The Mysterious Death of Kathleen Peterson (Part 2)

Morbid

This episode delves into the trial and aftermath of Michael Peterson, who was convicted in 2003 for the murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson. The

Key takeaways

• The exhumation of Elizabeth Ratliff's body revealed injuries consistent with blunt force trauma, mirroring those found on Kathleen Peterson—raising serious questions about Michael Peterson's involvement in both deaths.

Main topics

• Michael Peterson's trial and conviction
• Elizabeth Ratliff's mysterious death and its connection to Kathleen Peterson's murder

Notable quotes

"I'm really, really saddened that the loving family that Kathleen worked so hard on for 13 years has been ripped apart." – Michael Peterson

Conclusion

While Michael Peterson was convicted in 2003 based on mounting circumstantial evidence and family turmoil, the case remains

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Hey, weirdos. I'm Alina. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid. Let's Speaker 2 (0:20) do this. We're in part two, so I feel like we should just get right into it. Yeah. Speaker 1 (0:24) Like I said, part two is going to be a little bit shorter, but there was like a lot Speaker 2 (0:27) of pre-story to go through in part one. But we're going to get into some more Speaker 1 (0:33) shocking Speaker 2 (0:33) or, you know, not even more shocking details, but talk about those a little more in depth. Yeah. And Speaker 1 (0:38) then Speaker 2 (0:38) obviously the trial. Speaker 1 (0:40) Yeah. Get into what the hell happened here. Yeah, Speaker 2 (0:43) which Speaker 1 (0:43) I don't even really know. So nobody knows. No, truly. The law does, Speaker 2 (0:49) but Alfred plays are so confusing to me because the law knows, but they don't know kind of. I Speaker 1 (0:56) think the most, the infamous one is the West Memphis Three. Speaker 2 (0:59) Yeah. I actually, I put a little note at the bottom in case anybody's like confused so that we can talk Speaker 1 (1:04) about it a little bit. Because that's one that I fully believe is they're innocent. Speaker 2 (1:08) That's just me. 100%, I agree. We've gone over that. You know. If you know, you know our stance. But with this one, I don't Speaker 1 (1:15) know. Speaker 2 (1:15) Yeah. I could go either way on this one. So here's the thing. When we last left off, there were, like I said, shocking details emerging in the case, one of which was hard to swallow for those who even previously had every confidence in Michael's innocence. Over a decade earlier, while living in Germany, Michael's friend, Elizabeth Ratliff, was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her home. Speaker 1 (1:36) Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:37) And Michael was the last person to see her alive. Unfortunate. And also now was the guardian of her two children. Yes. So once this came to light and, you know, came more out in the public, not only were friends and family members who didn't know that fact shaken up, but the district attorney's office also thought it was pretty suspicious that two women had died under very similar circumstances. While in the presence of Michael Peterson. Yeah. It is strange. Around the time they were in the presence of him. So that October, Durham District Attorney Jim Harden petitioned a judge in Texas for an order to exhume Elizabeth Ratliff's body. Speaker 1 (2:13) Damn. And Speaker 2 (2:14) he said it was in an effort to find out whether there are other similarities in the deaths. Speaker 1 (2:18) Now, it wasn't just the court of law and the court of public opinion that were influenced Speaker 2 (2:22) by these new details about Michael Peterson's life. After so many shocking revelations about this man that they thought they all knew very well, unfortunately, the cracks in the Petersons' family bond were also beginning to show and form. After standing by her stepfather for nearly a year, the lingering questions about extramarital affairs, autopsy reports, and now another woman's death became too much for Caitlin Atwater to ignore. In late October, Caitlin filed actually a wrongful death lawsuit against Michael in civil court, alleging that he did intentionally, maliciously, willfully, and wantonly assault Kathleen Peterson, thereby causing her death. Damn. Yeah. She