Jan. 2, 2026

12 Crimes of Christmas - "THE STAIRCASE MURDERS: MICHAEL PETERSON AND THE TWO WOMEN WHO DIED AT HIS FEET - PART 1"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter begins a two-part examination of novelist Michael Peterson and two eerily similar deaths sixteen years apart. November 1985, Germany: Elizabeth Ratliff found dead at bottom of stairs - Peterson was last to see her alive, adopted her two orphaned daughters. December 2001, North Carolina: Wife Kathleen Peterson found dead at bottom of stairs in pool of blood - seven lacerations to her head. Peterson's 911 call: "My wife had an accident. She's still breathing." She wasn't. Police discovered Peterson's secret bisexual affairs, financial troubles, and lies about his military record. The trial would become one of North Carolina's longest.

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter Friday, January two,

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twenty twenty six December ninth, two thousand and one, Durham,

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North Carolina, two forty in the morning. A nine one

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one call Durham nine one one. Where is your emergency?

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One thousand, eight hundred and ten Ceedters Street. Please, what's wrong?

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My wife had an accident. She's still breathing. What kind

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of accident? She fell down the stairs, She's still breathing.

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Please come. The caller was Michael Peterson, fifty eight years old, novelist,

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former marine captain, political columnist who'd once run for mayor

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of Durham. His wife, Kathleen, was forty eight executive at

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Nortel Networks, successful, wealthy, the breadwinner of the family. When

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paramedics arrived at the Peterson mansion, they found Kathleen at

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the bottom of a narrow back staircase, face up, eyes open,

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lying in a massive pool of blood. Blood on the walls,

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blood on the steps, blood everywhere. Michael Peterson said she'd

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fallen slipped on the stairs after they'd been drinking wine

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by the pool. A terrible accident, but first responders knew

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immediately this was no fall, the amount of blood, the

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pattern of the spatter, the seven separate lacerations on Kathleen's head.

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This looked like murder, and when police started investigating, they

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discovered something chilling. Sixteen years earlier, November nineteen eighty five, Germany,

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Elizabeth Ratliffe, forty three years old military widow, friend of

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Michael Peterson, found dead at the bottom of her staircase,

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head injuries, blood everywhere. Michael Peterson was the last person

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to see her alive. After Elizabeth died, Michael Peterson adopted

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her two young daughters. Two women, two staircases, two deaths,

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one man connected to both coincidence or pattern. I'm reed, Carter,

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this is celebrity trials today. Michael Peterson The Staircase Murders,

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Part one of two. Someone has to say their names.

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Michael Iver Peterson was born October twenty third, nineteen forty three,

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near Nashville, Tennessee. His father, Eugene, was of Scandinavian descent.

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His mother, Eleanor, was Italian American. Peterson was brilliant, ambitious, charismatic.

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Enrolled at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Graduated with

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a degree in political science, became editor of The Chronicle,

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Duke's student newspaper, made connections that would serve him for decades.

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After college, Peterson joined the Marines, served in Vietnam, came

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home with stories of heroism. Claimed he'd won a Silver Star,

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a Bronze Star with Valor, and two purple hearts. Those

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claims would later be proven false. Peterson embellished his military

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record for decades, used his supposed combat experience to add

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credibility to his novels, but records showed he was never

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awarded those medals, never saw the combat he described, another

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lie and a life built on them. After Vietnam, Peterson

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married Patricia Sue Patty. She was an elementary school teacher.

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They had two sons, Clayton and Todd. In the early

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nineteen eighties, the family moved to Germany. Patty taught at

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an American military school at Rhine Main Air Force Base.

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Michael worked on his writing. That's where they met Elizabeth

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and George Ratliffe. George was a captain in the military.

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Elizabeth was also a teacher at the base. They had

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two young daughters, Margaret and Martha. The families became close

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dinners together, holidays the children played while the adults talked. Then,

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in nineteen eighty three, George Ratliffe was killed in a

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secret military operation overseas. Elizabeth was devastated. A widow at

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forty one with two toddlers. The Peterson stepped into help.

