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#91 : Did He Kill His Wife?! — Michael Peterson 2/2 | THE PETERSONS — Transcript

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0:00a woman is found at the bottom of the
0:02staircase in her own home
0:04her husband is now the prime suspect
0:07during his trial the investigators
0:10managed to connect him to another
0:12accidental staircase death would it be
0:15enough for him to be found guilty or
0:18would another theory offer a more
0:20plausible explanation as to what
0:23happened to kathleen peterson and liz
0:26radley
0:28hello friends you know who you are i
0:31know who the hell i am and we all know
0:34why we're gathered here we all know what
0:36we are here to do
0:38before that this is the intro where i
0:40usually don't talk about the case for
0:41some reason listen today i discovered
0:44something that can be so useful to so
0:47many people i don't know why i haven't
0:48discovered this before and then i
0:50tweeted about it so make sure you follow
0:52me like on the socials because
0:54especially twitter
0:55like i offload everything that i offload
0:58in the intro and the outtakes here on
1:00there
1:01so uh yeah basically you know like
1:03people that have middle names either
1:05they're british or like spanish or
1:07latino or there's plenty of countries
1:09that have middle name smile well well if
1:12you're like attracted to a person you
1:14aren't supposed to be attracted to like
1:16even if it is an actor
1:18it's kind of like old for somebody you
1:20should be dating or fantasizing about
1:23google their middle name i swear
1:26i swear it works better than imagining
1:30like my dad naked it somehow worked
1:32better for him
1:33if someone worked better guys
1:36let me share how we are here so i find
1:39the actor edgar ramirez like super hot
1:42right he was in you know johnny versace
1:45but that's the on hot roll he was in
1:47plenty other things what did i see
1:49recently wasp network or something like
1:52that basically he's in all of the hot
1:54like spanish movies right but also he's
1:57kind of an inappropriate age and i don't
2:00like that i like him i can't explain it
2:03because i mentally i know that he is not
2:05like super attractive but emotionally
2:09and
2:10genitally i can't comprehend so i
2:13googled his middle name and it's phil
2:15liberto and i did it for me that did it
2:19for me just imagine i cannot imagine
2:21myself but being associated with the
2:23filiberto i just sorry to all of the
2:25filibertos watching this but i can't
2:29i'm just gone so hey maybe i help out a
2:32poor soul out there today
2:34to figure out how not to be attracted to
2:36anybody
2:39to figure out how not to be attracted to
2:41a person but we are not here today
2:44because of that we are here to finish
2:47the saga on michael peterson and the
2:49staircase case so let us get into the
2:51sound let's breathe in breathe out not
2:55imagine our naked parents
2:57and then recap the story that i have
2:59told you in part one where we left it
3:02off with michael and then drop ourselves
3:04right into it in part one of our story
3:08we met michael peterson michael peterson
3:10had a habit of lying from a very early
3:13age sometimes he lied in order to
3:16embellish a story
3:18sometimes he lied about really trivial
3:21things sometimes about bigger things in
3:24life
3:24a lot of times for
3:26self-preservation or just to make
3:28himself sound like a hero
3:31this although it can be considered a
3:33huge flaw was also one of michael's
3:36biggest advantages because that is what
3:38made him a great fictional writer
3:42writing was michael's primary source of
3:44income and after he finished university
3:46through his first and second marriage
3:49michael accumulated over a million
3:52dollars only in advances for his books
3:55so that doesn't even count the profits
3:58that he made from the sales
4:00his books revolved around war and
4:02homosexuality and michael will end up
4:05doing research into both of those topics
4:09now when it comes to his private life we
4:11learned that michael led quite a nomadic
4:14lifestyle due to his family but also
4:16once he married his first wife was a
4:19teacher called petty and she had two
4:22best friends named liz and pat
4:25and michael would eventually steal from
4:27one of her best friends pet and also be
4:30the main cause for the drift in the
4:32women's friendship
4:34michael would also be the last person to
4:37see
4:38liz ratcliffe that is friend alive liz
4:41was found at the bottom of the stairway
4:43and her death was declared an accident
4:46but even before lizzi's death michael
4:49had already ensured to take care of her
4:52finances in particular her will and her
4:55will left liz's two daughters in
4:57michael's care
4:59after lizzie's death michael and patty's
5:02marriage was also about to end and even
5:05before the divorce michael had already
5:07moved in with a neighbor that lived just
5:10a block away
5:11this neighbor of his kathleen atwater
5:14will soon become his second wife the way
5:17that his professional life finally ended
5:20up combining with the personal was in
5:23three particular tangents
5:25the first one was the research into
5:28homosexuality
5:30michael would later be saying that
5:32kathleen was aware that he was bisexual
5:35and that he was chatting with men on the
5:38side the second point would be that
5:40michael relied on writing as his primary
5:42source of income and when writing a new
5:45book wouldn't bring him enough money he
5:48wrote for smaller publications he would
5:50write for newspapers
5:52and he was more and more relentless
5:55about his views he would write against
5:57the police he would write against the
5:59government against tax increases so for
6:02the duration of his second marriage he
6:04also accumulated quite a few enemies and
6:07finally due to the writing being his
6:09main source of income when he wasn't
6:12publishing any books and making any
6:14money michael also wasn't getting any
6:17other jobs to support the family and
6:19this had taken a toll on both kathleen
6:22and him during the last two years of her
6:25life kathleen was the only provider for
6:27the family but according to her friends
6:30and family she was also stressing over
6:32this because her company wasn't doing as
6:35well and they started downsizing so
6:37kathleen thought she might soon be out
6:40of job
6:41meanwhile during those two years michael
6:44wasn't writing at all he wasn't bringing
6:46any income to the household so this is
6:49where michael and kathleen were when we
6:51went through the timeline of events of
6:54the days before kathleen would also be
6:57found at the bottom of the staircase in
7:00their family home maybe kathleen found
7:03out that michael was bisexual that he
7:07was chatting with men on the side
7:09maybe they argued about their finances
7:13and about the accumulating debts and
7:15maybe none of that happened and this was
7:17just what michael peterson would say it
7:19was
7:20an accident
7:22in particular where we left it off in
7:24part one was with the police finally
7:28getting the warrant to take the items
7:30search the house photograph the crime
7:33scene and finally start up the
7:35investigation and we left michael still
7:38inside of his family home with his son
7:40todd lawyering up and michael deleting
7:44some emails or thinking that he is going
7:47to end up deleting them at 8 30 a.m
7:50mortuary services arrived in order to
7:53remove kathleen peterson's body and
7:55deliver her to the medical examiner's
7:57office
7:58once that happened once the photographs
8:00and the video evidence was taken the
8:03paramedics on the scene were replaced by
8:06the forensic experts that would later
8:08end up testifying in court using
8:11tweezers they would extract hair fibers
8:14christmas tree needles and samples of
8:16wood from the crime scene the police
8:19officer also ended up searching the
8:22whole house upstairs downstairs garage
8:25the ethic they also performed the
8:27cursory search around the perimeter of
8:29the house
8:30looking for a possible murder weapon
8:34looking into discarding another avenue
8:36if they ended up confirming that this
8:38might not have been an accident during
8:41part one i spoke about how todd
8:43immediately lawyered up called his uncle
8:46michael's brother bill
8:48and how they got them the attorney they
8:50got them the defense lawyer on the spot
8:53now this defense lawyer advised michael
8:56not to speak to anybody without them
8:58present pretty standard but also they
9:01advised him to stay on the location
9:04wherever they were taking the evidence
9:07from sort of in a way to monitor
9:09everything that's going on
9:11michael will do so and also that will
9:13help him spot multiple mistakes that
9:16were made by the police on that night as
9:19i mentioned some of the first mistakes
9:22were made once the paramedics made it
9:24there the firefighters made it to the
9:26location the police officers because
9:28they didn't really treat this as a crime
9:31scene for over half an hour
9:34in order to understand the next set of
9:36mistakes let us talk about what the
9:38police seized from the crime scene and
9:41rather what they didn't take among the
9:44items that they have taken were free
9:46computers blood swabs from the kitchen
9:48couch a copy of o.j simpson notebook a
9:52hand grenade that was serving as a
9:54paperweight
9:56that was mike's souvenir from vietnam
9:59and of course the clothing that both
10:01michael and kathleen were wearing on the
10:03day
10:04for the reason that they will never be
10:07able to explain what they didn't see
10:10were the towels that were resting
10:13underneath kathleen's head
10:15the eyeglasses that they found on the
10:17stairway and the phone that had little
10:20speckles of something red on it
10:24now with kathleen's body in the autopsy
10:26room dr deborah radish is about to
10:29assess the injuries and also to shave
10:31kathleen's head to better see the
10:34injuries in that area just wanted to
10:36give you the heads up because i will put
10:38the sketches of the autopsy on the
10:40screen in particular the injuries to the
10:43head area because they can help you
10:46understand or like form opinions what
10:49really happened here compared to what
10:51deborah radish was saying
10:53if you think that's not something you
10:54want to see just maybe turn your head
10:57for around 60 to 90 seconds until i
11:00finish telling you about her conclusions
11:03so she examined the head and discovered
11:06seven areas or wounds on it many of
11:09those wounds were so deep that they went
11:12from the scalp through the skull
11:15there was a lot of bleeding into the
11:17scalp issue around the wounds one of
11:20those wounds was actually so deep that
11:23it looked as a flap of skin as if
11:26somebody kind of peeled almost one or a
11:29couple of layers of the skin
11:32and that part could be lifted up
11:35enabling dr radish to see
11:38the skull beneath then there was a
11:40tri-prolonged cut
11:42something that looked as if a small
11:45sharp rake dug three inches along the
11:48scalp
11:49in her opinion each cut was caused by at
11:52least one individual impact which would
11:56lead deborah to believe that this wasn't
11:58caused by a fall
11:59rather it had to be caused by a person
12:03strucking the head over and over again
12:06another thing that according to dr
12:08radish wasn't consistent with the fall
12:10were the fancy wounds on kathleen's arms
12:14these also looked to her as the fancy
12:16wounds that were caused by separate
12:19impacts as if somebody was trying to
12:22fend off an attack
12:24and another thing that i wanted to point
12:26your attention to because obviously this
12:28is a long autopsy report that you can
12:31find online but another thing that
12:34particularly stuck out to dr radish
12:37was the hemorrhage of the left thyroid
12:40cartilage so if you are thinking of the
12:44left side of the neck because if you
12:45remember her neck ended up being
12:47parallel to her spinal cord which was
12:51the first red flag for everybody on the
12:53sea deborah said that this is usually
12:56caused by strangulation if you think
12:59where your thyroid is it would
13:01correspond with the temp dysregulation
13:04or strangulation basically the damage
13:07being done to the bone
13:09it again wouldn't be consistent with the
13:12fall
13:13their final conclusions will be that
13:15kathleen died from a blow to the head
13:18there was also no high blood level in
13:20the clean system
13:22they found that the blood alcohol
13:24content was about 0.07
13:27which is below the legal image so she
13:30could have technically even driven with
13:32the alcohol level that she had in her
13:34blood
13:35let us now go back to the crime scene
13:38because of course detectives with a
13:40warrant will be able to return a couple
13:42of times
13:44one such time was with a blood specter
13:47analysts who would analyzed as the blood
13:49on the wall correspond with one or the
13:52other theory what he found out weird to
13:55begin with was that the crime scene
13:57looked like somebody tried to sanitize
14:00it as in prior to the police and the
14:02paramedics coming on the scene
14:05that usually he would say either
14:07somebody would do like a four-hour job
14:09of trying to do everything and then they
14:11would have to use luminol to make the
14:13blood pop up or they wouldn't even
14:16bother so the fact that some paper
14:19towels were used was just really odd to
14:22him like what were they trying to hide
14:26the blood sweater analyst juan deaver
14:29was doing what was known as the
14:31stringing process
14:33so this is a method that helps you
14:35configure the movement of blood from its
14:37source to its final destination the
14:40conclusions that he would make would
14:42point out that the blood spatters on the
14:45walls showed that kathleen peterson
14:47suffered blunt force trauma
14:50duan would be crucial later in trial and
14:52you can understand why he would surround
14:55most of the pictures of all of the blood
14:57splatter with like rulers surrounding
15:00them sort of giving you the perspective
15:02of just how high they would go or how
15:05much in width again confirming that this
15:08isn't consistent with the person that
15:10just fell down the stairs
15:12he would show the pictures of the
15:14speckles of blood in certain areas
15:17consistent with the blunt force trauma
15:19to the head
15:20but this blood spatter wouldn't be the
15:22only thing the diva would analyze he
15:25would analyze the clothes
15:27especially what he found interesting was
15:30michael's shorts now if you have really
15:33been paying attention to part one
15:36you remember around three am a detective
15:39came onto the scene and what i found
15:41strange was well the fact that the blood
