Photo of Kathleen and Caitlyn, from the Indyweek article linked below. In the lead-up to Kathleen's death, Nortel had been making a large proportion of its staff redundant - as many as two thirds (or 45,000 workers) apparently. On December 9, 2001, Michael Peterson found his wife, Kathleen Peterson, dead at the bottom of the back staircase in the 11,000-square-foot mansion that they shared with their children in Durham, North Carolina. Some psychic. Pollard theorised that Kathleen could have been attacked outside by one of these owls, which would account for the seven unexplained lacerations to her head. Kathleen and Fred married in 1977 and had a daughter, Caitlin, but they divorced after she discovered his affair. The Staircase main players: Where are they now? She found more than 2,000 photos of naked men and emails between Michael and a male escort on Michael's computer, which led her to death. While Ratliff's daughters stood by their adopted father throughout his trial and imprisonment, Kathleen's daughter, Caitlin Atwater sided with the prosecution. Despite living what looked like a lavish lifestyle from the outside, Michael and Kathleen Peterson were in a lot of debt. According to the BBC's Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast, which also investigates the crime, Kathleen was a big earner making a six-figure salary. If Michael received any money for the literary effort, it would have to go toward a $25 million award Caitlin Atwater won against him, he said. Then, yet another bombshell came up. Theory 1: Murder. Red neurons were present in her brain when the autopsy was done. CNN reported that Young testified during the trial, revealing the Petersons had been spending $100,000 a year more than they made for three years before Kathleen Peterson's death. I provide empathic and compassionate care in a safe space for individuals to explore . She had a net worth of around $2 million, according to Forensic Files. However, HBO Max's The Staircase gives viewers the opportunity to reexamine the circumstances surrounding Kathleen's death, while also delving into Michael's trial. She divorced her first husband for his own indiscretions years before, and they said it is unlikely that she would have felt differently about Michaels own cheating. In the early hours of Dec. 9, 2001, novelist Michael Peterson made a panicked, tearful 911 call: He had found his wife Kathleen unconscious and bloody at the bottom of a staircase in their Durham, North Carolina, house. Case Notes: On December 9th 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found by her husband, Michael Peterson, at the bottom of the stairs in the home that they shared in Durham. Michael hadnt generated any income in two years, and Kathleen was the mainstay. In the spring before Gates bought the home in June 1989, it was a location for the 1990 movie The Handmaids Tale, which was filmed in Durham and Raleigh and starred Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway and Natasha Richardson. RR, Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube, a rogue owl played a role in Kathleens death, NFL player Rae Carruth in his murder trial, The Lindbergh Kidnapping: Forensic Files Lost Episode, Dawn Fehring: A Missionary Dies Too Young, Ron Gillette: An Air Force Man Who Didnt Exactly Aim High. But public interest in the case didnt really explode until the following year, when Netflix expanded and updated a documentary by French director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade to create a 13-part bingefest called The Staircase. Call 1-888-626-7386 Advisor Id: 42767. Another important element of Michael's case focused on blood spatter found at the scene. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. By the time Michael and Kathleen became a couple, his two daughters and Kathleens daughter from her first marriage, Caitlin Atwater, were already good friends. Posted 2/5/2010 12:01 AM. Team Michael also furnished a fireplace blow poke they said they found in the house. Her hands and arms had contusion bruises but not her legs, which suggests evidence of a struggle. Call-guy talks. By all accounts, Michael and Kathleen were believed to have a happy marriage and blended family. But after eight years in prison, he was released after it was found that a key witness had given misleading testimony. By the time Michael went to trial, Lestrade was already filming what would become his epic 13-episode documentary series. Kathleen Peterson had been drinking some, and her flimsy sandals were nearby - the scene looked to be the outcome of a tragic accident. convicted in one of North Carolinas longest trials, Peterson entered an Alford plea while awaiting a new trial in 2017. nationally recognized scholar and author Henry Louis Skip Gates Jr. As Peterson documentary debuts on Netflix, Durham braces for new attention -- and scrutiny, recent drone video that the house still has the swimming pool. Of course, none of this absolutely *proves* it was a barred owl that inflicted the initial wounds on Kathleen Peterson. Michael Peterson accused of murdering his wife Kathleen in December 2001 Kathleen found unconscious by Michael in North Carolina home, died short after Michael was convicted for murder in 2003 . Drew is serving a 38 year sentence in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his third wife Kathleen Savio. Kathleens career as a telecommunications executive was thriving, and Michael had received a half-million-dollar advance on a book deal. The Staircase. "They had a real story, which lasted until May 2017. Where are Michael & Kathleen Peterson's kids now? Balius paid $640,000 for the house in 2004 and did renovations before placing it back on the market in 2007. Mr. Pollard, a long-time friend and neighbor of the Petersons, has suggested that microscopic