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The Truth About The Staircase: A Fatal Accident or Husband's Staged Murder? - Michael Peterson Case — Transcript

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0:00Imagine walking into a crime scene.
0:03A woman has bled to death from um
0:05seven deep violent gashes to the back
0:08and side of her head.
0:09>> Right.
0:09>> And the state ultimately concludes she
0:11was brutally beaten to death with a
0:12heavy metal pipe. But uh when the
0:15medical examiner opens her skull on the
0:17autopsy table, this massive forensic
0:20paradox emerges.
0:21>> It's yeah, it's completely baffling.
0:23>> There isn't a single fracture. I mean,
0:25not a hairline crack, not a depressed
0:27bone fragment. Underneath those fatal
0:30gaping lacerations, the brain shows
0:32absolutely zero signs of swelling.
0:35>> None at all.
0:35>> No contusions, no subdural hematoma,
0:38just nothing. So, you have to ask, how
0:40do you beat someone to death with a
0:41heavy metal weapon without breaking a
0:43single bone or, you know, bruising the
0:45brain?
0:45>> Well, the short answer is it's a
0:46physiological contradiction.
0:48And um it became the anchor for one of
0:51the most convoluted, intensely debated,
0:54and really systemic failure-ridden legal
0:56wars in modern American history.
0:58>> Which is exactly why we are opening the
0:59case file on Kathleen Peterson for this
1:01deep dive. She was a 48-year-old
1:04telecommunications executive. The
1:06location is Durham, North Carolina, and
1:09the date is December 9, 2001.
1:11>> Yeah, that's the night everything
1:12fractured.
1:13>> Right. And the central figures in this
1:15tragedy are Kathleen, her husband
1:17Michael Peterson, who was a novelist and
1:20a local political figure, the Durham
1:22Police Department, and uh the North
1:24Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
1:26>> Also known as the SBI.
1:28>> Exactly. Now, if you are familiar with
1:30this case from the documentaries or the
1:32dramatizations, you probably know the
1:34lore. But we are stripping all that
1:36theater away today. We're going to
1:38carefully, respectfully, and
1:40methodically guide you through the
1:41confirmed chronological timeline.
1:43>> So, that's the only way to really
1:44understand it.
1:45>> Yeah. We will look at the glaring
1:47forensic anomalies, the deeply
1:49compromised investigation, and the
1:51unresolved questions that still haunt
1:53this tragedy. No sensationalism, just a
1:56rigorous deconstruction of the evidence
1:57in the science.
1:59>> I mean, the focus really must remain on
2:01the physical realities of the scene.
2:03Separated entirely from the allegations
2:05that followed later.
2:07To understand how a single death
2:09spiraled into a two-decade labyrinth of
2:11appeals and well, scientific scandals.
2:15We have to isolate the systemic
2:16failures.
2:17>> We have to analyze why investigators
2:19made specific choices.
2:20>> Right, and how a confirmation bias can
2:22fundamentally alter the trajectory of a
2:24homicide investigation.
2:25>> So, to understand that trajectory, you
2:27have to start at the exact moment the
2:29paramedics arrived at the 1810 Cedar
2:32Street mansion on that December night.
2:34Because the physical reality of the
2:36scene immediately and undeniably
2:38contradicted the initial explanation.
2:40>> an immediate disconnect.
2:42>> Right. So, Michael Peterson calls 911.
2:44He frantically states his wife has
2:45fallen down the stairs. Paramedic James
2:48Rose and his partner Paige arrive at
2:50this massive, sprawling Forest Hills
2:52property.
2:53>> And it's a huge house.
2:54>> Massive. They're directed to a narrow,
2:56wooden back staircase. And they find
2:58Kathleen Peterson splayed at the base.
3:00Her head is resting on the bottom step,
3:02and her neck is bent severely to the
3:04left.
3:04>> And, you know, James Rose was an
3:06experienced first responder. In his
3:08career, he had responded to 30 or 40
3:11accidental staircase falls.
3:12>> So, he knows what to look for.
3:14>> Exactly. And he explicitly testified
3:16that the quantity of blood present was
3:18unprecedented for a standard
3:20fall-related injury. It was just an
3:22extraordinary volume.
3:24But more importantly, it was the state
3:25of the blood that immediately raised the
3:27alarm.
3:28>> Blood is basically a biological clock,
3:31isn't it? I mean, I want to understand
3:33the actual mechanics of this. How do
3:35paramedics look at a pool of blood and
3:37instantly know the timeline given to
3:39them by a witness is just wrong?
3:42>> It comes down to the coagulation
3:43cascade.
3:44>> Okay.
3:44>> The moment blood leaves the human
3:46vascular system and is exposed to the
3:48air, this highly complex chemical
3:50process begins.
3:52Platelets in the blood immediately
3:53recognize the tissue damage and bind
3:55together to form a temporary plug.
3:57>> Right, like scaffolding.
3:58>> Yeah. And simultaneously, a protein in
4:00the blood plasma called fibrinogen is
4:03converted into long, sticky threads of
4:04fibrin.
4:06These threads create a web that traps
4:07red blood cells, forming a solid clot.
4:10>> Which doesn't happen instantly.
4:11>> No, absolutely not. This process takes
4:13time.
4:14Depending on the ambient temperature and
4:16the surface, significant coagulation and
4:18clotting take minutes to hours, not
4:21seconds.
4:21>> Wow.
4:22>> And the massive volume of blood
4:24surrounding Kathleen Peterson was
4:26already heavily coagulated.
4:28>> Okay, so she had been bleeding for a
4:30while.
4:30>> Yes. Furthermore, the blood smeared on
4:33the stairwell walls had already dried.
4:35And those wall smears didn't look like
4:37natural gravity drips from an impact.
4:39They appeared wiped or dragged.
4:41>> Which indicates movement.
4:43>> Exactly. Movement long after the initial
4:45bleeding had begun.
4:46>> That completely shatters Michael
4:48Peterson's claim on the 911 call that
4:50she had just fallen. I mean, he claimed
4:52she was still breathing moments before
4:54paramedics walked through the door.
4:56>> Right. He said she was alive when he
4:57found her.
4:57>> But the physical evidence from
4:59Kathleen's body went way beyond just the
5:01blood on the floor.
5:02>> Oh, absolutely. The biological markers
5:04of the body itself completely undermined
5:06the timeline.
