they made us a family. not only did she raise these children and have quite an accomplished corporate career, dinner 50, she would do it. but, in the wee hours of a winter night. i found them at the base of the stairs. kathleen peterson, dead. was this a fall, or was this murder? a mystery we covered for more than a decade comes to a shattering and. it did not look like a fall. michael peterson, under suspicion, then, a bombshell revelation about another woman from his past. this was on the floor, and there was a puddle of blood under the staircase. appear today the same, way to minnesota shaded with one of the? odds yes, what are the odds? a trial, one expert this is the scene. would make a slam dunk case for peterson s guilt. the tourist or captivated by his testimony. but were his dramatic
what was going on behind the closed doors in the mansion on cedar street? they were asking me a question about michael and kathy s relationship, if i knew anything, i thought they were happily married. she was very much in love with him. but the detectives were beginning to believe the perfect marriage was anything but. coming up. despite that gorgeous house, maybe they were not exactly ruling indo. if he was not writing a book, or had he had no income. there was a lot of financial problems, i sensed, i sensed the stress of that. and then, what the autopsy revealed. i saw seven huge lacerations, basically scalped her, it was murder. that one picture, that was it. when dateline continues. tinues i run it daily. weekdays. weekends. sometimes after a big snack. you might think that s wasteful, but it s not. cause even half loads use 80% less water than handwashing.
made by the tube that lay on her neck while she was on life support. this wasn t a strangulation, he argued, wasn t a murder at all. as ken had said all along, shirlene took an overdose. mrs. wakisaka, because of her various mental disorders or defects, committed suicide. the trial lasted two weeks. the jury heard detectives, doctors, shirlene s daughters, of course. ken himself chose not to take the stand. how d it seem to be going? it seemed to be going well. as if, here, their promise would be kept. but life, as everybody knows, is full of surprises. coming up the verdict
ligature mark? must have been made by the tube that lay on her neck while she was on life support. this wasn t a strangulation, he argued, wasn t a murder at all. as ken had said all along, shirlene took an overdose. mrs. wakisaka, because of her various mental disorders or defects, committed suicide. the trial lasted two weeks. the jury heard detectives, doctors, shirlene s daughters, of course. ken himself chose not to take the stand. how d it seem to be going? it seemed to be going well. as if, here, their promise would be kept. but life, as everybody knows, is full of surprises. coming up the verdict would be swift, but the real stunner was what came after. nobody stood up and said, i object, your honor.
killer was hiding in plain sight. no indication she was ever spoken to? no. then a new detective took a look at an old lead. he just said it s a match. a person no one would have ever suspected of murder. we were going to end this. was suddenly suspect number one. perfect murder. almost. hello. welcome to dateline . she was a new bride married just three months, then she was found murdered. what happened to her remained a mystery for decades partly because police told us the thief must have killed her during a break-in gone bad. they discovered it wasn t a murder, but a suspect whose trail right to their own front door. here is josh mankiewicz with the smoking gun.