owl feathers where found in Kathleen Petersons hand, mixed together with her own hair, during her autopsy, suggesting that she perhaps attempted to fight off an owl attack. Cathleen Peterson-Layne, PhD, MD Empowering Leaders and Teams to lead with greater clarity and courageous decision-making. Born Kathleen Hunt on February 21, 1953, she graduated first in her class from J.P. McCaskey High School andreports Indy Week"became the first female student accepted into Dukes engineering school." Three small feathers were found in the hair strands in Kathleens hand, and Pollard said the lacerations on her scalp were consistent with owl talons. The legal age you can get married has just changed, Charles & Camilla break major royal tradition, Courteney Cox speaks on Harry magic mushroom claim, Harry 'adding at least one more chapter' to memoir, Dylan responds to being misgendered on Instagram. But in spite of Kathleen's lucrative salary, the Peterson family had reportedly gotten itself into dire straits, with the matriarch fearing redundancy at her workplace. His explanation to cops, that she had been drinking and had likely taken a sleeping pill and fallen, was deemed unconvincing; he was arrested for her murder shortly thereafter. And some believe that Kathleen Peterson died of simple, malicious negligence that Michael chose not to help Kathleen after an accidental fall. We are all Light Beings who have chosen to experience life on the earth plane. The couple combined their families into one household in the 5-bedroom 5-bath abode in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Durham. She moved to Baltimore to study how to . She was a successful student and was the first woman admitted to Duke Universitys School of Engineering in 1967, where she earned her bachelors and masters degrees and met her first husband, physicist Fred Atwater. She was the first woman accepted into Duke Universitys school of engineering. Another motive suggested by the prosecution hinged on the Peterson family's tenuous financial situation. He won the right to a new trial after authorities discovered that expert prosecution witness Saami Shaibani had misrepresented his own professional credentials. For instance, one theory suggested that the lacerations on the victim's head were caused by an owl, as "a microscopic feather was found in Kathleen Peterson's hand with some of her hair," via The News & Observer. Here are some of the random interesting facts we know about the house at 1810 Cedar St.. The house is currently owned by clairvoyant and medium Biond Fury, who paid $1.3 million for it in 2008. So who really was she? Psychic Norbert, the only psychic asked by the family of Stacy Peterson to investigate her disappearance, correctly predicted the arrest of her husband, former Bolingbrook, IL police officer Drew Peterson. make North Carolina more free. We know Kathleen Peterson was 48-years-old when she died. Colin Firth plays her husband, Michael Peterson, the man who was accused of her murder. On Nov. 25, 1985, when Michael was living in Germany and married to his first wife, Ratliff turned up dead at the bottom of a staircase just as Kathleen Peterson did 16 years later. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. Among the 19 total rooms, there are five bedrooms and six bathrooms, along with a brick patio, slate patio, and both upper and lower galleries. We know she had one biological daughter, Caitlin Atwater, two adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret Ratliff, and two step-sons, Clayton and Todd Peterson. Kathleen was dead by the time first responders got there. In 1992, they bought a 14-room mansion on three acres in the Forest Hills neighborhood. her blood-alcohol level was just below 0.08, the level at which a person in North Carolina is considered too drunk to drive. He'd previously spent time behind bars for reportedly placing a bomb in a Duke University office, according . We find doubt uncomfortable., Jones isnt satisfied with that. Kathleen Peterson later succumbed to her. Perhaps he was trying to delete some files. Kathleen was always an accomplished student, engineer, volunteer and leader. We know Kathleen Peterson was 48-years-old when she died. The prosecution put forth several possible motives for Kathleen's murder. The Petersons' neighbour, lawyer Larry Pollard came up with a theory that a barred owl, a breed that's native to the area, may have been responsible for Kathleen's death. And it speaks to our desire for clarity. Kathleen is an engaging and dynamic teacher, who always takes the extra step . 'The Staircase' has put Kathleen Peterson in the spotlight. Life is really full of surprises," the director told French publication LExpress. Then, learn about Susan Powell, who warned her family her death might not be an accident. And the long, narrow marks found on her scalp appeared to be consistent with those of an owls talons. A novelist couldnt have written Petersons story any better, full of outrageous twists as it is. loans were so high they had no money left to live on. (The infamous blow poke was mysteriously found in the Peterson's garage during the trial, without any evidence of blood on it). In court and on camera, Peterson initially presented his marriage to Kathleen as an enormously happy one, but prosecutors unearthed evidence that he had been secretly seeing men and that the couple had argued about it shortly before her death; they also found a trove of male pornography on his laptop, which they used to further cast scrutiny on his claims of being content in the marriage. This, however, barely featured in The Staircase's depiction of the trial. Cosmopolitan, Part of the Hearst UK Fashion & Beauty Network. Kathleen Peterson. Life Coach, Psychic, Relationships, Tarot Kathleen Peterson. The theory, left out of the 2018 