5:07When paramedic Page examined Kathleen,
5:10her pupils were dilated to 6 mm.
5:12>> 6 mm?
5:13>> Yeah. And pupillary dilation of that
5:16magnitude with absolutely no reactivity
5:18to light is an indicator of severe
5:20cerebral ischemia.
5:21>> Meaning a lack of oxygen.
5:23>> Yes. A profound, prolonged lack of
5:25oxygen to the brain.
5:27When the brain is deprived of oxygen,
5:29ATP, which is the cellular energy
5:31source, is depleted.
5:33That causes the pupillary sphincter
5:34muscle to relax.
5:35>> Right.
5:36>> That level of fixed dilation simply does
5:38not happen the moment a heart stops. It
5:40is a biological process that indicates
5:43she had been dying or dead for a
5:45significant period.
5:46>> It's the body keeping the score when the
5:48witness testimony just doesn't add up.
5:50And the contradictions extended to
5:51Michael Peterson himself, right? I mean,
5:53he claimed he had just found her, that
5:54he was cradling her.
5:55>> That's what he told them.
5:57>> But paramedic Paige noted that Michael
5:58had completely dry blood on his hands,
6:00his arms, his legs, his feet, and his
6:02shirt.
6:02>> Dry blood?
6:03>> Yeah. If he had just been holding a
6:05bleeding, breathing victim, that blood
6:07would have been wet and easily
6:08transferable.
6:09>> Exactly. And first responders noted he
6:12reacted to their questions with little
6:14more than a blank stare.
6:15Now, human behavior in the midst of
6:17trauma is notoriously unpredictable.
6:20>> Right. A flat effect doesn't
6:21automatically mean someone is guilty.
6:24>> No, a flat effect does not equal a
6:26medical diagnosis of guilt.
6:28However, when an investigator combines a
6:30flat effect with a biologically
6:32impossible timeline, heavily coagulated
6:35blood, and dry blood on the sole
6:37witness, well,
6:39the protocol immediately shifts.
6:40>> Right. The scene transitions from a
6:42tragic medical emergency to a potential
6:45crime scene.
6:45>> Almost instantly.
6:46>> Which brings us to the autopsy, where
6:48this initial disconnect widens into just
6:50a massive chasm. Dr. Deborah Radish, the
6:53state pathologist, and Dr. Tom Sporn, a
6:55forensic pathologist, performed the
6:57examination.
6:58>> And they reach a very specific
6:59conclusion.
7:00>> Right. They conclude the cause of death
7:02is exsanguination. She literally bled to
7:04death over an extended period. This
7:06wasn't an instant fatality from a broken
7:08neck or a catastrophic brain hemorrhage.
7:10>> Wow.
7:10>> She slowly bled out from seven distinct
7:14deep lacerations on the posterior scalp.
7:17And they ruled the cause of those
7:18lacerations was blunt force trauma.
7:21>> And the autopsy also documented
7:23defensive wounds. There were contusions
7:26on the ulnar aspect of her arms and her
7:27face.
7:28>> Hm.
7:29>> But the most jarring forensic detail,
7:31the detail that fundamentally challenges
7:33the accident theory, was found in
7:35Kathleen's hands.
7:36>> Oh, this is the part that's just so hard
7:38to reconcile.
7:39>> She had tight clumps of her own hair
7:40held in her clenched fists.
7:42>> And to be clear, this wasn't hair that
7:43had been cut or sheared off by an impact
7:45against the stairs. It was avulsed. It
7:47was pulled out by the roots.
7:48>> And the tensile strength required to
7:50pull a clump of human hair completely
7:52out of the scalp by the follicle is
7:54significant. It requires a sustained,
7:56forceful grip and a violent pull.
7:58>> You can't just do that by bumping your
8:00head.
8:00>> No. This is indicative of a dynamic,
8:03violent struggle.
8:04Defensive bruises and avulsed hair do
8:06not align with a simple, clumsy slip on
8:09a wooden tread.
8:10>> I I'm trying to picture this physically,
8:11though. I go back to that central
8:13paradox we opened with. If I hit a skull
8:16with a metal pipe hard enough to cause
8:18deep gashes, the bone underneath has to
8:21crack.
8:21>> You would think so.
8:22>> Think of the skull like a bicycle
8:24helmet. If you hit it with a baseball
8:26bat, the foam inside crushes and the
8:28hard plastic cracks. That is blunt force
8:30trauma.
8:31>> Right.
8:32>> But if you drag razor blades across the
8:33top, the plastic stays perfectly intact,
8:36but the covering is shredded. So, how is
8:39it medically possible to have blunt
8:41force lacerations without fractures?
8:43>> Well, the physics of blunt force trauma
8:45make it highly improbable.
8:47When a heavy, rigid object strikes the
8:49human head, kinetic energy transfers
8:52through the soft tissue of the scalp and
8:53dissipates into the cranium.
8:55>> The bone absorbs the shock.
8:56>> Exactly. The bone absorbs the impact. If
8:59the force is severe enough to split the
9:00skin all the way to the bone in seven
9:02different places, that energy must go
9:04somewhere.
9:05>> Right.
9:05>> It either fractures the calvaria, the
9:07skull cap, or it causes the brain to
9:09rebound against the inside of the skull.
9:11That creates contrecoup contusions,
9:13swelling, or a subdural hematoma.
9:16>> But Kathleen had none of that.
9:17>> None.
9:18Kathleen Peterson had absolutely
9:20pristine brain tissue. The bone was
9:22entirely unblemished.
9:24This physiological anomaly became the
9:27insurmountable hurdle for the pathology
9:29report.
9:30>> Because the physical scene was so
9:31chaotic and the autopsy presented this
9:34massive biomechanical contradiction, the
9:36Durham police and the district
9:38attorney's office couldn't just rely on
9:39the physical evidence to secure a murder
9:42charge.
9:42>> No, they had to build a story around it.
9:44>> They had to construct a narrative. They
9:46had to explain to a jury not just how
9:48this biologically impossible beating
9:50happened, but why a seemingly happily
9:52married novelist would brutally attack
9:55his wife out of nowhere.
9:56>> And when a prosecution lacks a clear
9:58unambiguous murder weapon and a clean
10:00forensic narrative, the strategy often
10:03pivots to motive and character.
10:05>> Right.
