It's believed that Michael was the last. A widow, Elizabeth raised two daughters and her family grew close with the Petersons. And she said to me, 'So you're going to be content just being an old grandfather?' In response, Michael Peterson's lawyer, David Rudolf, argued he had never seen such inflammatory wording used in an autopsy before. He also has the option of pleading not guilty and again facing a new trial in front of a jury. Exposing Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's tendentious film, the Peterson murder documentary: Death on the Stairacse. A one-stop-shop for all things video games. When they meet, they fall in love, and she leads the charge on the Owl Theory. It wasn't until after Kathleen's death in December 2001 that the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth Ratliff's fall and subsequent death were re-evaluated. Although I do feel that the police did not act in all honesty with some of their actions, I do feel that no matter what, the jury saw through the shoddy case and found him guilty anyway. He later adopted Ratliff's two daughters, Martha and Margaret. RELATED: Colin Firth & Toni Collette on 'The Staircase' and What They Hope Audiences Take Away From It. DURHAM, N.C. An autopsy report released Monday says Elizabeth Ratliff, a friend of novelist Mike Peterson who died 18 years ago, was the victim of a homicide and not a stroke as originally . Appel-Schumacher said the blood was mostly on a wall adjacent to the staircase and it stretched from the top landing to the bottom. In her opinion, the seven lacerations on her head indicated blunt force trauma. It has been quite a ride, so before we discuss how it ended, lets look at how we got here. Who was Elizabeth Ratliff, and how did her 1985 death become part of Michael Peterson's trial? Elizabeth Ratliff's daughter, Martha and Margaret Ratliff stood by Michael Peterson and believed him to be innocent. Margaret and Martha lived with Michael Peterson but were never adopted by him. The medical examiner found Kathleen Peterson and Elizabeth Ratcliffe suffered similar blows to the head, including seven lacerations which were sustained by blunt force trauma. When watching The Staircase, it might be hard to keep track of the complicated Peterson family tree. Just four days before her death, she was complaining of severe headaches. But, in February, just months before the scheduled retrial, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. Ratliff, a close Peterson friend,wasthought to have died from a fall down a set of stairs until Peterson's wife Kathleen died in a similar manner in December 2001. Period. Michael, a Vietnam War vet, bonded with Elizabeth's husband, George, who was a captain in the military. Whether the evidence about Elizabeth Ratliff's death had a particularly swaying influence on the jury or not is impossible to know - but Michael Peterson was convicted of murdering Kathleen Peterson in October 2003. At the time, her death was investigated by the U.S. military police in Germany and an autopsy concluded she had died from an intracerebral hemorrhage. Upon examination, forensic pathologist Deborah Radisch, who also worked on Kathleen's case, said that Elizabeth's injuries were inconsistent with an accident. Their mom, Patty, decides to relocate back to NC to be near Michael and the boys. The coroner determined that she fell down the stairs after the brain bleed caused her immediate demise. He explained that he first met Peterson at this house in Durham, North Carolina, and holding a meeting in a diner with a client would just never happen. She continued: "Rather, they are 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. Patricia has always vehemently backed him up. "For another year, she was gone. The prosecution calls Kathleen's sister Candace to the stand, and she tears Michael a new one again. As Peterson was being investigated for the staircase death of his wife in the early 2000s, Ratliffs body was exhumed in Texas in 2003. The neighbour, Karin Hamn, testified that she saw MP hurrying away from ER's house at 12.50 am on November 25th. He said they wanted the same medical examiner who claimed that Peterson's wife wasn't accidental to perform the autopsy rather than a neutral pathologist in Texas as he suggested. The North Carolina medical examiner performed an autopsy and concluded that she died from blunt force injuries and that it was the result of a homicide. Peterson's lawyers took issue with the examiner's assessment. Michael is convinced that the DA is on a witch hunt since Michael had written critical columns on the DA in the past. Sophie is skeptical hearing about this theory at first, but soon leans in and pushes for a re-examination of the body. Tragedy struck, however, in 1983, when Elizabeth's husband George was killed in a secret military operation overseas. On the prosecution side, Durham County District Attorney Jim Hardin (Cullen Moss) and Assistant District Attorney, Freda Black (Parker Posey) take on the case. The widow grew even closer with the Peterson family. Authorities ruled Ratliff's death to be of natural causes, concluding that a cerebral hemorrhage caused her to fall and strike her head. No, the will of the Ratliffs stated the girls would be left in the care of Michael Peterson. There are theories he had been in an illicit relationship with Elizabeth, although this is something his first wife Patty strenuously denies. In the end, Lestrade and Brunet won and the scene with Clayton Peterson was included in the documentary instead. "There was blood splatter all over those walls. So you know, the bottom line of all of that, is it creates this impression that this Academy Award-winning director, a documentarian was twisting his film for a completely unethical purpose to help the subject. Together, Elizabeth and George Ratliff had two daughters, Margaret and Martha Ratliff, who Michael Peterson would adopt following their deaths. 1987-United States-Michael and Patty have now since divorced (funny how so soon after this all happened) And in the divorce, the Petersons boys went with Patty while the Ratliff girls remained with Michael. Fear of this realization getting out, Michael possibly grabbed and shook Liz, his anger finally caused him to push her hard and she fell down the stairs to her demise. An autopsy at the time of her death concluded Ratliff died from an intra-cerebral haemorrhage secondary to the blood coagulation disorder Von Willebrand's disease, based on blood in her cerebrospinal fluid and reports that she had been suffering severe, persistent headaches in the weeks leading up to her death. However, Rudolf did state he offered to come on board as a "technical consultant" for the series to consult on the courtroom and lawyer scenes but was not contacted by the team behind The Staircase. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! The two families were close friends while living in Germany, and Michael was the last person who'd seen Elizabeth alive following dinner at the Ratliff home one night, Michael offered to stay behind and help Elizabeth put her girls to bed. Elizabeth Ratliff, shown in the Netflix docu-series "The Staircase.". Now at this time a few things couldve happened-whatever he struck her with at the front door, he now needed to get rid of, so as she lay dying at the bottom of the stairs, he changed out of any bloodied clothes and got rid of them with the item he struck her with. The prosecution used the evidence to draw parallels in court but never formally charged Michael with Elizabeth's death. Together, they go to the Durham Herald Christmas Ball. "Rather, they are 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," Radisch concluded. They fought and it turned physical. In 2017, he entered an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter, meaning he admitted the evidence against him would likely lead to a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt but he did not have to admit he committed the crime. Newsweek has everything you need to know. //-->. Sam Smith is going to be in And Just Like That s2! }else { However, Rudolf and the real Lestrade have both taken issue with how Peterson's romance with Brunet has been portrayed, believing some scenes implied her relationship with Peterson impacted her neutrality whilst editing the documentary. The DA contracts the SBI (North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation) to recreate the scene and figure out exactly how the murder took place. "The blood was all the way up the staircase.". Despite Michael Peterson's lawyer, David Rudolf, requesting that a "neutral" pathologist from Texas carried out the autopsy, the District Attorney had Dr. Deborah L. Radisch, the state pathologist, do it instead. Meanwhile, in France, two filmmakers are searching for their next project. The two were buried side by side after Ratlitt died. Patricia Peterson and Elizabeth Ratliff had worked together at an elementary school on a U.S. Air Base and lived close by with their families in the town of Graefenhausen. ", Speaking separately to Vanity Fair about the scenes in the fifth episode of HBO Max's The Staircase, Lestrade said: "We gave [Campos] all the access he wanted, and I really trusted the man. The best face wash for every single skin type. Michael Peterson and his wife Kathleen were first married in 1997. two adorable daughters into their lives Margaret and Martha Ratliff. Both the German officials as well as the United States military police conducted investigations into Elizabeths case, and their autopsy ruled her manner of death an accident. Shed reportedly died from an intracerebral hemorrhage, secondary to a blood clot disorder. I do however wished that Michaels lawyer wouldve let him testify because the jurors would've seen his true colors, but as seen in The Staircase on Netflix, even his lawyers knew his personality as they stated it would not be in his best interest to take the stand because his personality would be off-putting to the jury (Im not quoting, but basically they knew the jury would hate him). "And you never saw any kind of indication that she had any kind of romantic relationship with Michael Peterson?" Ratliff taught second grade at a U.S. Department of Defense School. Authorities in Germany had determined that Ratliff's death was the result of a fatal stroke that sent her toppling down the stairs. The jury finds Michael guilty and sentences him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. } And no questions were raised when her close friend Michael Peterson adopted her daughters, Margaret and Martha. "So to create the impression that somehow I'm this greedy lawyer, who's forcing my client to sell his furniture in order to write me checks to do his appealI mean that is sort of offensive to me. In 2017, Michael is contemplating taking the Alford plea, in which he would have to plead guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter for a reduced sentence, but he could not be retried. Did Michael Peterson Kill Elizabeth Ratliff? Elizabeth died in 1985. The prosecution shockingly reveals to the jury that, at age 43, Ratliff turned up dead at the bottom of her stairs in 1985, some 16 years earlier. In the fifth episode, Brunet and Lestrade are seen arguing with their producer over which clip to delete from the documentary. by Lindsay Kimble Elizabeth Ratliff and her husband, George Ratliff, were close friends of Peterson and his first wife, Patricia Peterson, when they lived in Germany in the 1980s. Viewers new to The Staircase story may have been surprised to learn Peterson dated Sophie Brunet, the editor of Lestrade's first documentary. Some speculate that Michael shared an illicit affair with Elizabeth. Her life was thus incredibly different from her Rhode Island farm upbringing, especially as shed eventually found herself working at an elementary school at the Rhein-Main Air Force Base in West Germany. With two young children (Martha, the youngest, was just months old when her father passed away), Elizabeth relied on Michael and Patty's support more than ever. The prosecution used the evidence to draw parallels in court, but never formally charged Michael with Elizabeth's death. Two Ukrainian women look back at one year of war, Why you shouldn't go into TikTok's "monk mode". The real-life Rudolph is seen above. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. Her name was Elizabeth Ratliff (shown above in the blue shirt) and she died at the age of 43. Lawyer David Rudolf (L) and Michael Peterson (R) address reporters after his court hearing in Durham, North Carolina, on February 24, 2017. Elizabeth's Ratliff's sudden death in November 1985 became of great significance in the case against Michael Peterson during his trial for the murder of his second wife, Kathleen Peterson. "I could not give her what she really needed and deserved, and that would be a full-time partner living with her in Paris. 1 day ago, by Chanel Vargas Occasionally wiping tears from her eyes, Appel-Schumacher testified about the large amount of blood she and her husband cleaned up after Ratliff's body was moved. The series takes great inspiration from de Lestrade's documentary and even includes the director (played by Vincent Vermingon) and his documentary team. 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