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She’s still breathing! She fell down the stairs!’. The caller was Michael Peterson. Upon police arrival at the residence, they discovered Kathleen lying at the base of the staircase, surrounded by blood. Traces of blood were found on the bottom of her feet and the nearby wall, seemingly dried.
- Is The Staircase Based on A True Story?
- The Initial Charge
- Another Staircase Death
- Michael's Sexuality
- The Defence Case
- The Alford Plea
- The Owl Theory
In the early hours of the morning on 9th December 2001, Michael Petersonfound his wife, Kathleen, at the bottom of the stairs in their family home in North Carolina. He called the emergency services saying that she was still alive and begging them to arrive with the greatest of urgency, but dialling back shortly after he reported that she had stopp...
The medical examiner who conducted the post-mortem on Kathleen was alarmed by several findings, most notable of which were the deep lacerations on her scalp which weren't consistent with a typical fall down the stairs. In addition, it was found that her blood alcohol content at the time of death was low enough to pass a breathalyser test, which it ...
Further complicating matters was the revelation that, during a period living in Germany many years earlier, one of Peterson's close friends had also been discovered dead at the bottom of her own staircase. At the time, it had been thought that Elizabeth Ratliff – whose two daughters Michael became legal guardian of – had suffered a stroke on the st...
In the wake of Kathleen's death, authorities examined Michael's computer and found 2000 pornographic images of men on the hard drive, in addition to correspondence with a male prostitute with whom he discussed meeting. According to sex worker Brad, the hook-up never went ahead, but the conversation alone was enough for the prosecution to argue that...
In addition to emphasising the strength of Michael and Kathleen's relationship (and therefore lack of motive), defence lawyer David Rudolf brought in his own expert to give his analysis of the staircase scene. Neuropathologist Dr Jan Leestma argued that Kathleen's injuries could well have been sustained in an accidental fall, noting that the lack o...
A retrial was eventually ordered in 2011, after a blood spatter analyst for the prosecution was found to have given misleading testimony in the initial hearing. Some six years later, Peterson and Rudolf submitted an "Alford plea" of voluntary manslaughter, which allows the defendant to continue asserting their innocence, while conceding that there ...
As Peterson maintains his innocence to this very day, it is still unclear what exactly happened to Kathleen Peterson that fateful night in December 2001. One theory that emerged in 2009 and has captured the imagination of true crime fans is that she was attacked by a barred owl– a common species in Durham, North Carolina – with evidence at the scen...
Sep 24, 2022 · At the time of her death, Kathleen Peterson was 48 years old. According to the autopsy report, the coroner found hair in both of Kathleen's hands, which she appeared to have grasped prior to her death. She also had dried blood under her fingernails, on the bottoms of both feet, and on her face.
Jun 4, 2022 · On a November evening in 2001, novelist Michael Peterson found his wife, Kathleen, dead at the bottom of a staircase in their North Carolina home— at least, that's Peterson's story. According to...
May 6, 2022 · The prosecution suggested that Michael Peterson had murdered his wife following a fight between them, supposedly sparked by Kathleen’s discovery of more than 2,000 pictures of naked men on...
Mar 28, 2024 · The prosecution suggested that Michael killed his wife after they got into a fight supposedly initiated by Kathleen's discovery of more than 2,000 explicit images of men on Michael's computer.
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Was Kathleen Peterson killed by an owl?
Why did Kathleen fall down a staircase?
Mar 20, 2022 · Published March 20, 2022. Updated September 9, 2024. In 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of the staircase in her home. Two years later, her husband Michael Peterson was convicted of her murder — but many believe he didn’t do it.