10:05>> District Attorney Jim Hardin and
10:06Assistant District Attorney Freda Black
10:09had to build a circumstantial case from
10:11the ground up.
10:12They had to explain a sudden explosion
10:14of violence in a home with no documented
10:16history of domestic abuse.
10:18>> They built the motive on two pillars,
10:19really. The first was financial
10:21pressure.
10:23Kathleen's sister, Candace Zamperini,
10:25testified about the couple's mounting
10:26credit card debt.
10:28>> Which was substantial.
10:29>> Yes. The prosecution highlighted the
10:32declining value of Kathleen's stock in
10:34Nortel. Nortel was a massive
10:36telecommunications company that was
10:38going through severe corporate
10:39instability and stock devaluation during
10:42the early 2000s tech bust.
10:44>> Right. A lot of people lost money there.
10:46>> They also pointed to Kathleen's life
10:47insurance policies, which totaled
10:49roughly 1.4 to 1.5 million dollars.
10:53The state's narrative painted Michael
10:55Peterson as a man with no steady
10:57independent income panicking over an
10:59impending loss of his lavish lifestyle,
11:02who decides his wife is worth more dead
11:04than alive.
11:04>> But the defense, led by David Rudolph,
11:07dismantled that financial desperation
11:09theory with raw numbers.
11:10>> How so?
11:11>> They proved the Petersons were not
11:12destitute, not even close. They had over
11:141 million dollars in liquid and
11:16accessible resources, alongside upwards
11:18of 700,000 dollars in equity in the
11:21Cedar Street mansion.
11:22>> Wow. Okay, so almost 2 million in
11:24assets.
11:24>> Right.
11:25It defies basic logic to premeditate the
11:28murder of your spouse for a 1.4 million
11:31dollar insurance payout when your
11:33combined net worth and available equity
11:35already hovered near 2 million dollars.
11:37>> That makes sense.
11:38>> Rudolph successfully argued that their
11:40financial situation, while perhaps
11:43stressed by overspending, was nowhere
11:45near the brink of ruin that typically
11:47triggers a financially motivated
11:48homicide.
11:49>> Okay, so if the financial motive is
11:51wobbling, the prosecution has to deploy
11:53a more emotionally volatile strategy.
11:55>> And they did.
11:56>> They introduced Michael Peterson's
11:58bisexuality. Investigators had found
12:00email correspondence between Michael and
12:02a male escort named Brent Wolgamott.
12:05The way this was presented in a 2003
12:07courtroom was entirely designed to
12:09incite moral panic.
12:10>> a calculated, highly prejudicial tactic.
12:12>> Yeah.
12:13>> ADA Freda Black characterized these
12:15emails and the accompanying explicit
12:17photographs to the jury as
12:18filth, purity filth. The state's theory
12:21relied heavily on these emails.
12:23>> Because they needed a spark.
12:24>> Exactly.
12:25They argued that Kathleen, sitting at
12:27her computer on the night of December
12:299th, s- stumbled upon this
12:30correspondence, discovered a hidden
12:33double life, and confronted Michael.
12:35>> Right.
12:36>> This alleged confrontation, they
12:37claimed, escalated into the fatal
12:40beating.
12:40>> But the defense countered this by
12:42bringing in the people who actually knew
12:44the couple.
12:45Friends and family testified that
12:46Kathleen was fully aware of Michael's
12:48bisexuality.
12:49>> Yes.
12:50>> The defense painted a picture of a
12:51marriage that was happy, mutually
12:53supportive, and built on a private
12:55understanding of his identity. There was
12:57no secret to discover, and therefore no
13:00catalyst for a confrontation.
13:02>> The sociological context of this
13:03strategy is critical.
13:05Weaponizing a defendant's bisexuality in
13:07a southern courtroom two decades ago was
13:10an attempt to trade forensic certainty
13:12for emotional prejudice.
13:13>> That's a great way to put it.
13:14>> The prosecution was betting that the
13:16jury's moral outrage over the infidelity
13:18and the bisexuality would override the
13:21lack of physical proof that a
13:22confrontation ever actually occurred
13:24that night.
13:25>> And that lack of physical proof was most
13:27glaring when it came to the murder
13:28weapon itself.
13:30>> Oh, the blow poke?
13:30>> Yes. The state claimed Michael used a
13:33blow poke. For anyone who doesn't have a
13:35massive fireplace, a blow poke is a
13:37hollow lightweight metallic tube,
13:39usually made of brass. You use it to
13:41blow air into a fire to stoke the
13:43embers, and it has a small hook on the
13:45end to move logs.
13:46>> Right.
13:47>> Candace Zamperini had gifted the
13:49Petersons one of these tools years
13:51earlier.
13:52The prosecution points out that this
13:54specific blow poke is missing from the
13:56house.
13:57They build their entire mechanical
13:59theory around it, arguing Michael struck
14:01Kathleen with this hollow tube, causing
14:03the lacerations, and then disposed of
14:05it.
14:06>> But the biomechanical logic fails again
14:08here.
14:08>> How so?
14:09>> If a person beats an adult human to
14:10death with a hollow lightweight brass
14:13tube, the tensile strength of the brass
14:15will give way.
14:15>> Meaning it would break.
14:17>> It would bend, it would dent, and if
14:19swung with enough force to cause deep
14:21fatal lacerations, it would absolutely
14:23cause the skull fractures the autopsy
14:25proved did not exist.
14:26>> Because brass just isn't heavy enough to
14:28slice without crushing. Well, the blow
14:31poke theory completely imploded late in
14:33the trial anyway.
14:35Defense investigator Ron Garret was
14:36searching the Petersons property.
14:39In a dark, cluttered, heavily
14:41disorganized corner of the family
14:42garage, he finds it.
14:44>> He just finds it sitting there.
14:45>> Yeah. He finds the exact blow poke
14:47Candace had gifted them. It is perfectly
14:50intact, no dents, no bends.
14:52>> And the condition of the blow poke was
14:55irrefutable. It was completely covered
14:57in thick layers of undisturbed cobwebs,
14:59heavy dust, and dead insects.
15:01>> Which you can't fake.
15:02>> No, you cannot synthetically age an
15:04environment like that. You cannot forge
15:06undisturbed spider webs or the precise
15:08layering of entomological debris.
15:10>> What?