declined to speak to the press about the case at the time, but Michael didn't hesitate to provide a response. He said, I'm really, really saddened that the loving family that Kathleen worked so hard on for 13 years has been ripped apart. The police have gotten to Caitlin and gave her their side. I'm sorry for Margaret, Martha, Clayton, and Todd. Because not only have they lost a mother, now they've lost their sister as well. It is a family disaster. Speaker 1 (3:26) Oh, damn. Which is really fucking sad. Yeah, and it's like, you can't blame anybody for looking at the pieces of the puzzle and coming to a conclusion. No. Speaker 2 (3:38) That's what you do. Speaker 1 (3:40) You know what I mean? Like, it's like, I can't. I can understand all the sides of this. Like, I can understand the people that are still standing by him, and I can understand how she would decide she wasn't going to anymore. Yeah. Like, I can understand all Speaker 2 (3:54) of that. All of it. And you also have to understand that, like, you know, Kathleen may have played a stepmother role in Clayton and Todd and Margaret Speaker 1 (4:03) and Martha's lives, but she was Caitlin's mother. Yeah. She is Speaker 2 (4:06) Caitlin's mother. That's the Speaker 1 (4:07) thing. So that is, like, you know, that's a different level. Yeah. You know? Speaker 2 (4:12) So Michael did his best to continue framing himself as an unfair victim. But if he was hoping to gain more support from the public, his behavior the following month did not do much to win him any new supporters. In mid-November, just a few weeks after Caitlin's $10,000 civil suit against Michael was made public, the press started reporting an even larger intrafamily fight, this time over Kathleen's life insurance policy. Speaker 1 (4:36) Oh, that's when things Speaker 2 (4:37) get yucka. You're also just handing them a motive that they didn't previously have on a silver platter. Sure. So despite having been indicted for her murder, Michael argued that he should be entitled to the $1.4 million payout, which because of his status would otherwise go to her daughter and her ex-husband, Fred Atwater. Speaker 1 (4:59) Oh, man. Speaker 2 (5:01) The thing was, Kathleen had made Fred and Caitlin the beneficiaries of the policy, and she hadn't changed the policy prior to her death. But Michael was arguing that, quote, Kathleen made her feelings very clear when she divorced Fred, inferring that she wanted nothing more to do with Fred, so he said that he should be entitled to the money. Speaker 1 (5:18) Oof. Speaker 2 (5:19) It gets yucca when you do that. It sure does. And maybe to some that might have seemed like a trivial matter, but for the prosecution... Like I just said, it was one more potential motive for Kathleen's murder. Oh, yeah. At the time of her death, Michael, like I said, was in negotiations to sell the film rights to his last novel or his latest novel. But that deal was only bringing in $600,000. And obviously, I'm only saying only because Kathleen's job was potentially at risk at this time. And Michael had no regular income. So a $1.4 million payout. looked like a pretty decent motive. Yeah. Would that $600,000 aside? Of course. Now, throughout the investigation, Margaret and Martha had stood by Michael and completely believed his innocence. So when the district attorney requested to have their mother's remains exhumed for a second autopsy, they were vocally resistant. Margaret told a reporter in February 2003, my first gut reaction was to say no. There are no words to explain how I feel, but we knew that dad had nothing to hide. But after giving it some thought, the two sisters decided to give their approval for the exhumation, reasoning that if nothing else, it would just put to rest rumors about their mother's murder at the hands of the man they now considered their father. Speaker 1 (6:36) But Speaker 2 (6:37) unfortunately, what they ended up with was the exact opposite of what they'd intended. In mid-April 2003, Elizabeth Ratliff's remains were exhumed from her grave in Texas and then shipped to the state medical examiner's office in Durham. where a second autopsy was performed to determine cause of death. Speaker 1 (6:54) And this just gets so... I can't imagine your family member being buried Speaker 2 (7:00) and Speaker 1 (7:01) exhumed and reburied and re-autopsied. Speaker 