On December 9, 2001, the dead, bloody body of Kathleen Peterson was found at the bottom of the staircase in the North Carolina 🏡home she shared with her second husband, novelist, 📰newspaper columnist, and one-time Durham mayoral candidate Michael Peterson. Michael was indicted by a grand jury and charged with first-degree murder. In 2003, a jury convicted Peterson of the crime, after what had perhaps been the longest trial in Durham's history.
On February 14th, 2017 Michael took an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter, was sentenced to time served and set free.
He is now living in a small apartment and claiming his innocence.
There are many theories about her death, from murder by her novelist husband, to an 🦉owl attack. Can you find the truth when others could not?
The Victim
Kathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson
Born Kathleen M. Hunt
February 21st, 1953
Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Died December 9, 2001
Durham, North Carolina
At the Time of Death 48 years old
Cause Of Death Lacerations of the scalp caused by a homicidal assault.
Resting Place Maplewood CemeteryDurham, Durham County, North Carolina, USA
Siblings Candace Zamperini, Lori Campbell, Steven HuntChildren Caitlin Atwater
Spouse Michael Peterson (m. 1997–2001), Fred Atwater (m. 1977)
Who Was She?
Kathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson was born on February 21st, 1953 in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina to Veronica Hunt. She grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She was an accomplished student, engineer, volunteer and leader. Kathleen had a great sense of humor, bubbly and intelligent. She loved to make her own clothes and was extremely hardworking. She was very generous to her family, friends, neighbors and the community in general.
Kathleen 🎓graduated first in her class at J.P. McCaskey High School, where, as a student, she was editor of the school magazine, named “Girl of the Year,” and and "Lancaster Lass".
She also became the first high school student to take college-level Latin classes at Franklin Marshall College.
Kathleen moved to Durham to attend Duke University. In 1971, she became the first female student accepted into Duke’s engineering school, and she later earned her bachelor of science degree and a master’s in mechanical engineering.
The family later moved back to Durham, to a house in Forest Hills on Hermitage Court.
Kathleen and Fred's marriage didn't last. When Kathleen discovered infidelity on Fred's end, they got divorced in 1985.
This absolutely devastated Kathleen She would spend her nights 😢crying herself to sleep.
Caitlin soon introduced Kathleen to her friends' father Michael Peterson, and the two immediately hit it off.
Michael lived down the street with his adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret and two sons, Clayton and Todd. Michael was going through a divorce as well.
Michael's sons didn't really approve of Michael and Kathleen's relationship and even blamed Kathleen for their parents split. After awhile his sons became more open minded of Kathleen's roll in their lives and just wanted their dad to be 😁happy.
In 1987, the families moved in together.
Kathleen and Michael married in 1997 in the house they shared. Kathleen's sister Candace had some doubts about Michael, but pushed them aside because she saw how 🙂happy Michael made Kathleen. By now Martha and Margaret thought of Kathleen as their mother.
By now Kathleen was a telecommunications company executive working for Nortel and Michael, a former 📰newspaper columnist, had penned several novels.
One of those novels he’d gotten “more than a half million dollar advance from his publisher".
Events
A week before Kathleen's death, her own supervisor was laid off. Kathleen was stressed because her company was going to lay off about 2/3 of their employees and she was 😟worried that she might be one of them. She was also having to fire people as well.
1999
Michael decides to run for Mayor, bringing out the fact that he was injured in a car accident and not combat. This ruins his reputation and his campaign for mayor.
2001
Michael decides to run for city council.
April 18th, 2001
Michael emailed a paternal uncle of his adopted daughters and asked him if he could chip in $5,000 a semester to help pay for Margaret's tuition and he agreed.
November 29th, 2001
Michael emailed his first wife, Patty, and asked if she could take out a $30,000 home equity loan to pay off their sons' 💳credit card debt and that he couldn't 🙊talk to Kathleen about it.
April 18th, 2001
Michael emailed a paternal uncle of his adopted daughters and asked him if he could chip in $5,000 a semester to help pay for Margaret's tuition and he agreed.
November 29th, 2001
Michael emailed his first wife, Patty, and asked if she could take out a $30,000 home equity loan to pay off their sons' 💳credit card debt and that he couldn't 🙊talk to Kathleen about it.
Friday, December 7, 2001
Kathleen takes the day off from work and the Petersons go
🎄Christmas shopping. In the evening Petersons attend N.C.
Independent party.
Saturday, December 8, 2001
About 3:30 P.M. 216 files were deleted from Peterson's 🖳PC with a disc-purging program called "Quick Clean."
4:41 P.M. Michael arrives at 🏋gym Y.M.C.A.
About 6:00 P.M. Michael speaks to Kathleen
about renting a movie.
6:59 P.M. Michael rents "America's Sweethearts" at Blockbuster Video.
about renting a movie.
Kathleen eats dinner
9:45 P.M. Christine Tomassetti arrives to take Todd to a 🎉party. She sees Kathleen and Michael sharing a bottle of 🍾wine.
10:20 P.M. Christine and Todd leave for
the 🎉party.
the 🎉party.
10:40 P.M. Password "Atwater" logs onto Peterson 🖳PC.
11:08 P.M. Co-worker Helen Prislinger speaks with Kathleen by
phone. Agrees to e-mail a 📁file for her teleconference.
11:53 P.M. Prislinger's e-mail arrives. The blank e-mail's
attachment is never opened.
11:08 P.M. Co-worker Helen Prislinger speaks with Kathleen by
phone. Agrees to e-mail a 📁file for her teleconference.
11:53 P.M. Prislinger's e-mail arrives. The blank e-mail's
attachment is never opened.
Sunday, December 9, 2001
Around Midnight Micheal Peterson said that he and Kathleen drink and talk outside near pool in 50 degree weather.
12:30 to about 1:45 A.M. Time unaccounted for.
About 2:00 A.M.
About 2:00 A.M.
Micheal claims that this is when Kathleen left the pool area,
headed inside for 🛏bed.
About 2:30 A.M.
About 2:30 A.M.
Michael leaves pool area.
2:40 A.M.
Micheal calls 9-1-1 claiming that he had just found Kathleen unconscious in their mansion and suspected she had fallen down "15, 20, I don't know" stairs.
Michael places his second call to 911.
2:48 A.M.
Michael tells paramedics that he and Kathleen had champagne and watched a movie before going to 🛏bed. He said that he went out to the pool to turn of the lights while she went up to the bedroom. Michael then tells them that when he came back in the 🏡house he found Kathleen at the bottom of the back staircase.
3:00 A.M. 🚓Police and detectives begin to arrive.
3:24 A.M. Investigators secure the scene and police officers escort Michael to his office, which is at the other end of the house.
Officers and investigators say that Michael seems 😕confused and walking around in circles and back and forth. They said that he didn't seem concerned about losing his wife.
Investigators notice that Kathleen's body is at an awkward angle and her head is resting on the first step of the stair case and next to her body were multiple towels, a roll of paper towels, Kathleen's flip flops that she was supposedly wearing, and Michael's tennis 👟👟shoes and 🧦socks. Investigators also notice that there seemed to be fresh blood on top of old blood. The appeared to be some sort of a clean up of some kind.
Between 4:15 and 5:00 A.M.
Michael logs on to his office 🖳computer and mumbles to
5:00 A.M. Michael phones his attorney who is also his brother.
The sink smelled of alcohol and there was two champagne 🥂glasses found by the sink. One of the glasses has smudges and fingerprint impressions, the other glass had nothing. Only Michael's fingerprints were found on the glass.
Luminol was used in the house and investigators discovered that there had been 👣bloody footprints that had been wiped away. This footprints led from where Kathleen's body was to the washing machine, that was in the laundry room, to the sinks and wine cabinet in the kitchen.
