The Staircase (Netflix True Crime Spoilers Allowed)

[MrStarkIDontFeelSoGood]

I've nearly finished this now, a 13 part series about one man, Michael Peterson and whether or not he murdered his wife Kathleen or she accidentally fell down the stairs.

It felt like to me that though the documentary makers seem to be skewing the narrative in favour of his innocence I still really felt he was guilty and felt their was too much weirdness around the whole family, add in "the Germany situation" and I just really felt lightning couldn't strike twice

I'm finishing it tonight. Very strange man and from the first episode I thought he was guilty just because he is so weird, although I do think there was enough reasonable doubt to find him not guilty.
The Germany thing was one hell of a coincidence and the family situation was unusual, I was really uncomfortable with the amount of laughing that went on, especially In contrast to the Germany witnesses and their obvious emotions on the stand. The fact the blood seemed to be left on the stairs for a long time whilst they were all living in the house?

Haven’t seen it yet but I saw the series on the bbc last year about him. Does it tackle the ‘owl theory’?

I watched it when it was on discovery or some such channel so haven’t seen the last 3 episodes which bring it up to date

I don’t think he did it. It seems like the police with their dodgy expert decided early on it was the husband and fitted their narrative to that

I don't think its mentioned the owl theory what is it? Not that an owl pushed her down the stairs?

I've just finished watching the first episode. It's weirdly emotionless - recreating Kathleen's supposed shouts from the bottom of the stairs?? It's very creepy.

There was a radio podcast about the same incident / court case, I started to listen to it last year but got distracted and didn't finish it. I might go back to it after I've watched this.

I saw a reference somewhere online to an owl and was expecting it, but I suspect they've edited it out if it made him look bad.

I think the idea was that an owl flew in and startled her causing her to fall.

The thing with his ex wife and him getting custody of all children seems irregular, you wonder if they were swinging with those neighbours.

I saw a comment on Reddit and it was how many people have you personally known to have died by falling down some stairs?

Michael Peterson knows two.

The thing that was so weird was that when they played that screaming tape, the recorder was lying in front of a huge bloodstain.

The thing he wrote about "Liz's Last Ride" was creepy as fuck.

Literally just listened to one of the daughters laughing hysterically at her bereaved Aunts pain.

Fuckery

I'm a few episodes in. I've said this on the other thread - one of the editors had a relationship with Michael after filming ended. Perhaps it would have been less biased with different editors.
So far I feel he's guilty and I'm irritated by their odd attempts to skew the narrative eg focusing on his ex saying there were no blood stains in Germany and minimising that the babysitter said there was lots of blood; letting him discuss how he had criticised the DA in an article as though that meant the DA was corrupt. Lots of journalists write about their local DA, they don't end up on two murder charges

I didn’t know there was a series about this! It’s definitely going on my watch list!

only watched two and a half episodes but it seems to me so obvious that he did it i don't know whether to watch 11 more episodes. it is q good though. not loving it as much as the unabomber though or the people v oj simpson

Yes but the latter two you mention are fictionalised versions rather than a documentary, so have room for more dramatic moments.

Unabomber is brilliant I'm surprised that it wasn't a bigger deal awards wise

I'm watching this, and I'm nearly at the end of the original set. I actually don't think he did it, or at least I certainly don't feel that I've heard enough to make me feel, beyond reasonable doubt, that he did. I get that the documentary is presented from that angle, but I really feel that the prosecution are framing him rather than presenting a fair unbiased account of the facts. They are manipulating the facts to make them fit their theory, rather than basing a theory on the facts. The whole thing is very weird though. TBH I think there possibly is merit in the Owl theory, I'm not sure if they cover it in the later episodes of this series, but I would like to hear more about it, and how science might back it up as a possibility.

The bisexuality thing I think is completely irrelevant, and I don't think it should have been brought up in court. I'm also not sure that they should have brought back up the Germany incident. Whilst it is certainly a massive co-incidence, the fact is that at the time, the professionals involved found the cause of death as natural causes, and I not convinced that there was sufficient evidence to dispute this. I absolutely did not trust the female Dr who did the autopsy - I felt she had an agenda. I think an independent Dr should have been chosen to re-examine the exhumed body and give an independent report, if it was to be further investigated.

