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Michael Peterson | The Murder of Kathleen Peterson | Crime Documentaries — Transcript

by Timothy Jones · 6,727 words · 1,040 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:06a best-selling author accused of
0:08murdering his popular wife I would never
0:11have done anything to hurt her I think
0:14Michael Peterson is a master at making
0:18people see what he wants them to see was
0:21it an accident or Foul Play how do we go
0:26from soulmate and lover to cold blooded
0:30murderer could The Local Hero really be
0:33a killer sitting here today I have no
0:36idea who Michael Peterson is none
0:39whatsoever a man who had it all but
0:42would he kill to keep it find out
0:45tonight and power privilege and justice
0:54[Music]
1:00[Applause]
1:04[Music]
1:12[Music]
1:25Durham North
1:26Carolina home of the bestselling
1:28novelist in newspaper paper columnist
1:30Michael Peterson and his wife Kathleen a
1:33prominent socialite they were a real
1:37couple it was uh it's kind of
1:39relationship that you know everybody
1:41would wants or strives for the Petersons
1:44lived in a sprawling 14 room mansion in
1:47Forest Hills Durham's most prestigious
1:50neighborhood they're both so
1:53bright and you put them together and
1:56you've got a whirlwind of intelligence
1:59and Charis Ma and excitement and insight
2:03and people just like being around them
2:05everyone in Durham knew the rich and
2:08popular Petersons Kathleen was a fixture
2:11at Society events Michael was a
2:14best-selling author and a war veteran
2:17but all that would change in December
2:202001 when the police received an
2:23emergency phone call from the Peterson
2:28house you Mar oh 18 10 ft of street
2:31please what's wrong my wife had an
2:33accident she's still breathing what kind
2:35of accident don't on stairs she's still
2:38BR please is she conscious is she
2:40conscious no she's not conscious how
2:43many stairs did you call down how
2:46many how many
2:48stairs I could hear someone that sounded
2:51like they were
2:52sing when we got into the house and you
2:54know as soon as we made our left hand
2:56turn and went just a little bit forward
2:58as when we noticed that that's where
2:59where the patient was laying was at the
3:01at the foot of the stairs and Michael
3:04was Michael Peterson was standing right
3:06there on top of
3:07him her laying there I mean blood
3:10everywhere on the wall all of her body
3:12her eyes was open you know I can just I
3:15mean just that's that that look out in
3:17space like you know just looking nowhere
3:19I mean you see it 100 times in AMS with
3:21the eyes open you know the patient is
3:26decease distraught Peterson tells the
3:29paramedics that he and Kathleen drank
3:31champagne and watched a video before
3:33deciding to go to bed he went out to the
3:36pool to turn off the lights while
3:38Kathleen went up to the bedroom when he
3:41came back in the house he found her
3:43lying at the bottom of the back
3:46[Music]
3:47staircase Durham Police Sergeant Terry
3:49Wilkins arrives next at the Peterson
3:51house I was immediately struck with the
3:55amount of blood that was on the scene
3:57and there was spatters considerable
4:00distance up the wall there was a pool of
4:02blood it was very obvious that there was
4:05a need to call
4:06someone homicide detective art Holland
4:09is paged to the scene there was just a
4:11tremendous amount of blood on her
4:13clothing on the walls behind her on the
4:17steps on the uh face plates of the steps
4:20and on the bottom of her feet as Holland
4:23examines the scene for other Clues
4:25police officers escort Michael Peterson
4:27to his study at the other end of the
4:29house
4:30he did seem somewhat confused um there
4:33were some things that I would say as a
4:38normal part of my behavior I I'm not
4:40sure that I would be acting that way it
4:43was brought to my attention that that Mr
4:44Peterson was on his computer at some
4:46point uh when his wife has just been
4:49found deceased he just sent a a message
4:52that that he uh was not or did not seem
4:55to be uh concerned uh about losing his
5:01wife Holland continued his survey
5:04finding Blood on the ground the couch
5:06and the front door there was some blood
5:09on the inside of the door which appeared
5:11to be smeared or wiped there was the
5:14smell of the alcohol in the sink why it
5:16was poured down the sink and the placing
5:19of the two champagne glasses beside the
5:21sink one being smudged with finger
5:23prints and the other one there was just
5:25no finger Impressions or smudges on it
5:27whatsoever there was just a lot of
5:29things it just did not um did not did
5:32not add up but based on the scene
5:35Holland did know one thing Michael's
5:37story just didn't make
5:45[Applause]
5:48[Music]
5:51sense it's the kind of headline that
5:53this takes your breath away because it's
5:55Forest Hills because it's Michael
5:57Peterson's wife because it's Kathleen
5:59Peters
6:00who has the utmost respect because it
6:02looks suspicious because it's bloody he
6:06was absolutely destroyed I mean they
6:08really were a very very close couple
6:13um he lost his best friend His companion
