A ‘Staircase’ timeline from Kathleen Peterson’s death to her husband’s trial and plea
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Prime Time for True Crime
We love to play detective, which might explain why Durham’s most notorious murder trial — did author Michael Peterson kill his wife Kathleen? — is the setting for another true-crime TV miniseries, this time on HBO Max. What really happened to the people and places involved? How much of what we’ll see on “The Staircase” will mirror reality? And why does society obsess over crime stories?
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The Peterson murder case gets another series. Why are we so obsessed with true crime?
A ‘Staircase’ timeline from Kathleen Peterson’s death to her husband’s trial and plea
‘The Staircase’ updates: Whatever happened to key people and Peterson’s Durham house?
HBO Max’s ‘Staircase’ series: What to expect vs. the Netflix version, and how to watch
Photo gallery: Comparing HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ cast to those they portray
It’s a story that has been told and retold so often that many locals are sick of hearing about it.
But with the new HBO Max dramatic series “The Staircase,” based on the Netflix documentary series of the same name, there’s renewed interest in the death of Kathleen Peterson, and the Durham murder trial of her husband, Michael.
Plus, many people now in the Triangle were not here to live through the case when it exploded in the news more than 20 years ago.
News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun journalists have covered the Michael Peterson story from the beginning: the scandal related to his run for public office, Kathleen Peterson’s death, the trial and all its drama, the Alford plea in 2017, the release of the popular Netflix documentary series, and now, the HBO Max dramatic series on the case.
We’ve put together this timeline from our coverage.
Who is Kathleen Peterson?
Kathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson was a Greensboro native who grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Duke University.
At the time of her death at the age of 48, Kathleen Peterson was an executive at Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park. She was known in Durham for helping to raise money for the North Carolina Ballet and for The American Dance Festival.
Before marrying Michael Peterson in 1997, she was married to Fred Atwater. They had one daughter together, Caitlin.
She was survived by two sisters, Candace Zamperini and Lori Campbell, and a brother, Steven Hunt. Her mother, Veronica Hunt, was also alive at the time of Kathleen’s death.
Kathleen Peterson is buried at Maplewood Cemetery in Durham.
Who is Michael Peterson?
Michael Iver Peterson was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated from Duke University with a degree in political science.
Vietnam: Peterson worked for the US Department of Defense and married Patricia Peterson, a teacher at an elementary school on the Rhein-Main Air Base in Gräfenhausen, West Germany. They had two sons, Clayton and Todd. Peterson joined the US Marine Corps in 1968 and served in Vietnam. He was honorably discharged in 1971 after a car accident in Japan left him with a permanent disability to his right leg.
Purple Heart controversy: Peterson was awarded a Silver Star and the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his service. He claimed to have also received two Purple Hearts in Vietnam, saying that the injury to his leg was from being shot and hit with landmine shrapnel. But The News & Observer, after obtaining Peterson’s military records during his 1998 mayoral campaign, found that he in fact did not receive the Purple Hearts. From the N&O report in 1999: “Confronted with his military record, Peterson disclosed that the leg injury occurred in a two-car accident in Japan. He said not even his family and closest friends knew the truth. ‘It’s a cover; I admit it,’ Peterson said. ... ‘My second wife, she doesn’t know. I’m going to discuss it with her.’”
Germany to Durham: After Michael’s time in Vietnam, the Petersons continued to live in Germany, and were friends with George and Elizabeth Ratliff, who had two daughters, Margaret and Martha. George, a captain in the US Air Force, died of a heart attack during the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983, Peterson has said. Elizabeth died in 1985. (Note: Ratliff’s cause of death at the time was listed as natural causes by “spontaneous intracranial hemorrhages.” During Michael Peterson’s 2003 trial, Ratliff’s body was exhumed and a medical examiner in Durham changed her cause of death to “homicidal assault.”) After her death, Michael and Patty Peterson became the guardian of Margaret and Martha. Michael and Patty divorced in 1987 and Michael and all four children relocated to Durham.
Michael Peterson worked as a novelist and columnist for the Durham Herald-Sun. In his columns, he was often critical of the Durham Police Department, Durham City Council and Durham County District Attorney’s office.
Michael and Kathleen married in 1997, but they had lived together for many years before that.
Kathleen Peterson’s death
Dec. 9, 2001: Rescue workers arrive at the Peterson home at 1810 Cedar St. after a 2:30 a.m. 911 call from Michael, to find Kathleen Peterson dead at the bottom of a back staircase. Peterson told authorities that his wife had been injured in a fall.
