Shattering end. Itri did not look like a fal. Michael peterson under suspicion. Then aer bombshell revelation about another woman from his past. Liz was on the floor, and there was a puddle of blood under the staircase. Two people that appeared to die the same way, two Women Associated with Michael Peterson. At trial, one expert would make a slam dunk case for petersons guilt. The jurors were captivated by his testimony. But were his dramatic experiments legit . Ri its not scientific at all. Michael peterson on the twist that might finally lead to the twist. T the most difficult decisioi ever made in my life. Aer writer at the center of storey even he couldnt make up. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Dennis Murphy with down the back staircase. You might take him for a retireda english professor fro one of the universities in the raleighdurham area. Preppy, witty. But now adays in this part of North Carolina, Michael Peterson is known not as the novelist he in fact is, but as that man, the notorious husband. The one with the wife dead at the t bottom of the staircase. You were not only the prime suspect, you were the only suspect. The only one. There was massive amounts of blood. Was this a fall or murder . Reporter exactly. What did happen on that staircase . And what is the truth about Michael Peterson . N ha a man once sentenced to die in prison for the commission of a homicide, hes always maintained was nothing but an accident. Innocent, he a asserts. But the novelist in him knows full wellow the irresistible sty line here got swept up in. Ep sex, money, murder, what me could you have . One of the most compelling mysteries weve ever covered as you havent heard it before. People believe in you will always believe in you. People that dont, never will. Michael peterson in his own words, on his marriage, the blood spatter expert who wasnt, and the family friend found deld at the bottom of a staircase. Theres even a theory about an owl. Whhoo odone it, huh . Its awful. Were going to need some time here. Its complicated and a simple question. If i asked you, did you bludgeon kathleen that night and cause her death . No, no, no. T lets go back to the night. Early december 2001, and scroll up the driveway of the rambling house in one of durhams better neighborhoods. Michael and kathleen are out back by the pool as the story goes, finishing off a bottle of wine. In the living room, the Christmas Tree isg already up. Theup grown peterson children expected home for the holiday. Christmas was big for kathleen . Oh, lord, yes. And valentines day, halloween. Shey, made a celebration out of everything, everything. Reporter ytkathleens daughter, caitlin, stepdaughter to michael, says her mom was always happiest h at the holida. She loved christmas. She loved playing Christmas Muse frick the start of december through newar years. It was the kids who brought kathleen and michael together. His first marriage had started to fall maapart. She was separated. Michael was raising his two boys and two young girls, margaret and martha. The girls became neighborhood playmates with kathleens daughter, caitlin. Played, oh, my god, barbies, and those my little ponies all the time, all the time. And then kathleen came over to borrow a book one night. Thats when it began. Reporter as the kids spent more and more time together, so did michael and kathleen. It wasnt long before they approached the kids about becoming a family together. They sat me down and said, you know, caitlin how would you like it ifd martha and margare came to live with you. I justli thought a permanent sleepover. Thats exactly how michael presented it to his two girls. Margaret is the older. I think he put it, were going to have a long sleepover. And we said, yeah reporter her younger sister, martha. Of coursete we want to live with caitlin and kathleen and play barbies and be a family together. Reporter so michael and his four kids and kathd leleen and daughter became a friended family. He was aht former marine turned writer. He liked to draw on his wartime experiences in vietnam. One ofin his vietnam books got big b advance, money that went towards buying that house. Heho said were thinking abo moving to thisnk house. We just looked and we thought, oh, my goodness. This is amazing. Reporter there in his office, hete wrote his war stors and turned out sharp columns on city politics. Stick inty the eye stuff. He e had even been a losing candidate for mayor of durham. Kathleen was a top Business Executive at nortel. She had received a masters degree in engineering from duke anded afr appears on the cover a university magazine. She was aty smart, smart wom. But most of all, she was funny. And sexual. But had this marvelous sense of life and vitality. You were in the swirl of the local society. Yeah. Er charity pal balls and partie. Absolutely. She would invite people over. Shepl cooked meals. She would do the desserts. She did it all. So michael was all too happy to say yes, but after years of living together, kathleen suggested the t couple make it official. Soakit we got married. And it was a gigantic wedding. It was in theti house, and ther must have beennd 150 people the. It was just wonderful. I always thought, you know, this is what y ill register as the happiest day of my life. Kathleens younger sister, candice, says kathleen was over the aymoon, as well. She was thrilled to be marrying t michael. All three girls were bridesmaids. Ill remember thems. Singing were going to the chapel. The day theye married, my sist glowed. And candice watched as kathleen did it all over the next several years. Notne only did she raise the children and have quite an accomplished corporate career, oh,ra dinner for 50 . She would do it. Ee reporter and so it was, on that mildas december evening, 2001, with kathleen juggling it all. She hadng been preparing for th holidays while fending off the latest f crisis at work. Michael says she made dinner. They sat down to watch a movie, then headed out back to enjoy a midnight glass of wine. We wentmi to the pool, and w talked. What time would you guess, 10 00, 11 00 . 