Netflix - The Staircase...innocent or guilty?

[CoRhona]

YABU - it was an unfortunate fall

YANBU - guilty as sin

(If you've not watched it but plan to, read up more about it afterwards...I was )

Cross post with Hammering but I agree he got the idea of death by haemorrhage after a fall from Germany, panicked and staged the scene.

Really didn't like the man but completely undecided as to whether he did it or not. The kids all seemed like really lovely people which I found strange when they had been brought up by him.

Yes @Nikori it is. I don't know why the bbc make it so hard to find. Is that even the whole season on there? I listened a while ago. When I was searching all I could find was season 2.

[quote BobbingPuffins]@AryaStarkWolf Yes the podcast is on BBC sounds. Look for Beyond Reasonable Doubt, all episodes. It starts with an episode called ‘At home with the Petersons’.[/quote]

@BobbingPuffins this is all I get when I search bbc sounds:-

That was meant to have @BobbingPuffins

I need to watch it again as it has been ages - my recollection is that the nanny stated there was blood at the scene in Germany but that this was not consistent with the other reports from the scene. I may be remembering this incorrectly though!

Thanks for the prompt to watch it. I watched a documentary on youtube about 4 years ago on it. Will be good to see Netflix's spin on it.

Two things though (apologies if mentioned already). He's got a way with words, he's an author, so perfectly plausible that he is telling a story (ie lying).

And secondly, is it not possible that she did fall down the stairs ( no owl involved) but Michael then took the opportunity to bludgeon her to (near) death. That's my theory.

Ok off to watch the Netflix version.

Deffo guilty!!

He’s guilty as sin.
How many people do you know that have been attacked by owls? And how many women are murdered every day by their husbands?
He is clearly creepy as fuck and did a lot of shit. The affair, the life insurance, the 911 call, the odd relationship with the children. Did you not see how he reacted to everything? He didn’t care about his wife, he only showed fake emotion.
There are other reports he has killed his dogs, not on the same night, but he is just an abusive person, it’s clear to see. I worry about people who think he is innocent, I guess they’re the same people who get involved with all sorts of creeps because they can’t see the red flags.

@tobee Go into Manhunt and you should get the option of More episodes. I think. Worked for me earlier.

@Pancakeorcrepe

He’s guilty as sin. How many people do you know that have been attacked by owls? And how many women are murdered every day by their husbands? He is clearly creepy as fuck and did a lot of shit. The affair, the life insurance, the 911 call, the odd relationship with the children. Did you not see how he reacted to everything? He didn’t care about his wife, he only showed fake emotion. There are other reports he has killed his dogs, not on the same night, but he is just an abusive person, it’s clear to see. I worry about people who think he is innocent, I guess they’re the same people who get involved with all sorts of creeps because they can’t see the red flags.

So if you’d been on the jury you would have found him guilty?

It’s not about being naive, I’ve grown up around abusive men. That doesn’t mean he’s definitely a murderer though.

I haven’t seen many people say they believe he’s innocent - that’s very different from not being convinced he’s guilty.

[quote BobbingPuffins]@tobee Go into Manhunt and you should get the option of More episodes. I think. Worked for me earlier.[/quote]

Thanks @BobbingPuffins ! Got them!

Why does one have to think laterally to find them?

@pancakeorcrepe I think I agree with you. Nothing else makes sense

So if you’d been on the jury you would have found him guilty?

There’s a big difference between finding someone guilty on a jury and believing they are guilty.

I did jury duty many years ago in a hideous, hideous case (I’ve never been called for jury duty since and then judge said he’d make sure we weren’t called for at least 10 years, but he couldn’t have us excused forever). One of the worst things about it was that he was very, very clearly guilty, but the prosecution hadn’t (IMO) proved their case on one of the worst charges.

I enjoyed the series but it was at least a couple of episodes too long. A lot of waffle and long lingering shots. The kids seemed brainwashed. Michael clearly thought quite a lot of himself. He didn't seem very upset that his wife was dead either. Considering his take that they had this great, very loving marriage, which is what everyone else also said, you'd think he would have been far more heartbroken.

I wouldn’t have found him guilty. I just don’t think there’s enough evidence to say if he did it or not. Eg we see that they claim he tried to clean up the crime scene but in court it seems like this couldn’t be established. Same with death in Germany- evidence was conflicting and she may well have died of natural causes. The police botched the investigation so maybe now we will never know. Could have been an owl too.

I live in the next town over. I've driven by the house several times and have seen Peterson coming out of our local Wholefoods a couple of years ago. He still lives in the area.

My two cents. I was open to the owl theory but have decided it doesn't add up for two reasons. If the owl caught her on the head outside then there would have been a fair amount of blood outside and on the way to the inside staircase itself . If the owl was inside then there would have been evidence of havoc, as it would have flapped and panicked to get outside, leaving feathers, blood and probably knocking stuff over.

I sincerely hope the truth comes out properly one day, for Kathleen and her daughter and sister. Also for Elizabeth Ratliff as I think he was involved in that too. I believe he is the father to at least of one Elizabeths's daughters , even though it is said that DNA tests have proven otherwise. They all look so alike. I think that would have given motive for Michael to have pushed Elizabeth down the stairs in Germany.

