However, NBC News reported that a medical examiner ruled that Kathleen's blood alcohol level was very low at the time of her death, so much so that she'd have been able to pass a breathalyzer test. Here are five facts to know about the case: 1. The couple combined their families into one household in the 5-bedroom 5-bath abode in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Durham. A male escort even testified in court that he'd engaged in an email exchange with Michael mere months before Kathleen's death, with the pair planning to meet in person, via CNN. But, as the prosecution pointed out in the trial, Kathleen was actually the sole owner of the house and the car. The fact that people even want to believe that is maddening. Whats more, she said, the feathers on Kathleen were likely from a pillow. Time for a tome. Bylines in the Daily Beast, Seattle Times, Classic Rock Magazine, LouderSound. She enrolled in Franklin & Marshall College and began taking Latin classes after finishing her basic studies. Though it is unknown how Kathleen may have felt about Michaels bisexuality, the prosecution argued that she would not have tolerated his infidelity. We know she had one biological daughter, Caitlin Atwater, two adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret Ratliff, and two step-sons, Clayton and Todd Peterson. Michael Peterson was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder on December 20, 2001, via WRAL.com. In 2018, Academy Award-winning French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade released The Staircase, a 13-episode Netflix documentary investigating the real causes of Peterson's passing. The Staircase documentary is a vehicle for Michael Peterson, said Jones. Photo of Kathleen and Caitlyn, from the Indyweek article linked below. They argued Michael's plan to kill his wife revolved around the $1.4 million life insurance policy she had in place. We are surrounded by Angels and Other Enlightened Beings who wish to help us as we travel on our journey and experience the grand adventure of life. Apex is losing its only movie theater. By investing in the John Locke Foundation, youre transforming By Wilson Wong. Heres how Raleigh ranks among US metros for first-time homebuyers, 74,000 & growing: Some NC police departments stockpile guns rather than release them. He needed her money to survive the way he wanted to survive," she said. We've received your submission. The trial of Michael Peterson saw untold twists and revelations, and a new HBO miniseries starring Colin Firth as Michael and Toni Collette as Kathleen looks likely to blow the whole thing open again. About. Shortly afterwards, Peterson, then still Kathleen Atwater, moved to Durham, North Carolina, and met Michael Peterson, a local novelist and occasional columnist for The Durham Herald-Sun who had served in Vietnam with the Marines. Related To Carol Peterson, Lisa Peterson. Life Coach, Psychic, Relationships, Tarot Kathleen Peterson. The Cosmopolitan story includes information from ornithology experts who believe a barred owl could have tangled its claws in Kathleens hair and made the gashes in her head that prosecutors alleged came from a metal implement. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. As reported by CNN Law Center, medical examiner Dr. Kenneth Snell had initially marked Kathleen's death as an "accident" caused by falling down the stairs. At a news conference, Michael said, "Accepting this Alford plea has been the hardest thing I've ever done," via ABC11, as he had hoped to clear his name. Perhaps he was trying to delete some files. Kathleen Peterson later succumbed to her. North Carolina released Michael Peterson on bond in 2011. The couple threw dinner parties for dozens of friends at their spread, which included a swimming pool with decorative fountains. Paramedics said that Kathleens blood had congealed, suggesting she died hours before he called 911. On February 1, 2007, Caitlin Atwater and Michael Peterson settled the wrongful death claim for $25 million, which was finalized on February 1, 2008. Bylines in the Daily Beast, Seattle Times, Classic Rock Magazine, LouderSound. Kathleen Hunt grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was so bright that she took advanced Latin classes at a nearby college while still in McCaskey High School, according to the Lancaster New Era newspaper. Lived In Hayward WI, Pine City NY, Pine City PA, Saginaw MI. One thing that absolutely wasn't mentioned in The Staircase is that Michael Peterson didn't remain single for all the years following his wife Kathleen's death. It still sports its grand staircase, library and game room, as well as its pool. Michael Peterson while incarcerated at Nash Correctional Institution, 2003. According to Bustle, Peterson's son Clayton now lives in Maryland with his two children. The documentary director told Metro that he began filming Peterson in February 2002 and didn't wrap until 2018. While the prosecution argued that Michael most likely murdered Kathleen with a fireplace blow poke that was deemed missing from their Durham home at the time of her death, Michael's defense attorney argued that Kathleen died from a fall down the stairs. Ashlie Chandler. Author, freelance writer and self-employed recruiter. The report also noted that she had been found holding clumps of her hair when she died. Do you think hes heard of Mike Nifong? