Page 3 - Amybeth Berner News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

First wife near a u.s. air force base outside frankfurt. their good friend, elizabeth ratliff, a widow, lived nearby >> liz has two children. and she's teaching school, has a great many friends who are, you know, all there. >> reporter: on november 24th, 1985, elizabeth went to the petersons for dinner later, michael peterson says he drove her home >> she got out and went upstairs i said, "night, liz, you know, see you tomorrow." >> reporter: the next morning, michael says he was fast asleep when elizabeth's nanny came running with urgent news >> i'm upstairs in bed and she's saying something ...

>> amybeth thought a full-fledged investigation would ensue. but, as she tells it, michael peterson spoke to the authorities that day, relating that elizabeth had a hereditary bleeding disorder. perhaps she'd had a stroke and fallen down the stairs. the questions amybeth expected to be asked never were. >> i wondered, you know, "why aren't they talking to people? why aren't they asking questions?" no one did. >> later that day, michael peterson phoned elizabeth ratliff's family in the u.s. with the dreadful news. margaret blair is elizabeth's sister. >> he said "um margaret, there's been an ac...

>> michael peterson in his own words on the marriage, that fine old house. the blood spatter expert who wasn't. and the family friend found dead in another staircase far away in time and place. >> lightning don't strike in the same place twice. >> there's even a theory about an owl. >> whooo done it, huh? >> oh, it's just awful. >> we're going to need some time here. it's both complicated, and a simple question -- so if i were to ask you, as i do right now, did you bludgeon kathleen that night on the stairway of the house and cause her death? >> no. no. >> let's go back to the night early dece...

Air force base outside frankfurt. their good friend, elizabeth ratliff, a widow, lived nearby. >> liz has two children. and she's teaching school, has a great many friends who are, you know, all there. >> on november 24th, 1985, elizabeth went to the petersons for dinner. later, michael peterson says he drove her home. >> she got out and went upstairs. i said, "night, liz, you know, see you tomorrow." >> the next morning, michael says he was fast asleep when elizabeth's nanny came running with urgent news. >> i'm upstairs in bed. and she's saying something that, in fact, you know, liz is dead ...

That friend, elizabeth ratliff's, death long ago in germany. so there you are in the court of public opinion this guy with two important women in your life and they're both dead in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. >> exactly. absolutely. has to be guilty. >> you're a writer of fiction. your editor would probably take that kind of coincidence out of the book. >> well, he would say, "well, you know, come up with another one." she died in the bathtub or something. but-- no. >> but you're not immune to the irony of this, huh? >> no. of course not. but at the time -- >> because in -- in the cour...