15:10>> The environmental evidence proved
15:11definitively that the blow poke had not
15:13been touched, moved, or wielded in
15:15years.
15:16>> Wow.
15:16>> It had zero blood, zero DNA, and zero
15:19connection to the crime scene. It
15:20completely annihilated the prosecution's
15:22primary theory of the murder weapon.
15:24>> Think about the precarious position of
15:26the state's case at this point. The
15:28financial motive is mathematically weak.
15:31The bisexuality motive relies on a
15:33hypothetical argument that contradicts
15:35family testimony.
15:37And the literal murder weapon the state
15:39spent months pointing to is found
15:41covered in cobwebs.
15:43>> It's falling apart.
15:44>> Realizing their physical weapon theory
15:46was evaporating, the prosecution needed
15:48a way to prove Michael Peterson was
15:50capable of this specific highly unusual
15:53type of crime. They needed a pattern.
15:56>> Right.
15:56>> So, they looked 17 years into the past
15:58to a coincidence so visually shocking it
16:01shifted the entire weight of the trial.
16:03>> We have to shift the timeline here to
16:05November 1985.
16:07To a town called Graefenhausen in West
16:09Germany.
16:10>> Okay.
16:10>> Michael Peterson was living there with
16:12his first wife, Patricia. He was working
16:13as a civilian researcher for the
16:15Department of Defense.
16:16They were incredibly close friends with
16:18a woman named Elizabeth Liz Ratliff.
16:20>> And what was her situation?
16:21>> Her husband had recently passed away,
16:23and Michael and Patricia were actively
16:24helping her raise her two young
16:26daughters, Margaret and Martha.
16:28>> So, on the morning of November 25, 1985,
16:31the Ratliff family nanny arrives at the
16:33house and makes a horrific discovery.
16:36Liz Ratliff is found dead at the bottom
16:38of her open wooden staircase.
16:40>> And the visual parallels are eerie.
16:42>> Very. She was wearing yellow plastic
16:44outdoor boots. It had snowed recently.
16:47And just like the scene on Cedar Street,
16:50there was a massive amount of blood.
16:52The sources note there were drops of
16:54blood flicked on the wall next to the
16:55stairway, looking almost like they were
16:57applied with a small paintbrush.
16:59>> Yeah.
16:59>> And who was the last person to see her
17:01alive?
17:02Michael Peterson.
17:03He had been at her house the night
17:04before having dinner and helping her
17:06with chores.
17:07>> Two women incredibly close to Michael
17:09Peterson found dead at the bottom of
17:12staircases in massive pools of blood 17
17:14years apart.
17:15>> It's hard to ignore.
17:16>> On a purely
17:17level, it is staggering. But we have to
17:19rigorously examine how this was
17:21investigated at the time. In 1985, the
17:23German police responded. The United
17:25States military police responded. A
17:27comprehensive forensic autopsy was
17:29performed at a US Army hospital, and the
17:32universal conclusion of all
17:33investigating bodies was that Liz
17:35Ratliff died of natural causes.
17:37>> Specifically, they determined she
17:39suffered a spontaneous intracerebral
17:41hemorrhage, a fatal stroke.
17:44And this wasn't random. It was secondary
17:46to a diagnosed blood clotting disorder
17:48she suffered from called von
17:49Willebrand's disease.
17:50>> Right.
17:51>> I want to pause here because the biology
17:52matters. How does a clotting disorder
17:54turn a fall into a massive bloody scene?
17:57>> Von Willebrand's disease is a genetic
17:59bleeding disorder. It's caused by a
18:01deficiency or dysfunction of von
18:03Willebrand factor, which is a crucial
18:05protein in the blood.
18:07>> Okay. What does that protein do?
18:09>> This protein acts like molecular glue.
18:11When a blood vessel is injured, von
18:13Willebrand factor helps platelets stick
18:15to the injured blood vessel wall and to
18:17each other, forming a plug to stop the
18:19bleeding.
18:19>> Got it.
18:20>> It also carries factor VIII, another
18:22essential clotting protein.
18:24If a person with severe von Willebrand's
18:26disease suffers a spontaneous
18:28microscopic tear in a blood vessel in
18:30the brain, which could be caused by
18:31simple fluctuations in blood pressure,
18:34the body cannot form that initial
18:36platelet plug.
18:37>> So it just bleeds.
18:38>> The bleed never stops. It expands,
18:40causing a catastrophic stroke.
18:42>> Mhm.
18:42>> The pain and neurological failure from
18:44the stroke caused her to collapse down
18:46the stairs. The subsequent head trauma
18:48from the fall, combined with the
18:49inability to clot, resulted in the
18:51massive external bleeding.
18:53>> That makes perfect medical sense.
18:55>> It is a completely self-contained,
18:57verified explanation.
18:58>> And the behavioral context in 1985
19:01completely supports the medical finding.
19:03Michael Peterson had absolutely zero
19:05financial motive to kill Liz Ratliff.
19:07She was a school teacher. She wasn't
19:09wealthy.
19:09>> Not at all.
19:10>> In fact, Liz had legally designated
19:12Michael and Patricia to be the guardians
19:14of her children.
19:16When she died, Michael took in Margaret
19:18and Martha and raised them as his own
19:20daughters. Furthermore, on the exact
19:22night she died, Michael was at home
19:24asleep in bed with his wife Patricia
19:26when the nanny found the body the next
19:28morning.
19:29>> But in 2003, the Durham prosecutors
19:31bypassed the German police conclusions
19:33and the military autopsy. They looked at
19:35the staircase and the blood and they
19:37decided they needed this narrative.
19:39>> Right.
19:39>> They flew to Texas where Liz Ratliff was
19:41buried. They legally exhumed her body
19:44from the grave, transported her remains
19:46to North Carolina, and had Dr. Deborah
19:48Radisch, the exact same pathologist who
19:51examined Kathleen Peterson perform a
19:53second autopsy nearly two decades after
19:55the fact.
19:56>> And astonishingly, Dr. Radisch
19:57completely reclassifies the 1985 death.
20:00She declares it homicide by blunt force
20:02trauma claiming she found seven severe
20:04scalp lacerations on the exhumed
20:06remains.
20:06>> Seven lacerations.
20:07>> The exact same number of lacerations she
20:09found on Kathleen. It's almost too
20:11perfect. David Rudolph, the defense
20:13attorney, vehemently attacks the
20:15circular logic the state is deploying.