15:44seemed to be drying but then when they
15:46looked into the kitchen it seemed like
15:48somebody was touching like different
15:50objects with bloody fingerprints
15:54especially a kettle like it seemed like
15:56they were looking for something trying
15:58to open a cupboard
15:59and then they took a kettle and looking
16:03at the shorts and having that
16:05information what diva had concluded
16:08was that it seemed like the blood inside
16:12of the pockets was darker than the blood
16:15on the shore sort of like in the crotch
16:18area
16:19and that led him to believe
16:21that michael peterson might have taken
16:24the kettle
16:26and poured it over his shorts in order
16:29to make it all smudgy instead of
16:31splattery in order to make it seem more
16:34like he was hovering over and hugging
16:38his wife's dead body rather than being
16:41the perpetrator of an attack diva also
16:45found blood spatter and blood stain on
16:48the back of michael peterson's shorts
16:51so he thought okay
16:53again this is weird if this is just the
16:56guy that ran in
16:58and found his wife unconscious right
17:00like why would it be on the back of his
17:03shorts and then he found blood spatter
17:06in the crotch area and also the spatter
17:09inside of the right leg so this evidence
17:14indicated one single scenario to him
17:17michael peterson standing over his wife
17:20kathleen as he was beating her
17:23because again visualization wise
17:26whatever he was beating her weed would
17:29have to go over one of his shoulders
17:31like over his head and it at least
17:34happened seven times as we know from the
17:36autopsy and this would lead to the blood
17:39being found inside of his leg and also
17:42on the back of his shorts beaver also
17:45found 90 degree drops of blood on the
17:48toe looking at mike's right shoe that
17:51was found next to kathleen this to him
17:54indicated that that particular foot was
17:57directly underneath the dripping blood
18:00on the outside of that shoe he spotted
18:03some small droplets with directionality
18:07showing that the blood had fallen while
18:09the foot was still in motion
18:12all of that evidence helped diver form a
18:14theory in his head but what surprised
18:17him was the impression of the soul of a
18:20foot on top of the back of kathleen's
18:24leg
18:25as if somebody might have stepped on her
18:29as she was lying there there are a
18:31couple of things in this story that just
18:34left
18:34very vague and unexplained and this is
18:38one of those
18:39but it's also one of the most resounding
18:42pieces of evidence i think in
18:44everybody's head i would like to know if
18:46you think michael peterson is innocent
18:48how do you explain this
18:51because she was found on her back in a
18:55pool of blood and this was still like a
18:57sharp impression on the back
18:59of her pants
19:01so how do you explain this if she had
19:03fell down the stairs if he didn't touch
19:06her body at all
19:08and now we come to the part that changed
19:11my whole opinion on this story because i
19:15can bet that this part isn't mentioned
19:17in the staircase
19:18and also i couldn't find any pictures of
19:22the clothes that they're referring to
19:24here
19:25because they had to examine todd's
19:28clothing as well
19:30most of the blood on his clothing were
19:32like transfer stains and smears as if he
19:35maybe tried to revive or like hug
19:38kathleen when he found her down the
19:40stairs
19:41but then at the bottom right hand of
19:43todd's jeans was one large stain of
19:47blood
19:48and it didn't look like a smudge it
19:51looked more like a drop because if it
19:53looked like a smudge you can say okay
19:55maybe if he was
19:57in the vicinity of kathleen's body you
20:00know maybe he stepped into it he brushed
20:03up on the wall or something like that
20:05but what this indicated to diva because
20:08it was kind of like a drop
20:11was
20:11as if he was in direct touch with a
20:15murder weapon
20:16carrying it over his shoulder
20:19now you might think something will
20:21result out of this right no don't get
20:24too hung up on thought because i did and
20:26then i was disappointed by the end
20:29because if you remember a thought was
20:32the first person to lawyer up well
20:34provide lawyers for the whole family
20:37b truly i can give this one up to
20:40michael peterson the police from the
20:43get-go had tunnel vision they always
20:45suspected that michael and michael only
20:48was responsible for this that this
20:50wasn't an accident that michael is the
20:53culprit
20:54meaning that one of the mistakes that
20:57nobody really talks about that was made
20:59once the police was called to the scene
21:02was that nobody really paid attention to
21:05todd nobody really made sure to question
21:08todd with the lawyers as well
21:10about the exact timeline about when did
21:14todd first come to the crime scene why
21:16was there any
21:18blood on him and also why did he come
21:21with his friends were the friends there
21:23before were they called in
21:25they never from what i could find
21:27searched any of his cars any of the
21:29friends cars possibly looking for blood
21:32possibly looking for somebody
21:34transporting a murder weapon
21:36speaking of the murder weapon the police
21:38did return on december the 10th to
21:40search once again to search a certain
21:42perimeter they brought a canine dog that
21:45specialized in article searches and this
21:48dog was following this back and forth
21:51circular pattern for about an hour and
21:5345 minutes
21:55and nothing was found at 8 30 pm that
21:59day they finally released the house to
22:02the family one last thing that they did
22:04was that the police seized this walking
22:07stick that they found next to the
22:08fireplace so it was a possible murder
22:12weapon but i didn't see any blood on it
22:14it didn't really look like it was used
22:16recently meaning that no obvious weapon
22:19was found in the peterson's home at this
22:22point when the house was released it was
22:24only the petersons that have actually
22:27seen the crime scene that you see the
22:29staircase the blood around it of course
22:31the pictures will be shown in the court
22:33but kathleen's family is yet to witness
22:36any of it
22:38up to this point they have trusted
22:40michael that this was an accident
22:42because they didn't have any reason not
22:44to
22:45however as soon as the house was
22:48released michael bill his brother
22:51michael's sons clayton and todd and one
22:54of his friends
22:55upon hearing that information have left
22:58a neighbor's house where they were
23:01staying at that point just commemorating
23:03and grieving kathleen
23:05and immediately headed to michaels
23:08why
23:10so that they can conduct a cleanup
23:13none of them told any of kathleen's
23:15sisters that they're going to do this
23:17that the house is released again that
23:20they can go and see the actual crime
23:22scene all of these men
23:24cleaned up the blood from the hallway
23:26the back of the door any other place
23:29they could find outside of the stairwell
23:32didn't get to it yet and now these women
23:35candace and laurie kathleen's sister
23:37clock that the men are all in the house
23:39so they crossed the street and joined
23:41them and as soon as they walked in and
23:45went to the staircase they saw all of
23:47the blood
23:48lori was the person to actually climb
23:51onto the stairwell and just point at all
23:53of the blood blood on the walls blood
23:55high up
23:57blood so much blood blood everywhere
24:00from that point on both sisters just
24:03couldn't deny it any longer they didn't
24:06believe that michael peterson was
24:08innocent once they saw all the blood on
24:11the scene
24:12my question is
24:14how come that suddenly michael peterson
24:17who didn't care about how i'm camped his
24:20house was who didn't care about the
24:23upkeeping of his dogs who neglected his
24:26house completely and left it all up to
24:29kathleen and the maid they have had
24:31before how come
24:33he's suddenly a clean freak
24:36going into the house making sure that
24:38him and all of the other men
24:40are cleaning it before everybody else
24:42sees
24:43the staircase
24:45there is one other possible option that
24:48he didn't want to traumatize kathleen's
24:50family members sure
24:53sure but that option would also mean
24:56that he truly believed that he will be
24:58found innocent of this and that this
25:01will never go to court and that her own
25:04family will never have the reason to
25:08actually look at the pictures of the
25:11staircase in the first place because
25:13that's the only other reason that i can
25:16think of as to why he suddenly switched
25:19from the dirtiest person ever to like a
25:22clean freak and
25:23got his brother and his own sons in on
25:26it after this cleanup though candy
25:29started seeing everything in a different
25:31light
25:32he went to the funeral home to make
25:35funeral arrangements for kathleen
25:37and here this is so heartbreaking she
25:41brought her passport and just asked the
25:43funeral director if he can just for one
25:46last time
25:47check that this is really her sister and
25:50this isn't some sort of accident or
25:53mistaken identity possibly and with one
25:56node he just broke her heart again and
25:59confirmed that this indeed was kathleen
26:02so she went to the cemetery chose a plot
26:06for kathleen's burial and later candice
26:09will have sets of arguments with michael
26:11over purchasing a headstone because of
26:14course you need to pay more money for a
26:17headstone and you would need to tell the
26:19cemetery up until a certain deadline for
26:21them to put it up and at first michael
26:24was just postponing the topic but then
26:26at last something will happen that will
26:29make michael prioritize
26:31over the headstone and put himself first
26:35because he thought that the money should
26:37actually be spent towards his defense
26:41before we get to that now candace
26:43looking at everything sort of from a
26:45completely different perspective she
26:48came to peterson's house again to write
26:50the obituary and for michael to maybe
26:53add a couple of words
26:55and as she's doing that she notices
26:57michael is really restless and he's just
26:59getting up
27:00looking through the window towards the
27:02pool so she gets up and looks towards
27:05the pool herself
27:07and she says at that moment the chills
27:09went down her spine because she notices
27:12that the furniture was gone and she
27:15couldn't even process it in herself but
27:17she said this just made no sense
27:20she's just trying to fit this puzzle
27:22together and the fact that michael had
27:24cleaned up the crime scene already
27:27and had gotten rid of all the furniture
27:30where supposedly her and kathleen were
27:33on the night of the murder just getting
27:35rid of every trace of her sister
27:39in such short span of time just didn't
27:41make any sense to candice as candice is
27:45at the peterson's household a search
27:47warrant is served in the funeral home
27:50why
27:51because they have found what appeared to
27:54be a used condom in the master's bedroom
27:57where michael and kathleen would sleep
28:00i won't spend too much time on this
28:02because it can truly be summarized in
28:04one line
28:05the line is that todd would later tell
28:08the police that the condom belonged to
28:10one of his friends
28:12because his friend we don't know the
28:14date we don't know the time we don't
28:15know what the
28:17why he was there but he decided to bring
28:20a girl over and have sex in kathleen's
28:23and mike's bed this was confirmed after
28:27the rape kit has been conducted on
28:29kathleen's dead body but not before
28:31michael had his own theories and also
28:35told kaitlyn kathleen's daughter
28:38that maybe the police is now going to
28:40have a theory about the two of them
28:42having perverted sex the children having
28:45affairs
28:46maybe they're going to find a motive for
28:48i don't know the intruder
28:50theory of events i don't know what he
28:53was thinking why he was spending
28:55misinformation
28:56why todd didn't come up with this story
28:59earlier and just tell you to the police
29:02but
29:02it happened and then nothing really
29:05happened from it except that they just
29:08re-victimized kathleen and her body in
29:11death
29:12two days after that there was a viewing
29:14for kathleen at the funeral home she was
29:17wearing all black and she was wearing
29:20these pearls around her neck
29:22just sheer elegance through life and
29:25death
29:26and when candice asked michael to write
29:29a couple of words
29:30just a note in the visitors book what he
29:33wrote was
29:35the next book will be about love
29:37requited love and will be about you of
29:40course
29:41love mike
29:44how can you make it about yourself this
29:46is like
29:48this is like when people wish somebody a
29:50happy birthday and they're like i hope
29:52you have me in your life to brighten up
29:55your days like it's not about you
29:58it's really not about you and your
30:01writing and your next book and your
30:03talent in this very moment
30:05i just thought i would share that
30:06because he just makes everything about
30:08himself there's so much fight for
30:11self-preservation in michael peterson
30:13that is actually just the next level
30:16kathleen's funeral was on the 13th only
30:19a week later on the 20th of december
30:22michael was indicted on the first degree
30:25murder charge now you might wonder
30:28why what confirmed it for the police
30:32and that was the neurological
30:34examination results that they were
30:36waiting on as you recall deborah raddish
30:39performed the autopsy they had the crime
30:42scene results they were already seeing
30:44this as foul play but what a
30:47neurological examination observed were
30:49these red neurons
30:51due to them they could confirm that
30:54kathleen didn't die quickly that it took
30:57her two to four hours this examination
31:00confirmed that kathleen was laying on
31:02the stairs with a blood draining from
31:06her body for that period of time as the
31:09body would be bleeding out the blood
31:11flow to her brain would decrease
31:13depriving it of oxygen and then without
31:17the oxygen of course the process of
31:19death would begin
31:21but because of the brain cells dying
31:24these red neurons would be born would
31:26appear and what they could see once they
31:29observed her brain was that this process
31:32was slow and it was widespread meaning
31:36that the time it took the red neurons to
31:38develop
31:39provided plenty of opportunity for
31:42michael to get help for his wife just if
31:46you needed reminding michael called the
31:47police at 2 41 am but the time he
31:51couldn't account for was between 12 30
31:55and 1 30.