As an aside, both Michael's sons are highly sketchy characters. In fact, Clayton Peterson did time for setting pipe bombs in an administrative building at nearby Duke uni, where he was studying at the time.

A couple of years ago Michael Peterson self published a book called "Behind the Staircase." I got it out the library and it was then most self serving load of twaddle you could imagine. He likes to paint himself as a hero and I sensed he was completely titillated in prison by the attentions of male prisoners. I couldn't finish it.

I believe he did it. Poor Kathleen.

Same with death in Germany- evidence was conflicting and she may well have died of natural causes.

If my husband and I were in a car crash with him driving and I was killed, that would be unfortunate.

If he got remarried and his second wife also died that way, that would be one hell of a coincidence..

i know he didn't marry both women, I was making a point that it's just too unlikely to happen to the same person twice...

I wonder if she had some kind of freak accident and he didn’t save her - ie he let her die.

I also think he’s convinced himself he’s innocent, regardless of the truth.

We’ll never know for sure but at least he has served some time - more than some murderers, after all.

If you like Podcasts there is one on this case by Real Crime Profile. It gives a different perspective. Also the court videos are available through Court TV. It's interesting to see the proceedings without the documentary bias and editing.

I can understand everyone’s points and why most poster’s think he is guilty. But if I was on the jury I could not find him guilty. Simply because the prosecution did not prove it beyond reasonable doubt.

I personally didn’t find him creepy but I can see why many did. He was confident and some would say arrogant. The fact he is bisexual threw an added dimension into the mix because nobody knew if Kathleen was aware of it or not and also if she knew about Brad. This made it seem like he was a lying cheat but nobody knows if that is the case or not.
The 3 children in the documentary clearly loved him and all seemed very capable and able to speak up for themselves. I can’t believe they were all brainwashed and even if they were as children would this really continue into adulthood? After listening to everything said in court they all still believed he was innocent.

I did believe him when he said a few times that he didn’t feel he could properly grieve for Kathleen because he was effectively fighting for his life. But I can also see that it could make him look like he didn’t have enough emotion and didn’t care she had died.

I don’t think it will be possible to ever know exactly what happened but I just feel that there are too many unanswered questions and not enough solid evidence to decisively say he is guilty.

He is as guilty as sin. Friends in North Carolina , where the crime happened, all think so too.

@lyralalala

So if you’d been on the jury you would have found him guilty?

There’s a big difference between finding someone guilty on a jury and believing they are guilty.

I did jury duty many years ago in a hideous, hideous case (I’ve never been called for jury duty since and then judge said he’d make sure we weren’t called for at least 10 years, but he couldn’t have us excused forever). One of the worst things about it was that he was very, very clearly guilty, but the prosecution hadn’t (IMO) proved their case on one of the worst charges.

Absolutely right - but the way other posters are speaking are as though anyone who isn’t convinced he’s guilty is a naive idiot, hence my question. I think it’s feasible he killed her but when the prosecution can’t come up with a coherent theory about how he did it or support that with evidence, you can’t be certain enough to convict.

They pinned everything on the blow poke but I feel that was ruled out fairly conclusively (not because they found it but because the ceiling height was too low to properly swing it, there were no cast off patterns and you’d have to apply a lot of force / speed to create those wounds and it’s likely it would have snapped or been damaged according to the evidence, if I remember rightly - like I say it’s been a few years).

The incriminating emails from Brad the escort had been opened just before her death
I think this is key. He is an arrogant, narcissistic person whose ego and reputation was more I portant than anything. This why he lied about a number of things to portray himself as more of a man than he is and learned over his life time to convince himself of these lies to become the personage wanted to be.

I think she confronted him about what she found and threatened to expose it all. Gone his local reputation, chance if becoming a mayor, losing face to his children. I think he totally panicked and ran after her. When she got to the top of the stairs, he grabbed her and pulled in down with force, maybe just to stop her but his anger gave him extra strengh. She had drink and valium in her blood that would have made her less likely to fight back and she just went down with force, enough to split her head in places.

He quickly checked on her, realised she was still breathing so thought she'd be ok. He stood on the steps half in shock, half working out a story u til he realised that the blood loss was too much and that he had no choice but to call emergency.

Of course he could be innocent because life is full of coincidences that are beyond belief, but there were too many supposed coincidences and inconsistencies in this case which added with his personality and history of lies and denial make me quite convinced he was guilty.

@CoRhona

Same with death in Germany- evidence was conflicting and she may well have died of natural causes.

If my husband and I were in a car crash with him driving and I was killed, that would be unfortunate.

If he got remarried and his second wife also died that way, that would be one hell of a coincidence..

i know he didn't marry both women, I was making a point that it's just too unlikely to happen to the same person twice...

You need to read about Malcolm Webster. Same idea. 2 wives, one dies in a car crash, the other almost dies in exactly the same way.

What was his motive for killing Elizabeth Ratliff?

I thought she had been experiencing headaches in the weeks up to her death which would be consistent with a brain hemorrhage as reported by the coroner.

I get it's a coincidence, but falls down stairs are relatively common. It's not that odd that the two incidences may be unrelated.