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There was a lot of blood on the walls . But most of all, we will support you to develop and grow throughout your time with us. She also remembered the copious amounts of blood near the staircase at the scene of Elizabeth's death. 'The Staircase' on HBO Max: That Ending Explained and All Your - CNET Before Peterson's trial, the Durham court ordered the exhumation of Ratliff's embalmed body, buried in Texas, for a second autopsy in April 2003. On November 25, 1985, Elizbeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of her staircase, in an eerily similar way to the way Michael Peterson's wife, Kathleen Peterson was found on December 1, 2001. As one juror explained it, premeditated meant not only planning hours or days ahead, but could also mean planning in the seconds before committing a spur-of-the-moment crime. In the 2003 Peterson trial, Deaver testified that he had been mentored by SBI bloodstain specialist David Spittle, worked 500 bloodstain cases, written 200 reports, and testified in 60 cases. The autopsy report concluded that the 48-year-old woman sustained a matrix of severe injuries, including a fracture of the superior cornu of the left thyroid 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 ninety minutes to two hours after sustaining the injuries. [35] The judge sentenced him to a maximum of 86 months in prison, with credit for time previously served. I do feel that Michael was in a bit of shock as to what happened, it probably all happened very fast as it did back in 1985 with Liz. 1987-United States-Michael and Patty have now since divorced (funny how so soon after this all happened) And in the divorce, the Petersons boys went with Patty while the Ratliff girls remained with Michael. Some speculate that Michael shared an illicit affair with Elizabeth. Just like with Petersons wife Kathleen, she suffered lacerations to the head which were attributed to her fall. She also remembered the copious amounts of blood near the staircase at the scene of Elizabeth's death. In 2017, he entered an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter, meaning he admitted the evidence against him would likely lead to a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt but he did not have to admit he committed the crime. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. Those who were there in the aftermath of Elizabeth's death were called as witnesses, and the the state pathologist took to the stand to confirm Elizabeth Ratliff had sustained similar injuries to the ones Kathleen Peterson suffered. At A+E Networks EMEA, we share stories that matter. Who are Michael Peterson's Children and Where Are They Now? - Newsweek Both subsequently broke off from the rest of the family. He had all the medals, but said he did not have the documentation for them. But, in February, just months before the scheduled retrial, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. 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. "It is further my opinion that these injuries were incurred while Mrs. Ratliff was alive and are of sufficient severity to have caused her death.". After receiving permission from Elizabeth's mother and sister, authorities went ahead with the exhumation. In 1968, Peterson was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War. 'The Staircase': Where Are Michael Peterson and His Family Now? - Collider Patricia Peterson and Elizabeth Ratliff had worked together at an elementary school on a U.S. Air Base and lived close by with their families in the town of Graefenhausen. He also suggested some of the blood could have been diluted with urine. The Staircase director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade has opened up about the death of Elizabeth Ratliff, insisting that Michael Peterson had nothing to do with it. "It was a platonic relationship," she told documentary makers. 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. Elizabeth's death is a tragedy, but whether it was brought upon by an ill-fated accident or contemptuous murder, we'll never know. It was one of America's most gripping murder trials of the last two decades. .css-4xjy6g{display:block;font-family:RundDisplay,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:0.01em;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-4xjy6g:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-4xjy6g{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;margin-top:1.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-4xjy6g{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:1.25rem;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-4xjy6g{font-size:1.625rem;line-height:1.2;}}Fans say same thing about new Will and Kate photo. An autopsy on the body of Elizabeth Ann McKee Ratliff, 43, was performed by the state medical examiner's office April 16 at the request of Durham District Attorney Jim Hardin, who contends that. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in October 2003. "The embarrassment is just going to keep growing over this," Laura Harth, the campaign director at Safeguard Defenders, told Newsweek. Nearly two decades before Michael Peterson found his wife at the bottom of a staircase, a close friend of his in Germany, Elizabeth Ratliff, had also died after a fall down a staircase. He said they wanted the same medical examiner who claimed that Peterson's wife wasn't accidental to perform the autopsy rather than a neutral pathologist in Texas as he suggested. But . Michael Peterson reacts to the news that his old friend Elizabeth's body is to be exhumed and examined as part of his murder trial. Spittle testified that he could not recall mentoring Deaver who, since completing a two-day training course in the 1980s, had testified in only four cases, the Peterson case being the third. 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. Another witness testified to spending much of the day cleaning blood stains off the wall. Elizabeth Ratliff's children Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore and Martha Ratliff. A quick recap for those who arent familiar with the case: He wasconvicted of first-degree murder in 2003 and spent nearly a decade behind bars. It was a unanimous decision by all 12 jury members. She often ate dinner with the Petersons, and Michael would help her clean up and tuck in her children at bedtime. It was the main motive that the prosecution offered at trial for Kathleen's alleged murder (the other being a $1.5 million life insurance policy). T he death of Elizabeth Ratliff was brought into the Peterson case. I do not think that the girls could mentally handle it if they allowed their minds to go to the place of believing he did it. She was found dead at the bottom of a staircase, Ratliff was found tilted sideways at the bottom of a wooden staircase inside her home, according to "The Staircase.". They married in 1997, and Kathleen's daughter Caitlin became the fifth sibling in the blended family.[6]. She often ate dinner with the Petersons, and Michael would help her clean up and tuck her children to sleep. 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. So. It wasn't until after Kathleen's death in December 2001 that the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth Ratliff's fall and subsequent death were re-evaluated. The owl did it, and other reasons true crime fans love The Staircase - Vox Margaret and Martha would be raised by Michael and his second wife, Kathleen Atwater, whom he met in 1986. According to Assistant District Attorney Freda Black, Kathleen, "would have been infuriated by learning that her husband, who she truly loved, was bi-sexual and having an extramarital relationshipnot with another womanbut a man, which would have been humiliating and embarrassing to her. Michael Peterson trial - Wikipedia Did Michael Peterson kill Elizabeth Ratliff? Here's what 'The Staircase 1985 death of teacher now ruled homicide | Stars and Stripes Todd dialed 911 within minutes of arriving on the scene. . But, in February, just months before the scheduled retrial, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. The critically acclaimed documentary of the same name came out in 2004 a few years after the trial and is now available to stream on Netflix, while this fictionalized version tells the tale of The. Despite the jury accepting the murder as a "spur-of-the-moment" crime, they also found it was premeditated. WildBlue Press", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Peterson_trial&oldid=1152187173, 20th-century American non-fiction writers, United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni, Overturned convictions in the United States, People convicted of murder by North Carolina, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by North Carolina, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Motion for new trial denied by Durham County Superior Court on March 10, 2009, "The Staircase Murders" - 2007 TV Movie written by Aphrodite Jones, This page was last edited on 28 April 2023, at 18:49. A few people have suspected an affair between Michael and Elizabeth turning sour as his motive for murder, but the novelists former wife Patricia has always vehemently backed him up. There they befriended Elizabeth and George Ratliff and their two children, Margaret and Martha. She'd reportedly died from an intracerebral hemorrhage, secondary to a blood clot disorder. Shortly before Elizabeth passed away, George died of a heart attack during the U.S. invasion of Grenada. [citation needed]. [5], Peterson and his first wife Patricia lived in Germany for some time. The Creators Weigh In, The Bizarre True Story Behind Rachel Weisz's "Dead Ringers" Remake. 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.