kathleen peterson

The death of Kathleen Peterson (2001)

source: Mile Higher [true crime] Podcast

On December 9, 2001 Kathleen, a 48 year old business woman, engineer and philanthropist was found at the bottom of the curved stairs that lead to her bedroom. Her body was surrounded by blood, pooled around her and splattered up the walls and along the stairway. A call was placed to 911 by her husband, Michael Peterson, but by the time the paramedics arrived she was already dead. 

Novelist Michael Peterson was charged with her murder, and convicted in 2003 to life in prison. In spite of this conviction, unwavering curiosity and debate follow this case. To many people there is no doubt that Michael is guilty of killing his wife. To others, especially those who knew the couple, this scenario doesn't seem to make sense.

Michael Peterson has been granted an appeal and is currently been released  on bail and awaiting retrial. Until then, the facts of the case continue to be a source of passionate debate.

Michael's account of the events of December 9, 2001:

The couple was sitting beside the pool, late that evening drinking wine. Michael reported that Kathleen decided to go to bed, and headed inside. After an unknown amount of time Michael went inside, and found his wife bleeding on the floor at the foot of the stairs. She was, according to Michael, still breathing. At 2:40 AM Peterson called an emergency line to report that he had just found Kathleen unconscious and suspected she had fallen down "15, 20, I don't know" stairs. He maintained she must have fallen down the stairs after consuming alcohol and valium. 

Problems with his account were almost immediately apparent:

 Paramedics arrived 10 minutes after the call was placed. They found her deceased, and stated that there was a large amount of blood, and much of it had already dried.

Much of the evidence used by the prosecution is visible in this photograph. 

Much of the blood appears as smears instead of droplets, which would imply it was wiped. Bloodied paper towels are evident. It was believed that someone had attempted to wipe away some of the blood. 

You can also observe in this photo that the victim has blood on the soles of her feet, which would seem to be impossible if she fell down the stairs head first.

 Toxicology results showed that his wife's blood alcohol content was 0.07 percent, which would be under the legal limit to drive.

 The autopsy report concluded that the 48-year-old victim sustained a matrix of severe injuries, including a fracture of the thyroid neck cartilage and seven lacerations to the top and back of her head, consistent with blows from a blunt object, and had died from blood loss 90 minutes to two hours after sustaining the injuries.

The medical examiner concluded that Kathleen had died from lacerations of the scalp caused by homicidal assault. According to this medical examiner, the total of seven lacerations to the top and back of her head were the result of repeated blows with a light yet rigid weapon, a "blowpoke" which was a gift by Kathleen's sister, but wasn't recovered at the scene of the crime.

The defense disputed this theory, claiming that Kathleen's skull had not been fractured by the blows and nor was her brain damaged, which was inconsistent with injuries sustained in a beating death, according to their analysis.

Late in the trial the defense team produced the missing blowpoke that they said had been overlooked in the garage by police investigators. Forensic tests revealed that it had been untouched and unmoved for too long to have been used in the murder. A juror contacted after the trial noted that the jury dismissed the idea of the blowpoke as the murder weapon.

 The pattern of blood splatter was a major source of debate during the trial. The Defense and Prosecution provided contradicting forensic analysis from different sources that argued  on the subject of the angle of the stairs, location of the lacerations on Kathleen's skull and the blood stains.

The blood pattern analysis seems consistent with the victim's blood moving up the stairway from a blow to her head while standing below, rather than moving downward with the victim as she fell.

The defense maintained that the stairs were narrow and poorly lit, so an accident would have been believable. The Prosecution maintained that the victim had lived in the house for over a decade, using these stairs to get to her bedroom and had never fallen. She was known to be a very strong and active women. Those who knew her said they could never picture her being either clumsy or drunken. 

There was also the issue of the bruises found on Kathleen. She had bruises on her arms that were consistent with defensive wounds. While the defense insisted that these were caused by the fall down the stairs, her legs and knees had no marks.

The staircase included a 90° turn, a banister and an old chair-lift from previous owners. The defense argued that all of these contributed to the falling hazard in the "unusually dangerous" staircase.

A fall down the stairs,typically creates random injuries all over the body. Kathleen had seven massive blows to the head. It is also hard to imagine how a fall could fracture the cartilage in the throat without a neck fracture being involved.

The spray of blood on the bottom the stair seemed impossible with the position of the body and the injuries. The prosecution cited this as evidence of a blunt force trauma, and the body having been moved. The defense argued that the pattern could have been caused by a spray of blood from the victim coughing when blood covered her mouth. The autopsy revealed only microscopic amounts of blood in the victim's lungs, which is inconsistent with the aspiration that would occur in that scenario.

