CNN.com - Jurors make visit to bloody staircase (2024)

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By Matt Bean
Court TV

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The back stairwell in Michael Peterson's house where his wife died

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(Court TV) -- Eighteen stairs, a small landing, and a whole lot of blood. That's the scene jurors in Michael Peterson's murder trial got to see on a field trip to the novelist's Durham, North Carolina, home Thursday.

"They were all serious, all taking notes, all consumed in the atmosphere of the stairwell," said Demorris Lee, a reporter from the Raleigh News and Observer who was permitted to shadow jurors on their visit.

The bloody back stairwell linking the second-floor rooms to the first-floor kitchen in the home Michael Peterson once shared with his wife, Kathleen Peterson, is the central scene in the novelist's murder trial. Until Thursday, jurors had only seen it in pictures and video.

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"They were very curious about how far up they can go up that stairwell," said the reporter. "Many of them went up to about the fourth, fifth step and would turn back and look, even wave their hands to see, look behind them to see if they can fall or if they can possibly catch themselves."

Prosecutors claim Peterson, 59, bludgeoned his wife of five years to death, then made the death look like an accident. Their 50-witness case relied heavily on physical evidence, from the series of seven lacerations on the back of the victim's head, to the copious amounts of blood found at the scene, to blood spatters that suggest she had been beaten with an object that shed "cast off" droplets 9 feet above the floor.

Peterson says he was out by the pool alone smoking a cigarette the night of December 9, 2001, and returned to the kitchen to find his wife dead at the base of the stairs. One defense witness testified that Kathleen Peterson, 48, might have fallen twice, hitting her head multiple times each fall.

Blood spatters

After being shuttled the two miles from the courthouse to the home in a pair of white vans, jurors jumped at the opportunity to weigh the conflicting accounts for themselves, taking abundant notes that could help them determine whether the stairwell was indeed a crime scene, or just the site of an unfortunate, and fatal, accident.

During the hour they spent in the mansion, they explored the kitchen, the sitting area where Michael Peterson was kept after police arrived, and the fireplace, where prosecutors have suggested Peterson selected a fireplace poker as the murder weapon.

One of their chief concerns was the blood evidence.

"A lot of them paid attention to the blood spatter, even kneeling down, looking down, squatting, looking at the dried blood that was on the molding of the doorway," said Lee, "Looking for spatter on the walls outside of the doorway."

Wednesday night, Peterson's defense lawyer, David Rudolf, asked his investigator to illuminate some of the spatter areas with a spotlight.

Cramped quarters

On Thursday, just before the on-site visit, Rudolf called his investigator to the stand and suggested to jurors some potential focal points for their visit.

"Did you set up some lights last night so jurors could see with their own eyes whether or not those spatters ... all were in a line or heading in the same direction or not?" he asked.

Rudolf, who had requested the visit, said the move was worthwhile because photos of the scene shown in court simply couldn't convey the cramped nature of the back stairwell.

"We thought it was important they get a sense of the space, whether what the district attorney says happened could have happened," Rudolf told reporters outside the home. "That's really important for us, to be able to show the jurors that what they saw in court is not necessarily what the space looks like."

Earlier on Thursday, an employee of Rudolf's law firm read a statement into the record from Christina Tomasetti, a friend of Peterson's son, Todd, who visited the home the night of the murder.

When Tomasetti left the home at about 10:20 p.m., she saw the defendant in the kitchen opening a bottle of wine in preparation for watching a movie with his wife.

She returned at 2:50 that morning to find fire trucks and police cars on the scene.

"We found out that Ms. Peterson had fallen down the stairs and suffered a massive head injury," Tomasetti said in the statement.

"Michael Peterson was shaky and covered in blood. He was very upset and mumbling, 'Oh my God.'"

Rudolf told reporters outside the house that testimony will resume Monday at 9:30 with renowned forensic scientist Henry Lee.


