emts saw michael cradling his wife, weeping so hard, he had to be pulled away. that was the worst. i mean, the worst. i mean, that was worse than anything in in war, anything, anything, because you expect that. this is entirely different. i had i wasn t ready for this at all, at all. did anything explain itself to you, michael? as you re looking at her crumpled she fell down the stairs. somebody s at the bottom of the stairs. your automatic response is, well, she fell down the stairs. detective art holland was called to the cedar street mansion in the wee hours. we first spoke to him more than a decade ago. so first officers had already arrived at the peterson house? right. first officers arrived. ems were arrived. reporter: the medical examiner was called in, too. he looked at the victim and said that a fall down the stairs was possible. he could see some lacerations or feel some of the lacerations on the back of mrs. peterson s head. and he stated that this
tom clancy s jack ryan. and the man in the high castle. all in the same place as your live tv. its all included with your amazon prime membership. that s how xfinity makes tv. simple. easy. awesome. reporter: michael peterson told us he d come upon the unimaginable his wife, kathleen, at the bottom of their back staircase, covered in blood emts saw michael cradling his wife, weeping so hard, he had to be pulled away that was the worst. i mean, the worst i mean, that was worse than anything in in war, anything, anything, because you expect that. this is entirely different i had i wasn t ready for this at all, at all did anything explain itself to you, michael? as you re looking at her crumpled - she fell down the stairs.
amybeth thought a full-fledged investigation would ensue. but, as she tells it, michael peterson spoke to the authorities that day, relating that elizabeth had a hereditary bleeding disorder. perhaps she d had a stroke and fallen down the stairs. the questions amybeth expected to be asked never were. i wondered, you know, why aren t they talking to people? why aren t they asking questions? no one did. later that day, michael peterson phoned elizabeth ratliff s family in the u.s. with the dreadful news. margaret blair is elizabeth s sister. he said um margaret, there s been an accident. liz fell down the stairs and died. what are you saying? i just totally went numb. i mean, my sister. he s saying she died. she s young. she s got two beautiful little children. babies, really. those baby girls? they are martha and margaret. michael took custody of the girls after the accident in germany. and then michael, along with his first wife patty, and then later
and if you saw all this blood, why didn t you say something at the time to someone? he is certain elizabeth ratliff died of a stroke. as for how his wife, kathleen, died years later, michael can t say for sure. but he thinks his first instinct was the right one. i guess maybe i m the last person to believe it. i think she fell down the stairs. i don t know. michael believes alcohol must have played a role in her fall, and even though her blood alcohol levels weren t off the charts, he says, there may have been another contributing factor. a few months before her death, she d suffered an injury diving into their swimming pool. and her doctor put her on several prescription meds. do you remember her being wobbly in the weeks that followed? oh, my god, yeah. she had to wear a neck brace. she they put her on percocet to begin with. then they brought valium. she was on flexeril which is, apparently, a muscle relaxant oh yeah. she was in a great deal of pain all the time. for
exaggerating. when candace finally got inside, she says, michael brought her to the back staircase where it happened. my sister s blood is washed in pools up against the wall. i mean, her blood was everywhere. the image would be seared in her mind. it didn t look right. she couldn t go there. i still wanted to believe it was an accident. i didn t want to think something horrible happened. but all that blood, up the walls, could it all be from a fall down the stairs? and that s precisely what was gnawing at detective holland. i ve seen falls. um i ve had family members fall and to me it did not look anywhere like like a fall. something to him seemed off about kathleen s body position, too. her body was definitely not in the position that it would be in if she came to a final resting position after the fall. they processed the scene, photographing the stairwell, documenting the pool of blood and spray up the wall. outside, drops on the walkway and a smear on the front d