According to the second autopsy, seven deep lacerations on Elizabeth's head - just like those found on Kathleen's - were concluded to have been sustained as a result of blunt force trauma. Thus, all we can positively state is, whatever the case may be, both Elizabeth and Kathleens deaths were simply tragic. Following the guilty verdict, de Lestrade interviewed the jurors to find out why they reached their verdict. Furious she confronts Michael with her findings. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. The News & Observer, Durham's local news outlet, reported how "Margaret and Martha Ratliff wrapped their arms around each other and mourned" upon hearing their father's guilty verdict. At A+E Networks EMEA youll find a team of innovative, creative and collaborative people who embrace change and want to continually try new things. He was sentenced to time already served and freed. [citation needed]. Her life was thus incredibly different from her Rhode Island farm upbringing, especially as shed eventually found herself working at an elementary school at the Rhein-Main Air Force Base in West Germany. On November 25, 1985 Elizabeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of her staircase with injuries to her head. Either of these scenarios give him time, time in which the blood to dry to the point it did when the EMTs got there and noticed it was not wet as it should be, had it just happened. That year he also married Patricia Sue, who taught at an elementary school on the Rhein-Main Air Base in Grfenhausen, West Germany. "What's the fucking grounds?" He had all the medals, but said he did not have the documentation for them. Michael Peterson and his first wife, Patricia Peterson, were living in West Germany at the time. Our culture embraces individuals, in all their daring, passionate, ambitious glory. Shortly after Michael and Patty married, Michael went to fight in Vietnam while Patty headed to the Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt, where she worked as a second-grade teacher. When the Petersons resided in Germany, Elizabeth had worked in the same school as Michael's then wife Patty. Peterson also worked as a newspaper columnist for The Herald-Sun, where his columns became known for their criticism of police and of Durham County district attorney James Hardin Jr., who would later prosecute Peterson for the murder of his second wife, Kathleen. Testimony in the death of the Elizabeth Ratliff continued Tuesday as the Ratliff nanny Barbara Malagnino started her description of what happened the November morning she found Ratliff's. While his clothes were bloody from cradling his wife, Peterson had insufficient blood spattering on his clothes to support an attack. As Peterson was the only person at the residence at the time of Kathleen's death, he was the prime suspect and was soon charged with her murder. They married in 1997, and Kathleen's daughter Caitlin became the fifth sibling in the blended family.[6]. In her opinion, the seven lacerations on her head indicated blunt force trauma. The author's ex-wife Patty maintains that their relationship was platonic and that her ex-husband is innocent. Patricia has always vehemently backed him up. First, her death was ruled natural After her death, German officials concluded that Ratliff died of a cerebral hemorrhage which led to her falling down the stairs. So is Michael Peterson guilty? I feel here is where things took a turn. So Im sure there is some emotion heard in the 911 call, Im sure he did love Kathleen and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was just 43 years old when she died on November 27, 1985. What will the King Charles era be called? After knocking Kathleen out (with what exactly, there are so many possibilities-afterall if all your kids were no longer living at home, would they be able to identify what things were or werent missing? In 1989, Michael moved in with Kathleen Atwater, a successful Nortel business executive. When authorities found Elizabeth dead at the bottom of a staircase. Elizabeth Ratliff and her husband, George Ratliff, were close friends of Michael Peterson and his first wife Patricia Peterson when they lived in Germany in the 1980s. Another witness testified to spending much of the day cleaning blood stains off the wall. The filmmakers started their project within weeks of Kathleen's death and Peterson's murder indictment; jury selection took place in May 2003 with the case itself going to trial in July 2003. Her death was investigated by the U.S. military police in Germany at the time. [7] Kathleen's daughter, Caitlin, and Kathleen's sister, Candace Zamperini, both initially proclaimed Michael's innocence and publicly supported him alongside his children, but Zamperini reconsidered after learning of Michael's bisexuality, as did Caitlin after reading her mother's autopsy report. An oral argument was heard on September 10, 2007. ( Note: Ratliff's cause of death at the time was listed as natural causes by "spontaneous intracranial hemorrhages." During Michael Peterson's 2003 trial, Ratliff's. But they need to put themselves in their shoes, think if you already came from a broken home, wouldnt you try to believe in every last possibility that your parent could not do something so horrific, even if similar circumstances