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Michael especially. He'd come over almost every evening after dinner,

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help Elizabeth with the dishes, read to the girls, put

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them to bed. Sometimes he'd stay late into the night.

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Some people wondered if their relationship was more than friendship.

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Michael and Patty both denied it, said he was just

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helping a grieving friend. But on November twenty fifth, nineteen

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eighty five, Elizabeth Ratliffe was found dead. Her nanny, Barbara Melanino,

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arrived that morning to care for the children. Found Elizabeth

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at the bottom of her staircase, faced down, blood pooled

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around her head. The children were still asleep upstairs. Michael

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Peterson had been the last person to see Elizabeth alive.

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He'd had dinner at her house the night before, helped

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put the girls to bed, left around midnight. German police investigated,

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US military police investigated, and autopsy was performed. The conclusion

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Elizabeth died from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by von Villebrand's disease,

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a blood clotting disorder. She'd collapsed from a brain bleed

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and fallen down the stairs. Case closed tragic accident, natural causes.

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After Elizabeth's death, Michael Peterson became the guardian of Margaret

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and Martha Ratliffe as specified in Elizabeth's will. He adopted

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them raised them as his own. In nineteen eighty seven,

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Michael and Paddy divorced. She kept their sons, Clayton and Todd. Initially,

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Michael took Margaret and Martha back to the United States

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to Durham, North Carolina, and in nineteen eighty six Michael

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met Kathleen Atwater. She was everything he wanted. Smart, successful, beautiful,

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an engineering graduate who'd risen through the corporate ranks at

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Nortel Networks, made serious money, had a daughter named Caitlin

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from her first mass marriage. Michael and Kathleen moved in

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together in nineteen eighty nine, married in nineteen ninety seven,

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created a blended family of five children, Clayton, Todd, Margaret, Martha,

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and Caitlin. They bought a mansion on Cedar Street in

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Durham eleven thousand square feet swimming pool, tennis court. The

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house was worth over a million dollars. Michael wrote novels

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about Vietnam, three of them modest success, but Kathleen's career

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supported the family, her Nortel salary, her stock options, her

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success to the outside world. They were the perfect couple, wealthy, accomplished, happy.

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The facade hid the truth. December eighth, two thousand and one,

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Saturday evening, Michael and Kathleen Peterson spent a quiet night

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at home. Their children were grown and gone visiting or

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living elsewhere. It was just the two of them. According

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to Michael, They had dinner, drank wine, went out to

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the pool area to watch a movie on the outdoor television,

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kept drinking. It was a warm December night for North Carolina.

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Around midnight, Kathleen went inside. Michael stayed by the pool,

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said he wanted to finish his wine enjoy the night air.

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At two forty am, Michael called nine one one. My

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wife had an accident. She's still breathing, but Kathleen wasn't

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breathing when paramedics arrived. She was cold. Rigor mortis had

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already begun setting in. She'd been dead for hours. The

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scene was horrific. Kathleen lay at the bottom of a

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narrow back staircase, not the grand front staircase, but a

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cramped servant's stairway tucked in the back of the house.

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Blood everywhere, walls, steps, ceiling, a massive pool surrounding her body.

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Michael was covered in blood too, said he'd found her,

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tried to help her, held her. Paramedics called police immediately.

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This wasn't a fall. Falls don't produce this much blood.

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Falls don't cause seven separate lacerations to the back of

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the head. An autopsy revealed the full extent of Kathleen's injuries,

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multiple deep lacerations to her scalp, contusions on her face,

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back and hands, a fracture of the thyroid cartilage in

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her neck consistent with strangulation. The medical examiner ruled her

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death a homicide cause blunt forced trauma to the head.