6:16and everything else he was uh he was
6:19totally
6:21destroyed in the days following
6:23Kathleen's death Michael laid
6:26low but without answers Kathleen family
6:30was quickly becoming suspicious when I
6:33finally see Michael he asked me to do
6:34the funeral but he won't talk to me
6:37about what happened to Kathleen he won't
6:39talk to my sister Lori about happened to
6:42Kathleen but he's talking to his brother
6:45Bill and he's talking to a lawyer he's
6:48functioning just fine investigators
6:51learn that Michael's son in an apparent
6:53effort to explain the fall is telling
6:56people that Kathleen was drunk the night
6:58of her death the neighbors and friends
7:00knew that she enjoyed having a good time
7:02and she gave parties she was a she she
7:05liked giving socials that was played up
7:07that that she had had a lot to drink
7:09that night Holland discovers that at
7:1111:00 p.m. on the night of her death
7:13Kathleen retrieved an email and called a
7:16coworker from Michael's study the
7:19coworker confirms that Kathleen sounded
7:21neither impaired nor upset when they
7:24spoke then the results from Kathleen's
7:27blood test come back more in
7:29inconsistencies confirmed well it was
7:32normal she wasn't drunk she wasn't drunk
7:35at all well then why is Todd spending
7:37all this time telling my sister L me
7:39over how drunk Kathleen was when the
7:43medical examiner releases preliminary
7:45findings Holland learns his instincts
7:48were correct findings were that that she
7:50did not fall down the steps that the
7:53lacerations were not consistent with the
7:55fault uh that is when we changed gears
7:58and started focusing on on what happened
8:01in the Peterson house at night the
8:03surprises were just beginning once
8:07investigators started looking closely at
8:09Michael Peterson they would discover
8:12secrets in his past that would shock
8:15everyone in Durham who thought they knew
8:18him
8:29[Music]
8:31when writer Michael Peterson's wife
8:33Kathleen was found dead at the bottom of
8:35a staircase in their elegant Mansion all
8:38of Durham North Carolina was
8:40stunned Michael told police it was an
8:43accidental fall but lead investigator
8:46art Holland had his doubts well this
8:49case is like no other uh that I have
8:51investigated uh it was a very uh
8:54complicated crime scene uh you know when
8:57you're dispatched to a shooting or to a
8:59a stabbing you know that it was a
9:01shooting or a stabbing um in this
9:03particular case you know it wasn't like
9:05that there were cops and police cars
9:08camped out on the lawn for days
9:11neighbors couldn't believe that the
9:13Peterson house had become a crime scene
9:17or that their famous neighbor might be
9:20mixed up in
9:22Murder everybody was like they couldn't
9:25believe it this this didn't they didn't
9:27know that this was Mike I I don't think
9:29you'll find a single soul that will ever
9:31say that they didn't have a what
9:33appeared to be to me and and everybody
9:36else I know to be about as warm and
9:38loving a relationship they were really
9:40soulmates they were just compatible in
9:44every sense of the word when their paths
9:47crossed in
9:481992 Michael Peterson and Kathleen Hunt
9:51Atwater found they had a lot in
9:54common Michael was a military brat born
9:57in Tennessee
10:00he came to Durham in the early 60s to
10:02attend Duke
10:04University there he edited the newspaper
10:07was president of his paternity and a
10:09member of Duke's prestigious red frier
10:13Club he enlisted in the Marines in
10:161968 was sent to Vietnam and returned
10:20home in
10:211971 medically discharged with silver
10:24and bronze stars for courage and
10:27Leadership after the War Michael and his
10:30first wife moved back and forth between
10:33Durham and Germany with their two sons
10:35Todd and
10:36Clayton using his wartime experiences as
10:40writing material Michael published his
10:42first novel The Immortal dragon in
10:461983 2 years later a close friend in
10:49Germany died unexpectedly leaving
10:52Michael sold custody of her two
10:54daughters Margaret and
10:57Martha by 1991
10:59Michael was separated from his wife a
11:02single father with two sons two adopted
11:05daughters and a successful career as a
11:09novelist equally ambitious Kathleen had
11:13also led a successful
11:15life my father wanted his daughters to
11:18be very educated to be very successful
11:22in school to be very uh career oriented
11:26so
11:27Kathleen took that quite seriously
11:29graduated number one out of our high
11:31school and went on to not only go to
11:34Duke University but she also got her
11:36Master's from there and she was the
11:38first female student in
11:42engineering after graduation Kathleen
11:45married and started a family living back
11:48in Durham she started on her fast track
11:51to success climbing the executive ladder
11:54at Nell networks she took great pride in
11:56her work she loved working for for
11:59Nortel she really enjoyed the people she
12:01met there Kathleen's marriage also ended
12:04in divorce and by the early '90s she and
12:07Michael found themselves living as
12:09neighbors and single parents in the