31:56so this exam confirmed that there was at
31:59least two or four hours allowing the
32:02premeditation to exist
32:05the grand jury was now about to decide
32:07whether he was to get released on bail
32:10so they heard a testimony from three
32:12witnesses one would be dr deborah radish
32:16the other one would be the agent juan
32:18deaver the blood specter analyst
32:21and the third one would be the
32:23investigator art holland the person who
32:26was one of the first people on the scene
32:28who took over the investigation
32:30after hearing those three testimonies
32:32they invicted him on the first degree
32:35murder charge he was denied bond and he
32:38had to remain in durham county jail at
32:41least until january 22nd until the
32:43second hearing his next visit to the
32:46court would be for the public to decide
32:48whether he could be released and bond
32:51so in january a couple of people again
32:54testified in person
32:56including the us rep nick galifanakis
33:00that i mentioned in the first part
33:02and including his own son todd peterson
33:06todd insisted that his father didn't
33:08pose a threat to the community
33:11and also that his mother was a heavy
33:13drinker implying that this could have
33:16been an accident
33:18after these character witnesses the
33:20judge decided to release michael
33:22peterson on 850 000
33:26bond mike signed papers on his home in
33:29order to cover the bail
33:31he gave up his passport and agreed not
33:33to leave north carolina and he was
33:36released awaiting trial
33:38a couple of days upon his release on
33:41january the 26th to be exact mike
33:44peterson started filing claims on
33:47kathleen's assets with her employer
33:50norto
33:51in 10 days he would receive the first
33:54check for around 30 000
33:57on february the 19th northell would
33:59release the second check to michael
34:02for kathleen's pension fund this check
34:05was for ninety four thousand dollars
34:08and this is when he would spend that
34:10money to go onto a shopping spree
34:13buying items for rooms in the house
34:16different drugs artwork furniture he got
34:19a 10 000
34:20plasma tv he got exercise equipment in
34:23order to convert one of the rooms into a
34:26dream room he got a small fridge for his
34:28bedroom to keep the wines cool and next
34:32to him
34:33then around the end of march beginning
34:35of april michael peterson will get one
34:38final check from nortel so in total
34:41michael peterson received about three
34:44hundred forty thousand dollars from
34:46northall
34:47as a direct result of kathleen's death
34:50on top of that if this was to be
34:53confirmed as an accident if only the
34:55courts could back off and he didn't have
34:58to go to trial he would also be getting
35:01his hands on 725 000
35:04life insurance policy so on one side a
35:08man has to leave he has to move on he
35:10has to have something to look forward to
35:14he has to profit out of something
35:16because who is going to hire him as a
35:18writer now who is going to put an
35:19advance down on any of his books he has
35:22to pay all of the lawyers
35:24so you kind of understand it from that
35:27perspective but then when you have the
35:30background
35:31on liz ratcliffe on her death on how he
35:34made sure to leave himself money in her
35:38will
35:39to make sure to profit out of liz's two
35:42daughters you can really see michael's
35:45priorities here and you can start
35:48thinking about the possible motivation
35:51as michael is cashing out on all of the
35:53checks from kathleen's employer candace
35:56her sister is really running the show
35:58if anybody else here listens to true
36:00crime obsessed or obsessed with
36:02disappeared you're probably familiar
36:04with the term downed [ __ ]
36:06the person that is relentless that will
36:08not stop at anything until they make
36:12sure that the person responsible
36:14is behind bars like
36:17chris what's his wife shanann's best
36:20friend like
36:21candace kathleen's [ __ ] sister
36:24because candace just saw all the red
36:27flags all of the alarm bells went off in
36:29her head throughout this whole story so
36:32what she did is she actually came up
36:35with a theory herself
36:37and she sent a picture of a blowport to
36:41art holland to the detective that was on
36:43this case
36:45she sent him effects of a drawing sort
36:48of like a sketch and also a description
36:51of a blowpoke that she gifted to her
36:53sister a couple of years ago
36:55as candace is doing that michael is
36:58ensuring to put the best people on the
37:01case
37:02so he has raised up the stakes in terms
37:05of the lawyers he's hiring for the
37:07upcoming trial
37:09he had hired david rudolph who was this
37:12flamboyant kind of circus focused
37:15showman
37:17you know exactly the type the type that
37:19all of the high-profile cases would hire
37:22i would highly suggest i don't know i
37:25would not highly suggest what am i
37:26saying you can find david rudolph's
37:29website is what i was about to say
37:32it exists and
37:34most of his website is on this case and
37:37most of the people commenting on that
37:39website
37:40are all just saying how once they have
37:42seen the staircase they are convinced
37:44that michael peterson is indeed innocent
37:47so
37:49i guess he managed to convince a bunch
37:52of people and he is a pretty decent
37:55lawyer
37:56he got michael surrounded by his family
38:00to do some form of damage control to
38:03show his character to the public make a
38:05statement and in this statement michael
38:08said kathleen was my life i have
38:10whispered her name in my heart a
38:12thousand times she's there and i can't
38:15stop crying upon the advice of his
38:18counsel now he also hired dr henry lee
38:22to be his expert witness in trial and
38:25this is the guy that is famous for
38:26testifying in o.j simpson's case and
38:29also for assisting persecution in
38:32jonbenet ramsey's murder
38:34michael's defense team also decided to
38:37really ensure that todd isn't implicated
38:40at all
38:41they have hired a lawyer for the friend
38:44or the date that todd had on that night
38:48she was supposed to come into the police
38:49station to give her own testimony but
38:52instead of her a letter arrived to art
38:55holland saying that this and this person
38:58is representing her now a day before
39:01michael would profit from his wife's
39:04accidental death again and would get a
39:06second check from northwell
39:09michael peterson's defense will take a
39:12really hard hit because the autopsy
39:15pictures were finally made public under
39:18the north carolina law
39:20basically his lawyers asked the attorney
39:23general's office if the pictures can be
39:25sealed until after the trial which could
39:28have suited michael peterson a lot but
39:31attorney general's office refused to
39:34intervene
39:35so the autopsy pictures were made public
39:38once this decision was made in rhode
39:41island
39:43margaret blair was facing a dilemma she
39:46looked up the lead investigator art
39:49holland online and started wondering
39:52should she call him and tell him about
39:55the death of her sister liz ratliff
39:59it's like the sun is directly hitting
40:01the lens i love it no i'm not doing
40:04anything i know it's closing the car now
40:06why would i look at me i'm [ __ ]
40:07casper
40:09we are somehow not at the trial stage
40:12yet because there's a few more things
40:14that really came to the surface and also
40:17didn't go into michael's favor you could
40:20really say that he didn't stand much
40:23chance from day one
40:25one of the things that happened was that
40:27abc 2020 you know one of my favorite
40:31leisure time tv shows to binge on
40:34did a profile on dr henry lee and dr
40:37henry lee was already on the michael
40:40peterson's case so this program that i
40:42did was basically just on the
40:44investigations that dr lee has been
40:47doing and he's doing at the moment and
40:49he didn't specify the crime case
40:52but people in peterson's family of
40:55course recognized the scene because it
40:57was their family home this is when
40:59kathleen's family finally started
41:02contacting the investigators starting
41:03contacting the lawyers
41:05saying
41:06we have only been honed in on this now
41:09this has been hidden from us we had no
41:12extent as to how that crime scene looked
41:15like
41:16then in may 2002 the valley of
41:18kathleen's state over a quarter of a
41:21million dollars was announced
41:24she died without a will so that made
41:27michael peterson and katelyn their hairs
41:30and michael renounced his right to
41:33administer the estate so the
41:34responsibility fell to caitlyn
41:37just a couple of days from this
41:39announcement the media finally picked up
41:41on the story of the death of elizabeth
41:44ratliff in 1985.