There was a bloody fingerprint on the wine cabinet door as well.
There was a bloody 👣footprint found on the back of the sweatpants Kathleen was wearing. This footprint matched Michael's tennis shoes that were found by her body.
There was blood found in Michael Peterson's shorts.
Todd and his friends were in the house and investigators let Todd go in the kitchen unsupervised to get his father a soda and ice.
According to Kathleen's family, the days following her death, Michael won't really talk to them, he does however talk to his lawyer and his brother Bill.
One of Michael's sons, Todd, starts telling people that Kathleen was drunk the night of her death. Investigators talk to Helen Prislinger and she says that Kathleen didn't sound impaired or upset when she spoke to her the night of her death.
The medical examiner released preliminary findings stating that Kathleen did not fall down the steps, that the lacerations were not consistent with a fall.
Caitlin stands by Michael until the autopsy report comes out.
Dr. Deborah Raddish is a forensic pathologist and performed the autopsy. Kathleen had multiple bruises and contusions on her arms, back and face. She had no injuries on her legs and knees. Raddish stated that with the scalp lacerations and the neck injury that her findings were unequivocally that this was not from a fall down the stairs. That it was from multiple impacts of a beating. And the fact that Kathleen was found at the bottom of the stairs was coincidence or that she was placed there in order to make it look like she fell down the stairs.
The autopsy report concluded that Kathleen had died from blood loss 90 minutes to two hours after sustaining the injuries.
Kathleen had clumps of her hair with 🔬microscopic owl feathers, wood splinters and cedar needles in her ✋hand.
Paramedics James Rose and Ron Paige arrive and hear someone 😭sobbing. They are followed by Todd Peterson and friends.
Kathleen Peterson is dead in the hallway at the foot of the staircase with cradling her.
There is blood everywhere, all over her body, the walls and even the ceiling. She was laying in a pool of blood, her clothes were soaked with blood, there was some on the bottom of her feet as well and her eyes were open. The blood looked coagulated. At one point Todd had to pull Michael off of Kathleen.
Michael tells paramedics that he and Kathleen had champagne and watched a movie before going to 🛏bed. He said that he went out to the pool to turn of the lights while she went up to the bedroom. Michael then tells them that when he came back in the 🏡house he found Kathleen at the bottom of the back staircase.
Officers and investigators say that Michael seems 😕confused and walking around in circles and back and forth. They said that he didn't seem concerned about losing his wife.
Investigators notice that Kathleen's body is at an awkward angle and her head is resting on the first step of the stair case and next to her body were multiple towels, a roll of paper towels, Kathleen's flip flops that she was supposedly wearing, and Michael's tennis 👟👟shoes and 🧦socks. Investigators also notice that there seemed to be fresh blood on top of old blood. The appeared to be some sort of a clean up of some kind.
Between 4:15 and 5:00 A.M.
Michael logs on to his office 🖳computer and mumbles to
himself about e-mail.
5:00 A.M. Michael phones his attorney who is also his brother.
During the Investigation
As the investigation continues there is blood found on the couch, the inside of the front 🚪door. The blood on the door seemed to be smeared or wiped. There was blood found on the porch and walkway as well. The sink smelled of alcohol and there was two champagne 🥂glasses found by the sink. One of the glasses has smudges and fingerprint impressions, the other glass had nothing. Only Michael's fingerprints were found on the glass.
Luminol was used in the house and investigators discovered that there had been 👣bloody footprints that had been wiped away. This footprints led from where Kathleen's body was to the washing machine, that was in the laundry room, to the sinks and wine cabinet in the kitchen.
There was a bloody fingerprint on the wine cabinet door as well.
There was a bloody 👣footprint found on the back of the sweatpants Kathleen was wearing. This footprint matched Michael's tennis shoes that were found by her body.
Todd and his friends were in the house and investigators let Todd go in the kitchen unsupervised to get his father a soda and ice.
What Happened Next
According to Kathleen's family, the days following her death, Michael won't really talk to them, he does however talk to his lawyer and his brother Bill.
One of Michael's sons, Todd, starts telling people that Kathleen was drunk the night of her death. Investigators talk to Helen Prislinger and she says that Kathleen didn't sound impaired or upset when she spoke to her the night of her death.
The medical examiner released preliminary findings stating that Kathleen did not fall down the steps, that the lacerations were not consistent with a fall.
Caitlin stands by Michael until the autopsy report comes out.
Autopsy
The autopsy report concluded that Kathleen had died from blood loss 90 minutes to two hours after sustaining the injuries.
Kathleen had clumps of her hair with 🔬microscopic owl feathers, wood splinters and cedar needles in her ✋hand.
There was also a small amount of 💊Valium found in her system along with traces of a muscle relaxer and a over the counter anti-histamine.
Kathleen had a bloodied fracture with hemorrhage on the small extension off of the left thyroid cartilage. According to Raddish it was an injury unlikely to occur in a fall. Usually it was the result of direct trauma to the bone and was common in strangulation or attempted strangulation.
Kathleen's death was ruled as a homicide.
On December 13th, 2001
Kathleen was laid to 🌹rest at the Maple Wood Cemetery in North Carolina.
Inscribed on her headstone is a quote from a poem called "Ascension" by Colleen Hitchcock which reads,
"Just whisper my name in your 💙heart i'll be there."
On December 20th, 2001
Michael is indicted for Kathleen's murder. He turned himself in to the Durham county jail.
Along with this two sons, Michael spoke publicly for the first time and is adamant about his innocence.
Michael spent a month in prison before a judge let him post bond. He went home to a wait his day in court.
Supposedly, this is when the crew for the documentary "The Staircase" became involved with the case and started 📽filming. Michael wanted the film crew to capture everything because he feared that the odds were stacked against him.
This is also when Michael allegedly started a relationship with the documentary's editor Sophie Brunet.
Supposedly, this is when the crew for the documentary "The Staircase" became involved with the case and started 📽filming. Michael wanted the film crew to capture everything because he feared that the odds were stacked against him.
This is also when Michael allegedly started a relationship with the documentary's editor Sophie Brunet.
Prosecutors went to Texas to exhume Elizabeth's Ratliff's body. Elizabeth had seven scalp lacerations just like Kathleen.
Detective Holland had been contacted by a lady named Margaret Blair, who said she had some information concerning the Peterson case. She told the detective that she has a sister named Elizabeth Ratliff who lived in Germany and died there in 1985. Elizabeth was friends with Michael and he had been the last one to see her alive. She then proceeded to tell Holland that Elizabeth was found at the bottom of her staircase. This led prosecutors to go to Texas to exhume the body.
Michael's Computer
The hard drive of Michael's 🖳computer was analysed by experts and there was hundreds of pornographic websites, over 2,000 downloaded photographs and an email exchange between a male escort named Brent Wolgamott.
The Pool
The pool had a ⛲fountain in it which made a lot of noise. This is why Michael said he didn't hear Kathleen's "accident." The pool was a good distance from the house, so this would have contributed to Michael not hearing Kathleen.
Trial
July 1st, 2003
The trial begins.
District Attorney Jim Hardin says a blow poke is the likely murder weapon.
Defense attorney David Rudolf says Kathleen Peterson died from an accidental fall.
July 14th, 2003
👮Police Sargent Fran Borden testified in court that when he arrived on the scene of Kathleen Peterson's death, he noted three 🚩🚩🚩"red flags" that made him 🤔suspicious.
🚩Borden told jurors that when he entered the Peterson home, he noticed blood on a kitchen cabinet and on a drawer handle. That was the first of the three red flags.
July 14th, 2003
👮Police Sargent Fran Borden testified in court that when he arrived on the scene of Kathleen Peterson's death, he noted three 🚩🚩🚩"red flags" that made him 🤔suspicious.
