kathleen's head wounds. The seven lacerations didn't look like they'd been made by a blunt instrument. They were too small, too precisely spaced. They looked more like talon marks.

6:45 He contacted experts, doctor Alan Van Norman, a neurosurgeon, an owl expert, doctor Patrick Reddigg, professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Kate Davis, director of Raptors of the Rockies. All three signed affidavits said the injuries were consistent with an owl attack. Said the evidence the feather, the wood splinter, the wound patterns supported the theory. Here's how it might have happened. Kathleen went outside that December night, maybe to turn off the pool lights, maybe to check on something in the yard. An owl hunting in the dark mistook her hair for prey, swooped down, struck her head with its talons. Kathleen panicked bleeding from her scalp ran inside, made it to the back staircase, collapsed, fell down the stairs, hit her head again and again. The combination of the owl attack and the fall caused the seven lacerations, the massive blood loss. Michael was still by the pool, didn't hear it happen, came inside, later found his wife dead at the bottom of the stairs. Not murder, bizarre tragic accident involving a predatory bird. The owl theory explained things the prosecution couldn't. Why were there pine needles in Kathleen's hair she'd been outside. Why was there a microscopic feather on her body? An owl had struck her.

8:16 Why did the wounds look like paired lacerations rather than blunt force trauma talons? Not a weapon? Why was there no murder weapon found? Because there was no murder weapon, the weapon flew away. Defense attorney David Rudolph initially dismissed the owl theory seemed too crazy, too convenient, But over time, as he learned more about documented owl attacks, as he consulted with experts, he started to take it seriously. It became much more believable. Rudolph later said, you'd type in barred owls attacking humans and get dozens than hundreds of stories, pictures videos. It's not as crazy as it sounds. Michael Peterson him himself was skeptical at first. He dismissed it at first, but gradually, over time you start to take it a little bit more seriously, Rudolph said. The owl theory was never formally presented in court. Peterson's first conviction happened before Paullard developed the theory, and by the time the retrial was scheduled, Peterson chose a different path. But the theory has convinced many observers. A woman attacked by an owl, falling down the stairs in a panic, dying from a combination of talon wounds and fall injuries. It's strange, but not impossible, and it would explain why Michael Peterson has maintained his innocence for over twenty years. Maybe he didn't kill Kathleen, Maybe he really did find her dead at the bottom of the stairs, victim of a freak accident involving a nocturnal predator. Or maybe the owl theory

9:49 is just another layer of reasonable doubt, a creative explanation that distracts from the simpler truth, Michael Peterson beat his wife to death and staged it to look like a fall, just like he may have done to Elizabeth Ratliffe sixteen years earlier. We'll never know for sure, because Michael Peterson never went back to trial. We'll be right back with the offered plea that freed Michael Peterson and what Kathleen's family had to say about it. May twenty seventeen, Michael Peterson's retrial was scheduled to begin. Peterson had been out on house arrests since December twenty eleven, five and a half years of freedom, but not really free, ankle monitor restrictions on movement, the murder charge still hanging over him, Prosecutors were ready to try him again. They'd lost Dwayne Deaver's testimony, but they still had the medical examiner, still had the evidence about Elizabeth Ratliffe, still had motive, the affairs, the finances. Peterson's defense was ready too. They had the discredited blood spatter analysis. The owl theory is potential reasonable doubt doctor Henry Lee's alternative explanations. But Peterson was seventy three years old. He'd already spent eight years in prison.

11:13 Another trial could last months. If convicted again, he'd die behind bars, so he made a decision. February twenty fourth, twenty seventeen, Durham County Courthouse. Michael Peterson stood before Judge Orlando Hudson. He entered an Alferd plea. An Alford plea is a strange legal mechanism. The defendant doesn't admit guilt, maintains their innocence, but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to likely result in a conviction. It's guilty, not guilty, convicted but claiming innocence. Peterson pleaded to voluntary manslaughter instead of first degree murder. The judge sentenced him to a maximum of eighty six months in prison, but Peterson had already served over ninety eight months. He'd served more time than the sentence. Michael Peterson walked out of the courthouse a free man, a convicted felon, but free. His attorney, David Rudolph, spoke outside the courthouse. The bottom line here is that mister Peterson is not guilty. He never was guilty.

12:14 But Kathleen's family didn't see it that way. Candace Zamparini, Kathleen's sister, addressed Peterson directly in her victim impact statement Alford Schmalford, it means nothing, Michael Peterson. You are pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. You will be treated as guilty for murdering my sister Kathleen, and you will be a convicted felon forever. Laurie Campbell, another sister. It's wrong that after a jury sentenced him to life in prison for the murder of his wife, he gets to be a free man while Kathleen lies in her grave. Kathleen's daughter, Caitlin Atwater, had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Peterson in two thousand and seven. It was settled for twenty five million dollars under the terms any money any Peterson earns goes directly to Caitlin. Peterson wrote two memoirs after his release, Behind the Staircase and Beyond the Staircase, but he can't profit from them. The settlement with Caitlin ensures that he's donated the proceeds to charity. In interviews, Peterson has said he can live with the Alford plea. I can live with the fact that I didn't kill Kathleen.