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Michael Peterson was arrested and charged with first degree murder,

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and then the investigation uncovered his secrets. First, Michael Peterson

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was bisexual. He'd been having affairs with men, soliciting male

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escorts online, exchanging explicit emails with a former soldier he'd

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met through an online service. The prosecution's theory, Kathleen discovered

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the emails that night found out her husband had been

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lying to her throughout their marriage. They fought, Michael killed

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her to silence her. Michael's defense, Kathleen knew about his bisexuality.

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They had an understanding. It wasn't a secret between them,

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only from the outside world. Second, the Petersons were in

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serious financial trouble. Kathleen's Nortell stock had crashed, Michael's writing

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career had stalled. They were hemorrhaging money. The mansion was

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bleeding them dry. The prosecution's theory, Michael needed Kathleen's life insurance,

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needed her dead more than he needed her alive. Third,

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Michael had lied about his military record for decades. The

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Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Hearts, all fabrications.

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Michael Peterson was a liar. If he'd lie about being

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a war hero, what else would he lie about? And Fourth,

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the bombshell that would define the trial, Elizabeth Ratliffe. When

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Durham investigators learned that another woman in Michael Peterson's life

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had died at the bottom of a staircase sixteen years

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ear earlier, they wanted answers. In April two thousand and three,

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they exhumed Elizabeth Ratliff's body from her grave in Texas.

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The Durham Medical Examiner, doctor Deborah Radish, performed a second autopsy.

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Her conclusion was dramatically different from the German findings. Elizabeth

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Ratliffe's injuries were inconsistent with a fall down a set

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of stairs, Doctor Radish wrote. Rather, they are indicative of

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multiple blunt force impacts, either from blows to the head

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caused by a blunt object or by the head being

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forcibly struck against a hard surface. Elizabeth Ratliff's death was

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reclassified not an accident, not natural causes homicide. Two women,

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two staircases, two deaths, both connected to Michael Peterson, both

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now ruled homicides. The prosecution didn't charge Peterson with Elizabeth's

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murder Germany had jurisdiction, but they introduced her death at trial.

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Argued it showed pattern, showed Peterson knew exactly how to

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stage a murder to look like an accidental fall. He'd

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gotten away with it once, now he was trying again.

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Michael Peterson maintained his innocence, said he'd never hurt. Elizabeth

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said he'd never hurt. Kathleen said both deaths were tragic

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accidents and he was being railroaded, but the evidence was mounting.

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We'll be right back with the trial that captivated America

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and the theory about an owl that sounds insane but

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might actually be true. July two thousand and three, Durham

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County Courthouse, North Carolina versus Michael Peterson. The trial would

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become one of the longest in North Carolina history. Five

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months of testimony, more than seventy witnesses, evidence that would

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be debated for decades, and cameras. A French documentary crew

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led by filmmaker Jean Xavier de Lestrade had been following

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the case since Kathleen's death. They captured everything, not just

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the trial, but the family's private moments, the defense strategy, sessions,

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the emotional breakdowns. The documentary, called The Staircase, would become

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one of the most famous true crime series ever made.

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Prosecutor James Harden presented the state's case. Michael Peterson beat

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his wife to death used a blunt instrument, possibly a

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custom fireplace poker called a blow poke, that Kathleen's sister

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had given them as a gift. The blow poke was

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missing from the house, never found. During the investigation. The

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motive money and secrets. Kathleen discovered Michael's affairs with men,

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threatened to leave him, threatened to expose him. Michael couldn't

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let that happen, couldn't let his carefully constructed life collapse,

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so he killed her, beat her until she stopped moving,

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then called nine one one and pretended to be the

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grieving husband. The blood spatter evidence was crucial. The prosecution's

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expert was Dwayne Deaver from the North Carolina State Bureau

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of Investigation. He testified that the patterns on the walls

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and stairs were inconsistent with a fall, consistent with a beating.