41:46this is all the whole of durham could
41:49talk about the similarities between the
41:51two deaths the fact that both women were
41:54found at the bottom of the staircase
41:57and also the physical resemblance
41:59between two women that had nothing else
42:03in common
42:04but having known michael peterson 16
42:07years apart
42:09in two different countries in may 2002
42:13michael will go in front of the judge
42:15that would be presiding over his trial
42:18asking him to go to reno to his parents
42:21house to celebrate their 60th marriage
42:25anniversary
42:26and the judge granted a request so
42:29michael went but yet again he lied his
42:32parents weren't celebrating their 60th
42:35anniversary in fact his mom was
42:40connected to the machines and those
42:42machines were the only thing keeping her
42:44alive so they all waited for michael to
42:47arrive to the hospital
42:49to take her off the machines and
42:51pronounce her dead
42:53and i just have to wonder yet again why
42:57lie about something so trivial it could
43:00have been that he really wanted privacy
43:03to grieve his own mother that you know
43:05he didn't want people to know that it's
43:08something devastating that would attract
43:09the media attention and he didn't want
43:12to be seen in this slide that he is
43:14suddenly sharing a sob story like i can
43:17get it from
43:19that way but when you take everything
43:22we know about michael peterson in
43:24context
43:25it just seems like yet another lie
43:28projecting something that he wished he
43:31was doing instead because
43:33he probably wish that he was celebrating
43:3660th anniversary of his parents
43:39but instead one of his parents passed
43:42away i just wanted to mention that
43:44because i just find the placement of his
43:46lies throughout this story to be quite
43:49interesting i don't know if you see it
43:51as that
43:52but i do that august kathleen's daughter
43:56caitlin spoke to one of the lizzy's
43:58sister and her stepsister for the first
44:02time since this arrest and michael being
44:05on bond and here yet another drift
44:08caused by michael peterson had been made
44:11and for me this is truly one of the
44:13biggest mysteries in this case because i
44:16can sort of understand why todd and
44:18clayton and his biological children
44:20would stand by him but why would the rat
44:23leave children
44:25they stood by him regardless of what
44:28kind of father adoptive father he was
44:31regardless of him benefiting of the two
44:33of them regardless of well their mother
44:36dying at the bottom of the staircase and
44:38then them witnessing another woman dying
44:40at the bottom of the staircase i just
44:44wish that i could know what story did
44:46michael peterson sell to these two girls
44:49because kathleen's family will never see
44:51this as an accident but he somehow
44:54managed the adoptive kids the kids of
44:57another woman who died a similar death
45:01to see this as nothing more than one a
45:05couple of things happen in october 2002
45:08some that i love more than the others we
45:11kind of really close off the saga of
45:14todd potentially being involved well
45:17rather the the lawyers do okay i never
45:20personally did because on october the
45:224th the lawyer that they hired on behalf
45:25of todd's friend testifies giving him
45:28the alibi he says that all shouldn't be
45:31looked into because
45:32multiple people have seen him at a party
45:35and then the friend well has the alibi
45:38for him saying that he just arrived home
45:42he arrived with her she was the one to
45:44examine his dad etc so they could align
45:48the times for todd so this ended in a
45:51way where they couldn't uncover any
45:53grounds to take any legal action against
45:56todd and this is pretty much where this
45:59leaves todd in this whole story
46:02another thing that happens in october is
46:04that caitlyn tatlin's daughter lawyers
46:07up and she sends the lawyers to the
46:10peterson's home because she says she's
46:12scared of michael so she wants them to
46:14claim all of her belongings to retrieve
46:17them and ship them over to her not just
46:20that but she also files a wrongful death
46:24suit against michael peterson why on
46:28what basis well remember how
46:31kathleen had life insurance
46:33yeah so she actually submitted a change
46:36of beneficiary form for the policy
46:39removing her ex-husband fred atwater and
46:43adding her new husband michael peterson
46:47but
46:48by pure chance of god i don't know i
46:52don't know what i believe in
46:54she forgot to sign the form and her
46:56forgetting to sign the form meant that
46:59all of the money and the beneficiary of
47:01the policy
47:02would be kaitlyn not michael
47:06now i'm not sure if michael knew this at
47:08this moment in time if he was gutted if
47:11he was preparing his lawsuit because he
47:14might not have seemed as the most
47:16stressed human out there as he sent
47:19about a hundred pages draft of his new
47:22book to his agent
47:25in march next year 2003 he actually got
47:28a six-figure offer for this book
47:31but then the publishers discovered that
47:33his trial is going to begin in the next
47:36couple of months so they withdrew that
47:38offer quickly in april 2003 finally the
47:42body of elizabeth ratliff would be
47:44exhumed we'll talk more about that in
47:47the trial section of the video but let
47:49me just summarize the initial findings
47:53so the medical examiners found that the
47:56cause of death was due to severe
47:58concussive injury of the brain caused by
48:02multiple blunt force impacts to the head
48:05they founded a number of these injuries
48:07the severity of them the locations of
48:10them the orientation of them is
48:12inconsistent with a fall down the stairs
48:15just like with kathleen's lacerations
48:18those would become the precedent for liz
48:21ratliff when you read this autopsy
48:25in her mouth there was an area of small
48:28bruising and a tear of the upper guns
48:32dr deborah radish also found the
48:34evidence of the bruising on her left
48:36hand and her left wrist
48:38and then there was the finding of the
48:40amount of wounds to liz ratliff's head
48:447. the same number that was found during
48:47kathleen peterson's autopsy now that
48:50number could have very well been the
48:52coincidence but
48:55the locations were also eerily similar
48:59one on the very top of her head and the
49:02other one in a similar yet smaller shape
49:06to the one that was found in the back of
49:08the head of kathleen peterson the jury
49:10selection finally began on may the 5th
49:13and it wasn't completed until june 23rd
49:17this gave the time to the assistant
49:18district attorneys frieda black and
49:21david sex to travel to germany with the
49:24main investigator on the case art
49:27to meet with german authorities to visit
49:30lizzy's home and to interview any
49:33potential witnesses including barbara
49:36the nanny to lisa's daughters
49:38they reviewed the police records
49:41but due to the clash of laws because it
49:44was two different continents really to
49:46different countries
49:48german prosecutors didn't want to
49:50release the police records to them they
49:53wanted assurances that michael peterson
49:56won't be charged with elizabeth
49:58ratliff's murder in the us
50:01and also that he wouldn't be a subject
50:03to the death penalty having made these
50:06superficial observations in liz's house
50:09the adas could only return to the us for
50:13this trial to start for them to work on
50:16it and then possibly if he is never to
50:18be found guilty for kathleen's murder
50:22then they would need to work with german
50:24authorities in order to convict him for
50:27at least one
50:28in germany if needed
50:31so this trial finally began on june 23rd
50:36the prosecution started their opening
50:38statements by showing the picture of a
50:41living vibrant smiling kathleen peterson
50:44they said the jurors should be able to
50:46feel this picture feel the gentle warm
50:49person that she was the next picture the
50:53prosecution showed to the jury was of
50:55kathleen peterson sprawled on the
50:57stairway of her own house the third
51:00picture that they have shown the jury
51:02was all kathleen at the medical
51:04examiner's office they pointed at the
51:07defense table saying they will say this
51:10was an accident caused by a couple of
51:12falls in that stairwell and we say it's
51:15not we say it's murder and you will have
51:18to decide that
51:20they say this is three or four
51:21lacerations
51:23we say it's at least seven and you are
51:25going to have to be the judge of it
51:28then the lead prosecutors revealed
51:30something that was hidden in wrapped
51:32paper
51:33he pulled out a blowpoke he said this
51:37isn't the actual murder weapon but the
51:39primary mechanism is the same this is
51:41the weapon that would have inflicted the
51:43type of wounds that you will see in the
51:46autopsy pictures
51:48they drew onto the perfect lifestyle how
51:50they will hear from the defense that
51:52these two people were soul mates how
51:55they have great jobs lived in this
51:58mansion how kathleen was this great
52:00hostess this manager for this huge
52:03communications company and how michael
52:06was a glowing writer but then behind
52:09closed doors
52:10they were in debts michael didn't write
52:13a book since 1999 and they only relied
52:17upon one income
52:19mike peterson the creative thinker the
52:21writer of fiction was able to figure out
52:24a perfect solution that solution was to
52:26make it appear as though kathleen
52:28accidentally fell down her steps and
52:31died and like magic no more money
52:34problems like magic mike peterson goes
52:37from a point where they are going to
52:39have to sell assets and live on credit
52:41to survive to all of a sudden with her
52:44death has 1.8 million dollars in his
52:48hand
52:49there's only one catch he's got to kill
52:52kathleen peterson to get that 1.8
52:55million when peterson placed that 9-1-1
52:58call he gambled that the police were as
53:01dumb as he always claimed there's blood
53:04on kathleen under kathleen beside
53:07kathleen it's all dry so he says when he
53:10gets there he sees all these dry blood
53:13and based on that assessment of kathleen
53:16and based on the observations that he
53:18makes of the area he concludes that
53:21she's been dead for some time
53:23this is not a case of the battle of the
53:25experts this is a case about your
53:28exercise of your good reason and your
53:30common sense
53:32and it's going to be a battle against
53:34what this defendant contends happened
53:36what he wanted it to appear as having
53:39happened
53:40he concluded this opening statement by
53:43reminding the jurors it was their
53:45responsibility to determine the truth
53:48and ask them to return a verdict of
53:50guilty to the charge of first degree
53:52murder
53:53now the defense's opening statement
53:55started as a show in a dramatic way
53:59david rudolph didn't utter a word he
54:01pressed the button and played the 9-1-1
54:04call that ladies and gentlemen was the
54:07voice of michael peterson right after he
54:09found kathleen peterson at the foot of
54:11the stairs
54:13i want to take you back with me before
54:15that terrible night before that terrible
54:18call
54:19he woke the jury through the duration of
54:21their relationship he even read the
54:23letter from kathleen to her mother from
54:261999 praising the men she has chosen as
54:30her new husband he mentioned how the
54:33weekend before just before thanksgiving
54:35kathleen's co-worker said that michael
54:38and kathleen were very affectionate and
54:41in tune with each other and before the
54:43defense table michael peterson was kind
54:45of just mumbling those words to himself
54:48as if he
54:49learned the opening statement by heart
54:52if the persecution is correct how do you
54:54go from soul mate and lover to
54:56cold-blooded killer the answer is very
54:59simple you don't nothing was different
55:03that weekend then rudolph proceeded to
55:06talk about kathleen how intoxicated she
55:09got that night and how they will hear
55:11testimonies from friends and doctors
55:14about her
55:16medical conditions about her headaches
55:18and her dizziness
55:20he described michael discovering the
55:22body and the paramedics arriving at the
55:24scene
55:25saying now they went there and initially
55:28it was treated as an accident because
55:30that's what they initially thought it
55:32was and so todd peterson was allowed to
55:36go up to kathleen's body and hold her in
55:39his arms and get blood in his clothing
55:42and michael peterson was allowed to go
55:44up to kathleen in fact he had to be
55:46physically pulled off of her rudolph put
55:49forward the theory that it wouldn't be
55:51hard to understand why after months of
55:54michael writing against the police
55:57they would then come to the scene of the
55:59accident where his wife was found at the
56:02bottom of the staircase and have tunnel
56:04vision from the get-go and claimed that
