it was remarkable. reporter: they were stunned. the body was practically intact. her fingernail polish was still on. her dress was still perfectly in place. reporter: the m.e. took a closer look at the injuries to elizabeth s head. she was finding lacerations, deep gouges in the scalp. seven of them. seven lacerations. you could black: it was amazing count them. it was uncanny. the lacerations were very similar to the ones that had been perpetrated upon kathleen peterson. and in her findings, she made a decision that ms. ratliff had been had been murdered. reporter: investigators thought they d hit pay dirt. in death, they thought kathleen peterson and elizabeth ratliff could have been twins. i m just thinking that, that my case is getting a whole lot better. reporter: kathleen s sister candace thought that peterson had killed both women. i have a better chance of being struck by lightning than finding two people who i intimately know at the bottom of
as the top was pried off elizabeth ratliff s coffin. it was so airtight it was hard to use the crank to get the casket to open. once it was raised you could see part of elizabeth ratliff s face and hair. it was remarkable. reporter: they were stunned. the body was practically intact. her fingernail polish was still on. her dress was still perfectly in place. reporter: the m.e. took a closer look at the injuries to elizabeth s head. she was finding lacerations, deep gouges in the scalp. seven of them. seven lacerations. you could black: it was amazing count them. it was uncanny. the lacerations were very similar to the ones that had been perpetrated upon kathleen peterson. and in her findings, she made a decision that ms. ratliff had been had been murdered. reporter: investigators thought they d hit pay dirt. in death, they thought kathleen peterson and elizabeth ratliff could have been twins.
and hair. it was remarkable. they were stunned. the body was practically intact. her fingernail polish was still on. her dress was still perfectly in place. the m.e. took a closer look at the injuries to elizabeth s head. she was finding lacerations, deep gouges in the scalp. seven of them. seven lacerations. you could it was amazing. it was uncanny. the lacerations were very similar to the ones that had been perpetrated upon kathleen peterson. and in her findings, she made a decision that ms. ratliff had been had been murdered. investigators thought they d hit pay dirt. in death, they thought kathleen peterson and elizabeth ratliff could have been twins. i m just thinking that, that my case is getting a whole lot better. kathleen s sister candace thought that peterson had killed both women. i have a better chance of being struck by lightning than finding two people who i
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. there was a risk here wasn t there? if you opened that coffin and found that the authorities in germany had been correct in ruling it a death by natural causes. we just decided that it needed to be done. roll the dice, basically. exactly. reporter: the detective peered through a morgue window as the top was pried off elizabeth ratliff s coffin. it was so airtight it was hard to use the crank to get the casket to open. once it was raised you could see part of elizabeth ratliff s face and hair. it was remarkable. reporter: they were stunned. the body was practically intact. her fingernail polish was still on. her dress was still perfectly in place. reporter: the m.e. took a closer look at the injuries to elizabeth s head. she was finding la
as the top was pried off elizabeth ratliff s coffin. it was so airtight it was hard to use the crank to get the casket to open. once it was raised you could see part of elizabeth ratliff s face and hair. it was remarkable. reporter: they were stunned. the body was practically intact. her fingernail polish was still on. her dress was still perfectly in place. reporter: the m.e. took a closer look at the injuries to elizabeth s head. she was finding lacerations, deep gouges in the scalp. seven of them. seven lacerations. you could black: it was amazing count them. it was uncanny. the lacerations were very similar to the ones that had been perpetrated upon kathleen peterson. and in her findings, she made a decision that ms. ratliff had been had been murdered. reporter: investigators thought they d hit pay dirt. in death, they thought kathleen peterson and elizabeth ratliff could have been twins.