Kathleen Peterson fell down a staircase and died in 2001, leading to her husband’s conviction for her murder.
But did Michael Peterson actually kill his wife?
On December 9, 2001, Michael Peterson found his wife, Kathleen Peterson, dead at the bottom of the back staircase in their 11,000-square-foot mansion.
She was lying in a dried pool of her own blood.
Forensic analysis showed that she had been alive and lying there for hours before Michael called 911 at around 2:40 a.m.
He claimed he was outside for a long time after dinner and only found her when he went inside later.
Micheal Peterson was later arrested, and he was convicted of Kathleen’s murder in 2003.
However, in 2011, Michael Peterson was released from prison to serve house arrest.
This was after a judge determined that a witness had misrepresented facts during the trial.
Since 2017, he has been a free man after his charges were reduced to manslaughter and he was released after serving his sentence.
What Happened To Kathleen Peterson?
Kathleen Hunt was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 21, 1953.
She was a successful student and the first woman who was admitted to Duke University’s School of Engineering in 1967.
It was here that she bagged her bachelor's and master's degrees, and also met her first husband, physicist Fred Atwater
Kathleen and Fred married in 1977 and had a daughter, Caitlin.
But they divorced after she found out he was cheating.
Soon after, Kathleen moved to Durham, North Carolina, and met Michael Peterson, a local novelist.
Even though Michael was still married with four children of his own, the couple merged their families in 1987.
Kathleen's career as a telecommunications executive was going well, and Michael had received a $500,000 advance on a book deal.
In 1992, they bought a 14-room mansion in the Forest Hills neighborhood.
This mansion was sitting on 3 acres of land.
By 1997, Michael had finalized his divorce, and he and Kathleen were officially married.
Over the years, they had fights and disagreements about money and Michael’s run for mayor.
However, nothing could have prepared the family for what happened just before Christmas in 2001.
Around 2:40 a.m. on December 9, 2001, Michael Peterson called 911 to report finding Kathleen at the bottom of the back staircase in their million-dollar mansion.
He told the operator she was still breathing.
But by the time paramedics arrived, they couldn’t find a pulse.
He told police she may have fallen after mixing alcohol and Valium but was unsure because he was outside when she fell.
Toxicology showed a blood alcohol content of 0.07 percent, just under the legal limit, and blood concentration of Valium consistent with a therapeutic dose.
But the autopsy also revealed she sustained several lacerations on her head “as a result of beating” and died from blood loss hours after she fell.
Soon, the investigation looked inward at Michael as more of their personal life came out.
Within days, the police arrested Michael Peterson and prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder.
He was charged with the murder of his wife, Kathleen, based on several key pieces of evidence.
The autopsy showed that she had suffered multiple severe head injuries that were not consistent with a fall, suggesting a violent assault.
Inside The Trial Of Michael Peterson
During the trial, the prosecution argued that Peterson’s motive was driven by financial stress and his hidden bisexuality.
They proposed that these issues could have led to a confrontation with Kathleen after she found out about his infidelity.
Also, a missing fireplace poker, thought to be the murder weapon, was later found in the garage, further implicating Peterson in the crime.
Prosecutors argued that she was hit with a fire poker after a heated argument about Michael Peterson’s closeted sexuality.
Evidence was found of Peterson soliciting male escorts and was paying for sex when Kathleen was murdered.
Though it is unknown how Kathleen may have felt about Michael’s bisexuality, the prosecution argued that she would not have tolerated his infidelity.
She divorced her first husband for his own indiscretions years before, and they said it is unlikely that she would have felt differently about Michael’s own cheating.
This, they said, led to a heated argument that ended with Michael pushing Kathleen down the stairs.
The defense challenged this version of events.
Michael Peterson’s attorney, David Rudolf, told the court, “Show me one piece of evidence, one person who says that Kathleen was upset because Mike was bisexual. Or Kathleen was upset because Michael was seeing other people outside the marriage. Not one shred of evidence. Not one.”
In response, the prosecution also argued that the motive could have been money.
The Petersons were heavily in debt, owing over $100,000 in credit debt.
It was revealed during the trial that Kathleen was the only owner of their mansion and car and that Michael may have been enticed by her $1.8 million life insurance policy.
Kathleen’s company, Nortel, had a mass-firing, and the couple worried she might also lose her job, leaving the pair without a source of income to maintain their lifestyle.
Her life insurance would have ensured Peterson would be able to maintain his public persona.
On October 10, 2003, the jury found Michael Peterson guilty, and the judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
After several appeals, he entered an Alford plea — meaning a defendant acknowledges that the prosecution has enough to convict them but maintains their innocence.
In 2017 his charge was reduced to manslaughter.
The judge resentenced him to 86 months, and Michael Peterson was released with time served.
What has yet to be determined is exactly how Kathleen met her demise.
The Surprising Alternate Theories About Kathleen Peterson’s Death
During one of Michael Peterson’s appeals, an unusual theory emerged about Kathleen Peterson’s death: she was not murdered at all but died after being attacked by a barred owl.
The theory, left out of the 2018 Netflix documentary The Staircase, posits that the lacerations found on Kathleen Peterson’s scalp were caused by the talons of an owl that attacked her outside.
Then, she stumbled indoors and, disoriented, fell down the stairs and was knocked unconscious, unable to call for help.
According to Cosmopolitan, barred owls are native to the area and known to attack joggers with some frequency.
And a 2009 forensic analysis detailed traces of wood splinters and cedar needles in her hair, along with microscopic bits of feather.
The report also noted that she had been found holding clumps of her hair when she died
And an owl expert testified that “the appearance of a trident with three limbs converging to a point at roughly 30 degrees from each other, and a fourth limb converging to the same point at nearly 180 degrees from the centre limb of the other three limbs.”
Still, experts could not say with certainty that this was her cause of death.
Some believe that Kathleen Peterson died of simple, malicious negligence — that Michael chose not to help Kathleen after an accidental fall.
Others theorize that one of Michael Peterson’s sons may have killed her out of jealousy or that a tree branch may have been the actual murder weapon.
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