document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. We know she was married to Michael Peterson. Its not what [de Lestrade] included, its what he did not include, Jones whose 2004 book A Perfect Husband profiles the case and became the basis for the 2007 Lifetime movie The Staircase Murders, starring Treat Williams told The Post. Self-professed psychic Irene Lalagos testified Thursday that Stacy Peterson feared her police sergeant husband would carry out a murderous threat if she ended their . 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. If Michael received any money for the literary effort, it would have to go toward a $25 million award Caitlin Atwater won against him, he said. Kathleen and Michael Peterson famously lived in a sprawling 14-room mansion in the Forest Hills suburb of Durham, North Carolina. By using this site, you agree to the Terms . They noted that Michael was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. And thats exactly what Larry Pollard, a friend and neighbor of the now-free but convicted felon Michael Peterson, says he believes happened to Kathleen Peterson on the night a jury was led to believe her husband, Michael, killed her. By all accounts, Michael and Kathleen were believed to have a happy marriage and blended family. Michael Peterson is an author and a military veteran who served in the Vietnam War. It had cobwebs on it but no blood, which appeared to snuff out the prosecutions theory that the implement acted as the murder weapon. Some psychic. Your tax-deductible investment will help us work to Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. Everyone knows at least one wacky guy who wears shorts in cold weather. And as CNN reported, Kathleen apparently had a $1.8 million life insurance policy, and prosecutors argued that Michael might have killed his wife for financial gain. Previously, Michael had told people Liz Ratliff died from a brain hemorrhage, never mentioning a fall on the stairs, according an interview with Kathleen Petersons sister, Candace Zamperini, on Power, Privilege, and Justice. Lived In Hayward WI, Pine City NY, Pine City PA, Saginaw MI. Margaret, Martha, Todd, and Clayton also believe the justice system failed their father. Friends of Liz Ratliff, who lived on the same German military base as Michael and his first wife, testified about the bloodiness of the scene of her demise. The Staircase, starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette as Michael and Kathleen Peterson, explores the life of Michael Peterson, who was accused of murdering his wife Kathleen at their sprawling North Carolina home after she died under suspicious circumstances in December 2001.. But what's the real story behind The Staircase? Despite the fact Michael was the one to call 911 the night Kathleen allegedly fell down the stairs, Michael soon . During their 22-year marriage from 1965 to 1987, the pair welcomed two sons, Clayton and Todd. That means a decreased flow of blood to the brain, and it takes hours for that to happen. Kathleen has one biological daughter, Caitlin Atwater, from her first marriage. Not one.. By the way, WRALs story also says Mr. Fury attended grad school at Duke. Theory 1: Murder. Kathleen Peterson later succumbed to her. 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." So what about the owl? A 2009 motion for a new trial based on the owl attack theory was unsuccessful. Jury selection began in May 2003, and the State vs. Michael Peterson trial started on July 1, 2003, via The News & Observer. Although testing would later confirm that Kathleen had some alcohol in her system, it was nowhere near the stagger and face-plant level. The Staircase documentary is a vehicle for Michael Peterson, said Jones. Peterson, then 58, was a successful writer; Kathleen, then 48, a telecommunications executive. Once the strange coincidence of the unusual death was discovered, Elizabeth's body was exhumed as part of Michael's trial, and an autopsy concluded that she had died as the result of a "homicidal assault," and not a stroke, per The News & Observer. And then there was the owl theory, introduced late in the documentary. Caitlin changed her mind after seeing the autopsy report, and ended up siding with the prosecution. :t M \o[c@zhR_C-*jBR'FoK zm1%DVtW?ZN Ib:Iiw;+ eo=9q(DO5l'\s"dVsN9Q(Ru-tzzv%xVM'`]U CI%D"-.AGiGA Cir+A=[m9'l=lZt^:\j'Su.G{0GwO/"Ju)i&3BY PO0y\W{p"n$a,L2x[ She also served the position of philanthropist. Nonetheless, all five of Michaels children believed in his innocence at first. Kathleen Peterson and Michael Peterson in an undated photograph. "Michael Peterson knew that the amount of money he was bringing in through his writing had plummeted down to next to nothing," author of a book on Kathleen's death entitled Written In Blood, Diane Fanning, said on the Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast. Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. 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. Will a warm February mean a brutal spring or summer? During his initial 911 call, Michael said that Kathleen was still breathing, per official court documents. Novelist Michael Peterson told police he was sitting by the pool at the house at 1810 Cedar St. on the night of Dec. 9, 2001, and when he went inside around 2:30 a.m., he found his wife at the bottom of a back staircase, where she bled to death. Spoilers for The Staircase documentary and HBO Max series follow. The house was listed at $1.175 million, but reduced to $975,000 in 2003. 