20:18He points out that the prosecution is
20:19essentially telling the jury the death
20:21in Germany proves he murdered Kathleen
20:23in Durham.
20:24And the death of Kathleen in Durham
20:25proves he murdered Liz in Germany.
20:27>> Which is a classic and deeply
20:29controversial application of rule 404b
20:33evidence.
20:33>> Can you explain that rule?
20:34>> Sure. In the Federal Rules of Evidence,
20:37and mirrored in North Carolina state
20:38law, rule 404b governs the admissibility
20:42of evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or
20:44acts.
20:46Generally, you cannot introduce past
20:47behavior to prove a person's character
20:49in order to show they acted in
20:51accordance with that character on a
20:52specific occasion.
20:53>> So, you can't just say, "He's a bad guy
20:55who does bad things."
20:56>> Exactly. However, there are exceptions.
20:59It can be admitted for other purposes
21:00such as proving motive, opportunity,
21:02intent, preparation, plan, knowledge,
21:05identity, or absence of mistake.
21:07>> Okay.
21:07>> The judge has to weigh the probative
21:09value of the evidence against its highly
21:11prejudicial nature.
21:12>> As a listener, put yourself in the jury
21:14box. You are already overwhelmed by
21:16financial documents, emails about
21:18escorts, and complex medical jargon.
21:21Suddenly, the prosecutor points to an
21:23exhumed grave from 1985 and says,
21:26"Lightning struck twice. He did it
21:28before."
21:29How do you process that objectively?
21:31>> It's almost impossible. The cognitive
21:33load on a jury in this kind of trial
21:35within a trial is immense. You are
21:38asking lay people to evaluate complex
21:40forensic pathology from a decades-old
21:43exhumation without any independent
21:45contemporary proof that a murder ever
21:47occurred in 1985.
21:48>> It's overwhelming.
21:49>> The prejudice is blinding. It subtly
21:51shifts the burden of proof. The jury
21:53mentally stops asking, "Did the state
21:55prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
21:57Michael Peterson killed Kathleen?"
21:59Instead, they begin asking, "What are
22:01the statistical odds of two women dying
22:02on staircases in the proximity of this
22:04one man?" It moves the deliberation from
22:06forensic science to statistical
22:08probability.
22:09>> But the state knew a spooky coincidence
22:10and a statistical anomaly weren't
22:12enough. They still needed hard science
22:14to put Michael Peterson at the center of
22:16the bloodshed on Cedar Street.
22:17>> a smoking gun.
22:19>> Exactly. They needed a scientist to
22:21point at a piece of evidence and say,
22:23"He swung the weapon."
22:25And that reliance brings us to a man
22:27whose eventual downfall would shake the
22:30entire North Carolina justice system.
22:32We need to talk about SBI agent Duane
22:35Deaver.
22:36>> Duane Deaver was presented to the jury
22:38as a premier unassailable bloodstain
22:40pattern analyst for the state.
22:42But a rigorous look at his credentials
22:44reveals a terrifying lack of foundation.
22:47>> What were his credentials?
22:48>> He held a bachelor's degree in zoology.
22:50He had taken a couple of short external
22:52courses in blood spatter analysis. He
22:54was not a member of recognized
22:56professional bodies like the
22:57International Association of Bloodstain
22:59Pattern Analysts.
23:00>> Wow.
23:01>> Yet, the court qualified him as an
23:03expert witness.
23:04>> And Deaver takes the stand with absolute
23:06theatrical confidence. He points to a
23:09minute spatter of blood, a microscopic
23:11droplet found inside the leg of the
23:12shorts Michael Peterson was wearing that
23:14night.
23:15>> Inside the leg?
23:15>> Inside the leg.
23:17Deaver testifies that this specific
23:19droplet was medium velocity impact
23:22spatter.
23:23He tells the jury that this droplet
23:24mathematically, scientifically proves
23:27that Michael Peterson was standing
23:28directly over Kathleen, striking her
23:31with a weapon while she lay bleeding.
23:34>> To visually reinforce this claim, Deaver
23:37presents videos of his scientific
23:38experiments to the jury.
23:40>> And these are hard to watch, honestly.
23:42>> of these experiments is chilling.
23:44>> [snorts]
23:44>> To recreate the complex dynamics of the
23:46crime scene, Deaver took a Styrofoam
23:48block, attached a bloody sponge to it,
23:51and hit it 38 times with a metal rod
23:54while wearing a pair of test shorts.
23:55>> A bloody sponge on a Styrofoam block.
23:58>> Yes. And at the end of one of these
24:00demonstration videos, Deaver is caught
24:02on camera celebrating his results.
24:04He literally says to the camera, "That's
24:06a wrap, baby."
24:07>> "That's a wrap, baby." It isn't science,
24:09it's prop comedy designed to secure a
24:10conviction.
24:12As Paulette Sutton, a highly respected
24:14forensic expert from Tennessee, later
24:16testified, these were not scientific
24:18experiments designed to test a
24:20hypothesis. They were biased theatrical
24:22demonstrations engineered solely to
24:24support a predetermined police theory.
24:27>> It was prosecution-driven science.
24:30But Deaver's malfeasance went beyond
24:32staging bad experiments.
24:33>> Yeah.
24:34>> He actively suppressed exculpatory
24:36evidence.
24:37>> things.
24:37>> Yes. He performed a Lumalite test on
24:40Michael Peterson's shirt.
24:41>> Let's break down the chemistry of that,
24:43because it's vital. What exactly does a
24:45Lumalite test do?
24:46>> Lumalite or Luminol testing
24:58the accurate specific wavelength of
24:59light, the oxidation reaction produces a
25:02bright blue chemiluminescence. It is
25:04incredibly sensitive.
25:06>> It glows brightly. It can detect blood
25:08traces that have been wiped away,
25:10cleaned with bleach, or washed out of
25:12clothing.
25:13If Michael Peterson had bludgeoned his
25:15wife to death, the high velocity and
25:17medium velocity impact spatter would
25:19have inevitably struck his shirt.
25:22>> Right, there's no way to avoid it.
25:23>> Even if he attempted to wash his shirt,
25:25the iron remains trapped in the fabric
25:27fibers.