Maureen Berry, who lives across the street at 1819 Cedar St., told a News & Observer reporter that she was awakened by a fire truck and ambulance about 2:30 a.m., and said she had talked to Michael and Todd. Michael Peterson told Berry that he and Kathleen had been sitting by the pool and that she had gone inside. When he went inside later, he told Berry, he found her lying near the back staircase. “She was a very good friend,” Berry said. “She lived life to the fullest. She was a very intelligent woman and a loving mother.”
Dec. 20, 2001: Michael Peterson is indicted for first-degree murder.
Jan. 14, 2002: Peterson posts bail and is released from the Durham County Jail.
Oct. 29, 2002: Kathleen’s daughter, Caitlin Atwater, files a wrongful death suit against Michael Peterson.
The Michael Peterson trial
May 5, 2003: Jury selection begins. It takes eight weeks to seat 12 jurors and four alternates.
July 1, 2003: The State vs. Michael Peterson trial begins in Durham. District Attorney Jim Hardin, assisted by Freda Black, argues that a blow poke is the likely murder weapon. Defense attorney David Rudolf says Kathleen died from an accidental fall.
Aug. 11, 2003: Former male escort Brent Wolgamott, aka “Brad from Raleigh,” testifies that Michael Peterson arranged to pay him for sex three months before Kathleen Peterson’s death, but says the two never actually met. Wolgamott testified under an immunity grant. Wolgamott was a 28-year-old N.C. State University chemistry student at the time of the trial, but was an Army pharmacy specialist posted at Fort Bragg during the time he communicated with Peterson.
Aug. 18, 2003: SBI Agent Duane Deaver testifies that the blood spatters on the walls of the staircase, as well as the blood on Michael Peterson’s shorts and sneakers, are evidence of a beating.
Aug. 22, 2003: Judge Orlando Hudson rules that evidence about the 1985 death of Peterson’s friend Elizabeth Ratliff in Germany is admissible. Ratliff’s body is exhumed in Texas and chief medical examiner Deborah Radisch’s autopsy finds that Ratliff died as the result of a beating.
Sept. 15, 2003: Forensic expert Henry Lee testifies that the blood spatters at the death scene are consistent with a fall, not a beating.
Sept. 23, 2003: Rudolf surprises the courtroom by offering a blow poke that he says was found by Clayton Peterson in the garage at the Peterson house over the weekend.
Oct. 10, 2003: After 14 hours of deliberations over four days, the jury finds Michael Peterson guilty of first-degree murder. Hudson sentences him to life in prison without parole. Rudolf immediately appeals.
After the trial: Prison for Peterson, then release
Jan. 28, 2008: Caitlin Atwater, the daughter of Kathleen Peterson, is awarded a $25 million judgment in a wrongful death case against Michael Peterson.
Aug. 21, 2008: Larry Pollard, a Durham attorney who is a friend and neighbor of Michael Peterson, holds a news conference stating that an SBI report listing the presence of a microscopic feather supports the theory that an owl attacked Kathleen Peterson.
Sept. 14, 2011: Judge Orlando Hudson grants David Rudolf’s motion for a new trial for Peterson, determining that SBI agent Duane Deaver misled the judge and jury in his testimony. Peterson is released from prison.
Dec. 21, 2011: In an interview with The News & Observer, Michael Peterson talks about being free from prison.
Peterson’s Alford plea
Feb. 24, 2017: Michael Peterson takes an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He is sentenced to time served and set free. He continues to live in Durham.
After Netflix’s ‘The Staircase’
June 19, 2018: Ron Guerette, the gritty detective featured prominently in “The Staircase” working with defense attorney David Rudolf, dies. Guerette, a former Charlotte police detective, was 73.
July 2018: About a month after Guerette’s death, former Durham prosecutor Freda Black was found dead in her home after a relative reported that they could not reach her. An autopsy report released in March 2019 said that Black, 57, died of liver disease.
July 8, 2021: Patricia “Patty” Peterson, the first wife of Michael Peterson, died at Duke University Hospital after suffering a heart attack the night before. Patty attended her ex-husband’s trial and was known to viewers of “The Staircase.” She was 78.
More on HBO’s ‘The Staircase’
For full coverage of HBO Max’s “The Staircase” and other background on the death of Kathleen Peterson and the murder trial of Michael Peterson, visit: newsobserver.com/topics/staircase
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "A ‘Staircase’ timeline from Kathleen Peterson’s death to her husband’s trial and plea."