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Among the 19 total rooms, there are five bedrooms and six bathrooms, along with a brick patio, slate patio, and both upper and lower galleries. Peterson was charged with her murder, convicted at. Off he went to North Carolinas Correctional Facility in Nash. However, as Snell told jurors, "the seven wounds he observed while watching other forensic pathologists perform the autopsy were a major reason he changed his initial finding of 'accident' to homicide from a beating.". According to the show's director, Jean-Xavier Lestrade, this relationship had no influence on how Brunet edited the series. Kathleen worried that she would lose her own $145,000-a-year job amid the downsizing, the AP reported. We know she lived at 1810 Cedar Street in a well to-do suburb of Durham, North Carolina. Investigators later brought in a forensic meteorologist who determined it was 51 to 55 degrees outside that night, a little too cold for beach clothes, which made investigators question whether he was really at the pool when Kathleen fell. The exterior shots are very recognizable from The Staircase, but also the scenes inside the wood-paneled study inside the home. We are all Light Beings who have chosen to experience life on the earth plane. However, that meeting never transpired, and it's unclear if Kathleen knew about her husband's sexuality or not. Lestrade's access to Michael Peterson means the HBO Max adaptation has a wealth of source material to draw upon. She possessed a wide range of skills. his wifes accidental fall down the stairs, used for the construction of the original. "They had a real story, which lasted until May 2017. As noted by the publication, it was suggested that, while waiting for a work email on the night of her death, Kathleen could have discovered Michael's secret correspondence and the illicit imagery. The accident scene was a bloodbath inconsistent with a tumble down the stairs. actions. And then there was the owl theory, introduced late in the documentary. Or Kathleen was upset because Michael was seeing other people outside the marriage. On December 9, 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found unconscious at the bottom of a staircase in Durham, NC. On 8th December 2000, Michael Peterson called emergency services saying that his wife Kathleen Peterson had fallen down the stairs. endstream endobj 84 0 obj <>stream Scott was an early suspect in the investigation due to his "strange behavior.". Prosecutors would later contend that Kathleen stumbled upon the trove of photos and messages while using Michaels computer she had left her own machine at work that day. Her husband was the prime suspect. The NBC series most recently broadcast an update of Down the Back Staircase in 2017. Also in 2019, Michael Peterson made a two-part appearance on Dr. Phil. There is even a scene filmed on the back staircase where Kathleen Peterson died. Margaret, Martha, Todd, and Clayton also believe the justice system failed their father. The legal age you can get married has just changed, Charles & Camilla break major royal tradition, Courteney Cox speaks on Harry magic mushroom claim, Harry 'adding at least one more chapter' to memoir, Dylan responds to being misgendered on Instagram. Investigators found out how Liz Ratliff, Margaret and Marthas mother, died. The couple lived together for a time after his release, he said. You can see the back of the property from the Kent Street side, which has barbed wire above the gate and No Trespassing signs. Life is really full of surprises," the director told French publication LExpress. Although Michael was still married with four children of his own, the new couple merged their families in 1987. It was determined that Kathleen died because of blood loss 90 minutes to two hours after she received several blows to the back of the head with a blunt object. She was an executive at Nortel, mother to Caitlyn, step-mother to Clayton and Todd (Mike's kids from a previous marriage . And since 2017, he has been a free man after his charges were reduced to manslaughter and he was released on time served. Insurance jackpot. This may have contributed to slipping down the stairs if she. Michael Petersons attorney, David Rudolf, told the court, Show me one piece of evidence, one person who says that Kathleen was upset because Mike was bisexual. Still, there was no serious drama until Dec. 9, 2001, when Michael Peterson made a desperate 911 call to report his wife had fallen down the stairs but was still breathing. Everyone knows at least one wacky guy who wears shorts in cold weather. While Kathleen wasn't one of the employees to have been laid off, she reportedly told her sister Candace she was concerned that by the end of the year she wouldn't have a job. The police found blood splatter between the legs of Michaels shorts and his bloody footprint on Kathleens clothes, which suggested he was standing over her and beating her. In November 1985, Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in her home. While strictly circumstantial, the prosecution still achieved a guilty verdict, but many who have followed the case or have now learned about it from the series were never convinced that her husband Michael killed her OR that she fell down a flight of stairs. Fk2 0yl0S] n[IEz T There are the believers: In terms of the owl suspect, witnesses have helped the Durham County Police come up with a composite drawing, now being distributed widely throughout the region: If you see him, dont attempt to apprehend him as hes armed and dangerous, but do contact the Durham County Police Department immediately. Then 68-years-old, Michael was released from prison pending a new trial, and after posting a $300,000 bond, via The News & Observer. The ending of Netflix's Triptych explained, Khlo