On the computer. Hmm, big secrets. A simple case of murder. Or was it . A review of the slides showed what . Traces of bird feather . Yes. In trying to solve one mystery, police may have solved two. Here i have two women who appeared to die the same way. Lightning dont strike the same place twice. Thats a whole lot of women dead at the bottom of the stairs in this guys life, dont you think . But what looked like the end of this story its really stuff made for tv drama. Was just another beginning. I always had hope. It has to be made right. Shut with a resounding clank i was a wreck during this period. I really was. When the sun will come up through razor wire every day for the rest of your life thats where it begins and ends. A convicts glimmer of a successful appeal and retrial may keep desperate hope alive. I always had hope. It has to be made right. But in the real world of criminal justice, most of the time once youre inside, youre done. This is reality that we couldnt change. But not every case ends the way youd expect. Meet Michael Peterson. His case, which defies all odds, became known as the staircase murder. The sensational investigation and trial that ensued would rip a family apart. The secrets, the sleaze on display for everyone to gorge on. My mother would be absolutely appalled. Have ever, ever wanted to happen to her husband. Lets go back to the night, early december, 2001 and stroll up the driveway of gracious, ramble g ing house in a better neighborhood of durham, North Carolina. The homeowners, kathleen and Michael Peterson, are out back on the patio, as the story goes, finishing a bottle of wine. In the living room, the Christmas Tree is already up. The grown peterson children, expected home for the holiday. Kathleen was always happiest in that season, as her daughter caitlin remembers it. She loved christmas. She loved being in the mood playing music from the start of december all the way through new years. It was the kids actually who brought kathleen and michael together. His marriage started to fall apart. She was separated. Michael was raising his two boys and two young girls, margaret and martha. The girls became neighborhood playmates with kathleens daughter, caitlin. Ever romantically involved with my mother. As the kids started spending more time together, so did kathleen and michael. Before long, they ran an idea by caitlin, a big one about becoming a family together. They sat me down and said, you know, caitlin, how wow like it if margaret and martha come to live with you and i immediately thought a permanent sleepover. And thats exactly how michael presented it to his two girls. Margarets the older. It is really funny. I think he put it, were going to have a long sleepover. And we said, yeah. Her younger sister, martha. Of course, we want to live with caitlin and kathleen and play barbies and be a yeah, be a family together. Michaels two boys from his first marriage, todd and clayton, were almost out of the nest by the time their dad moved in with kathleen. Still, clayton has good memories of dropping by the melded family. I would go over all the time. A bit of time over there. We were very close. Michael was a worldly u. S. Marine vet and was now a fulltime writer. One of his vietnam books got a big advance, money that went towards buying the big house. He said, were thinking about moving into this house, and they drove us over. We didnt even go inside. We just looked, and we thought, oh, my goodness. You know, this is amazing. There in his office hed write his war stories and churn out sharpelbowed columns on City Politics for the local paper. Stickintheeye stuff. Hed even been a losing candidate for mayor of durham. Kathleen, meanwhile, was a top business exec whod risen through the ranks of nortel, the telecommunications company. She received a masters degree in engineering from duke, even appearing on the coverage of a university magazine. She was nothing if not a super mom juggler. It was as much a priority to get their hair braided properly to work on time. Power points by day, Martha Stewart at night. Her younger sister candace was in an awe of her energy. Not only did she raise these children and have a quite accomplished corporate career, they entertained like several dinner parties a month. Oh, dinner for 50 . Shed do it. And kathleen would even whip up nightly threecourse meals with michael presiding at the table. Loquacious, fun to be with, incredibly wellread. He was always the entertainer at dinner. He would carry the conversation and just have the most funny stories. So, the children were delighted when after years of living together michael and kathleen made it official and got married. I always thought, you know, this is what will register as the happiest day of my life. And for kathleen, it just may have been. She was thrilled to be marrying michael. All three girls were bridesmaids in her wedding. I remember at the wedding the three girls singing were going to the chapel. Glowed. Kathleen and michael were a durham power couple. For more than a decade, their life together had been a whirl of parties, art openings, charity events. To candace, her sister had never been happier. She liked the prestige of being able to say, im with this man whos an author and well traveled. But as christmas 2001 approached with the girls away at college, kathleen was jittery, she was taking valium. Her job had been overwhelming of late, all those long hours at the office. More than anyone, she welcomed the timeout the upcoming holidays offered. And so, on that mild december night out back by the pool, as the story goes, michael and kathleen embraced his surprise good news that day. A bigtime hollywood producer was nibbling at optioning one of his novels for the movies. Another midnight glass of wine was in order. They definitely liked to they could probably have two bottles of wine and, you know, start showing it a little bit. What happened next would be the subject of a decade of debate. It seems that kathleen left michael to finish his cigar by the pool. She had to get on the computer to read an email for a Conference Call in the morning. Still, another work crisis. Michael says he went back inside the house about 2 00 a. M. Only to discover something ghastly. Kathleen soaked in blood at the bottom of the back staircase. 