The flamboyant forensic scientist who testified for Michael Peterson has died
Dr. Henry Lee, the famed crime-scene expert who enlivened the gruesome murder trial of Durham author Michael Peterson by spitting ketchup on a poster board to demonstrate blood spatter, has died at 87.
Lee had already built a celebrity’s reputation in forensic science long before Peterson’s defense team hired him in 2003, having appeared on the witness stand in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial and aiding police in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.
Born in China, a former police officer in Taiwan, Lee came to the United States with $50 in his pocket, starting his renowned Connecticut lab with a single microscope in a converted bathroom. He died on Friday, March 27 at his home in Henderson, Nevada, the University of New Haven reported.
In 2003, he brought a buzz to the Durham case that already sizzled with tabloid quality, hired to counter the prosecutor’s evidence that popular author of thrillers Peterson had beaten his wife to death in the staircase of their home.
“I think the jury is going to love him,” Durham defense attorney Mark Edwards told The News & Observer at the time.
And from the moment Lee heard his name called, he took to his job with a showman’s panache:
“Unlike most witnesses in a murder trial, who approach the stand as if it were the dentist’s chair, Lee leapt to his feet and jauntily stepped to the front of the courtroom,” wrote former N&O reporter Anne Saker, covering the trial. “As he passed the jury box, he called out, ‘Good morning!’ and the panel returned the greeting with equal enthusiasm.”
Red ink and ketchup
To start his testimony, Lee squeezed a blot of red ink through an eye-dropper onto a white poster board.
Then he dropped another blot onto a tilted piece of board, showing how its shape differed by hitting at an angle.
He smacked another drop with his hand, and sprayed more ink through an atomizer, showing how it looked on impact at different speeds.
Then came the kicker:
“He lifted a small bottle of ketchup to his lips,” Saker wrote. “He took a mouthful. He inhaled through his nose. Then he spat the ketchup on the board. Thus introduced to Dr. Henry Lee, the jury stared at him, then sat back for the rest of the testimony.”
Chinese courtesy
Lee testified that the evidence in Kathleen Peterson’s death was more consistent with a fall down the stairs than with a beating, though under cross-examination from prosecutor Jim Hardin, he allowed, “Nobody can exclude everything.”
He kept jurors laughing throughout, despite being in Durham to offer his expertise about large quantities of crime-scene blood.
At one point, Hardin pointed out that Lee had signed a copy of his book for SBI agent Duane Deaver, who provided most of the state’s forensic evidence. As an inscription, Lee wrote, “To Duane Deaver, one of the best. Keep up the good work. With warm regards. Henry Lee.”
“You wouldn’t have written that,” Hardin asked, “unless you felt that way?”
“No, no, no. I give everyone courtesy, Chinese courtesy,” said Lee. “I went to his place, he extend the courtesy, let me see what he has. It’s my, uh, upbringing. You can’t write in there something like, ‘You are totally wrong.’ “
Jurors would convict Peterson despite Lee’s testimony, his conviction would later be vacated over problems with Deaver’s lab work, and he would plead guilty to manslaughter in 2017 — walking free.
But Lee would leave life with the same jauntiness he brought to Durham, when he waved to jurors declaring, “Good bye! Thank you!”
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 2:25 PM with the headline "The flamboyant forensic scientist who testified for Michael Peterson has died."