12:11beautiful Forest Hills neighborhood near
12:13Duke's campus my mom met Michael through
12:16the neighborhood he pretty much just
12:17swept her off her feet you know she was
12:20ready to be swept and he was there he
12:23was an interesting person he was very
12:25loquacious and he seemed to be full of
12:29stories of Life Experiences from Vietnam
12:31War to travels in Europe and Asia when
12:34Michael and Kathleen moved in together
12:37they created a family five children
12:40total my mom actually sat me down and
12:43said how would you like Martha marget to
12:45come live with you and I'm thinking this
12:47is great a turning point for Mr Peterson
12:50was the money he received from a time of
12:53war that gave him Independence that gave
12:55him the ability to live the life of the
12:58writer and the novelist that he really
13:00had not been able to live before with
13:02his book profits Michael bought Kathleen
13:05the John Buchanan house a colonial
13:08revival built in
13:101940 the 11,000 ft Mansion was the pride
13:13of Forest
13:15Hills it seemed like something out of a
13:18movie and it was it had been used as the
13:22main location for the Robert Duval Fay
13:24dunway film a handmaid's tale there were
13:2814 rooms each bigger than the next a
13:31giant redwood panel study an
13:33award-winning rose garden and fountains
13:36in the swimming pool the foyer of the
13:40house was so large and it had a
13:42staircase that swept around three walls
13:46of the foyer it was unbelievably Grand
13:49and beautiful in
13:511997 Michael and Kathleen were married
13:53in the foyer of their elegant home
13:56Kathleen was really a happy beautiful br
13:59and she had Magnolia leaves all down the
14:02railing and she had the wedding of her
14:05dreams and I think up on top of that
14:07hill in Forest Hills Mike Peterson was
14:10where he thought he belonged Michael and
14:12Kathleen quickly became known within
14:14Durham's Inner Circle for their lavish
14:17cocktail parties and Grand
14:19dinners my sister thought nothing of
14:21having 30 to 60 people for dinner her
14:24friends saw her as a superwoman a mother
14:27of five me of the Durham Arts Council
14:30and Senior executive at Nell this woman
14:34could make that house look perfect could
14:37rise to the highest levels of a very
14:40competitive company be a wonderful
14:43mother and be out and about in the Arts
14:45and cook and hold parties how many
14:47people do we know that can do all of
14:50that Michael was just as ambitious he
14:53began writing a column for the Harald
14:55son newspaper crusading against local
14:58corruption and police bungling anybody
15:00in a position of power was not a not a
15:03friend of Michael Peterson he had
15:06alienated a lot of people cuz he's very
15:08opinionated and he was very he attacking
15:11the establishment here encouraged by his
15:14increasing popularity and his reputation
15:17as a man of the people Michael ran for
15:20mayor in
15:211999 what I think we need to do is go
15:25back to our Center but his ambition
15:27landed him in the center of a
15:30scandal basically Mr Peterson has been
15:32walking with a limp for some 30 years
15:34and he's been saying that it was a
15:36result of a war injury and it
15:39wasn't it turns out Peterson hadn't
15:42injured his leg in combat it was a
15:44decidedly less heroic car accident while
15:48on a security detail and when you're in
15:51the political Spotlight lies can be
15:55costly and this one cost Michael the
15:58race and his
16:00reputation some of my mother's closest
16:02friends at the time were in support of
16:06Michael also and unfortunately you know
16:09when that story came out they really
16:10felt like he' lied to their faces and he
16:12betrayed them and that was the first
16:14time that I've really seen my
16:15mom exert like her kind of just
16:18submission to Michael she just kind of
16:21said he's my husband I'm standing by him
16:23it it was a terrible fall from grace
16:25about as tough a fall from grace as you
16:28can have I mean this was a guy I think
16:30that was born with tremendous talent and
16:33look what's
16:35happened the defeat in the mayor's race
16:38was just the start of a string of losses
16:40for
16:42Michael two years later he ran for city
16:45council and met with another
16:47defeat then Kathleen's luck started to
16:50run out
16:52too her life uh I noticed started to
16:54change and it as a lot of people's lives
16:57did when a lot of the high-tech stocks
16:59were starting to go
17:00down she at times was worth several
17:03million dollars with her stock and stock
17:06options the price was drastically
17:08falling and the Nell stock and its
17:10options was her plans to retire off of
17:14she had plans at some point to move to
17:16Paris and have a second home there the
17:18Peterson's perfect life was beginning to
17:21unravel at work and at home the house
17:25always needed a lot of work anything to
17:28do in appears of the house was never a
17:30couple hundred doar it was thousands or
17:33tens of thousands of dollars to fix she
17:36talked all the time about work and I
17:39remember there were times when she would