Despite the grisly topic, and that I already know the outcome of the trial, i am actually really enjoying watching this.

Placemarking with my eyes shut- I’m on episode 6.

Does some doubt about his guilt come in later episodes?

Yes I really felt that the view of the film makers is that he's innocent. His kids, lawyer, ex wife all believe in him.

I thought he was clearly guilty

In the later episodes, I thought the youngest daughter and the eldest son weren't as certain of his innocence. I know they said they believed him but the eldest son pulled back from all the publicity and the youngest said she felt very conflicted about it all.
Olwen the documentary makers present it as doubt about his guilt but imo it's about right to a fair trial which is different.

I Am 6 episodes in and feel he is guilty. In fact he gives me the creeps to the point of revulsion. [shudder]

The overwhelming thought for me was that this was not a fair trial and the evidence was more of Not Proven rather than Not Guilty.

There's a video on YouTube's Netflix channel about The Owl Theory now

Fuck!!!!! Just finished the final episode. So much to say but going to read this thread first.

Okay, so.

I watched maybe the first four or five episodes and thought yeah, he did this. Because it is mad. And once you factor in the Germany stuff it’s even madder. Surely you can’t die from falling down the stairs? It wouldn’t produce that amount of blood?

But deeper into the trial I really felt that Dr. Radisch has an agenda of some kind and that quite a few of those experts were dodgy or just determined to find him guilty.

I think that it’s almost certain he was a swinger and perhaps both of his wives were somewhat involved in that lifestyle too. I think that it would be very hard to defend someone against this kind of crime if they had a dodgy sexual past because for most jurors it’s shocking and not within their sphere of experience.

On balance I don’t think he killed her. I’m not sure she died in quite the way he says- things that came to mind were that they were swingers and that her death somehow involved someone he couldn’t name for some reason? Or that someone else was implicated that he wanted to protect? I don’t know. But I don’t think he cold bloodedly killed her.

A PP said that they were uncomfortable with the amount of laughter going on, but I know for a fact that if something like this happened in our family that would definitely be us. It’s just our way of coping with stuff. I remember me and my Dad in fits of giggles in front of my Grandfathers coffin because he was telling jokes in my ear to divert from my mad aunts hysterics.... that’s just how we deal with things. I suspect this family might be similar. Also they’re unconventional, I agree, which in itself is jarring.

I do see why the case was made against him but I think he loved Kathleen and don’t think that he did do it. I also think in the catch-up episodes the grief he felt for her and trauma of the 15yrs was much more evident. I also don’t think a seemingly cynical lawyer like Rudolph would have looked as broken and hurt by the outcome of the original case- over the course of years- if he believed he was guilty.

It could be that he's that big of a sociopath he gets off on having people duped by him, Rudolf included.

I found myself wondering about the weirdness of those 4 kids and their relationship with Patty, so many unanswered questions

I do agree that the adopted daughters in particular are a bit strange, but can’t quite put my finger on why.

Just on the Reddit sub now and there’s some fascinating stuff over there including this piece by MIchaels sister (she thinks he did it) www.reddit.com/r/TheStaircase/comments/8qxtdc/when_your_brother_is_a_murderer_ann_christensen/?st=JIGCL3VG&sh=283e5415

I read a really interesting article where the director said that he didnt think MP had done it but he hadn't revealed the whole story. There was a gap between MP finding Kathleen and her falling (if that was the case) and he hypothosised that she had fallen but MP had actually left the house to meet an escort - which he didnt want to admit - hence the delay in finding her

You know for those girls, they'd had 5 parents over their lives and 3 have died before they reached maturity, so in some ways it's understandable that they'd cling to him as a constant - but, if he killed Kathleen he almost certainly also killed Liz. It's like believing it would be too much to bear.

It was a bit chilling how Margaret laughed when he said he was going to do it again and also her laughing at Kathleen's sister.

The brother, Bill, saying "what's your point" to the sister who thought he might be guilty is very telling

How indeed did the bloody footprint get there? And how did Liz's scalp get lacerated?