they were sisters. they loved one another. they helped one another. and that s been the biggest, to me, the sadness that everything that kathleen wanted to make happen and did happen as far as the family was torn asunder. reporter: michael s story is one he says those closest to him have known for years. that information reporter: a story his lawyers were about to present to the jury. and they had an ace up their sleeve, a moment straight out of perry mason. one that would leave mouths agape in the courtroom. that s a blow poke isn t it? coming up, the alleged murder weapon found. what will it reveal? and then they said we have a verdict, your heart stops. reporter: what had happened a bathroom disease. you re a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn s, you ve tried to own us.
reporter: you didn t think, that s strange, the petersons? who are these people? well actually, you know, i can understand how that could happen. this was her world now. liz must love these people and trusted them to the nth degree. reporter: elizabeth ratliff s body was flown to texas for burial. at the funeral, margaret was desperate to hear further details from michael peterson about her sister s passing. but to her surprise michael was very aloof and very strange. reporter: did he speak? no, he didn t really say a lot at all. he never talked about the what happened to liz. reporter: but any questions regarding foul play in elizabeth ratliff s death were laid to rest by the results of an autopsy performed at the u.s. military hospital in germany. elizabeth died, the examiner said, from a brain hemorrhage, natural causes. so the story lay buried for nearly two decades. but when detective art holland
reporter: by 2010, seven years after michael peterson s conviction, his daughter martha had given up hope that her father would ever be released from nash correctional institution. dad was probably going to be in prison until he died. this was a reality that was never gonna to change. reporter: but in michael s cell block, an interesting story was circulating. a series of articles had been published in raleigh s the news & observer alleging misconduct at the state bureau of investigation s crime lab, the sbi. in prison, you don t really care much about international affairs or political, they don t have any effect. that the sbi who who were behind many guys being in there.
decision. the hardest thing i ve ever had to do was to write off on the exhumation of our birth mother. reporter: but ultimately, they agreed. and i signed off on it because we wanted to be, like, there is no way this could ve happened. like, please look at the evidence. i will do this to to free our dad of these accusations. reporter: on a beautiful blue sky day, the remains of elizabeth ratliff were exhumed from their resting place in texas. ratliff s bodies reporter: julia sims, of nbc s raleigh-durham affiliate, wral-tv, has been covering the story since the beginning. and the bells started tolling right as they started pulling that casket out of the the ground. hmm. a lot of people were very antsy about that, about what they were gonna find. reporter: her body was driven to north carolina where it would be studied by the same medical examiner who d ruled kathleen peterson s death a homicide.
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. reporter: for michael peterson, the trial was hard enough to bear, but the family spilt made it even worse. there was kathleen s daughter, caitlin, across the room in the prosecution s camp. and behind him the whole time, his girls, margaret and martha. they were sisters. they loved one another. they helped one another. and that s been the biggest, to me, the sadness that everything that kathleen wanted to make happen and did happen as far as the family was torn asunder. reporter: michael s story is one he says those closest to him have known for years. that information reporter: a story his lawyers were about to present to the jury. and they had an ace up their sleeve, a moment straight out of perry mason.