He said that when he was summoned to the scene on December 9, 2001, he was told that he would be investigating the death of a woman who fell out of a wheelchair and down a staircase.
🚩The second flag was the amount of blood on and around Kathleen Peterson, whose body was found at the bottom of a dimly lit staircase.
🚩The third was that Kathleen Peterson's head and spine appeared to be in alignment, even though police initially believed she fell down many steps. He stated that,
Lawyers for Michael Peterson claim Borden's conclusions did not add up because 👮👮police officers who reached the house ahead of Borden did not tell him that the scene might have already been contaminated."I squatted in the stairwell and looked up the stairs, trying to visualize every possible scenario how this woman could have come down those stairs, landed in the position where she landed, and where did all that blood come from.
It didn't jibe. It didn't fit."
August 11th, 2003
Male escort Brent Wolgamott testifies that Michael Peterson arranged to pay him for sex three months before Kathleen Peterson's death, but says the two never actually met. Wolgamott said that he back out at the last second and didn't meet Michael at his house. Wolgamott testified under an immunity grant.
SBI Agent Duane Deaver testifies that the blood spatters on the walls of the staircase, as well as the blood on Michael Peterson's shorts and 👟👟sneakers, are evidence of a beating.
Judge Orlando Hudson rules that evidence about the 1985 death of Peterson's friend Elizabeth Ratliff in Germany is admissible.
Chief medical examiner Deborah Radisch's autopsy showed Ratliff died as the result of a beating.
September 15th, 2003
Forensic expert Henry Lee testifies that the blood spatters at the death scene are consistent with a fall, not a beating.
September 23rd, 2003
Forensic expert Henry Lee testifies that the blood spatters at the death scene are consistent with a fall, not a beating.
September 23rd, 2003
Rudolf offers a blow poke that he says was found at the Peterson house over the weekend. It was found by Clayton Peterson while he is in the garage looking for some tools. The Blow Poke apparently was just leaning against the wall, out in the open. Over thirty police officers had thoroughly searched the the home from top to bottom, including the garage. Jim Hardin previously had officers measure from top to bottom, so he could have a scale model.
The Blow Poke was undamaged and had spiderwebs on it. It was also missing the hook at the end, which was never recovered.
Raddish is also called to the stand and asked by the defense how Kathleen could have been the victim of a beating when there were no fractures in her skull or brain injuries.
The Blow Poke was undamaged and had spiderwebs on it. It was also missing the hook at the end, which was never recovered.
Raddish is also called to the stand and asked by the defense how Kathleen could have been the victim of a beating when there were no fractures in her skull or brain injuries.
Oct. 10, 2003
After 14 hours of deliberations over four days, the jury finds Michael Peterson guilty of first-degree murder and he is sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Rudolf immediately appeals.
After The Trial
January 28th, 2008
Kathleen Peterson's daughter, Caitlin, is awarded a $25 million judgment in a wrongful death case against Michael Peterson.
August 21st, 2008
August 21st, 2008
Peterson lawyer Larry Pollard holds a news conference stating that an SBI report listing the presence of a 🔬microscopic feather supports the theory that an 🦉owl attacked Kathleen Peterson.
September 14th, 2011
September 14th, 2011
Judge Orlando Hudson grants David Rudolf's motion for a new trial for Peterson, determining that SBI agent Duane Deaver misled the judge and jury in his testimony.
December 21st, 2011
December 21st, 2011
In an interview with The News & Observer, Michael Peterson talks about being free from prison.
A Turn Of Events
February 24th, 2017
Michael Peterson took an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter, was sentenced to time served and set free.
After graduating, Peterson took a civilian job with the U.S. Department of Defense, researching arguments supporting increased military involvement in Vietnam. That year he also married Patricia Sue, who taught at an elementary school on the Rhein-Main Air Base in Gräfenhausen, West Germany. They had two boys, Clayton and Todd.
While living in Germany, Michael and Patricia befriended Elizabeth and George Ratliff and their two children, Margaret and Martha. After George's death, the Peterson and Ratliff families became very close. When Elizabeth Ratliff died in 1985, Michael became the guardian of her two children. After Michael and Patricia divorced in 1987, Clayton and Todd lived with Patricia, and Margaret and Martha stayed with Michael, who then moved to Durham, North Carolina. Clayton and Todd later also joined their father.
In 1989, Michael moved in with Kathleen Atwater, a successful Nortel business executive. They married in 1997, and Kathleen's daughter Caitlin joined the extended family that now consisted of Clayton, Todd, Martha, and Margaret.
His friend died the same way as Kathleen and was found at the bottom of her own stair case. He was the last person to see that friend alive.
Michael had $1.8 million life insurance plan for Kathleen.
Michael was having an online affair.
There questions about Michael's sexuality and if Kathleen knew about it.
Supposedly he had affairs with multiple men while married to Kathleen.
Police said he didn't seem too upset about losing his wife and that he acted kind of 😕confused.
He changed his story on the time frame and the events that took place before Kathleen died.
Allegedly, Michael and Kathleen had fallen asleep on the subway in Paris and they had things stolen while they were sleeping. When my woke up he was enraged and grabbed Kathleen so hard her arms were all bruised.
Born and raised in Europe to Patricia Sue and Michael Peterson. Todd moved to the United States at the age of 18. He attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received a degree in Political Science. After 🎓graduation, he worked in luxury real estate, in locations spanning North America, Central America, and the Middle East. He worked briefly for Nortel Networks, which employed his stepmother, Kathleen. He then started a website, Futazi.com, which offered tips to high-schoolers on kissing, sex, drunk friends and makeup. The content and photos of scantily dressed girls was inappropriate for that age group. The site introduced Todd’s alter ego, bodybuilder “Roman Croft,” with before-and-after photographs of him in boxer shorts.
On the night of Kathleen’s death, Todd had been at a 🎉party with friends and came to the house with four friends after 🚔police had arrived.
He was born in December 13th, 1974 to Michael and Patricia Sue Peterson.
Clayton was convicted in 1993 for drunken driving and resisting arrest when, after being handcuffed, he tried to escape. Later that same year, Clayton was arrested for speeding and driving while impaired.
Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent Jaime Colley testified that 2 of the 6 bombs were rigged to arrows for use with a 🏹crossbow.
Clayton Peterson also attempted to send stolen chemicals but the package was discovered because it was leaking acid and injured postal workers.
https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/1995/01/peterson-sentenced-49-months-bombing-attempt
He returned to Durham and sought to follow his father’s footsteps to Duke University.
At 19, Clayton Peterson was arrested and charged with planting a small 💣bomb in a Duke University office.
Clayton was convicted in federal court of possessing a destructive device after admitting in April 1994 that he broke into the Allen Building. He admitted to placing a pipe bomb submerged in gasoline in a closet on the second floor and to stealing photo identification equipment to make a fake ID. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Glaser said Clayton Peterson, was "dangerous" and "out of control," and that he blew up a telephone booth in Germany and had 6 pipebombs in his house.
Clayton said in a 1997 interview from prison that he planted the 💣bomb to divert attention from his pursuit of a fake ID, which he had discussed with friends. Clayton Peterson also said he took steps to prevent the bomb from detonating.
After his release, Clayton enrolled at N.C. State University, where he became an honors student and was valedictorian of his class
He sought counseling after he shoved his longtime girlfriend and she pressed an assault charge, for which he will not be prosecuted.
Elizabeth McKee Ratliff was raised on a farm in Rhode Island. She was a serious, artistic child. She sang and played an acoustic guitar, and spoke French and German. Elizabeth taught second grade at a U.S. Department of Defense School for 17 years. She was married to Captain George Ratliff, an Air Force navigator, in 1981. Their daughter Margaret was born that same year, and two years later, their second daughter, Martha, was born. George died before her during a secret military operation overseas in 1983.