56:07this wasn't an accident with the altered
56:10and limited evidence that they could
56:12find he said what his experts are going
56:15to testify to is that the injuries are
56:18more consistent with a fall rather than
56:20a beating there are no brain contusions
56:23no swelling of the brain no internal
56:26hemorrhage and it was confirmed that it
56:28was a fall because the other physical
56:30evidence indicated that kathleen
56:33sustained those injuries to her head at
56:36least 30 minutes before michael peterson
56:38walked in
56:40found her and called 9-1-1
56:42and then he said something that i hope
56:45would have never come up in a trial
56:47today but this was the early 2000s just
56:50because of how
56:51just just how tone death this is so he
56:54pulled up those blood spatter pictures
56:56right and he said yes our experts are
56:59going to show that those aren't
57:01consistent with the beating
57:04and then he said
57:05you've all seen dogs shake water off and
57:08it goes all over well that happens with
57:11blood as well if it's wet or hands or
57:14your clothes coming in contact with a
57:17wall
57:17or coughing up blood or sneezing blood
57:21that's what causes all the blood spatter
57:23you see as bad as it is that's what
57:25experts will testify
57:27he mentioned elizabeth ratliff and said
57:30that the judge has not yet ruled whether
57:32or not that evidence would be admitted
57:34in trial
57:36he mentioned elizabeth ratliff just to
57:38drive the point across that the
57:40prosecution didn't even mention her and
57:43they did mention her before when they
57:45would speak in front of a judge so why
57:48not mention her is this just yet another
57:51display of tunnel vision because
57:54the police only learned about elizabeth
57:57ratliff in 2001
57:59following the death of kathleen peterson
58:02so is this just yet another attempt to
58:06blame michael peterson for both deaths
58:09and to draw similarities upon them while
58:12he's in fact innocent in both cases he
58:16pointed to the fact that the prosecution
58:18didn't even ask for her body to be
58:20exhumed for 15 months
58:22and then he finished his opening
58:24statement by saying what michael
58:27peterson brought to kathleen was true
58:29happiness over 13 years
58:32that's the picture that's not posed
58:34that's kathleen sitting on michael's lap
58:37he would reiterate the claim of loving
58:40marital relationship and insisted that
58:43everyone knew mike had nothing to do
58:45with kathleen's death asking for a
58:48verdict of not guilty now of course
58:50unless this video was to last for about
58:53like 24 hours i can't go through all of
58:56the evidence and witness testimonies in
58:58trial so i will try to give the unbiased
59:02account of events to put as much as
59:04possible but also include the highlights
59:08and what according to the book left the
59:10most impact on the jury
59:12the first witnesses were the paramedics
59:15on the scene and here the prosecution
59:17got them to speak about the blood being
59:19dry about them immediately observing
59:23that the body must have been there for
59:26quite some time and just finding
59:28everything unusual the attempt of a
59:30cleanup
59:31but then rudolph stood up the defense
59:33team and they asked them about all of
59:36the discrepancies about them in their
59:39statement never describing the blood as
59:41dry
59:42he emphasized on all the mistakes that
59:45were made between 250 when the
59:47paramedics made it to the scene and 325
59:50how that would have prolonged the events
59:52how that could have led to the blood
59:55drying up for an additional half an hour
59:59he pointed out to how they slandered
1:00:02todd and his friend and that was the
1:00:04basis for them to get a warrant here
1:00:07pointing to that investigation of the
1:00:09used condom on the scene and whether
1:00:12that pointed out to todd actually
1:00:14sleeping with somebody in his parents
1:00:17bedroom and they claimed that this was
1:00:19slender because this friend was actually
1:00:21married so they weren't just attempting
1:00:23to ruin michael's character but also
1:00:25todd's after this what the jury found to
1:00:28be really impactful was the video of the
1:00:32crime scene so up until that the autopsy
1:00:35pictures were available to the public
1:00:37but of course just like atleen's family
1:00:40the jury was in shock people commented
1:00:43that their hands were going over their
1:00:45mouth that people were audibly gasping
1:00:48gagging
1:00:49just surprised with the amount of blood
1:00:52and then they called the forensic unit
1:00:55supervisor to the stand and he started
1:00:58talking about the luminal testing he did
1:01:00on the crime scene and about the
1:01:03footprints that they found the soul
1:01:06prince rather the bear footprints this
1:01:09witness said the foot impression was
1:01:11consistent with the design elements size
1:01:14and wear pattern of michael peterson's
1:01:16shoe
1:01:17the blood spatter expert would display
1:01:19the shorts and talk about how it just
1:01:22seemed like the shorts were smeared with
1:01:25the water based on where they found the
1:01:27blood
1:01:28and that what they believe was the
1:01:30initial blood spatter and also what was
1:01:33found on the shorts as dry and dark
1:01:35blood is consistent with the blunt force
1:01:39trauma as the cause of death
1:01:42they also made sure to mention the
1:01:45weather that it was about 55 degrees
1:01:48fahrenheit which i think i googled did i
1:01:51google it which i believe is like 13
1:01:54degrees celsius i'll put it on the
1:01:56screen once i find it again that simply
1:01:59it isn't the weather in which it would
1:02:01chill by the pool in the cold in shorts
1:02:05so this supports the theory that they
1:02:07probably went into the house that he
1:02:10changed clothes and then maybe an
1:02:12argument ensued but then the defense
1:02:15during the cross-examination
1:02:17questioned them about all of the
1:02:19evidence that wasn't seized the phone
1:02:21the towels underneath kathleen's head
1:02:24and the keys in the door
1:02:26the defense would have the witness
1:02:28called john lestma who was an expert in
1:02:31forensic neuropathology and she
1:02:34disagreed with deborah radish's opinion
1:02:37testifying that the wounds on the
1:02:38victim's head were actually more
1:02:41characteristic of impacts upon a flat
1:02:44and immovable surface such as stairs in
1:02:48this case but then upon the
1:02:50prosecution's cross-examination she
1:02:52caved and said well she can't actually
1:02:54fully discard these injuries being
1:02:58influenced or sustained with an object
1:03:00dr henry lee who was the forensic
1:03:02scientist hired by michael
1:03:05explained that the medium velocity blood
1:03:08spatter can be caused by a variety of
1:03:10actions including the coughing of blood
1:03:14he would say that there were more than
1:03:1510 000 blood drops at the scene and
1:03:18those drops appear to be moving in
1:03:20different directions and that would be
1:03:22inconsistent if somebody was to be
1:03:25beating the victim
1:03:27he testified that he saw the evidence of
1:03:29blood in the victim's mouth from the
1:03:31scene photographs and that led him to
1:03:34believe that the blood spatter is
1:03:36actually caused by coffee they also had
1:03:39this professor of biomechanics who was
1:03:42to drive the narrative that kathleen was
1:03:45walking upwards that she fell once
1:03:48and then
1:03:49some injuries were sustained but then
1:03:51she manages to get up and go back at it
1:03:55start climbing the stairs again and
1:03:57falls again again supported by the
1:04:00theory that she was dizzy possibly drunk
1:04:02although we know that based on the
1:04:04alcohol level in her system that nobody
1:04:07really argued about that she wasn't so
1:04:10this second fall led to those further
1:04:13injuries and then once she was at the
1:04:15bottom of the stairs she was still
1:04:17alive and coughing up blood hence why
1:04:21the blood was
1:04:24all over the wall
1:04:25just in completely different directions
1:04:28far away from her
1:04:31then dr deborah reddish took the stand
1:04:33she testified about the autopsy reports
1:04:36the seven injuries on the head the
1:04:38defensive wounds how those injuries are
1:04:42consistent with somebody being struck by
1:04:44an object she further drove the point
1:04:46across that the skull is curvy
1:04:50the stairs wouldn't be able to make
1:04:52those wounds because the stairs can't
1:04:55move the 4 to 5 inches long lacerations
1:04:59that she found couldn't have been made
1:05:01upon a flat impact on the stair another
1:05:05salacious thing that came out of this
1:05:07trial were of course michael's internet
1:05:10searches the judge actually didn't even
1:05:12decide up until some time into the trial
1:05:16whether or not he will find them
1:05:17admissible in court but then he said
1:05:20that he admitted them in court because
1:05:23the court is going to find this evidence
1:05:25preferred by the state relevant it goes
1:05:28to the issue of motive it also goes to
1:05:30attack the idyllic marriage the
1:05:32defendant has set forth through his
1:05:35counsel in the opening statement the
1:05:37prosecution will really go at it when it
1:05:40came to the emails for a reason because
1:05:42it would substantiate a motive for the
1:05:44jury
1:05:45so they show the jury the historical
1:05:48exchange of emails
1:05:50that michael did for research but also
1:05:54showing all of the emails preceding
1:05:56kathleen's death and also making sure to
1:06:00support that with the fact that michael
1:06:02wasn't writing any books at the moment
1:06:05that he didn't have any kind of reason
1:06:08to do this sort of research they also
1:06:10made sure to drive the point across that
1:06:14most of the searches that they found
1:06:16they had to retrieve because michael
1:06:19deleted hundreds of files between
1:06:22december the 8th and december the 12th
1:06:25when we spoke about the timeline we
1:06:27spoke about the deletion software that
1:06:30michael has used so that was also
1:06:32explained to the jury like
1:06:34why is your first thought on the crime
1:06:37scene while the police is looking at
1:06:39your wife
1:06:41to
1:06:42use this software to delete these emails
1:06:45why are you deleting them i think in the
1:06:47timeline i said a day before or the same
1:06:50day
1:06:51does that show premeditation and why
1:06:54again as kathleen's family is trying to
1:06:56sort out her funeral are you spending
1:07:00time on your computer deleting your
1:07:03searches and emails
1:07:05the guy that he corresponded with in a
1:07:07couple of months before kathleen's death
1:07:09also took the stand he was actually
1:07:11given like a different name to protect
1:07:14his identity even though he testified in
1:07:17person without his face must for the
1:07:19public
1:07:21for sure this was of course
1:07:23sensationalized by the media so i will
1:07:25try to stay away from that
1:07:27what came out of that was the
1:07:29confirmation by this sex escort that
1:07:32michael and him never actually met and
1:07:35that he wasn't like persistently
1:07:37pursuing him that it could have come
1:07:39across as maybe somebody just interested
1:07:42in doing research in knowing about sex
1:07:45work and knowing about the rate that
1:07:47they are charging brett and michael were
1:07:50corresponding and michael was asking
1:07:53about the price
1:07:55and then it seemed like you know the two
1:07:57of them were going to meet that michael
1:08:00was all like sort of ready to go
1:08:03but brad didn't respond or just wasn't
1:08:06interested and then he got back to
1:08:09michael a couple of weeks after and then
1:08:12michael never responded back maybe his
1:08:15feelings were hurt but also he planted a
1:08:18seed in the jury and everybody watching
1:08:21that well
1:08:22that also meant that michael's marriage
1:08:25wasn't perfect because he was chatting
1:08:27with men on the side
1:08:29proven through historical records that
1:08:31they have now had then the defense cross
1:08:34examined bread and they confirmed that
1:08:37they have indeed never met that
1:08:39everything was just dropped and that
1:08:41actually he
1:08:43thought that he might have been rude so
1:08:45he started up a conversation with
1:08:47michael
1:08:48after a couple of weeks and that michael
1:08:51never responded that michael might have
1:08:54lost interest or never really wanted to
1:08:56pursue it
1:08:57and another thing that michael's defense
1:08:59was saying
1:09:01was that yeah he might have deleted some
1:09:04of the emails but he kept them printed
1:09:07out
1:09:08so michael apparently all of these email
1:09:11correspondences with bread he kept them
1:09:14in a drawer so
1:09:16that means that he was openly bisexual
1:09:19that kathleen knew because otherwise why
1:09:22would he have this printed out having it
1:09:25in his drawer where she could easily
1:09:27access it she could access the computer
1:09:29she could access
1:09:30everything