17:41call me crying hysterically and I think
17:43that it really was taking a toll on her
17:47it was clear that they they were in a
17:49significant cash flow conflict
17:54um they had $143,000 worth of credit
17:57card debt which uh to most folks is an
17:59awful odd clearly the Petersons were in
18:03financial distress the house the stock
18:07options the
18:09bills but don't think Michael wasn't
18:12aware of what remained
18:141.8 million worth of insurance on
18:19Kathleen's life
18:28[Music]
18:30the evidence was mounting that popular
18:33novelist Michael Peterson was involved
18:35in his wife's death but many friends
18:38continued to believe he was innocent the
18:41people that knew him thought they
18:43couldn't believe it and they they
18:44supported them and they they thought it
18:46was a uh political you know they're
18:50going to get him kind of thing um and
18:53the people that didn't know him assumed
18:55he was guilty my mother and Mike had an
18:58absolute loving relationship and there's
19:00no way that either of them would ever
19:02wish any sort of harm on the other one
19:04at the time you know people question
19:06well why why was I so supportive of him
19:08then but at the time I had no really
19:10other way to think and who wants to
19:13think that their stepfather has done
19:15this my mother would just be absolutely
19:17appalled and this is the last thing that
19:19she would have ever ever wanted to
19:20happen to her
19:22husband and then the autopsy report came
19:25out and that of course made me complet
19:28abolutely convinced that she was
19:30murdered Dr Deborah radish a forensic
19:33pathologist at the State medical
19:35examiner office conducted the autopsy at
19:38the end of the autopsy examination
19:40taking into account the number of scalp
19:43lacerations their locations their
19:47orientation together with the neck
19:49injury the findings were unequivocal
19:52that this was not from a fall down the
19:55stairs and the fact that she was found
19:57at the bottom of the stairs would
19:59indicate either that's just a
20:00coincidence or she was there for a
20:03reason perhaps to make somebody think
20:06that she had fallen down the
20:10[Music]
20:12stairs the pictures were Beyond
20:18pale the one picture in which during the
20:21autopsy you could more closely see the
20:24seven
20:26lacerations was stunning
20:30that was it that was the defining moment
20:33this man was not going to beat my sister
20:35to death and get away with
20:37it on December 20th 2001 Michael
20:41Peterson was indicted for the murder of
20:44his wife Cathleen he turned himself in
20:46at Durham County jail and then flanked
20:49by his two sons two daughters and
20:51brother Bill Michael spoke publicly for
20:54the first time Kathleen was my life
20:59I whispered her name in my heart a
21:01thousand times she is there but I can't
21:06stop
21:07crying I would never have done anything
21:11to hurt
21:12her I am innocent of these
21:14charges and we will prove it in court
21:17Michael spent nearly a month in prison
21:19before a judge allowed him to post bond
21:22he returned home to await his day in
21:25court people I do know wonder how can I
21:28go out but you see I know I didn't do
21:30anything I'm totally innocent of of
21:32these charges remember Michael Peterson
21:36had made a second career as a columnist
21:39and a lot of people thought he was now
21:41paying the price for baiting the local
21:44establishment but detective Holland was
21:48about to uncover a chapter from
21:51Michael's past that would send shock
21:54waves through
21:56Durham I received a telephone message at
21:59a call of of a lady by the name of
22:01Margaret Blair um up in Rhode Island
22:04concerning the Peterson
22:06case was at that time she revealed that
22:08she had a sister named Elizabeth Ratliff
22:11and that she died in 1985 when she lived
22:13in Germany and that Mrs Ratliff was was
22:17found deceased at the foot of her stairs
22:19and that Michael was the last person to
22:23see Elizabeth
22:26alive the autops had determined
22:29Elizabeth ratliffe died from a brain
22:31hemorrhage and the official cause of
22:34death was ruled
22:36accidental after the apparent tragedy
22:39Michael adopted her two daughters
22:42Michael did tell me that Liz Ratliff uh
22:44died not too long after her husband he
22:47told me that she had uh like a brain
22:50tumor never did Michael tell me she was
22:53found at the bottom of a staircase this
22:55was a huge shock the r cas
22:59another death a possible
23:03pattern in April 2003 prosecutors go to
23:07Texas to exume her
23:09body it seemed very odd to us as well
23:13that two people that were so close to
23:16him could have could have died in such a
23:19similar way it was a big risk for the
23:22prosecution to exume a body not
23:24knowing if there would be any evidence
23:27of a of a murder or Poss murder and
23:29there it was what we found in this case
23:32again were multiple scalp lacerations in
23:35fact there were seven lacerations in
23:37this case the similarities were eerily
23:41striking the autopsy showed that each of
23:43the women had actually been
23:45murdered another woman in Michael's life