On November 25th, 1985, Elizabeth was found tilted sideways at the bottom of a wooden staircase inside her home by her nanny Barbara.
German officials concluded that Elizabeth died of a cerebral hemorrhage which led to her falling down the stairs. She suffered lacerations to the head which were attributed to her fall, just like with Kathleen Peterson. Just four days before her death, she was complaining of severe headaches. She even scheduled a doctor's appointment out of concern, and had an appointment the next week.
Both Michael and Patricia raised Elizabeth's two daughters. Micheal lived next door to Elizabeth when she died.
On December 9, 2001, the dead, bloody body of Kathleen Peterson was found at the bottom of the was found at the bottom of the back staircase in the family home. Her step dad, Michael Peterson, was
was indicted by a grand jury and charged with first-degree murder. In 2003, a jury convicted Michael of the crime.
Caitlin filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Michael. It was ruled in 2004 that Caitlin and her biological father would be awarded the $1.5 million life insurance policy in Kathleen's name, which was initially would go to Michael. In 2007, Caitlin and Michael settled the wrongful-death lawsuit for $25 million. Michael still owes Caitlin $30 million, in fact, due to interest accumulated.
She 🎓graduated from Cornell University 2007.
Her legal career began as a public defender in Robeson County, North Carolina and then Durham County, North Carolina as an assistant District Attorney in the criminal division. Freda then went into private law practice as a criminal defense attorney toward the end of her career.
She wanted to be defined as a prosecutor and a woman second.
From 1991 to 2005, she served as a Durham County assistant prosecutor. During these years, she was involved in the prosecution of several homicides and other serious felonies. Freda was either dismissed or resigned in May of 2005 by District Attorney Mike Nifong and subsequently ran against him in a Democratic primary the following year. She was the third district attorney to leave within a week. He then defeated her in the May 2006 Democratic primary.
Nifong was later disbarred for more than two dozen violations of the North Carolina State Bar rules of conduct during his mishandling of the Duke University Lacrosse case and filed for bankruptcy.
Freda identified the top 10% violent criminals with vigorous prosecution, reorganize Durham law enforcement agencies to better combat gang violence, and redirect resources in the prosecutors office to focus on the most serious violent offenders.
Freda ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Durham County district attorney, in 2006 and 2008. In 2010, she also ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Durham County District Court bench.
In January 2015 Freda was arrested for several DUI charges and was working in a dry cleaning business.
On February 14th, 2016 Freda's brother, Zebulon Dr. (Zeb) Bowman died of diabetes.
He has worked on famous cases such as the JonBenét Ramsey murder case, the Helle Crafts wood chipper murder, the O.J. Simpson and Laci Peterson cases, the post-9/11 forensic investigation, the Washington, DC sniper shootings and re-investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He was also involved in the early stages of the Caylee Anthony case.
Werner Spitz was born in 1926 to physicians Siegfried and Anna Spitz in what was Stargard, Germany and now is now Poland. His family fled to Mandatory Palestine when he was a child. Spitz's father got Werner a job working in a medical examiner's office where he was charged with cleaning and other small duties. Spitz eventually began assisting with the autopsies. He assisted with the autopsy of future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's husband Morris Meyerson in 1951. He began medical school at the Geneva University in Switzerland. After four years in Geneva, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem established the university's Medical School and he transferred, receiving his medical doctorate after an additional three years. He graduated at the age of 27.
In 1969, Spitz testified on behalf of Joseph and Gwen Kopechne, the parents of Mary Jo Kopechne, who died following a car accident in the vehicle of Ted Kennedy. Kopechne was presumed to have died from drowning after Kennedy's car drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick island and plunged into the water. Kopechne's parents were seeking to prevent her body from being exhumed and autopsied. Spitz testified that the autopsy was unnecessary and the available evidence was sufficient to conclude that Kopechne died from drowning. The judge sided with Kopechne's parents and denied the request for exhumation.
In 2011, he testified for the defense in the trial of Casey Anthony. He disagreed with the prosecution's medical examiner Jan Garavaglia that the death could be ruled a homicide based on the autopsy, calling her work "shoddy". He criticized her for failing to open the skull and test sediment found in the skull that he believed to be proof that she decomposed on her side instead of in the position in which she was found. He disagreed with the state's theory that duct tape found next to Caylee's body was used as a murder weapon, saying it is much more likely that the duct tape was placed after her death to hold the mandible in place when moving the body. He also believes that the placement of Caylee's hair was staged by someone before being photographed.
In a CBS Detroit interview on September 2016 and in The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, Dr. Werner Spitz accused Burke Ramsey of killing his sister, JonBenét Ramsey without ever having performed an autopsy on her. On October 6, 2016, Burke filed a defamation lawsuit against Spitz seeking a total of $150 million in damages since Burke had never been a suspect.
Spitz is a professor of pathology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan and an adjunct professor of pathology at the University of Windsor in Canada.
He was born on December 12th, 1947 in Waterbury, CT to James and Margaret Borden. His wife is Maureen Borden. After graduation from Wilby High School, he served in the United States Air Force as a military policeman for four years. He then graduated from the University of New Haven in 1975. During his thirty year career with the Durham NC Police Department he served in a variety of roles including patrolman, detective, crime stopper coordinator and spokesman for the department and he was the recipient of numerous honors and accolades.
After retirement, he and Maureen moved to Alston Plantation in Pawleys Island. He was a member of Precious Blood of Christ Catholic Church. He was a devout Catholic and an amazing husband, father, grandfather “Uncle Buck” and friend to so many. On patriotic holidays, he remembered to call those who served with him over the years. He loved to sing 60’s songs and Karaoke in many local establishments. He was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police and the Knights of Columbus and a volunteer with The Miracle League and Teach My People.
Brought in by Michael's defense team. He is a bio-mechanics expert and a Professor at the Department of Neurology, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. His research interests include mechanisms of injury and its causation. He is the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Crashworthiness and held positions of National Expert in Injury Biomechanics and Director of Head Injury Research at the US Department of Transportation.
Important Facts
Kathleen was working 12 to 14 hours a day.
The Peterson's mansion was falling apart and was in desperate need of 🔧repairs.
The stock market wasn't being kind and the value of Nortel's stock and stock options were plummeting.
Kathleen would often call Caitlin and 😭cry hysterically.
The family had a $143,000 worth of 💳credit card debt.
Michael had $1.8 million life insurance plan for Kathleen.
Michael had a friend, Elizabeth Ratliff, who died in Germany in 1985. She was found at the bottom of her staircase as well and Michael was the last person to see her alive.
Michael often spoke out against the local government.
Michael lied about his war injury and his reputation was soured.
Elizabeth was found murdered at the bottom of the stairs with the same injuries as Kathleen.
The Petersons were living month to month via their 💳💳credit cards.
Kathleen was close to losing her job.
Michael was having an online affair with an escort.
Clayton and Todd were also in severe debt. The interest on the boys' loans were so high they had no money left to live on. Eleven days before Kathleen's death Michael asked his ex-wife and the boys' mother, Patty, to take a $30,000 home equity loan to help their sons out because he was unable to do so. According to one of Michael's emails,
Kathleen was actually the sole owner of the 🏡house and the car.
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. He needed her money to survive the way he wanted to survive.
Michael was having an online affair with an escort.
Clayton and Todd were also in severe debt. The interest on the boys' loans were so high they had no money left to live on. Eleven days before Kathleen's death Michael asked his ex-wife and the boys' mother, Patty, to take a $30,000 home equity loan to help their sons out because he was unable to do so. According to one of Michael's emails,
"It would be a huge relief off my [shoulders] because I am worried sick about them. It is simply not possible for me to discuss this with Kathleen."
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. He needed her money to survive the way he wanted to survive.
There is evidence that Kathleen was possibly strangled as well.