Kathleen Peterson would have to have been lying face down to create a shoe imprint -- presumably matching the defendant's shoe -- on the back of her sweat pants.

Elizabeth Ratliff (pictured above) was a close friend of Michael Peterson and his first wife. When she died mysteriously, Micheal had taken in her two daughters, though never officially adopted them. After the death of Kathleen, Elizabeth's death began to raise suspicions.

In 1985 Elizabeth was living in Germany with Michael and his first wife Patricia.  She was found dead at the foot of her staircase with injuries to the head, and surrounded by a pool of blood. Michael was the last person to see her alive. Her death had been investigated by both the German police and U.S. military police. Her death at the time was labeled an accident.

When the trial for Kathleen's death began, a reexamination of Elizabeth's death was authorized. Elizabeth's body was exhumed from its Texas resting place and reevaluated. After the second autopsy was performed, her death was officially changed from accident to homicide. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

The parallels between the two supposed accidents were difficult to ignore.

Those who defend Michael's innocence have many theories on what really happened that night, but nothing is as interesting as "The Owl Theory":

In late 2009, a new theory of Kathleen Peterson's death was raised: that she had been attacked by an owl outside, fallen after rushing inside, and been knocked unconscious after hitting her head on the first tread of the stairs. The owl theory was raised by Durham attorney T. Lawrence Pollard, a neighbor of the Petersons who was not involved in the case, but had been following the public details. He approached the police suggesting an owl might have been responsible, after reading the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) evidence list and finding a "feather" listed. 

Peterson's attorneys had determined that the SBI crime lab report listed a microscopic owl feather and a wooden sliver from a tree limb entangled in a clump of hair that had been pulled out by the roots found clutched in Kathleen's left hand.  A re-examination of the hair in September 2008 had found two more microscopic owl feathers.

Although Pollard did not speak of the theory to anyone else, the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper published an article ridiculing him and discrediting his theory. Other media picked it up, propagating the Herald-Sun story, which was later criticized as inaccurate.

Advocates of this theory assert that other evidence supports it, namely that the scalp wounds were tri-lobed and paired, consistent with marks left by talons, the feathers are similar to those on owl feet, cedar needles were found on her hands and body indicating she had fallen over outside shortly before entering the house, that Kathleen's blood had splattered up the staircase rather than down, that Kathleen's footprints in her own blood indicated that she was already bleeding before she reached the foot of the stairs and that two drops of Kathleen's blood were found outside the house on the front walkway along with a finger smear on the front door consistent with her pushing the door shut. 

Advocates also note that owl attacks on people are common in the area, with one victim stating that the impact was similar to being hit in the head with a baseball bat. 

According to Pollard, had a jury been presented with this evidence it would have "materially affected their deliberation and therefore would have materially affected their ultimate verdict." Prosecutors have ridiculed the claim and Dr. Deborah Radisch, who conducted Kathleen Peterson's autopsy, says it is unlikely that an owl or any other bird could have made wounds as deep as those on Kathleen's scalp. Dr. Radisch's opinion, however, was challenged by other experts in three separate affidavits filed in 2010. Dr. Alan van Norman wrote "The multiple wounds present suggest to me that an owl and Ms. Peterson somehow became entangled. Perhaps the owl got tangled in her hair or perhaps she grabbed the owl's foot.

Dr. Patrick T. Redig, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota wrote:

In my professional opinion, the hypothesized attack to the face and back of the head resulting in the various punctures and lacerations visible in the autopsy photographs is entirely within the behavioral repertoire of large owls.

Kate P. Davis, executive director of Raptors of the Rockies, a western Montana education and wildlife rehabilitation project, wrote:

The lacerations on Mrs. Peterson's scalp look very much like those made by a raptor's talons, especially if she had forcibly torn the bird from the back of her head. That would explain the feathers found in her hand and the many hairs pulled out by the root ball, broken or cut. The size and configuration of the lacerations could certainly indicate the feet of a Barred Owl.

Davis further noted that owls can kill species much larger than themselves and that it is not uncommon for them to attack people.

Despite interest in this theory among some outside advocates, no motion for a new trial was filed on this point in 2009. The 2010 decision to retry Michael Peterson is due to a charge of mishandling evidence (the investigative team missing the supposed murder weapon in the garage), the dismissal of a key witness on the forensic team due to flawed investigation charges and claims of bias in a  jury member.