23:48found dead of the same causes in the
23:51same
23:52circumstances now that's a pretty big
23:55coincidence and even for Michael's
23:57friends it was getting hard to believe
24:00in his innocence but the police were
24:02about to learn something about Michael's
24:05lifestyle that would be even more
24:19damning Michael Peterson's arrest in the
24:22murder of his wife Kathleen shook the
24:24Duram
24:26Maria but his connection to a similar
24:29stairway death in Germany left friends
24:32wondering just who he really
24:35was when I found out that Liz was dead
24:39at the bottom of the staircase this was
24:41a huge shock now there's two women found
24:43dead at the bottom of the staircase
24:46unbelievable Michael's two sons Todd and
24:49Clayton fervently stood by their father
24:52from day one even his daughters Margaret
24:55and Martha who had now lost two mothers
24:57in similar Falls remained by his side
25:01four children vigilantly supporting
25:04Michael Peterson and Kathleen Peterson's
25:07only daughter
25:09saying something's wrong here and then
25:12Caitlyn broke off and everything changed
25:16I think that that was when I realized
25:17that we were just kind of we
25:20were kind of on a sep separate Mission I
25:23was on a mission really not to convict
25:25Michael that was never my mission it was
25:27really just to get to the bottom of what
25:29happened to my
25:30mother the police thought they knew
25:33exactly what had happened to Kathleen
25:35that Michael killed her for the
25:37insurance money ironically Michael was
25:40going to use that money to fight back he
25:43hired a high-powered highprice lawyer
25:47David Rudolph Michael had a long history
25:50of challenging Authority H Durham uh not
25:54just the police but the power structure
25:56the editors of the paper
25:59now do I think that the Durham Police
26:01were out to get Michael in any sort of
26:03conscious way no I don't think that do I
26:06think that their view of the scene and
26:09of Michael uh was influenced by the fact
26:14that they had negative feelings about
26:15him they're human beings and we are all
26:18influenced by that going up against
26:21Rudolph prosecutors knew they would have
26:24only one chance to get it right what we
26:26needed to do was show that this was a
26:28homicide and not an accidental fall and
26:31we had to tie Mr Peterson to it the
26:35prosecution would have to demonstrate
26:37that Peterson had a financial motive
26:40they were basically having to live month
26:42to month on credit cards she was on the
26:45edge of losing her job all those things
26:49combined from a financial perspective we
26:52thought caused significant stress in
26:54that home the financial motive was sort
26:56of silly
26:59uh I mean you're going to kill your wife
27:02because she might lose her job when
27:05there was not a shred of evidence that
27:07Michael Peterson had ever expressed to
27:10anyone that he was concerned about that
27:13as the trial Drew near the state
27:15revealed one more card they had up their
27:17sleeve the hard drive of Michael's
27:19computer had been analyzed by experts
27:22and yielded a surprising
27:24hobby hundreds of pornographic websites
27:28over 2,000 downloaded photographs and a
27:31bizarre email exchange between a male
27:34escort named Brent wolgamot AKA Brad and
27:38Michael
27:39Peterson he was a married man and this
27:43is how he was spending his spare time
27:44while my sister's at work you're
27:46immediately saying what kind of marriage
27:47did they
27:49have is is he gay is he bisexual and
27:53could they have had the kind of marriage
27:54that's been described if he's bisexual
28:00absolutely nothing indicated that
28:03Michael Peterson was having any kind of
28:06relations outside of his marriage the
28:09evidence was he had had an email
28:12exchange with a gay escort and then
28:16nothing
28:17happens but the state seemed to have a
28:20solid case against Michael Peterson a
28:23damning autopsy report the mysterious
28:26death of Elizabeth Ratliff and the
28:29emails he sent to Brad but where was the
28:33murder weapon one unanswered question is
28:36all a smart defense attorney
28:39needs and so the trial began
28:46[Music]
28:58Michael Peterson's first deegree murder
29:00trial begins on July 1st 2003 in front
29:04of a national audience Michael was
29:07obviously nervous I mean anyone in his
29:10situation would be and for Kathleen's
29:12family getting Justice is Bittersweet I
29:15would sit within a few feet of this man
29:18and the hardest part was looking at his
29:20hands and realizing what his hands did
29:22to my sister and there wasn't a damn
29:25thing I could
29:26do all the drama and Revelations of the
29:29past year would come down to one
29:32decision was it a terrible accident or
29:35was it
29:36murder in what is only the beginning of
29:39a long Showdown prosecutor Jim Harden
29:42and defense attorney David Rudolph
29:45present competing versions of the
29:46Peterson's marriage as this case begins
29:49to unfold you will see the grander of
29:52the Peterson's 10,000 square ft Mansion
29:56you will see the appearance
29:58of a storybook marriage if the
30:01prosecution is