11 00, 12 00, somewhere in there. Reporter in a morning Conference Call, kathleen turned inhl first. She gets up from the pool, and goes in and seize ill see you later. Reporter an hour went by, maybe two. Michaele says he may have doze off. When he went back inside the house sometimek after 2 00 a. M there was kathleen at the bottom of the stairs. A ghastly sight. And i saw her lying on the staircase, and there was blood, there was blood everywhere. Was she breathing . She was at the time. She was . Yeah. Shes conscious . No, shes not conscious. I knew she was dying. I had seen enough of that in vietnam. I knew she was dying. Please, get somebody here right away. Send ems right away. Called them again. But apparently its two minutes later but it seemed like forever. A long few minutes. But nothing compared to the many, many years of questions that would follow. What had happened on that back staircase now pooled in blood . The answer would be in the eye of the beholder. Coming up what a husband called an accident, an investigator would see very differently. Ive seen falls. Ive had family members fall, and to me, it did not look anywhere like a fall. And then the police emailed me a couple days before saying mike, you dont know how much damage youve done to the morale of the police department. So the cops giving you and the family attitude, you understand why. When dateline continues. Understand why when dateline continues honey . Yeah . 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Reporter Michael Peterson told us he had come been the unimaginable. His wife at the bottom of their back staircase covered in blood. Emt saw michael cradling his wife, weeping so hard, he had to be pulled away. That was the worst. I mean, that was worse than anything in war, anything. Anything. Because you expect that. This is entirely different. I wasnt ready for this at all, at all. Reporter did anything explain itself to you . She fell down the stairs. Somebody is at the bottom of the stairs, your automatic response is she fell down the stairs. Detective art holland was called to the mansion in the wee hours. We first spoke to him more than a decade ago. First officers arrived, ems arrived. Reporter the medical examiner was called in, too. He looked at the victim and said a fall down the stairs was possible. He couldlacerations on the back of her head and said it could the result of a fall. Reporter by dawn, news of the fall started rippling through the family. Details were vague when details reached the girls at college. She said something has happened. Your mom has fallen down the stairs, it was an accident. You should come home. Reporter by the time kathleens daughter caitlin got the word, it was as shocking as it was definitive. Her College Roommate delivered the news. She looked at me and says caitlin, its your mom. Shes dead. Those words still ring clearly in my head. Kathleens sister, candace, couldnt believe what she was hearing. Michael called her directly. It was still vague or she we couldnt tell if she fell down the stairs or she fell off a ladder, but there was no question i kept saying, are you sure shes dead . Reporter yes, michael was sure. Candace headed to her sisters house. The whole thing was sealed off with crime scene tape. And this is a this is a mansion, huge property. So the police kept saying, you know you may not want to go in. Theres so much blood. This is really awesomely scary. Reporter the police were not exaggerating. When candace finally got inside, she says, michael brought her to the back staircase where it happened. My sisters blood is washed in pools up against the wall. I mean, her blood was everywhere. Reporter the image would be seared in her mind. It didnt look right. She couldnt go there. I still wanted to believe it was an accident. I didnt want to think something horrible happened. Reporter but all that blood, up the walls, could it all be from a fall down the stairs . And thats precisely what was gnawing at detective holland. Ive seen falls. Um ive had family members fall and to me it did not look anywhere like like a fall. Reporter something to him seemed off about kathleens body position, too. Her body was definitely not in the position that it would be in if she came to a final resting position after the fall. Reporter they processed the scene, photographing the stairwell, documenting the pool of blood and spray up the wall. Outside, drops on the walkway and a smear on the front door. In the kitchen, blood stains on a cabinet, and underneath, a drop of blood on the counter. And right beside it, an opened wine bottle and two glasses. It was, you know, very, very time consuming. You dont want to, you know, go through it real speedy. You want to make sure that you cross all your ts and dot all your is. Reporter it would take investigators a couple of days to go through the 9,000 square foot estate. While they did, michael and the kids took refuge at a neighbors house. Just spent most of the time in bed then margaret came in, martha, caitlin, everybody flew in, everybody. Reporter he says from the moment the Police Arrived at the house, they were aggressive towards him and his family. But even in his haze of shock and grief, peterson says, he thought he knew why. I had written some really negative comments. Id id been a columnist. And ive really, really been hammering the police. You you you lit out at the cops, huh . Oh many times. Reporter his accusations of the city cops ranged from their failure to get a handle on Drug Trafficking to only solving a small fraction of crimes. The chief of police had emailed me just a couple days before saying, mike, you dont know how much damage youve done to the morale in the police department, and all this. If youre seeing the cops giving you and the family some