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FAQs

What is Michael Peterson doing now? ›

He resides in Durham, N.C., but has since sold the house where Kathleen died. (The house was on the market for $1.9 million, according to ABC 11 News.) He had been living with his ex-wife, Patricia, for two years until her death from a heart attack, his son Clayton told The News & Observer in 2021.

How much time did Michael Peterson serve? ›

Alford plea

The judge sentenced him to a maximum of 86 months in prison, with credit for time previously served. Because Peterson had already served more time than the sentence (98.5 months), he did not face additional prison time.

What was the verdict in the Michael Peterson trial? ›

The jury concluded the trial by finding Michael Peterson guilty of murdering Kathleen Peterson. He received the punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

What did Kathleen Peterson do for a living? ›

Where did Kathleen Peterson work, and what was her job? At the time of her death at the age of 48, Kathleen Peterson was the director of information services at Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park.

Do Margaret and Martha still talk to Michael? ›

Today, Margaret resides in California, and Martha relocated to Colorado. If the footage from the later episodes of Netflix's The Staircase from 2012 and 2016 are anything to go by, they are still close with Michael Peterson.

Do the Peterson kids still believe their dad? ›

Todd was the first person to see Michael after Kathleen died, as shown in the first episode of HBO Max's new series. Peterson's sons have always stood by their father, who has maintained his innocence for the past twenty years.

What is the new DNA evidence in the Peterson case? ›

The criminal defense team from the Los Angeles Innocence Project requested retesting of 14 pieces of evidence collected during the original investigation. However, a California judge allowed new DNA testing on only one item: a 15.5-inch-long piece of duct tape found on Laci Peterson's pants.

Is Michael Peterson in a relationship? ›

No, Michael Peterson does not have a new wife today. The woman who The Staircase viewers may be mistaking for Peterson's new wife could well be Sophie Brunet (played by Juliette Binoche), an executive producer of the Jean-Xavier de Lestrade documentary, also titled The Staircase. They dated until 2017.

Who owns Michael Peterson's house? ›

Clairvoyant and medium Biond Fury purchased the house from Balius in 2008, and paid $1.3 million for it. In late 2018, Fury started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for repairs at the home.

What actually happened to Kathleen? ›

However, Kathleen's autopsy report also made clear that she'd endured severe head-and-neck trauma consistent with being intentionally and furiously beaten by a blunt object, and that she actually died after bleeding out for more than 90 minutes.

Was the Peterson case Cancelled? ›

Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager announced in 2021 she would not retry the penalty phase of the trial, meaning Peterson would be resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to NBC News. Peterson was denied a request for a new trial in 2022, according to NBC News.

Was Peterson conviction overturned? ›

Scott Peterson, who has always maintained his innocence, was convicted of murder in 2004 and sentenced to death the next year. He was resentenced to life without the possibility of parole after his death sentence was overturned in 2020.

Who got Kathleen Peterson's life insurance? ›

On October 10th, 2003, jurors sided with the prosecution. Michael was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kathleen's daughter and her biological father inherited the $1.4 million life insurance policy, which helped the two out tremendously during this time.

Was Kathleen Peterson in debt? ›

Michael and Kathleen Peterson were in a lot of debt

In Michael Peterson's murder trial, the prosecution's case focussed on money - or the couple's lack of it - as a motive. They argued Michael's plan to kill his wife revolved around the $1.4 million life insurance policy she had in place.

Did Kathleen Peterson have any biological children? ›

Kathleen had one daughter named Caitlin from her first marriage to physicist Fred Atwater, per PopSugar. A few years later, in 2001, she was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her Durham, North Carolina home.

Where was Michael Peterson when his wife died? ›

On December 9, 2001, according to Peterson, he was having a glass of wine with his wife by the pool of his home in Durham, North Carolina after watching a Blockbuster rental, “America's Sweethearts,” together. Kathleen went into the house and was later found dead in a sea of blood at the bottom of a staircase.

What does Scott Peterson do now? ›

Scott Peterson has maintained his innocence in the crime, and is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. While in prison, he sat for his first interview in more than 20 years for the Peacock documentary.

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