Kathleen Peterson

On December 9, 2001, novelist Michael Peterson called 911 to report that his wife Kathleen, 48, had fallen down the stairs at their Durham, North Carolina home and was unconscious. Paramedics found Kathleen dead at the bottom of the staircase in a massive pool of blood.

The medical examiner determined that Kathleen's injuries were inconsistent with a fall, noting deep lacerations on her scalp and blood spatter patterns suggesting a beating. Michael Peterson was charged with first-degree murder.

The case was complicated by the discovery that a family friend in Germany, Elizabeth Ratliff, had also been found dead at the bottom of a staircase in 1985 when Peterson was living nearby. Ratliff's death was subsequently reclassified as a homicide.

Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2003. He received a new trial in 2011 after it was found that a key prosecution blood analyst had given misleading testimony. In 2017, Peterson entered an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to time served. The case was the subject of the acclaimed documentary 'The Staircase.'