25:28>> And the luminal light test on Michael
25:29Peterson's shirt came back completely
25:31negative. There was no impact spatter,
25:34there was no washed away blood. This
25:36completely contradicts the theory of a
25:38close range bludgeoning.
25:39>> Entirely.
25:40>> But Deaver withheld that exculpatory
25:42evidence. He simply did not report the
25:44negative finding to the defense or the
25:46court.
25:47>> And in 2003, the theatrical science
25:49worked.
25:50The jury, swayed by the sheer volume of
25:53blood, the moral panic, the ghost of
25:55Grevenhausen endeavors absolute
25:57certainty, convicted Michael Peterson of
25:59first-degree murder.
26:00>> He was sentenced to life without the
26:02possibility of parole.
26:03>> But the foundation of that conviction
26:04was built on a lie, and that lie was
26:06eventually exposed.
26:08>> Fast forward to August 2010. The state
26:11of North Carolina, facing mounting
26:12questions about forensic integrity,
26:14commissions an independent audit of the
26:16SBI crime lab.
26:18The audit is led by a former FBI agent
26:20named Chris Swecker.
26:22>> The Swecker audit.
26:23>> The resulting Swecker audit blew the
26:25doors off the entire agency.
26:27>> The systemic failures uncovered were
26:29staggering. The audit revealed that SBI
26:32analysts had misstated, withheld, or
26:35falsely reported blood evidence in
26:37approximately 200 criminal cases over a
26:4016-year period.
26:42>> 200 cases where the state's highest
26:44scientific authority fundamentally
26:46rigged the evidence against the
26:48defendant to secure a conviction.
26:50>> And Duane Deaver was exposed as one of
26:51the primary offenders. The audit
26:53revealed that Deaver's false reporting
26:55had previously helped wrongfully convict
26:57a man named Greg Taylor.
26:58>> Yes, that was a huge scandal.
26:59>> Taylor spent 17 years in a maximum
27:02security prison for a murder he didn't
27:03commit simply because Deaver hid the
27:05fact that a confirmatory blood test on
27:07Taylor's vehicle came back negative. 17
27:10years of a human life stolen by a
27:11zoology major treating the courtroom
27:13like a movie set.
27:14>> Deaver was finally fired in January
27:162011.
27:17There was a bizarre administrative coda
27:19where a state human resources panel
27:22later awarded him some back pay.
27:24Essentially arguing that he was a
27:25scapegoat for broader agency policy
27:28failures.
27:28>> Suggesting the whole culture was rotten.
27:30>> Suggesting the SBI culture actively
27:32encouraged and rewarded this kind of
27:34confirmation bias. However, his
27:37termination was ultimately upheld.
27:39>> The legal fallout for the Peterson case
27:41was immediate. Based entirely on
27:43Deaver's perjury and systemic
27:45misconduct, Judge Orlando Hudson vacates
27:47Michael Peterson's first-degree murder
27:49conviction in December 2011.
27:51>> It was a massive reversal.
27:53>> After eight years in a prison cell,
27:55Michael Peterson is released on bond.
27:57The state's case is in ruins.
27:59>> The collapse of the SBI lab highlights
28:01the extreme vulnerability of the
28:02American courtroom to junk science.
28:05Jurors are naturally conditioned to
28:06trust the authority of the badge and the
28:08lab coat.
28:08>> Right, they see an expert and they
28:10believe them.
28:11>> When an analyst treats an experiment not
28:13as a rigorous truth-seeking mission, but
28:16as a theatrical production designed to
28:18validate the prosecution's hypothesis,
28:20the presumption of innocence is dead on
28:22arrival.
28:23It is a terrifying reality that science
28:26can be so easily manipulated by the
28:28state.
28:29>> Because the state's case collapsed, we
28:31are back to square one. The blow poke is
28:33covered in cobwebs. The blood spatter
28:35science is a documented fabrication. But
28:38we still have a victim.
28:39>> We do.
28:40>> We still have Kathleen Peterson who bled
28:42to death from seven severe
28:44trident-shaped scalp lacerations with
28:47absolutely zero blunt force skull
28:49fractures or brain contusions. If a
28:51human didn't swing a pipe, how did she
28:53die?
28:54>> It's the ultimate question.
28:55>> This void in the forensic narrative gave
28:57rise to one of the most infamous,
28:59initially ridiculed, and hotly debated
29:01alternative theories in true crime
29:02history. The owl theory.
29:04>> When you first hear it, it sounds deeply
29:06absurd. It sounds like a desperate
29:07punchline.
29:08>> It really does.
29:09>> But to understand why it gained traction
29:11among neurosurgeons and forensic
29:13experts, you have to analyze how neatly
29:16it aligns with the physical evidence
29:18that the blunt force theory fails to
29:20explain.
29:22>> The theory originates with Larry
29:23Pollard, an attorney and a next-door
29:25neighbor of the Petersons during the
29:27original trial.
29:28Pollard is examining the autopsy
29:30photographs, and he notices the
29:31morphology of the lacerations on the
29:33back of Kathleen's head.
29:35>> He saw something everyone else missed.
29:37>> They aren't just straight, linear
29:39splits. Several of them converge in a
29:41distinct trident-like shape, three
29:44prongs meeting at a center point.
29:46Pollard, an avid observer of local
29:48wildlife, realizes those trident shapes
29:50perfectly match the anatomical strike
29:52pattern of a barred owl's talons.
29:55>> Let's systematically map this theory
29:57against the forensic anomalies. First,
29:58the skull. We know blunt force trauma
30:00crushes bone, but a raptor strike is a
30:02sharp force injury.
30:03>> Right, talons cut, they don't crush.
30:05>> Exactly. An owl's talons are razor-sharp
30:08hooks designed to slice tissue
30:09instantly. An owl strike perfectly
30:11explains the deep, profuse bleeding and
30:14the lacerations without causing any
30:16blunt force skull fractures or brain
30:18swelling.
30:20It solves the central paradox.
30:22>> What about the exterior scene?
30:24Investigators found a large smear of
30:25blood on the outside of the front door
30:27frame and drops of blood on the outside
30:29walkway.
30:30>> Which never fit the state's timeline.
30:32>> The prosecution could never fully
30:33explain why the bleeding started outside
30:36if she was bludgeoned at the back
30:37stairs. The theory posits that Kathleen
30:39was outside in the front yard in
30:41December, putting up Christmas
30:43decorations. Barred owls are highly
30:46territorial predators.