Kathleen was found with clumps of her hair with 🔬microscopic owl feathers, wood splinters and cedar needles in her hand.
Kathleen might have been dead sometime before Michael made the first 911 call, even though he tells the 911 operator she is still breathing. When paramedics arrived on the scene 10 minutes later, Kathleen was dead. It appeared to them that she had been dead for far longer than just a few minutes. They said that the blood in the stairway was far too congealed to be from a fall that just happened.
Todd was having an affair with a married woman, Christine Tomassetti.
Supposedly Michael had affairs with multiple men while he was married to Kathleen and Kathleen had left her first husband because of his infidelity.
Suspects
Todd was having an affair with a married woman, Christine Tomassetti.
Supposedly Michael had affairs with multiple men while he was married to Kathleen and Kathleen had left her first husband because of his infidelity.
Suspects
Who?
Michael Iver Peterson
He was born on October 23rd, 1953 near Nashville, Tennessee to Austrian immigrants Eugen Iver Peterson and Eleanor Bartolino. He 🎓graduated from Duke University with a bachelor's degree in political science. He was president of Sigma Nu fraternity and was editor of the daily student 📰newspaper,The Chronicle, from 1964–1965. He attended classes at the law school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Michael enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1969 and served in Vietnam. In 1971, he received an honorable discharge with the rank of captain after a car accident left him with a permanent disability. He received a ✯Silver Star and the ⭐Bronze Star Medal with Valor.
He began writing a column for the Harold Sun 📰newspaper about local corruption and incompetence. He alienated a lot of people with his very opinionated views. His column became increasingly popular so he decided to run for Mayor in 1999. This brought attention to a lie he'd been telling for years. Michael stated that he was injured in the Vietnam War and that is why he walked with a limp. It turned out it was from a car accident while on a security detail. This ruined Michael's reputation and his campaign for mayor. Two years later, Michael decided to run for city council.
Michael thought he was being framed in Kathleen's death or being treated unfairly due to his outspokenness in his columns, especially by the district attorney Jim Hardin.
Michael and his defense team hired Dr. Henry Lee and Dr. Werner Spitz.
Convicted in 2003 of murdering his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, on December 9, 2001. Michael was granted a new trial which was scheduled to begin on May 8, 2017. On February 24, 2017, Michael submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to time already served and freed. Michael's case is the subject of the documentary miniseries The Staircase, which started filming soon after his arrest in 2001 and followed events until his eventual Alford plea in 2017.
Michael thought he was being framed in Kathleen's death or being treated unfairly due to his outspokenness in his columns, especially by the district attorney Jim Hardin.
Michael and his defense team hired Dr. Henry Lee and Dr. Werner Spitz.
Convicted in 2003 of murdering his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, on December 9, 2001. Michael was granted a new trial which was scheduled to begin on May 8, 2017. On February 24, 2017, Michael submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to time already served and freed. Michael's case is the subject of the documentary miniseries The Staircase, which started filming soon after his arrest in 2001 and followed events until his eventual Alford plea in 2017.
He is now free and living in an apartment.
Why?
Michael was the last person to see Kathleen alive. His friend died the same way as Kathleen and was found at the bottom of her own stair case. He was the last person to see that friend alive.
Michael had $1.8 million life insurance plan for Kathleen.
Michael was having an online affair.
There questions about Michael's sexuality and if Kathleen knew about it.
Supposedly he had affairs with multiple men while married to Kathleen.
Police said he didn't seem too upset about losing his wife and that he acted kind of 😕confused.
He changed his story on the time frame and the events that took place before Kathleen died.
Allegedly, Michael and Kathleen had fallen asleep on the subway in Paris and they had things stolen while they were sleeping. When my woke up he was enraged and grabbed Kathleen so hard her arms were all bruised.
Allegedly, Michael became angry with the family dog when it broke something in the pool and and he did something to it where it bled to death. He told his children that it had a heart attack.
Michael wouldn't pay for Kathleen's headstone. Her burial went 18 months without one until the funeral director allowed her sisters to take over to pay for one.
Who?
Todd Peterson
He is currently the founder and President of DiscoveryVisit.com and resides in Nashville, TN.
Why?
In testimony during Michael's trial, police made it clear that Todd wasn’t cooperative that night. Todd was asked not to talk to others, but that Todd continued to do so. The police moved two women who were with Todd into another room and then at one point, Todd tried to signal out the window.
Todd was also severely in debt.
Who?
Clayton Peterson
Clayton had gone through turbulent teenage years in Germany, where he had easy access to alcohol and a fascination with explosives.
Clayton Peterson also attempted to send stolen chemicals but the package was discovered because it was leaking acid and injured postal workers.
https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/1995/01/peterson-sentenced-49-months-bombing-attempt
He returned to Durham and sought to follow his father’s footsteps to Duke University.
At 19, Clayton Peterson was arrested and charged with planting a small 💣bomb in a Duke University office.
Clayton was convicted in federal court of possessing a destructive device after admitting in April 1994 that he broke into the Allen Building. He admitted to placing a pipe bomb submerged in gasoline in a closet on the second floor and to stealing photo identification equipment to make a fake ID. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Glaser said Clayton Peterson, was "dangerous" and "out of control," and that he blew up a telephone booth in Germany and had 6 pipebombs in his house.
Clayton said in a 1997 interview from prison that he planted the 💣bomb to divert attention from his pursuit of a fake ID, which he had discussed with friends. Clayton Peterson also said he took steps to prevent the bomb from detonating.
After his release, Clayton enrolled at N.C. State University, where he became an honors student and was valedictorian of his class
He lives in Baltimore and has two children.
When an owl is killing something, it does so by grabbing it with both feet and hanging on until its prey suffocates or bleeds to death. It will often peck at it with its sharp beak, but most of the killing is done with the feet, which are extremely powerful, while the talons are very sharp.
Kate Davis- is the executive director of the Raptor of the Rockies. She stated that the time of year when Kathleen was killed is when owls are mating and are very territorial. Kate and three other owl experts believe Kathleen was killed by an owl.
Why?
He was severely in debt.
He had a violent and troubled past.
Who?
The Owl
Why?
To defend themselves from a large adversary such as a bear or a human, owls instinctively go for the head or face.Kate Davis- is the executive director of the Raptor of the Rockies. She stated that the time of year when Kathleen was killed is when owls are mating and are very territorial. Kate and three other owl experts believe Kathleen was killed by an owl.
Some say that the lacerations on Kathleen's skull look like it came from an owl claw.
Kathleen was found with a microscopic owl hair found in her hand.
Larry Pollard, a lawyer and the Peterson's next door neighbor, didn't believe that Kathleen had fallen down the stairs nor did Michael kill her. Instead he theorized it was possible an owl who attacked Kathleen.
He thinks that Kathleen could have left the pool and went into the garden to put up decorations and that's when she was attacked by the owl. He said that that would explain the blood on the walkway that lead to the front door and the blood that was left on the front door. She could have noticed she was injured and went inside and that she tried to go up the back stair case to tend to her wounds, got disoriented and and slipped on her own blood and fell backwards off the stairs. He believes that she tried to stand up again and fell again.
Other People
Elizabeth Ratliff
She was a close friend of Michael and his first wife Patricia. After her husband's death, Michael would come over to visit Elizabeth every evening after dinner. Michael and friends maintained that their friendship was purely platonic. Often, he'd help with the dishes or read to Ratliff's two young daughters before returning home.
German officials concluded that Elizabeth died of a cerebral hemorrhage which led to her falling down the stairs. She suffered lacerations to the head which were attributed to her fall, just like with Kathleen Peterson. Just four days before her death, she was complaining of severe headaches. She even scheduled a doctor's appointment out of concern, and had an appointment the next week.