9 comments 45% Upvoted Sort by: best level 1 Michael Peterson while incarcerated at Nash Correctional Institution, 2003. Her husband, Michael Peterson, found her. Both Zillow and Redfin show the house was sold on Aug. 8, 2020 for $1.6 million dollars. The site of Kathleen Peterson's death in 2001 a nearly 9,500-square-foot mansion on a sprawling 3.4-acre lot in the heart of Durham has become a point of interest for true-crime fans and. Michael Peterson was so worried, in fact, he emailed his first wife Patty eleven days before Kathleen's death to ask her to take a $30,000 home equity loan to help their sons out because he was unable to do so. Michael Ivor Peterson graduated from Duke University, where he was editor of the school newspaper, then joined the Marines and earned silver and bronze stars for service in Vietnam. RR, Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube, a rogue owl played a role in Kathleens death, NFL player Rae Carruth in his murder trial, The Lindbergh Kidnapping: Forensic Files Lost Episode, Dawn Fehring: A Missionary Dies Too Young, Ron Gillette: An Air Force Man Who Didnt Exactly Aim High. Son uncooperative. (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.). When the jury found Michael Peterson guilty of first-degree murder in October 2003, however, the offer was immediately withdrawn. (The infamous blow poke was mysteriously found in the Peterson's garage during the trial, without any evidence of blood on it). And one intriguing theory involving an owl suggests that it may not have been a murder at all. And they claim because a fountain was on in the pool that he [while sitting outside, as he claimed] wouldnt hear it? Kathleen Hunt was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 21, 1953. Her husband was the prime suspect. the beliefs you hold dear into a tangible, results-oriented set of This type of plea allows the accused to maintain their innocence while also acknowledging that the prosecution likely has sufficient evidence to convict. A successful career as an executive at the communications firm Nortel followed. In court and on camera, Peterson initially presented his marriage to Kathleen as an enormously happy one, but prosecutors unearthed evidence that he had been secretly seeing men and that the. Kathleen Peterson's life insurance was later split between her daughter, Caitlin Atwater, and her first husband Fred Atwater. The occupants of the home are not known; however, as HBO Maxs series unfolds, more information may come to light. 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. "Without Kathleen's job and her pay check, he could not continue to support his two adult sons, he could not continue to maintain that home, he could not live the lifestyle he'd grown accustomed to. Her hands and arms had contusion bruises but not her legs, which suggests evidence of a struggle. Fury purchased the home from Jason Balius, the former co-owner of the Mad Hatter Bakeshop in Durham. 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. In April 2019, an extensive News & Observer story by Andrew Carter reported that Michael had written an e-book titled Behind the Staircase to exonerate himself, with any profits going toward charity. She confronted Michael about cheating on her, there was an argument, and he beat her to death with a fireplace implement, they alleged. This, however, barely featured in The Staircase's depiction of the trial. He'd previously spent time behind bars for reportedly placing a bomb in a Duke University office, according . Jessica O'Connor is a public historian focusing on Deep South Black History with degrees from Winston-Salem State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Cat is Cosmopolitan UK's features editor covering women's issues, health and current affairs. In the lead-up to Kathleen's death, Nortel had been making a large proportion of its staff redundant - as many as two thirds (or 45,000 workers) apparently. Call-guy talks. By 1997, Michael had finally divorced his wife, and he and Kathleen officially married. Michael also adopted Margaret and Martha Ratliff, the daughters of his late friend, Elizabeth Ratliff, whose death would later come to play a part in his trial. By the time Michael went to trial, Lestrade was already filming what would become his epic 13-episode documentary series. She was a successful student and was the first woman admitted to Duke University's School of Engineering in 1967, where she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees and met her first husband, physicist Fred Atwater. 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. Now her grave is a destination. 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. The judge resentenced him to 86 months, and Michael Peterson was released with time served. At least one person was swayed by the physical evidence: Kathleens daughter Caitlin, who had initially supported Petersons claims of innocence, along with his children. And a 2009 forensic analysis detailed traces of wood splinters and cedar needles in her hair, along with microscopic bits of feather. 82 0 obj <>stream Peterson was charged with her murder, convicted at. 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