30:03correct how do we go from soulmate and
30:08lover to coldblooded murderer how does
30:12that happen well the answer is very
30:15simple you don't the strongest evidence
30:17of Michael's innocence is the call he
30:20made to Emergency Services the night
30:22Kathleen
30:24died it was not the kind of call that
30:29you would expect to hear from someone
30:32who had murdered their wife please get
30:34somebody here right away please
30:36somebody's dispatching the ambulance
30:38while I ask you
30:39question it's a for okay please please
30:44sir sir somebody else is dispatching the
30:48ambulance okay is she awake
30:50now
30:54hello
30:56hello the def painted a picture of a
30:59grieving widower pointing out that no
31:02one had ever actually seen the
31:04Peterson's fight but the prosecution
31:07countered that for Michael love was no
31:11match for money so like I said this is
31:14an approximate amount owed on credit
31:16card and installment debt and credit
31:18line debt close to the time of Kathleen
31:21Peterson's de and the amount is $42,715
31:28the state contends that Michael's way
31:30out was through Kathleen's hard-earned
31:32benefits and life insurance first of all
31:35the amount available to Mr Peterson upon
31:37Miss Peterson's death would have been
31:38what 1,
31:4383416 Michael's greed they argue drove
31:46him out of control that night and the
31:48blood on the walls echoed that rage well
31:51I I observed that again what appeared to
31:54be large quantities of blood uh all over
31:57the floor all over the victim her hands
31:59feet her clothing the walls there was
32:02blood that was underneath a photograph
32:04inside the staircase on the north wall
32:06that was you know the photograph was up
32:08pretty high and there was you know blood
32:10stains on that photograph it just seemed
32:12unusual to me in my opinion the cause of
32:15death in this case was due to blunt
32:17force trauma of the head were you able
32:19to determine in your opinion what the
32:22manner of her death was in my opinion
32:24the manner of death in this case is
32:26homicide blood spatter expert Dwayne
32:30dver testifies that not only did a
32:32beating occur but someone had tried to
32:35cover it up in other words something
32:37contacted the wall with blood on it made
32:40smears in here and then uh another
32:43impact occurred creating another stain
32:45which came across the top of that then
32:48the chilling connection through graphic
32:51Recreations dver explains that small
32:54blood spatter stains on Michael shorts
32:57could only have been made if he were
32:59standing over Kathleen as she was beaten
33:01or the stains on these pants are
33:03consistent with impact spatters with the
33:05result of a forceful impact and that the
33:08individual wearing these pants at the
33:10time of that impact was in close
33:12proximity to the source of blood when it
33:15was impacted you know I don't understand
33:17how someone can get blood spatter on the
33:19inside of their shorts unless the blood
33:22is in motion as he stands over her you
33:25know I mean it that was the point it
33:27which I could not come up with any other
33:29scenario and that that was the proof for
33:31me that he was the one who actually
33:33committed the crime next computer
33:36experts tell the jury about the explicit
33:38websites and pornographic photos found
33:41on Michael's
33:42computer but nothing could prepare
33:45courtroom one for the state's next
33:47witness the man Michael Peterson had
33:50allegedly solicited for sex now sat
33:53before them what types of sources did
33:55you perform oh oh wow that's that's
33:59pretty broad uh basically it's a a
34:01companionship uh for other males of
34:04legal age all right um and did that
34:07involve sexual activities uh sometimes
34:09it does okay what types of sexual
34:11activities sir oh just about anything
34:14under the sun when Mr wgam might says
34:17I'll do anything for money they're
34:20looking at Mr
34:22Peterson and they're saying again who is
34:25this man
34:27but the picture of Michael Peterson is
34:29about to get uglier friends of Elizabeth
34:32Ratliff next tell jurors about her 1985
34:36death the scene the body and coverup are
34:39all hauntingly similar when I looked at
34:42the wall the blood was up so high how
34:46high was it I'm almost 6 ft and I was
34:50standing up with my hand and the blood
34:52was over my hand I couldn't figure out
34:55how did somebody get blood that high my
34:58was coming and going and handling all
35:01the military people Michael said that
35:04she had a brain aneurism Michael
35:06Peterson said that yes and that she must
35:09have fallen down the stairs in my
35:11opinion the cause of death of Mrs
35:13Ratliff was blunt trauma of the head
35:15what is the manner of death in your
35:17opinion homicide when the state rest
35:20that the state of North Carolina would
35:21rest its case and chief at this time all
35:24eyes turned to David Rudolph what this
35:26case is about
35:29is not Elizabeth
35:31Ratliff or Michael Peterson's
35:35lifestyle or the columns he wrote It's
35:39about what happened in that
35:42stairway in the early morning