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He claimed he'd worked on over five hundred blood spatter cases,

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said he could tell exactly what had happened. Deaver's testimony

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was damning. According to his analysis, Kathleen had been struck

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repeatedly while lying on the floor. The cast off pattern

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showed the weapon being raised and swung again and again.

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The prosecution also called the medical examiner seven lacerations to

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the head that doesn't happen in a fall. Falls produce

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one impact, maybe two, not seven. Not that pattern, and

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they called witnesses to Elizabeth Ratliffe's death, the nanny who

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found her body, another witness who'd spent much of the

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day cleaning blood off Elizabeth's walls. In nineteen eighty five,

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the message was clear. Michael Peterson kills women and stages

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it to look like accidents. He did it before, he

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did it again. Defense attorney David Rudolph countered every point

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on the blood. Rudolph brought in legendary forensic expert doctor

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Henry Lee. Lee testified the amount of blood was irrelevant.

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Head wounds bleed profusely. The spatter pattern could be explained

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by Kathleen coughing blood as it ran down her face

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from her injuries. He demonstrated by drinking ketchup and spitting

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it out, showing how coughing can create the same patterns

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Deaver attributed to beatings. On the injuries, Rudolph argued a

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fall down those narrow, steep stairs could absolutely cause multiple lacerations.

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Kathleen had been drinking, had valium in her system, the

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stairs were slippery. She fell, hit her head, tried to

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get up, fell again. Tragic but not criminal. On the

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blowpoke Rudolph produced the supposedly missing murder weapon founded in

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the Petersen garage, covered in cobwebs, no blood, no damage,

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never used in any murder. On the affairs, Rudolph argued

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Kathleen knew about Michael's bisexuality. They had an understanding. There

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was no explosive discovery that night, no fight, no motive.

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On Elizabeth Ratliffe, Rudolph argued the original German findings were correct.

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Elizabeth died of natural causes. The Durham medical examiner was biased,

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performing an autopsy seventeen years after death on a body

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that had been embalmed and buried. Of course the findings

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were different. That didn't mean the first findings were wrong.

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The jury deliberated for four days October tenth, two thousand

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and three. The verdict guilty first degree murder. Michael Peterson

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showed no emotion. His adopted daughters, Margaret and Mark Artha,

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collapsed in tears. His sons sat in stunned silence. The

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sentence was mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Michael Peterson was led away in handcuffs, fifty nine years old,

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convicted murderer. His writing career over his family shattered, his

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freedom gone, but the case was far from over. That's

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Part one of our Michael Peterson series. November twenty fifth,

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nineteen eighty five, Elizabeth Ratliffe, forty three years old, found

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dead at the bottom of her staircase in Germany. Michael

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Peterson was the last person to see her alive. Her

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death was initially ruled natural causes, reclassified as homicide. Seventeen

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years later. December ninth, two thousand and one, Kathleen Peterson,

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forty eight years old, found dead at the bottom of

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her staircase in Durham, North Carolina. Seven lacerations to her

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head ed massive blood loss. Her husband, Michael said she fell.

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October tenth, two thousand and three. Michael Peterson convicted of

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first degree murder life without parole. But tomorrow the conviction unravels.

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The blood spatter expert is exposed as a fraud, Peterson's

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conviction is vacated, and a bizarre theory emerges that Kathleen

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wasn't killed by her husband, but attacked by an owl. Yes,

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an owl. It sounds insane, but the evidence is more

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compelling than you'd think. Tomorrow, Part two, The Alford Plea.

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The owl theory and where Michael Peterson is today. Elizabeth

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Ratliffe was forty three years old, military widow, mother of two, teacher.

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Should have watched her daughters grow up, should have seen

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them graduate, get married, have children of their own. Kathleen

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Peterson was forty eight years old, Nortel executive, mother of one,

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stepmother of four, corporate success story. Should be retired now,

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should be enjoying her grandchildren. Rest in peace to both women.

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Someone has to say their names. I'm read Carter, See

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you tomorrow for part two. This is Celebrity Trials.