1:09:32in my opinion it could have been for
1:09:35further research once he actually starts
1:09:38writing
1:09:39another book because we don't know what
1:09:41was in his head what his idea for that
1:09:43book was
1:09:45but also in my mind that might be
1:09:49actually
1:09:50very incriminating
1:09:51in a sense that if the argument started
1:09:54within the house on that evening if this
1:09:57was in any way accidental
1:10:00kathleen might have discovered the
1:10:01emails and that might have been the
1:10:03reason for the argument a couple of
1:10:05witnesses that have made an impression
1:10:08on the jury
1:10:09lizzie's sister she was the one to point
1:10:12out all of the similarities between liz
1:10:15and kathleen that actually made her pick
1:10:17up the phone and report this to the
1:10:19police making them aware of this then
1:10:22there was candice kathleen's sister
1:10:24and the defense team was just yet again
1:10:27pushing all of the family members too
1:10:30far according to dan fanning's book it's
1:10:33just all of them would break down on the
1:10:35stand just because of how hard they were
1:10:37pushing to prove that the relationship
1:10:40between michael and kathleen was perfect
1:10:43and then there was anne
1:10:46michael's sister she completely turned
1:10:48around after she heard all of the
1:10:50evidence so on the stand she said
1:10:53i don't think anyone could easily
1:10:55believe one's brother could be a
1:10:57murderer it's just something you don't
1:10:59fed them
1:11:00after the last few days of the testimony
1:11:02her perspective changed
1:11:05i'm not keeping it a secret that i think
1:11:07he killed both kathleen and liz
1:11:10and she also
1:11:13sort of addressed michael's first wife
1:11:16betty who was in the court
1:11:18saying don't you get it patty he killed
1:11:21your friend
1:11:23patty
1:11:24would be among
1:11:26many of michael's supporters
1:11:29throughout his whole life
1:11:30all the way up until the end that he
1:11:33always stood by her ex-husband now
1:11:36something that the defense team did that
1:11:38i find interesting and it was definitely
1:11:42one of the rare things that happens in
1:11:45these true crime cases that was to
1:11:47revisit the crime scene all of the
1:11:50jurors actually went back to the cedar
1:11:53street to their location to their family
1:11:56home some of them would walk up the
1:11:58steps look back to see what it would
1:12:00feel like to fall from that position
1:12:03some of them were making the swinging
1:12:05movements sort of as if the blowpork was
1:12:08in their hand
1:12:10so the defense obviously hoped that the
1:12:12drawers are going to see that space as
1:12:15too tight of a space to swing a blowpoke
1:12:19and they did but also some of them had a
1:12:22different conclusion
1:12:24the space was just too small for
1:12:27somebody to get the injuries that they
1:12:29were seeing in court upon the fall
1:12:32now going back in court there were two
1:12:36testimonies that would really leave an
1:12:38impact with the police and they were of
1:12:40course with the bloodspatter analysts so
1:12:44one of them would be diver who
1:12:47made this whole presentation as i
1:12:48mentioned before with like the rulers
1:12:51the measurements that he had upon like
1:12:54different splatter explaining all sorts
1:12:56of things how this can be sustained
1:12:58based on the steps that the blood
1:13:00spatter on the walls would have never
1:13:02reached that high with the way that
1:13:04somebody could fall down even if she
1:13:06fell from like the top stair that it is
1:13:09consistent with the blood force trauma
1:13:11to the head
1:13:12and then the defense had henry lee on
1:13:15the stand to explain the coughing thing
1:13:19and this yet again
1:13:21oh my god this thing had me stressed so
1:13:25lee explained dr lee explained that the
1:13:28blood spatter would be as a result of
1:13:30coughing sneezing
1:13:32or wheezing which one is it my man which
1:13:34one also isn't her neck broken at this
1:13:36point
1:13:38while on the stand this man had a bottle
1:13:41of ketchup
1:13:42and then he held it up and said he's
1:13:45going to use some ketchup he swigged it
1:13:47into his mouth and then coughed onto the
1:13:50white board now the ketchup did fly like
1:13:53far and wide around the board even
1:13:56landing on the prosecution's table which
1:13:58frieda black wasn't really happy about
1:14:01and then obviously seeing that this junk
1:14:03science isn't really proving the point
1:14:06he sort of turned to the jury and said i
1:14:08mean obviously would be different if the
1:14:10person is lying down
1:14:12and then he kind of turned around like
1:14:13obviously i'm not gonna be the one lying
1:14:15down turning to the defense table like
1:14:18anybody else like do you want to lie
1:14:20down and like spit catch up onto the
1:14:22board that i'm going to hold
1:14:24in the same position where the wall was
1:14:27like who does this
1:14:29so in the end this wasn't done comes as
1:14:32a no surprise does it and frieda black
1:14:34of course slandered the [ __ ] out of this
1:14:37man saying that this is junk science
1:14:39this shouldn't even be admitted and the
1:14:41jury shouldn't really be basing any
1:14:43decisions over what they have just seen
1:14:46one of what were considered bombshells
1:14:48in this case came actually only a couple
1:14:51of weeks before the trials end and that
1:14:54was when apparently one of peterson's
1:14:57sons discovered the blowpoke it was in
1:15:00the garage this whole time covered in
1:15:02like spider webs
1:15:04the forensic tests were performed on
1:15:06this and of course it wasn't used and
1:15:09couldn't have been a murder weapon
1:15:11so
1:15:12this really didn't
1:15:14lead anywhere except of placing a seed
1:15:18in jurors mind about a couple of things
1:15:21that maybe the prosecution is working
1:15:25backwards really
1:15:26then maybe they actually don't even know
1:15:29what the murder weapon is in this case
1:15:32yeah it could have been a blowpoke it
1:15:34would have also been probably multiple
1:15:36other objects if we are claiming that he
1:15:39was the one to kill his wife
1:15:42and just as they have done
1:15:45with diva and the blood spatter analysis
1:15:47sort of going backwards to fit into
1:15:49their theory
1:15:51the same has happened here because here
1:15:54is the blowpoke the same blowpoke that
1:15:56candice
1:15:57bought her sister
1:15:59sitting in their garage all this time
1:16:03untouched and another thing it allowed
1:16:05the defense to yet again [ __ ] on the
1:16:09police work done here because how did
1:16:12you search the house how did you search
1:16:14everything even with the idea of what
1:16:16the murder weapon is you search the
1:16:18permit around it you search the house
1:16:20multiple times and you didn't find the
1:16:23blowpoke that now the sun's found upon
1:16:26one single search then let us speak
1:16:29about the possibility of there being a
1:16:33motive so
1:16:35catherine kaiser took the stand who the
1:16:38hell is catherine kaiserman i never
1:16:39mentioned it so she was working for the
1:16:43northwest hr the company where kathleen
1:16:45worked and she would testify that
1:16:48michael peterson received
1:16:50346 plus thousand
1:16:53from the victim
1:16:55due to her death and that he claimed
1:16:57another million and a half in the
1:16:59insurance awaiting final approval by the
1:17:02insurance company
1:17:04so she did enough and he was to receive
1:17:07almost 2 million dollars as the result
1:17:10of victims death
1:17:12then there was the special agent for the
1:17:14financial crimes you need that testified
1:17:17that their credit card that surpassed
1:17:20140 000
1:17:22by the time that kathleen was found dead
1:17:25and then speaking of motive if there was
1:17:28only a case to compare it to where
1:17:31michael benefited financially
1:17:34they admitted the evidence concerning
1:17:36the death of elizabeth ratliff including
1:17:39the payments that he received as he was
1:17:42the beneficiary of her last will
1:17:45they pointed out to the jury that he was
1:17:47getting monthly payments from the
1:17:49government for the children that he was
1:17:52taking care of lizzy's two daughters
1:17:54on their behalf so in both cases we have
1:17:58the financial motive and we also have
1:18:02plenty of similarities i'm going to put
1:18:04them on the screen so that i don't have
1:18:06to read all of them but the same amount
1:18:08of lacerations the similar shape of one
1:18:12of them the similar placing of most of
1:18:14them the fact that both women were found
1:18:17at the bottom of the staircase
1:18:20that he was the last person to see them
1:18:22that there were no other eyewitnesses
1:18:23that he was also the first person on the
1:18:26crime scene feeding the story to the
1:18:28police
1:18:30no murder weapon recovered a lot of
1:18:32blood on both crime scenes no forced
1:18:34entry defensive wounds
1:18:37interestingly something i didn't think
1:18:39about the time of day both happened late
1:18:42night early morning we can't really
1:18:44establish the exact time of death
1:18:47and also general period of time
1:18:50in the year liz's death happened in
1:18:53november kathleen's in december
1:18:56now before discussing the closing
1:18:58statements you might be thinking maya
1:19:01you did michael peterson dirty
1:19:03you did him doubting his lawyer in the
1:19:06opening statement that you have read out
1:19:08word by word
1:19:10sort of promise that he is going to
1:19:12showcase his character he is going to
1:19:14prove what a glowing amazing person
1:19:17michael peterson was he is going to show
1:19:20that kathleen had all of these medical
1:19:21conditions she had headaches she was
1:19:23dizzy she was drinking a lot
1:19:25why didn't you tell us anything about
1:19:27that
1:19:28because that never happened michael
1:19:31quite literally didn't take the stand
1:19:32himself which was a smart decision
1:19:34because he would have probably been
1:19:35destroyed
1:19:37and also didn't really have
1:19:39character witnesses military personnel
1:19:42all of those people that he would have
1:19:44met through the years of his nomadic
1:19:46lifestyle
1:19:47he didn't really have anybody in his
1:19:50corner and also
1:19:53more importantly probably for this
1:19:55particular evening
1:19:57nobody could testify for kathleen ever
1:20:00visiting a doctor for complaining about
1:20:03migraines getting medications
1:20:05for it complaining that she was dizzy
1:20:08none of that was true
1:20:11and we move to the closing statements
1:20:13the defense team led by rudolph chose to
1:20:16outline all of the reasonable doubts in
1:20:19this case
1:20:20first one the missing murder weapon
1:20:22isn't missing and it wasn't used in a
1:20:25murder
1:20:26second there's no credible motive you
1:20:29don't just decide to kill your wife for
1:20:30no reason that the prosecution headed
1:20:33for him they were working backwards
1:20:35trying to fit the story into their own
1:20:38narrative
1:20:39that they didn't have enough of a
1:20:41financial motive so they had to present
1:20:43the sexual one that michael and kathleen
1:20:46were happily married that michael
1:20:48grieved and was in shock as he was
1:20:50supposed to that he fit the picture of a
1:20:52grieving husband that kathleen's
1:20:54injuries aren't consistent with the
1:20:56beating that the information and
1:20:58documentation from the scene isn't
1:21:00reliable because they didn't take all of
1:21:02the evidence they just took the evidence
1:21:04that suited them that the prosecution
1:21:07relied on drunk science with a blood
1:21:09spatter and then deborah radish making
1:21:12false statements as to actually what
1:21:14happened and how many wounds were
1:21:16sustained on kathleen's body
1:21:18once again he played that 9-1-1 tape he
1:21:21really relied on that [ __ ] which
1:21:23i just don't understand after having
1:21:25listened to it a few times i'm like this
1:21:27wouldn't be the hill i would die on this
1:21:30wouldn't be like my
1:21:32mecca and medina like my [ __ ] trojan
1:21:35horse like i wouldn't really die on this
1:21:37hill but sure i guess you thought people
1:21:39would when they hear michael all
1:21:41panicked every time michael would hear
1:21:44an iron man call he would start crying
1:21:46which were rare displays of emotion that
1:21:49he showed actually the book states the
1:21:51only times he would cry during the trial
1:21:54were when this tape was placed on a 911
1:21:57tape or when words written by or about
1:22:00him were read aloud so rudolph finished
1:22:03his closing statement saying we ask you
1:22:06after considering all the evidence in
1:22:08this case to return a verdict that will
1:22:10speak the truth a verdict of not guilty
1:22:13of first-degree murder
1:22:15as for prosecution's closing statement
1:22:18frida black stood up she was pissed she
1:22:21was fuming she would also make a great
1:22:23partner for cocktail drinking so
1:22:26she immediately touched upon the whole