Kardashian is living her best life on TikTok, Period-proof activewear to stop the leakage fear. By all accounts, Michael and Kathleen were believed to have a happy marriage and blended family. Theory 1: Murder. According to the BBC's Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast, which also investigates the crime, Kathleen was a big earner making a six-figure salary. She had a crushed hyoid bone, which is evidence of strangulation. An agent from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), Raymond Young, assessed the couples finances and discovered that they had more than $142,000 in debt spread across 20 different accounts. Charnel house. The family had sold the Cedar Street showplace, reportedly the largest house in Durham. Over the years, multiple theories regarding the cause of Kathleen's death persisted. Where is Morgan from the Murdaugh Murders now? Colin Firth plays her husband, Michael Peterson, the man who was accused of her murder. But she never let her own feelings affect the course of editing.". But what's the real story behind The Staircase? The other theory about Kathleen Peterson's death, Harry and Meghan 'evicted' from Frogmore Cottage. It was her initiation as Healer and Guide into the Lineage of King Salomon that amplified Kathleen's natural ability to flow this Light and love energy. Although testing would later confirm that Kathleen had some alcohol in her system, it was nowhere near the stagger and face-plant level. Netflix. The couple married in 1997 creating a very blended family. But there was one circumstance that Michael Peterson couldnt explain away. (And those investigators must have had money to burn they could have looked online or asked an autistic savant to recall the temperature that evening.). If Forensic Files got an annual performance review, it would always exceed expectations in telling a story in 22 minutes without making viewers feel cheated but at the same time leaving them interested in finding out more. Toni Collette's emotional portrayal is bound to create even more interest in the real Kathleen Peterson. Where are Michael & Kathleen Peterson's kids now? Although the case is more than two decades old now, Kathleen Peterson's death and the trial that followed are still a subject of fascination for many. Located in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Durham, the house boasts a patio with an outdoor fireplace, a library, a game room, five bedrooms, and five-and-a-half bathrooms, not to mention the pool where Michael claimed to be during what he alleged was his wifes accidental fall down the stairs. Plus the death of Liz Ratliff in Germany was deemed inadmissible. Caitlin changed her mind after seeing the autopsy report, and ended up siding with the prosecution. Lawyer Larry Pollard, who wasnt on the case but was a neighbor of Petersons, brought up this idea. Michael may have been a local newspaper columnist and author, but he wasn't a big earner - and he didn't own the 1810 Cedar Street property. Oh, and one more little thing: Investigators found thousands of gay male porn images and hookup conversations on Michaels computer. The interest on the twenty-something boys' loans were so high they had no money left to live on, and their father was concerned. Kathleen's autopsy later concluded that the manner of her death was homicide, due to "multiple blunt force impacts to [the] back of the head." Today, Caitlin is married and is now known as . But in 2003, he went to jail for life without the possibility of parole, a result of being convicted of the 2001 murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson. "This is one of the incredible things that happened during those 15 years. Peterson could have been sentenced to 64 to 86 months in prison, but the judge acknowledged the 89 months hed already been incarcerated, and thus, Peterson was made a free man. Son uncooperative. Over the years, Dateline has continually covered the case of how writer Michael Peterson's wife, Kathleen, ended up dead at the base of a staircase in their 14-room house. Her husband, novelist Michael Peterson, became the center of the investigation and was. "[Dr. Radisch, the state pathologist] moved her examination to the internal neck area, and discovered a bloodied fracture with haemorrhage on the small extension off of the left thyroid cartilage," the crime author wrote. Includes Address (6) Phone (4) Email (4) See Results. We find doubt uncomfortable., Jones isnt satisfied with that. And they claim because a fountain was on in the pool that he [while sitting outside, as he claimed] wouldnt hear it? We know she had one biological daughter, Caitlin Atwater, two adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret Ratliff, and two step-sons,. The ensuing case would become the subject of one of the defining true-crime documentaries in the genre: Jean-Xavier de Lestrades The Staircase. The eight-part series debuted in France in 2004 and in America in 2005, then arrived on Netflix in 2013 with additional episodes shot by de Lestrade in the years after the initial case. Why Thomas Crapper's Name Is Synonymous With The Toilet Even Though He Didn't Actually Invent It, Eerie Facts About Point Nemo, The Most Remote Location On Planet Earth, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Its grand Staircase, library and game room, as the prosecution pointed out in the John Locke Foundation youre. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend we. Only recommend products we back update of down the stairs plan to kill his revolved... 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