35:44hours of December 9th 2001 show me
35:49please show me how this was an accident
35:52I may never like Michael Peterson again
35:54and he may never like me but I sure as
35:56hell didn't want a murder in my family
36:00the defense then uses computer animation
36:03to show jurors how a fall might have
36:05happened they contend an impaired
36:08Kathleen fell not once but several
36:11times I can't tell you this is exactly
36:14the way it happened because Falls can
36:16happen in a million different ways with
36:19a million different variations but what
36:21I can tell you is that our experts will
36:23say that the injuries on Kathleen
36:25Peterson's body not just the lacerations
36:28but the
36:30bruises all can be
36:32explained as consistent with this
36:36fall to combat the most convincing
36:39evidence of Michael Peterson's guilt the
36:41blood spatter Rudolph calls renowned
36:44crime scene expert Dr Henry Lee in your
36:48opinion uh is the bloodstain evidence
36:50from the Peterson house and the clothing
36:52taken as a whole consistent with a
36:55beating death uh
36:58no inconsistent with the blood spatter
37:01goes all different directions and too
37:03much a blood spatter total amount of
37:07blood spatter will estimate close to um
37:11uh over
37:1310,000 individual blood matter ordinary
37:17beating case you don't have that I saw
37:20Dr Henry Lee testify at the William
37:22Kennedy Smith trial and the OJ Simpson
37:25trial he can be
37:28very colorful but he turned out to be
37:31more colorful than the defense wanted in
37:34this
37:35case based on the expectations of Dr
37:37Henry Lee and the impact of Dr Henry Lee
37:40huge Valley in between he's spitting out
37:45ketchup which many found
37:49disrespectful I mean he said there's too
37:52much blood for it to have been a fall
37:55but yet there's enough for it to be an
37:57accident
37:58after I saw the defense experts I really
38:01knew more in my heart of the strength of
38:03his
38:04guilt the one thing prosecutors are
38:07missing is a murder
38:09weapon based on Kathleen's injuries the
38:12state knew the object had to be stiff
38:15enough to cause lacerations but not
38:17heavy enough to cause a skull fracture
38:20Kathleen's sister had given her a
38:22fireplace blowpoke as a present that
38:25blowpoke was missing from the house it
38:28needed to be something that could be
38:31wielded in that stairwell it also needed
38:34to be something that had a configuration
38:37that was consistent with two marks that
38:40we found at that scene in the last
38:43remaining days of trial Rudolph
38:45surprises the courtroom and unveils the
38:47missing
38:48blowpoke found by defense investigators
38:51in Peterson's garage the item was
38:54covered not in blood but with spiderwebs
38:57and dust they spent the entire
39:00trial proving that it was a blowpoke we
39:05established Beyond any reasonable doubt
39:08that it wasn't a murder weapon we
39:11brought it into court I don't think
39:14anybody believed that it was just found
39:17a few days before the close of their
39:19evidence there were police officers all
39:21over that house they literally measured
39:24every inch of it so had it been there we
39:27would have found
39:28it the jury had seen it all sex money
39:33and an alleged murder weapon but would
39:35it be enough to convict Michael Peterson
39:39We the 12 members of the jury
39:40unanimously find the defendant to
39:55be and we talked about the fact that
39:57it's the state's burden to
39:59prove Beyond A Reasonable Doubt the
40:03trial of Michael Peterson for the murder
40:05of his wife was coming to a close after
40:0913 weeks of testimony it was now up to
40:13the jury they had to decide whether to
40:16believe the most important story he ever
40:19told or send him to prison for
40:22life in closing arguments both sides
40:26urged the jury to use common sense and
40:28make the right decision you don't
40:32decide to kill your wife in a
40:35first-degree murder for no reason and
40:40the simplest
40:41explanation for the kinds of injuries
40:44that Kathleen Peterson had and the kinds
40:48of injuries that she didn't have is that
40:52she fell to me the strongest words of
40:55the trial were the quiet
40:59soft yet Steely words of Jim Harden
41:02almost whispering to the jury ladies and
41:04gentlemen these walls are talking
41:07Kathleen Peterson is talking to us
41:11through the blood on these walls she is
41:15screaming at us for
41:18truth and for
41:20justice four years of marriage a
41:23beautiful mansion a blended and
41:25Brilliant family a bond that seemed
41:28unbreakable had boiled down to 15 hours
41:31of
41:32deliberation Kathleen's fate had already
41:35been decided now it was Michael's turn
41:38has a jury reached a unanimous verdict
41:41on the issue that was submitted to you
41:43yes ladies and gentlemen of the jury you
41:46have returning the following verdict
41:47state of North Carolina versus Michael
41:50Aver Peterson We the 12 members of the
41:52jury unanimously find the defendant to
41:54be guilty of first-degree murder just
41:57the 10th day of October
41:592003 it seemed surreal the guilty
42:02verdict his first lack of reaction his
42:05initial lack of