also involved that parent many years before? Nearly two decades before Michael's wife Kathleen was found lifeless at the bottom of a staircase, there was a woman named Elizabeth Ratliff whose death would become crucial to the prosecution's story. At the time, the German police ruled her death an accident, and an autopsy concluded that she died of a brain hemorrhage. Michael and Patty had two sons while living over in Germany - Clayton and Todd - while Elizabeth and George had two daughters, Margaret and Martha. Peterson was the last known person to see her alive. Michael Iver Peterson (born October 23, 1943) is an American novelist who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, on December9, 2001. Instead, they used her death as an example of an incident that could have helped him "fake" Kathleen's accident. Elizabeth's Ratliff's sudden death in November 1985 became of great significance in the case against Michael Peterson during his trial for the murder of his second wife, Kathleen Peterson. He later admitted his war injury was not the result of the shrapnel wound in Vietnam, but was the result of a car accident in Japan, where he was stationed after the war as a military police officer. The widow grew even closer with the Peterson family. In 1968, Peterson was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War. Whether or not Michael Peterson killed Elizabeth Ratliff remains unknown. During Michael's trial, Cheryl Appel-Schumacher, one of the late schoolteacher's friends, recalled that Elizabeth had severe headaches a few days before she was found dead. Hearst UK is the trading name of the National Magazine Company Ltd, 30 Panton Street, Leicester Square, London, SW1Y 4AJ. Wouldnt it make more sense to leave them with a relative.unless Elizabeth wanted Michael to know and raise his daughter along were her sister together. Despite speculation that Peterson may have killed Elizabeth Ratliff 16 years before Kathleen's death, something he has always strongly denied, the prosecution in Michael Peterson's trial didn't accuse Peterson of being responsible for Elizabeth Ratliff's death. Or anyone else for that matter-NO ONE knows exactly what someone has in their home-their own or someone elses) he then went into self-preservation mode-his mind took him back to what happened with Elizabeth Ratliff and so he carried Kathleen or even helped guide her up the stairs, if she was still conscious, telling her he would help her and not to worry, however after climbing a certain amount of stairs, he then ended up heaving her down the stairs. The murder weapon was never identified. The deceased's injuries were "inconsistent with a fall down a set of stairs", state pathologist wrote in her report. I believe that Patty suspected Michaels infidelity with Liz, and with the girls left to Michael, this probably only reinforced her suspicions. The prosecution declined to accuse Peterson of Ratliff's death, but introduced the death into the trial as an incident giving Peterson the idea of how to "fake" Kathleen's accident. The 43-year-old died in 1985 in Germany, found at the bottom of her stairs by her children's nanny Barbara Malagnino. [35] The judge sentenced him to a maximum of 86 months in prison, with credit for time previously served. The neighbour, Karin Hamn, testified that she saw MP hurrying away from ER's house at 12.50 am on November 25th. When he separated from his wife, he brought his sons and the Ratliff children to the United States. [4][37][38], In November 2012, de Lestrade released a sequel, The Staircase 2: The Last Chance, which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Elizabeth Ratliff's body was exhumed in 2003. So much so, that the court in Durham ordered the exhumation of Ratliff's body from her grave in Texas. He graduated from Duke University with a bachelor's degree in political science. AETNUK. Elizabeth Ratliff's daughter, Martha and Margaret Ratliff stood by Michael Peterson and believed him to be innocent. Durham novelist Peterson walks out of jail; awaits new murder trial. Both subsequently broke off from the rest of the family. Clayton and Todd later also joined their father. When the prosecution learned of Elizabeth's death and identified the coincidence that she, too, had died as a result of falling down the stairs, they called for her body to be exhumed from the grave in Texas where she was buried. When the Petersons resided in Germany, Elizabeth worked in the same school as Michael's then-wife, Patty. The North Carolina medical examiner performed an autopsy and concluded that she died from blunt force injuries and that it was the result of a homicide. Some speculate that Michael shared an illicit affair with Elizabeth. Our people are our strength, and our differences are celebrated. But as Michael, again could not have this harmful information that could ruin his reputation get out, he flew into a rage again striking Kathleen as she was headed out the door, thus leaving the drops of blood on the porch which was what initially led to the owl theory (an owl latched onto Kathleens head with its sharp talons-crazy I know). Three episodes in, drops a major bombshell: Peterson was the last person to see another woman who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in Germany in 1985. [CDATA[// >