Tag Archive for: Kathleen Peterson

Michael Peterson: Innocent or not?

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For those of you who saw Dateline this past week, you likely saw the story of Michael and Kathleen Peterson. Michael is an author who claims his wife fell down the stairs and subsequently died from her fall.  He was tried and convicted of her murder, but his case has been overturned on some technicalities.

Oddly enough, Michael had a friend, Elizabeth Ratliff, many years ago in Germany who also fell down the stairs. The last person to see her alive?  Michael Peterson.

He is a gregarious and outgoing individual.  He is likely fun to be around. He knows how to socialize and smooze with the best of them, without question, so when you watch Michael Peterson talk, its really surprising he’d be the type to commit murder.

The newest element to the story is that there were microscopic feathers found in Michael Peterson’s wife’s hair upon exhumation that are consistent with an owl attack.  Michael Peterson’s defense attorney now wants us to believe she was attacked by an owl in the back of the head to help explain the many wounds to the back of her head–which by the way are consistent with the same wounds that Elizabeth Ratliff suffered as well.

I do not believe Michael Peterson at all nor do I believe an owl attacked his wife that night. I believe he is involved in the death of two women:  Kathleen Peterson and Elizabeth Ratliff.

The Staircase

People have been asking me for my opinion about the Sundance documentary, The Staircase, for several months now. It wasn’t until recently that I realized while I hadn’t seen the documentary, I did know about the case! Dateline covered the story back in 2006 and I saw Michael Peterson speak extensively at that time (the show was titled: Death at the bottom of the stairs), and with that, I can tell you that I did not trust Michael Peterson when I watched him tell his story.

Unfortunately, since it has been so long, I am unable to recollect the details about why I feel the way I do, but after seeing this clip below I do remember thinking Peterson was a brilliant man–a brilliant man who got too confident in his abilities to manipulate the truth.

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Peterson’s cockiness comes blaring through on this video. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Peterson was a commenter on some event rather than on his own murder trial. His emotions and behavior are flat out-of-line with a man who is being wrongly accused.

Peterson says he understands the prosecutor wants to win.

What?

Would you understand that the prosecutor wants to win at all costs–disregarding the truth–if that meant you would spend your life behind bars?

No innocent man would ever understand others who disregard the truth at their expense. It’s plain old nonsense, and just an attempt to by Peterson to get people to “think” he is a reasonable guy. It’s pure manipulation by a man who loves to impress others by his intellect. It’s just this time, he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.