1:22:28soulmate saga she said that soul mates
1:22:31say things like i promise to love you
1:22:33comfort you honor you keep you for
1:22:36better or worse for richer poorer in
1:22:38sickness and health to each other then
1:22:42she proceeded to ask the jury did he
1:22:44honor her did he keep her did he forsake
1:22:47all others and was he faithful only unto
1:22:51her you all know the answers to those
1:22:53questions the answer to every one of
1:22:55those is no
1:22:57she emphasized on the evidence behind
1:22:59the red neurons so the neurological
1:23:02report that was done on kathleen and
1:23:04said that this meant that for two hours
1:23:07michael peterson had time to do things
1:23:11before that 9-1-1 call was placed she
1:23:14touched upon the murder weapons saying
1:23:16we are not required to be absolutely
1:23:19certain that weapon went somewhere but
1:23:22now why did he do all these things
1:23:25you need to keep in mind we are not
1:23:27dealing with an average individual over
1:23:29here
1:23:31we are dealing with a fictional writer
1:23:34some people even say he is a good
1:23:36fictional writer he is a person who
1:23:39knows how to create a fictional plot
1:23:42and in this case he has tried to create
1:23:45one
1:23:46he tried to sell it to the ems workers
1:23:49he tried to sell it to his family and in
1:23:52this courtroom he's tried to sell it to
1:23:55you a fictional plot
1:23:58then she attacked the
1:24:01the 911 team relied upon saying is he
1:24:04really a grieving spouse why didn't he
1:24:08try to give her cpr you ever ask
1:24:10yourselves that would you really be
1:24:13checking your emails if your spouse was
1:24:15lying out in the hallway with blood
1:24:17everywhere
1:24:19and then and then she attacked the drunk
1:24:21science
1:24:22and mr rudolph said that state experts
1:24:25had engaged in drunk science well what
1:24:28do you call spitting catch up across the
1:24:30courtroom throwing red ink what do you
1:24:33call that does that seem scientific to
1:24:36you i call that drunk science and when
1:24:39it came to the defense's attack of their
1:24:42motives she said do you really believe
1:24:44that kathleen knew that mr peterson was
1:24:47bisexual does that make common sense to
1:24:50you that it was okay with her to go to
1:24:53work while he stayed at home and
1:24:56communicated by email i asked brad what
1:24:58they were gonna do he told you and i
1:25:01don't mean to offend anybody but he did
1:25:04say they were gonna have anal sex
1:25:07do you really believe that was okay with
1:25:09kathleen
1:25:11the only reason that meeting didn't take
1:25:13place was because of bread it wasn't
1:25:16because of mr peterson he was fired up
1:25:18and ready to go even got the price right
1:25:22that's not the way that soul mates
1:25:23conduct themselves she brought a
1:25:26statement to the close saying we do
1:25:28thank you all of our lives have been
1:25:30disrupted but it's worth it to find the
1:25:33truth and to seek justice
1:25:35not just for michael peterson to seek
1:25:38justice for kathleen she's the one that
1:25:40died a horrible brutal death nobody
1:25:43deserves that
1:25:45not even a dog deserves to die like the
1:25:47way she had to die i think she did this
1:25:51on purpose because how michael treated
1:25:53all those dogs can you imagine the pain
1:25:56and suffering she endured you can just
1:25:58look at the pictures of the back of her
1:26:00head and just try to fathom that fault
1:26:04michael peterson is guilty of first
1:26:06degree murder
1:26:08so the jury adjourned and they went to
1:26:10deliberate and during the first
1:26:13afternoon four of them were undecided
1:26:16five found him guilty and four voted not
1:26:20guilty what all of them would agree upon
1:26:23even when they didn't agree on the
1:26:25verdict was that kathleen didn't die
1:26:28from the fall down the stairs
1:26:30they discarded a blowpoke and also
1:26:32discarded a bunch of testimonies that
1:26:34they have heard like all of the drunk
1:26:36science stuff and they knew that they
1:26:39had so many questions unanswered about
1:26:41the murder weapon about why did they
1:26:43find it there
1:26:44that it was to a certain degree true
1:26:47that the prosecution tried to fit things
1:26:50in and out of their theory but what was
1:26:53the turning point for them was dr
1:26:55deborah radish's testimony the biggest
1:26:58obstacle when it came to the verdict for
1:27:01them was the premeditation but after the
1:27:05liberation and bringing the three-month
1:27:07trial to close they landed on a verdict
1:27:11guilty of first degree murder and they
1:27:14sentenced michael peterson to life
1:27:16behind bars so let us speak about the
1:27:19timeline after michael's imprisonment so
1:27:23first of all in 2004
1:27:26the house was on the market and well it
1:27:29was kind of dropping in price it was
1:27:31supposed to go for almost a million
1:27:33dollars but in the end it was finally
1:27:36bought in july 2004
1:27:38for around 640 000
1:27:42now of course mike peterson started
1:27:44appealing from the get-go so
1:27:47in 2005 one of his defense attorneys
1:27:50filed an appeal
1:27:52saying that the pursuit by the
1:27:54prosecution of the same-sex relation
1:27:57and also the death of elizabeth ratliff
1:28:00were the reasons why michael peterson
1:28:02didn't get a fair trial
1:28:04in 2006 michael will file for bankruptcy
1:28:09and this would be seen as an attempt to
1:28:11delay the trial to determine the amount
1:28:14that caitlyn was to get from their
1:28:16wrongful death lawsuit in 2007 finally
1:28:20mike and caitlin agreed on a 25 million
1:28:24statement for the wrongful death lawsuit
1:28:27in 2009 a neighbor of petersons who was
1:28:31also an attorney in durham called
1:28:33lawrence pollard he started looking into
1:28:36the public details on the case and after
1:28:39looking at the autopsy pictures after
1:28:42looking at all the details he approached
1:28:44the police suggesting that an owl might
1:28:48be responsible for kathleen's death he
1:28:51said he started thinking this after he
1:28:54read the north carolina
1:28:56state bureau of investigation evidence
1:28:58list
1:28:59and found that a feather was listed on
1:29:03the list of evidence that they have
1:29:05taken from the crime scene so this
1:29:07information gets through to the
1:29:09peterson's lawyers and they start
1:29:11looking into the evidence collected on
1:29:13the scene all of those forensic evidence
1:29:16that they collected with tweezers
1:29:18further lab reports would find a
1:29:20microscopic owl feather and also a
1:29:24wooden sliver from a tree
1:29:26entangled in a clump of hair that was
1:29:29pulled out of kathleen's head when found
1:29:32on the scene she was holding this clump
1:29:34of hair in her left hand once this clump
1:29:37of hair was re-examined they found two
1:29:40more microscopic owl feathers
1:29:44so let me once again put the list of
1:29:46things that support the owl theory on
1:29:48the screen
1:29:50they were owls living in the woods near
1:29:52peterson's house
1:29:54they are aggressive and dangerous
1:29:57according to certain websites on the
1:29:59internet they have attacked people
1:30:01numerous occasions
1:30:03people have suffered due to these owls
1:30:06there were drops of blood on the outside
1:30:09walkway leading to the front door of the
1:30:11house
1:30:12there was another large smear of blood
1:30:14on the outside of the front door frame
1:30:17as shown in some police pictures that
1:30:19they just contributed to
1:30:21michael's bloody hands the most
1:30:24convincing for me i have to admit if i
1:30:26was to give any credit to this theory
1:30:29would be the wounds on kathleen's scalp
1:30:32that are in the shape of the talents of
1:30:34a barred owl
1:30:36well rather shaped as only one of the
1:30:39owl's legs i don't know where that i
1:30:41will move the second one sure
1:30:44a feather found on colleen's body
1:30:46the twig that was found in dried blood
1:30:49and then what the defense was trying to
1:30:52present the whole time
1:30:54that kathleen's injuries didn't lead to
1:30:57the brain swelling there was no skull
1:30:59fracture there was no subdural hematoma
1:31:03no hemorrhage nothing really going as
1:31:05deep to reach the brain
1:31:07my thing is right cool cool and i will
1:31:10dedicate
1:31:11paint it for me like they did with a
1:31:13blood spatter like they did with all the
1:31:15drunk science
1:31:17painted for me so she's going from the
1:31:19pool
1:31:20inside then she leaves to go somewhere
1:31:22else outside she gets attacked
1:31:25by an owl
1:31:26of course if you get attacked by
1:31:28anything i presume you would scream as
1:31:30any normal person would
1:31:33but what michael doesn't hear the
1:31:35screams this attack is the most silent
1:31:38hour attack out there the owl finishes
1:31:41the job cut clean drops on her head on
1:31:45her wounds that the owl has made
1:31:48in that shape in the stairway the owl
1:31:52leaves some evidence behind because it
1:31:54is an owl she can't clean it up and then
1:31:56she departs and leaves the scene
1:31:59as i mentioned in part one we don't
1:32:01believe in our killers on this channel
1:32:04maybe maybe i would believe in it more
1:32:08because truly yes that autopsy picture
1:32:11you know the our leg it does look like
1:32:14it can possibly be made into a shape but
1:32:17then again paint it for me so what that
1:32:20i will grab latched onto the head i will
1:32:22latch onto kathleen's head with only
1:32:25what one of the legs where's the other
1:32:27one what is is that the one that's
1:32:29scratching
1:32:30at the surface because then that wound
1:32:34doesn't correspond with the owl tamil or
1:32:36whatever it's called
1:32:38knowing at kathleen's skull
1:32:42i told you in part one this case reminds
1:32:44me of two really famous cases
1:32:47one of casey anthony the history of
1:32:50lying by michael peterson and then the
1:32:53second case
1:32:54is the case of phoebe handshake the case
1:32:57from australia where a woman we are
1:32:59supposed to believe has launched herself
1:33:02down a trash chute
1:33:04it reminds me of that case in a sense of
1:33:07yes there are first times for everything
1:33:10this could be a plausible
1:33:12theory
1:33:14but then there are discrepancies to it
1:33:17as well a lot a lot of discrepancies for
1:33:19somebody to just keep pushing this one
1:33:23and what you need to remember most
1:33:25importantly this wasn't represented in
1:33:28court it wasn't represented in the
1:33:30initial trial and from everything i
1:33:33found also it isn't officially used in
1:33:36the appeals
1:33:37so if we believe this then why aren't we
1:33:41using it as
1:33:42serious approach as a serious theory of
1:33:46what could have happened
1:33:47surely as lawyers as michael peterson
1:33:50himself the fictional writer once you
1:33:52see the evidence list once you see
1:33:54feathers on it once you see a twig on it
1:33:57once you see the autopsy pictures that
1:33:59is the first thing that will pop into
1:34:01your head
1:34:02but he didn't in the first place so why
1:34:05does it now with michael still in jail
1:34:09his appeal based on the homosexual
1:34:11relationship and leaves ratliff's
1:34:13evidence was overturned but then in 2011
1:34:18the police was investigating juan diver
1:34:21do you remember the bloodspatter analyst
1:34:24that was serving for the persecution
1:34:26well they found out that he actually in
1:34:29the past throughout his career conducted
1:34:32unscientific experiments misleading the
1:34:35jury about his experience and
1:34:37credentials so they overviewed all of
1:34:41the cases that he worked on of course
1:34:43starting with one of the most famous
1:34:45ones
1:34:46and once they did they found out the
1:34:48diva misled the jury about the nature of
1:34:51the bloodstain evidence purely because
1:34:54of this michael peterson would
1:34:56eventually be granted a new trial but in
1:35:002017 michael decided not to proceed with
1:35:03a second trial not to put everybody
1:35:05through it not put himself through it
1:35:08because he was at the age of 73 at this
1:35:10point so he decided to opt in for an
1:35:13alford plea instead alford plea meaning
1:35:16that he was to plead guilty
1:35:19to voluntary manslaughter
1:35:21acknowledging that prosecutors had
1:35:24enough evidence to convict him
1:35:26but also insisting on his innocence
1:35:29upon his release from prison due to him
1:35:32taking the alfred plea his attorneys
1:35:35filed a motion to allow michael to pay
1:35:38for a bird expert at the smithsonian
1:35:40institute to examine feather fragments
1:35:43found in kathleen's hair and determine
1:35:46if she was attacked by a raptor i don't
1:35:49know where this led to
1:35:51so let us instead talk where the
1:35:54individuals that we have spoken about
1:35:56during this story are at now
1:35:58also just another one last comment on
1:36:01owl killers
1:36:03if this is what we are basing it on what
1:36:06was in kathleen's hair