During Michael's 2003 trial, Cheryl Appel-Schumacher testified that the blood reached all the way up the staircase. It took weeks for all the blood to be cleaned up.
Elizabeth’s body was exhumed in Texas in 2003. The North Carolina medical examiner performed an autopsy and concluded that she died from blunt force injuries and that it was the result of a homicide.
Caitlin Peterson Atwater Clark
She was born in Maryland to Kathleen Hunt and Fred Atwater. She had a very close bond with her mom. The family later moved back to Durham, to a house in Forest Hills on Hermitage Court. Her parents got divorced in 1985.
Caitlin introduced Kathleen to her friends' father Michael Peterson. Michael lived down the street with his adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret and two sons, Clayton and Todd. Michael was going through a divorce as well.
In 1987, the families moved in together. Kathleen and Michael married in 1997 in the house they shared.
was indicted by a grand jury and charged with first-degree murder. In 2003, a jury convicted Michael of the crime.
On February 14th, 2017 Michael took an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter, was sentenced to time served and set free.
Caitlin stood by her step dad until she read Kathleen's autopsy report and saw the photos.
Caitlin married Christopher Clark on March 10th, 2012 and had twins. They lived in London for several years after her husband graduated from law school.
Her and her family now live in Northern Virginia.
She was the editor of the documentary "The Staircase". Michael Peterson once had a relationship with Sophie Brunet while they were working on the series.
He was Peterson’s lawyer in his trial, and returned when he entered the Alford Plea in his second.
David didn't want to represent Michael after his trial, but he did.
He is still a practicing lawyer with his company Rudolf Widenhouse Law Firm, which is based in North Carolina.
Martha Ratliff
One of Michael and Kathleen Peterson's two adopted daughters.
She was born in Germany on January 3rd, 1983 to George and Elizabeth Ratliff.
She attended University in San Francisco.
She is a counselor and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
She's suffered greatly with anxiety as a result of everything that's happened.
Margaret Ratliff Blakemore
One of Michael and Kathleen Peterson's two adopted daughters, got married in her late twenties and is now known as Margaret Blakemore. She was born on December 10th, 1981, in Germany to George and Elizabeth Ratliff.
Both Margaret and her husband Neil Blakemore attended Colombia College Chicago between the years of 2006 and 2010. Margaret and Neil divorced in 2016.
Margaret lives in Los Angels, California where she is a 📽film producer.
George Ratliff
He was married to Elizabeth Ratliff and was the father of Martha and Margaret. He died 🌊overseas during a secret military mission.
He shared a room with a partition between his bed and his roommate's. His roommate got up very early for a military mission and saw, via their bathroom light, the lower part of George's body tossing and turning in bed. Then after he washed up and was almost ready to leave, he saw that George's body was motionless. He checked on him and found that he was dead. No heart attack. No toxic substances. He was 50 years old.
Patricia Sue Peterson
She was Michael's first wife and is the mother of Clayton and Todd Peterson. For several years, they lived together in Germany. There, she taught elementary school children for the Department of Defense for more than 30 years. Although they are no longer together, Patricia maintains that Michael did not murder Kathleen Peterson or Elizabeth Ratliff. She is retired now and lives in Durham.
Candace Zamperini
One of Kathleen's sisters. She thinks Michael is to blame for Kathleen's death. Zamperini claimed Michael and Kathleen was worried about money. She thinks that Michael killed Kathleen with the missing fireplace poke she had given her sister as a 🎁gift.
Lori Campbell
One of Kathleen's sisters. She claimed to witness Michael previously roughly grabbing her sister, which was why she continues to assert that he had something to do with her death.
Fred Atwater
He was a physicist. Kathleen Peterson's first husband and the father of Caitlin. Fred and Kathleen met while attending Duke University. They got married in 1977 and moved to Maryland. During this time they had their first and only child Caitlin. The family later moved back to Durham, to a house in Forest Hills on Hermitage Court. Kathleen and Fred's marriage didn't last. When Kathleen discovered infidelity on Fred's end, they got divorced in 1985.
Sophie Brunet
David Rudolph
David didn't want to represent Michael after his trial, but he did.
He is still a practicing lawyer with his company Rudolf Widenhouse Law Firm, which is based in North Carolina.
Freda Black
She was the assistant prosecutor in Michael's case and a mother of two teenage daughters. Freda was also a skilled organist, pianist, soloist and choir member. She served as the pianist for 8 years at the church in which she was a member- the Beverly Hills United Church of Christ.
She was born on November 11th, 1960 to Dr. Betty Lynch Bowman and James Fred Bowman.
After high school, Freda graduated with a B. A. From Wake Forest University in 1982 followed by obtaining her law degree from Campbell University of Law in 1985.
Her legal career began as a public defender in Robeson County, North Carolina and then Durham County, North Carolina as an assistant District Attorney in the criminal division. Freda then went into private law practice as a criminal defense attorney toward the end of her career.
She wanted to be defined as a prosecutor and a woman second.
From 1991 to 2005, she served as a Durham County assistant prosecutor. During these years, she was involved in the prosecution of several homicides and other serious felonies. Freda was either dismissed or resigned in May of 2005 by District Attorney Mike Nifong and subsequently ran against him in a Democratic primary the following year. She was the third district attorney to leave within a week. He then defeated her in the May 2006 Democratic primary.
Nifong was later disbarred for more than two dozen violations of the North Carolina State Bar rules of conduct during his mishandling of the Duke University Lacrosse case and filed for bankruptcy.
In 2001, Freda's brother, Dr. Tom Bowman, was county commissioner and physician. He resigned from the board of commissioners as part of a felony-plea arrangement related to repackaging prescription drug samples for sale.
In 2003, she served as assistant prosecutor in Michael's trial.
In 2008, she ran a second time for the position of head District Attorney of Durham, NC. In interviews she detailed her position on issues including her belief that the death penalty should be applied in only the most extreme cases and that plea bargaining is necessary due to the high volume of cases. She also acknowledged that serious cases may not be plea bargained due to victim’s objections. At the time, she agreed that adult prosecutions of young offenders should be raised from 16 to 18 years, as juveniles at 16, do not fully comprehend the consequences of their actions.
In 2003, she served as assistant prosecutor in Michael's trial.
In 2008, she ran a second time for the position of head District Attorney of Durham, NC. In interviews she detailed her position on issues including her belief that the death penalty should be applied in only the most extreme cases and that plea bargaining is necessary due to the high volume of cases. She also acknowledged that serious cases may not be plea bargained due to victim’s objections. At the time, she agreed that adult prosecutions of young offenders should be raised from 16 to 18 years, as juveniles at 16, do not fully comprehend the consequences of their actions.
Freda ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Durham County district attorney, in 2006 and 2008. In 2010, she also ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Durham County District Court bench.
In January 2015 Freda was arrested for several DUI charges and was working in a dry cleaning business.
On July 29th, 2018, she was found dead in her home at age 57. A caller to 911 requested that authorities check on Freda because family and friends hadn't been able to contact her for a few days.
The autopsy report stated that she died from a disease due to her alcoholism.
The autopsy report stated that she died from a disease due to her alcoholism.
Dr. Thomas Bouldin
A Neuropathology specialist used by the prosecution in Michael's trial. He graduated with honors from University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill School Of Medicine in 1974. Having more than 45 years of diverse experiences, especially in Pathology.
Thomas said that when he examined Kathleen's brain for any abnormalities he discovered red neurons. This means that Kathleen's brain was deprived of oxygen for sometime.
He estimated that Kathleen's death could have taken up to two hours.
Dr. Henry Lee
Henry Chang-Yu Lee is a Taiwanese American forensic scientist. He is one of the world's foremost forensic scientists and founder of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science.