30:47>> They're very aggressive.
30:48>> They strike silently from above, often
30:50targeting the highest point of an
30:51intruder, the head. She is attacked in
30:54the yard, the talons slice her scalp to
30:56the bone, and she runs inside bleeding
30:58profusely onto the walkway and the door
31:00frame, making her way to the back stairs
31:02where she ultimately collapses.
31:04>> It also provides a mechanical
31:05explanation for the defensive wounds and
31:07the avulsed hair.
31:08>> The hair in her hands.
31:09>> Yes.
31:11If a massive bird of prey is entangled
31:13in your hair, its talons sinking into
31:15your scalp, the instinctive human
31:17reaction is to reach up and tear at your
31:20own head to dislodge the predator.
31:22>> Just blind panic.
31:23>> In a state of sheer panic and
31:24excruciating pain, you will rip your own
31:27hair out by the roots.
31:29Furthermore, the autopsy documented pine
31:31needles and a small wooden twig embedded
31:34directly in the dried blood on her
31:36hands.
31:37>> Which indicates she was outside.
31:39>> This indicates she was grabbing at the
31:40ground or tree branches outside during
31:42the struggle.
31:44The contusions on the ulnar aspect of
31:46her arms perfectly match a defensive
31:47posture, shielding her face from a
31:49clawing, flapping animal.
31:51>> And then there is the trace evidence.
31:53When investigators eventually
31:54re-examined the debris collected from
31:56the scene, they found microscopic
31:58feathers.
31:58>> Actual feathers.
31:59>> Specifically, feathers matching the
32:01morphology of the downy feathers that
32:03cover the feet and lower legs of owls.
32:06These microscopic feathers were found
32:07clinging to Kathleen's hands and
32:09intricately entangled in the clumps of
32:11hair she had pulled from her own head.
32:13>> It is a remarkable convergence of
32:15circumstantial evidence.
32:17Pollard secured sworn affidavits from
32:19credible scientific experts.
32:21>> Real experts, not like Deaver.
32:23>> Exactly.
32:24Dr. Alan Van Norman, a neurosurgeon and
32:27recognized owl expert, and Dr. Patrick
32:29Redig, a professor of veterinary
32:31medicine, both thoroughly reviewed the
32:34case file.
32:35They formally stated that this scenario
32:37entirely within the behavioral ecology
32:39of large owls and perfectly matches the
32:42pathology of the scalp wounds.
32:44>> Of course, the theory faces intense
32:46skepticism. Author Tiddy Smith wrote a
32:48book called Death by Talons supporting
32:50the theory, but he drifted into claiming
32:52that the Durham police actively,
32:54maliciously conspired to cover up the
32:55owl feathers, picking them up one by one
32:58at the scene to protect their murder
32:59narrative.
33:00>> That's where you lose people.
33:01>> Critics like reviewer Mark Pinsky found
33:04that leap highly conspiratorial. Pinsky
33:06rightly noted that while the police were
33:08incredibly incompetent, often described
33:10as Keystone Cops contaminating the scene
33:12with foot traffic, a coordinated
33:14microscopic cover-up requires a level of
33:17forensic sophistication they clearly
33:18lacked.
33:19>> And the science has its limits.
33:21Pollard attempted to get this
33:22Smithsonian Institution involved.
33:24>> If
33:25>> He sent the feather fragments to Dr.
33:26Carla Dove, arguably the foremost
33:28forensic ornithologist and feather
33:31expert in the United States.
33:32>> What did she say?
33:33>> Dr. Dove examined the evidence but
33:35stated she could not definitively
33:36species match the fragments.
33:38They were simply too microscopic and
33:40degraded.
33:41She noted they could theoretically have
33:43come from a goose down pillow or a
33:45comforter inside the house.
33:46>> So, no definitive match.
33:48>> Right. There were also unconfirmed
33:50rumors of microscopic talon chips
33:52embedded in Kathleen's skull,
33:54but they were never definitively
33:55analyzed or proven by a secondary lab.
33:59It leaves the owl theory in a state of
34:00forensic purgatory. Highly plausible,
34:03mechanically sound, but scientifically
34:05unproven.
34:06>> I think of the owl theory as a forensic
34:08black swan event. In probability theory
34:11popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a
34:14black swan is an event so statistically
34:16rare, so far outside the realm of normal
34:19expectation that human intuition
34:21immediately rejects it as impossible.
34:23>> It's hard for the brain to process.
34:24>> But statistical improbability is not
34:26physical impossibility.
34:28The owl theory remains the only
34:30hypothesis presented in over 20 years
34:32that does not require you to blatantly
34:35ignore a major piece of physical
34:37evidence.
34:37>> That's true.
34:38>> It accounts for the lacerations, the
34:39pristine skull, the exterior blood
34:41trail, the twigs, the avulsed hair, and
34:43the feathers.
34:44It sounds insane.
34:46But is it scientifically crazier than a
34:48man bludgeoning his wife to death
34:50without breaking a bone using an
34:52invisible cobweb-covered blowpoke?
34:54>> That is the dilemma that terrified the
34:56justice system.
34:58With a new trial looming on the horizon,
35:00the state found itself in a deeply
35:02compromised position.
35:03>> They're in trouble.
35:04>> Their star forensic witness was a
35:05disgraced perjurer. The SBI lab was a
35:08national scandal. The murder weapon was
35:10a joke. And the bizarre, yet
35:13mechanically sound, owl theory was
35:15hovering in the background ready to
35:16inject massive reasonable doubt into the
35:18minds of a new jury.
35:19>> A jury would definitely have doubts.
35:21>> Both the prosecution and the defense
35:23realized that a second trial was an
35:24unpredictable, high-stakes gamble.
35:27They needed a legal off-ramp.
35:28>> And that off-ramp came in 2017.
35:31The long road to resolution ended in a
35:34paperwork compromise.
35:35On February 24th, 2017, Michael
35:38Peterson, now 73 years old, returns to
35:41the Durham County Courthouse.
35:43He enters an Alford plea to the reduced
35:45charge of voluntary manslaughter.
35:47>> The Alford plea is a very specific legal
35:50mechanism, and it's crucial to
35:51understand how it operates.
35:53>> Yeah, please break that down.