911, what is your emergency . [ bleep ]. Please. Whats wrong . My wife had an accident. She is still breathing. What kind of accident . She fell down the stairs. She is still breathing. Please come. By dawn, the news of kathleens fall, only the vaguest of details was reaching the sisters at college. Family members delivered the awful news. She said somethings happened. Your mom has fallen down the you know, it was an accident. You know, you should come home. By the time kathleens daughter, caitlin, got the word, it was as shocking as it was definitive. She looked me straight in my eye. And she just said, caitlin, its your mom. Shes dead. Those words still ring clearly in my head. What had happened on that back staircase pooled now in blood . Did Kathleen Peterson fall down the stairs . That was one possibility but detectives were considering another. I remember feeling that something was going badly with the police. The police. Start by taking care of families for 70 years. Earn the trust of 32 nfl teams. Be there for americas toughest and help, when help is needed americas 1 isnt a status earned overnight. Its earned in every wash, and tide, americas 1 detergent i cant believe it has 40 fewer calories than butter. I cant believe its made with real, simple ingredients. I cant believe. Were on a whale. I cant believe my role isnt bigger. Real ingredients. Unbelievable taste. Enjoy i cant believe its not butter your body was made for Better Things than rheumatoid arthritis. Before you and your rheumatologist move to a biologic, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz can reduce joint pain and swelling in as little as two weeks, and help stop further joint damage. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, serious, sometimes fatal infections, and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common, and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, r xeljanz can reduce r the symptoms of ra, p even without methotrexate. Rask your rheumatologist t early on a sunday morning, a few weeks before christmas, Kathleen Petersons sister, candace, answered the phone. It was her brotherinlaw, michael, with unimaginable news about kathleen. She had fallen down the stairs. It was still vague. We couldnt tell if she fell down the stairs or she fell off a ladder, but there is no question i could think, are you sure shes dead . Yes, michael was sure. Everywhere. The whole thing was sealed off with crime scene tape. And this is a mansion, huge property. The police were cautioning her not to go inside. They kept saying, you may not want to go in. There is so much blood. This is really awesomely scary. But candace needed to find something to bury her sister in. So, as soon as the officers would allow, she enters. Thats when michael showed her the back staircase where he said kathleen had taken that fatal tumble. My sisters blood is washed in pools up against the wall. There is blood just everywhere. And now a disturbing thought took root in candace and then began to grow. What if kathleens death wasnt an accident . She couldnt go there. I still want to believe it was an accident. I dont want something horrible happened. But all that blood, up the walls, could it all be from a fall down the stairs . Gnawing at detective art holland, ever since he arrived at the house the day before in the Early Morning hours after kathleen died. Ive seen falls. Ive had family members fall, and to me it did not look anywhere like a fall. But the medical examiner who came to the house thought that kathleen could possibly have died from a fall down the stairs. He could see some lacerations or feel some of the lacerations on the back of mrs. Petersons head and he stated this could be the result of a fall. And certainly the emts had encountered a distraught Michael Peterson. He was found cradling kathleen, crying so hard he had to be pulled away. But still investigators wanted to be sure that this was an accident. Explained to him, you know, sorry for his loss, but that the scene had to be processed. It would take the investigators the better part of two days to go through the 9,000squarefoot house. It was, you know, very time consuming. Real speedy. You want to make sure that you cross all your ts and dot all your is. The crime scene tech started by photographing the stairwell, documenting the pool of blood and spray up the wall. Outside, drops on the walkway and a smear on the front door. On kathleens body, a bloody shoe print. In the kitchen, bloodstains on the cabinet, underneath a drop of blood on the counter. And right beside it, an open wine bottle and two glasses suggested that perhaps a night of drinking had, in fact, led to a tumble down the stairs. Even kathleens daughter, caitlyn, couldnt rule it out. She knew how to hold her alcohol. But thats not to say that she didnt drink a lot. She could easily drink a large amount of alcohol if she was up until 2 00 in the morning. Meanwhile, Michael Peterson and his kids took refuge at a neighbors house. Michael and his brother, bill, kept watch on the Police Investigation across the street. We walked by the house several times to see what the bill, a lawyer, advised michael not to talk with the cops. Im thinking as an attorney now. Because i dont know whats going on. All i know is the Police Obviously think something is going on. Bill worried it was payback time. He was concerned that his big brother had put a bullseye on his own back with those columns he wrote for the local paper. It turned out he often targeted the cops. He was extremely critical of them on a regular basis. He gave them a stick in the eye . Constantly. They were a regular foil of his. So, he was taking on the good old boy system there . Very much so. Very much so. Michaels daughters were also worried. They knew very well their father relished being a