13:22 I know this, whether you believe it or not, it doesn't really affect my life. He's also said he'd like to reconcile with Kathleen's family, but knows it will never happen. I would like to say, Candace, we all loved Kathleen, we all miss Kathleen. I am so sorry that you lost a sister. I didn't do it, but if it will make you feel better to believe that, fine, go ahead. Cold comfort for a family that lost a sister, a daughter, a mother. As for Elizabeth Ratliffe, Peterson was never charged with her death. The German investigation ruled it natural causes. I'm a medical examiner ruled it homicide, but no prosecution ever happened. Michael Peterson maintains he had nothing to do with Elizabeth's death either, says he was just a friend who helped a widow who adopted her orphaned daughters, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time twice.

14:18 Margaret and Martha Ratliffe, Elizabeth's daughters raised by Michael Peterson, stood by their adoptive father throughout believe he's innocent of killing both their mothers, sobbed when he was convicted, celebrated when he was freed. They changed their names back to Ratliffe after the trial, but they've never turned on the man who raised them. Michael Peterson turned eighty one in October twenty twenty four. Lives quietly in North Carolina, survives on his marine pension and Social Security. Can't profit from his books because of the settlement with Caitlin. He called the twenty twenty two HBO Max series The ste Case, starring Colin Firth and Tony Collette, an abomination, said the filmmakers trashed his family's life, but he acknowledges the original French documentary helped freeom. The cameras captured everything, including the problems with the prosecution's case that eventually led to his conviction being vacated. Peterson still maintains his innocence, says he never hurt Kathleen, never hurt Elizabeth. Ratliffe says he's been the victim of corrupt experts, over zealous prosecutors, and bad luck.

15:34 The owl theory remains unproven but widely discussed. Attorney Larry Pollard has spent years developing evidence to support it. Multiple experts have signed affidavits saying the injuries are consistent with a barred owl attack. Whether the owl theory is true or just creative reasonable doubt, it's become inseparable from the case. You can't discuss Kathleen Peterson's death without mentioning the owl. Dwayne Deaver, the discs Graced blood Spatter analyst, was fired from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. His fraudulent testimony contributed to multiple wrongful convictions. His exposure helped free Michael Peterson, but also revealed how easily junk science can convict innocent people. Kathleen's daughter, Caitlin Atwater, has moved on with her life, received the twenty five million dollar settlement, believes her stepfather killed her mother. The Peterson children, Clayton, Todd, Margaret Martha, remain divided. Some support Michael, others have distanced themselves, and the question at the heart of the case remains unanswered.

16:39 Did Michael Peterson kill Kathleen? Did he kill Elizabeth Ratliffe sixteen years earlier? Is he a double murderer who got away with it through legal technicalities and an Alfred plea? Or is he an innocent man victimized by coincidence two women he loved dying in eerily similar accidents, convicted by a fraudulent expert and freed only after eight years in prison. We'll never know. The Alford Plea closed the case without answering the central question. Michael Peterson says he's innocent, the jury said he was guilty. The evidence can support both conclusions. Make it make sense. That's our two part series on Michael Peterson. November twenty fifth, nineteen eighty five. Elizabeth Ratliffe, forty three, found dead at the bottom of her staircase in Germany, initially ruled natural causes, later reclassified as homicide.

17:34 December ninth, two thousand and one. Kathleen Peterson, forty eight, found dead at the bottom of her staircase in North Carolina, ruled homicide. Seven lacerations, massive blood loss. October tenth, two thousand and three. Michael Peterson convicted of first degree murder, life without parole. December fourteenth, twenty eleven. Conviction vacated blood spatter expert exposed as fraud February twenty fourth, twenty seventeen, offered plea to voluntary manslaughter time served. Michael Peterson walks free. Two women, two staircases, two deaths, one man connected to both pattern or coincidence, murder or accident, guilty or innocent.

18:21 The case of Michael Peterson reminds us that truth is sometimes unknowable, that trials don't always reveal what happened, that guilty verdicts can be overturned and innocent men can be convicted, and that sometimes the answer might be an owl tomorrow Drew Peterson, different Peterson, different state, same question, did this man kill his wife? Only this time the body was never found. Elizabeth Ratliffe was forty three years old. Kathleen Peterson was forty eight. Both deserved better than dying at the bottom of a staircase. Both deserved answers. Their families never got rest in peace. To both women, someone has to say their names. I'm read Carter, see you tomorrow.

19:08 This is celebrity trials.