1:36:08so we're not even basing it on the
1:36:11most
1:36:12crucial probable evidence which was the
1:36:14talent on her head
1:36:16cool
1:36:17what do you think is in your hair right
1:36:19now even if you left the shower like a
1:36:22second ago there's probably particles
1:36:25dust if you went outside probably little
1:36:28bits of everything that you passed by
1:36:30outside just something to hold in mind
1:36:32if they were owls living in this area
1:36:35these barred owls well then yeah they
1:36:38would find feathers on her they would
1:36:40find twigs and whatever i was bringing
1:36:43because they lived in the area and
1:36:45because the two of them spent hours
1:36:46outside by the pool
1:36:48make it make sense just make it next
1:36:50make me believe in this i'll be the
1:36:52first person to eat my words up
1:36:55if you can picture this for me i'll be
1:36:57the first person to shut the [ __ ] up
1:36:59until then i won't so where are they now
1:37:03his sons clayton and todd live in two
1:37:06different states clayton has two kids he
1:37:10apparently hasn't blown anything else up
1:37:13since
1:37:14last time we spoke about clayton really
1:37:17well
1:37:18of course we wouldn't know about it
1:37:20would we
1:37:21it's such an interesting story that we
1:37:23just don't pick up on because ever since
1:37:26he was released from prison michael
1:37:28drives the narrative and what is known
1:37:30about his family and a lot of them want
1:37:33to stay private todd leads a private
1:37:36life and he has moved to tennessee
1:37:38michael moved back to durham and since
1:37:41his release he worked on the staircase
1:37:44the netflix documentary
1:37:46and he also self-published two books
1:37:49behind the staircase and beyond the
1:37:52staircase according to the internet the
1:37:55proceeds from these books go to
1:37:57charities because apparently he isn't
1:38:00allowed to profit you know the son of
1:38:02sam law or whatever it's called and also
1:38:05he says that if he was allowed to profit
1:38:08out of this that that would mean that he
1:38:10is admitting to murdering kathleen
1:38:12which you could also argue that him
1:38:14accepting alfred plea means that he
1:38:17believes he is guilty of killing
1:38:19kathleen but sure
1:38:21another thing that the documentary
1:38:23leaves out that i have found in a couple
1:38:25of articles mostly tabloids i have to
1:38:27admit
1:38:28is that michael might have had an affair
1:38:31with one of the staircase directors no
1:38:35official source mentions this there's no
1:38:37like pictures of them that you've never
1:38:40got engaged married anything like that
1:38:44i've read that his first wife patty died
1:38:46and that everybody that stood by michael
1:38:49during the trial still stands by him and
1:38:52vice versa all the people that weren't
1:38:54his number one supporters still aren't
1:38:57to date
1:38:58so that is the case of michael
1:39:01[ __ ] peterson to finalize this
1:39:04saga let us just break down a couple of
1:39:06theories and then let me tell you what i
1:39:09believe happened
1:39:10on that night
1:39:12so there's a theory that this was an
1:39:14accident that michael to a certain
1:39:16degree is supported in court there's
1:39:19never been a theory of an intruder well
1:39:22unless we are to believe that the
1:39:26intruder is a bird
1:39:27so you can't have it both ways you can't
1:39:29say
1:39:30you can't be saying that somebody else
1:39:32came in and killed kathleen but it
1:39:34wasn't michael
1:39:36and saying that it was an owl in the
1:39:38same time so if it was an intruder it
1:39:41was an owl and if it was an owl prove it
1:39:44to me thank you very much
1:39:46there are reddit threads upon reddit
1:39:48friends out there arguing that todd
1:39:51might have been behind this and this is
1:39:53why in my opinion
1:39:55the lack of information is equally
1:39:57dangerous as
1:39:59misinformation
1:40:00even more so if possible
1:40:03it doesn't fit the timeline it doesn't
1:40:05fit the blood sweater found in the scene
1:40:08he doesn't fit the alibi his friends
1:40:10gave for him and also he doesn't fit the
1:40:13motive it was his stepmother he didn't
1:40:16really have any known
1:40:18beef disagreements with her
1:40:20he wouldn't have had as strong of a
1:40:22motive as michael did
1:40:25now let's speak what i believe might
1:40:27have happened
1:40:29and i'd like you to hear me out and
1:40:30especially if you are watching this as a
1:40:33parent to let me know what you think
1:40:36once i sort of tell you the story and
1:40:39also i'd advise watching an interview
1:40:41that he did i think upon his release but
1:40:43he's still in prison in the uniform
1:40:47just because it's from that point on
1:40:50that i sort of started forming this
1:40:52opinion then of course i researched the
1:40:55whole story and everything kind of just
1:40:58makes sense to me
1:41:00if we are to look at this through the
1:41:01lens of all of the lies that michael
1:41:04peterson has told throughout his life
1:41:07most of his lies had a bit of truth to
1:41:10them
1:41:11and most of them were used for his
1:41:15self-preservation to make him look
1:41:18better or to project something that he
1:41:21really wanted people to think actually
1:41:24happened
1:41:25so i believe that the two of them were
1:41:28by the pool kathleen and michael were
1:41:31probably drinking just chatting away and
1:41:34then at some point kathleen went inside
1:41:38and michael followed possibly because it
1:41:40was cold one of the multiple arguments
1:41:44could have ensued both of them were
1:41:46extremely stressed this was probably
1:41:49enhanced by the two of them drinking a
1:41:51bit
1:41:52and they started arguing whether it was
1:41:54about the debts financial stressors the
1:41:56fact that michael hasn't written a book
1:41:58in two years that he isn't supporting
1:42:00the family
1:42:01whether she discovered about him being
1:42:04bisexual this argument escalates michael
1:42:07grabs whatever was close to him
1:42:11and due to the rage that he has felt
1:42:14because of all of the issues pressuring
1:42:16him at that moment
1:42:18he kills kathleen he tries to stage this
1:42:21as an accident and at that moment todd
1:42:25comes in
1:42:26whether he returns by himself or with
1:42:29that friend that also lawyered up
1:42:32both could be true michaels tells him a
1:42:35story he might have told him it was just
1:42:38an accident something that i think would
1:42:41have worked and nobody really mentions
1:42:44is he could have mentioned clayton
1:42:46todd one of your brothers was in prison
1:42:50now if you don't go along with this
1:42:53story you're going to lose your father
1:42:56as well
1:42:57due to what due to just an accidental
1:43:00death that happened tonight
1:43:03after this he manages to convince todd
1:43:05to dispose of the murder weapon
1:43:08he could have told him then and there
1:43:10when todd should return to the crime
1:43:12scene when roughly he will ring 9-1-1
1:43:16in fact michael could have told todd to
1:43:18bring all of those friends along as an
1:43:20alibi in order to create chaos so that
1:43:24people can't even figure out the
1:43:25timeline in their head
1:43:28in order to prove the police was just as
1:43:31dumb as he thought hearing is 9-1-1 and
1:43:35the story ensues
1:43:38is it crazy
1:43:39possibly
1:43:41you might think this theory is crazy
1:43:43it's complete [ __ ] it is equally
1:43:45fictional as the owl theory if so let me
1:43:49know what you believe in if you believe
1:43:51he is innocent
1:43:52what made you prevail in that direction
1:43:56why i'm asking the parents to chip in
1:43:59with their opinion is because during his
1:44:02interviews and just his behavior in
1:44:04general and if we are to believe the
1:44:07forensic evidence the blood drop at the
1:44:09back of todd's shoe
1:44:12i think this again matches michael's
1:44:14personality of trying to do everything
1:44:17to protect his children he knew the
1:44:19police was going to look at him and
1:44:21probably him only so he had to eliminate
1:44:25the possibility of them ever looking
1:44:27into thought and he tried really hard to
1:44:30do that
1:44:32so if you are a parent let me know what
1:44:34you think about this one because
1:44:36i don't think this is the
1:44:38jonbenet ramsay like i don't think this
1:44:41is the
1:44:42cover-up where a child might have
1:44:44accidentally killed the person and then
1:44:47the father is covering up for them i
1:44:49think it's more of again him seeing how
1:44:52to drive a narrative in every single
1:44:54situation and knowing the theory that
1:44:57the police was going to buy
1:45:00in the end michael had strong motives to
1:45:02kill kathleen and i truly think the
1:45:05affair bit the bisexuality was actually
1:45:09down the list out of all of the peterson
1:45:12cases that i've covered out of probably
1:45:15all of the cases that i've covered in
1:45:17general
1:45:18i truly think here if we are to believe
1:45:22that michael had something to do with
1:45:24both elizabeth ratliff and kathleen
1:45:27peterson's case
1:45:29financial motivation would have been
1:45:31strong
1:45:32and don't get me wrong i think with
1:45:34kathleen this was an accident that this
1:45:38wasn't premeditated and why do i think
1:45:41that is because i think if michael
1:45:43peterson killed her
1:45:46with intention
1:45:48with premeditation he would have made
1:45:50sure
1:45:51that that will is going to him that he
1:45:54is benefiting out of it that it won't go
1:45:56to caitlyn just purely because of how
1:45:59obsessed he was with liz ratliff and
1:46:01that financial situation
1:46:04and speaking of liz ratliff i just don't
1:46:07think that even after doing a deep dive
1:46:10into this
1:46:11there is enough impartial evidence for
1:46:14me to make an educated guess
1:46:17that one if you think about it if
1:46:19anything could have been even more
1:46:21premeditated also when looking into
1:46:24motives i found this interesting article
1:46:27on narcissism speaking about people with
1:46:30narcissistic personality disorder
1:46:33who project a false face to the world
1:46:36and manage all social interactions
1:46:38through this fictional self according to
1:46:41this article people often become
1:46:43involved with a narcissist without
1:46:45having any awareness of who he really is
1:46:48because this person would express
1:46:51surprise that society should hold them
1:46:53responsible and want to punish them for
1:46:56their actions
1:46:57when faced with the judgment of others
1:46:59they would feel wronged and persecuted
1:47:02and it is rare for them to feel any
1:47:04regret for what they had done or any
1:47:06empathy for their victim i hope this
1:47:09deep dive showed you that everything
1:47:12about michael peterson was about his
1:47:15self-preservation
1:47:16through his life his marriages through
1:47:19his schemes
1:47:21so why are we not to believe that it was
1:47:24all about self-preservation through his
1:47:27crimes as well
1:47:29that is
1:47:30it
1:47:31the longest one yet
1:47:33oh i love me at you partner i love
1:47:35editing them i love it you wanna
1:47:37volunteer to edit this you wanna
1:47:39volunteer to edit like five hours of
1:47:41footage be my [ __ ] guest do it
1:47:44claim your ticket in the first comment
1:47:47ever i'm done because i need to edit
1:47:49that and then go to oxford for like a
1:47:51day tomorrow which will probably be even
1:47:53shorter than a day considering
1:47:55considering this is happening
1:47:58let me know your theories in the
1:47:59comments what was that accent stop there
1:48:02cut that cut it to the core let me know
1:48:04your theories in the comments
1:48:07and uh i shall be seeing you once i wash
1:48:11petersons off my skin and all these free
1:48:13insane cases
1:48:15and um if this month taught you anything
1:48:18that is not to marry a person named
1:48:21peterson especially if they have
1:48:22connections with these three individuals
1:48:24we spoke about this moment
1:48:25cut that out cut that out
1:48:28i'm interested in the theories
1:48:30downstairs especially from the parents
1:48:32downstairs
1:48:34that is what professional people call
1:48:36comment section sick love it love that
1:48:39for you downstairs
1:48:42why would they think that was a logical
1:48:43explanation where downstairs they're
1:48:45like coming in front of your house
1:48:47they're the [ __ ] fbi they will find
1:48:49you they will hunt you down they're liam
1:48:51neeson's of this nation please don't
1:48:54please don't literally live in a garbage
1:48:56lot so
1:48:57god [ __ ] get out
1:49:03see you next week okay cool
1:49:06so we're gonna see

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This page contains the full transcript of #91 : Did He Kill His Wife?! — Michael Peterson 2/2 | THE PETERSONS by By All Means Necessary Podcast, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 16,543 words across 2,604 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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