provocateur, and now the police were swarming their house, walking the yard, looking under bushes and trees. I remember feeling that something was going badly with the police. It was a few days after kathleens death when michael called a family meeting to reassure them. They heard, no matter what the police tried to concoct, he would never have hurt kathleen. He specifically wanted us to know that he did not do it. And he told us that, you know, they had been there, and they had been drinking, that he had gone out to the pool, and he came back and found her at the bottom of the stairs. I said we believe you. But would the police . They seemed intent on peeling away the veneer of the petersons marriage. What was going on behind the closed doors in the mansion on they were asking me questions about kathleen and michaels anything. Married. She was very much in love with him. But the detectives were beginning to believe the perfect marriage was anything but. The peters marriage behind closed doors and the bombshell in the coroners apart. I said you need to read this. You need to understand that mom weve been quietly selling kraft macaroni cheese with no artificial flavors, preservatives or dyes. And guess what . Moms didnt notice. Kids didnt notice. Dogs didnt notice. This person named bill didnt notice. Spring breakers, coffee makers, movers and shakers, working from home fakers. None of them noticed a thing. Because this kraft mac cheese. Still tastes like. Kraft mac cheese. Its changed. But it hasnt. Look like this. Feel like this. Look like this. Feel like this. With dreamwalk insoles, turn shoes that can be a pain into comfortable ones. Their soft cushioning support means you can look like this. And feel like this. Dreamwalk. Weight is so good. And lowcalorie. Keeps me looking good. Hey, i get some looks, i hear the whistles. vo beneful healthy weight, a delicious, lowcalorie meal your dog will with wholesome rice, real chicken, and accents of vegetables and detective holland of the Durham Police department didnt like what he was seeing in the stairway when he arrived at the petersons sprawling mansion on cedar street. Even though the onscene medical examiner thought the wife kathleen had possibly died from a fall down the stairs, the detectives gut told him there was simply too much blood. This doesnt look like an accident. He called in a specialist to analyze the blood in the stairway. We had to change gears. What was called in originally as a fall, accidental fall, changed over to a suspicious death. So while the Forensics Team did its collecting, the detectives started to peek behind the curtain of this durham power couple. In addition to the forensic evidence youre gathering, you have to ask whats going on in this marriage, right . Right. Thats a big part of your investigation. Detectives pull kathleens sister, candace, aside to ask if shed noticed any trouble in her sisters marriage. The police took me in a police van to interview me privately. In her grief, candace was hesitant to say anything bad about her nowwidowed brotherinlaw. Shed always liked him. He was a fun person to sit and chat with across the dinner table. He was interesting. He was a little arrogant about his intelligence but he was a very smart man. I was his biggest defender. She told investigators everything was fine in her sisters marriage. It was only later that a conversation shed had with kathleen a few months before she died started haunting her. She was very, very concerned about her job stability at her company, and they were making layoffs. And kathleen confided in her, the financial pressures were growing. Her income was shaky and her expenses exploding. I didnt realize how much Credit Card Debt she had. 143,000 on plastic. Was a money pit, and there were the big College Tuition bills. We have got three kids going to college and good colleges, expensive, private colleges. Kathleens daughter, caitlin, knew just how heavily the Financial Stress was weighing on her mom. She was writing big checks not only for her tuition to cornell, but also helping out margaret and martha. Michael had taken responsibility for them after their mother died when they were young. There was a lot of financial problems. I sensed it. I sensed the stress of that. And to make matters far worse, kathleen had been plowing a big part of her sixfigure income back into her companys stock. The petersons had gone all in with the dotcom mania. Michael kept coming up to kathleen all day long saying, nortels worth this. Oh, now its worth that. Oh, now its worth that. He was fascinated with look how rich were getting off nortel stock. Had burst. The stock tanked, and most of kathleens nest egg went with it. A few weeks before she died she felt she was looking at her own fiscal cliff. The Financial Stresses were about to explode right before christmas. This was like the perfect storm coming together. And when investigators looked at the couples credit reports they saw just what kathleens sister candace feared. If he wasnt writing a book or had any royalties coming in he had no income. And michaels dip into local politics caused only more stress in the marriage. When he ran for mayor he was called out for a lie. A whopper of one. The war action novelist didnt claimed. He was hurt not by taking bullets in vietnam but a car accident in japan. When it became public about friendships. She had to stand by michael or friendships were lost. The admired two on the town, hit. And the whole ugly incident did brotherinlaws judgment. Why would you lie and then run for mayor when you will be totally vetted in the terms of the truth of your military history and background . And now with her dead they were stacking up. Were the problems starting up to a motive for murder. The blood pattern analyst completed his initial findings. He told me he felt strongly that this was a homicide. The lead detective saw a marriage on the rocks and a scene that he believed had too much blood for a simple fall down the stairs. Just a few days before christmas, Michael Peterson was charged with the murder o