attitude, you think you understand why. Thats what i thought. Sure. Sure. I understood it. Yeah. Of course, theyre pissed at me. [ laughs ] i got i got it. Reporter but, he says, one of his sons read the polices behavior differently. He thought the police were zeroing in on his father from the getgo. He immediately called my brother, his uncle, who is an attorney in reno and said uh uncle bill, kathleens dead. They think mike did it. And my brother got on the phone. And he said, im representing Michael Peterson, do not talk to him. Reporter michaels daughters were also worried. They knew very well their father relished being the provocateur. And now the police were swarming their house. Walking the yard. Looking under bushes and trees. I remember feeling that something was going badly with the police. Reporter michael called a family meeting. He sat down with us and said, you know, girls, i dont know whats going on, but it seems bad. And i i just want you to know i didnt do anything wrong. I didnt do anything. And we said, of course, dad, we know. Reporter but police werent so sure. They seemed intent on peeling away the veneer of the petersons marriage. What was going on behind the closed doors in the mansion on cedar street . They were asking me questions about kathleen and michaels relationship. And if i knew of anything. I thought they were happily married. She was very much in love with him. Reporter but the detectives were beginning to believe the perfect marriage was anything but. Coming up, despite that gorgeous house, maybe they werent exactly rolling in dough. If he wasnt writing a book or had any royalties coming in, he had no income. There was a lot of financial problems. I sensed the stress of that. And then what the autopsy revealed. Seven huge lacerations that basically scalped her. It was murder. That one picture, that was it. When dateline continues. Th. When dateline continues is changing him. [ gasps ] up and at em . Into his father. [ eerie music plays ] is it scary . [ gasps ] its in eco mode. So dont touch it. Mmhmm. I cant stop this from swinging. Must be a draft in here. But he did save a bunch of money bundling our home and auto with progressive. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Hello . Sorry, honey. [ telephone beeps ] butt dial. Hello . Sorry, honey. How do we make a scented oil plugin that doesnt smell fake . Start with the essence of nature air wick scented oils are infused. With essential oils that are 100 natural. To fill every corner with the fragrance of nature. Air wick. Michael peterson says he was certain that his wife, kathleens death, had been a terrible accident. A slip and fall down their back staircase after a night of drinking. But as days passed, he started to realize that not only did police think kathleens death was a case of murder, but also that he was the prime suspect. Well, thats just nonsense, and i wasnt worried because when youre innocent, well, nothing can happen. Reporter but it was hardly nonsense to detective holland of the Durham Police department. From the start, he was investigating not an accident but what he believed was a suspicious death. And there were good reasons, he felt, to take a close look at Michael Peterson. Reasons, he says, that had nothing to do with petersons very public criticism of the police. He may have had some issues with with the p. D. You know, i dont my perception of that is that i dont i dont pay much attention to i i dont really like politics anyway. So therefore, it didnt affect me one way or the other. Reporter the detective wanted to know more about what was going on inside the peterson home. In addition to the forensic evidence youre gathering, you got to ask this question, whats going on in this marriage . Huh . Right. Thats a big part of your investigation . Right. Reporter detectives pulled aside kathleens sister candace to ask if shed noticed any trouble in her sisters marriage. The police took me in a police van to interview me privately. Reporter in her grief, candace was hesitant to say anything bad about her now widowed brotherinlaw. Shed always liked him. He was a fun person to sit and chat with across a dinner table. He was interesting. Hes a little bit arrogant about his intelligence, but you know he was a very smart man. When i found out my sister was dead, i was his biggest defender. Reporter she told investigators that everything was fine between michael and kathleen. It was only later as she started replaying conversations in her head that she wondered if the couple had been fighting. Kathleen certainly seemed stressed. She was very, very concerned about her job stability at her company. And they were making layoffs. Reporter according to candace, job insecurity couldnt have come at a worse time. Her sister told her the financial pressures on their lives were mounting. She and michael were drowning in credit card debt. And that big house had turned into a money pit. And theyd invested heavily in her companys tech stock, only to lose a bundle when the dotcom bubble burst. Then, there were the big College Tuition bills. Weve got three kids going to college, and good colleges, expensive private colleges. Reporter kathleens daughter from her first marriage, caitlin, remembers it, too. There was a lot of financial problems. I sensed it. I sensed the stress of that. Reporter and when investigators looked at the couples credit reports they saw just what kathleens sister candace feared. It was living above their means. I mean, you know, if he wasnt writing a book or had any royalties coming in, he had no income. Reporter and, according to kathleens sister, michaels dabble in local politics had brought even more stress to the marriage. When he ran for mayor, hed been called out publicly in a lie, a whopper of one. The war action novelist claimed to have been awarded a purple heart, only he hadnt. He got hurt, not by taking hills in vietnam, but in a car accident in japan. When it bec