2 (7:04) That just opens up a whole new avenue of Speaker 1 (7:09) grief. You're just Speaker 2 (7:09) never allowed to really put it to rest. So when Elizabeth's death was initially reported in 1985... It was believed to have been the result of natural causes of brain aneurysm. So there was no reason for the individual performing the autopsy to suspect foul play back then. And on top of that, the individual conducting the autopsy actually had no experience with homicide cases up Speaker 1 (7:32) to that point. I'm sorry, what? Speaker 2 (7:34) Yeah. So he might not have recognized signs of murder. Yeah, no. Even if it was suspected at the time, which again, it wasn't. Speaker 1 (7:42) But that's interesting. Speaker 2 (7:44) That Speaker 1 (7:44) is interesting. Speaker 2 (7:45) After conducting as thorough an autopsy as was possible on Elizabeth Ratliff's remains, Dr. Deborah Radish concluded that Elizabeth Ratliff's death was inconsistent with a fall down the stairs. Rather, it is indicative of multiple blunt force impacts, either from blows to the head caused by a blunt object or by the head being forcibly struck against a hard surface. Speaker 1 (8:10) Well, that sounds familiar. It sure does. In other words, Speaker 2 (8:14) Elizabeth's injuries were remarkably similar to Kathleen's injuries. The doctor continued, it is my further opinion that these injuries were incurred while Mrs. Ratliff was alive and are of sufficient severity to have caused her death. Holy shit. As far as Dr. Radish could tell, the intracranial hemorrhages initially identified as Elizabeth's cause of death were the result of blunt force trauma, not natural causes like previously believed. Shit. Speaker 1 (8:46) Yeah. What a fucking, like that would be a gut Speaker 2 (8:51) punch. Now Speaker 1 (8:52) the Speaker 2 (8:52) thing that confuses me a little bit, and I figured like you might be able to explain this to me. So, because it says in the quote, like could have been blows to the head, by the head being forcibly struck against a hard surface. If you're falling down the stairs, is your head not being struck against a hard surface multiple times? Not forcibly. Not forcibly? Forcibly would Speaker 1 (9:15) indicate that somebody was forcing your head into a... Okay. Because if you're just falling, it's Speaker 2 (9:21) a Speaker 1 (9:21) passive hit when you're falling without someone. Forcibly would be taking your head and slamming Speaker 2 (9:27) it forcibly into it. So there's like more inertia involved. Speaker 1 (9:30) Falling somewhere is a passive act. Gotcha. Yeah. All right. Well. Yeah. That changed things. Sure Speaker 2 (9:37) does. So she didn't have the authority to change the initial findings because it was a German case. Yeah. But Dr. Radish did indicate that if she did have the authority to do so, she would revise the cause of death to homicide. Wow. Yeah. That's a big statement. It is. Now, by that time, Margaret and Martha Ratliff had already lost so much. Yeah. Their father had died in combat. Their mother had died, and Kathleen, their stepmother, had now died under mysterious circumstances. And their aunts and adopted sister, Caitlin, it doesn't seem like they were speaking to each other at this point. I think that's a massive disagreement, obviously. Speaker 1 (10:14) On Speaker 2 (10:15) top of that, they were now also facing the possibility of losing the only father figure left in their lives to a potential life sentence should he be convicted. That's horrifying. That is possibly why when the results of Elizabeth's autopsy were made public, Margaret and Martha rejected the implication that Michael was somehow responsible for the death, and they still chose to stand by him. Now, in the 16 months since Kathleen's death, the Peterson family had learned obviously a great deal more about Michael Peterson than they ever thought they would. Yeah. And more about the death of their loved ones than they ever wanted to know. Or not that they ever wanted to know, but just that they ever would expect to happen. Yeah, that they were ever Speaker 1 (10:57) asking Speaker 2 (10:57) for. To some, like Caitlin, the lies, the deceit, and the evidence of violence were enough to convince her of Michael's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But others remained skeptical and chose to trust the