42:11reaction I'm not sure he was so
42:13[Music]
42:16shocked I actually saw someone who said
42:18to himself the game's up is there
42:21anything you want to say before the
42:22court imposes judgment I'd like to say
42:32defendant is imprison in the North
42:34Carolina Department of Corrections for
42:36the remainder of his natural life
42:37without have to benefit
42:39of in Germany officials have reopened
42:42the Ratliff case and are actively
42:45interviewing Witnesses but some
42:47questions may never be answered I
42:51felt absolute relief for Kathleen's
42:55family because I knew that with this
42:58verdict at least this chapter in this
43:01book could be closed but in terms of
43:03exactly what happened on that evening
43:06nobody knows but Kathleen Peterson and
43:09Michael Peterson it it's hard to think
43:11that she obviously you know went through
43:13suffering on December 9th and I'm sure
43:15that there was a lot of suffering before
43:16then that I sadly probably didn't know
43:19about I think that um it's really nice
43:22to just remember her as such a loving
43:24and giving person that really I don't
43:26think she really had any regrets except
43:29for she would have loved to live 100
43:31years more so Michael Peterson may have
43:34been a celebrity at one time but fellow
43:37inmates weren't exactly lining up for
43:40autograph copies of his books in fact
43:43just a few days into his life sentence
43:46he was beaten up in a prison fight small
43:49consolation for Kathleen's family who
43:52were trying to get used to life without
43:54her for court TV I'm Dominic Dunn
44:00[Music]
44:37a best-selling author accused of
44:40murdering his popular wife I would never
44:42have done anything to hurt her I think
44:45Michael Peterson is a master at making
44:49people see what he wants them to see was
44:52it an accident or Foul Play how do we go
44:57from soulmate and lover to cold blooded
45:01murderer could The Local Hero really be
45:04a killer sitting here today I have no
45:08idea who Michael Peterson is none
45:10whatsoever a man who had it all but
45:14would he kill to keep it find out
45:16tonight on power privilege and justice
45:25[Music]
45:32[Applause]
45:35[Music]
45:43[Music]
45:56Durham nor North
45:57Carolina home of the bestselling
46:00novelist and newspaper columnist Michael
46:02Peterson and his wife Kathleen a
46:04prominent socialite they were a real
46:08couple it was uh it's kind of
46:10relationship that you know everybody
46:12would wants or strives for the Petersons
46:16lived in a sprawling 14 room mansion in
46:18Forest Hills Durham's most prestigious
46:21neighborhood they're both so
46:24bright and you put them together
46:27and you've got a whirlwind of
46:29intelligence and Charisma and excitement
46:33and insight and people just like being
46:35around them everyone in Durham knew the
46:39rich and popular Petersons Kathleen was
46:42a fixture at Society events Michael was
46:45a bestselling author and a war veteran
46:48but all that would change in December
46:522001 when the police received an
46:54emergency phone call from the Peterson
47:00house 18 Street please what's wrong my
47:04wife an accident she's still breathing
47:06what kind of accident don't on
47:07understands she's still breathing police
47:10is she conscious is she conscious no
47:12she's not conscious how many stairs did
47:15you fall down how many stairs stairs how
47:18many
47:19stairs I could hear someone that sound
47:22like they were
47:23sing when we got into the house then you
47:26know as soon as we made left hand turned
47:27and went just a little bit forward as
47:29when we noticed that that's where the
47:31patient was laying was at the at the
47:32foot of the stairs and Michael was
47:36Michael Peterson was standing right
47:37there on top of
47:38him her landay there I mean blood
47:41everywhere on the walk all of her body
47:43her eyes was open you know I can just I
47:46mean just that's that that look out in
47:49space like you know just looking nowhere
47:51I mean you see it 100 times in your mess
47:52with the eyes open you know the patient
47:54is deceased
47:59distraught Peterson tells the paramedics
48:01that he and Kathleen drank champagne and
48:03watched a video before deciding to go to
48:06bed he went out to the pool to turn off
48:08the lights while Kathleen went up to the
48:11bedroom when he came back in the house
48:14he found her lying at the bottom of the
48:16back
48:17[Music]
48:18staircase Durham Police Sergeant Terry
48:21Wilkins arrives next at the Peterson
48:23house I was immediately struck with the
48:26amount of blood that was on the scene
48:28and there was spatters considerable
48:31distance up the wall there was a pool of
48:33blood it was very obvious that there was
48:36a need to call
48:37someone homicide detective art Holland
48:40is paged to the scene there was just a
48:43tremendous amount of blood on her
48:44clothing on the walls behind her on the
48:48steps on the uh face plates of the steps
48:52and on the bottom of her feet as Holland
48:54examines the scene for other Clues the
48:56police officers escort my

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