He was one of the blood spatter experts hired by Michael and his defense team. He came to the conclusion that the blood splatter was due to a fall. Henry also said that there was no blood in Kathleen's lungs because she probably coughed it up all over the walls. He thinks Kathleen's death could have taken up to 30 minutes, since there was fresh blood over dried blood.
He was one of the blood spatter experts hired by Michael and his defense team. He came to the conclusion that the blood splatter was due to a fall. Henry also said that there was no blood in Kathleen's lungs because she probably coughed it up all over the walls. He thinks Kathleen's death could have taken up to 30 minutes, since there was fresh blood over dried blood.
Henry was born on November 22, 1938 in Rugao county, Kiangsu province, in China, and fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War in the late 1940's.
He was the 11th out of thirteen born to his parents.
His father traveled separately from the rest of the family and died when the passenger ship Taiping sank on 27 January 1949. Henry went on to graduate in 1960 from the Central Police College with a degree in Police Science. Lee then began his work with the Taipei Police Department, where he rose to the rank of captain at age 22, the youngest in Taiwanese history. He later emigrated to the U.S. with his wife in 1965.
In 1972, after coming to the United States to pursue his education, he earned a B.S. in forensic science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He went on to study science and biochemistry at New York University and earned his M.S. in 1974 and Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1975.
In 1972, after coming to the United States to pursue his education, he earned a B.S. in forensic science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He went on to study science and biochemistry at New York University and earned his M.S. in 1974 and Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1975.
Henry is currently the director of Forensic Research and Training Center at the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science and Distinguished Chair Professor in Forensic Science at the University of New Haven. He was the Chief Emeritus for the Connecticut State Police during 2000 to 2010 and was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the State of Connecticut during 1998 to 2000 and has served as that state’s Chief Criminalist and Director of State Police Forensic laboratory from 1978 to 2000.
Henry has written hundreds of articles published in professional journals, and authored or co-authored more than 40 books on forensic science, crime scene investigation and crime scene reconstruction. He has acted as an adviser or consultant to many law enforcement agencies. He hosted a show on the truTV network, formerly Court TV, titled Trace Evidence: The Case Files of Dr. Henry Lee, which highlighted his work on well-known cases. Lee has also appeared widely on television. He has been a guest on various Chinese TV and online programs.
In May 2007, Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, the judge in the Phil Spector murder trial, said that he had concluded "Lee hid or destroyed" a piece of evidence from the scene of actress Lana Clarkson's shooting
Dr. Werner Spitz
Werner Uri Spitz is a German-American forensic pathologist who has worked on a number of high-profile cases, including the investigations of the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. He also testified at the trials of Casey Anthony and Phil Spector, the civil trial against O.J. Simpson, and consulted on the investigation of JonBenét Ramsey's death. Werner was one of the blood spatter experts hired by Michael and his defense team. He came to the conclusion that the blood splatter was due to a fall.
Werner Spitz was born in 1926 to physicians Siegfried and Anna Spitz in what was Stargard, Germany and now is now Poland. His family fled to Mandatory Palestine when he was a child. Spitz's father got Werner a job working in a medical examiner's office where he was charged with cleaning and other small duties. Spitz eventually began assisting with the autopsies. He assisted with the autopsy of future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's husband Morris Meyerson in 1951. He began medical school at the Geneva University in Switzerland. After four years in Geneva, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem established the university's Medical School and he transferred, receiving his medical doctorate after an additional three years. He graduated at the age of 27.
Spitz moved to the United States of America in 1959. Spitz later served as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, Maryland, and Chief Medical Examiner for Wayne County, Michigan. There he made many controversial changes that led to him being charged in 1976 with taking parts from bodies without getting permission from the next of kin, privately charging for his services, and improperly conducting ballistic experiments on dead bodies. Although he admitted some of the charges, the Wayne County Prosecutor declined to prosecute him because "He was just being a doctor."
In 1970, while Spitz was the deputy chief medical examiner for Maryland, he determined that Sister Cathy Cesnik, a 26-year-old Catholic nun who disappeared in November 1969, had been murdered by a blow to the head. In 1994, a witness came forward and said a priest took her, then a young teen, to see Cesnik's body shortly after she had gone missing, as a warning to not say anything about the sexual abuse that was allegedly occurring at her Catholic school. The witness told police she remembered maggots on Cesnik's corpse, but was not believed, as police said there could not have been maggots in November. However, in 2016, when Spitz's original autopsy was made public, it noted there were maggots present. Werner confirmed this when interviewed for the 2017 Netflix series The Keepers, about Cesnik's murder.
In 1975, Spitz was asked to work as an adviser to both the Rockefeller Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations. He reviewed the autopsy performed 12 years earlier on president John F. Kennedy by military pathologists. "They botched that autopsy," Spitz said. "They had absolutely no experience in forensic pathology." He attributed the flaws in the investigation to the fact that at that time in the United States, forensic pathology was in its infancy. Despite his conclusion that the original investigation was flawed, he agreed with the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the shooting.
In 1979, Spitz consulted with the same committees on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 2011, he testified for the defense in the trial of Casey Anthony. He disagreed with the prosecution's medical examiner Jan Garavaglia that the death could be ruled a homicide based on the autopsy, calling her work "shoddy". He criticized her for failing to open the skull and test sediment found in the skull that he believed to be proof that she decomposed on her side instead of in the position in which she was found. He disagreed with the state's theory that duct tape found next to Caylee's body was used as a murder weapon, saying it is much more likely that the duct tape was placed after her death to hold the mandible in place when moving the body. He also believes that the placement of Caylee's hair was staged by someone before being photographed.
In a CBS Detroit interview on September 2016 and in The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, Dr. Werner Spitz accused Burke Ramsey of killing his sister, JonBenét Ramsey without ever having performed an autopsy on her. On October 6, 2016, Burke filed a defamation lawsuit against Spitz seeking a total of $150 million in damages since Burke had never been a suspect.
Spitz is a professor of pathology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan and an adjunct professor of pathology at the University of Windsor in Canada.
Police Sargent Fran(Frances) Borden
He passed away at Georgetown Hospital on Sunday, July 3, 2016.
This was called into question as he was fired from the Bureau for alleged reporting of false evidence in trials.
Deaver argued against his firing and was later awarded back pay when the State Human Resources Commission determined he had been wrongly terminated, however a judge upheld the decision to fire him.
Since then Deaver has remained out of the public 👀eye.
Duane Deaver
He was a State Bureau Of Investigations worker and was a key figure in Michael's original trial, after saying that the blood patterns found in the case proved Kathleen had been beaten to death.
This was called into question as he was fired from the Bureau for alleged reporting of false evidence in trials.
Deaver argued against his firing and was later awarded back pay when the State Human Resources Commission determined he had been wrongly terminated, however a judge upheld the decision to fire him.
Since then Deaver has remained out of the public 👀eye.
Dr. Jan Leestma
Michael's defense team brought her in as a expert in Neuropathology.
He was born in 1938, Leestma attended school in Holland before graduating from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1964. His anatomic pathology training was at University of Colorado Medical Center; and his neuropathology training was completed at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. After military service at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, DC, Leestma joined the faculty at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago. In 1985 he was at the University of Chicago for a couple of years, and then joined the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch at Columbus Hospital in Chicago until 1999. Leestma was Assistant Medical Examiner and Neuropathology Consultant to the Cook County Medical Examiners Office from 1977 to 1987. Leestma retired from hospital practice in 2001 and has focused on his private forensic neuropathology consulting practice since that time
He stated that Kathleen's brain was deprived of oxygen for 45 minutes, which fits the timeline of what Michael changed his story to of what happened before Kathleen died.
Faris Bandak
He testified that after taking Kathleen's height and weight into consideration and measuring inside the stair well, that he believed that Kathleen fell backwards twice and hit her head four times while is was in the stair well explaining her injuries. His opinion her injuries were consistent with a fall.