Netflix documentary The Staircase, posits that the lacerations found on Kathleen Petersons scalp were caused by the talons of an owl that attacked her outside. Despite the fact Michael was the one to call 911 the night Kathleen allegedly fell down the stairs, Michael soon . Police responding to N.C. 55 late Tuesday night found two people who had been shot. Michael Peterson, now 78, moved in with the then Kathleen Atwater in 1989, two years after the break-up of his first marriage. This week Sandy and I tackle a cold case from 2007 of Missing Mom Stacy Peterson who went missing from the home she shared with her abusive husband, former police officer Drew Peterson, who was later convicted of murdering his third wife, Kathleen. Soon after entering prison, Michael was injured in a fight, something HBO Max's adaptation explores in depth. Kathleen Peterson's life insurance was later split between her daughter, Caitlin Atwater, and her first husband Fred Atwater. Before Michael met Kathleen in 1986, he was living in Germany with his first wife, Patricia Sue, and their two sons. Investigators later brought in a forensic meteorologist who determined it was 51 to 55 degrees outside that night, a little too cold for beach clothes, which made investigators question whether he was really at the pool when Kathleen fell. Once the strange coincidence of the unusual death was discovered, Elizabeth's body was exhumed as part of Michael's trial, and an autopsy concluded that she had died as the result of a "homicidal assault," and not a stroke, per The News & Observer. There was a bloody shoe print found on the back of her sweatpants, which was a match to Petersons shoe. Whats more, the raptors are known to dive-bomb humans when they feel threatened, almost always targeting the head.. And as the Audubon Society pointed out, An owl strike can definitely cause blunt-force trauma. It had cobwebs on it but no blood, which appeared to snuff out the prosecutions theory that the implement acted as the murder weapon. Homicide detectives were called to the Peterson residence. Woman killed in double shooting on Durham highway, Chatham County housing authority director arrested, accused of $200,000+ in wire fraud, Alligator living at Walmart in NC stirs debate, as many demand it be allowed to stay. &"|)Y*>aB\#x@ }793K{&Doep GT@E! But Michael hit a rough patch when he decided to run for mayor of Durham. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. A medical examiner testified that Ratliffs cause of death was homicide via blunt force trauma. This week Sandy and I tackle a cold case from 2007 of Missing Mom Stacy Peterson who went missing from the home she shared with her abusive husband, former police officer Drew Peterson, who was later convicted of murdering his third wife, Kathleen. According to Cosmopolitan, barred owls are native to the area and known to attack joggers with some frequency. Shortly afterwards, Peterson, then still Kathleen Atwater, moved to Durham, North Carolina, and met Michael Peterson, a local novelist and occasional columnist for The Durham Herald-Sun who had served in Vietnam with the Marines. At a news conference, Michael said, "Accepting this Alford plea has been the hardest thing I've ever done," via ABC11, as he had hoped to clear his name. On Dec. 9, 2001, novelist Michael Peterson found his wife, Kathleen, dead at the bottom of the back staircase. In 2009, during investigations by Michael Peterson's legal team that would eventually lead to his reprieve, it emerged that Kathleen Peterson had been holding clumps of her own hair in her hands when she was found dead at the bottom of the stairs. Kathleen worried that she would lose her own $145,000-a-year job amid the downsizing, the AP reported. Heres how Raleigh ranks among US metros for first-time homebuyers, 74,000 & growing: Some NC police departments stockpile guns rather than release them. Michael Peterson and David Rudolf in court in 2017. After learning about the mysterious death of Kathleen Peterson, read the shocking story of Dalia Dippolito, whose murder-for-hire plot to kill her husband was caught on camera by police. She graduated first in her class. Her husband, novelist Michael Peterson, became the center of the investigation and was. In December 2011, after spending eight years in prison for Kathleen's murder, Michael was granted a new trial. Ever since Kathleen Peterson was found at the bottom of a staircase in 2001, her mysterious death has been the subject of much media attention. Plus the death of Liz Ratliff in Germany was deemed inadmissible. Everyone knows at least one wacky guy who wears shorts in cold weather. Kathleen Peterson, when she died on December 9, 2001, was 48 years old. Margaret, Martha, Todd, and Clayton also believe the justice system failed their father. While the prosecution argued that Michael most likely murdered Kathleen with a fireplace blow poke that was deemed missing from their Durham home at the time of her death, Michael's defense attorney argued that Kathleen died from a fall down the stairs. If its not clear, play it that its not clear, Firth said. Mrs. Kathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson, was born February 21, 1953, in Greensboro, North Carolina, and died of a tragic accident in her beloved home in Durham, North Carolina, Sunday, December 9, 2001. He was in prison for eight years before his conviction was overturned because of improprieties at the State Bureau of Investigation. They argued Michael's plan to kill his wife revolved around the $1.4 million life insurance policy she had in place. However, Michael Peterson himself didnt return home after his release. Within days, the police arrested Michael Peterson, and prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder. 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