35:54>> The Alford plea originates from a 1970
35:56United States Supreme Court case, North
35:59Carolina v. Alford. Henry Alford was
36:01facing the death penalty for a murder he
36:02vehemently claimed he did not commit. He
36:05agreed to plead guilty to second-degree
36:07murder simply to avoid execution while
36:09still maintaining his innocence on the
36:11record.
36:11>> And the court allowed that?
36:12>> The Supreme Court ruled this was
36:14constitutional. An Alford plea is
36:16essentially a legal fiction. It allows
36:18the defendant to formally and publicly
36:20maintain their innocence. They do not
36:21admit to committing the act.
36:23>> a catch?
36:24>> Yes. However, they acknowledge on the
36:25record that the prosecution possesses
36:28enough evidence that a judge or jury
36:30would likely convict them. It is a plea
36:32of ultimate convenience.
36:34>> A compromise.
36:35>> It allows the state to close the book,
36:37secure conviction on paper, and save
36:39face. Simultaneously, it allows the
36:42defendant to avoid the extreme risk of a
36:45harsher sentence while maintaining their
36:47innocence.
36:47>> So, Michael Peterson stands before the
36:49judge, pleads to manslaughter, while
36:52simultaneously stating, "I didn't kill
36:54her." The judge sentences him 86 months
36:57in prison, but because Peterson had
36:59already served 98 months behind bars
37:01before his conviction was vacated, he is
37:04given credit for time served.
37:05>> He's done.
37:06>> The 73-year-old walks out of the
37:08courthouse a completely free man. The
37:10criminal justice system closes the file.
37:13The motion to have the Smithsonian
37:14conduct further testing on the feather
37:16fragments is formally abandoned. The
37:18state of North Carolina never has to
37:20answer for the blood spatter fabrication
37:22in the crucible of a new trial.
37:24>> But the criminal court compromise did
37:25not end the financial and civil
37:27consequences.
37:29Kathleen's biological daughter, Caitlin
37:31Atwater, pursued a wrongful death civil
37:33lawsuit against Michael Peterson.
37:35>> Which is a whole different ball game.
37:37>> Civil court operates on an entirely
37:39different legal standard than criminal
37:41court.
37:42In a criminal trial, the state must
37:44prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
37:47In a civil trial, the plaintiff only has
37:49to prove liability by a preponderance of
37:52the evidence.
37:53>> Meaning 51%.
37:54>> Meaning it is more likely than not, 51%
37:57probability, that the defendant is
37:59responsible.
38:00>> Caitlin Atwater's attorney, Jerome Trahy
38:02Jr., relentlessly pursued the civil
38:04case. He ultimately secured a massive
38:06$25 million consent judgment against
38:09Peterson.
38:10>> That is a staggering amount.
38:11>> And when Michael Peterson attempted to
38:13shield his remaining assets by filing
38:15for bankruptcy, a federal judge
38:17intervened. The judge explicitly ruled
38:19that the $25 million debt was
38:21non-dischargeable.
38:23He cannot erase it. He will owe that
38:24money for the rest of his natural life.
38:26>> a final, devastating financial strike
38:28from a family permanently shattered by
38:30the events on that staircase.
38:32>> The civil judgment brings a sense of
38:33finality to the legal paperwork, but it
38:35offers absolutely no finality to the
38:37narrative of what happened that night.
38:39>> None whatsoever.
38:40>> It leaves us looking at the entirety of
38:41this 20-year saga.
38:43We started with a chaotic, blood-soaked
38:45scene at the bottom of a narrow wooden
38:47staircase. We searched for a missing
38:50brass weapon only to find it covered in
38:52undisturbed cobwebs.
38:53>> Right.
38:54>> We watched prosecutors fly to Texas to
38:56exhume a body from 1985 to build a
38:58psychological profile based on a
39:00statistical anomaly.
39:02We witnessed the complete, disgraceful
39:04collapse of a state's premier forensic
39:06science division due to the ego and
39:08perjury of one analyst.
39:10>> It's just wave after wave of failure.
39:12>> And we debated whether microscopic
39:14feathers and trident-shaped wounds meant
39:16a bird of prey was the true culprit.
39:18>> If we rigorously reflect on what this
39:20case truly reveals beyond the specific
39:22tragedy of Kathleen Peterson's death, it
39:24is a stark, terrifying study in the
39:27devastating consequences of confirmation
39:29bias.
39:29>> Explain that.
39:30>> Once investigators, driven by the
39:32visceral horror of a massive blood pool,
39:34decide how a crime happened, the entire
39:36apparatus of the state bends to fit that
39:38narrative.
39:39The scientific method is abandoned.
39:41Inconvenient facts, like a pristine
39:43skull or a negative blood test, are
39:45systematically ignored or actively
39:46suppressed.
39:47>> The goal changes.
39:49>> The ultimate goal ceases to be the
39:50objective discovery of truth. The goal
39:53becomes the engineering of a conviction.
39:56>> And when a crime scene is contaminated
39:58from the very first minute, when the
39:59state's highest scientific authority is
40:01proven to be a manufactured lie designed
40:04just to get a wrap baby on a camera,
40:06does the absolute truth of what happened
40:08on that staircase vanish forever?
40:10>> That's the scary part.
40:12>> Are we as a society okay with a justice
40:14system that sometimes has to settle for
40:16a paperwork plea of convenience rather
40:18than the actual unvarnished truth.
40:21>> It is a profound failure of the system
40:23and a heavy burden to leave with the
40:25listener, but it is the only honest
40:27conclusion.
40:28>> We started this deep dive talking about
40:29the expectation of precision in a
40:31medical diagnosis. The desire to look at
40:33an x-ray, see the clean jagged white
40:36line, and know exactly what is broken.
40:38But Kathleen Peterson's autopsy didn't
40:40give the investigators that line. Her
40:42skull wasn't broken.
40:43>> No, it wasn't.
40:44>> And because of that one missing
40:45fracture, we were forced to navigate two
40:47decades of forensic manipulation and
40:49legal warfare.
40:50The terrifying reality is we may never
40:52know exactly what happened in the dark
40:54that night. Keep questioning everything.
40:58>> [music]
41:06[music]

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This page contains the full transcript of The Truth About The Staircase: A Fatal Accident or Husband's Staged Murder? - Michael Peterson Case by Case Unmasked, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 7,310 words across 1,335 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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