Deborah Radisch
She was the medical examiner for Kathleen Peterson and re-examined Elizabeth Ratliff.
She specializes in forensic pathology with an emphasis on injury prevention; Director of the NC Child Fatality Prevention Team, utilizing data collection and surveillance to prevent unintentional and intentional deaths of children.
Blow Poke- A fireplace tool. It is long and metal, with a hook at the end. The difference between standard fire irons and a blow poke is the “blow” part. A blow poke like the one in “The Staircase” is a hollow tube instead of a solid metal stick. The idea is that you can blow through the tube as you tend the fire like a bellows, sending oxygen to the flames in order to stoke them.
Immunity Grant- Witness immunity from prosecution occurs when a prosecutor grants immunity to a witness in exchange for testimony or production of other evidence.
Other Things
Immunity Grant- Witness immunity from prosecution occurs when a prosecutor grants immunity to a witness in exchange for testimony or production of other evidence.
Alford Plea- A guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence. So that means that the defendant enters a guilty plea, but they are not saying that they are guilty of the crime, they are just saying that the prosecution has enough evidence that they could likely prove the charge.
Nortel- Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly commonly known as Northern Electric and Northern Telecom, was a multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It was defunct in February 2nd, 2013.
Quick Clean- It cleans your PC of a variety of junk files by serving as a front-end to Windows' built-in Disk Cleanup tool, and cleaning additional junk files as well.
YMCA- The Young Men's Christian Association, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries from 120 national associations.
Red Neurons- A pathological finding in neurons, generally of the central nervous system, indicative of acute neuronal injury and subsequent apoptosis or necrosis. When red neurons are present in the brain it means that oxygen wasn't able to reach the brain for a decent amount of time. Thus the brain was deprived of oxygen.
Blood Spatter Analysis- Where the blood lands, how it lands, its consistency, and the size and shape of its droplets, or spatter can uncover a lot of significant aspects of the crime.
A bloodstain pattern analyst can't simply glance at drips and smears of blood and immediately tell you the who, what and when of a crime scene. Blood spatter analysis takes time and provides only a few pieces of the total crime puzzle. It can however, corroborate other evidence and lead investigators to seek additional clues.
Blood spatters can provide important clues to aspects of the violent act such as:
Quick Clean- It cleans your PC of a variety of junk files by serving as a front-end to Windows' built-in Disk Cleanup tool, and cleaning additional junk files as well.
YMCA- The Young Men's Christian Association, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries from 120 national associations.
Red Neurons- A pathological finding in neurons, generally of the central nervous system, indicative of acute neuronal injury and subsequent apoptosis or necrosis. When red neurons are present in the brain it means that oxygen wasn't able to reach the brain for a decent amount of time. Thus the brain was deprived of oxygen.
Blood Spatter Analysis- Where the blood lands, how it lands, its consistency, and the size and shape of its droplets, or spatter can uncover a lot of significant aspects of the crime.
A bloodstain pattern analyst can't simply glance at drips and smears of blood and immediately tell you the who, what and when of a crime scene. Blood spatter analysis takes time and provides only a few pieces of the total crime puzzle. It can however, corroborate other evidence and lead investigators to seek additional clues.
- Type of weapon that was used.
- Velocity of blood.
- Number of blows.
- Position and movements of the victim and assailant during and after the attack.
- Which wounds were inflicted first.
- Type of injuries.
- How long ago the crime took place.
- Whether death was immediate or delayed.
For example, when you spill water, the liquid falls to the ground and makes a puddle. The shape and size of the puddle depends on the amount of liquid, the height of the container, and whether you spill on carpet, wood, linoleum or some other surface. More liquid or a fall from a greater height will make a larger puddle. Droplets striking a hard surface will retain a more circular shape than those landing on carpet, which partially absorbs the liquid and causes the edges to spread. These are some of the things you have to consider when analyzing blood splatter.
How quickly blood dries depends on the surface on which the blood landed, how much blood the spatter contains, and the heat and humidity at the crime scene. As a rule the outer edges of the stain dry first. After the interior portion flakes off or is smeared by an object, a dry blood spatter can leave behind a ring similar in appearance to a water ring on a coffee table. This is called skeletonizing. Patterns of drying help determine how long an assault went on, detect whether it took place all at once or in stages, and nail down possible crime scene contamination. Clotting patterns in blood provide similar information and can help nail down the time factor if analysts arrive at the scene before blood can dry. Clotting begins within 3 to 15 minutes, but actual times vary by amount, surface type and environment. Mixed levels of clotting can indicate that multiple blows or gunshots occurred over time.
Drips- slow-moving blood that occurs after, not during, an injury, and has a relatively large footprint of 0.16 inches or more.
Castoff Pattern- a pattern from drips falling from a bleeding nose or wound, or a motionless, bloodied weapon or object.
Transfer- is a low-velocity pattern and it's the impressions left by bloody objects. It sometimes retains the shape of the object that made it.
The tiny droplets caused by blood travelling at high speeds are usually caused by gunshot wounds, but they can also result from explosions, power tools or high-speed machinery. These fast-moving drops leave stains measuring less than 0.04 inches across.
Bullet wounds can produce both back and front spatters. Backspatter, or blowback, refers to blood exiting the entrance wound in the direction opposite the impact. Investigators dealing with such small drops must rule out other sources of blood spray, such as respiration or pinhole arterial pressure. Forward spatter, in the direction of the impact, occurs only in the case of an exit wound.
Medium-sized droplets- Typically measuring 0.04 to 0.16 inches, they can be caused by a blunt object, such as a bat or a fist, or can result from stabbing, cast-offs or even bloody coughs. A number of factors complicate their analysis.
Projected pattern- During a beating or stabbing, arterial damage can cause the subject to spurt blood.
Analysts also look for voids or blockages. In the case of a high-density spatter, these gaps in the pattern indicate that something in the way, potentially the shooter, caught some of the victim's blowback.
To analyze a bloodstain pattern, you have to rely on three main interrelated elements: the size, shape and distribution of bloodstains.
First, however, investigators must determine the angles at which the various bloodstains struck their respective surfaces. The lower the angle at which blood strikes a surface, the thinner and more elongated the stain.
Angle of Impact = ArcSin (Stain Width / Stain Length)
Stringing
Once analysts know these angles, they can begin to run strings from the rear edges of the bloodstains upward at the appropriate angles to find where the area of origin. This is mainly used to establish whether a victim was seated, standing or lying down when the event occurred.
Occam's razor- the problem-solving principle that essentially states that "simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones." When presented with competing hypotheses to solve a problem, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions. You should avoid looking for excessively complex solutions to a problem and focus on what works, given the circumstances.
It means that the simplest solution is usually correct. However, don't over simplify either. After you look at all the information, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
What i think.
If Michael, Todd, Clayton or whomever killed Kathleen i don't think it was a blow poke or an owl.
I think it was a three-pronged flower garden hoe. This could have explained the injuries on her scalp and wood splinters and cedar needles found in Kathleen's hand. I think that it is possibly the same weapon used in Elizabeth Ratliff's death.
As for the microscopic owl feathers found in her hair clutched in her hand, that could have came from clothing like a jacket.
Speaking about jacket.. where was Michael's 🧥jacket at. He wasn't wearing one when the paramedics arrived. It was 50 degrees out that night.
If Kathleen was attacked by an 🦉owl.. ha ha... where was her jacket? She wouldn't spend the time to take the jacket off and set it somewhere while she was being attacked.
Speaking about jacket.. where was Michael's 🧥jacket at. He wasn't wearing one when the paramedics arrived. It was 50 degrees out that night.
If Kathleen was attacked by an 🦉owl.. ha ha... where was her jacket? She wouldn't spend the time to take the jacket off and set it somewhere while she was being attacked.